Holy Week sermon

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Tuesday, 23 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard today in the first reading how Abraham and Lot, his possessions and servants contended with each other because of the lack of land between the two of them, so rich and great were their possessions. And God blessed Abraham because of his dedication and great faith. He kept holy and worthy what God had shown him in life.

In the Gospel then we heard how Jesus exhorted His disciples and the people to keep holy what has been given to them in the Law and in the teachings of the prophets, namely to keep the ways of Abraham, their forefather. They ought to listen to the teachings and to practice these in their own daily actions and behaviours, that they truly are worthy to be a holy people, a people chosen by God and blessed because of the faith of Abraham, their forefather.

The way of this world is wickedness, selfishness, filled with human desires and greed, filled with utter disregard for the Lord and His Laws. This was shown by the conflicts between the shepherds of Abraham and those of Lot, his cousin. These conflicts show perfectly how many of us often succumb to our desires, and being driven by those desires, we end up acting in ways that contradict the way of the Lord.

The conflict between the shepherds of Abraham and the shepherds of Lot show this inability to detach ourselves from these afflictions. If we look back at the past century and the many centuries before in the history of mankind, we can see easily how so much violence and conflicts were born out of mankind’s jealousy and desire for more worldly things. Many of these were born out of our failure to adhere to the ways of the Lord.

All of us have to learn the lessons from the past and on what mankind had wrought in history. It is very often that because we do not learn from our past mistakes, and because we refuse to listen to the reminders which God had sent to us, that much sorrow and troubles had appeared. Had our ancestors learnt from their mistakes and repent, and had they listened to the prophets and messengers which God had sent to them, they would not have suffered such.

Now, the impetus is upon us, and the ball is in our park. It is now our turn to see and realise what our actions had done upon others around us, and ultimately upon ourselves. Do we realise that whenever we give in to our desires, to our greed, to our selfishness, to our pride, and to many other negativities inside us, then we are actually taking steps closer towards doing what our ancestors had done? All their wickedness and all of their vile things?

Then what should we do, brothers and sisters in Christ? All of us should take some time to reflect on our own life, on our own actions and deeds, and on every words that had left our mouth. Have we been agents of love, of compassion, of harmony, of peace, of faith and of total devotion to our Lord? Or have we instead been agents of chaos, of violence, of hatred, of jealousy, of darkness and destruction?

Let us all therefore from now on be more careful in what we do and in what we say. Let us remember that when we say something to others, we should be loving, nurturing, understanding and gentle, rather than being proud, condescending or being judgmental. So that when we interact with others, we do not hurt them or cause them suffering, but instead to have joy together in the love of God.

And the same should apply to our actions. If we have been very selfish up to now, and thinking only about ourselves, our wants and our desires, then it is truly the time for us to change. Let us have more love for one another, more concern and more attention. Let the gaze of our eyes and our minds not be concentrated just upon ourselves, but instead let them be upon those who are around us, especially those who are in need of our help.

May Almighty God help us to understand His ways and His Law more, for His Law is love, and He is Love Himself. May He help us that we may have more love in us, both for Himself, and for our brethren around us. Let us all die to our pride, to our desires and to our selfishness, and let us rise again in a new life filled with love, with compassion, with peace and the harmony that God had shown us, through His prophets and His Laws, and ultimately, through the ultimate sacrifice of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 22 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop and St. John Fisher, Bishop and St. Thomas More, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the calling of Abram out of his homeland in the Ancient Mesopotamia, and he followed the Lord’s calling to the lands of Canaan, and because of his unshaken faith, later he was known as Abraham, the father of nations and one blessed by God to be an example to many of his own descendants, as a paragon of true faith and devotion in God.

Then in the Gospel we heard how Jesus our Lord chastised the people for their shortsightedness and inability to look at their own sins, while judging and being condescending on others who have sinned, by using His parable on the speck and plank of wood. He was comparing those who could not see the tiny speck in their own eyes and yet these people could see the big plank in other’s eyes.

