Holy Week sermon

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Tuesday, 20 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded to be ready to receive the Lord our God, our Saviour and Liberator who will come again one day to bring us all who are faithful out of the misery and sufferings of sin, and when He comes again, His coming will be swift and unpredictable, and no one will know or be prepared at His coming, unless all of us take heed of the reminders which we have received through the Scriptures and the Church.

Our Lord came to liberate us from our sins, and from all the taints of our darkened hearts and minds because of those disobediences and rebellions against the will and the love of God. And as the first reading today from the letter of St. Paul to the Church in Rome had stated, that while it was because of one man’s disobedience that all of us mankind had fallen, namely by the acts of the first Adam, it was by the New Adam that we have been saved.

And our Lord Jesus Christ is the New Adam, by Whom and by Whose actions we have been saved and made whole once again. How is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because of His humanity, which He shares with all of us. He is the Word of God, Divine and Infinitely mighty, powerful and beyond all comprehension, but He was willing to assume our lowly form and the lowliness of our flesh.

Imagine this fact, that God, Master and Lord of the whole universe, Almighty and great, have been willing to confine Himself into the mortal and frail body of a Man, so that by assuming this flesh through the Holy Spirit and by the cooperation of His Blessed mother, Mary, He became the New Adam, the New Man, through Whom God is pleased once again with us mankind, and the past taints of sin can be erased.

By assuming our flesh, and by then giving that life, the flesh and blood voluntarily to the Lord as an offering of sacrifice, God had made one and one only ultimate sacrifice for the sake of all of our sins, the best sin offering. And His petitions were heard because of His total and perfect obedience to God, even in the face of difficulties, challenge, rejection and ridicule upon Him.

While the first Adam was disobedient and while he chose to follow his own desires, listening to Satan instead of his Lord and God, the New Adam, that is Jesus Christ, was fully and perfectly obedient in all things, so that while the first man made sin to enter into the hearts and beings of men, the New Adam, Christ, by sharing with us the salvation which He had brought into this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, then what we need to do is that we should look at the examples of Christ, and follow Him in all these. He was obedient in following the will of God His Father, even unto suffering and grieving under the pressure and the burden of the combined might of our sins. Even during the time of the agony in the garden, Jesus was tempted to abandon His ministry, and yet, in the end, His commitment and obedience are too strong for even the devil to manipulate.

Why is this so? It is because of His great and infinite love which He freely gives to all of us. It is His love, care and concern for each one of us that had made Him to be willing to sacrifice Himself for the sake of all of us. And by His loving sacrifice on the cross, we have been made whole again, and worthy of God’s grace and salvation. By His resurrection He had promised us all to be free from the snares of death because of our sins, and in Him we all have hope.

And this hope which He has given us is that, He will come again to collect and gather all those who have shown their faith to Him, and He will gather all of them from among the nations and from the whole world, so that we can be saved and receive the fullness of His blessings and the eternal life He had promised all of us. And yet, many of us are not ready and many of us slack in our lives and actions.

We always think that we still have the time and opportunity to do good in our lives, and many of us also think that we can still enjoy ourselves and take our own sweet time in living up to the faith which we profess. However, the reality is that, the Lord may come at any time, especially at a time that we least expect. And therefore, let us all be awakened to the need for us to take action in living up our faith in reality, and show our faith through action.

May Almighty God bless us all, and keep us all in His grace, and may He awaken in us the urge to love Him and to devote ourselves to Him. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture message for us is very clear indeed, that all those who place their trust in earthly goods and worldly things shall falter and fail, as they put their faith in perishable things and on things that do not last forever. This is a clear lesson to all of us, so that we may learn to detach ourselves from our commonly excessive attachment to the goods of this world.

Jesus our Lord used the example of the rich man who thought that he had it all, and all the wealth and possessions he had accumulated all the years of his life would bring him pleasure and prosperity in his life. Yet, he did not realise that he is not the true master of his own life. It is the Lord God who is the true Master of all life, and He is the One who has control over all the lives of mankind, including all of us without exception.

That rich man had placed his trust in his great might and power in accordance with the standards and norms of this world, and he thought that he had nothing else to worry about, but he failed to understand that those things he had will not be brought with him over when he comes to his judgment in the presence of God. And he would have nothing to boast of, because nothing that he had accumulated would carry over to the world that is to come.

Instead of all these, our Lord advocated that we all should walk in His path, shedding all of our attachments to the worldly things and desires, and instead we all should adhere closely to the teachings and the truth of our Lord, which is the path of humility, of love and devotion to the Lord. Instead of being overly attached or obsessed with the goods of this world, with money or material goods, we should instead build up the true treasure that we will attain in heaven.

The earthly treasure of money, possessions and wealth shall eventually rot and be destroyed, but not the heavenly treasure that we shall build up if we live faithfully in accordance to the will of God. What is this treasure? It is the treasure of the love of God. While the worldly treasures bring about conflict and suffering, jealousy and hatred, the true treasure of love bring with it consolation and happiness to everyone.

How then, should we build up this heavenly treasure? It is by committing ourselves to actions that are founded upon love, and not the selfish love of men or love for money and possessions, but the selfless and perfect love that our Lord Jesus Himself had shown us, by laying down His life and suffered for the sake of all of us, bearing upon Himself all of our sins and all of their consequences.

