Holy Week sermon

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Sunday, 2 August 2015 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about the readings from the Scriptures, both from the Old and New Testament, on how God fed His people and made them satisfied. We heard first how the people of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt was fed with manna, or the bread from heaven, so that even in the middle of the desert they would not go hungry.

Every morning, the Lord would bring manna to them in the morning mist together with the dew, and all had enough manna for themselves to eat. And every evening, the Lord sent huge flocks of birds for the people to catch and eat. And through Moses, God gave His people crystal clear and sweet water to drink, and all these He had done, so that His people may know of His love, and may be filled with good things to satisfaction.

Yet in the Gospel today, Jesus rebuked the people who followed Him, because He knew that He had fed them and they saw that He could feed them and therefore they followed Him. Why is this so, brethren? That is because what Jesus wanted the people to know, and by extension for all of us to know is that, true faith is not about believing just because we saw what had happened and be amazed at it, and neither can we have faith that is just as much as our stomach is, that is our desires.

A good lesson for us can be gained by observing exactly what happened to the people of Israel in the desert. They were fed with manna, with large birds and other food otherwise not to be found in a desert, and were supplied with rich water and ample provisions, but see what had happened to them. They did not remain faithful to the Lord who loved them and cared for them so much.

Firstly they were mesmerised by gold, by the wealth of this world, which the Egyptians had provided them amply with as they left Egypt, when the Egyptians wanted to have nothing nothing else to do with them and gave them whatever they wanted. All these gold got into their hearts, blinding them against God’s love and made them very, very proud of themselves and greed grew in their hearts.

And we know what happened next, when at the mountain of God at Horeb, as Moses went up the mountain to establish covenant between the people of God and their Lord, they whored themselves and sold themselves to the pagan gods, making a golden calf as their idol and their god, claiming that it was that golden calf that led them out of Egypt, even though they had seen the glory and might of God.

Then, throughout their journey across the desert itself, did the people of God remain faithful and did they thank the Lord for the food which God had given them? The very bread that the angels eat and share in the bliss of heaven, of which among men, they were the only ones to have a taste of? No, they were not thankful, and instead, they bickered among themselves and made complaints after complaints, and even complaining that their lives in bondage in Egypt was better than whatever God had given them.

These people had followed the call of their stomach rather than the call of their heart. They followed and submitted to their earthly and worldly desires rather than trying to find the true joy and happiness which only God can give. They placed their trust in earthly things and seek worldly approval and trying to sustain and satisfy their wants and wishes.

And this, coupled with whatever they have done in wickedness have made them to be judged as unworthy and as people rejected by God. They ate the bread from heaven and they died, because they had no life in them, and they did not try to find what true life is about, for life lies with God alone, and they did not find what they need in God, for their worldly concerns and occupations prevented them to find the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Gospel we heard the truth, that Jesus Christ our Lord, who came down from heaven, God Himself, His Word who had taken up the flesh of man, had made Himself an offering worthy of our redemption and brought about our salvation, by giving us freely, the true bread of heaven, the true Bread of Life, that is He Himself. He is the Bread of Life, for whoever partake in His Body and drink His Blood, shall have life in them, and death shall no longer reign over them.

This does not mean that those who share in the Body and Blood of our Lord shall not die, but this instead mean that death has no longer any dominion over them. While previously we ought to fear death for it is a consequence and punishment for our sins, we now know that because of Christ, our Lord, we have a new opportunity, a new chance given to us, and a new path to our complete victory and triumph against sin and death is before us.

And all these is again because of God’s love and care which He had shown us freely. Just as He had fed His beloved people with manna, the bread from heaven, with large birds and with sweet and crystal-clear water from rocks itself, therefore now, He feeds us with the true Bread and Wine of Life, that is His own Flesh and Blood. Which God cares for us so much that He would give us this to eat? And especially who would love us so much so as to suffer and bear the burden of all our sins?

It is God who loves us so much, that He would provide for us, feed us and satisfy us with care, and most important of all, to have all of us to have a share in Him, by giving His own Body and Blood through the bread and wine, which our priests transformed completely into the very substance and matter of our Lord Himself. We who partake in the Eucharist worthily therefore, share with one another the true life and salvation which comes from God alone.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we all look deep into ourselves and reflect, and use this opportunity to think about whether we have found the Lord who is really present in the Eucharist, and whether we have understood and realised the love which He had for all of us, whom He had cared for since the beginning of time, and whether we have sincerely sought for Him and desired to find Him in our lives.