How are these two readings related to each other? And how are they relevant to us? We have to understand first, that what Jesus had told the people, also has an important bearing for us. Why is this so? The parable that Jesus used spoke of how mankind often easily find fault in others, and yet, they were totally inept at discovering their own shortcomings and they were unable to realise their own sinfulness.

We are often quick to point fingers at others whenever something goes wrong, but do we realise that when we point our index finger on someone else, the other three or four fingers are pointed back at us? This should be a reminder for us that, when we accuse others of wrongdoing, we should first examine ourselves and see if it is not actually our fault first before we cause harm and trouble for others around us.

Many of this world’s sorrows were born out of this inability for us to look deep into ourselves and introspect on our own actions, before we accuse others and be judgmental upon others. These ruin and destroy relationships, break apart the unity and harmony of the faithful, and bring great sorrow and distress upon many, where then Satan could enter and manipulate things according to what he wishes.

We should indeed follow the example of our forefather, Abraham, who listened to God and walked faithfully and humbly in His ways. He showed us the example how to live our lives correctly, righteously and justly, unlike that of the people whom Jesus had chastised. This is because Abraham laid low his pride and his human desires, and instead, he opened himself completely to God and surrendered his entire being to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, pride and our other human traits often come in the way of our ability to listen to God and walk in His ways. We are unable to let go of many things and distractions that come our way, to the point that we end up accusing others, being judgmental and irrational in our ways. We think not with the wisdom of God planted in our hearts, but instead through our human desires and fragility.

Today we celebrate the feasts of several saints, whose lives hopefully will make us more aware of what we are expected to do in life. St. Paulinus of Nola, the first of them, was a Roman saint and bishop, who was born from an affluent and noble family, and had such a great career in the secular world, with power and authority, and yet, he voluntarily left all of that behind, in order to pursue a life more attuned to the will of God, in seclusion and prayer to God, and served then as a bishop, whose works continued to inspire many even until today.

St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were both the martyrs of the so-called English ‘reformation’, the false and wicked attempt by the fallen King Henry VIII of England to separate the churches and the faithful in England from the true authority and jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, the Vicar of Christ as St. Peter’s successor, as a pretext to cover up his own adulterous life and sin, marrying eventually six times in the pursuit of an heir, as well as his unbridled lust.

Both St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More stood up for the true faith and refused to budge to the orders and wishes of the king, even while knowing that doing so would mean certain death and suffering for them. St. Thomas More even resigned from his powerful position of the Chancellor of the kingdom to show that he could not continue to tolerate the sinful ways of the king, and his readiness to stand up for the Lord.

Even when the king offered position, pardon and favour if they would just recant their opposition to the king’s ways and wishes, but they refused them all, preferring to suffer and die rather than to betray the Lord by following the worldly wishes of the king. Eventually they were martyred for their faith, and their memories were celebrated and are indeed still celebrating till today as the paragons of the true faith, just as Abraham once was.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore let us all from now on follow the examples of these faithful saints, and also by walking in the same path as Abraham, our father in faith, that we may become ever more faithful to the Lord our God, that at the end of time, God who sees our faith will bless us and grant us His everlasting happiness and the promises of grace He had given us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how Jesus with His power and authority, commanded even the wind and the waves in the storm to settle down and cease, showing His power as the Messiah and the Lord of all Creations. And He showed it to His disciples who were fearful and afraid, fearing for their lives even as the storm battered on the ship and it almost sank.

Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith, and He mentioned to them that they should not have been afraid, had they had even the smallest amount of faith and trust in God. This reading, and all the other readings and the psalm today all sounded in tandem upon a central theme, that is the Lord as our Master and our God, who loves us and protects us from harm’s way, and rescues us from trouble.

And He leads us all as the member of His Body, the Church, in a great journey through life and through this world, in order for us to traverse it safely to our destination, that is eternal life and joy which only the Lord our God could provide. And this is symbolised by that journey that Jesus and His disciples took as they traverse the lake in a storm, and Jesus calming down that storm for them.

