Holy Week sermon

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Sunday, 3 May 2015 : Fifth Sunday of Easter, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the key and heart of the messages of today’s readings is simple, that we are nothing without God, and we cannot survive on our own without God, and detached from God, or if we are cast out of His grace, then we truly have nothing and will perish, no matter how many possessions we have in life. For our Lord is the source of all life, and the source of all the things that made us who we are.

He is the true Vine, from which all the branches came from. In a plant, the true Vine means the roots and the stem, that is the core body of the plant. The branches in the plant, the leaves, the fruits and the flowers are all coming out from that stem, and gain their water and supplies from the bountiful earth from the roots through the stem. And it is with this analogy and perfect comparison that Jesus taught His disciples and the people, what it means to be the disciples of the Lord.

Jesus compared Himself with the Vine, while God the Father as the Vinegrower. The Vinegrower tends for the Vine and gives It life through the care He has given. And therefore, by the loving care of the hands of the Father, He brought forth the Son in Jesus Christ, and through Jesus, He gives life also to the world. This is precisely just as the Vinegrower gives life to the branches through the care of the Vine.

Without the vine, the branches will die and not live. All the branches must be connected to the vine or the stem, just in the same way that our limbs and organs are all attached together to the same body. All are members of the same body, that is the Mystical Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, universal and united to our Lord.

Why is this important, brethren? That is because our world grows ever more individualistic, selfish and filled with ego and wickedness. The way of this world speaks volumes on the glorification of the self and self-praising attitudes. We often think in ways that bring glory to ourselves. In the many things that we do, we often were raised up to think that we are the only ones who have done them and the success, if there is any, is solely attributed to our own efforts.

And this is how we often forget God and His role in each of our lives. This is how we forget to give thanks to Him who have given us this life and opportunity to live out that life on every single day. Without God, we would not have any life, and our life would have been devoid of meaning. It is to give praise to God, for all the wonders of His grace and works, that we live our daily lives.

I recently visited a farm and observed how the farmers treat their plants and crops. The plants were treated very well, given all the nutrients and water they need to grow healthy and strong. Those plants that bear good fruits and healthy in appearance are taken care of even more, and the workers pruned the plant in order to maximise the yield of the fruits. The parts that are not so productive are pruned off and cut, so that the plant can focus its attention to the parts bearing good fruits.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This means that while we have our lives from God, we also have been given grace and blessings, gifts and talents by the Lord for us, each unique to ourselves. These gifts and blessings are not meant to be kept within ourselves and left idle. These gifts and blessings are like the nutrients which the farmers had provided the plants, and thus, it is like all the graces that God had given us.

All the plants have a purpose, that is to bear good fruits, so that the good fruits may be harvested and gathered, and when sold, the fruits may bring decent and good profits to the farmers. The plants that bear bad and rotten fruits or no fruit at all, or if the plants are sickly and dying, or infested with many pests and diseases, they all will not be favourable to the farmers. They would uproot them and then throw them away to die and rot, and the place given to other plants that show more promise.

Thus, if we also produce bad fruits, or do nothing to bear fruits that befit what God had given us in His love and blessings, then we too shall not be able to enjoy God’s favour, as then there is no need for us and our existence indeed. Worse still if the rotten fruits cause the downfall to the fruits that are healthy and good. These diseases and sicknesses are causes by our sins and disobedience against God. And thus as a result, we did not bear good fruits, but rather, the fruits which had been tainted by evil.

If we profess to be the children and servants of our God, then all of our words and actions must show this very fact. And we also cannot be idle, thinking that believing in God is enough, or just being passive is enough. If we ignore the plight of others around us, and ignore those who live in the darkness while we are in the position to bring them succour and relief, then it will be the same as the plants that bear no fruit or bad fruits.

All of these Jesus had also summed up in His parables, one on the fig tree, where the fig tree that produces no fruit, He cursed and it withered and died, as well as the story which we heard today itself, on the vine and its branches. We are all born good and endowed with many good things, for we are anchored on the good vine, the true Vine, that is Jesus our Lord. But what matters is how we make use of all that goodness and develop it for the benefits of all, of everyone around us and not just ourselves.

In the first reading we heard how the great enemy of the faithful, Saul, who had been converted by the Lord Himself on the way to Damascus, and from someone who would arrest anyone who believed in Jesus at sight and persecute them to no end, into someone who now would not hesitate to preach a testimony of faith in front of the people, professing openly and teaching the people that Jesus is the Lord and Saviour of all.