May we all grow to love the Lord all the more, and may we strive to make ourselves worthy of Him as we live our lives in this world. Let us shun all forms of worldliness and wickedness in our behaviours, so that by our virtues and good works, we may detach ourselves from the desires and wants we have in our hearts, be no longer oppressed and controlled by them, and in all things may we grow ever more grateful for all the things and blessings God had given us. Lord Jesus Christ, Bread of Life, be with us all always. Amen.

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Saturday, 1 August 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how God instituted the year of the jubilee, which is celebrated every fifty years, and which was the opportunity for mercy, redemption, atonement and forgiveness for sins. It is on that opportunity that those who had been suffering and enslaved, burdened and troubled were to be freed from their burdens and be liberated.

Meanwhile, in the Gospel, we heard about how the faithful servant of God, St. John the Baptist was martyred for his upright and unyielding devotion to the truth of God, even if that meant standing up against the king and risking his own life. He was martyred for standing up against the sins of the flesh, the wickedness of this world as shown by the adulterous relationship that king Herod had shown with his brother’s wife, Herodias.

How does these two readings relate to each other, brothers and sisters in Christ? How do they make sense to us? These two readings actually invited us to look deep into our own lives and values, into our own actions, words and deeds, and asked us to reflect on the nature of sin, punishment for those sins, and opportunity for forgiveness and mercy.

If we look into our lives and reflect on what we have done and committed in this life, then surely we should be able to see how we truly deserve to be punished and cast into utter darkness because of our actions. Do we realise how much God has loved us and blessed us in all the things we have and do? And yet do we realise how often we have walked astray from the path He had shown us?

From time to time, ever since the beginning of time, and ever since we mankind had fallen into sin, we have been reminded by the Lord through His many servants and messengers whom He sent to pronounce to us the truth about His mercy and love for us, as well as the truth about His righteous anger and justice, which He shows for our sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should take note that while our Lord and God loves us all beyond anything else, and although His mercy and forgiveness is offered freely to all without exception, we should not take advantage of it, and cause the Lord to have more reason to show His wrath upon us. For if we walk the same path as the king Herod had done, then surely, we are testing the patience of the Lord.

What is this path? It is the way of wickedness, of succumbing to worldliness and all sorts of temptations and pleasures of the flesh, which brought about corruption to our hearts, minds and bodies, to our entire being. Whenever we let our heart’s desires to overcome us and control us, and whenever we act in selfishness and without regards for others, then we truly have walked astray from the path our Lord had shown us, that is the path towards salvation.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, a bishop and Doctor of the Church, who was most renowned in his role as the founder of the Redemptorists, also known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. This religious congregation devoted themselves, in the model of their founder and patron, to the redemptive salvation and the merciful nature of our Lord.

St. Alphonsus Liguori lived a few hundred years ago during a time when the faith of many were severely tested, both by heresies and heretical thoughts, as well as by the forces of the world, secularism, pleasures of the flesh, simony and many other vile things in the world. St. Alphonsus Liguori decided to devote himself to the service of the Church, to God and to His people by joining religious life.

He saw how many people stumbled on their path to the Lord, were lost and ended up living in sin. Thus, he devoted himself to serve them and help to bring these lost sheep back to the Lord. He and many others who followed him founded the Redemptorists and worked hard to combat the influences of false teachings and worldly temptations on the people they worked so hard to save.

Through his many works, and his many writings, he had inspired many others to follow in his footsteps, either by joining the Redemptorists or any other religious orders and consecrated life, or in their own life as a laity, to help those who have been lost in the darkness of the world. And have our own hearts been stirred as well? We too should be stirred in our hearts to follow in the footsteps of this holy saint.

We have to change our own lives first, in all the things that we say and do, so that we no longer follow the ways of sin, but walk in the righteous path of the Lord. Then, we should also strive to go out and help all our brethren, especially those who have not found their way and been lost in the darkness, and offer our help, by showing them through example, how to be a faithful follower of the Lord.

May Almighty God be with us all, and guide us in this life, that we may find our way to His mercy and love. May He forgive us our sins and wickedness, and welcome us back into His loving embrace. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 31 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Book of Leviticus, how the Lord charged Moses and therefore His people, with the keeping of the observance of festivals, feasts and important holy days, such as the sabbath days. We heard how the Lord charged the people to keep the observance of the Festival of the Unleavened Bread, to remember the days when they were brought out of Egypt by the mighty power of God.

All of these feasts and festivals, rites and celebrations truly are for a single purpose, that is to remind the people of God of God’s great glory and power, and even more importantly, that is to remind them of the love which He has for them, and therefore, to remind them yet again of the love and dedication which they have to have for Him. Yet over time, people seemed to forget this, and focused more on the exterior aspect of the celebrations rather than on the substance.

