Holy Week sermon

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Sunday, 1 May 2022 : Third Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, the third in the glorious and joyous season of Easter, all of us are called to remember once again, through the Sacred Scriptures, of the reason why we celebrate this season and why we rejoice so happily, all because of the great victory and triumph that Our Lord and Saviour has won for us, that by His death and resurrection, He has purchased for all of us, the freedom and liberation from the tyranny of sin and death. Through Him, all of us have received the assurance of eternal life and true joy, assured of the final victory that will come with Him, if we remain faithful and steadfast, staying true to Him to the very end.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the confrontation between the Apostles and disciples of the Lord led by St. Peter, against the Sanhedrin, the powerful High Council of the Jewish people led by the High Priest, who had arrested the Apostles and ordered them to stop preaching in the Name of the Risen Lord. At that time, the Lord had risen and ascended into Heaven, and the Holy Spirit had descended upon the Apostles, whom encouraged and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, went forth to proclaim courageously the truth about God and His salvation, in Jesus Christ, the same One Whom the Sanhedrin had arrested and accused, sent to the Romans to be crucified and killed.

The Apostles, led by St. Peter firmly and courageously refused to remain silent or to obey the order of the High Priest and the Sanhedrin, as they had been tasked and entrusted by God with the very important mission of revealing the truth and the Good News of His salvation, His great and amazing love, all that He had done for the sake of His beloved people through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who had cone into this world to gather all the lost sheep of His flock, and lead them to the reconciliation with God and hence, the assurance and certainty of eternal life. And the Apostles had been entrusted with the role as shepherds in the image of the one and true Good Shepherd, Christ Himself, to lead the people of God towards Him.

Despite the threats and warnings that the Sanhedrin gave to them, the Apostles were not afraid at all. They proclaimed courageously their Lord and Saviour, Whom they had witnessed and seen Risen from the dead with their own eyes, witnessed Him performing His miracles even before He had gone through His Passion, suffering, death and resurrection, and as we also heard from our Gospel passage today, they had also seen and witnessed the miracles that God continued to perform after He had risen from the dead. They had been called and sent forth by the Lord, and they would not betray or abandon their Lord and Master.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. John detailing to us what happened that day when the Lord appeared to His disciples in Galilee just not long after He had risen from the dead. He has told the women who witnessed His resurrection that He would go before His disciples to Galilee, and He would see them there later on. Before this, He Himself had also appeared to His disciples in two occasions just as we heard it in our last Sunday’s Gospel, where St. Thomas who earlier on doubted the Lord’s resurrection was dumbstruck in awe and finally believed when the Lord appeared before him and the other disciples in the flesh. He showed them that He had truly risen from the dead.

Then, as we heard today’s Gospel passage, we heard how the disciples had been out fishing in the lake for the entire night without success, before that morning when the Lord appeared to them on the shore, but without them recognising Him at first. The Lord told them to follow His instructions, and they immediately captured a large number of fishes, more than what they could manage. It was there and then that St. Peter recognised the Lord and immediately, he jumped into the water to come to the Lord. It was there and then that the disciples yet again saw the Risen Lord, His love for them and the mission which He had entrusted to them to do.

We also heard of the Lord’s exchanges with St. Peter after their meal, in which the Lord asked St. Peter, ‘Peter, do you love Me?’ To which St. Peter responded with, ‘Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.’ And the Lord then responded with, ‘Feed My lambs’. This was repeated three times in a very symbolic mirror and reversal of St. Peter’s own three times denial of the Lord at the time of His Passion. It shows that the Lord had forgiven St. Peter and not only that, but He was entrusting His Church and all of His flock, the lambs that He had called and gathered from among the nations, to St. Peter, just as He had earlier on established His Church on the firm foundation of this ‘Rock’ that is St. Peter and his faith.

St. Peter might have been illiterate, brash and impulsive at times, doing things like cutting the ears of the High Priest’s servant when the guards were about to arrest the Lord, and he might have also been fearful and shaken in faith, as how he denied knowing the Lord three times, but in the end, the Lord chose him to be the leader of His entire Church and to be the leader of the Apostles, because He knew what his faith and love for Him were like. The Lord saw deep in the people’s hearts and minds, and He saw in St. Peter, a true faith and commitment, and which strengthened and encouraged by all that he himself witnessed, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, hence, he courageously led the Apostles in resisting the efforts of the Sanhedrin to silence them.

