Holy Week sermon

by

Thursday, 10 September 2015 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about the famous saying by Jesus, that when someone strikes us on the cheek, we should offer the other cheek as well, and when someone wants to take our coat, then we should offer our clothes as well. This is the principle of being a Christian, a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. It means that if we call ourselves a Christian, then we must be ready to die to ourselves and seek the good of others first before ourselves.

It was mentioned how if we all care only about ourselves, or to those whom we want to care for, then it is very often that our care and concern are not truly genuine. This is because in relationships and interactions between peoples, we often seek to be compensated for whatever we have given, and for everything we have given, naturally we seek to have a return of what we gave, in a similar way with what we granted.

It is in our nature to expect something in return of what we have done, or what had been done to us. If we have done something good for others, then we think that we deserve to be treated equally good as well by the ones to whom we have given that good thing, and if we have been wronged or slighted in any way, then we also by our nature would seek revenge and expect to see the other party to be injured and to suffer at least what we have suffered.

Yet, it is exactly this attitude and vulnerability of ours that had led us to continue in an endless cycle of sin and wickedness. As we try to preserve our ways and follow our own whim and desires, we tend to push our own interests first and ensure our own safety and satisfaction first, at the cost of others around us who may suffer because of our actions.

It was because of the selfishness of mankind, that so many people remained in suffering and continued to suffer even until now, as they were unable to shake free from their ego and their desires. Many people were oppressed, manipulated and persecuted because those in power and with influence, wealth and authority misused the gifts which God had entrusted to them. Instead of using these for the betterment and for the good of everyone, there were those who instead wanted to gain more and expand what they have already had, ignoring the pleas and the plight of those who have less or none.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all these showed us that there is a need for us to reexamine our lives’ priorities and what we should truly do, and indeed what we are expected and ought to do as those who proclaim themselves as the disciples and followers of the Lord, the members of His Church. If we call ourselves Christians, the we would try our best to put the interests of one another, and others around us ahead of our own needs.

As Christians we are all called to be sensitive and attentive to all those who are around us, especially if any of them are in need of anything, be it love, sustenance to keep them from hunger and to allow them to have a comfortable life, or for guidance when they fall into darkness and sin. We have to remind each other to keep their faith in God, and to help one another living in this difficult world full of challenge.

In the first reading today, St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Colossae reminded them that if they call themselves God’s people, and indeed they are God’s chosen, then they should truly clothe themselves and fill themselves up with everything that show their identity as belongings and possessions of Christ. So, then, we too are challenged to do the same.

If we profess ourselves to be Christians and those who follow the Lord and His commandments, then we should practice our faith in our daily life, in our actions and deeds, in everything we say and do. Then, people will truly believe that we are all followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, because they can witness what we are saying and doing, and they too may even believe in Christ because of us.

On the other hand, if we commit things that are contrary to the way of the Lord, and if we act in ways that do not show us as members of God’s Church and as His children, then we create scandals of the Faith, which not only that we would answer to it, but it is also because of our own actions, many people who would otherwise have believed in Christ had been led astray or lost their faith in Him.

Therefore, it is a clear reminder to all of us that we all have to always be mindful of what we are doing, on what we are saying and ensure that all of these are in accordance with the will of God, and conform to God’s ways. Let us all seek then, to be faithful and devoted servants of our Lord, and commit ourselves anew in His ways. May Almighty God bless us all, forgive us all our sins, and help us to keep ourselves firmly planted on the way towards salvation. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 9 September 2015 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard of St. Paul speaking to the faithful in the city of Colossae about the way of life that they should follow, the things that they ought to do, and how they should obey and walk in the way of the Lord at all times. St. Paul urged them to let go of all their worldliness and sinful past, following no longer the wicked ways of the flesh, but giving themselves completely to the new ways of Christ.

And this call of righteousness is repeated again one more time in the Gospel today, albeit in a somewhat different way. Jesus spoke of the blessings and the curses for the people of God, depending on their ways and actions, in what we know as the Beatitudes, or the Sermon on the Mount. This is another exhortation and guide on how we ought to live as people and servants of our Lord.

In this series of blessings and curses, Jesus praised and favoured all those who have been righteous in their ways and actions, those who have sought peace, love and harmony, and those who walk in the way of the Lord, obeying God’s commandments, loving Him and their fellow men. On the other hand, those who do not walk in the path of the Lord and who ignored the pleas of the needy and the downtrodden were cast out of God’s presence and favour.

What the Lord wanted to remind us is that, if we are faithful to Him, the way ahead of us will not always be easy, and that there will be challenges and difficulties lying ahead of us as many of us will face rejection, persecution, ridicule and even death for the faith which we have in the Lord our God. This is because the way of this world is not in accordance to what the Lord had taught us. The world is following the ways of worldliness, of selfishness and path without real and genuine love.