Such was the complete transformation of Saul, from someone whose life once was driven by false zeal and by the desires of worldly praise, power and accomplishment, into a life that is transformed as a light for others, carried out in humility and true zeal, that one pursue no longer the desire of his own, but the desire of the Lord who had called him out of the darkness to be the servant to carry out His word to the masses.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, today, as we celebrate together this Holy Mass, this holy day of the Lord, all of us witness the reminders from the Holy Scriptures, that we all should indeed put our whole attention to the Lord our God, and stop being so inward looking and so concerned about ourselves and our desires. It is in our nature to be selfish to the exclusion of others, but as we have heard, we are part of one big family, one whole body of the community of all the faithful ones, all united through Christ our Lord.

We also must heed our Lord’s will and do things in accordance to what He had taught us. If we want to remain part of the Lord and continue to remain in His grace, then we truly should focus on our actions, words and deeds. Have we been faithful in all of them, and have we practiced our faith in our daily life? Or have we idled and did nothing to show the faith which we have for God? Remember, if we do nothing to act according to our faith, then we are the same as those plants that bear little or no or bad fruits.

God often gives us chance and opportunities to change our ways of life, and indeed, if we have not done according to His will up to now, then now is indeed the time to take concrete action and devote ourselves anew on the new path, a path blessed by God. There are many temptations for us to do things against this, as Satan certainly does not want us to be saved. He would do all things in his power to distract us and lure us away from salvation.

God is our true Vine, the source of all our life and all of our goodness and blessings. He is also our Shepherd and Guide, who leads us to the true path. Let us from now on, if we have not done so, or have not done enough, help one another, and keep each other in faith, as members of the same Body, the Church, united in Christ. It is that eventually all of us may gain eternal life and salvation, liberation from all the consequences of sin, by having life through our Lord.

Let us all pray, that God will strengthen our faith, and help us so that we may be courageous in living up to our faith, and bear plentiful fruits, good fruits of faith, by loving one another, walking righteously in life, rejecting all the lies of the devil and helping each other to keep the faith living and strong. May Almighty God bless us this day and from now on, forevermore. Let us all be one in Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 May 2015 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today first we heard the indignation of the Jews and the refusal of many of them to listen to the word of God and believe in Christ, although some did listen and follow the Lord, but most of them did not and even incited trouble and difficulties for the Apostles. What we heard today is just one of the many occasions when these had occurred to the Apostles and the other disciples of the early Church.

On the contrary, many of the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people, mainly the Greeks and the Romans believed in the Good News which the Apostles had preached, and they followed the Lord and His ways. These people together formed the nucleus and the heart of the burgeoning and rapidly growing early Church at that time, with more and more believers rising up every day.

In the Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ spoke about His equality with the Father, and how if we believe in Him, then all of our actions and deeds should reflect that we are truly faithful and devoted to the Lord, and not just paying merely lip service and having superficial faith. We cannot profess to have the faith in God and yet our actions and words either indirectly or directly going against that faith.

The servants of the Lord do His will and walk in His path, and yet as shown by the attitudes of the Jews, both at the time of Jesus, and throughout the works and journeys of the Apostles, they refused to believe in the truth which Jesus had brought into the world, and in their actions, they did not put into practice the faith which they professed to have. Indeed, not all of the Jews were like that, but quite a great majority of them were.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of a saint, whose attitude and works showed an unbending and uncompromising attitude to all those who were trying to deceive the faithful and spread lies among the faithful and to join them in heresy. He is St. Athanasius, a faithful servant of God and Bishop of the Church. This faithful servant of God had gone through many trials and difficulties, and he remained faithful and committed to the cause of the Lord.

At that time, the Church was greatly assailed by the many heresies, born from mankind’s inability to resist the temptations and falsehoods of Satan, and ending up trying to confuse many of the faithful, luring them to heresy, and as such, fulfill either intentionally or unintentionally the wishes of Satan, that is to divide the Church and the faithful against each other. And St. Athanasius was one among the few who rose up and stood up against the tide of these wickedness.

St. Athanasius spoke out against the heresy of Arianism, which proposed that Jesus Christ was a mere creature and not God, denying the divinity of Christ, who is truly fully God and fully Man at the same time, with the two natures united perfectly in Christ, distinct but united. This is the true faith that the Church had uphold since the days of the Apostles in the early Church, the fundamental truth that the devil tried to destroy with his lies sowed among men.

For speaking up the truth, St. Athanasius often had to suffer, as some of the heretics have friends and influence at the pinnacle of power of the Roman Empire at the time. He was cast out of his diocese, and was exiled more than once. And yet, he did not give up or fear any sort of persecution threatened and arrayed against him. For him, to suffer for the sake of the Lord and for the sake of His people’s souls is worth a suffering.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should heed the example of St. Athanasius in our own lives. We must be able to stand up for our faith and speak up the truth that many will come to resent, and yet necessary for their salvation too. And thus, so that more people will be turned to the Lord, we ourselves too, as the children and servants of God, should act in the way that is clearly the way of our Lord. And we can do this by practicing our faith and meaning it in every word we speak and in every action we do.

