Holy Week sermon

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Wednesday, 30 September 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings urge us to put aside all sorts of uncertainties, doubts, and undue attachments to worldly goods and pleasurable things in life, all of which are holding us back against being saved and receiving the eternal life and glory as promised by the Lord our God.

The first reading today is an account of the servant of God and prophet Nehemiah, who was a steward and servant in the house of the Emperor of Persia, living in the great and unimaginable luxury of the Imperial Palace of the vast and mighty Persian Empire. At the heart of the Empire, therefore, Nehemiah must have enjoyed such a wonderful and enjoyable life, even as a steward and servant to the Emperor.

However, God called on him to help the reconstruction and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple, and for him to travel there to oversee the works involved in the restoration of the people of God and the land they dwelled in. If we look at it, certainly what God asked of him was something very difficult and demanding, and it required Nehemiah to leave behind all the good things that he had enjoyed in life, and venture to the uncertainty of the land of Judah.

Ever after the kingdom of Israel and Judah had been destroyed by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, the land which was once very prosperous and renowned under the kings David and Solomon was no longer an important place to be, and it was rather a backwater by the time of Nehemiah, and going to such a land for an extended period of time must surely be a difficult thing to do for Nehemiah, and yet, he begged the Emperor to be allowed to go, for the Lord had made him the tool to help the rebuilding of the land and to bring the people of God back to the glorious days they had missed.

In the Gospel today, we heard how Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, and to leave behind all the things they had, all the joys of the world, all their possessions, and even their relatives and their own families. He told them not to worry about many things and attachments to this world if they are willing to follow Him. This is meant to let us mankind know, that we who are often too busy worrying abut ourselves, that we can really put our trust in the Lord our God.

Many of us are too concerned about ourselves so that we are not able to truly focus on the Lord. Remember that in another parable Jesus had said about how the wicked servant used trickery to gain advantage of the situation and to safeguard himself after he was fired by his master because of his corrupt ways? That is because we cannot be master to both God and money, and thus we cannot follow both the Lord and our own desires.

If we want to be true disciples of the Lord, then we have to learn to let go of our wants, our desires, and stop our ego and pride from growing in our hearts. Let our minds not be filled with the corrupt notions of desire and greed, and let us be filled instead with the selfless love which our Lord had shown us through Jesus Christ. And Jesus had told us all, that if we want to follow Him, then we ought to take up our cross and follow Him.

What Jesus said to His disciples also did not mean that we have to literally leave our families, our possessions and everything behind as we go forth to follow Him. What He meant for us is that we all have to learn to detach ourselves from our too-easily attached attachments to things such as business, possessions, relationships that may not bring about and may not lead us to the righteousness required for God’s salvation to be ours.

It is essential that all of us take heed of what Jesus had told His disciples, which we heard today, so that we may grow less and less worried and attached to our desires and then we will be better able to follow the Lord our God with all of our heart’s strength and with all of our might. If we follow the Lord, then we all ought to be true to His words, and walk faithfully along His path.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Jerome, a great saint and Doctor of the Church, whose examples that I hope all of us can follow. St. Jerome was once a wayward man in his youth, who gave himself to debauchery and wicked was of the world, much as his contemporary, another great saint, St. Augustine of Hippo who was once also a great sinner.

St. Jerome eventually repented and left behind his life of sin, and he was truly very repentant and sorry for all the wicked things he had done, and which he atoned by many good deeds, helping to build up the foundation of the Church and spreading the Good News of the Gospel, most notably by his most renowned achievement, that is of the writing of the Latin version of the Bible, a translation from the original Greek version called the Septuagint. The Latin Bible written by St. Jerome is also known today as the Vulgate Bible.

Thus, we see how St. Jerome also left his past sinfulness and wickedness behind when he decided to dedicate himself and commit himself to the Lord. And we saw what a transformation that was, and how that transformation benefitted countless people through many generations. And we too can do the same with our own lives. If we can leave behind sin and wickedness in our lives, and resolve to never again commit sin and vile things in our words and actions, then the path forward for us is clear.

May Almighty God be with us all, guide us on our path, and help us in our transformation from a people living in darkness, into the children of the Light, whose lights are reflection of the Light of the Lord our Father, and through our light, may more and more people come closer to God’s salvation. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 September 2015 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a very great feast in the honour of principally the Prince of all the heavenly hosts, St. Michael the Archangel, chief of all the angels of God, defender of the faith and defender of all God’s children from Satan and his angels.

And we also celebrate the other two great Archangels mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, St. Gabriel the Archangel, the bearer of the Good News of God to Mary in Nazareth, announcing the coming of the Saviour into the world, and St. Raphael the Archangel, the one who appeared to Tobit the Israelite in his exile in Assyria, who helped both him by healing his eyesight, and by healing Sara, his daughter-in-law from the depredation of Asmodeus the devil.

The three of the great Archangels all represent who the angels are. In case we do not know, God created His angels as the stewards of all creation, as the extension of His will, His obedient servants who went forth from place to place to bring God’s goodness to all creation, especially to all of us mankind, the most special of all of God’s created ones.