We shall build up the true treasures of heaven by showing love in our own actions, caring for those who are lonely, rejected and downtrodden, and by giving hope to all those who are without hope. It is built by our act of giving light of love and hope to all those who have been living in the darkness and the uncertainty of this world, and by showing the path of the Lord to all those who need to be saved.

Let us all also heed the examples of the saints whose life we honour and remember today. Today is the feast of St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and their companions, the martyr saints of North America, namely French missionaries who spent their lives spreading the Gospel to the pagan and unenlightened people of the New World, especially in what is now Canada and North America.

They went through many hardships and difficult challenges, the difficulty of preaching in place so cold and hostile to life, and in places where the locals and the natives were quite unwilling to open up themselves to listen to the word of God, and the barrier of language differences that made things difficult for these devoted missionaries, who regardless of all these challenges, they continued to persevere through and preached the truth of God to the people.

And indeed, many were converted to the true faith, and many followed on in the hardships and the challenges that await all those who decided to follow the Lord and His path. And they went through times of difficulty, attacked and tortured by those who refused to listen to the truth, and they were all eventually martyred for their faith, dying a painful death defending their faith and conviction to the Lord, and in the process, received the crown of everlasting glory.

And today we also celebrate the feast of St. Paul of the Cross, an Italian priest who was very devoted to the Lord, and he promoted the devotion to the Lord, especially to His most holy Passion, the love which He had shown to all of us, and the suffering which He had willingly endured for the sake of all of us, so that everyone of us may be liberated from the pain of death.

St. Paul of the Cross taught us that by meditating upon the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by focusing on the ultimate sacrifice which He had made out of perfect love for us all, we may be able to understand better what we need to do in life in order to become ever closer to the salvation which our Lord can give to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow their examples and heed what we have heard in the Holy Scriptures today. Let us be better disciples and followers of our Lord, by persevering through difficulties and challenges, through temptations and resisting the pull of our desire, our human greed and wants, which threaten to engulf us into a life of hedonism and materialism opposed to the will of God.

Let us all be humble in all things, and grow ever more devoted to God, and find for ourselves and build up for ourselves not the temporary and illusory treasures of this world, but the treasure of the world that is to come. Let us all show our faith in God through our genuine love for Him and for our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 October 2015 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday and Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about firstly, from the book of the prophet Isaiah, on the prophecy of the suffering Servant, the Messiah who would suffer for our sins, and who would be given the burden of all of mankind’s faults, and He would be crushed with the grief and the punishment due for our faults, mistakes and sinfulness.

And in the Psalm, we heard about the Lord our God, who is God that is caring and loving towards all those who are faithful to Him, giving His blessings and graces to all those who trust in Him, and who fear Him and give to Him what is due for Him, namely honour, respect and due worship. This is the promise that God gives to all those who keep their faith in Him, that He will not leave them, but bless them and remain with them forever.

And linking to these two readings is what St. Paul mentioned in his letter to the Hebrews, where he highlighted the fact that Jesus, who was crucified, suffered and died for the sake of all the people, is the One true great High Priest of all, who offered not the sacrifice of animals and grains, but a different sacrifice that is His own Body, and His own Blood.

And He offered it not many times, but just once for the sake of the salvation of the whole world. The offering of His own Body and Blood, the offering of His worthy life has been accepted by God, as the one and only perfect sacrifice that is worthy to absolve us all from all the accumulations of our sins. God has given us all this grace and opportunity for us to be freed from the tyranny and hold of sin.

Then finally, in the Gospel today, Jesus spoke about how the way that He has revealed to us is not the path of pride and worldliness, but instead, we have to chart for ourselves a new path and follow a new life according to the will of God our Lord and Father. And this new path is shown by how Jesus rebuked His own disciples, St. James and St. John who asked to be favoured over the others by asking Jesus to give them the favour of sitting on His left and right, essentially a very great honour.

But these two disciples were basically thinking in terms of worldly power and glory, and they were thinking in terms of human glory, fame and honour, but they did not understand the true meaning of God’s Law and intentions for mankind. They thought that to follow Jesus means to share in His glory and honour, as well as majesty and greatness, and this is not surprising, as the normal ways of this world demand that we demand and seek for glory, fame and recognition in the eyes of one another.

After all, in this world, many of those who serve kings and rulers dress nicely and attempt to show that they are the best dressed and best in appearance before their master and trying to garner his or her favour by doing so. And yet, with Jesus, who is truly the King of all kings, and Lord of all lords, things are very different indeed.

For His kingship and kingdom is not of this world, and thus His ways and His methods are different from what we all used to know. If the way of the world is to flaunt greatness, wealth, fame and promote human praise and glory, then the way of our Lord Jesus and King is the way of humility, of loving service and genuine care to all those whom He is Lord over, and that is why He told His disciples, that whoever wants to be great from among His disciples must be a servant to all.