In our second reading, we heard of the reading from the Book of Revelations of St. John, in which St. John the Apostle saw the great heavenly vision, of the Lamb of God, Christ Himself, and His Throne in Heaven, and how all the twenty-four elders assembled, the Angels and all the countless millions upon millions of the faithful of all the ages praised and worshipped Him, glorious, triumphant and victorious, seated on His Throne, having conquered evil, sin and death, and in that vision, St. John related to us how the same triumphant Lamb of God will come again in His Second Coming, to claim all of His beloved and faithful ones to Himself. He will gather all of His faithful ones and lead them towards His light.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all that we have heard from the Scriptures today are what the Apostles had witnessed, experienced and received from the Lord throughout their labours and ministries among the people of God. They had seen the Risen Lord, all of His truth and wonders. The Lord was with all of them and His Church, and He would lead them to the ultimate victory, that despite all the challenges and trials that they would face, but He is with them, and He will never abandon them, and He entrusted to them the great mission to spread His love and truth to all the peoples of all the nations. Just as we heard in our Gospel today, the disciples managed to gather so many fishes upon the Lord’s arrival and them following His instructions.

All of these remind us that each and every one of us as members of the Church of God are part of the same mission which He has entrusted to His Apostles and disciples all those years ago. What is this mission, brothers and sisters in Christ? The Lord called His disciples to be the fishers of men, to gather all the people to Himself, all the lost sheep to be gathered once again. St. Peter was entrusted with the leadership of the Church, in ‘feeding’ the lambs of the Lord, in caring for all of them as the members of the Church, called and chosen from the world. His works and that of the other Apostles had been passed down to their successors, right to this very present day, in the bishops and priests.

But these works and ministries are not their responsibilities alone, brethren. As members of God’s Church, we also share part of the responsibility to be the witnesses and bearers of God’s truth. The Apostles and many others had witnessed this truth, and they suffered great persecutions for their faith, and yet they endured because they trusted in the Lord and they wanted all their fellow brothers and sisters to be saved in Jesus Christ, their Lord and Saviour. They passed this faith and truth to us so that we too may be moved and inspired to follow in their footsteps and do our part as Christians to be the Lord’s faithful disciples in our respective communities today.

This means that we are all sharers in the mission of the Church to reach out to those who have not yet known the Lord or are still living in darkness of sin, in denial of the Lord’s truth and love, and in rebellion against Him. We are all called to be courageous like the Apostles in proclaiming the truth about the Lord, His love and compassion for us, His resurrection and all that He had done for our sake as Our Lord and Saviour. We are all called to be exemplary in our actions and way of life so that by our works and deeds, our contributions and even in the smallest and simplest things we do, we may inspire others to believe in God as well.

We do not have to do great and wonderful things, brothers and sisters. As I said, even in the smallest and simplest things we do in life, we can touch the lives of others, inspire others to come to believe in God as well. It is in the ordinary things we do that God is glorified, and we must not forget that we cannot be idle and ignorant of our calling and obligations in life as part of the same Church of God. Remember brothers and sisters, that Our Lord Himself said that, unless we carry our crosses and follow Him, we cannot be His true disciples and followers. If we want to be truly Christians, then we have to commit ourselves to the Lord wholeheartedly.