They worked constantly to help all of us in the defence against Satan and all of his forces, who continually assail us from all directions, aiming at bringing about our downfall and our damnation in hell together with them. Satan was himself once a great angel of God, the greatest and most brilliant among all of them, but in his brilliance, greatness and might, he was lost in self-praise, self-aggrandisement, desire and vanity.

It was his pride that brought about his downfall, and pride is indeed the greatest and the most dangerous form of sin. From pride comes jealousy, desire, greed, hatred, anger, wrath and all other forms of sins, for it is the ego, the pride for the self that brought about all the other negative emotions and feelings, which led to much evil, sorrow and wickedness.

And thus Lucifer, the name Satan was known with before his downfall, in his great pride aspired to ascend even higher and greater, to supplant even God Himself and sit upon the throne of heaven. And we can see this in one of the Book of the Psalms, where there remained a portion of his boast, that he would place himself above the stars of heaven, the angels, and take place the throne of God.

But instead of being elevated and glorified, he was brought low, and cast down, and he was condemned together with the numerous angels who followed him into his rebellion. This was told in the Book of the Revelation or Apocalypse according to St. John. That book is a window to the future events, but at the same time also contained explanation of what happened in the past.

The great red dragon who brought down a third of the stars in heaven was Lucifer, or now known as Satan, who brought down approximately a third of the angels of heaven together with him in rebellion against God, and these became what we know now as the fallen angels. And Michael stood against the dragon, and warred with it, and the dragon was defeated. This was what happened, when St. Michael the Archangel took up the banner of the faithful angels and led them to victory against Satan and his allies.

And thus was how St. Michael the Archangel became the Prince of all the heavenly hosts of angels. St. Michael was not the greatest or the mightiest of the angels as Lucifer was, but he was chosen because apparently, when God assembled the angels before Him, St. Michael would tremble in his knees before the Lord’s presence, and He noticed that, and thus, his name was Michael, the one who trembles.

And yet, this trembling is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of total surrender and trust in the Lord, for he knows that the Lord is Almighty and great beyond compare, and as mighty as he is, he is nothing as compared to the Lord. And in his heart lies complete loyalty and trust in God, his Lord and Master. And thus, in his great humility and sense of responsibility, and in his faith, God made him to be the commander of all the angels.

From here we can see the virtue of St. Michael the Archangel, that it was not pride and ego that brought us to true greatness, but humility, that we are humble enough to admit our shortcomings and weaknesses, and seek help from those who are more capable and greater than us. St. Michael the Archangel leads the angels of God in defending us from the constant assaults of the devil, who led his own forces of the fallen angels in a constant struggle for our souls.

That is why our guardian angels are always with us and protecting us, that we will be able to guard ourselves against the fallen angels that prey upon us, the tempters who attempt to turn us away from the path of righteousness and from obedience to God, just as Satan, the first and the chief tempter, tempted our ancestors Adam and Eve, and convinced them to sin against God.

Then, as mentioned, St. Gabriel the Archangel is the other great Archangel who came to Mary on that night in Nazareth, a small town and a poor village, and he came to a simple woman, unassuming and without status, to proclaim to her and thus to all creation, of the fulfilment of the long awaited promise of salvation by the Lord, which would be made complete and perfect through Mary.

Yes, God had promised mankind since the very first moment they fell into sin, that while Satan would continue to harass them and harm them and their descendants, that is all of us, but one day deliverance would come through the Woman, and this woman is Mary, whose Son is our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world, the One who liberated us all from sin and from the tyranny of Satan.

Thus through St. Gabriel the Archangel, Satan received the announcement and proclamation of his impending ultimate and final defeat at the hands of God. That no matter whatever he is trying to do, ultimately, God shall triumph in the end, and he and his fellow fallen angels have no place in the world that is to come. That is another work of the angels of God, that besides fighting to protect us and help us from the attacks of the devil, they also deliver God’s will and messages of hope to us.

And lastly, St. Raphael the Archangel came to help Tobit and Sara when they both prayed to God for help and healing, and God heard them, sending St. Raphael the Archangel to bring about their healing. Tobit was blinded by bird droppings after he had gone out to help the unjustly punished among his people and chastised by his own relatives, friends and even his wife, while Sara had had seven husbands and every single one of them died by the works of Asmodeus the demon, servant of Satan, and she was wrongly and unjustly accused by those around her.

Through St. Raphael the Archangel and his works, he banished and crushed Asmodeus and freed Sara from the bonds of the demon by the will of God, and helped to unite her with Tobias, the son of Tobit. And then, he brought healing to the eyesight of Tobit, that he might be able to see again, and the situations which was once very dire and filled with despair, had been turned into one of joy and filled with hope once again.

Thus, the angels of God bring hope and healing to us, the hope of the Lord and the healing touch of our Lord Jesus upon us, that hope may dawn in our hearts and the love of God may fill up our heart, dispelling all forms of doubt and despair. This is important in the field of the constant daily spiritual battle for our souls, as hope gives strength to us and to the angels fighting for us, so that together we may drive away the forces of evil assailing us.

Therefore, today, let us all pray together, to the Holy Archangels of God, princes and lords of the angels and servants of God. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle and strengthen us against the attacks of Satan, the faithless servant, and cast him down from his throne, bring him low and crush him. St. Gabriel the Archangel, bring God’s Good News and messages of hope to us, that by listening to the hope which we have in the Lord, we may continue to struggle on to righteousness and justice.