In the Gospel today, we heard how Jesus was not well received in His own hometown of Nazareth, where the people doubted Him and questioned His teachings and authority, because they thought that they knew Him as a mere carpenter’s Son. This is exactly the same problem that had been faced by many other prophets and messengers that God had sent to His people as well.

They were not well received because these people had become a superficial people, who cared just for their appearances and external outlook. Inside them, within their hearts, there is truly a void not filled by the love of God, but by their love for themselves. This is why they rejected the prophets and ultimately Jesus Himself as well, for they challenged the people and their way of thinking as well as their way of life.

We should not think that this is an issue that is confined only to the past. In fact, throughout history, mankind had been affected by the very same issue that caused us to be captivated and mesmerised by the multitudes of goodness and temptations that lie in this world, the pleasures of the flesh and the many concerns of this world. We then end up forgetting about God and our obligation and need to serve Him and to give all of our attention to Him.

Then, we truly should learn from the example of a great saint whose feast we are celebrating on this day, namely that of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, also known as the Society of Jesus, one of the most renowned and important religious order in the history of our Church. St. Ignatius of Loyola, through his life, would show us the way to the Lord and how to find it amidst the challenges and temptations of this world.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was born in a noble family in what is now Spain a few hundred years ago, where conflicts and wars were regular parts of people’s life. He was born into the caste of society which believed that glory and power, or gold and wealth, or fame and affluence, or all of them are the way to go in life. And so did St. Ignatius of Loyola, who believed all these as integral parts of his life.

But one day, after he was injured during a battle and siege of a castle, he got a revelation in life, that the way which he had pursued all the while might not be the right way to go. He found that all the things which he had pursued for himself and his own glory were truly meaningless, and he began to seek a true and real purpose in his life, and it was there that he found the Lord and turned himself and his life to serve Him.

He abandoned all the worldliness that had been part of his early life, abandoning everything and devoted all of the rest of his life and his works to the greater glory of God, ‘Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam’ which was his motto and which became the motto of the Jesuits as a whole. He dedicated his time and his life to the glory of God and laboured hard to help the people of God finding their way to Him.

St. Ignatius of Loyola was a champion and great defender of the Faith, who spearheaded and led the Church’s great effort to counter the great heresy of Protestantism in what was so-called ‘reformation’. He was one of the great heroes of the Church’s effort to reconvert back countless thousands of people to the true faith, together with his fellow Jesuits, which would soon prove to be very essential to the salvation of many lost souls.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow in the footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola, walk in his ways, and follow him as he leads us towards the Lord our God. May we be able to shun all sorts of temptations and pleasures of the flesh and instead of focusing on appearances and our external outlook, may all of us be able to find our inner beauty, by devoting ourselves ever more to the Lord and practicing our faith, so that we may be found worthy by He who will reward us. God be with us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 30 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the first reading taken from the Book of Exodus, how God had instructed Moses to establish the Holy Tent, also known as the Tent of Meeting, as the place where He would dwell among His people on earth, which His presence is signified by the presence of the great pillar of cloud during the day, and as a great pillar of fire at night time, providing light to all who need it in the darkness of the night.

In this we see God who did not just stay far and apart from His people, nor did He remain aloof from His people’s concerns and thoughts, but He Himself had chosen to dwell among them, to be really present among them, walking and moving about around them, as God who is real, true and exists among all mankind, and not just some abstract beings carved on stones, wood, gold or silver, like that of the pagan idols.

And then in the Gospel, we heard how Jesus spoke to His disciples and to the people about the kingdom of God, which is to come, and how it will be like on the day of judgment, when all mankind shall be judged by their merits, actions and their faith in God. And those who have not been faithful would receive their just reward that is to suffer for eternity the agony of hell and separation from God’s love.

But those who are faithful would not be disappointed, for God would be with them and bless all of them, and He would welcome all of them into His glorious kingdom, to enjoy forever the happiness and joy which He had promised for all those who had laboured and even suffered for His sake. God will always be with His people, and He will be with His people who walked in His ways and followed Him faithfully.

For we all have to remember that God had devoted Himself so much for us, that He was willing to descend upon us and dwell among us, and in the end even to give Himself to be the redemption of our sins. Yes, for the redemption of us all, sinners and unworthy people who have piled wickedness and sins, one after another. And yet, such is the love which God has for us, that even while we are still sinners, He was willing to suffer and give up Himself for our sake, that we may be saved.