Are we then willing and able to commit ourselves to God in the same way the Apostles and disciples of the Lord had done? Are we willing to spend the time and effort to follow the Lord and to do His will, in all the things we say and do? Let us do whatever we can as Christians, as Our Lord’s disciples, to proclaim Him in our communities and in whatever opportunities we have, that we may indeed be good role models and inspirations for others to follow just as we ourselves look up to the Apostles for inspiration. May Our Risen Lord be with us always, bless our works and efforts, and guide us in our journey and faith. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 April 2022 : Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Easter marks the Feast of the Divine Mercy, as instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in the Year of Our Lord 2000 based on the visions of the Divine Mercy by St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who received mystical visions and experienced the Lord’s Divine Mercy before her, showing His wounds and hurt, all that He had done in offering Himself, Body, Soul and Divinity for the salvation of the whole entire world. We are reminded today through this important Feast and also through the Sacred Scriptures, of the reason why we celebrate so joyfully this Easter, not just for one day but for one entire season lasting fifty days until Pentecost Sunday.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the works of the Apostles among the people of God as they had been entrusted with the mission by God to bring forth the salvation and the graces He has willingly bestowed to His beloved people. They performed many miracles and wonders among the people of God, in various places, courageously proclaiming the Risen Lord and Saviour by their words and actions. The people witnessed those miracles and believed in the Lord Jesus, Who has once also performed those same miracles, and healed the hurt of their body and soul. He has touched them, either directly or through His disciples and made them whole again.

The people were all seeking the Lord, all bringing their sick ones to Him, and they also brought the same sick ones to the disciples and the Apostles of the Lord. Through them, God continued the works of His love and mercy in our world, as He showed His generous mercy and compassion, by which He had desired to gather all the people to Himself, and to be reconciled with us. And that was why He sought even the worst of sinners, the tax collectors, prostitutes, criminals and all those who had been ostracised by the society, that He might touch their hearts and change their lives for the better. And it was proven well enough by the response that those people long considered sinners and unworthy had been giving the Lord.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard for ourselves that even among His own closest confidants, there were sinners and people who doubted Him, as I am sure we are all familiar with how St. Thomas the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles reacted to the news of the Lord’s resurrection from the dead. Throughout the Gospels, St. Thomas had always been a skeptic of the Lord, and he had a lot of doubts, even to the point of openly doubting the Lord and being sarcastic at Him, for example, when He was going to Judea to face His Passion and death, as St. Thomas sarcastically commented that they, the disciples, should all follow the Lord to their deaths.

We have to remember and take note how the Lord called interesting mix of people to be His followers and disciples. He had among them, a tax collector in Levi, who was later known as St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, and then four poor and likely illiterate fishermen from the lake of Galilee, the first ones whom He had called, namely St. Peter and his brother, St. Andrew, and then the brothers, St. James and St. John, the sons of Zebedee. Then of course we have St. Thomas himself, who always ever doubted the Lord, and St. Simon, a former zealot who was probably part of the rebellion against the Romans and thus was perhaps a fugitive or criminal in the eyes of the law, and Judas Iscariot, the traitor who betrayed the Lord.

We see that the Lord chose the poor, the marginalised, the ordinary and sinners to be His disciples. There were mix of different characters and personalities among His followers, and this represents exactly what the Lord wanted to do among His people. He came to gather all the lost sheep of the Lord, those who have fallen astray and fell into the wrong paths, scattered and lost from Him, so that through Him, and through the truth, light and hope that He has brought into our midst, He may restore us all to grace, and strengthen us to be once again a people that is holy and worthy of God.

Through His appearance before all the disciples in today’s Gospel, and before St. Thomas, who had defiantly proclaimed before all the others that he would not believe in the Lord’s resurrection unless he could directly prove it by touching His wounds and putting his finger into the wound at the Lord’s side. The Lord appeared before him and all the other disciples, surely as a direct response to what St. Thomas had said earlier on regarding the resurrection. And sure enough, He asked St. Thomas directly to do what he had said that he would do in order to prove the truth about the Lord’s resurrection.

We heard how St. Thomas responded immediately with faith, most likely both awed and ashamed at his own words, actions and doubts earlier on. He said, “My Lord and my God”, the same words that we always say at every moment after the Agnus Dei, or the Lamb of God segment in the Holy Mass. St. Thomas earlier on had been inflicted with doubt, with his own pride and ego became his own undoing. Why did he refuse to believe in God earlier on? That is because he operated on his own standards, and he placed a lot of trust in himself and in his own judgment rather than believing in God and His truth. He was skeptical because in his mind and logic, it was impossible for something like that to happen.