It is too often in this world that mankind uses power and influence to control and to oppress those who are subordinated to them, and they use all these to maintain their power, their privileges and their status, not willing to lose or be reduced in any of them. They desire for ever more and more worldly goods, worldly power, fame and influence, and this is why we mankind by our nature always bicker, enter into conflict and wars, and end up bringing suffering upon another or even resorting to murder and destruction of life.

The Lord teaches us that His way is not the way of greed, or of succumbing to our personal desires and jealousy upon others and what they had and what we do not have with us. He teaches us that to become greater in His eyes does not mean the same as being great in the eyes of the world. On the contrary, the greater a person has become, the more humble he or she should become, and become even less attached to their glory and desires.

It is difficult for us to detach from all these worldliness and human desires, as it is in our human nature to want even more when we already have something with us. And the more we have, the more difficult it is for us to resist that temptation to seek for even more. And the most important reason is that, we mankind are always looking for something that can satisfy our needs and wants, but all the things and goods of this world prove to be unsatisfactory in providing what we need.

After all, all the money and possessions, all the material goods in the world that we have cannot buy for us true happiness and joy. They can only provide us with happiness that is illusory, temporary and impermanent. And as I have just mentioned, that we mankind always grow in our greed and desire as we have more things with us? This is why we can never be satisfied with whatever this world is able to offer.

On the contrary, what truly can provide us with true happiness and satisfaction, is the satisfaction that comes from the Lord alone. It is only God alone who can give us and provide us with true happiness, that is by the provision of His words, His Law, His truth and His perfect love, that He fills us up with, that all of us are needing right now, to liberate us from our own sinfulness, stubbornness, and inability to live in accordance to the way of the Lord.

This is why, on this day, the Feast of St. Luke the Apostle and Evangelist, we should all reflect on the Holy Gospels, which the Apostles had written and composed by the power of the Holy Spirit, to provide us with God’s truth and love, through the words they have written in the Four holy Gospels. The Gospels and the entirety of the Holy Scriptures are the repository and evidence of the truth and the words of God that all of us have heard, witnessed and shared, and thus we believe in Him from whom the words came.

And as today is also the celebration of the Mission Sunday, by this we should all realise that all of us are the bearers of God’s Gospel to the world, for there are indeed many of those our brethren, who are still living in the darkness of this world, and which by our actions and deeds, we may bring the revelation of God’s truth to them, so that they may be saved too, just as we have been saved.

Many of us mankind are still living in ignorance of the truth of the Lord, blinded by darkness and sin, and the light provided by the truth in the Gospels are truly necessary for us all to be able to liberate one another from the effects of darkness that had covered our souls and bring all of us into the light of Christ our Lord. It is the mission which our Lord had given and entrusted to all of us, to bring His light to the nations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all remember the mission which our Lord Jesus Christ had given to all of His disciples before the time when He was about to depart back from this world to His heavenly Father. This mission is that all of us bring all mankind, from all the nations and from the whole world, to receive baptism in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And the way to do this is by proclaiming God’s truth, the truth of His words and the light of His truth by practicing our faith in our own actions, and showing our adherence and faith in God’s truth by showing these through all that we do to our fellow men, and through our commitment to the Lord and His ways. Let us all be missionaries of the Faith to one another, and in particular to those who lives are still in darkness, and who still have yet to hear the word and the truth of God.

May Almighty God be with us always, bless us all in our endeavours and works, so that in all the things that we say and do, we may bring more souls closer to the salvation in God. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words of the Holy Scriptures, speaking to us about the grace and blessings that shall await all those who keep and maintain their faith in God, and the curses and the condemnations that await all those who have veered away from the path towards the Lord and towards salvation.

The example of Abraham, our forefather in faith was used, in his obedience and exemplary actions and life, which were filled with the obedience and the trust which he showed to God, the complete faith and trust that he had shown, which made his descendants to become truly blessed by God’s grace. This is done so to inspire all of us to strive for righteousness and justice, and therefore become eligible to enjoy forever God’s love and grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have been called to a new life of repentance, of redemption and of forgiveness. All of us have been called out of the pit of darkness, misery and wickedness, and we are all called into the life filled with God’s justice and grace, which can become a reality only if all of us gather together and work together to achieve that goal of salvation in God.

Those who have not been faithful to God, who refused to listen to the word of God, and those who have gone astray in their lives, walking in their own paths in disobedience to the Law of God, will receive the wrath and anger of God, and God shall reject them, just as they themselves had rejected Him first. God is merely reciprocating the hatred and the unwillingness of those who have not given their love to Him. Yet, if these people were to repent and change their ways, God will readily show His infinite mercy and love to them.

God is ever loving and merciful, but this does not mean that He readily tolerates our sins and wickedness. He loves each and every one of us personally and as His beloved children and creation, but He does not love our sins and our wrongdoings. He hates all forms of sins and injustice, all forms of malice and wickedness, all forms of evil and all the darkness that lie in our actions.

If we persist in retaining all those sins and darkness, then certainly all of us will be condemned and prevented from reaching salvation in the Lord. This is because those sins and wicked things in our words and actions are barriers and obstacles that stop us from finding our way to the Lord. Those sins are what preventing us from receiving the fullness of God’s grace and blessings, and they kept us away from the light, remaining in the darkness and the abyss.