There are indeed plenty of symbolisms in today’s readings, particularly that of the action of Jesus on that boat that day. The Church of God, the Body of Christ, is often represented as a large ship or boat, and truly, this same interpretation applies in this case too. Jesus and His disciples represents the Church, of which Jesus, who is their Master, is like the captain of the ship, while the disciples represent us all, who are the members of the Church.

For the Body of Christ, the Church of God represents not just the buildings and the assets of the Church, but the true assets of the Church lies in its members and their unity to one another. And Jesus is the Head of the Church that is His Body, in Him we are all united as one people, and He leads us in this journey filled with difficulties and challenges, the opposition and attacks by Satan against us.

For the stormy seas, the winds and the waves represent the challenges that will surely come our way if we remain true to our faith and remain in the Church of God. Satan, who has dominion over this world, is certainly not going to let us go and escape his clutches just like that. He who had made our forefathers to fall into sin and rebel against God will do the same to us as well.

And the disciples’ reactions when they saw the storm was about to sink their ship were truly reminiscent of our own reactions as well. They feared, so we also fear too, when we encounter difficulties, when we are tempted and challenged by Satan and his forces. And this happens when we do not have faith in God or little trust in Him. We are afraid and fearful because we think that in this battle and tribulation, we are alone.

And a natural reaction is for us to abandon the ship and jump into the water. Translating this to reality means that we abandon the Church, we abandon the Lord and all of His ways, succumbing to our fear. Do you know that it is much safer to remain with the ship even though it seems that the ship is about to sink? It is better than to jump out and face myriads of uncertainties and danger outside of the ship.

The Church of God is a haven of protection from the forces of evil, and if we are faithful and remain true to the Lord through His Church, and if we anchor ourselves steadily on Him, then we will not be shaken and no forces of evil can destroy us, for the Lord is with us, and as the Head of the Church, He will steer us through all the dangers and difficulties to our eternal reward.

We should not fear evil, for God Himself showed that He has authority over all things, and by subduing the storm and the waves, He showed that even Satan and all of his might had to submit to the power and authority of God, who is the Master of all. Therefore, there is really no need for us to be afraid of him and his darkness, for God who reigns over all will ensure our safety. Do not fear those who cannot harm our eternal soul.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, from today on, can we commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and trust in Him more? God is our Leader and our Shepherd, and as long as we have Him, we should not be shaken. Yes, there will be challenges and difficulties, but these are after all part and parcel of being one of the faithful ones of the Lord. For the world and Satan who ruled over it, had rejected the Lord in the first place, and therefore they will reject us and persecute us too.

May Almighty God give us strength to walk faithfully in His ways and not to be swayed by the forces of this world. May He give us courage to maintain ourselves and composure in the face of the storms of this world. May we not be discouraged or be frightened by what Satan has employed in order to deter us and make us panic, but let us all remain firmly in our true devotion and faith to the Lord our God. May God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 20 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we are reminded to keep in mind that we mankind are always sorely tempted to boast of ourselves, and to think solely of ourselves, and to be worrying about what we want in life. We always by our nature selfish, and we always act by instinct to preserve our own safety and well-being first, just as animals do.

But we can do better than that, brothers and sisters, for we all know that God loves all of us, and He cares for all of us, for all of our needs and concerns, and He provides freely all that we need to live, as He had also done the same to the animals and plants, in short, for all of creation. God created us all not because He just want to do so, but because He wants to share His love with us, and to care for us with perfect love and compassion.

As a result, indeed, there is truly no need for us to worry at all about anything. We worry because our minds and hearts are filled with concern for ourselves. We cannot detach ourselves from the many concerns and desires that continuously assail us with all their temptations and demands, such that we continuously worry ourselves, either about what we are to eat, or about what we will have in the day, in terms of money, human relationship and many other things.

We also worry because God is not in our hearts and minds. If we have kept the Lord in us faithfully and placed our trust in Him, then we would definitely have not been fearful and we would not have worried about anything. We worry because our fears and our desires grow stronger than our trust and faith in the Lord, and we do not believe that He could help us, or worse, thinking that He had abandoned or ignored us.