St. Raphael the Archangel, help bring us God’s consolation and healing, that our troubled and wounded hearts and souls may rejoice and be renewed, that a new hope may blossom inside us, that no despair or darkness sent by Satan and his agents may deter us from our path towards salvation in God. May the Lord through His great and holy Archangels continue to protect us always. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 28 September 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Lord our God who proclaimed His salvation to the nations, to all of His people who had long been oppressed and under slavery, that by His own mighty power, He would deliver us all from our slavery, that is the slavery to sin and death. He had promised this to all of us, and fulfilled it perfectly through His Son, Jesus Christ.

As what He had said to the prophet Zechariah, which we witnessed in our first reading today, God was indeed angry against all of us His people, and He despised all of our sins and wickedness. That was why He cast all of us out of His grace and blessings through our ancestors, Adam and Eve, who was cast out of the bliss of the Gardens of Eden, and had no choice but to endure and to suffer the bitter sufferings in the world.

But it did not mean that the Lord did not care about us or that He was plotting our destruction. Certainly, it is within His power to completely obliterate us out of creation and the world had He followed only His justice. It was truly just indeed for us all to suffer destruction and death as a consequence for our sins, and we truly deserved to fall into hell for eternity, which had been prepared for Satan and his angels.

It was the love He has for us, the endless and boundless love that had prevented Him from casting us out completely, and He was willing to give us another chance. This is a privilege that He did not give even Satan, once Lucifer, who was condemned once and for all for his rebellion against God, and cast down out of heaven to the earth. It is a privilege that we have received to be able to atone for our sins and be forgiven.

And the Lord Himself proclaimed His salvation that would come where the faithful and devoted ones would receive succour and rescue from the darkness and the suffering of this world, and this was perfectly fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah, none other than the Word of God Himself, made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord. By His crucifixion, the death He suffered on the cross, He had made us all whole once again, and by His resurrection from death, He brought us all a new hope.

But, He also reminded all of us through His disciples that those who believe in Him and follow Him will also suffer as He had suffered, and the world would reject them just as it had first rejected Jesus. This is because the world is the dominion of the fallen angel, our great enemy, Satan, who had seduced the entire race of mankind into sin and disobedience against God. Certainly he would not want us to be lost to him and be saved.

That is why, today we celebrate the memory, life and death of great followers of our Lord, who had endeavoured and worked hard to spread the Good News of the Gospel, and gave their lives in the service of God in holy martyrdom. St. Wenceslaus, martyr of the faith in Bohemia, now known as the Czech Republic, and St. Lawrence Ruiz, also known as St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint and his companions, the holy martyrs of Japan.

All of them suffered the rejection of the world and the persecution and torture by those who opposed the Lord and His ways. St. Wenceslaus was the ruler of Bohemia, whose rule was particularly remembered as one that was filled with justice and righteousness, and St. Wenceslaus was very committed to his role as the leader of his people, serving them as best as he could.

St. Wenceslaus however encountered great opposition by the nobles and the rich landed members of the Bohemian society, some of whom were still pagans and unbelievers, and most importantly, they all were united in their opposition to the ways and rulership. They wanted to satisfy their own wants and wishes, and they wanted to maintain the privileges and good things they had.

Therefore, they plotted against St. Wenceslaus, and eventually managed to murder him with the help of the brother of St. Wenceslaus, who benefitted by becoming his successor as the ruler of Bohemia. However, the sin of murdering such a holy servant of God was truly great, and it was not until that brother repented and atoned for his sins that he was truly welcomed back once again into the Church of God.

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence Ruiz was a Filipino who escaped to Japan during the time about more than four hundred years ago, when he was wrongly accused of the murder of a local magistrate. He boarded a ship destined for Japan, and then over there, he joined the thriving local Christian community, which at that time was tolerated and in some places, the local lords even converted to the true faith in God.

But, good times did not last long, as the mood of the government of Japan at the time changed, and under the new Tokugawa shogunate, the Christians were no longer tolerated and instead, they were persecuted and forced to choose between denying the Lord and recanting their faith, or to die a most gruesome and painful death should they choose to remain faithful in the Lord.

St. Lawrence Ruiz and many other Christians refused to deny their Lord and Master, and they refused to abandon their faith, even under the torture and the certainty of painful death. They held their faith with great pride, and they went to their martyrdom with great faith, that the Lord who is ever loving and ever faithful to those who believe in Him, will grant them everlasting glory and life with Him.

Indeed, the example of these saints we have just heard should become an inspiration to all of us as well. The way that they have lived their lives and the way that they have stood up for their faith and for God should be examples for us all to follow as well. We have to live righteously and follow the way of the Lord as He had taught us and revealed to us through His Church, obey all of His commandments and be true disciples and true shining beacons of the Faith.