And yet, it did happen. The Lord, Who is God Incarnate, the Son of God, had descended into our midst, to be with us, and to suffer and die for us. And not only that, He rose gloriously from the dead, and all those things are impossible for man, and yet, for God, everything is possible. He came into our midst, and through His love, His patience and mercy, His compassionate care for us, His outreach even to the worst of sinners, and to those who doubt like St. Thomas and many others who still refused to believe in Him, the Lord revealed that He came to save us, to make us all to be reconciled with Him, He, the Divine Mercy, made manifest in the flesh.

In the Holy Mass, whenever the priest or any of the celebrants raised the consecrated bread and wine, the Most Holy Eucharist, which had been transformed by the power of God through His Holy Spirit and by the power and authority entrusted by the Lord through His disciples, and when the words are said, ‘This is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.’, we are presented with this seemingly impossible event, of a mere bread and mere wine, transformed completely into the reality and nature of Our Lord’s own Precious Body and Blood.

And yet, He is there, for us, on the Altar, just as at the Altar of His Cross at Calvary. The Holy Mass, as we all should know, is the same sacrifice and offering that Our Lord Himself had offered on the Cross, two millennia ago, which then, mystically and most wonderfully, is shown to us again and again, at every celebration of the Holy Mass. At the Mass, as the Lamb of God is presented to us, and we respond to the celebrant with the same words that St. Thomas had spoken, we are all reminded that by Our Lord’s most compassionate love and mercy, He, the Divine Mercy, had availed Himself to give unto us the finest path towards reconciliation to Him, through the Eucharist.

He broke His own Body and shed His own Blood at His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, because He loved us all so dearly and tenderly. Each and every single one of us are so precious to Him, that His love for us transcends and surpasses even our sins and wickedness, which had kept us separated from God and the fullness of His grace and love. That is why this Sunday, on this Feast of the Divine Mercy, celebrated so close to the Easter Sunday, we are reminded of everything that Our Lord had done for us, all that He had done, because of the overflowing love and generous mercy which He had shown us, from the beginning right up to now.

At the same time, we have to realise that while Our Lord’s love and mercy are infinite and boundless, but our sins remain as obstacles in our path towards the full reconciliation with God. Sin is borne out of our disobedience against God and our refusal to listen to Him, and each and every single one of our sins have to be accounted for before we are to be fully reconciled with God, and enjoy the fullness of our joyful and wonderful inheritance. And God had given us plenty of means for us to find this, through His Church, in the Sacraments that He had provided for us, but which we often rejected and ignored.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask ourselves these important questions before we move on with our lives. As Christians, have we truly wholeheartedly believed in God, in all of His truth, in His love and His mercy? And in our actions and words, in our attitudes and dealings in life, have we truly reflect what a Christian is expected to be and what a Christian should do? Or have we instead been more like St. Thomas, doubting and refusing to believe in the Lord, full of pride and ego, to admit that we can be wrong and that we are in need of healing and forgiveness for our sins?

As Christians, all of us are called to be faithful and dedicated witnesses of Our Lord’s truth, His love and resurrection, His mercy and compassion. That is why in our daily lives, all of us must do our best to proclaim this truth, not just with mere words, but also through our actions. It is not enough for us to just believe in the Lord, but we must also be filled with the courage to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters around us, with the love and mercy of God shown through us and our actions. It means that in all of our interactions and dealings, we must indeed be missionaries of mercy, and to remind everyone of the love that God has for each one of us.

Let us all remind one another, that as long as our sins are not forgiven, because we still stubbornly refuse the Lord and reject His generous mercy, then we will be stuck in this state, separated from God, and in real danger of falling into eternal damnation. Let us remind one another that God is ever merciful, and He has always patiently loved us, despite our many transgressions. Let us stop being stubborn, humble ourselves and open our hearts and minds to allow God and His love to enter into us and transform us from beings tainted by sin and darkness, to be true children of the Light, and to be witnesses of Our Lord’s truth and resurrection.

May the Lord, the Divine Mercy, continue to shine His loving face and show His most merciful and compassionate love towards us. And may all of us draw ever closer to His love and mercy, and do our best in each and every moments of our lives to be ever more exemplary sons and daughters of God, and as genuine and faithful Christians, beloved ones of the Lord, at all times. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world! Amen.