Often, this is what people feel when they pray and then their wishes were not heard. But this is because we fail to understand what a prayer truly is. We frequently think of prayer as the channel for miraculous help, and that God can grant us anything we want. But God is truly not someone who will fulfil all that we want, since we all should be aware of human nature, that when we have something, we tend to be not satisfied and wanting even more of what we already have.

That is why when we think that the poor ones are suffering, but the rich in fact also suffer, because the more they have, the more they too worry and desire for even more things. As a result, this causes a continuous vicious cycle that continues to feed our own desires, and then cause us to worry even more as we obtain more of what we wanted.

The key to break away from this great dilemma is by learning to put our trust and hope in the Lord our God. If we can trust in the Lord, then we should know that in His own way, He has been providing for us what we need, either through what we receive in this life, or by what He had done through others around us, whose hands and actions were inspired by the Lord to show His works for our sake.

God works in mysterious ways, but it is often that we fail to understand how He cared for us in His own ways. He gives us what we need and bless us richly. But the true reward lies in the end, when the faithful shall receive the fullness of God’s grace in His heavenly kingdom. This is the promise which He had given to all of His faithful. And this is when we should indeed put our trust in all of His promises and love for us.

May Almighty God strengthen the love which we have for our Lord in our heart. May all of us be more able to love Him more, and trust Him more in all things, so that we will be worrying less about ourselves and what we are to have today, and do the best we can do today, building up our treasures in the everlasting life promised to us. God be with us all. Amen.

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Friday, 19 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings tie very closely to the lives of the saints and martyrs whose memory we are celebrating today. As such, the readings spoke about being the servants and followers of God, and what is to be expected of us, and how we ought to live our lives so that we may remain faithful and true to the Lord our God.

In the first reading today, St. Paul spoke of how he had encountered many oppositions and difficulties along the way, and how he had suffered many tribulations and torture at the hands of his enemies, rejection, been spitted on, lashed with ropes, imprisoned, and many other forms of inhuman torture which also unfortunately were the fate of many other Christians at the time.

And if we notice, Christians throughout time, even until today, including what the recent events had shown us, still encounter the same if not even worse persecution and torture. When we stand up for our faith, indeed there will be those who disagree, because they have rejected the truth which can be found only in the Lord our God.

But in the Gospel today, Jesus comforted all of us, by saying that we indeed ought to stand up for the faith and the truth. He spoke of seeking not earthly treasures but heavenly ones, and this is implying that we should not settle for the happiness and good things that can be found in the world, but we must strive for greater things, that is the true joy that only God can give, even though the world may disapprove of us.

The earthly treasures Jesus spoke of were the approval of the world, the pleasures of the world, money, wealth and possessions, sexual lust and pleasures, greed and human desires, fame, human praise and many others that we should all know about. Meanwhile, the heavenly treasures that God spoke of is the true joy and happiness that do not end, even to the end of time and beyond, for we will forever live in perfect harmony with the Lord our God.

This is exactly what the martyr saints of Vietnam, St. Philip Minh and his many companions in martyrdom had also done. They chose to remain true to their faith in God, despite the threat of persecution, torture, suffering and death by the authorities at the time, which was intensely against the Church and the Faith spreading in the country of Vietnam.

The government tried to persuade the faithful to abandon their faith, some even by offering them money, property, as well as opportunities for work and promotion in the social strata, so that they hopefully might be persuaded to abandon their faith in God and embrace what the government had provided them. But many refused to accept all these, as they fully knew that to do so means to trade the eternal and true wealth they had received and assured by the Lord, for the temporary and illusory pleasures and joy of the world.

The same thing had also been done by the Apostles and the disciples of Christ, and many of the members of the early Church, when they were faced with the oppression and persecution of the world. And even until today, many still faced persecution by the world because of their faith in the One, True God as the world is opposed to Christ and to His truth. This is why the faithful suffer such great persecutions for their faith.

