Holy Week sermon

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Saturday, 10 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard clearly the words of the Scriptures which spoke to us about the virtue of being righteous and obedient to the will of God, and to walk in His path in obedience to the Laws and the Commandments which He had given us all, as the righteous and the just shall enjoy forever the grace of the Lord and be blessed forever.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what I have mentioned is the fact that in the first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Joel spoke about God who will bless and grant much goodness to all His faithful ones, giving them eternal inheritance and true happiness that can only be truly found in Him, and not in the world. The world gave us just temporary and illusory pleasures and happiness, that focus on satisfying our hearts’ selfish wants and wishes.

For the pleasures and the joys of this world are truly temporary and not lasting, and in a moment of time, everything we have in this world can be wiped out, but not that of the true happiness that one can find in the Lord. The treasure and happiness that God will give us surpass everything and anything that the world can heap upon us, and these will last forever and cannot be destroyed by fire, or by any forces of nature.

Yet, there are so many of us who have lost our path, and instead, we walk the path of worldliness, of selfishness and of sin. This is because, the temptations of the world can truly be very great indeed, and we know how much the world is trying to tempt us with many good things, and unfortunately, in our world today, it is growing ever more and more obsessed with commercial and materialistic attitudes.

What the Lord wanted to let us know is that, the world and all of its ways are the path of Satan and his fallen angels, who tried to bring us all down together with him into condemnation and eternal suffering, and they are trying to paint this path as one that is a more pleasurable, better, less hazardous, easier and has less obstacles as compared to the path that our Lord had shown us.

Indeed, by our human nature, it is natural for all of us to seek an easier path, and a path which seems to be better and filled with good things. It is in our nature to be lazy and slothful, and to desire things that satisfy us and make us happy, even though if that happiness is not the kind of joy that will last. But we have to realise that it is truly not worth giving up an everlasting and true inheritance and eternal and true joy in exchange for something that is illusory and temporal.

The devil is always trying to persuade us and tempt us to give in to our mortal and bodily desires, peddling before us all the goods and wonders of the earth to corrupt our minds, our hearts and upset our priorities, that we should truly not be mastered by our desires and greed, but instead cast them aside and destroy our own ego and selfishness.

The path that the Lord has shown us indeed is littered with challenges and obstacles, and if we commit ourselves to walk in this path, certainly it will not be easy for us. But we can rest assured knowing that because of our faith and by our dedication in following the Lord and His ways, we will be deemed worthy of the eternal life, the true joy and happiness, the blessings and graces God had promised us all.

Let us all therefore not give in easily to the temptations of the world, the temptations of the devil and his fellow fallen angels. Let us instead strengthen ourselves and our defences through prayer and devoted life filled with zeal and love for the Lord, as well as for our fellow men. May Almighty God bless us all in all these endeavours. God be with us all. Amen.

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Friday, 9 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord speaking to us in the Holy Scriptures. God spoke to us about what will happen at the time when He comes again in glory to judge His people and to bring them together once again as one people. On that day, He shall glorify the just and bless those who are righteous, and condemning those who are wicked and who have failed to do as the Lord had taught us to do.

In this, our Lord would like to remind us of the consequences of sin and what will happen to us if we walk on the path of sin and darkness. Those who have done evil shall fear the coming of the day of judgment because it is then that they will be judged for their deeds, and they will be held accountable for everything that they have done, be it good or evil in nature. Indeed, everyone shall be held accountable for all of their actions, and it is in these that we shall find salvation or condemnation.

But we have no need to fear or be excessively worried, for our Lord indeed gave us a chance, by the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to be our Saviour. Through Him, God gave us a chance and a method of deliverance from the evils that had troubled us all these while. Yes, the evil spirits and the wickedness that dwell in us has caused us so much trouble and made us to do so many bad things in the sight of God.

And yet, the Gospel today is a reminder for us not to be complacent and ignorant of the problems that we may encounter on our way. There is a lesson in the readings today about someone who had been released from the bonds of the evil spirits and then later on became worse due to those evil spirits returning back with an even greater force. This is a lesson on the nature of our faith in the Lord, which should be enduring and be filled with commitment to the Lord.

This means that our faith should be maintained and kept alive and strong. We have to remember that the devil and his fellow fallen angels are always out and about trying to bring about our downfall. And if we do not keep our spiritual defence strong, then the warnings of our Lord will come true for us. This means that we must keep our spiritual and prayer life strong to defend ourselves from the assaults of the evil one.