The ways of this world seem to be easier because they offer us many worldly goodness and temptations that strike at the very heart of our vulnerabilities, at the desires that filled our hearts. There are so many tempting opportunities that keep us away from the love and grace of God, such as wealth, privilege, fame, human praise, status, position, and many others, which in their own ways, they become obstacles on our journey towards the Lord.

For example, the pursuit of wealth makes us to tend to ignore the suffering of others around us, and it makes us to be proud, haughty and boastful of our own human achievements and the great things about ourselves. How many of us bring suffering and injustice upon others because of our actions, and how often was it that we did not bring glory to God and praise Him because of our inability to get out of our pride?

Indeed, it is easier to follow the ways and customs of this world, to succumb to our desires and wants, to listen to the words of the devil rather than the words of the Lord, but in the end, this will lead to eternal and unending suffering, for we will be found unworthy of the Lord and be cast out into hell. Therefore, let us all pay attention to the examples of one saint, whose feast day we celebrate today and whose life is truly exemplary and should be an inspiration to all of us.

St. Peter Claver was a Jesuit priest and missionary who lived and worked during the height of the Age of Exploration, who went to the Americas, the New World as it was known then, and as he became involved with the local peoples and the African slaves sent there to work in plantations, he became their staunch defender and protector, and he ministered to many of them for the rest of his life.

He disapproved of the way how the slaves were treated as less than human beings with equal rights to anyone else, and he worked hard to make their lives better and to reduce greatly their suffering and difficulties. Of course, in the course of this, he encountered many opposition to his works, but he did not give up or became disheartened, and instead he became even more committed to his cause.

The examples of St. Peter Claver is truly something for us all to take note of. Through his works, countless slaves had a better life and they faced less suffering in their lives. He dared to oppose the ways of the world, because in it he saw injustice and wickedness in action, and he did not hesitate to do what is right, even in the face of the disapproval of the world.

Therefore, let us all follow in the footsteps of St. Peter Claver, and let us all seek to follow the way of the Lord and resist the temptations of the world and the devil, which seek to destroy us and bring us away from the grace and salvation of the Lord. May Almighty God help us and guide us in this endeavour. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a special feast and occasion, celebrating the birth of the mother of our Lord Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today’s feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a reminder to all of us, of the way how God had brought us all mankind to salvation, that through her, God brought the Saviour of the world into the world itself, in Jesus Christ, His Son.

We heard today about Bethlehem, a city seemingly without much significance throughout the history of Israel, and even more seemed to be a small village without importance, both as part of Judah and as part of the land of Israel. But it has been prophesied that one day, the Saviour would come from that city, and through that seemingly unimportant and unassuming place, God would deliver His people out of darkness and into the light.

It was likely the place where David, the famous and one of the greatest kings of Israel came from, a humble shepherd who was beloved of the Lord and who rose to be a king over all Israel. And God had renewed the promise He had made to His people, beginning from Adam and Eve, and then Abraham, and then David as well as the people as a whole, to whom God devoted Himself to them with a promise.

For God promised Adam and Eve deliverance from sin and death, and from all the harm that Satan the deceiver has brought upon them, and although for generations Satan and his allies would harm the children of mankind, but God promised that the Woman would bring about the destruction of Satan, and the Son born of the woman would be that salvation, the One to bring mankind out of their fated destruction.

And to Abraham, God renewed that promise, showing His favour to him because of his great faith. God promised that Abraham would become the father of great nations, and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as the grains of sand on the beach. God blessed him and his descendants, one of whom, David, to whom He renewed yet again the promise and the covenant He had established with men.

God told David that his descendant will rule forever and his kingdom and throne will last forever, and will never end. And all the promises God had made was fulfilled in its perfection and completeness through Jesus, God’s own Son, the Divine Word made flesh, who was born through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His earthly mother. By assuming the flesh of man and born of Mary and Joseph, God had fulfilled the promises He had made.

Firstly, that through Jesus Christ, the Son and Heir of David, God fulfilled His promises to David, as through His everlasting kingdom, God secured the throne and kingdom for the family of David forever. And by the means of faith in Jesus Christ, as all those who follow the Lord became the children of Abraham, God fulfilled also the promise made to Abraham, that he would become the father of many nations.

But the most important of all is the promise He had made to all mankind at the beginning of time, which as mentioned that when Satan brought about mankind’s fall into sin, God promised us that deliverance would come, and through Mary, our Lord made salvation a reality, by being born into this world to deliver all men from destruction of death.