This is why, we ought to reflect on our own actions and deeds, and we should think about what we have done in this life, so that we may realise the current state of our being, whether we stand in righteousness and grace of God, or whether we are in danger of falling into the condemnation of eternal hell. Thus, we ought to heed the example of a holy man and saint whose feast day we celebrate on this day.

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the second bishop and leader of the faithful in Antioch, a great city of Christendom in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was counted among the birthplaces of Christianity, as the place where the faithful were first called as Christianoi, or Christians. It was the place where the Church was established by St. Peter the Apostle, the Vicar of Christ, who later went on to establish the Church in Rome.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was his successor as the second Bishop of Antioch, and he helped to continue the establishment of the Church in Antioch and beyond, caring for the spiritual and overall well-being of his flock, giving them examples to follow and exhorting them to be always faithful to God and His ways, and resist the temptations of worldly goods and human greed.

Eventually, St. Ignatius of Antioch shared in the suffering of Christ our Lord, when he and the other Christians were persecuted under the orders of the civil authorities of the Roman Empire. The Emperor and the officials of the Roman state opposed the Christians and their teachings of truth, and they attempted to snuff out the light of the Church at its young stage of growth.

Nevertheless, St. Ignatius of Antioch remained resolute and committed to the evangelisation and spreading of God’s Good News of the Gospel, and he suffered death and martyrdom knowing that the works he had begun would be carried on by those who came after him, and his martyrdom served as an inspiration for countless others to also pick up their crosses and follow the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us on this day reflect once again on our own lives. We have a clear choice on whether to obey the Lord and His ways, walking in His righteousness and justice, and practicing His will and commandments in all of our words and actions, or whether we want to follow he devil and all of his errors and lies.

Let us all take concrete actions in our lives, so that in all the things we do and say, we will show a renewed effort of loving and serving the Lord our God, with all of our hearts’ strength. May the Lord have mercy on us all, forgive us all our sins, and bring us into everlasting life. Amen.

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Friday, 16 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious and Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the readings from the Holy Scriptures speaking on the theme of forgiveness, and how those who have been forgiven by God shall receive great grace and blessings, as they will be counted among those whom God is pleased with, and they shall inherit the fullness of God’s grace and love.

And why is it so important for us to follow the path of righteousness and repentance from our sins? That is because history itself had shown that the righteous were blessed and brought into greatness, like Abraham, our father in faith and the forefather of many nations, and David, the king of Israel raised from humble origin of a shepherd to become the ruler of a great nation, and whose descendants rule forever, and through Christ, the heir of David, his kingdom is made secure eternally.

Meanwhile, the wicked had no share in the glory promised by the Lord, and for all their worldly glory and greatness, for all their boasts and haughtiness, they were not remembered and they left no legacy of their greatness on earth, save for ruins and emptiness, as well as burnt husks of possessions, material and wealth they left behind in this world.

It is in our human nature for us to act in ways that are selfish, self-glorifying, hypocritical and self-praising, that is to fill up our own human ego and pride, our own desires and greed, to bring pleasures to our own body and flesh, and to mortify and corrupt our existence, our minds, hearts and souls, with the corruption of sin and darkness. And it is these things that had caused us to fall and fail in our path to attain God’s mercy and salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to reevaluate our actions, words and deeds, and ask ourselves whether the things we have done in our lives are truly just and rightful, or wrong and wicked in the sight of God and men alike. If we have not been faithful or dedicated in our lives and actions, then truly, we always have that opportunity to rediscover ourselves and commit ourselves into actions that bring about God’s grace upon us.

The righteous and the saints, the holy ones of God did not always lead a holy and just life, and their lives were far from perfect. Even saints and blessed ones were once sinners as well, and they have committed sinful deeds before, just as no man was free from sin, save for Jesus Christ our Lord. Even Abraham once also did not have enough faith in the Lord at one moment, when he took Hagar, his maid to be his wife, as suggested by Sara, his wife.

And king David of Israel, as faithful and devoted as he was, he was once tempted by his lust and desire to take the wife of another as his own, as how he obtained Bathsheba, his wife, the mother of Solomon, by plotting the murder of her first husband, the captain Uriah. Such was the extent of his sin, plotting the murder of another to fulfil his own selfish wishes.

But he repented and atoned for his sins, just as Abraham, who disowned his maid and sent her off with the son she bore for him, and for king David, he sincerely repented for his sins, and having made a turnaround in his life, he was forgiven and given a new chance, where he continued to be a great king and honoured and glorified. This is the promise God has given to all those who have followed Him and rejected the path of Satan.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Hedwig, also known as Jadwiga of Poland, the Queen of Poland and the last of her dynasty. She was one of the greatest rulers in the Polish history, who was very devoted to her people, caring for the poor and the less fortunate in her kingdom, and giving all she could do to help those who have been left unloved and oppressed.

St. Jadwiga devoted her time for her people, the sheep that have been placed under her care by the Lord, entrusted to her care and love. St. Jadwiga showed many of us how to become a good follower and disciple of the Lord our God, living righteously, with faith and dedication, and by caring and loving for one another, especially the last, the lost and the least.