We must be wary and be vigilant, not to reopen the doors to allow Satan to come again into our hearts. Because at baptism all of us have renounced Satan and cast him out with the help of the power of our Lord, who sanctified the waters of baptism that washed us and made us clean, clean from the taints of sin, and from the tyranny and the hold of the evil spirits.

But this does not mean that we can be idle or be ignorant of all things after that. Our faith does not require us just to believe as some would have it, but instead, it requires an active participation and contributions through good works and deeds, which means that we are actively practicing our faith. We cannot be merely providing lip service of our faith to God, as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had often done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the examples of two saints, whose feast we celebrate on this day, so that we may make ourselves righteous, just and worthy in the sight and in the presence of our Lord. St. Denis, Bishop of Paris, martyr and holy servant of God, was the bishop of what is now Paris, the largest city in France, at that time was the capital of Roman Gaul.

St. Denis was renowned for his great faith and for his great service to the Church, protecting many of the faithful under his care and ministering to them, even during the difficult times of the persecutions under the Roman Emperors who were dead set in destroying the Church and persecuting the faithful. The Roman Emperor Decius was in particular very adamant and passionate in his persecution of Christians.

It was told that eventually he and many other Christians at the time were arrested, tortured and forced to choose between recanting their faith, rejecting their Lord and Master, or die a most painful death. Yet, St. Denis and his faithful flock stayed strong in their faith, and they resisted the efforts of their tortures most admirably. Eventually he was put to death by beheading, separating his head from his body.

Yet, miraculously, even though he had been beheaded, St. Denis continued to live and walk by the grace of God, and holding his own separated head, he continued to preach the truth of Christ, terrifying all those who had persecuted him and the other Christians, and not few of them eventually believed and were converted as well to the truth of Christ.

Then, today we also celebrate the memory of St. John Leonardi, known also as San Giovanni Leonardi, an Italian priest who ministered to the faithful during a time about four centuries ago. He was a founder of a religious order, and was renowned especially for his personal holiness and devotion, both to the Lord and to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord and Saviour.

St. John Leonardi through his works and devoted service to the people of God brought about a reversal of the heresy known as the Protestant ‘reformation’. This massive heretical movement had brought about many millions of souls to be lost from the Church and many faced eternal damnation, if not for the works of St. John Leonardi and many other faithful servants of God in what would be known as the Counter-Reformation.

The brave examples of the two saints we celebrate today should be an inspiration to all of us, that if we are truly faithful and devoted to the Lord, we shall show it not just by mere words and profession of faith, but with concrete and real actions, in defending that faith, standing up for the Lord and for our brethren oppressed for their faith, and for loving one another just as our Lord had instructed us.

Let us all therefore renew our faith to the Lord, and commit ourselves to greater devotion to the Lord and His ways. Let us open wide the doors of our hearts to His love and grace, and close the door tight against the devil and his fellow fallen angels. Do not let the evil spirits to come into us again and claim us for damnation. May the Lord protect all of us His people and bless us and our works forever. Amen.

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Thursday, 8 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard in the readings from the Holy Scriptures on the nature of God as our Father, who cares for us as His own children, and how the righteous will be treated differently from the wicked ones on the day of judgment, when God will come again to separate those who are worthy and good from all those who do not deserve salvation and grace of God.

Many of us are like those that the prophet Malachi spoke about in his book, which we heard as our first reading today, that is as those who are lacking in faith and understanding of the Lord and His ways. And it is not just that, but we are also ignorant of His methods and paths, which made us to think in the way of those the prophet Malachi had condemned.

These people think that God does not punish the wicked and the sinful ones, and they think that God does not reward those who have done what is good and just, and therefore, they presume that either God does not care, or that He condones whatever they were doing, or that He does not exist in the first place and thus they have no need to feel obliged to follow His laws or believe in Him.

But they are mistaken, for the ways of the Lord and the wisdom of God is far above their feeble understanding. Yes, despite all of our human achievements and intelligence, all these are still nothing compared to the wisdom of God, whose ways are beyond ours and our trials to understand them. But this is what we know, from what Jesus had revealed to us all, that those who have done what the will of God wants them to do, shall be rewarded.

We have to remember what Jesus had said about the day of judgment, when the Lord would come again to judge all the living and the dead, as our faith instructs us, that He shall separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the weeds, those who have made their lives useful and filled with goodness and love, from those who have not done so and lived their lives in sin or in ignorance.

Those who have done well asked Jesus when they had done what the Lord had expected from them, and He said that whenever they did something good for those around them who were persecuted, suffering, the least and the most ostracised among the society members, they have done it for the Lord Himself, and it is in these actions that the Lord sees their faith and rewards them.