The role of Mary is very important in the history of our salvation, since she alone among all mankind were prevented from suffering the same taint and corruption of sin, which we believe in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, where she was conceived and born without the taint of the original sin of men. She had been prepared from the beginning to be the New Ark of the new Covenant of God, which is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

And thus, Mary is the Woman prophesied and promised by the Lord, to be the one through whom Satan would face his final and irreversible ultimate defeat. That is because through Mary, the Saviour would be born, and by the action of the Saviour, Jesus, mankind would be freed from sin and death, and all those who believe in Him shall forever be brought free from the hands of the devil, who will be cast down forever and will be brought down low.

We all have to realise that in Mary, we have a very powerful ally, friend and mother, who cares for all of us just as she loves and cares for her Son, Jesus. She is special because she is the mother of our Lord, had been prepared for such since the beginning, and her birth heralded a new hope for the world. But during her life, she was also very dedicated and committed to the mission entrusted to her by God, living her life faithfully and with impeccable and exemplary faith, which should be an example to all of us.

Today, as we celebrate the birthday of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the mother of us all, let us all dedicate ourselves to her more, and seek her help ever more, and following in her footsteps let us all live righteously in the sight and presence of God, so that by our faith and action, God’s salvation will be ours and the Covenant and promise He has made with us will be fulfilled to its completion.

Mary is a great example to all of us, and a great source of inspiration, as well as our greater intercessor before God. She is the closest to her Son in heaven, and all the time, she is always interceding for us, whom her Son had entrusted to her as He looked down from the cross that day at Calvary. And as her Son had triumphed over sin and evil, she would not want to see us all to fall back into our old way of sin.

Let us ask our Blessed Virgin, whose birth we celebrate this day, that we may be always preserved and protected by her Son, from all forms of malicious and evil influences that threaten to tear us away from the salvation that God had given us. Let us change our lives for the better, and commit ourselves to do what the Blessed Virgin Mary had done in her life, keeping faith and righteousness in everything we say and do.

May Almighty God be with us always, protect us and deliver us from all harm and from all evil, and may His blessed mother Mary always intercede for our sake, praying and beseeching for our redemption and deliverance, that God may remind us in our hearts to repent whenever we sin. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Monday, 7 September 2015 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the salvation which God had brought upon us all mankind, and how He healed us from our afflictions, the sickness and the shackles of sin, which He cast away from us and brought us to freedom with Him. In the first reading, St. Paul in his epistle and letter to the Church and the faithful in the city of Colossae reminded them about the Lord who revealed the truth about His salvation through Jesus Christ, His Son.

God can just abandon all of us and leave us all to be destroyed by our own foolishness, by our own disobedience and sins. Instead, He chose to reveal to us His infinite and everlasting mercy, through which He had brought is out of our misery and despair, from our fate of annihilation and suffering, into the new assurance and certainty of His love, and the everlasting life He had promised to all those who keep their faith in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Gospel today, this message is reiterated even more strongly, as we can hear how Jesus healed the paralytic man’s hand and made it whole and healthy again. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law tried to use that opportunity to find fault with Jesus, to criticise Him, to accuse Him and eventually to bring Him down and remove the One whom they have considered as a rival to their teaching authority.

In this alone, we can see how we behave in our own lives with regards to sin and with regards to God’s loving offer of mercy and forgiveness. Whenever we sin, we often act like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who refused to listen to God, and preferred to listen to their own heart’s desires, and closed themselves up against the Lord.

They acted high and mighty, appearing to be pious and also zealous guardians of the faith and the Law of God, criticising and condemning all those who did not follow the tenets and words of the Law as they prescribed. And they thought of themselves as righteous and just, as arbiters of God’s law among men. But they themselves had not acted and done things in the way the Lord had wanted them.

How many of us when we were accused to be wrong, or found ourselves to be in the wrong, went forth and tried to place the blame on others instead? Instead of trying to look at and contemplate our own faults and mistakes, we tried to come up with reasons to cover up our faults. We do not want to be blamed for something, worst of all is if the mistake is our own mistake.

But that is exactly what the problem is. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were too adamant that they were righteous and without fault, and they were unable to comprehend that the problem lies with them, the pride that is in their hearts and minds, the hubris which prevented them from seeing the truth about their own sin. Just as Jesus spoke about this in another parable, when He rebuked the Pharisees also for not being able to see their own faults while pointing out the faults of others, likening it to those who could see a splinter in the eye of another and yet a plank in their own eyes, they could not see it.

If we want to be forgiven, then all of us ought to be sincere and make the effort to seek the Lord and love Him with all of our hearts. God will see our love and devotion, and He who is loving and merciful will show His tender mercy upon us. But we have to really look deep into ourselves and discern what is the problem that we have with us.