Remember what Jesus told His disciples, that all who follow Him and profess to be His disciples will also act and do the same things that He had done? That means, if we want to be truly recognised and found worthy as Christ’s followers, therefore we must also obey His will and preserve the truth which He had brought into the world. This is precisely what St. Athanasius had done, and what all of us are expected to do as well.

May Almighty God strengthen us in our faith, empower us and be with us, that in all the things that we say and do, we may bring ever greater glory to Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 1 May 2015 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast of the Church, that is of St. Joseph, the foster-father of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we are wondering why we are celebrating this feast day again so soon after another feast day of St. Joseph on the nineteenth of March, then we should reflect on the importance of the figure of St. Joseph in our faith.

St. Joseph is the foster-father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is the adopted father of our Lord by his marriage to the mother of Jesus, Mary. And even though he is not the real or biological father to our Lord, but in his role as the legal father to our Lord, as his earthly father, he has been a great father and a role model for all fathers and for all families.

St. Joseph in this day is celebrated in his aspect as the Patron Saint of all workers, and all who labour. Today we commemorate the memory of this humble and yet God-fearing and hardworking carpenter of Nazareth, whose exemplary life and actions, as well as total devotion and obedience to the will of God marked him different from the rest among his profession and from among his people.

Jesus was mocked by His own people, His own townspeople in Nazareth, because they thought of Him as a mere carpenter’s Son, who somehow impossibly gained such a great and vast wisdom that could not be explained by His background and upbringing. This is because even though a carpenter’s work is a noble and honest one, but no one looked up at carpenters and other manual labourers, whom people often looked down at and ignored.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we heeded the earlier readings we heard, then we know that our Lord Himself had worked when He created the heavens and the earth, when He created all the things living on the earth, in the seas and on the sky. He laboured and toiled to create all these things, and He rested on the seventh day. This shows us that working is part of the nature of this universe, and no one who slacks and does nothing can gain anything or be any part of the Lord’s design.

And thus, today, we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph, whose works and dedicated efforts remind us that there is no place in our faith and in our Church for people who idles and slacks. Firstly, as I have often mentioned, our faith requires active action and commitment, that we do not just pay lip service to God, but that we must also practice that same faith in our own actions and deeds.

And then, secondly, that as we work, we have to remember that we labour not for our own glory nor it is just for us to gain more money and possessions for ourselves, but rather, it should be for us to help one another and give glory to God through all of our works. This is where the phrase, Ora et Labora, comes to my mind. Prayer and work, and indeed, faith and works. These two are indispensable and inseparable elements of our lives.

As we know, our faith is one that requires inner spirituality, as well as outer action. Our faith is dead without action and work, as without action, our faith is meaningless, empty and superficial. And without faith and devotion, all of our works are meaningless as well. This is because our works without faith and devotion, would inevitably lead to the glorification of the self and the fulfillment of one’s own desires. And it is in selfishness and greed that our destruction is present at.

As we continue to live our lives in this world, let us all be awakened to the realities of our faith, that there are so many things which all of us can do, in order to make this world to be a better place. There are so many things which we can do, in order to help our brethren around us, especially those who are in need, and if we are able to help. Let our faith be one that is real, concrete, vibrant and filled with love and devotion towards one another.

May Almighty God, our Lord and Father awaken in us the spirit of workmanship and dedication, the spirit of respect for all workers, and to be filled with vigour and strength to carry out all of our works of faith, that we may be like St. Joseph, as brave and dedicated servants of our Lord. God bless us all. Now and forever. Amen.

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Thursday, 30 April 2015 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. Pius V, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear a brief summary of the history of salvation and of the people of God, Israel, in the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, where St. Paul preached and testified for the faith in front of his fellow Jews in a synagogue. He told them about how God led His people out of Egypt, and gave them leaders to guide them, from the Judges to the kings, and on David, the faithful servant and king which God had chosen to rule over His people.

And it was told of the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation of His people, through the promise which God had made to David, that His descendant would rule forever on his throne. And indeed, everything was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, including God’s promise to mankind, that salvation would come to them. Jesus broke free mankind from the chains of their slavery to sin and liberated them, just as the people of Israel once had been freed from their slavery to the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

This freedom however, is not easy to maintain, as history had once proven. The people of Israel during their sojourn in the desert, were sorely tempted and many of them repeatedly gave in to their desires. As a result, they complained against God, rebelled against Him by saying how good their lives were back in Egypt as compared to what they had then in the desert, even though God fed them with manna and birds, and made them drink sweet and clear water in the middle of the desert.