Meanwhile, those who have not done as the Lord wills it, shall be condemned by the Lord, who will reject them because they have not shown mercy and love to those who are weak and downtrodden, to the oppressed and to all those who need God’s love. These are those ignorant ones mentioned earlier, those who think that they and their intellect and human wisdom are better than the wisdom of God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all today reflect on our own actions, and think about whether we have done what is needed to help others around us who are in need, and whether we have been truly faithful to the Lord, not just in words and proclamations, or appearances, but also in real deeds and actions. Let us also not be afraid to ask the Lord our God for His love and mercy, for He is truly our Father, who will listen to our concerns and wishes if they are genuinely for the love of Him.

Let us all seek God’s help and ask Him to strengthen us, our weary and weak hearts, minds and bodies, that He may fortify and prepare us against the assaults of the evil one. May God bless us all every days of our life, and may He as our Father, guide us as His children, to walk righteously in His path and help us when we falter and lose our way. God be with us always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 7 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of the Rosary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast of the Church, in the memory of the Blessed Mother of our Lord, Mary, one of whose title is the Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, or also known as our Lady of Victory, the beginning of this feast celebrated on every seventh day of the month of October, as the commemoration of the great triumph and victory of the forces of the faithful at the Battle of Lepanto against the infidel Ottoman Turks.

The feast of our Lady of Victory, which would later become the feast of our Lady of the Rosary, was instituted by Pope St. Pius V, who led the forces of Christendom and all the faithful in the great struggle against the heathen and pagan forces of the Ottoman Empire, which at the time was a huge menace to all the faithful, being at its peak, and marching deep into the Christian heartlands.

At the time, the forces of the faithful desperately needed some hope and victory amidst constant retreat and defeats against the mighty forces of the enemy, and at that time, the forces of the infidels were threatening to overrun the entire lands of the faithful, and the threat of persecution and destruction was very real, and many of the faithful feared for their lives.

Led by Pope St. Pius V, and several other prominent civil and military leaders of Christendom, the Church gathered together a force readying itself to defend the faithful ones of God, and they met the forces of the infidels at Lepanto, on the seventh day of October of the year 1571, about four and a half centuries ago. The leaders of Christendom asked for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary before the battle.

And during the great battle, the forces of the enemy were frightened and scared by what they described as a great vision in the clouds of innumerable saints and angels, led by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the side of Christ who is leading His forces against the forces of those who refused to believe in the One, True God. And the enemy forces were scattered, and their ships were sunk, ending the battle in a great and mighty victory for Christendom.

Thus, in thanksgiving, Pope St. Pius V devoted and dedicated the day of the battle as an annual feast in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the patron of the great triumph against the forces of evil. It was the intercession of Mary that has allowed the Lord to be moved to defend His faithful ones, as the prayers of the faithful were gathered by Mary, who brought them to the presence of her Son in heaven, being the closest to the Throne of God.

And today has then been associated with our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, because of the significance of the rosary in the battle that is raging in us, around us and at all times for the sake of our souls. The rosary is a great spiritual weapon that is a great tool for us, our sword and shield against the forces of Satan, all the evil and wickedness arrayed against us.

Why is this so? This is because the rosary itself originated with the vision of our Blessed Mother to St. Dominic de Guzman, many centuries ago, who appeared to him and asked him to spread and propagate the devotion of the rosary, as a means for the faithful to strengthen their spiritual life and defend themselves against the assaults of the devil.

And it was the same Pope St. Pius V who established with formality the devotion of the rosary, and approved it as a method of spiritual prayer to ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary, ever Virgin, to strengthen our defence against the assaults of the evil one. The rosary is named after the rosarium, a crown of roses, apparently what the Blessed Virgin Mary showed to St. Dominic de Guzman who first promoted the use of the rosary.

In each of the flowers or the beads of the rosary, each of these consist of a prayer that is a great weapon against the devil, namely the Ave Maria, or the Hail Mary, signifying the woman and the glory and the honour God gave her, because of the role she played in the salvation of all mankind, and how Satan had been defeated in totality through what she had done, in accepting the role she was to play in our salvation, by bearing the Saviour of the world in herself.

And every time we pray the rosary, Satan and his fellow fallen angels will be reminded of the failure that they had encountered, in failing to corrupt this holy woman whose immaculate conception and freedom from sin, as well as her immaculate and impeccable actions, completely and totally devoted to the Lord her God, is a blinding light that burns the devils and tears them apart.