Let us all seek to be forgiven for all of our faults, and let us all commit ourselves to changing our lives for the better. Let us all walk in the path of our Lord and be righteous in all things. May Almighty God, our Father, bless us all and keep us all in His grace and love. May He heal us from our afflictions and help us to remain always humble and dedicated to Him, that we may be able to help one another to repent our sins and find our way to the Lord. Amen.

by

Sunday, 6 September 2015 : Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard how God had showed forth His love, care and concern for all of us mankind, by the sending of His Son Jesus into the world, as the real, concrete and perfect manifestation of His love. We heard about God who opened the eyes of the blind, who made lame people and paralysed people to be able to move and walk properly again, and God who made the mute speak and the deaf hear again.

Throughout the Bible, in the Old Testament, and especially in the Gospels, we heard how Jesus performed many miracles healing those who were sick, allowing the blind to see once again, the deaf to hear again, the lame to jump with joy and walk again, and eventually, all these aside, as we all should know, He healed us all from the one affliction that is most dangerous of all of them, that is sin.

For while the diseases and sicknesses of the flesh affect only the flesh, our bodies without harming the mind, the heart and the soul, sin affects everything, both in our bodies, in our heart, mind and soul. And the corruptions that sin caused made us all dirty and unworthy to be in the presence of our Lord, because of all the wickedness that tainted our souls, once pure and immaculate, but because of sin, we all have been afflicted.

And this affliction had affected mankind since the beginning of time, ever since mankind first sinned before the Lord, by disobeying what He had taught us and told us, and preferring to walk in our own path and satisfying our own selfish desires. Satan tempted mankind by playing to our desires and our heart’s wishes and wants, pretending to help us and be good to us, but in reality, he wished for our downfall together with him, that in our disobedience we will also be cast out the love of God just as Satan himself had been cast out.

But God did not create mankind just for nothing or without good reason. God Himself is perfect and all good, and He has no need for anything else save Himself. And in the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God is united in His Three Divine Persons, in the perfect union of love and harmony, and He truly has no need for anything else. But in that love, He wanted to share the love He has, and thus He created all of us.

And we have to realise how special we are for the Lord. Nothing else in creation was created in the same way we have been created. We were created in the very image of the living God Himself, and our countenance is the image of God personified in each one of us. And God breathed His Spirit into each one of us, that through the Spirit of God we may have life, and no longer be dust where we came from.

But sin and disobedience had sundered us from all the goodness and the life which God had intended for us. In our greed and desire, we fail to look beyond them to find the true meaning of life, that is to be together with the Lord our God in perfect harmony, and instead we would rather listen to the devil and his lies, as he knows the vulnerabilities of our mortal bodies and hearts.

He got us right in our innocence, trying to persuade us that if we just let go of what the Lord had forbidden us to do, and eat of the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, then we would become like God. Indeed, we were made in the image of God, and His Spirit of life is inside us, but we are like a clean slate, ready to be filled with the love of God, and with God we would have lived forever in perfect harmony and goodness, not knowing any evil, for all that God created was good.

Instead, because of our disobedience, we were tainted with sin, and when we know about the evil we have done, we became ashamed and felt guilty, and we hid from the Lord. Is this not the exact same things as what we often normally do? Whenever we sin, did we not hide in shame for our sins and even pretend as if nothing had happened because we feared the repercussions, or that we were too proud to admit that we were wrong?

We flee away from the Lord out of fear and out of shame, and often, as mentioned, out of pride and hubris. We certainly would like to think that the Lord must have been disgusted by our actions and by our wickedness, but this certainly is a frequent major misconception of who the Lord is and how He looks upon us, each and every day. He despises our sins and wickedness, but He does not despise us as we are.

This is why He came for us, for our sake, and by His own hands, He brought healing, redemption and salvation to all of us sinners and delinquents, who have rebelled against Him. His love for us is greater than all that, and through His works, He had made us all whole. How is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It was by His suffering, every wounds inflicted on His flesh and body, as He was stripped from all dignity on the way to Calvary, that our Lord had saved us.

He was willing to suffer for the consequences of our sins and faults, which should have been ours, because of the love He had for us. He created us all out of love, and His desire for us is to share together in His everlasting peace, harmony and joy, and not suffering, pain, death and despair which had been part and parcel of our lives ever since we succumbed to the forces of sin.