May the examples of the saints and martyrs, especially that of St. Philip Minh and his companions, the Vietnamese Martyrs, be an inspiration to all of us on this day and beyond, to live our lives faithfully, so that we may truly seek the true treasures which await us in heaven despite the challenges that will come our way, rather than settling for the temporary treasures of this world that will inevitably cause us to lose forever our eternal inheritance and a prelude to eternal suffering. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 18 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how we ought to pray to the Lord. We heard how Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, through the teaching of the perfect prayer, which we now know as the Lord’s Prayer, or Pater Noster (our Father), as it is a prayer which signifies the relationship which exists between us and God who is our Father.

Why is it such a good and perfect prayer? That is because firstly, as Jesus had pointed out that when the pagans and the Pharisees pray, they like to pray with lots of words and loudly, and the louder and the more dedicated is the prayer, the more they believed that their prayers would be heard and fulfilled. And they liked to make the prayer in the public places, to show the people how pious they were.

Instead, Jesus formulated the perfect prayer that is not just succinct and to the point, capturing all the essences of a prayer, but it is also demonstrating what a prayer truly should be, that is for us all to communicate with the Lord our God, through the opening of our hearts, and the exposure of our hearts, minds, body and soul to the holy presence of God.

Truly, a prayer is like how a child talks to his father, as a communication between them, building up from their relationship. A prayer should not be a one-sided communication where we are the only ones speaking and talking, and yet we ignore the Lord who is speaking deep in our hearts. Sadly however, this is mostly the case when we talk about prayers.

More often than not, when we look at how we pray, it is a litany of demands, of wants, and of accusations, on how God had not done enough for us or that He had not listened to what we wanted. We also often pray to God only when we remember Him, that is when we are in difficult times, and need urgent and immediate help, as if God is a sort of last resort help we can always depend on for free and take it for granted.

And when we are in good times and times of plenty, more often than not, we forget entirely about God and ignore His presence around us. God is always with us, regardless whether it is during time of plenty or time of suffering, but we often do not see that it is God who has blessed us with such great graces, all the blessings and good things we enjoy in life, and most importantly, our very lives are gifts from God indeed.

When we pray, it is often that we focus on ourselves, on our needs, on our wants, on our desires, on our greed and on our own selfishness, as it is in our nature to put such an emphasis on ourselves. But this is why many of us do not have a good and fruitful prayer life, as our prayers are often empty and meaningless, if not improper and downright offensive to God.

Jesus taught us how to pray, that when we pray, we ought to open ourselves to God and allow Him to speak in us, and we also recognise Him as the Lord and Master of all things, and thus all that we are and all that we do are subject to His will and authority. Thus, this is why we said the first half of the Lord’s Prayer, glorifying the Lord our God and humbly submitting ourselves to His will.

And then, we must also give thanks to God for all of His grace. We know that God will bless us with all that we need, our daily bread, and He will also definitely forgive us our sins if we have also forgiven others who sinned against us. We do not need to doubt this, as the Lord Himself had affirmed this many times, by His words and actions. The Lord is ever faithful, ever loving and ever merciful, if we ourselves are willing to change.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all pray for great grace from God, that all of us may realise how much more we need to do, and how much more genuine we need to be in our prayers. Let our prayers not be expressions of our ego or greed, but let it be a genuine expression of love and the desire for us to speak with our Father who created us and loved us all.

May Almighty God be with us always, and may He continue to lead us and guide us, to enable us to focus our attention to Him, giving Him thanks for all that He has done for us, by cultivating a good and disciplined prayer life. Let us all mean every words we say when we say our Lord’s Prayer, filled with renewed vigour and strength of our faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 17 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded, of the purpose of our actions which we do as part of our faith in God. All of us ought to pray and to devote ourselves to God, through actions such as charity to others and fasting at the allotted time, such as during the season of Lent and on Good Friday, and abstain from meat on Fridays.

But all these observances and practices would mean nothing to us if we do not understand or know the significance of such practices. As an example, Jesus often criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their very rigid and unbending observance of the Law, and while the intention may be good, but their blind obedience and devotion was their undoing.