If we pray the rosary, let us all pray not for the sake of praying or saying the prayers, as praying the rosary in just saying the words, is meaningless and without benefits for us or our salvation. Instead, when we pray the rosary, all of us ought to open ourselves and look deep inside our hearts, and bare everything open to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to help us by interceding for us poor sinners, who need help in order to resist the temptations and assaults by the evil one.

Let us pray the rosary with full devotion and intention of heart, that just as the faithful at the Battle of Lepanto cried out to the Lord through His blessed Mother, we too cry out with one voice, asking for help and deliverance from the forces of evil and darkness that engulfed us and oppressed us. God will surely hear us if we ask Him with the help of Mary, His mother. After all, if we remember the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed His very first miracle, He did listen to Mary even though He said that His time was not up yet.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore dutifully devote ourselves in the rosary, to solidify our prayer and spiritual life, and then enhance it with loving actions and deeds, helping others who are in need around us, so that our hearts, minds, bodies and soul may all be attuned strongly to the Lord, and we may be defended against the assaults of Satan and his allies. May God bless us all always, and may His blessed Mother, our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, our Lady of Victory always intercede and pray for us sinners. Amen.

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Tuesday, 6 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bruno, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about God and His merciful love for us, especially if we are willing to stop and spend some time for the Lord, instead of being busied and occupied with our many preoccupations, concerns and desires. This is a clear reminder that we should put God as a priority for us all, regardless of other things and concerns we may have.

In the Gospel today, we heard about how Martha, a close friend of Jesus was so busy with her chores and work, that the Lord reminded her, that even though her intention of doing so many work to prepare for the Lord and to make His stay comfortable is a good one, but at the same time, she should not forget about the most important thing of all, that is to listen to the Lord and His words.

That was what Mary, Martha’s sister had done. Martha thought that she was being lazy and not doing her part to help her, but she was in fact clinging to the one thing that she will not lose, and she has the assurance of listening to the word of life, and the Lord will not disappoint her. The case of Mary and Martha highlighted to us the importance of getting our priorities right, as it is often that we lose sight of the main goal because we are being preoccupied and distracted by other things along the way.

In the first reading, which was taken from the book of the prophet Jonah, we heard about how Jonah preached to the people of Nineveh about the upcoming punishment and ruin that God would bring about to the whole city of Nineveh and all its people for all the sins and wicked things that they had committed. But what is important for us to take note here is that, these people listened to the words of God spoken through Jonah, and they repented.

We witnessed the transformation and the effort in which they did in order to seek the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord, humbling and lowering themselves before the Lord, being penitent, whole people and the entire city, even to the animals and beasts, and even the nobles and the king. All of them showed sincere repentance for their sins and they begged the Lord for forgiveness.

In this, yet again we see how God rewards the faithful and those who have shown sincerity and ability to listen to His words and turn themselves to the path of righteousness. Had the people of Nineveh went on their usual and daily business, ignoring the Lord’s message through Jonah, they would have met their end in condemnation and destruction just as the Lord had said.

It is the same with all of us mankind. After our ancestors first sinned against the Lord, because of our disobedience, they have been cast out from the grace of God and a judgment and punishment had been declared on them. And these judgments should have been ours forevermore to, that is to roam the earth in suffering and to perish and death reclaim us just as what had happened to our ancestors.

But God showed His mercy and sent His prophets and messengers, to proclaim the coming of the salvation through which He would liberate all of His beloved ones from the tyranny of sin and death, only if they all would listen to Him, to the words spoken by the Saviour He had given us, and act on them, changing our ways from sinful ones to the acts pleasing to the Lord, and listened to what Jesus said just as how Mary did it, then all of us would achieve salvation with no issue.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Bruno, a holy German priest who lived during the time of the high Medieval era about a thousand years ago, also known as St. Bruno of Cologne. He is a truly devoted and dedicated servant of the Lord, who was devoted to the education of the faithful and to prayerful life in service to the Lord and to the faithful, inspiring many others to follow in his footsteps.

St. Bruno dedicated his whole life to the Lord and refused to be entangled in worldly matters. He even refused the offer and persuasion to make him the bishop of the diocese he was working in, as he wanted to devote more of his time to prayer and to serve the Lord’s people without being distracted with the many concerns of the world and with many other obligations that might have disrupted his focus away.