Meanwhile, today we also celebrate the feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who popularised and promoted the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which today is a major devotion and a central tenet and part of the Church and our faith. The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is centred upon the loving heart of our God, whose most wonderful heart is filled with great and rich mercy and care for all of us, His beloved ones.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is a very devoted servant of God, who devoted her life to a complete spiritual life committed with prayer and steadfastness in her life lived with the full grace and obedience to the will of God. She received many visions from the Lord, and most profoundly, this vision spoke of the most loving heart and the love which pours out of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Knowing the love and the care, the compassion and the grace that are flowing out from the Most Sacred Heart of our Lord, then we truly should appreciate what a good Master and Lord that we have, and let us all appreciate the opportunities and chances which He has provided us with, and let us all not be filled with pride or haughtiness, opening our hearts and minds to God’s grace and love.

Let us all commit ourselves therefore to a new life that is filled not with greed, desire, jealousy or anger, but with love, compassion, care for others and sympathy, that we may always be justified and rightful in our actions and deeds. May Almighty God bless us all, forgive us all our sins, for us poor sinners, and bring us to the everlasting life He has promised all those who hold fast to Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 October 2015 : 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 celebrate a great feast of one of the most renowned and greatest saints of the Church, namely St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila after her birthplace, where she was born in the city of Avila in the Kingdom of Spain about five centuries ago, and she lived during one of the most turbulent times in the Church, in the midst of the raging, so-called Protestant ‘reformation’.

During that time, across the heart of Christendom, the European continent was rocked by the scandal of heresy and disobedience against the true teachings of the Lord as espoused and taught by the Church that He had established. Many people fell into the trap of their own vanity, personal desire, selfishness and the inability and blindness to the truth and reality which God wanted to reveal to all mankind through His Church.

The Church was split apart by those who have preferred to walk in the path of sin and worldliness. And on the pretext of reforming and helping the Universal Church which at that time was indeed beset with troubles and issues, they waded their own paths and radically tried to pull as many of the faithful and as many souls as possible from the path towards salvation into the myriad paths that lead to somewhere else.

St. Teresa of Jesus was one of the several holy, devoted and committed servants of God who dedicated themselves to help save all those lost souls that had gone astray from the Lord and His Church. She was one of the spearheads of the Church in what was to be known as the Counter-Reformation movement and action, where the Church went on the counteroffensive against the forces of Satan and his agents, and by ceaseless prayers, ministries and works, they managed to stem the tide of heresy and destruction, and called many souls back to God’s salvation.

St. Teresa of Jesus was renowned for her exemplary and incredible piety, the prayer life she led and the spirituality she espoused in her life was truly commendable. She grew to understand the nature of mankind’s sins and wickedness, and how these become barriers and obstacles in one’s journey to attain the salvation in God, and how there is indeed a need for us to subject ourselves to God’s mercy, repenting and changing our sinful ways.

In this, we see the wisdom of God as revealed through Jesus His Son in the Gospel today. In that Gospel passage, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in a series of woes and curses arrayed against them because of their actions and their failures in acting and behaving as those whom God had appointed to be shepherds and guides to His people.

They have not been righteous and true to their faith, and they have fallen on the path of God’s righteousness, and they became people engrossed and obsessed with their own vanity, with their own glory and greatness, and as a result, they became judgmental and oppressive upon all those who have differing views and ideas from them, including the prophets and messengers whom God had sent to remind them to stick true to the way of truth.

They thought of themselves as above the Law and as the only ones righteous and just, and because they thought that by living their lives and observing the Laws as they had done, they were pious, favoured and glorified before the Lord, but in reality, they have veered far away from the path of God and into sin, for they were too deep in their own pride and distracted by the sins.

This was just how it was during the time of the Protestant ‘reformation’, when those who have become haughty and proud in their way, forced it upon themselves and others to follow their way and their methods, disobeying the way of the Lord, and leading others into sin and wickedness. This is what St. Teresa of Jesus had worked all her life so hard in order to reverse, for the sake of the countless souls in the danger of damnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to renew our commitment to the Lord in our actions and deeds, and we are all called to become less and less attached to our pride, ego and greed, and instead, grow ever stronger in our humility before God and in our love for one another. Let us be ever more committed to God and His ways, be true to the way He had shown us and commit ourselves to walk in the footsteps of St. Teresa of Jesus and the other holy saints and servants of God.

May Almighty God bless us all in all of our endeavours, and may He keep us ever in His grace, and may all of us come to realise ever more the love and compassion He wants to show us and give to us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the feast of a holy servant of God, His Vicar on earth, that is Pope St. Callistus I, martyr of the faith and Leader of the Universal Church. Pope St. Callistus I or Pope St. Callixtus I led the Church through difficult times and through challenging moments, when the Church and the faithful went through series of persecutions by the Roman Emperors.

Pope St. Callistus helped lead the flock of God’s people through those turbulent times, and he and many other leaders and elders of the Church helped to build up the foundation of the Church and stabilised it through the time of challenges and troubles. He helped to reunite those who have been wayward in their faith and abandoned their faith to return to the Church through atonement and repentance.