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Saturday, 23 April 2022 : Saturday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded again of our obligation as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord’s resurrection and triumphant victory over sin and death, to be His witnesses and missionaries in our world today, in proclaiming His truth and love among all the people, continuing the many good works that His Apostles and disciples had begun, in all that we have heard in the past one week of this holy Easter Octave, the works of the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles.

In our first reading today, at the conclusion of the narrative of the events that happened due to the miraculous healing of a crippled beggar at the gate of the Temple of Jerusalem by St. Peter and St. John, in the past few readings we heard how the Apostles had courageously spoken up and preached about the Risen Lord to all the people who witnessed the miracle and then later on to all the members of the Sanhedrin who opposed the Lord and His Apostles. We heard today in our first reading of the reaction of the Sanhedrin upon listening to the words that St. Peter had spoken courageously before them, revealing the folly and error of their actions in having persecuted the Lord and His disciples.

In their discussion and debate with each other, the members of the Sanhedrin could not agree on how to deal with the Apostles and their actions in preaching about the Resurrected Christ and the miracles that they had performed in His Name. They wanted to stop them and to order them not to do it again, but at the same time, they knew that what the Apostles had performed, all the miraculous occasions and healings performed had been witnessed by so many people that it would have been impossible for the Sanhedrin to refute and deny that the miracles had occurred.

We see here the bitter stubbornness of many of the members of the Sanhedrin who were still adamant in their refusal to listen to the Lord and believe in His truth. Many of them, members of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the teachers of the Law and elders had witnessed the miracles of the Lord themselves, heard Him and His wisdom, and yet, they still refused to believe in Him. All these despite them being supposedly the most educated and best people among the community of the people of God, many of whom were knowledgeable of the Scriptures and the teachings of the prophets.

They should have been the first ones to believe in the Lord and to welcome Him and His disciples. Yet, most of them except some like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea chose to ignore the truth, hardened their hearts and minds, preferring to continue in their prejudices and in their judgmental attitudes towards the Lord. They saw the Lord as a great rival and threat to their power, influence and privileges in the community, and hence, they tried their best to curb the spread of the news and the truth behind the Resurrection, but they could not stop the Apostles and the other disciples from speaking up despite the threats and other efforts they made. And that was because the Lord was with His servants, and His Spirit strengthened them, giving them the courage to go up against even the opposition from the powerful Sanhedrin and others.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord appearing to His disciples after He had risen to the dead, revealing that He had indeed risen and triumphed over sin and death just as He had predicted to His disciples and followers. The Lord had appeared in the flesh and communicated with His disciples, which became truly tangible evidence of His truth, and those same disciples had seen themselves the undeniable truth of the Lord’s risen glory. And they therefore proclaimed courageously this same truth, and would not be silenced by those who opposed the truth of God. Many of them were willing to endure sufferings and persecution in the midst of their works of evangelisation.

Brothers and sisters, now that we have heard these readings from the Scriptures, and if we have been following the readings in the past few days during the Easter Octave, we are all reminded that we have also been part of this same Church, the Church that the Lord had established and built on the foundation of His Apostles, especially that of St. Peter. All the saints, the holy men and women of God, the many people who had dedicated themselves, their time and efforts and even their lives, for the sake of the Lord, His glory and for the salvation of His people, all of them had shown us what it means for us to be true Christians, in proclaiming the Risen Lord, Our Lord and Saviour.

There are still plenty of areas and opportunities for us to carry on the great works and deeds that the Apostles had begun, in reaching out to those who have not yet known the Lord or have not yet discovered the truth. And if we are not sure of what we can do or should do in this matter, we often do not have to worry about it. And we have to realise that God does not call the extraordinary and the powerful to do His will. In fact, it was all those qualified ones who had ironically rejected the Lord and decided to oppress His truth and persecute His faithful ones. Instead, the Lord called the ordinary ones and made them to be extraordinary in His presence.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what matters is our faith and also the grace of humility in our lives. Let us all allow the Lord to work through us and with us, and let us walk faithfully in His path, doing our very best to be good role models for our fellow brothers and sisters, for all those who have not yet seen the Lord’s truth or known about His salvation and grace. May all of us be the beacons of the Light of our Risen Lord and Saviour, and may He strengthen us all to walk ever more dedicatedly in His presence, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 22 April 2022 : Friday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the trials and challenges that we will often have to face as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord and His Resurrection. We believe in the Risen Lord and like the Apostles, we may have to endure opposition and trials for our faith in His truth. Yet, we must never waver from our faith and from the commitment that we have to show in our daily lives, as those who have been entrusted with the same mission as that of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, in proclaiming His Good News and salvation to all the peoples.