Let us all reflect on this, and try our best to implement all these in our own lives. God loves us, and He wants to save us and forgive us all of our sins and trespasses, but our sins continue to come in the way between us and Him, and the only way forward is for us to repent and change our ways, sin no more and trust in Him and follow Him with all of our might. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 September 2015 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy day, we heard the readings from the Holy Scriptures about the importance of maintaining one’s purity and obedience to the Law of God, doing good and avoiding all sorts of wickedness and sin. And then it is also important that we help one another in the mission that God had given to us, that is to evangelise to the peoples of the nations, and bring to many the revelation of truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is important that we heed what we heard in the first reading today from the Book of Numbers, where Moses chided Joshua fro protesting against two men who received the Holy Spirit of God even when they were not gathered among the other elders. And the way he spoke to Joshua made it clear to us that we should not see each other as rivals and enemies in our effort to spread the words of the Gospel to the nations.

Indeed, what the Lord is trying to warn us, as He once again repeated the same effort with His disciples, when they tried to stop someone else from healing and curing the sick, and casting out demons using the Name of Jesus, is that we should not give in to our own selfishness and the desire to preserve ourselves or to aggrandise ourselves over that of others, which is unfortunately our human nature.

It is in our tendency to fall into the trap of our own vanity and pride, thinking that we are better than others, and we have that tendency to defend our own actions and deeds, trying to explain the reason why what we have done were justifiable even though they were truly wrong and mistaken. And we all know that it is not easy for us to admit that we have been mistaken or made an error. No one would readily admit that he or she is wrong, before someone pointed it out to them plainly.

And how is it relevant to what we have heard in the Scripture readings today? That is because Joshua as well as the disciples of Jesus were affected by what we know as jealousy, by the desire to not be outshone by others, and therefore, they despised the fact that someone else got what they also desired, but did not get. This is the heart and the root of jealousy, when someone covets what another has, so that they may have it for themselves.

When Joshua saw the two men getting the glory and power of the Holy Spirit, deep down in his heart, he too desired such blessing and grace from God. Similarly, the disciples of Jesus also had in their hearts the desire for the power to heal the sick, and as they have it, they do not want anyone else to share in what they thought as their own prerogatives to give.

But Jesus reminded them, that all of these human frailties and human emotions were detrimental in their path to salvation, just as Moses chastised Joshua with words in similar meaning and purpose. That was why Jesus spoke about cutting one’s own hands if the hands had brought them to sin, and cutting off one’s eye out if these eyes had brought them to sin.

What Jesus meant is not that we literally have to do what He had mentioned. He did not mean that we should really literally cut off our hands and feet, or our eyes and our tongue, should any of these lead us into sin. He spoke figuratively, to show the people the true meaning which He tried to convey to them through parables. What He truly meant is that we have to really make the effort to carve out that part of ourselves which had hindered us on the path towards salvation.

And what are these parts that He was referring to? It is our ego, our pride, our desire, our selfishness, all those that had made us to be blind to our own faults, our own vulnerabilities, and to others’ needs and thoughts, and all these made us to look solely into ourselves, and trying to satisfy ourselves and our needs, becoming selfish and unloving in our actions and attitudes towards others.

It is all these that had brought about so much misery in the world through time and history. If we look back at history, then we certainly should realise how often it was that wars and conflicts were fought over the ambition and pride of men, when one or more people desire to have more of something, be it gold, wealth, land, praise, fame and many other worldly forms of pleasure and recognition.

We should realise how often it was too for oppression and injustice, for pain, suffering and sorrow to be born from the selfishness of men, where the rich and those who have more refused to share what they had and refused to help those who had little or none. And then, even greater misery were born out of the jealousy and the desire of those who have less to possess more, if need by force from those who have more.

This is the great obstacle that barred our path towards salvation in God. That is why Jesus said to His disciples, that unless we mankind die to ourselves and carry up our cross, then we would not have any part with Him, and we would not receive the everlasting grace of our Lord. It is important to take note that what Jesus meant was that we must first die to our pride, our ego, and our selfish desires, crush these and carve these out of our hearts and minds.

This was what Jesus meant when he said in the Gospel today when He said of cutting off the parts thar brought us to sin. What He meant is that we have to carve out those selfish things and thoughts from deep inside us, that the hindrance and obstacle to our salvation may be removed. Our limbs and our flesh did not bring us to sin, for all these are controlled by none other than our heart and our mind, the desires in them which lead us to either do good or to commit evil.

Yes, in fact, our limbs and body can be used for doing good things beneficial for others who are around us. If we cut them off hastily without understanding, then we would lose the potential that they have in bringing good things upon others. What we have to cut out is indeed instead all the dark things that lie inside our hearts, namely selfishness, pride and greed.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today shall we all reflect deep into ourselves and think of our own actions, words and deeds, all the things we have said and done in the past, remembering whether we have done what is right and just, helping others who are in need, helping and loving those who were unloved and lonely, or whether we have dwelled in our pride and arrogance, and in our reluctance to do anything for the benefit of others.

Let us all grow smaller and weaker in our pride and selfish attitudes, and grow more in our loving attitude and care upon one another. May the Lord help us and guide us on our way, so that we may know the way to seek Him is through humility and commitment to love, loving both the Lord and our brethren around us, and not to put ourselves above them.