To that extent He is willing to come to us and heal us from our sickness. He came to seek those who are sick from the diseases and plagues that afflicted us, primarily of which is our sin. For while bodily sickness and diseases cannot affect beyond our flesh, but sin affects everything. If we continue to dwell and live in sin, then we would risk ourselves to fall into hell, that is the suffering for eternity of not being able to enjoy God’s love and grace anymore, because we are unworthy due to our sins.

God wants us to be saved, brothers and sisters in Christ. He wants to touch us, comfort us and bring us to rest, rest from all the depredations and troubles of sin that we have had thus far. He desires our salvation and freedom from our affliction of sin, and that was what He has done. Whenever we look upon the crucifix and see the Lord Jesus crucified, we see the ultimate love which God shows us all.

Then, ultimately we have to ask ourselves, what have we done to make ourselves worthy of God’s love and mercy? God forgives freely and His mercy is freely available to all, but it depends on us in the end, whether we are willing and are capable of committing ourselves to the Lord’s mercy. We have to remember that when we are sick, we want to find a doctor that we can be healed and return to good health. Should it not be the same for our spiritual health?

Do we seek the Lord for forgiveness, and are we sincere in our desire to be forgiven? Do we make the effort to abandon our past sinfulness and live no longer in sin but in the light of God? If our answers to all these questions are yes, then that means we are ready and prime to receive God’s forgiveness, and then receive the fullness of His grace and love. If our answers are not, then we have a long way to go before us.

Shall we take the concrete step towards salvation in God? God offers us so many good things, and yet mankind, either fearful or prideful, failed to understand His love for them. May Almighty God, our loving God and Master, our loving and merciful Father help us all to understand His love and mercy, so that we may take the necessary steps to be forgiven of our numerous and myriads of sins. May all of us be healed and be made whole, and may our mouth filled with sinful words, hands tainted by wickedness be made clean and whole. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 5 September 2015 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Religious (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 how St. Paul mentioned to the faithful and the Church in Colossae in Greece, that they have been saved by the work and by the grace of God, and even though they were once delinquents, rebels and sinners, who disobeyed the Lord and lived in great wickedness, but God had made ourselves redeemed through His Son, Jesus Christ, by His sacrifice on the cross for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to realise the great love and mercy that God had given to us. He had given us a new opportunity and a new chance to redeem ourselves from our faults and mistakes. And He wants us all to be loved and to be saved, and for Him no one should go alone on His own, rejected, hungry and downtrodden. He wants us all to be loved and cared, and He wants to forgive us our sins if we sincerely look for redemption.

That is why in the Gospel today, we heard of His confrontation with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were so transfixed on their laws, rules and regulations, so that they failed to realise and understand the true meaning, purpose and importance of the Law of God. The Law is a gift from God for us all mankind as a guide and a path for us to follow so that by walking with the Law, we may remain true to the Lord and be found righteous and worthy of being with our Lord once again.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law instead looked at the Law as something to be blindly obeyed and followed, even without proper understanding. They focused on external appearances and fulfilment of the Law without transformation of the heart, the mind and the soul. They enforced the laws of the sabbath day, where everyone was not supposed to do any work or activity, but they did so for the sake of enforcing it, and not understanding the true intention.

God did not intend for the Sabbath to oppress the people and making it a burden for them. Instead, His intention to instate such a rule is to help the people to coordinate and regulate themselves that out of their busy daily schedules, we may find the way to love our God and devote ourselves to Him, and spend some time with Him, speaking with Him, knowing Him and understanding His will rather than being preoccupied so much with our lives and our worldliness.

Ironically, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who insisted so much on enforcing the laws of the sabbath were themselves the ones who became preoccupied with themselves and worldly concerns. They wanted to be seen as holy and pious when they went about doing whatever they could to fulfil the Law’s obligations. But in fact, they were dooming themselves for failing to understand God’s true intention, and in doing so they also led the people into ruin by their false ways.

The same often happen to us all as well, and we often lose the understanding of the bigger picture of our lives for the sake of fulfilling our own ego and our own desires. It is our selfishness that is often our greatest enemy and our greatest obstacle. And today, we celebrate the feast of a holy woman, whose life had been an inspiration for countless people, and whose actions had brought a new hope to countless people who had no hope.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born an Albanian, and in her young age the desire to serve the Lord and His people grew in her heart, and she joined the missionaries and devoted herself to a life of celibacy and service. She went on to India and served there for the rest of her life. As we all should know from all that we had heard about her, she would go on to serve the poor people in Calcutta.

She established the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation devoted to the service of the least and the poorest in the society, those who had been rejected and without love, those who were suffering and on the brink of death. She brought hope to the destitute and those who thought that everything was hopeless to them. This is exactly what God had done for us, remember? He lifted us up out of the pit and the darkness, and He brought us a new hope and into the eternal life He promised to all of us.