When we pray, do we do it for the sake of fulfilling our faith obligations? And when we go to the Mass, do we do so out of fear that if we do not go to the Mass on Sundays then we will be deemed as sinful? Do we truly believe in what we do? Or do we do it without knowing its purpose? When we pray, we ought to know that we are communicating and talking with God in our hearts, so we open our hearts and allow God to enter into us and speak in the depth of the silence of our hearts.

When we do something charitable, we also open ourselves to the rich graces and love of God, and we become the extension of God’s love, through which He showed His mercy and love to men. And when we fast, we do so because we want to die to our desires and to our human needs, and therefore be more capable of focusing our attention to the Lord. It is truly about God, and not about ourselves.

Therefore, if we look at the examples, we should know that when we pray, when we go to the Mass, when we fast and when we do something charitable to others, it is truly about the Lord, and also about those whom we do our charity for, and not about ourselves. It is however a tendency for us to look into ourselves and become too focused on ourselves as we do all these good things.

It is imperative therefore, for us to reexamine ourselves and our focus in life, especially in how we live our faith lives. Have we been genuine in our devotion to God, or have we instead been so selfish and self-serving in our actions? If we are truly faithful, then we would try our best to do everything with proper understanding. It is also a lesson for all of us to take our faith seriously.

Remember, we need to have a correct understanding of our actions so that our actions may benefit us. When we do something, let us all do it for the sake of God and for the sake of others around us, and less for ourselves. Many of the vices and evils happen in our lives exactly because we put ourselves first above God and above others.

Indeed, let us all not seek praise for ourselves and the approval of the world. Let us all be more humble in everything and let go of the pride that often had its grip on our hearts. Let us seek to understand more of what we need to do to be truly faithful to the Lord our God. Give thanks to Him who have given us so much, and for all of His generous graces and blessings for us.

Our prayers and actions should not be dead or filled with self-gratification. Rather, they should be filled with the expression of love and devotion to the Lord, filled with joyful thanksgiving for God’s grace, and also for the mercy and forgiveness for all the sins and wickedness which we have committed in this life. May Almighty God be with us all, fill up our hearts with His love, that we may love Him ever more, through our prayers and through our actions in this life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how we ought to love in our lives. Should we love only those who also show love and care for us? Or should our love and care be extended to all the peoples around us without exception, including those who have hated and despised us? What is love really, and how do we express it then?

We ought to first understand what Christ had taught us through His disciples, and most importantly what He had shown by action to show us what love really is, for He is Love Himself. He showed us that love should be impartial, unconditional and selfless, and not the kind of love that we are often exposed to, love that is selfish, filled with desire and lust. This is worldly and selfish love that does not bring benefit to us.

When we expect our love to be reciprocated back to us, then this is where the root of many problems came from. A lot of conflict and disputes between families and members of families, and a lot of discontent and discord that happened between the people of God, can be traced back to how we in our selfishness were afraid and fearful that we would lose the love and the attention of others. We treasure that human friendship and approval, and we fear the moments when we are not loved by others around us.

And when this happens, we either become resentful on others, being jealous on the loving relationship that others have, and desiring it as our own, or otherwise we seek to capitalise on that relationship, resulting in disloyalty and lack of commitment, because we see how relationships are just assets and things to be possessed and manipulated, and once they have outlived their usefulness, we abandon them and cast them aside.

This is why we have seen a great increase in the occurrence of divorce, where married couples could not commit to their wedding commitment, and decided to disobey the Lord and His Law, by breaking the union which had existed between them through divorce, and therefore sinning against God. Divorce is sin, plain and straightforward, no matter how the world tried to argue against this fact. But this would have been preventable had they understood what love really is.

Love in reality is selfless, the selfless giving of oneself to another. And when in a married couple, love ought to be truly a selfless giving of each other to one another, so that in the couple is cultivated true love, where both of the couple, man and woman are bound by the indissoluble bonds of love. This is exactly what our Lord had shown us by His example, of having loved us all first even when we were still sinners.