Is this not the same with our own experience? We also have often done the same in our own respective lives. If we reflect on it, we should realise that there are some or many moments in our lives where we also disobeyed the Lord to pursue our own desires. We have this tendency to be tempted by the many things that Satan and the world offers us, and if we accept them as such, then we are no different than the people of Israel of old.

In the Gospel today, Jesus spoke about how a servant is not greater than his or her master, and therefore, as this is the case, all of us as the servants of God should not presume things and do things that betray our Lord and show that disobedience to the Lord, for if we truly belong to the Lord, then we ought to do things as the Master had taught us. If we do not, then we are liars and hypocrites, and we do not belong to Him, and thus we have no part in His inheritance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have for an example, a saint, whose holy life had been an inspiration for many throughout the ages. This holy man, who happened to be the successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the Pope and Bishop of Rome, and therefore as the Vicar of Christ and leader of the entire Universal Church of God had a very important role to play in the development of the faith of many whom he had touched and inspired.

Pope St. Pius V lived at a time of great uncertainty, of many dangers and threats to the people of God and to the Church. He led the Church through a very turbulent time of dangers both outside and inside the Church. At that time, the threat of the mighty Ottoman Empire was at its zenith, and many feared the eventual conquest of Christendom by the forces of the heathens. In addition, the effects of the Protestant ‘reformation’ still caused great divisions in the body of the faithful, wars and conflicts.

Pope St. Pius V played a pivotal role in all of this, by truly committing himself to the role which he had devoted himself to, as the Leader of all God’s faithful, by assembling the combined forces of Christendom and the forces of the faithful that eventually led to a major and crushing victory against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto. As such, the external threat against the faithful and the Church gradually diminished afterwards.

And with regards to combatting dissent and opposition in the Church and beyond, Pope St. Pius V successfully completed the long delayed Council of Trent, which resolved many of the outstanding issues in the Church and emphasized on the maintenance of the true faith and all of its teachings, as preserved by the Church since the time of the Apostles, to counter all the harmful effects of the so-called ‘reformation’.

Pope St. Pius V therefore led the Church in the vigorous effort of Counter-‘reformation’ to combat the rampant heresies among the people, and as a result, countless thousands and millions of souls returned to the true faith. Such was indeed the example of how all Christians should live their lives, that is to be truly devoted and faithful to all the ways of the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we all able to be true disciples of the Lord, and devote ourselves completely to Him? Are we able to commit ourselves to the way of truth and be true disciples of our Lord? It is the opportunity which we have today that we should not waste. May Almighty God therefore guide us on our path and help us so that in all of our actions, we may always be faithful to the Lord, and as a result, be found worthy to receive the inheritance which He had promised to all of us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 29 April 2015 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how in the first reading, God chose St. Paul and St. Barnabas to be the servants of His will in delivering the message of the Good News to many peoples of different origins, which  brought about a solid foundation of the Church of God. The disciples prayed over them and laid their hands over them, which is the beginning of the rites of what we know now as the ordination of priests. They then served the people of God and preaching to them the words of truth, and to obey the Lord their God and follow Him in all their ways of life.

With this, we see how the theme of obedience to the Lord and His will as the requirement for our salvation. If we, the people of God, obey His will and walk in His ways, then we shall be secure, and our inheritance will be great. Our reward is great in the Lord who sees all those who obey Him and He will bless them. He blesses those who obey Him and to those who do not obey Him, He still gave them the opportunity to turn from their mistakes and repent.

As it has been shown in the Gospel today, that God came into this world in order to save it and not to condemn it. And those who listen to the Lord and follow Him, have the new life in them, life that is blessed by God. Those who refuse to listen and walk against the will of God, will be condemned not by God, but by the very action which they had taken against God.

This is to remind all of us that our faith cannot be one that is passive or artificial. Our faith must be based on real action and must show that we are truly devoted to the Lord and his teachings, or otherwise, we would be considered as liars and no one would believe in us. If we want to inspire others and make them to believe in the Lord as we do, then we better show it through our own actions.

There is no meaning to our faith, if we do not practice it in our own lives and if we do not mean what we believe in or say. Our salvation comes not just because we believe in God, but also because we act in the same way as our belief, and we make full use of that faith for the good benefit of ourselves, and also for all the others around us. Remember, the parable of the fig tree? The tree that bears fruit shall be kept and maintained well, but the ones that do not bear fruit are cut off and destroyed in fire.

Thus, it is the same with all of us. If we do not do anything to show our faith is truly genuine, then we too would have no part in the inheritance promised to us by the Lord. Today, we celebrate the feast day of a great saint of the Church, whose examples hopefully could inspire all of us to follow her in deeds and actions. She is St. Catherine of Siena, the well known saint, whose devotion remain widespread even unto this day. Who was she and what has she done to merit such great respect?