Therefore, as we remember the examples of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, what she had done and how she devoted herself to the poor and the downtrodden without worry for herself, let us all also realise, first that God is loving and merciful, and He truly cares for all of us, and He wants all of us to be saved and redeemed from our sins and wickedness. We would have fallen into hell and eternal suffering for sure, if God did not come and help us.

Then, we have to realise that we have to let go of our own ego and die to our own selfishness if we are to be able to truly be the disciples and followers of the Lord. It was the selfishness of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law that made them as hypocrites in their faith, as they served themselves first and thought only of making themselves look great at the expense of righteousness and genuine faith.

Let us all follow in the footsteps of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the many other holy saints of God, and let us all show love, care and concern for others around us. Let us all show more concern and effort to bring all of us to true and genuine life filled with the love of God, and care for one another. May Almighty God, our Lord and loving Father be with us always, love us and may He guide us always to the right path, to love Him with all of our hearts. Amen.

by

Friday, 4 September 2015 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son whom our Lord had sent into this world to be our Saviour, on whose hands had been given the full and complete authority to absolve us all from our sins, and to bring us into salvation. And then in the Gospel we heard about how Jesus spoke of the parable of the new and old wineskins, and about the nature of Himself as the Bridegroom of the Church and the faithful.

We heard how the Lord is the Head of the Church, which is His Body, in which all the faithful and all those who have been gathered by the Lord as His flock made up. All of the faithful are part of the Church, the Body of the Lord, for everyone shares together in the banquet of the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord in the Eucharist.

This means that when we commit ourselves to God and to His ways, as the members of His Body, His Church, all of us have been brought from the dominion of this world into a new and everlasting dominion that is in the Lord. This is perfectly described by Jesus, through the parable of the new and old wineskins as well as the new and old coats.

The parable spoke about the incompatibility of the old and new ways of life, with the old wineskins and the old coats representing the older way of life, while the newer patches and pieces and wines refer to the new way of life, corresponding to our past lives filled with sins and wickedness, and the new way of following our Lord and His commandments, loving one another and loving our Lord respectively.

And because the Lord is the Head of the Church, by nature, all of us who belong to Him and are members of His Body, the Church, just like the organs of our body, should be in tune and in tandem with the activities of the Head, just as our brains control everything that happens in our bodies. And this means that in all of our actions, our words and all of our dealings, we must conform to the way of the Lord, and obey Him in all of His decrees and commandments.

We should not say things or act in ways that are contrary to the Lord’s ways or else we are creating scandals for our faith and for the Church. After all if we preach about the Lord to those who are around us, and expect them to believe in us, while we ourselves are not practicing what we preach, and worse that we even commit and do things that are contrary in meaning and spirit to what we preach, then who would believe in us?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is imperative that all of us realise how much more that we can do for the sake of the Lord and for the sake of His people around us, in particular those who are still lost in the darkness of the world. We have to realise how much more we can do to help them and bring them into the light through our own actions and through our own faith.

When people see us as the shining beacons of the faith and as examples of the Lord and all that He had taught us, then they too may be moved in their hearts to follow our footsteps, and then be saved together with us. If we are concerned with them, then surely we will try our best to help them to become part of the Church and to share together the Most Precious gift of our Lord’s Body and Blood with them, by calling them to sincere and real repentance and to receive the mercy and forgiveness of God for their sins, so that all mankind, and as many souls as possible may be saved.

May Almighty God bless us all, and may He, the Head of the Church, help us all the members of His One Body, to remain united and to remain attached to His grace and be always worthy of the salvation which He had promised all of us who remain faithful to Him. God be with us all always. Amen.

by

Thursday, 3 September 2015 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard the Lord who showed to His Apostles and inspired them to be the fishers of men. Through the miracle of the fish caught on the net, God showed them what they would do to bring glory to God and what they would do to bring many lost souls to the grace and the presence of God. And through all these, God wants to show us what all of us can do to be part of this mission He had given all of us as well.

The example shown in the Gospel today represents the world as it was, and also even now, as it is today. The Apostles fishing for the fish represent the disciples and followers of the Lord, members of His Church, which is represented by the boat. Indeed, the Church of God is often likened to a boat, an ark, similar to the Ark of Noah of old. The Church is the new Ark bringing all mankind to the salvation from God, away from all the storms and troubles of the world of darkness and sins.