St. Paul in his letter pointed out this fact, that God loves us so much that even when we are still sinners, He was willing to give up His life for us, so that we may have life in ourselves through His love. If He had not genuinely loved us, and wanted returns from us, it is unlikely that He would have died for our sake. After all, we mankind had shown unfaithfulness and untrustworthiness from the example of the Israelites, who continued again and again to defy the Lord and committed sins after sins.

But did the Lord hesitate to invest His time and attention, and ultimately His love and care to this rebellious people? No, He did not, and in fact, He offered Himself freely, and He even gave Himself for the sake of those who have rejected and persecuted Him, namely the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, the elders and the Pharisees, who had given Him so much trouble during His ministry.

Jesus Himself gave example by loving even His enemies, and indeed, He prayed for them, when He asked His Father not to hold their sins against them on the account of ignorance and blindness to the truth. Thus, He did not just preach with words only, but also with real action. When Jesus spoke about us having to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, He showed it Himself by using Himself as the prime example, so that we too may believe in Him and follow His examples.

Therefore, on this day, brothers and sisters, let us all reflect on this which we have just discussed. Do we really know and understand what love is? It is an important question for us to ask ourselves, if we are to continue to live faithfully as the children and servants of God. Truly, if we practice the same kind of love as what Jesus had shown us, all of us will have our lives transformed for the better. Thus, let us all pray that God will continue to love us, and show us the way to love ever more and ever better, that we may love Him and one another with true sincerity. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how God taught His people that the way of revenge should no longer be practiced, and instead, they should practice mercy and love from then on. This law of strict and retaliatory justice had been practiced by the people of Israel since the days of Moses, when the Law was first revealed to men and when it was first instituted.

As with the law on divorce, which the Pharisees also made into an issue on another occasion with Jesus, these laws actually do not reflect what God truly wants with His beloved people. For God Himself is true Love, and His ways are mercy, compassion and gentleness. Why then, God gave us such a draconian and harsh law, where people who have caused someone pain in something must repay it in exactly the same way, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth and others?

That is because of how stubborn the people of God was, that they continued to repeatedly defy the will of God and committed what is wicked and evil in the sight of God, breaking the commandments of the Law in various occasions. They even broke the covenant as soon as God established it with them, by replacing Him with a golden calf, a pagan idol, whom they deemed as their god.

They constantly rebelled against Moses, His servant and made complaints after complaints, not being happy of having been liberated from their slavery in Egypt. They would rather live in the pleasures of the world and their stomachs while enslaved, rather than to be freed and to walk in the way of the Lord. And this stubborn people did not trust in the Lord and feared the Canaanites, and as a result, God punished them to wander in the desert for forty years.

In order to deal with this kind of people, as we do with people who are difficult to handle, sometimes, it is indeed necessary for us to use force and strictness in order to make things work. In the same way therefore, what God truly wants us is that, we must become more compassionate in our dealings with others. We should not seek revenge for what evil that others had afflicted on us.

Why not, brethren? That is because revenge only brings about even more pain and evil, and more often than not it brings only more revenge and destruction upon us. It is a vicious cycle that will never end if we continue to engage ourselves in the act of revenge and violence. Forgiveness and mercy is what is capable of breaking this vicious cycle, and allow harmony and peace to reign again among the parties involved.

But, we also have to take note that forgiveness should not be taken for granted, as many falsely thought that they can just do as they want and then they deserve to be forgiven. At the same time as we show mercy and forgiveness, se must also make sure that the person to whom we show mercy must also snow true and genuine desire for repentance, or otherwise, it would be false mercy that we are showing them.

It is particularly troubling that even within the Church there are those who are the proponents of this giving of false mercy, which in the end, while it shows our Christian tenderness and love, but it also at the same time does not lead people into righteousness, as it causes the people to continue to live in sin. In the end, it will only deceive the people, and in this deception, instead of bringing the people back to God, we are casting them out to hell.