He wrote extensively and many of these writings, the verses and the works remained a source of inspiration for many of those who read them and study them, and his examples and lifestyle continued to become an example for many people to follow as they went on to live their lives in faith. And certainly, we too can do the same and follow in his footsteps.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote ourselves all the more to the Lord our God, and commit everything in our heart, mind and body to attune ourselves to the Lord and follow His will. Let us learn to keep our minds and hearts away from distraction just as Jesus our Lord reminded Martha, and let us follow the example of Mary, as well as the example of St. Bruno. May Almighty God bless us and keep us faithful and strong on our way to Him. Amen.

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Monday, 5 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Gospel reading the renowned story of the Good Samaritan as told by Jesus to the Pharisees who asked Him about how to live their lives faithfully in obedience to God. The story of the Good Samaritan certainly is familiar to all of us, and we know how the Samaritan man helped the person who had been attacked by bandits, while the teacher of the Law and the Levite passed on by without helping him.

Then in the first reading from the Book of the prophet Jonah, we yet heard again another of those famous stories from the Bible, namely Jonah and the whale, where we would have heard and remembered how Jonah spent three whole days and three nights inside the belly of a whale, and he did not die because the Lord saved him through the whale and safely brought him to the shore.

The lesson which we ought to take away from the readings of today is that firstly, we cannot be idle or escape from our responsibilities, from the mission which our Lord had entrusted us with. Jonah tried to run away from his responsibility of bringing the revelation of God to the people of Nineveh, but he was unable to, as during his journey in the sea, he encountered that great storm that eventually caused him to decide to throw himself to the sea.

And from there God called him to continue his mission to the people of Nineveh, and Jonah went on to preach to the people of Nineveh who listened to his warnings, repented together with their king, all their animals and beasts, and God spared them from punishment and destruction. And then, the Samaritan, who went on to help the man robbed on his way to Jericho, as an example of how God does His works through all of us.

How is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because if we act like the priest and the Levite who passed the wounded man by, then we are not doing our part as a disciple and follower of our Lord. That wounded and robbed man represent sinners and those who have been wounded by sin, living in a darkened world. If we just ignore them, then there is truly little or no opportunity for them to attain God’s salvation.

Certainly, if we look at it, the priest and the Levite portrayed in the story of the Good Samaritan clearly did not have any virtue or goodness attributed to them at all. And so, they deserved neither praise nor good things, but condemnation and the anger of God. Imagine, had they moved a finger to help the wounded man, they would have saved him and prevented him from death. Instead, when they were fully capable of helping, they ignored and abandoned him.

Therefore, today, let us all reflect on our own lives and actions. Do we want to be like the priest and the Levite who just walked past the wounded man, ignoring and abandoning him for death? If we do so, then perhaps we may have a more enjoyable and less challenging life ahead of us, as is our nature, caring about ourselves first rather than worrying about the rest and others around us.

But if we do so, then remember well what Jesus had said about those who have not done what they could, in what to expect for them in the day of judgment. Those who have failed to act and help as they were expected to will end up cast away and condemned because of their failures to provide help, and whenever they have ignored and abandoned the last, the least, the weakest and the oppressed. Their place is to be with the devil and his fellow fallen angels, in the eternity of suffering.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us all be touched in our hearts, so that we may be ever willing to reach out to help the less fortunate, especially our brethren who are still lost in the darkness of sin and the wickedness of evil. Let us not be ignorant to their call for help, but instead reach out to them to help them find their way to salvation. May God be with us all always. Amen.

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Sunday, 4 October 2015 : Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about a very clear message from the Holy Scriptures, at a very appropriate time as we as the Church are heading to a very important meeting between the bishops of the Church on the matter of the Family and Marriage, in the General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops scheduled to begin today.

It is a very clear reminder sent by the Lord to His servants in the Church, the cardinals and bishops assembled in Rome together with our Pope, that the institution of the holy matrimony or marriage, and the institution of the family are not to be tampered with or disturbed or changed in any way comprehensible. And the Church as the custodians and the Body of the faithful must preserve these institutions as far as they are able to, and support them with all of their might.

There must be no alteration or perversion to the sacred rules which had governed how the Church treat all holy marriages and union between man and woman as decreed by the Lord since the beginning of time, and which Jesus His Son had reaffirmed through His own words. Those who dare to try to alter the laws of God and the laws of the Church to suit the world and to suit their own selfish ends, will incur the wrath of God and the condemnation of hell.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is because firstly we have to realise that there have been increasingly ever greater attacks on not just our Faith and the Church, but on the very fabric and foundation that holds our faithful ones together, that is the institution of the family and by extension therefore, the institution of the holy matrimony or marriage.

Without marriage and solemn union between man and woman, there can be no family, and without family, there can be no Church, since it is through a functioning, proper and sanctified family, that new generations of the faithful can be born. These are the gifts of God, the gift of life which God has given to the union of man and woman which He had blessed.