St. Catherine of Siena was born in the high Middle Ages Italy, where she was born of a parent with many children, who had wanted her to pursue the life normally expected of her at that time, that was to marry a husband and then start a family on her own. But since her youth, she had known that God had a greater and nobler plan for her, that is for her to devote her entire life to the cause of the Lord.

She did not give up despite all the oppositions, and through her fervent faith and devotion, and ceaseless prayers to God as well as real works of faith in charity and love, she managed to overcome the opposition and persuaded her parents to let her go to the hands of the Lord. And by her complete dedication to the Lord, she had brought much blessings and goodness to the people of God.

Through her devotions and works, St. Catherine of Siena helped to rejuvenate the faith in many people throughout the land that had been sagging and weakening. St. Catherine of Siena wrote many testimonies and writings which are still influencing many of the faithful even unto this very day. She helped to establish a stronger Church that truly practiced the messages it preached, and because of that many souls were brought closer to redemption and salvation in God.

Therefore, the examples of St. Catherine of Siena showed us that all of us as the members of God’s Church have much to do in this world. We still have plenty of things which all of us should conscientiously do, in order to bring more and more people to God’s light and salvation. Just like St. Paul and St. Barnabas, who had been called and chosen to minister to the people of God at that time, we too have been called to bring God’s light to the nations through our own actions and deeds.

May Almighty God guide us and bless us in our works, so that in all the things that we so, we may bring greater glory to God, and bring more souls closer to salvation. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 28 April 2015 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr, and St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard again, in continuation of the last Sunday, which was Good Shepherd and Vocation Sunday, that the Lord is our Shepherd, and His sheep, that is all of us, are coming back to Him in huge numbers, right then, and even right now. The works of the Church in evangelising the world since the time of the Apostles had not ceased, and still continues at a great pace.

In the first reading itself from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard how the Church was established in the region of Antioch and in many other areas of the Eastern Mediterranean, in places where people from various backgrounds lived. There were Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians, Persians, the Jews themselves, Samaritans, and also there were Romans.

People from different origins, different backgrounds, cultures and upbringing, all came together as one, having heard the Good News and believed, that they were since then known as Christians, or Christianos, in the original Greek language. This means that they have chosen to belong to Christ, which comes from the Greek word meaning the Messiah or the Saviour.

This has a great significance, in that a people who once lived in the darkness, in the world, had chosen to take the initiative to be saved from that darkness, and enter into the light through Christ, their Saviour and our Saviour too. We all have been taken out from the world, chosen and separated by God to be His sheep, and with Him as our Shepherd and Leader.

And because of that, we should no longer follow the ways of the world, but the way of our Lord, for we have been made one flock, under the guidance of one Shepherd. There is no more division and disunity, but now everyone who believes in Christ are made into one people, all walking the same path towards our salvation. And this is what we are doing now, under the guidance of the shepherds which God had appointed for us, our priests.

Today we honour the memory of two shepherds, each of whom led the people of God in their own unique way, but ultimately with the aim to lead them to salvation. St. Peter Chanel, a martyr of the faith, a French priest who went to the region of Oceania to preach the Faith and the Good News there. Despite the difficulties and challenges, he continued to persevere through the difficulties, continuing to preach the Faith to the people of God.

When the people, including even the son of the king desired baptism after having been taught the Faith by St. Peter Chanel, the king sent someone to kill him, and thus, St. Peter Chanel was martyred in the cause of the faith. But his hard works earned for the Lord a whole nation of believers. The whole nation who once persecuted St. Peter Chanel has been made whole by his martyrdom.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Marie de Montfort was a well known French priest, whose faith to the Lord and devotion to Him was very renowned throughout the land. St. Louis Marie de Montfort was also renowned for his pious Marian devotions, the dedications and prayers he led for the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Mary, the ever Blessed Virgin.

He preached in many places and converted many people to the cause of the faith. He led them from the darkness of this world into the light. Through his hard and painstaking work, he had brought so many into salvation in Christ. That is why, today we glorify him as one of the glorious saints, and together with St. Peter Chanel, in their different ministries, they had brought the people of God closer to their Lord and Master.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the examples of these two faithful servants of God, then we too should also endeavour to bring many souls to salvation. How do we do so? It is by practicing our faith with real action and devotion that we may bring about the conversion of many. If we are true disciples of Christ through our actions, then people will flock to us and listen to our preaching and believe in them.

May Almighty God be with us all, and may He bring all of His scattered sheep from all over the world, from all nations back, that there may be one flock, one people, with one Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master. Amen.

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Monday, 27 April 2015 : 4th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we continue on the theme of our Lord as our Good Shepherd, the One who truly knows us in and out, and He is truly the only One who really cares about us and loves us all with all of His heart. And it is only through Him that salvation and life can be attained, and nowhere else. And that is why, He said that He is the gate, and all of His sheep pass through that gate.