Let us cast out our ego and pride, and with humility, let us approach the Lord, and love Him with all our might. Let us be charitable and loving in all our actions, helping especially those who are poor, sick and dying, those rejected by the society, that through us and our works, we may bring each other closer to God our Father. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cosmas and St. Damian, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of two saints who were renowned servants of God and martyrs of the faith. They are St. Cosmas and St. Damian, both of whom lived during the time of great persecution of the Church under the Roman Emperors, where the faithful had to hide and they could not openly declare and practice their faith, or else they would face almost certain suffering and death at the hands of the authorities.

St. Cosmas and St. Damian themselves were told to be twin brothers who worked as physicians and doctors in the Asian region of the Roman Empire, in what is today Syria. They travelled around healing the sick and the wounded, those who were down with illness and troubles, and they did these free of charge, especially helping the poor and the downtrodden who had none to help them.

Eventually however, during the climate of persecution of Christians at the time, they went about their work under constant threat of danger. And they were arrested by the authorities after they were found out to be Christians. Under the pain of suffering, torture and death, they were forced to abandon their faith in the Lord, but they refused to do so, and therefore they were martyred in the defence of their faith.

This is related again to how Jesus spoke of the betrayal that men would hand Him, the betrayal that was very despicable and evil, because they have betrayed the very One who had given His all in order to help them to get out of the pit and trouble that they were in. The actions and life of St. Cosmas and St. Damian truly reflected what Christ Himself had encountered in His life, and the same too could be expected from us.

Just like St. Cosmas and St. Damian who went about the many cities, towns and villages as physicians and doctors, healing countless people who suffered from various diseases and illnesses free of charge, then our Lord Jesus also went about healing and curing people from their sickness, and more importantly, lifting up people who have fallen into the darkness, that is into the sickness of sin, into the new light He brought them.

Yes, Jesus Himself told the people, and all those who criticised Him such as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, that He came not to seek the righteous and the just, who have already been saved, but those who have fallen along the way and need help. These were the ones who truly needed the help of our Lord, and it was to them that He came. Of course He still at the same time, loves all those who have been saved as well.

And He also suffered rejection, ridicule, curses, and even the lashes and the wounds inflicted upon His flesh, before He was dragged to carry the burden of the cross and be crucified on the hill of Calvary. He suffered on that day and died, so that all of us who shared in His death by our baptism, may also share in His glorious resurrection through the same baptism in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, it is a reminder for us that all of us also need to carry our own crosses if we are faithful to the Lord. Difficult times will be upon us and there will be rejection and temptations to leave behind this difficult path, for a shortcut of pleasure and enjoyment of worldly goods and accepting the wicked ways of this world. But then, we truly should ask ourselves, whether we want to have our souls to fall deep into the sickness of sin.

Let us all reflect on all these, and inspire ourselves to walk in the path of St. Cosmas and St. Damian. Let us all not be afraid to help each other and to love one another with the same love that the two saints and our Lord Himself had shown, the true and genuine love that brings about a new hope and life in all those who had been afflicted by the sickness, and particularly the sickness of sin, the disease of our soul.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has laboured out of love for us, so that we may be healed and be restored to full grace and be forgiven from all of our sins. Now, shall we also do the same and help those whom we know as still living in darkness and are still lost and do not know the way to go for them to seek the Lord their God. Let us all help each other, and extend a helping hand, modelling after the examples of St. Cosmas and St. Damian.

May Almighty God be with us all always, and may He plant in us a heart filled with love and grace, that we may be found worthy of the life and the glory He had prepared for us all. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 25 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, continuing from yesterday’s discourse on the Temple of Jerusalem, its rebuilding and how it is related to the death of Jesus Christ and His salvation of all mankind through that death, then today, again this fact is emphasised to us in a way that all of us really should take it to the heart how God saved us all through His love.

It is this love that brought the Lord to be willing to come down to us and dwell among us, assuming our own flesh and form, as a Man, so that through this act, by becoming an example to all mankind, He offered a sacrifice beyond anything comparable, and by that sacrifice, He brought about the purification and absolution for our sins, all of us who believe in Him and thus worthy to receive His everlasting forgiveness.

He has come through Jesus in order to save us all, with His mighty power and deeds, just like when He once saved the people of Israel, His chosen ones, from the oppression and slavery of the Pharaohs of Egypt, and then when they suffered again under the yoke of the Assyrians and the Babylonians, enslaved and under great pressure, He came yet again to liberate them and help them to return to good standing with Him.

But the greatest enemy is not the Pharaoh of Egypt, or the Assyrian or Babylonian kings and their mighty forces. For these were truly nothing compared to the true enemy, that is sin, death and the devil. For it was the devil who brought sin into the world, by first his own vanity and pride, as Lucifer, the greatest and most brilliant among the angels of God, but fell into his own pride. And as he fell, he brought many angels along with him, and then also our ancestors along with him.

He tempted them with good and sweet words, saying that by disobeying God and doing what God had forbidden them to do, then they would enjoy much goodness and could become even like the Lord Himself. He was playing with our desire and our vulnerabilities, to be tempted by material goods and promises of pleasure and happiness, such that we were willing to trade our obedience to the Lord for such temptations.

Thus it was also how many of us fell along the way, as we witness ourselves when we read the Scriptures. We should have noticed how often it was that the people of God disobeyed the Lord, because they complained and grumbled about many things, about how they did not have enough of what they wanted, either to be happy or to fill up their stomachs. And all these were there even though God had done so much for them.