There were some of those in the Church at that time who favoured unconditional punishment and condemnation without mercy for all those who have erred and betrayed the Lord and their faith. And indeed they disagreed bitterly with Pope St. Callistus I, and the happenings at that time almost splintered the Church apart. However, by the grace of God and by his hard work, Pope St. Callistus I managed to keep the Church of God together amidst those turbulent times.

What he proposed was not an open toleration or total ignorance of the sins of those who have fallen on the road to the temptations of the devil, or a total rejection, humiliation and condemnation of those who have fallen aside. Instead, it is a path of mercy and forgiveness that was offered with the need for genuine and clear repentance on the part of those who have erred and sinned.

Thus, in the same way, Jesus also rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their refusal to change their ways, as they liked to judge others and condemn them for the faults, mistakes and sins they have committed, slandering and oppressing them, and using their position and influence to bring about suffering to all those whom they have put the burden on.

These people acted high and mighty, and they acted as if they themselves were pure and blameless from any wrongdoings or sins, but in fact, as the Lord Himself pointed out to them, that they were themselves subject to the wicked and wrong things that they had done, and they were blind to their own errors, which resulted in them leading others to error as well. This is what they had done, and the great disservice that they had brought upon God’s people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this reminder as well as the examples of Pope St. Callistus I and other faithful servants of our Lord are reminders for all of us not to engage in similar behaviour and activity, namely being overly judgmental and condemning upon others based on what they have done, and instead let us all focus on the potential that all men has for change and redemption.

But this does not mean that we and the Church should go soft in dealing with all of those who have erred and sinned. There are many, even in our Church today, who thought that we should give unconditional allowance for sinners to return fully to the Church, giving them allowance, chance and incentives to return to the Church, but ignoring the fact that they have committed often grave sins before the Lord and His people.

Doing this means a great disservice to those sinners, who may then think that they have no need for repentance or the need to change their ways if they want to attain salvation. This will lead to the sinners continuing to live in sin and not strive to change themselves for the better. And truly, if they fall into damnation, the responsibility will be ours for the fate of those poor souls.

We do not peddle or give false mercy that requires no action from those who receive it. Rather, we offer the Lord’s most generous mercy while requiring all those who intend to receive it to embark on a path of total conversion and repentance as the prerequisite for the reception of God’s greatest and ever rich mercy. Without the action from the sinners to change their ways and repent, God’s mercy will not work on them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote ourselves ever more to bring one another closer to the salvation in God, and let us all commit ourselves to call especially those trapped in the darkness of sin to repent, change their sinful ways and follow the Lord once more. May our loving and merciful God be with us all always, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the readings taken from the Holy Scriptures today all spoke about how we should not be trapped in our obsession of the exterior and appearances, which is part of our human nature, as it is in our nature for us to value appearances and our external vanity above all else. We often place value on others and judge them based on what we see in them, but we do not bother to look deeper inward into the hearts and minds of one another.

And that is why St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Rome spoke about the foolishness of those who gave up the truth and the wonders of the Lord God our Creator, and instead settled for something less, such as the created things and objects that mankind elevated to become their gods and which they worshipped by giving them sacrifices, praise and honour.

This is referring to the practices of those who made idols made of wood, gold, silver and other precious metals and items as their gods, thinking that in the wonders of the beautiful appearances lie the power of the One who had created them. And thus similarly, mankind worshipped objects like the sun, the moon and the stars, and gave glory to natural phenomena such as lightning, fire, water and other inanimate objects.

And the Pharisees in the Gospel reading today were no different. They may be faithful to the Lord and showing it through their devout prayers and complete strict observance of the whole of the laws of Moses and the Jewish customs and traditions, but as Jesus often rebuked them and criticised them, they had no love and care for the Lord and for those who had been placed under their care as shepherds of the people of God.

Their blind obedience to the Law and their obsession in fulfilling them, while judging and condemning others who did not follow the Law as they did, had made them to be the same as those who worshipped the pagan gods and idols. Why is this so? That is because of the attitudes of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who pretended as if the Law, or rather, their interpretation of the Law is above everything else.

And it was in this matter that they have erred. They have made their human made laws and customs as their idols, empty, foolish and meaningless if they did not understand the true meaning of the Law. They would merely be applying these for appearances and to their exterior being, but on the other hand, their interior being, namely their hearts, their minds and their souls remained darkened and corrupted.

This is the hypocrisy that Jesus had warned the people against, namely the hypocrisy and faithlessness of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, that even though outwardly they seemed to be good, pious and righteous, they did not do all those for the glory of God or for the good of their fellow men, but rather for themselves and their own glory.

Thus, the Lord is also warning us all not to do the same and not to walk in the footsteps of these people, or else we risk damnation because of our wicked interior, even though outwardly we may seem to be good and fine. Thus, this is a reminder for us to not be overly preoccupied making ourselves look good in front of others or be too worried about our image in the eyes of others, at the expense of true righteousness, justice and faith.

Let us all look deep into ourselves and reflect on our own lives. Have we been too focused on making ourselves look good and acceptable to others around us and the world? Have we compromised our faith just so that others will compliment and praise us? If we are truly faithful to the Lord, then certainly we will look far beyond those trivial things and focus on what the Lord had taught us about how to become His true disciples and followers.