In our first reading today, we heard of the account from the Acts of the Apostles telling us of the opposition that St. Peter and St. John, two of the Lord’s Twelve Apostles had to face due to their proclamation of the Lord Jesus and His salvation before the assembled people. At that time, based on our earlier readings from the Acts of the Apostles, the two Apostles had just miraculously healed a beggar who had been paralysed since birth, and whom everyone knew and recognised as being crippled. That this miracle had happened right by the gate of the Temple where the beggar usually lingered at, showed us how the chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrin could quickly find out about what had happened.

The Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council, composed of the most influential members of the Jewish community at that time, had been firm in their opposition against the Lord, as most of its members had refused to listen to the Lord and His teachings, with some of them even branding the Lord as a blasphemous and heretical Man, Who was swaying the people to His side with His teachings and popularity. And that was why they judged and condemned the Lord in the first place, arresting Him and handing Him over to the Romans, that He might be condemned to death and crucified.

That was why they were still adamant in their opposition against the Lord even when they heard that the Lord had risen from the dead just as He Himself had predicted and revealed. They spread false news that the disciples had stolen His Body and preached falsehoods in His Name, and expressly ordered that anyone who spoke in the Name of the Lord Jesus or supported His teachings would be arrested and persecuted. That was the obstacle facing the Apostles, who had to endure the opposition from the powerful members of the community, those who refused to believe in the Lord and His truth. But that did not stop the Apostles and the many other disciples from doing their best to proclaim the Good News whenever they could.

St. Peter courageously spoke before the whole assembly of the Sanhedrin just as he had done so earlier before the people in Jerusalem. He spoke fearlessly regarding the Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who had been rejected by those to whom St. Peter was speaking to, right there and then, the same Sanhedrin and its members also condemned Christ to death and giving Him up to the Romans to be crucified. It was to these people that St. Peter testified again about the Lord, His truth and His resurrection. He proclaimed the truth courageously as he himself had seen and witnessed the Risen Lord as we heard in our Gospel passage today.

St. Peter had witnessed the Lord’s Passion, suffering and death, and how He revealed Himself after His resurrection on several occasions. As highlighted in our Gospel passage today, the Lord revealed Himself to His disciples in Galilee just as the disciples went there and were in the midst of catching fish in the lake. They had not been successful in gaining any fish when the Lord told them to do as He said, and immediately a huge number of fishes ended up in their catch, and they almost could not handle the entire catch of fishes. And St. Peter himself was the first one to recognise that it was the Lord Who was there with them.

Having witnessed the Risen Lord, the disciples, and having also been strengthened by the Holy Spirit, as shown by the examples of St. Peter, they stood up for their faith, and while many among them suffered, as the Apostles themselves had endured for a long time, and how many of their successors had also suffered, but these did not stop them from continuing to speak up and to proclaim the Good News of the Lord’s salvation. The Lord has called them all to His service and they had answered His call with great faith. They rejoice greatly in His Resurrection, and they had passed down this great joy and truth to all of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that each and every one of us are the inheritors of the Lord’s mission which He has entrusted to us, to be the ones to bear the Good News of His salvation to the whole world. There are still many people out there who have not believed in God and who have been lukewarm in their faith. We are called here to be the ones to bring forth the light of our faith and the wonders of the Lord’s saving grace to them. Like the Apostles, St. Peter and many other holy men and women of God, all of us have been entrusted with the same truth and message that the Lord wants us to proclaim in our world today much as how St. Peter had proclaimed it that day before the people and before the whole Sanhedrin.