And that is why the devil is trying to assault us all, and assault God’s Church, not only by promoting the culture of death, disrespecting life unborn and life of all people, treating unborn children as if they are not living, but he is going even further, and in trying to destroy the very foundations of our Christian communities, that is our families. Satan knows clearly that, if he can shake and weaken these foundations, he will be able to reap the fruits of his efforts, namely fallen souls which he will bring with him to hell.

This is the aim of the devil, who is always prowling about seeking souls to devour and destroy, in his hatred against God and His beloved ones, whom he would want to bring with him to his condemnation. And there are so many of his fellow fallen angels out there going about, planting the seeds of dissent and disobedience against God and His commandments, especially those relating to the sanctity of life, of holy matrimony, and of the family.

They masked their true intentions by persuading mankind to disobey the Lord in the name of free will and freedom to choose. This has been what we know as the pro-choice movement, where countless millions of life had been destroyed in the name of free choice, and then, now, even the world is trying very hard to make it the same for the institution of holy matrimony and the family, by giving alternatives, such as unnatural unions and adulterous relationships.

There are many those, even sadly within the Church who advocated accepting such perversions and such corruptions that mocked the sanctity of true marriage and true families built on the foundation of Faith. They advocated that those who have disobeyed the Lord and His laws by accepting and promoting the destruction of the families and of marriage, such as through divorce and remarriage should be given mercy and be allowed to return to the Church more easily, and be reallowed to receive the Holy Communion.

However, this is what I would call, advocating false mercy and in fact damnation to those who have sinned and disobeyed the Lord in these matters. Our world nowadays are obsessed with mercy and soft ways, and they prefer the soft application of justice and dislike punishments and harsh words, but these are simply ways for the devil to confuse us and to make us think that to sin against the Lord is acceptable, and that He will forgive us easily our sins.

But we forget the fact that just as much as God is loving and merciful, and just as much as He loves all of us, the most beloved ones of all His creations, He is also a wrathful and just God, who does not tolerate any forms of evil and sins in His presence. The devil is trying to lead us to think that God does not mind our sins, or that there is a way to be easily forgiven without repentance, or by simply fulfilling our faith obligations while continuing to live in sin.

No, that is not the way, brothers and sisters in Christ. God indeed does not hate or despise us as a person, and as someone whom He loves greatly and dearly, but He has also a great enmity against us because of our disobedience and sins. He has decreed it very clearly that He has created us man and woman, and He has created woman in the beginning from man, in order to make him complete, because she was taken from man.

This means that without the holy union between man and woman, a man is incomplete, and so is also a woman, who will also be incomplete, unless the two of them are united in the holy union blessed by God. God did not bless them to be united and then to dissolve the union later on. What Jesus had said to His disciples is true, and remains true to this day, that the holy union of matrimony is indissoluble, and no man should ever break what God had united.

God did not mince His words or being unclear or gave alternative explanations. He was truly very clear when He said the truth to His people. Moses only allowed the people of Israel to file for divorce and to break the unity of the holy union because of their stubbornness and constant bickering in disobedience against God and His laws.

These people refused to listen to God and to Moses, and they constantly wanted to follow their own ways. Therefore, in disgust and indignant moment, Moses did allow them to do such a wicked thing, but that meant that each of those who did so risk themselves in sinning against God. It was not because Moses has received God’s approval that the holiness of marriage can just be substituted with a deed of divorce.

But Jesus made it extremely clear that whoever has divorced his wife or husband when that union has been legally blessed and made one by the Lord, that is a valid Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, it is a sin against the Lord Himself. And worse still, if the person who had divorced then decide to remarry again by finding another partner, for whatever reason, it is an even greater sin against God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all use this opportunity to pray, pray hard and fervently for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be with the bishops and the cardinals, and all the participants of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that will begin today and last another two weeks. Let us pray that the devil will not be able to have his way in this holy gathering, and may all who seek the destruction of the true faith and the institution of the Family and the Holy Matrimony be condemned and be destroyed.

Let us all pray for the repentance and the turning of those who have sinned against the Lord by disregarding the holiness of life, the holiness of marriage and union between man and woman, and the holiness of the family, that they may be turned from a path of sin into the path towards redemption and salvation in God. May the Lord Almighty be with all of us, guide us and keep us in His grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 October 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the assurance of the Lord who will succour and help His people, all those who keep their faith in Him, despite even all of our wickedness and wrongdoings, all the mistakes that we had committed in this life. God has given us a new chance through Christ Jesus, His beloved Son.