And by renewing the covenant which He Himself had established with His people, He had proved His love, by giving Himself in the form of His Body and Blood, which He offered Himself freely for us, so that all of us who partake in them may have life in us, because the Lord Himself would therefore dwell within us, in our bodies and within our hearts.

On this day, we can also reflect on the life of St. Peter Chrysologus, who was a great bishop and later declared as a Doctor of the Church, for his many dedicated works and devotions to both God and to His people, that is to the brethren around him. St. Peter Chrysologus was a very renowned preacher and shepherd of the people of God who lived during the later years of the Roman Empire, during the years of turbulence and difficulties, and even troubles for the faithful.

He was especially known for his powerful speeches, sermons and teachings which all encouraged countless peoples to return from their path of sin, and repent back to the favour and grace of God. He explained the truth of the faith and the truth about the Scriptures and the Lord God with great clarity and understanding, such that all who ever heard from him, would repent from any of the heretical thoughts that they had espoused and returned to the true, orthodox faith.

His conviction and great dedication to love the Lord and to explain His love and truth to the people should be an inspiration to all of us. That is because all of us also have the capacity to bring each other closer to God, and by our own words and actions, we can help each other to find our way to the Lord, and to repent from our sinfulness and faults which has kept us away from salvation.

Therefore, on this day, let us all pray to the Lord, that we may discover the strength within us to carry on living our lives with renewed commitment to the Lord and walk always in His ways. This means that we truly should find the way to live our lives ever more faithfully. This means that in all of our actions, we truly should practice our faith with love, loving one another and loving our Lord ever more devotedly from day to day.

May the examples of St. Peter Chrysologus be an inspiration to all of us, and may our loving Father, our Almighty God be with us always in this endeavour that is our lives. Amen.

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Wednesday, 29 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of an important persona in the Bible, a woman by the name of Martha, sister to Mary and Lazarus, and a good friend and companion of our Lord Jesus Christ. She and her siblings followed Jesus and helped Him many times during His journey, as the companions to His disciples.

St. Martha showed us by what she had interacted with the Lord at that time, when she was very busy preparing for dishes and things for the guests, including Jesus Himself, that she forgot the most important thing which she should have remembered. And that most important thing is to love and treasure our Lord and God, who has first loved us all beyond any compare.

God has shown us the ultimate love of all, by sending His own Son into the world, that through Him, all people may be saved from their fate of certain death. This was because of our own rebelliousness that had sundered us away from the Lord and His love, which caused us to suffer the consequences of sin that is death and hell. But God is love Himself, and He does not wish to see us suffer that fate, and thus, He offers us another chance through His Son, Jesus.

Jesus showed St. Martha how she is busying herself with the many things she thought to be important, but truly these are none other than distractions that keeps us away from the Lord and His teachings and ways, which truly should be our one and only true treasure in life. After all, if we reflect on this, we should know how many of us in our own lives fail to look at the real treasure that is our Lord.

How many of us seek instead the comfort of wealth, worldly pleasures and joys? How many of us worry about what we are to eat, what we are to have on every single day, what we are to wear on this day and on the other days, what we are going to do and what we are going to give another and what we are going to receive? All these are certainly constantly in our minds, filling up our minds with endless concerns.

All these are tools of the evil one to keep us away from God and to keep us from paying attention to His words and teachings. The example of Mary and Martha can give us a clue in this, as Mary listened attentively to the Lord, while her sister Martha was busied by her many chores to even pay attention to a single word or utterance of Jesus, which Mary kept close attention to and kept in her heart.

Let us look into ourselves, in terms of how many times we have placed our worldly concerns in front of the Lord? How many of us placed our worldly desires first ahead of all else? This is surely what many of us have often done, sometimes even without realising it. Do we not know that our Lord cares for us greatly in all things? He provides for us in all things so that we truly do not have to worry at all, as those who worry truly have no life in them.

May Almighty God strengthen our faith in Him, that we may grow ever more devoted to Him in all things, so that in all things we may always put our trust in Him, look up to Him and no longer be distracted by the many temptations that is present in the world. May God bless us all and be with us always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 28 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Scripture readings, firstly in the Book of Exodus, on how God instructed Moses to set up a Tent of the Covenant or the Holy Tent of Meeting where God would periodically descend upon it to meet with Moses and the people, where His holy Presence would dwell and fill the whole place with His glory.

Then in the Gospel, we heard of how Jesus spoke of a parable to the people and to His disciples, namely the parable of the sower, between the good sower and the evil opponent, who sowed weeds between the wheat in the field. In the end, the wheat and the weeds will be harvested, and separated from each other, and while the wheat goes into the granary to be stored, the weeds go into the fire and are destroyed.