It is in fact should have been just for the Lord to just destroy us and leave us behind, for many of us were truly obstinate and adamant on following our own paths of sin, and refused to walk in the path of righteousness or to repent from our sins. And as a result, we suffer death, that is the punishment and consequence for sin, as because of our sins, we are not worthy of the Master of Life, that is our Lord.

Yet, He came to save us, and He wanted to show us all, that if we want to follow Him and gain favour with Him, then all of us ought to abandon our old ways of sin and worldliness. And just as He suffered grievously for our sins and faults, bearing them upon Himself, this showed how the world, Satan and all of his allies rejected Jesus and His salvation, because they preferred to live and stay in the darkness rather than coming into the light.

Therefore, this fact, combined with the fact that Satan does not wish us all to be saved, because it was his intention that we all should fall together with him and join him in condemnation, should have awakened us to the reality that life lived out of faith for God will not be easy. If we seek eternal life and grace in God, then the path ahead of us will be filled with challenges and obstacles.

Truly, there is another option given to us, none other by Satan himself, who offers us all a shortcut, which seems to be easier and less troublesome. But do not be deceived, brothers and sisters, for the path of the devil may seem to be easier, but all these are an illusion that prevents us from seeing that this will end with even greater suffering and destruction without hope of getting out, that is hell, an eternity of separation between us and God.

Let us all be courageous and be more devoted in our faith, so that we may stay focused on our goal that is to reach out to the Lord our God and to be reunited with Him. Let us all change our ways, our sinful and selfish ways, so that we may practice more of the love which God had taught us, in our own words, actions and deeds, that we all truly become worthy of being called the children of God.

May Almighty God be with us all and bless us always, and may He guide us on our way, that whatever suffering and difficulties we encounter, we may unite them to the suffering of Jesus, and by dying together with Him to our past and our sinfulness, we may share in His eternal glory. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Holy Scriptures about God who admonished the leaders of His people in exile, the exilarchs, the descendants of the kings of Israel and the High Priests, who did not restore the holy Temple of Jerusalem when they were clearly able to, because of their doubts and uncertainties. They were probably afraid of the Lord and His punishment, which they certainly could still feel after those many years in exile.

After all, the people of God had not been faithful in many occasions, and the kings led their people to sin by trying to satisfy their own selfish desires and wants, neglecting the sacred duty which God had entrusted them with, the duty and responsibility to lead and guide the people to live faithfully in accordance with God’s will and following the Law in accordance with the teachings and words of the prophets.

But indeed, they have been brought low by the Lord, who reminded them of their humanity and of their vulnerabilities. They boasted of their might and strength, their gold and wealth, their possessions and their wicked life, but God brought them down, and left them for their enemies to possess them, and as a sign of His wrath, He showed it by the destruction of the first Temple of Jerusalem, the departure of the Lord from among His people.

But God showed mercy on His people after their repentance, and He rebuilt the Temple that was to be His dwelling among His people. He brought them all back to the land they dwelled in, and God reunited His people once again to Himself. This is to show that Lord our God ultimately still loves us all despite all of our sins, as long as we are willing to atone for those sins and walk in the path of genuine and true repentance.

Linked to the Gospel today, where king Herod seemed to be in disbelief after thinking that Jesus Christ our Lord was St. John the Baptist risen from the dead, whom king Herod himself had killed, we should be able to see a clear link between God’s history with His people, the Babylonian exile and the salvation, destruction and rebuilding with how He finally and ultimately saved all of His beloved ones, all mankind.

In Jesus Christ, we saw how He rescued mankind by His sacrifice on the cross, the ultimate love which He showed all of us, that to save us, He laid down His own life for our sake, so that all who believed in Him may not die, but have eternal life in them. This He compared it on one occasion to the destruction of the Temple, which He would then rebuild in three days’ time.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law misunderstood Him, thinking that He referred to the Temple of Jerusalem, the third Temple built by king Herod. It was indeed a grand edifice, rivalling if not surpassing the first Temple built by Solomon in greatness and majesty, but Jesus was not referring to it when He said about the Temple, that is truly Himself, the Holy Presence of God dwelling among men, Emmanuel, God Who is with us.

By the destruction of the Temple, Jesus meant the sacrifice and the death He would endure for the sake of all of us, gathering all of our sins upon Himself, and by taking up those sins, He had made all of us to share in His death. Death is the consequence and punishment for sin, which all of us are to suffer for our disobedience. But then, as we have discussed earlier, God still loves us all, and just as He had brought His people back from exile and rebuilt the Temple, God also brought us back from the brink of destruction into a new life and a new hope.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in all these, can we all realise how much God loves all of us? Can we all truly put our trust and faith in the Lord who had given His all in order to help us? He never gave up on us, but He pulled us up and lifted up all of us into new hope. Shall we not be grateful at all these? Or are all of us ignorant and lacking in courtesy?

Let us all reflect on this, and know how much God is loving us everyday. Let us all therefore strive hard to live righteously and with justice, that we may be found worthy of Him, and receive the fullness of His loving promise to us, making our lives filled with love and grace of God once again. Let us dwell no longer in sin and darkness but in the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen.