The fishes refer to all of us, big and small, of different kinds and shapes, all of us mankind with all of our uniqueness and specialties, and from our various origins and backgrounds. And all of us are gathered together into the net into the boat, that is the Church of God, by the hard works of the Holy Apostles and the disciples of Christ. This is the mission which God had given to them before He went back to heaven at His Ascension, and this mission continues still even to this day.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is because there are still so many people who have not yet heard of the truth of Christ, of His Good News and salvation, which He readily provided for all those who trusted in Him. God wants to save all of us, and through His servants, He brought the wonderful salvation to all of us. Many people still live in darkness and in the ignorance of the revelation of truth, which God had made to them, and they still dwelled in their old, sinful lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all have to realise what a great love and devotion that the Lord our God has for all of us. When the disciples had not been able to get any fishes throughout the entire night, they were tired and exhausted, and they certainly would have wanted to give up the fishing entirely. Who after all, in a right mind, would want to try again after many hours of fruitless effort?

But the Lord did not give up on mankind, for He told the disciples to cast out into the deep, in Latin, ‘Duc in Altum’, which means that cast into the deep, placing the net further out and deeper into the waters. Thus, instead of backing out or giving up, the Lord went on to push even harder and worked even harder for our salvation. It is only by reaching out further and with greater effort that many of the souls can be saved.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Gregory the Great, San Gregorio Magno, one of the greatest Popes that the Church had that he was honoured as the few Popes who were granted the title ‘Great’. But this greatness did not come about from his status or standing in the society, and neither did it come from wealth or any forms of worldly possessions.

He was great because of the contributions which he had made for the sake of the Church and for the sake of the faithful ones entrusted under his care as the chief shepherd of all of Christ’s flock. He was credited with the great reform of the faith, especially in terms of Christian monasticism and lifestyle, regulating the way how the faithful lived their lives faithfully, and then more importantly, in the way how the faithful worship the Lord.

Pope St. Gregory the Great was credited with the reform in the liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, codifying and developing the parts of the Holy Mass that truly bring the Holy Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ truly real and alive in the Mass, and making the Holy Mass itself like the personification of heaven brought down to the earth.

Pope St. Gregory the Great’s greatest contribution is in the area of Church and worship music, where his name was immortalised in the Gregorian Chant, the immemorial and immeasurable treasure of the Faith and the Church, which we still use even until today in our worthy praise of the Lord in the noble and holy celebration of the Mass.

Through all these contributions, and principally through the Gregorian Chant, indeed Pope St. Gregory the Great had shown us great examples on how to be a devoted and faithful servant of God, in reaching out to the lost souls and those who have dwelled long in the darkness of this world. Indeed, to reach out further into the deep, ‘Duc in Altum’, as an inspiration for us to also do the same for the sake of our brethren in need.

Therefore, let us all walk in the footsteps of Pope St. Gregory the Great and the Holy Apostles and disciples of Christ. Let us all increase further the reach of the Church and get as many as possible to the salvation which our Lord is offering us, and gather them together as one people, all rescued from sins and the darkness of the world. May God our Father unite us all in His grace and love, and bring us all into the joy of eternal life. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 2 September 2015 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how the fruits of the Gospel and the Good News brought to the people in the city of Colossae have blossomed and bore a lot of great results. The people turned towards the Lord and they abandoned their past sinful lives. And in the Gospel we also heard then how Jesus healed many people from their sickness and diseases, how He made them whole once again.

In this, we have to realise a simple fact, which many of us tend to overlook and forget. We often do not realise this until it is too late, and quite a few of us refused to recognise this truth, that is we are all afflicted and diseased, for all of us share that same affliction and disease that had affected all of mankind, namely sin. Sin is the disease of the soul, which causes everything inside of us to be rotten and wicked.

And we have dwelled on in this state for a long time, ever since we threw aside our obedience to God for the comfort and pleasures of the world, listening and obeying our own selfish desires instead of listening to the word of God. We who were once destined for good things and to enjoy forever the goodness of life as God had created it, had become marred and spoilt by the darkness of the sins inside of us.

Therefore, the Lord who loves us and who is merciful, He gave us another chance, a new opportunity, by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour, to be our Healer, the One who will make us all whole once again. He laid His hands on His people so that by His power, He may heal them from their afflictions. For it is not by our own power only that we have saved ourselves, but through the grace of forgiveness that God had extended to us, and which we receive with open arms.

But it was very often that we refused to accept God’s forgiveness and grace, because the doors of our hearts are closed up tight against Him. He came to us, knocking on those doors, but we did not respond. This is just as at the time of His birth in Bethlehem, when all the inns and places were full and no place opened their doors to welcome the Lord and Saviour when He came into the world, and He was born in a simple and humble stable.