In the readings today, God wants us to realise that despite all of our intellect, our wisdom and understanding, our strengths and power, there is nothing greater than the wisdom and the might of the Lord. The ancestors of the people of God, the Israelites during the time of the kings met their end because of their lack of faith, their inability to restrain their pride and greed, and they walked in the path of rebellion of Satan.

Satan was one of the greatest angels in heaven, and he was mighty and great beyond compare, but in his moments of greatness and being too obsessed with his power, he fell into wickedness, because he thought of himself as a being greater than even his own Creator and Master, that is God. He sought to have the equality with God, and even to surpass Him, in trying to usurp the throne of Heaven for himself.

But he failed to do so, and instead of rising up high, he was brought down to damnation. And when he failed, he tried to bring us down, the most beloved of God’s creations, by tempting us to disobey the Lord as well, playing with and manipulating our desires and the pride within us, by claiming that in our disobedience and in our turning inward towards our own desires, we will be able to achieve great things, such as gaining equality with God, or gaining pleasures and goodness for ourselves.

This is what we must challenge ourselves to resist, the temptation of pride and power, which had corrupted so many of those who went before us. For pride and power make us to look only at our own greatness and good things inside us, but it made us blind to the reality of our frailty and weakness. There had been so many people who fell into this trap, believing in their own greatness and power, boasting about them.

St. Paul put it very nicely in one of his letters, that if we are to boast or want to boast, let us not boast about ourselves, or bring praise upon ourselves. Instead, when we want to boast, we should boast only about the Lord our God, He who is the only One worthy of true praise and glorification. Remember that all of us are creations of our Lord and Creator, and thus, any greatness or glory we receive is truly not ours, but it belongs to the One who created us. We share in His glory and we are glad.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on our own lives. Have we been truly faithful to God, or have we been indulging in our own delusions of grandeur instead? It is in our human tendency to fall into praise for ourselves, into the fulfilment of our own selfish desires at the expense of others. There are therefore a lot of things that we need to do to resist those temptations and uphold the faith which we have in the Lord our God.

We have to learn to be humble, in being able to realise our shortcomings and inabilities, all the things that we are unable to do, and learn to trust in the Lord more, for it is truly in God that we can trust, and not in our own human power. For while the power of God is reliable and will never fail, but the power of men is just temporary and do not last, and they often fail us.

God will not disappoint us, and as long as we remain faithful to Him, we will always be blessed by His grace and love, and in the end, prosperity will never be far away from us, and our sufferings which we suffer now for being upright and just in the presence of God shall be repaid with the eternity of happiness and true joy in the presence of God. May God our Lord bless us and keep us in His grace always, and let us praise and bless His Name. Amen.

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Friday, 2 October 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Homily and Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, namely the angels which God had commissioned to be alongside each and every one of us mankind, as our guide, our protector and our intercessor before the Lord, the one who protected us from the depredation and attacks by the devil and his fellow fallen angels, the tempters.

It is in the aim of the devil to see our downfall into the temptations of the world, of the pleasures of the world and sin, just as he first tempted our very first ancestors, Adam and Eve in the Gardens of Eden. By that temptation, our first ancestors chose to listen to the words and sweet lies of the devil rather than to obey the Lord our God, and thus they were cast out of Eden because of their disobedience.

And yet God who loves us all, as He is our Father, and we are His children, has decided to continue to love us and to watch over us in this world. God sent His angels to watch over us and protect us, to keep us safe from the attacks by the devil and his angels, as all of them continue daily to attack us and hoping to drag us with them into the eternal fire and suffering of hell.

And our guardian angels are there to protect us from their attacks, and they are there to remind us whenever we stumble, by their words silently resounding deep within our hearts, competing with the words of the tempters and the devil, fighting over our souls, influencing us either to follow the Lord, in the case of our Guardian Angel, or to follow the path of sin, for the case of Satan and his tempters.

If we read the Scriptures today, we certainly should be able to see and notice how much God cares for all those who keep their faith in Him, and how God will keep them away from stumbling by sending His angels to help them. Thus, it is the same if we are faithful and continue to devote ourselves to Him. God will preserve us, protect us and keep us safe from the assaults of the evil one.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we followed what our guardian angels had told us? Or did we rather prefer to listen to the devil and to his lies and untruths, as he had done the same to countless men and women who came before us? Shall we open wide the doors of our hearts, so that our guardian angel may come inside and reveal to us the love of God and the truth which He had conveyed through the angel?