Are we willing and able to follow in the footsteps of St. Peter and the many other holy men and women of God, many of whom had suffered trials and persecutions, opposition and oppressions for the sake of their faith in God? Are we willing to contribute our time and effort to glorify the Lord by our lives and by our actions? Each and every one of us should listen to the Lord calling on us to action, and to follow Him wholeheartedly from now on. Let us seek the Lord with a new spirit and commitment from now on. May God be with us all and may He bless us in our every actions and good works, all for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 April 2022 : Thursday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this day as we listened to the Scriptures we have been told to remember the salvation that has come down to us through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. The Scriptures passage today have spoken to us regarding the things that God had done for our sake, in Him sending to us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and the Son of God, to be the source of our Hope and salvation. By His Passion, His suffering, death and resurrection, He has liberated us from the bondage to sin and death, and through Him, a new hope and light had been revealed to us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the courageous and fiery speech from St. Peter the Apostle, who together with St. John had healed a paralysed beggar waiting by the Beautiful Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem. The people who witnessed the miraculous healing of the paralysed beggar were all astonished, surprised and filled with joy upon seeing the healed man. They could not believe what they had seen, and yet, were filled with joy because of what they had witnessed, seeing a hopeless man filled once again with strength and hope from God.

St. Peter reminded the assembled people of everything that had just recently happened, how the Lord Jesus had come into their midst and revealed the extent of God’s most generous love for them, caring for them and providing for their needs, reaching out to those who were in need of healing and help. He empowered the people and gave them hope once again, bringing the light of God and true Hope amongst them, strengthening their resolve, healing those who were sick and were troubled, casting out demons and restoring those who were diseased back to good health once again.

Yet, despite everything that He had done for their sake, many among the people still stubbornly refused to believe in God and still rejected Him, doubting Him and His works. That was also why the people chose to condemn the Lord to death, a most humiliating and painful death on the Cross, which the Apostles then were proclaiming, as St. Peter did. St. Peter told the people how even though they had condemned the Lord to death, but it was part of God’s overarching plan to save all of mankind. Through His suffering and death, God had purchased for all of us the gift of eternal life and salvation, and by His resurrection, He has united all of us in a new life with Him.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples right after the resurrection for the first time. The disciples then were still shaken and unsure of what had happened on the day of the Resurrection. They had heard words from the holy women in Jesus’ company and from the two disciples who had returned from Emmaus, that they had seen the Risen Lord. Yet, they still had that fear and doubt in them, and they refused to accept the full truth that the Lord had indeed risen as He had revealed and promised earlier on. It took therefore the Risen Lord Himself appearing before them, to open their eyes and to stir them into the faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all heed the words of these Scripture passages today, the reminder from God of all that He had done for the sake of our salvation, our liberation from the darkness and despair of evil. All of us are called to put our trust and faith in the Risen Lord, the Light and Hope of all creation. Each and every one of us as Christians have put our faith and trust in the Lord, and believed that He is indeed the One from Whom our salvation has come. Yet, do we truly believe it with all of our hearts? Or are our hearts and minds still clouded with doubt as what had happened with the Lord’s own disciples?

Each one of us are entrusted with the same mission that the Lord had entrusted to His disciples. We are entrusted with the mission to evangelise, to speak the words of the Lord, His truth and the wonders of His love among all those whom we encounter in this world. The works of the Apostles, the saints and all the efforts of the Church had not yet been completed, brothers and sisters in Christ. There remains plenty of areas and many opportunities where there are still many who are ignorant of God’s truth and love, and many others who are still rejecting God and refusing to believe in Him. And it is up to us to be the bearer of God’s light and truth to them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our faith in God and let us commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord with new zeal and dedication. May the Lord continue to guide us and help to strengthen us in this journey of faith. May He empower us and strengthen us in our struggles and journey in this world, and give us the courage and power to walk ever more faithfully in God’s path, and to proclaim His truth and glory by our very own lives and actions. May God bless us in each and every one of our good deeds and works, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 20 April 2022 : Wednesday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded of the grace that God has given us through the suffering, death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus Christ, Whom He had sent into this world to be our Lord and Saviour. Through Christ, all of us have received a new hope and seen the Light of God’s salvation, revealing fully the great and enduring love which God has for each and every one of us, each one without exception. We are all reminded that through His suffering, death and resurrection, Christ has gathered and called us all, the lost sheep of His flock, to find our way towards Him and the eternal life that He has promised and purchased by His death, for all the faithful ones.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles the account of the healing of the beggar who sat by the Beautiful Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem, by St. Peter and St. John who happened to be passing by. The beggar was healed by the Apostles who healed him in the Name of the Lord, and the crippled beggar was made whole again. That miraculous healing made not only the beggar to rejoice, leaping with joy, but also everyone else who have witnessed the miraculous healing, as everyone knew how long that man had been sitting and was crippled since birth, and God had made him whole and fine again.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the two disciples of the Lord who were on their way to the village of Emmaus from Jerusalem. This happened just right after the Lord had died on the Cross and risen from the dead. This likely happened on the later time of the Sunday of the Resurrection, in the late afternoon and early evening. They had been debating and discussing among themselves about what they had heard and experienced, most perplexing of which was the words spreading amongst the disciples that the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead and had appeared to some among them.