May all of us devote ourselves more to love one another, to care for those who are sick and dying, oppressed and unloved, and give ourselves to care for them from our heart, so that in all that we do and say, we may bring justification for ourselves not just outwardly, but inwardly as well, so that our whole being will be found worthy and just before the Lord on the day of judgment, God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 12 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Scriptures that told us about the Saviour which we have gained and received through Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, Heir of David and the Promised One, whose coming God had predicted and promised to our ancestors, as heralding the beginning of a new time, a time for mercy and forgiveness of our sins.

Yet if we look at the Gospel today, we should realise how sad and unfortunate it is that the very ones to whom God had shown such mercy and love, had refused to believe in the One whom He sent, just as they and their ancestors had not believed in the words that His prophets and messengers had brought. And despite all the signs and wonders, and all the revelations of truth these faithful servants of God had brought to the people, yet they still refused to believe.

And they did not believe in Jesus either, even though they had seen with their own eyes, heard with their own ears and touched with their own limbs and hands, the truth of the Lord as made by the signs and miracles of Jesus, but they still remained hard and stubborn in their hearts and minds. They continued in their refusal to believe in the Lord, and consequently, they also continued to live in sin and committed wicked things before the presence of God.

This is a reminder that God also wants to tell us all, that all of us mankind have this very bad tendency of wanting ourselves to be satisfied, satisfied with the goods and desires of this world, and we are by our nature slothful and lazy, unwilling to walk in a difficult path and preferring an easier path instead. That was why the people of Israel consistently rejected the Lord and rebelled against Him.

Take for example the time when they were in the midst of the journey from Egypt, the land of their slavery to the Promised Land of Canaan, when Moses led them by the guidance of God to the happiness promised to them. During that time, God showed His power and majesty, leading His people out of Egypt with His mighty hand, casting down the Egyptians and their Pharaoh with ten great plagues when he refused to let the people of Israel to be free from their slavery.

And then, God split open the Red Sea before His people that they might walk on the dry seabed, and crushed their pursuers, the Pharaoh and his mighty chariots. And when they walked hungry and thirsty through the desert, He brought them manna from heaven, the bread of angels for them to eat, and large birds to be hunted and eaten, and brought forth sweet and crystal-clear water that sprung out of the rocks itself.

Yet, despite all these signs and wonders, that all of them had witnessed, they constantly grumbled and complained against Moses and ultimately, against the Lord who had been so loving and so generous with them. They did not give thanks to God who had cared for them for so long and gave them so much, and instead they complained with words such as that they would have had much more and better food in Egypt in slavery rather than dying in the desert.

This is to show us and to remind us that we mankind are very difficult to satisfy, as our desires and wants are essentially boundless in potential. It is in our human nature and instincts to want even more once we already have something with us. Thus, this is why we are not going to be satisfied even by wonders and signs, as superficial a people as we are. We like to look at things from the outside appearances without examining carefully the inside and the truth inside it.

To the people of Jesus’ time, they just wanted the pleasure of someone taking care of them, feeding them like when Jesus fed the five thousand men and four thousand men on another occasion with countless thousands more of women and children. But when the Lord revealed what they must do in order to become His true followers and disciples, they refused to listen and believe in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we all endeavour to resist the temptations of this life, the lies of Satan and all of his false promises? And instead, shall we devote ourselves and commit ourselves ever more to the Lord our God, and walk forever faithful in His ways? Let us open wide the doors of our hearts to God, and welcome Him into us, that He may reveal to us the truth of His grace and love, and thus by our greater understanding of His works and love, we may be drawn ever closer to Him.

May Almighty God bless us all and keep us all in His love, and may we receive the fullness of His mercy and grace. God be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 October 2015 : Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Anniversary of the Opening of the Second Vatican Council (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the message of today’s Scripture readings is very, very clear to us, and in case any of us have not realised and understood what this message is, then let us all discuss them here together, that all of us may understand the importance of what we heard today from the Holy Scriptures, for the sake of the salvation of our souls.

From the first reading taken from the Book of Wisdom, we are exhorted to look for the true treasure that we can find in this life, that is not wealth or possessions, neither pleasures of life or joys of this world, neither in food or revelry, neither human praise nor in fame, but in the knowledge of the wisdom of God, and the understanding of the truth that can only be found in God.

In the psalm today, we heard the very last line, which said to us that we ought to know the shortness of our lives, and asking us to let ourselves be filled and be completely taken by the wisdom of God, which will fill us up with true grace and wonders, that cannot be offered or be given by the world, for the wonders of God’s wisdom and might is infinitely far better.

This is to let us all know that for all the greatness and the wonders that the world can offer us or boast to us, all these are mere fleeting and temporary, and nothing of these can offer us true and lasting joy. And that is what Jesus in the Gospel today is trying to let us all know as well. For the wealth of this world is perishable, just as much as our flesh and bodies are perishable.

What does this mean? This means that all the money, the properties, houses, cars, buildings and all forms of wealth both tangible and intangible are all perishable by the forces of nature and by the hands of men. Take for example, a natural disaster like fire or earthquake or many other manifestations of these disasters, can easily destroy all that we have gathered so hard for our own satisfaction and pleasure.