And He does not discriminate between peoples, or have favourites on certain races and groups. All are equally loved by Him and all stands equal in His presence. What matters to God is not our background, our birth and our status in this world, but rather, how much we love Him and devote our attention and love for Him. This is what God wants from us, and thus it is indeed what truly matters.

As the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles showed us, some of the disciples of Jesus criticised Peter, and later on also the other Apostles like St. Paul, for having worked among the non-Jews or the Gentiles, and dwelled with them, ate with them and doing things with them. For the Jews, brought up in their rigid faith system since the days of Moses, this was anathema and forbidden.

The Jews took great pride in their ‘privileged’ status as the chosen people and the chosen race of God, being the direct descendants of Jacob, and the children of Abraham. They often looked down on the pagans and other races, those considered as not belonging to the Jewish race and faith, and they prized their status more than anything else. This is the background for understanding why some of the Jewish disciples acted the way they did.

But God, who is our Shepherd, does not care about that. He gave His salvation and the life He had brought us to everyone. He did not die for a particular group of people, but for everyone. What matters is for us to walk in His path and follow Him. If we do not do as He had instructed us to do, and if chose to follow our own whim and desires, then we can have no part with Him.

It is just like sheep following the shepherd, and if the sheep does not follow the shepherd, that sheep will be lost and will likely meet a cruel and painful end, at the hands of the wolves and other calamities may befall it. The sheep cannot be far from its shepherd, and neither can it survive without the shepherd. The shepherd gives the sheep his love, care and attention, and the sheep cherish them all.

Thus, let us all reflect on this fact, that our Lord is our Shepherd, the Way, the Truth and the Life, as He Himself had said. If we follow Him with all of our heart, then we have life in us, and if we do not do so, then we also do not take part in the salvation which He had given us and offered us freely. Thus, this is indeed the time for us to see into our own lives, if we had indeed been faithful to our Lord and Shepherd, who tirelessly put His effort to bring us all back into perfect unity with Him.

May Almighty God bless all of us, forgive us all our sins, and guide us in this life, as our Lord and Shepherd, that in the end, all of us may find our way to Him and be saved. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 April 2015 : Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, Vocation Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Easter, but also known more commonly as the Good Shepherd Sunday and as the Vocation Sunday. On this day, as we have heard from the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, the readings all highlight the nature of our Lord as the One True Shepherd, who is the Good Shepherd, the only One who truly loves us and cares for us unconditionally.

And from this the entire history of our salvation came about. God is our Shepherd and we are all His sheep, who roam in this world, that is the pasture of the Lord, the world as the range which He had created for us all His sheep. And we are like wayward sheep, who did not listen to the voice of the shepherd, and therefore we were lost, and we could not find our way back to safety.

God can just ignore us and pretend not to care about us. After all, He is the Lord of all things who is all perfect by Himself, and He has no need for others. But He loves all of us as His own, and He is our Father, who cares for all of His children greatly. He created us not so that He can dispose of us. Instead, His love for us is so great, that St. John in our second reading mentioned that for that great love, He had sent us such a great redemption, that He sent Himself, in the form of Jesus, His Son, as the Saviour to redeem all mankind from their fate of certain destruction.

The Good Shepherd cares about all of His sheep, and our Lord therefore cares for all of us greatly. He does not want us to fall prey to the wolves, that is Satan and his allies. That was why He did what He had done, that is to give Himself to us, as the Guide and Leader to lead us back to the right path to salvation. The shepherd guides the sheep so that they will find their way to the green pasture and not lost.

Therefore, today we reflect on our Lord as our Shepherd, the One whom we should heed always and follow. We have to aim our gaze always at Him and not be distracted by other things in the world. Why is this very important? That is because we are really very easily distracted by the many dark things in this world, and we are very easily persuaded to abandon our Shepherd and follow the whim of our own desires.

Ever since our first ancestors first succumbed to their desire, the want for knowledge and their greed for earthly desires, we have been made vulnerable to the same desires, and if we allow ourselves to be overcome and controlled by our desired, then that is where we shall fall, and we shall fall into damnation together with Satan and his angels if we are not careful.

Ever since Satan had been cast out of heaven and brought down low for his failed attempt to take over the throne of heaven out of his pride and vanity, he had resented all that God had created and crafted. And the greatest of all God’s creations is us mankind, whom therefore he tried to destroy as well, and the best way to do so, is by causing us to rebel against God as well, just as he had once done before and which he had done ever since.

Thus, it is like the wolves who desire to take the sheep away from the shepherd. They would surround the flock of sheep and wait for the opportune moment for some of the sheep to linger and stray beyond the flock, and then snatch them and destroy them. This is Satan’s aim, trying to snatch us away from the salvation which God had promised us, and which He had purchased with His own Body and Blood.