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Wednesday, 23 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the readings of the Scripture that spoke to us about the reproaches and the humility of Ezra the prophet in admitting and atoning for the sins of the people of Israel, showing great penitence before the Lord for the sins and wickedness that the people of God had committed again and again during the years of the kingdom of Israel and Judah.

And then God showed forth His salvation to the people, who had atoned for their sins with repentance and penitence, by liberating them from their oppressors and bringing them back to the land which He had given their ancestors. He listened to their prayers and opened their eyes, so that they saw the truth about the Lord their God, who had cared for them and who had been patient even against the disobedience and rebelliousness that they had shown against Him.

In the psalm today, again we heard the Song of Tobit, the Israelite who was an exile during the time of the Assyrians, who have suffered because of many reasons, persecuted and ostracised even by his friends for his actions that brought about righteousness and justice to others, and for his strong and steadfast faith to the Lord, just as another figure from the Old Testament, Job, had done.

In those instances, we saw how they encountered the difficulties and challenges, and although they grumbled and suffered, but through their faith and dedication to the Lord, they eventually made it through, and God blessed them tremendously. In the Gospel we heard about how Jesus sent forth the disciples to preach to the people the Good News of God’s salvation, which He had revealed to the world that all those who heard them and did something about it in their lives can be saved.

In the other Gospel reading for today, Jesus also spoke about light that should be put on a pedestal for all to see, rather than hiding it under a cover, for the light that is visible shall be a guide to all those who are in the darkness, and through that light, many people can find their way to salvation in their God. In all these readings, which are all truly related, we can see how God is showing mercy for His people through those whom He had called to be His instruments of mercy, to bring the light of His salvation to the people.

We have to keep in mind again and again, that the Lord does not despise any of us as we are, and neither had He unjustly reprimanded us for our mistakes and faults. It was truly justified for Him to punish us because of our rebelliousness, because of our countless sins and disobedience against Him, and yet, though He could just destroy us and cast us into oblivion, but He did not do that, because we are all still His beloved ones, the most beloved of all His creations.

And that was the message of the Scriptures today that all of us ought to take note of. That all of us are capable of being saved by accepting God’s mercy and forgiveness. All of us have indeed sinned and committed wicked things before the eyes of the Lord, and yet at the same time, we are also capable of repentance and penitential acts before the Lord, regretting whatever we have done, and seeking forgiveness from He who is rich in mercy.

Today we celebrate the feast of a very renowned saint of the last century, known for his great personal holiness and piety, his tireless works and exemplary attitudes, his many miracle works and healings, which he performed through many years of service, casting out demons and healing the sick, and who was rewarded with the reception of the same wounds that had been inflicted on Christ, the stigmata.

This great saint is St. Pius of Pietrelcina, also known by his more famous appellation of St. Padre Pio. Padre Pio was a Capuchin friar renowned for his great intellect, his inspiring sermons, and his commanding presence, which every steps he took and every words he spoke made the people to realise God who is present in him, and through him, He made His will known. Many flocked to his sermons and healing works, and countless thousands and more repented from their sins.

St. Padre Pio did not have an easy life, and many of the things that he did was met with opposition and even with doubt and criticism. And yet, he continued to faithfully minister to the people of God, not letting his troubles and difficulties, or any of the challenges to slow him down or to prevent him from proclaiming the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, calling many to repentance.

This is a clear example of what Jesus had told His disciples in today’s Gospel, that as light of the world, we should not hide this light we have under a cover, hidden and invisible, but instead should be proclaimed bright and clear for all to see, so that all who see the light that is in us may be inspired to live their lives like ours as well, and walk in our footsteps to salvation.

May Almighty God, our loving God and Father, most merciful and loving One, have mercy on us and our trespasses, and may He forgive us all our sins, and awaken in us all the spirit of love which we must have for Him and for one another, fellow brothers and sisters in our Lord. Let us all follow the examples of the holy and venerable St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Padre Pio, and be examples ourselves to our brethren around us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 22 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the restoration of Israel and Jerusalem from the Scripture readings, how the Lord blessed His people once again, whom He gathered from their lands of exile, that they might repossess the land of promise, Canaan, which became their inheritance once again, after the disobedience of Israel had caused them to lose the rights to inhabit that land.

And the Lord also had shown His wrath and displeasure at the wickedness of His people, through the destruction of the First Temple of Jerusalem constructed by King Solomon, which was intended as the glorious dwelling of God on earth, as the place where the Lord dwelled among His people. Yet, their wickedness, their stubbornness and refusal to change their ways after repeated reminders through the prophets, had disgusted the Lord who then departed for a while from His people.

And there happened the years of exile in Assyria and Babylon, as the Israelites were bowed down just as they were many generations before when their ancestors walked through the desert for forty years because of their disobedience and stubbornness as well. God wanted to make it clear that while He loves all of us greatly and while He wants to show us mercy, but our sins, our disobedience and stubborn hearts and minds often came in the way between us and Him.

Yet, God did not stop loving us because of that. What He had done was that He gave us new opportunities, one after another, hoping that we might turn away from sin and embrace His love once again. And that was why through Cyrus, Emperor of the Persian Empire, who crushed the Babylonians, the oppressors of the people of Israel, God liberated His people and ended their long exile, and sent them back to a land that they own once again.