In the first reading God mentioned how He is filled with mercy and forgiveness to all who sincerely look for His forgiveness and love, and are willing to commit themselves to change and repentance, genuine and sincere, that they turn their back to sin and past wickedness. God will overlook their past mistakes and receive them back into His loving embrace.

But those who refuse to be forgiven, who repeatedly reject His love and mercy, and those who continue to sin even despite the reminders and messages sent to them through His servants will receive great punishment and the fullness of the brunt of the anger and wrath of God. We have to remember that as much as God loves us all, giving us opportunity after opportunity, He also hates all forms of sins and wickedness, all of which have no place in His presence.

This is a reminder for us, that we who live in this world are like the field which God had tilled and sowed in. He had sowed His seeds of faith, hope and love within us, and these are in us, but the devil too, ever since he tricked and tempted our ancestors since the time of the fall at Eden, he had also sown in us the conflicting seeds of hatred, of jealousy, of greed, and of many other vices and malice inside us.

Both of these are growing within us, and with each of our actions, we cultivate either the good seeds of the Lord, or the evil seeds of Satan. Whenever we love, care for one another, devote ourselves to God and follow in His ways, seeking the poor and helping them, caring for the sick and the downtrodden, we cultivate the good seeds and allow them to grow and prosper.

On the other hand, whenever we commit something evil, slandering against one another, coveting what others have in jealousy, be greedy over worldly things and desires, and giving in to the temptations of the world, we cultivate the seeds of evil, that will grow to be weeds that will choke the good seeds growing in us. Therefore, in this, we should see how if we dwell in our sins, then the way ahead will be dark for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all today reflect on our own lives. Have we been faithful to the Lord and walk in His ways, or have we instead been wicked in our ways? Have we loved one another or be jealous towards what our brethren have and we do not have? There are many things which we have to see in ourselves, and if we are still walking in the path of darkness, then truly we have to begin to change ourselves.

Indeed, before the time of judgment and it is too late for us, when God will sunder the righteous from the wicked and separate them, one to enjoy everlasting life and happiness, and the other to suffer eternal suffering and darkness. Shall we want to find ourselves on the side of happiness and true joy, or shall we find ourselves a place among the wicked? The choice is ours. May Almighty God help us all, that we may commit ourselves to the path of righteousness. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 27 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard how the people of Israel rebelled against the Lord who had led them out of Egypt, by establishing among themselves a wicked idol, a pagan sign of the golden calf, which they all held to be the one who had saved them and led them out of Egypt, truly an abomination in the sight of God.

That came about just right after God had established His covenant with His people, a renewal of the covenant which He had made with Abraham and his descendants. They have disobeyed the Lord and aroused the great wrath of the Lord, who was truly displeased at the behaviour of this unruly and rebellious people. God would have obliterated His people right there and then, but it was Moses who interceded for the sake of the people to calm the anger of God.

Those who have sinned and disobeyed the Lord would meet their just punishment, for God indeed does not tolerate sins and wickedness in His presence, although at the same time, He also gave them chance after chance to redeem themselves and to turn their back against the evils and sins which they have committed. Those who have not been repentant shall not share in the goodness and graces which God had promised all those who are faithful.

In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus spoke of the parables of the kingdom of heaven, talking in stories and approximations to help the people to understand the concept of God’s coming kingdom. It is an abstract concept that people would not have easily understood, but Jesus made it easy for them to understand by revealing to them the mysteries of the kingdom of God by comparing it to real life examples such as a tree with its branches that grew out of a small seed.

In what we heard in the Gospel today, they all spoke of the kingdom of God as a process of growing, with the tree just mentioned and with the approximation to the process of baking, when the kingdom of heaven is likened to yeast placed in a measure of flour, without which the bread would not rise up and it would remain a flat bread.

Thus, all these would point us to the fact that Jesus and the Lord’s servants had given us all the words and teachings, the laws and commandments which God had given to us all, but which as shown in the first reading today, we often rejected them out of our rebelliousness and inability to listen to the Lord and follow His ways. Instead, we often follow our own idols, the idol of money, the idol of earthly and worldly pleasures, and many others that distract us from our true goal.

The kingdom of heaven is in fact a situation where all of us would come together and through our actions based on the love of God, where righteousness and justice would reign, we would therefore make this world a place like heaven on earth. It is through our own lives and our own actions that we would make the kingdom of heaven a reality.