It is a good thing and a good lesson for us to take note. How many of us realise that we ought to be humble and open our hearts, baring our souls open for the Lord to come in and dwell in us? Many of us are too full of ourselves, filling our hearts with ego, desire, pride, hubris, lust and many other things that keep us away from the Lord, all the wickedness that had made us all unworthy before God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we made the effort to make ourselves better and draw ourselves closer to God? Or are we going to continue to live in sin and wickedness that we have accumulated all these while? We have a clear choice, brothers and sisters, and just as we cannot serve both God and Satan, we cannot be ambiguous in our choices. If we are truly faithful to the Lord, then we should take action to show it in reality.

Our Lord had been so generous in His love and mercy for us, and thus it is only right that we should thank Him for that. If not for His mercy and love, we may have no hope with us, and everything would be meaningless, including our existence in this world, because of our sins, we were heading into certain annihilation without hope of getting out of that destruction. Yet, because the Lord in Jesus Christ had extended His hands to us and rescue us, we now have a new hope once again.

May Almighty God, our loving Father, ever forgiving and merciful, our Healer and our Lord, bless us and keep us always in His grace. May He keep us in His love, and may all of us also be awakened in our heart and soul to devote ourselves to Him more and love Him ever more. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 1 September 2015 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard how the Lord had sent His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, to be our Saviour, to bring us from the darkness and into the light. Through Christ, He had brought us away from the certainty of death and from the dominion of Satan and his allies. And from us He had cast out the demons and the evil spirits that dwelled inside us, and in its place, He places within us His Word, His own Divine Presence, and the Holy Spirit.

The Lord has come to deliver us from the forces of evil that assailed us, and He has come to bring us from the punishments which were designed for us, because of our sins and our rebellions against God. We are the children of the Light, greatest and most beloved among all of God’s creations, and we were special, but because of our inability to resist our temptations, that brought about our fall from grace.

We would rather follow the devil’s instructions and accept his offers, because it seems to be more lucrative and beneficial for us. That is because the devil knows exactly what we have in us, our desires and wants, and he is tapping on those to bring about our downfall. Satan was once the prince of the heavenly forces and the greatest, most brilliant and mightiest of the angels of God, Lucifer, the lightbringer, but he was brought down by his own pride and wickedness.

As he fell from grace, Satan must have been jealous on the glory and grace that God had bestowed on men, on our ancestors, for He created them to be His most beloved and greatest creatures. Therefore, just as He has fallen from grace and was cast down, he was likely determined to bring us down with him as well. That was why he tempted Adam and Eve, and their failure to keep up their faith brought about their fall as well.

But God is a loving God, who loves us all very greatly beyond compare. Even though we have sinned before Him, and even though He hates our sins and wickedness, but He still has His love for us. For we were created to share in His love, in His very own image, and to us He has given dominion over all creations. But we were unable to match up to what the Lord expected of us.

Yet, He is still willing to give us a chance, just as He had given those who came before us many, many chances at repentance and forgiveness. He openly offered His mercy, and through Jesus, He made it clear that sinners may come to Him and be freed from the bonds that had held them, namely the bonds of sin. The Lord cast out the evil spirits from them, and in this, He showed all that He values us more than anything else.

Now we also have to realise that, as powerful, mighty and scary the devil is, or his allies, they all have no power against God who is all powerful and Almighty. No matter what hubris the devil had lavished and shown, even he, being a mere angel, mighty as he was, is still subject to the Lord, who is his Lord and God, as painful and as horrible as it is for Satan to admit this fact.

He tried to undermine and to stop the Lord’s work at saving His people, by condemning them before His presence, as he had done with Job, and when he was unsuccessful, he continued to pester us, and tempted us all the more, trying hopefully to steer us far away from finding the salvation in God. And in the end, he even tried to tempt Jesus Himself, not knowing that He is God, the Divine Word who took up the flesh of Man.

Jesus made it clear that He had the authority over the evil spirits, just as He is the Master and Lord of all things. And He wants all sinners and those troubled in heart to be healed and to be brought back to the grace of God. This is what He wanted, and what He had done for us, even unto bearing the cross of sins and sufferings and died for us on Calvary.

God had done so much for us, and He has been willing to go the extra mile to help us and deliver us from certain destruction because of our own actions and faithlessness. Shall we do the same as well? It is just right and honourable for us all to return Him the love and dedication He had shown us. And how do we do so? It is by living righteously and sinning no more, and in all of our words and actions, let us all always be mindful of the Lord and His love for us.

Let us all bless the Lord and let us from now on walk again in His path, so that by doing so, we will be found just and worthy to receive the eternal life and the fullness of grace and inheritance He had promised all who remain faithful to Him. Let us all reject and rebuke Satan and all of his lies, and all of his wicked temptations and falsehoods, and let us seek and worship the Lord our God alone. God bless us all. Amen.