In this also we see how God showed His mercy to all men, who have deserved death and destruction because of our sins and disobedience. God could have easily struck us away from existence because our sins and wickedness is a vile thing that corrupted creation. Yet, God could not deny the love which He has for all of us. The love He has for us enabled Him to give us that one more chance, through Jesus Christ, whom He sent to us to deliver us from our sins.

And through Jesus God made it very clear to us what He is expecting from all of us. What is it that He wants from us, brethren? It is for us all to do His will, just as Jesus had said it in the Gospel today. And what is the will of God? It is love, love that is not discriminating or selfish, but a perfect love that is from the deepest depth of the heart, and given in perfect and selfless giving of oneself in complete dedication to another.

It is this same love that God had shown us, and which He proved to us again and again, and of which there is no better proof for us, other than the ultimate love our Lord showed us when He willingly and selflessly gave Himself up, His very life, flesh and blood, to be shed for our salvation. God has given us everything we need, and now we know that He even provided us with every means to regain our grace in Him and to be able to receive His salvation worthily.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, today is a reminder for us all, to look deep into our own lives. Have we been faithful and have we loved our Lord as we should? God gave us the best and loved us all so much, and yet many of us were unable to commit at the same level of commitment as what our Lord had given us. The time has come for all of us indeed to reexamine our actions and ensure that in everything, we try our best to fulfil the will of God.

And how do we do this? It is by loving our Lord beyond anything else, beyond all of our selfish needs and desires, and indeed beyond considerations for ourselves. We have to love God at least as much as we love ourselves, and indeed we should love Him even more than that. And then, if we love God, then we would do well to love our brothers and sisters, that is one another, for we know that if God loves us, then He will want us to love each other as well.

Let us now therefore renew our effort to be true and good disciples of our Lord, and let us all commit ourselves in all our actions, words and deeds so that we may help one another to be closer to the Lord our God. May Almighty God bless us all, now and forever, and welcome us into His love and grace. Amen.

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Monday, 21 September 2015 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew, one of the four great Evangelists who wrote one of the Four Gospels in the Scripture. He was called from a humble and most unlikely of origins, as Levi the tax collector who was reviled by many of his own people and treated as a traitor and a sinner by many.

Yet, Jesus called him out of the obscurity and from a life filled with sin and darkness, and into the light, and from where he became a great source of inspiration and salvation for countless souls for his works and writing, in the holy words of the Gospel that he had written with inspiration given to him by the Holy Spirit, the words placed in his heart and then revealed to the world through his hands.

Through this, we can see that the Lord does not despise or abandon those who have sinned before Him. Indeed, had He done that, then none of us mankind would have deserved to be saved, for all of us are sinners in our ways and in our lives, be it in small or great sin that we have in us. God instead wants to help us and He wants us to be redeemed, and that was why He sent Jesus to us, to reveal to us the healing that we can find in Him.

Today as we heard the calling of Levi, the tax collector, and his glorious transformation into such a great tool in the hand of the Lord, we should all realise that no one was born a saint, and no saint had been predetermined to be one, except those whom the Lord had specifically put aside for His plan of salvation like Mary, the mother of our Lord. Thus, saints themselves were once sinners too, and some of them were even great sinners, notorious and unrepentant, but eventually what made a difference was that they repented and changed their ways.

At the time of Jesus, the common perception was that those who have sinned or lived a life of sin were condemned and beyond hope, while those who considered themselves righteous thought that they were beyond reproach, thus explaining the attitude of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who acted condescendingly against the tax collectors and sinners, and who criticised Jesus for mingling with them and eating with them.

But they themselves were hypocrites, and they were blind to the reality of their own sins. They were unable to realise that they too were sinners and were also subject to punishment and judgment for their iniquities. Yet, through their attitude towards sinners around them and all who needed their help, they have condemned themselves, as instead of extending a helping hand where they could have helped, they misled the people and misused their authority and position to condemn those who need the most help.

Thus, the Lord Jesus was very angry and critical against these people, whose faith in Him is nothing but a charade, a charade of selfishness and self-serving attitudes. Yet, even so, if we remember the time of the crucifixion, we should all remember how Jesus forgave those who have betrayed Him and made Him to suffer such grievous pain on the way of suffering and on the cross. He prayed to His Father, that their sins be not placed on them.

Such wonderful and great is the Lord’s mercy for us, and now the question lies in the fact that, God does not impose on us to accept His mercy and forgiveness. The choice lies in us on whether we choose to accept or reject His mercy. We can either be proud and haughty, be filled with arrogance and thinking that we do not need mercy because we are not in the wrong, or we can be humble and accept the truth and reality about ourselves, that we are sick with sin, wicked and corrupted, and the Lord is willing to help us to get out of our sickness and restore us to full health.

Let us help remind ourselves all the time, that saints were not born but raised, and saints were once also sinners, who importantly at one point of time in their lives, they changed and turned from their wicked ways, and as a result, they were made righteous and are worthy of God’s great grace. May all of us follow in the footsteps of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, turn from our sinful ways, and through our renewed actions in faith, may we all help bring each other closer to the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.