God has given us many things and gifts, and it now depends on us to do what is right to cultivate the gifts which had been given to us. If we make use of God’s gifts and allow them to grow, then truly, just as what Jesus had said, that the seed will grow to a huge tree where birds of the sky may shelter in it, and the bread will rise from the yeast and flour mixture.

Thus this is a lesson and a reminder for us all, that we have to grow deeper in faith, and practice that faith in our own works and actions, so that people who see us may believe too in God, because they see what we have done and know that we truly belong to God. Therefore, let us all do this, and bring the kingdom of God into reality through ourselves, obeying the Lord in all of His ways and not to be like His rebellious people, which we have heard today.

If we remain faithful, God will bless us and keep us, but if we go astray from His path and refuse to change or repent, then His punishment and anger will be upon us. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 July 2015 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard the Scripture readings which spoke of our Lord as a loving God who is caring and loving for all of His people, and who gave them all that they need, food and nourishment, so that they may live, be filled and satisfied without hunger or worry. In this, we see how much God has loved us, which He manifested through His many works.

In the first reading, we heard how Elisha the prophet fed a hundred man with a mere twenty loaves of bread. His servant did not believe that such a feat was possible, and he asked him, “How can we feed a hundred men with this?” But Elisha showed his servant that what for man is impossible, is possible for God, and the hundred men ate until they were full with loaves left over.

And certainly we can see the clear link with our Gospel today, that when Jesus taught the huge multitudes of people coming to listen to Him, He fed the five thousand men and countless thousands more of women and children, with just five loaves and two fishes. The disciples of Jesus were similarly astounded at first, and even asked the same question as what Elisha’s servant had asked, but God again showed His love and made the whole people to eat until full with twelve full baskets of leftover bread.

In all these things, certainly if our eyes are open, if our ears can listen, and if our hearts are opened, then surely we should be able to see how great is the love which our Lord had shown us, not just in what we have just heard, but in our daily lives, in every things we have enjoyed which had come from the Lord. It is often that we do not realise the extent of the many things we have enjoyed which without the Lord and His love for us, it would not have been possible.

And God had not just given us tangible food as in loaves and fishes to eat and be satisfied with, but even much more than that. Remember that Jesus rebuked Satan when he tempted Him with food when He fasted for forty days in the desert? He said that men did not live on bread alone, but on every words that came from the mouth of God.

This went on to show how God nourishes us not just with the food of the earth, that is to fill our stomachs, but also gives us the nourishment and food for the soul, that is His words and teachings, which He had revealed through His prophets and servants, and last of all, which He revealed in all its fullness, through Jesus, the Word Himself made flesh for all to witness and see.

And then last of all, God gave Himself as the ultimate nourishment of all, through the sharing of His own Body and His own Blood for all to receive and have life in them. For He said that ‘My Body is real food and My Blood is real drink, and although your ancestors who ate the bread of heaven, or manna died in the desert, those who eat of My Body and drink of My Blood will have eternal life.’ Such is the promise which God had given to all who partake and share in Him and His nourishing gift for us.

For it is through His suffering on the way to Calvary, by the scourging of many lashes, by the nails that pierced His hands and legs, and thus by His death on the cross that He had shed His Body and poured out His Blood for all of us to share, so that for all those for whom Christ had died for, that is for all mankind, we may receive Him and He will dwell in us, so that He may nourish us and give us a new and blessed life, no longer afflicted by our past sinfulness and wickedness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having seen all these, have we realised again how much God has loved and cared for us? And most importantly, how have we reacted to the love which God had given us? Have we shown gratitude and thanks to Him? Have we uttered even a word of thanks, and not just from our mouth but from the depths of our hearts?

The word thank you is something which we may take for granted, and which is in fact a very difficult word to utter with meaning and with proper purpose. How many of us actually give thanks for something good which had been done by others upon us? How many of us are grateful for every blessings and good things that come our way? Certainly many of us would see that in many occasions, we have not give due thanks for what we have enjoyed.

And how much more we should therefore thank our Lord, for He has given us so much, providing us all that we need, the nourishment of the flesh as well as the soul, and the blessing of everlasting life which God had given us who share in His Body and Blood, which is the Eucharist. He is God our Father, who cares for us like a parent caring for his or her child.

And today we also commemorate the feast of St. Joachim and St. Anne, who are the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was under their tutelage and loving care that Mary was brought up to be such a pious and devoted child of God, who then became an example to all of us as the mother of our God and the one closest to her Son in heaven, our greatest intercessor.

Their loving care of Mary, which in turn is also shown by Mary to Jesus her Son, should remind us of the love which our Lord had poured and lavished upon us. But the question remain the same, as we should ask ourselves, how many of us are grateful to what our parents had done for us? How many of us had given proper and due thanks to them who had given and sacrificed so much for our sake?