Remember that Jesus said that the Good Shepherd lays down His life and thus dies for His sheep? That was exactly what Jesus had done. He barred the wolves, that is Satan and his allies from coming through to get us. He protected us and shielded us, all because of His infinite love for all of us, and His everlasting desire to see us saved from the pain and suffering caused by our sins.

And thus we were indeed saved by our Lord, and we have been made whole again. But this does not mean that we are completely out of danger and harm’s path. Even though the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross have given mankind the salvation and the path to liberation from death and into life, but we require an active effort and participation in the work of salvation for us to be saved.

The shepherd knows his sheep and he knew them all by name. And thus, our Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ also knew us all, each and every single one of us. And He calls on us to join Him and walk with Him. Now, the issue is, are we willing to put in the effort to walk with Him and walk in His path? It may seem to be easy, but I can assure you that it will not be the case.

The world is the domain of the evil one and his allies, and therefore, the ways of this world are inherently not compatible with the ways of Christ our Lord. Thus, if we follow Him and walk in His footsteps, it is likely that we will encounter difficulties, opposition and ridicule. Remember, brethren, that Christ Himself had shown us an example, by enduring all the ridicule, all the persecution and rejection of the world, on His way to Calvary bearing the cross that is our sins.

Therefore, Christ had left us all a great gift, that is His Church, the union of all the faithful together as one people, united with Him in a spiritual Body of the faithful by the sharing of the Eucharist, which He left behind as the centre of the efforts which He had started to call back all the wayward souls and sheep of His flock, to return to His loving and caring embrace.

And He had also placed for us, shepherds to take care of us, to be His representatives, under the leadership of the chief shepherd of all, from St. Peter to his successors as the Vicars of Christ, the chief representative of our Lord, the One and True Shepherd of all in this world. The priests, all the members of the ordained ministry, the holy orders, including all the bishops and all whom have given themselves to fulfill God’s calling and to become His servants, we celebrate today on this occasion as well.

Thus, today is also Vocation Sunday, a day when we remember all those who have been called to vocation in the Lord, to take up a life of dedication to the Lord and His people, to be the shepherds to guide the flock of God on their way to God. Let us pray for them, that they will remain always strong amidst the difficulties and challenges that certainly will come their way.

But let us also not forget that on this day, we too should also heed the Lord’s call, especially those of us who are young and have not known what we are to do with our own lives. Let us pray that all the young men whom God had chosen and called to His service, may discern and find their path and purpose in life, and when the time comes, to become the shepherds of God’s people, accepting the heavy but fulfilling responsibility which God had entrusted them with.

O Lord, our Good Shepherd, our Master and our God, be with us always and love us always. And allow the love and devotion for You to grow ever stronger in our hearts. Help us to guide one another on our way to You, so that none of the sheep of Your flock may be lost. Be with our priests and all those who have dedicated themselves to Your service, and be with those whom You have called. Be with us always too, now and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 25 April 2015 : Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Apostles and Evangelists)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of one of the Four Great Evangelists, the four writers of the Holy Gospels. Today is the feast of St. Mark, one of the important Apostles of Jesus, who went with St. Paul in his travels of preaching the faith, and eventually founded the See of Alexandria in Egypt, now known as the Patriarchate of Alexandria, which can trace their founding from St. Mark himself.
The significance of this day cannot be separated from what we heard from the Gospel, which highlighted the very important mission which Christ had placed on our shoulders, which He entrusted to all those who have placed their trust in Him. This mission is for us to preach the Good News to all the peoples all around the world, all the way to the ends of the earth.

This mission calls us to evangelise the Gospels to those who have yet to hear the Word of God and the Good News, so that all of them may hear them and be saved as well. We cannot deny this mission nor can we ignore it, for it is this mission has been entrusted to all of us who have been baptised in the Name of our Lord. And this mission continues even to this day, as all of us still have the need to proclaim the word of God’s salvation to all the peoples.

Had the Apostles kept to themselves and did not proclaim the salvation in Jesus Christ because they were afraid of all those who were out to persecute them, then there would have been no Church, and at least not the Church that we know of and are accustomed to. All of the greatness of the Church, in terms of its reach and works, are all possible because of the courageous acts and deeds of the Holy Apostles and disciples who braved even death and destruction to bring about salvation to all peoples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to walk in the footsteps of the Apostles and all the holy saints, that we may also be able to carry the cross of Christ, by becoming His mouthpiece and witnesses to all the nations. Now the question is if we are ready to bear that cross and do what we are expected to do as the members of God’s Church and as the partakers of the Lord’s work of mercy and salvation of all mankind.