Mercy must be tempered with justice, and vice versa. Compassion must be tempered with discipline, and vice versa. Therefore, we must balance our approach in everything that we do. In all of our actions, let us firstly learn how to forgive and let go, letting go of the pride and the hatred in our hearts so that we may learn to forgive, and then we must follow it up, by giving out the love from our heart, showing that we are concerned about their well-being, and seek to help and guide them to change their ways and to repent.

In this manner, not only that we stop the vicious cycle of revenge and hatred from happening, but as we heard from the first reading today, our actions will bear many fruits, by inspiring many others who witness what we have done, and practicing the same in their own actions, and in this, a small ripple of good action, will eventually become a huge wave of charity and love, and we can bring many souls towards the salvation in our Lord. May Almighty God be with us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate both the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of our Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, the well known preacher and saint whose devotion is widespread even until now amongst the faithful.

On this day, we commemorate the loving and sacred heart of Mary, the mother of our Lord, which is celebrated very closely to that of her Son’s Heart, for the two indeed were very, very close. Not only that she was His mother, but she had also gone through a lot of things with Him together, and she also lived with Him and followed Him during much of His earthly ministry.

It began since just a few days after Jesus was born, and Mary brought Him to present Him at the Temple. The prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna met them, and there the prophecy regarding Mary was mentioned, that a sword would pierce her heart. This is a foreshadowing of the fact that when Jesu went through His Passion on the way to Calvary, Mary was there, and she was there too on the feet of His cross, watching how her Son is dying for the sake of the world.

No mother should ever see her own child dying before her. But Mary endured all that patiently and quietly. She was truly sorrowful and anguished, but she kept everything in her heart. The same she had done when she was told of the prophecy earlier, she kept everything in her heart. She also kept everything in her heart when we heard in the Gospel today, that Jesus was left behind in the Temple of Jerusalem, He mentioned that He must be in the house of His Father.

Have we taken note, brothers and sisters in Christ? Mary and her heart is so immaculate and pure, that she does not complain or make any issue, when she encountered all these things, from the time when she received the Good News from the Archangel Gabriel, to the prophecy of her sorrow, to the time when Jesus was left at the Temple, to the time when she followed her Son in His ministry, and eventually until when she met Him on that day when He took up the cross, and followed Him to the feet of His cross.

We can imagine how strong and wonderful her heart is, for her to take everything up and endured them in her heart. She suffered in silence, in her sorrow, and she looked up to see the face of her beloved Son. And in the same way therefore she is now looking at us, for many of us are in the danger of falling into eternal damnation in hell for our sins and lack of repentance.

Jesus gave Mary to be our mother too, just as she is His mother. From the cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to John, and He also entrusted John to His mother Mary. In this manner, by the representation of John, God entrusted all of us mankind to the loving care of His mother Mary. Thus, the same pain and sorrow which she had experienced for her Son, she also experienced for us.

If we are wondering why so many of the Marian apparitions and visions occur in the world, if we understand what I had just mentioned, all of it will make perfect sense. Mary through various means continues to watch over us and she is always thinking about us. As she is the closest one to the throne of her Son in heaven, indeed we have no better person, be it men or angels, to ask for help, so that we may be freed from the depredations of evil and sin.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, a renowned preacher who lived during the High Middle Ages in what is now Italy. St. Anthony of Padua worked hard in his devotion to the Lord, to bring the truth of God to the people, casting out heresies and redeeming people who had lived in the darkness. He was also renowned for his great homilies that he was famously known for having a ‘golden tongue’.

Through his works many people found their way back to God, and many of them found the truth through him. St. Anthony never ceased working for the good of many in the Church, just as what our Blessed mother Mary had done for us, by reminding us again and again, to repent from our sinful ways and hearken ourselves to the words of truth found only in God. Let us be inspired by the examples of the works of St. Anthony of Padua.

Threfore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all today pray and ask for the intercession of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the mother of all of us. Let us plead to her most immaculate and loving heart, which is filled with the love of a mother for her children. May our mother pray for us always before her Son, our most loving and merciful God, so that our sins may be forgiven, and may all of us be awakened to our sins, realising how great is the love that both He and His mother have for us. God bless us all. Amen.