Therefore, let us all ponder on this, and think of how we can honour and give thanks to our Lord, who had cared for us, He, our Father, whose thoughts and gaze are always fixed upon us all the days of our lives. It does not mean anything if we do not mean what we say when we give thanks to Him and to others, as words are easy to come out with, but in order to be truly capable of showing thanks for all who have given us good things, especially that of our Lord, it must come from the heart.

May Almighty God, our Father, Lord and Saviour help us all to realise the great extent to which He had blessed us and granted us goodness in all things, that deep in our hearts a great sense of gratitude may swell and we may give thanks due to be given to He who had provided us with everything that we need, nourishments for our body, spirit and soul, so that we have nothing lacking and be fully satisfied. Let us from now on be thankful for every single moments of our lives, for every breath that we take, which is also a gift from God. May we be forever devoted to Him, our Lord and Father. Amen.

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Saturday, 25 July 2015 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, St. James, also known as St. James the Greater to distinguish him from another St. James, the Lesser, who was one of the relatives of Christ. St. James the Greater was one of the Twelve, the principal disciples of our Lord in the spreading of the Good News of the Gospel, and among the first to be martyred for the Lord’s sake.

In the readings today we heard how in the Gospel, the mother of both St. James and St. John begged Jesus for favour and power for her sons, not knowing that for the Lord, the terms of this world do not hold weight at all. The other disciples of Jesus grumbled at what they saw as an attempt to gain favour over them, and they bickered over it, but the Lord Jesus rebuked them and reminded them that true greatness and power lies not in human favour and fame, nor in prestige or worldly power, but in humility and in leading by example, by a committed and devoted service to one another, that the greater a person is, the more humble and dedicated that person must be.

In the first reading, we heard how St. Paul exhorted the faithful of the Church in Corinth of the treasure that is in us, the true treasure contained within our beings. The treasure within a container of clay is truly a metaphor, showing how we have in our bodies, made by God from mere dust and earth, have inside a true treasure, that is the Holy Presence of our Lord Himself, who had decided to dwell within us.

And by sharing in the treasure which is in us, we have been made to share in the death and resurrection of our Lord Himself. And by His death, we have also died to our sins and to our old life filled with sins, while by His resurrection in glory and return into life, He had brought us all into a new life as well, one that is no longer bound by sin and death, nor by the wickedness of our past sins, but with a new hope of eternal happiness in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all these remind us that human life and all the glories and joys of this world are just temporary, and they do not last. Eventually, all the good things of this world must go, and the things we have accumulated in this world will not follow us to the world that is to come. Therefore, just as Jesus had reminded His disciples, we too should come to realise this fact, that to follow the Lord, we have to shed ourselves of the excessive pleasures of the flesh and worldly goodness.

And then the Lord also mentioned what would be the challenges for all of those who follow after Him, and that is the cup of suffering which He has drunk and shared with all of us, that is to have a share of His cross. St. James and St. John at first did not understand what the Lord spoke to them about, but eventually they would come to understand, that following Jesus would mean that they would encounter challenges and obstacles from all those who have refused to believe in the Lord and gave themselves into temptation.

And St. James who would spread the Gospel to the faraway lands, including what is now Spain and Portugal, the place where his most famous shrine at Santiago de Compostela is located, would encounter martyrdom at the hands of King Herod Agrippa, the king of Judea, who killed St. James in order to please the Jewish authorities and to increase his own prestige.

Thus through death, St. James would share in the suffering of Christ, having faithfully served Him through the spreading of the Good News of the Gospel to the far ends of the earth. And by shedding earthly glories and worldly fame, he has gained the true treasure which can only be found in the Lord, that is the glory of heaven and the joy of the world that is to come, an eternity of true happiness.

All of us should be inspired by what we have witnessed in the life and works of St. James and that of the other holy Apostles, martyrs and saints. We all should walk in their footsteps and be more like them. Remember, the greater we are, the humbler we should become. This is so that we will not fall into the traps of our own pride and arrogance, which is often our greatest undoing.

It was pride, greed and hunger for what we often covet, such as power, greatness, human fame and praise that had led many of us to sin and to fall into darkness, and that was what had brought Satan down from his glory days as the mighty angel of heaven but drunk with power and with his own vanity. Let us all learn to overcome our own desires to seek the temporary pleasures of the flesh, and aim higher to seek the true treasure that is our Lord and His love.