St. Mark had written all these testimonies, so that all of us may be aware of what our faith truly is, and how we ought to live it out faithfully and not just with empty proclamations. Therefore, similarly, we too should also heed it through real and concrete actions, to show that we truly belong to the Lord our God. As in our first reading today, St. Peter exhorted the faithful to don the vest of humility as part of their lives, and be sober and alert against the temptations and corruptions of the devil. This shows us that we must indeed be devoted to the Lord via real and genuine love, and not just with empty faith.

There are many temptations in this world, brothers and sisters, and very often, these have taken their toll on us, by turning us in rebellion against God and by turning our hearts and eyes away from His truth and His ways, and we rather follow our own way. This is the great trouble that is facing our world today, and there is something indeed which we can do in order to make it better.

Can we make use of this great opportunity, which God offers us daily, so that we may wholeheartedly change our ways and abandon our ways of sin and disobedience, and become better disciples of our Lord. Remember, brethren, that people will likely only believe in us and in whatever we preach to them, if we have practiced what we preached in our own actions and deeds.

May Almighty God give us courage and strength, the wisdom and the eloquence of speech, as well as a faithful heart and devoted mind, so that we may, by our examples, lead many more people and save more souls through the same salvation which our Lord Jesus Christ offered us freely for our forgiveness. God bless us all and may He help to keep us safe. Amen.

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Friday, 24 April 2015 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr, Tenth Anniversary of the Inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard again about the giving of our Lord’s own Body and Blood, the Flesh and Blood of our Lord Himself as the spiritual nourishment and sustenance for us, as the Bread and Food that brings about life and renewal of the body and soul, as well as salvation for all of us. This is our faith and this is what we believe in, that we are all members of the one and same Body of Christ, by the sharing of this heavenly meal.

And that is the one desire of the Lord, that we repent from our sins and our waywardness, and walk from now on in the path which He had shown us all, the path to salvation and eternal life. And it is exactly what we heard in our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, which told us about the entire meaning of God’s love and care for us all.

The conversion of Saul, the great enemy and persecutor of the Church and all its faithful, to be later known as St. Paul the Apostle, the Apostle to the Gentiles and the brave Defender and Champion of the Faith is nothing less than extraordinary indeed. How God chose His greatest tool and champion from the worst and the most steadfast enemy of His Name, is a proof how God does things in ways often beyond our understanding, and yet, in the end, it brings about great good for us.

Saul was a young man with much zeal and energy, but unfortunately, he was grossly misled and too fanatical and unbending on his ways, to the point that he persecuted the faithful so harshly, rounding up and causing great sufferings for untold numbers of the people of God. But it is exactly the same qualities present in Saul, which God knew and which He recognised, as a great asset waiting to be used and to be awakened from the darkness, to be a servant of the Light.

In the same way therefore, God called us all out of the darkness, each of us in our own way, with our own personal background and history. He called us to be saved and to become one of His chosen, to abandon forever our sinfulness and our wickedness and instead forever to remain in God’s grace and love. This is what the Lord wants with us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a priest and martyr of the faith. He was a faithful servant of God, a priest and monk of the Capuchin religious order, who was one of the most important figures in the Counter Reformation efforts about five hundred years ago. During that time of great upheaval and confusion caused by Satan, many have turned away from the faith to seek the false teachings of the agents of Satan and those tricked by Satan’s influence, that they fell into heresy.

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen went around many places to preach the true faith in God and revealed to many people the errors of their ways. Eventually many of them were converted back to the faith and thus returned to the holy Mother Church. But as more and more were touched by his works and were converted back into the faith, there were increasingly more people who were set in their heresy that threatened St. Fidelis and called for his death.

St. Fidelis knew about this and accepted his death willingly at the hands of his enemies, forgiving them for their deeds, and praying for their eventual repentance and return to the Church. Many converted after his death and the faith also eventually triumphed, with many thousands after thousands more returning to the truth that is in Christ and abandoning all the falsehoods and lies of Satan.

Brethren, let us also therefore renew our faith and commitment to the Lord in the same way. If we are already faithful, then we should become even more faithful, and if we have lapsed in our faith, then we should find our way back to the Lord and obey His ways again. We have to make the effort to do this, or else we are likely to be drawn back again into the sins which we had committed and thus drift away from the salvation in God.

To be united with God through the Most Holy Eucharist, by sharing His Body and Blood should be our ultimate goal in life, that we may have life in Him as Christ is in us and dwells within us, by the giving of Himself, His own Body and Blood for us as food to eat, food that does not just satisfy our needs but also transform us into the Temple of His Holy Presence and make us worthy of Him.

May Almighty God be with us all, and may He grant us strength and courage to carry out our faith in life with great devotion. May He lead us to life everlasting, a life filled with His grace and blessings. God bless us all. Amen.