Have we thanked our guardian angel for all that he had done for us? He never ceases to work hard in order to protect us from harm, just as our loving Father continuously show His concerns for us mankind, His children. Those who are righteous are surrounded by the angels of the Lord, who will keep us safe and protected from harm, and they guard our ways to keep us in the faith.

But even so, even if we have been faithful, we still have to be vigilant and be careful against the assaults of Satan and his allies, who constantly seeking our downfall and destruction. God does not want us to fall, and He helps us with His angels, but ultimately the choice rests on us, in our own free will to choose either to follow God or to follow the devil.

Let us therefore, on this feast day of the Holy Guardian Angels, strive to become ever better followers of our Lord, and be more faithful to Him in all actions, words and deeds. Let us not take the gift of our guardian angels for granted, but work closely together with the guardian angels, to keep our path straight and to keep us on the way to salvation.

May Almighty God who sent His angels to protect the weak and the downtrodden, to lift them out of harm’s way, keep us safe and protected from the wickedness of the evil one. May He bless us in all of our endeavours and dealings, that everything we say and do will continue to be worthy for the Lord and we may be gathered together in the most Holy Presence of our Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 1 October 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of one of the greatest saints of the Church, a holy and devoted woman whose name still inspires many of the faithful even unto this very day. She is St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as St. Therese Lisieux, a great religious and a great saint, Doctor of the Church for her many writings and contributions to the Faith, and she was made the Patroness of Christian missions throughout the world.

Who was St. Therese Lisieux? She was born from a family of devout Catholics, and Blessed Louis Martin and Blessed Marie-Azelie Guerin were her parents, who themselves are now on the path to sainthood due to their own personal piety and great examples of faith. It was in such a pious environment that St. Therese Lisieux was raised up in faith, and she became a good daughter of the Lord, and naturally, she felt the call to serve God early in her life.

St. Therese Lisieux inherited the great piety and faith of her parents, both of whom wanted to serve the people of God and the Church in a greater way, by joining congregations and reaching out to the less fortunate, but they were barred and prevented from doing so by the numerous challenges and circumstances of that time. Instead, it was through St. Therese Lisieux that their wishes were fulfilled.

She was often sickly in her youth, and she had lost her mother at a young age because of cancer. But this did not dim her desire to serve the Lord in greater capacities, and after one of her older sisters decided to join religious life, she too wanted to do the same, but was prevented from doing so due to her very young age. Nevertheless, she continued to devote herself strongly to the Lord.

And she overcame her problems and challenges at one time in her life, when she became resolved to serve the Lord and join the religious life as one of the Carmelites. Eventually she managed to get her request to join the Carmelites early, and from then on, she devoted everything to the Lord and to His people. And throughout her life from then on, she became a great source of inspiration to many people, through her works and writings, through her prayers and devotions.

She discovered the ‘little way’ which would be famously attributed to her, as the way to reach out to the Lord. In this way, she focused on the frailty and how small human beings are as compared to the greatness of God, and therefore, rather than trying to reach up high and to stumble because we are unable to perform great things that we are unable to do, then she advocated us all to follow the way of simplicity and humility, of complete surrender to the will of God.

St. Therese Lisieux in her many contributions to the Church and to the faithful people of God had brought about much goodness and brought salvation closer to many countless people and souls. This example that she has showed all of us, we should take heed of, and then we should try our best to emulate her as best as we can, so that we too can take part in the effort to bring all people and all souls closer to God’s salvation.

And this is aptly recalled in the Gospel today, where the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, who argued about who should be considered as the greater or the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus made it very clear that the path of the Lord is not that of pride and of hubris and boasting, but instead, those who lowered himself and kept his humility before the Lord would receive greatness in the presence of God.

This is exactly just as what St. Therese Lisieux proposed in her ‘little way’, that is, if we want to be greater servant of our Lord and receive greater blessing and grace from the Lord, then we should lower and humble ourselves, and not to become attached to worldly things and desires. The greater is our humility, the more we are able to realise what God wants to do with our lives, and the more we can recognise what we can contribute and do for the sake of the salvation of souls.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, by heeding the examples of St. Therese Lisieux, the Little Flower of Carmel, let us all devote ourselves ever more to the Lord our God, and let us all dedicate ourselves ever more to help all those around us who need our help, especially those who have lost their way and do not know the way to go to reach out to God and His salvation.

May Almighty God be with us always, and help us to be more like St. Therese Lisieux, in piety, devotion and deeds, so that in all the things we say and do, we may bring greater glory to God, and help mankind and more souls to attain the salvation of God. God bless us all. Amen.