May Almighty God bless all of us, strengthen us in faith, and awaken in all of us the ever stronger desire to love Him and devote ourselves to Him in complete faith and dedication. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 24 July 2015 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how God revealed to His people through Moses His servant, the Laws and Commandments which would later on be known as the Ten Commandments, the heart of the Law and Covenant which He had established with His people. God had given His laws and words, and sought to plant them on the soil of this world, that is within all of our hearts.

And this is linked closely to what we have heard in the Gospel reading today, where Jesus spoke of the parable of the sower and the seeds, where seeds falling on different places and different soils ended up having different fates and direction. In this we can compare directly, on the notion that the seeds mentioned referred to the same word and Law of God, which God had spread over all of us, and yet in how we live our lives, those seeds given to us by God will develop and grow differently.

In the Gospel, we heard how only the seed that fell on the fertile soil bore rich and plentiful fruits, while those that fell elsewhere met various ends that did not bear anything. This has to be understood first as the seeds refer to the word of God, His ways, His laws and precepts, which He has given to us mankind, to be followed and cultivated in our own lives, so that from what we have received, we may produce bountifully the good fruits of faith.

Those whose seeds fell on the roadside and were picked up by birds of the air were those who have been tempted and failed to persevere against Satan and his lies. As a result, the word of God, His laws and commandments did not remain with them and were lost, amidst all the distractions and things that Satan and his allies had sown in our hearts. We ended up following him instead of following our Lord and God.

Those seeds that fell on rocky ground were not able to grow deep roots and therefore they were unable to grow properly and die because they were unable to take up water and nutrients from the soil. This can be compared with those who have received the Law and the commandments, heard the word and teachings of God and yet they did not allow these to take deep roots in them, in all of their actions and deeds.

As a result, their faith is not firm and shaky, built on uncertain and weak foundations, and when difficulties, problems and temptations came upon them, they are quick to give in and let go of their faith and righteousness for the sake of saving their own faces and to fulfil their own needs. They would not hesitate to abandon the Lord and His ways for worldly things.

Those who were represented by seeds choked by thistles are those who have faith in the Lord, but at the same time, they were unable to resist the temptations and the allures of the world, which brought them to forget about what the Lord had taught. We by our nature are easily tempted by the many offerings of the world, and our flesh is weak. This means that, as our Lord said it, we may have faith in the Lord but our worries and the concerns of our flesh overpowered us.

This is a lesson for all of us, that we all ought to nurture in us a fertile ground for the growing of the Law and the commandments of God. That means, unlike the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who observed the Law in its external piety and appearances only, and failed to understand the true nature of why God gave us the Laws in the first place, we must therefore seek to understand the Law, its true meaning and how it can benefit all of us.

The Law of God is love, the love which God had shown us, which we ought to return to Him and which we ought to show to our fellow brethren as well. That is the essence of the Ten Commandments which we have heard today. Love God with all of our hearts’ strength, with all of our might, and then love one another equally in the same way as we have loved ourselves.

If we practice these in our own lives, in our own actions and deeds, then surely what God had given us will by itself produce a rich bounty of the fruits of our love. We may think that what we are doing is not significant and will not have a great effect, but do we all know that whatever we are doing to others will have a ripple effect? Even a small act of love and kindness can spread and influence others to do the same, and as a result, although what we have done may be small, but the overall impact can be huge.

Today let us also be inspired by the saint, whose life we commemorate on this day, namely that of St. Sharbel Makhluf, a holy man hailing from the region now known as Lebanon, one of the Maronite Christians, who devoted himself deeply and completely to the Lord, and whose works and teachings still continue to inspire many people even until today.

St. Sharbel Makhluf was renowned as a very pious monk who led a very solemn and holy life, filled with dedication to the Lord and service to mankind. He performed many healing miracles and other forms of wonders after his death through the piety he had in the Lord. Yet, throughout life he remained humble and devoted, and did not become proud or haughty of his piety, and he lived a life of solitary and yet filled with love for God.

And even after death, he continued to bring God’s love to many, by his healing miracles, through his tomb and incorrupt body, which became a source of goodness and inspiration to many. Indeed, it should be an inspiration to all of us as well, because those who followed the Law of God, and placed it deep in their hearts, and practicing them in real life shall indeed bear many fruits as St. Sharbel Makhluf had done.

May Almighty God bless us and awaken in us the desire to follow Him in all of His laws, precepts, ordinances and rules, that we may always walk straight in His path and not to be distracted and corrupted by the wickedness of Satan and his forces of darkness. May all of us be faithful always and be forever devoted to the Lord our God. God bless us all. Amen.