And if we think that if we store our possessions in banks and similar institutions, or convert them into something like bonds and stocks, thinking that they are safe, then we really ought to realise how wrong we are. Banks and other institutions, even the mightiest ones, have fallen low and be destroyed by their own greed, or by other reasons, and when they fall, they bring together with them all of those who have entrusted what they had invested in them.

Surely we have seen how throughout history there are those who placed their trust and hopes in the upsurge of stock prices only to be sorely disappointed and even crushed by collapse or meltdown in the financial markets. Countless millions had experienced sufferings because they lost their hard earned money thinking that they could earn even more money quickly through such methods.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Gospel today spoke about Jesus our Lord, who spoke to a man who said to Him that he had done everything that the Law of God, or more specifically, the law of Moses had asked him to do, the commandments, the rules and obediences that he had to perform in accordance to the Jewish customs and faith, but who did not feel satisfied in his heart, because he did not feel the true satisfaction, and thus he asked that question to Jesus.

And Jesus told him the fact, the hard truth, that in order to be truly faithful, obedient, and ultimately to find the true satisfaction, one must be ready to part with all that he has, and abandon everything and follow Him in His ways, walking together the path of Jesus towards eternal life and salvation. This is the fact that Jesus had spoken to the man, which unfortunately was too much for him to bear.

And Jesus did say that the more that one has, the more difficult it is for one to part with all the multitudes and myriads of things that they have. And this is indeed very true, because it is our human nature to be greedy and to be filled with desire, and this desire is for things that satisfy the lust and greed of our human flesh, of our mortal bodies, the desire for money, for praise and fame, for adulation and glory, for pleasures of the body and sexual gratification and many others.

The more we have all these, and the more we make it a norm and a habit for us to have these, to pursue these and to want to have these, then we have to realise that we will be drawn ever further away from God’s grace and salvation, for in exchange of all these worldly pleasures and goodness, that are illusory and temporary, we have sold our rights and inheritance of God’s everlasting kingdom, by committing sins that make us unworthy to receive His grace and blessings.

Yet, we have to understand also that God did not mean that we should take His words completely at the literal level and sell everything we have, destroying all of our possessions or disowning them, or breaking apart our families and relationships just because Jesus said so to the man and to His Apostles. Indeed, He said that no one who had left behind worldliness and attachments to this world that will not be rewarded richly in the presence of God, but what He truly meant is different than what we understand if we read it merely at the literal level.

What our Lord meant is that we must be willing to forgo and break our attachments to the things of this world, that are the temptations that Satan and his tempters are presenting to us daily in order to tempt us and pull as away fron ever reaching God’s salvation, but it does not mean that those worldly goods are inherently evil in themselves.

Money and possessions can be beneficial when they are used appropriately, and they can be used for good purposes, such as helping the needy and supporting one another, that everyone can have a good life without suffering. And relationships and family ties are indeed necessary, for the family is truly the heart of our Christian faith. It is one of the strong pillars that supported the Church, for without strong and good Christian families, I fear that countless souls will be lost to damnation.

What our Lord Jesus is condemning is our unhealthy attachment to those things of this world, that caused us to behave in a wicked manner, in acts of selfishness and disgrace that brought about suffering to others around us. This is evident in how many people refused to share or give even a little of what they have, in order to help alleviate the suffering of others around them, and instead, endeavoured to gain even more of what they already had, or even engaging in the exploitation of the weak and the poor for this purpose.

It is this attachment to the world, to all the worldliness and the refusal to let go of all these things that our Lord condemned from us. He chides us for our stubbornness and our constant and continued acts of selfishness that showed how far we have fallen into the trap of our own greed and desire, and the extent of which we have allowed ourselves to fall is indeed worrying.

Now, therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, the choice lie before us, on whether we choose the path of the world, enjoying the goods and riches, the wonders and the pleasures of life, seeking the easy path and succumbing to our own desires and wanting ever more good things in our lives, without realising that all we have are merely illusory and temporary, and there will be a time when all of these will be taken away from us and we are left with nothing, or we can choose to follow the path that is more difficult and uncertain in the beginning, or it may seem so to us, but in the end, will bear us the everlasting fruits of heaven.

Jesus told His disciples the parable about a rich man who had so much wealth and riches, that he boasted that he should bring down his barns and storage places to build even bigger ones to store more of his wealth. But the Lord rebuked him and said to him that he was truly a fool for believing that he had all such glory and good things, when the Lord Himself would claim him on that very night.

Thus, through this, we see again the futility of the path of greed and the path of wickedness. Instead, let us all from now on, devote ourselves anew to the Lord and commit ourselves to His ways. Let us all seek to renew our zeal and courage to stand up for our faith and resist the temptations of the devil and the allures of the world. And instead of selfishly keeping all things to ourselves, let us make use of what we have been blessed with, and share that blessing with one another.

May Almighty God awaken in each one of us a heart of renewed charity, that we may become ever more sensitive to the cries of the poor and to the needs of the poor and those who are less fortunate around us, not just in wealth, but also those whose hearts are still shrouded in the darkness of greed and wickedness. Let us help one another to reach out to the Lord, and through repentance find His mercy. May our Lord bring us all His beloved children, into His everlasting kingdom. Amen.