Those disciples apparently did not yet believe in this truth, and they were still doubtful and shaken in their faith, as they thought that the Lord would have led them all in a great revolution against the Romans and the other oppressors of the people and reestablished the kingdom of Israel. But the Lord instead died and went through the worst of humiliations in His sufferings and then crucifixion and death. They could not reconcile their expectations of what their Messiah or Saviour would do with the reality of what the Lord Jesus had done, in suffering the worst of humiliation and dying for the sake of all the people of God. And that was why, they could not recognise God at first, and failed to realise that He had been with them all along, journeying with them to Emmaus.

The Lord journeyed with the two disciples, speaking to them and encouraging them, explaining the words of the Scriptures to them, revealing why the Messiah had to suffer to fulfil what had been prophesied and spoken about Him. The Lord encouraged and strengthened them, giving them the power and the courage once again, and then, He revealed Himself before them, as He broke the bread with them. Those same two disciples had been journeying quite a distance from Jerusalem by the time that happened, but that did not stop them from rushing back to Jerusalem that very instant to proclaim the Risen Lord to the other disciples. Such was indeed the power of God’s strength and courage.

Those two disciples had been healed from their spiritual hurt and lack of faith, just as how the crippled beggar had been healed from his disability by the Apostles. Through what we had heard in those two examples, we can clearly see how God restored us all into a graceful condition, lifting us up from the depth of our misery, despair and the darkness surrounding us. He would not allow us to perish in the darkness by ourselves, and called us, rescuing us back into the light of His truth and love. Through Him, God has touched each and every one of us, releasing us from our attachments to sin, the disease that corrupts every single one of us, crippling us and making us to fall into this terrible state of existence, from which God alone can rescue us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we recall the love that God has shown us, in His great love, mercy and compassion, we are all reminded of the wonderful grace we have received through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, from Whom we have received the assurance for eternal life, the light of His truth and love, the healing for all of our mistakes, faults, shortcomings and all of our imperfections that had kept us in the darkness all these while. Through Christ, we have been made whole once again, and rightfully therefore, we ought to follow Him and commit ourselves anew to the path that He has shown us. We have to be His dedicated and faithful, courageous witnesses in our respective communities and among all those whom we have encountered in life.


Let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ, renewing the commitment to love Him and to serve Him wholeheartedly much as how the Apostles and the innumerable saints and martyrs had done in the past. As we are the modern day successors of these wonderful holy men and women, and we have been entrusted with the great works of the Lord in His Church, we cannot stand idle anymore or ignore our obligations as Christians in proclaiming the Good News, the truth and the salvation of God. We have to make good use of the opportunities provided to us and dedicate ourselves in each and every moments of our lives, to glorify the Lord by our lives and to be great inspiration to one another in faith.

May the Lord be with us all, and may our Risen Lord continue to strengthen us and give us the courage and the power to be great missionaries of His love and truth in our present day world. May we help one another to be closer to God, and bring many others to the healing and happiness that can be found in God alone, our Hope and our Light, our Saviour and our God. Amen.

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Tuesday, 19 April 2022 : Tuesday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to reflect again on this Easter Octave, the true meaning of what it means to be Christians. As Christians, each and every one of us are called to serve the Lord with faith and commitment. All of us are called to be missionaries of our Christian faith in our world today, to proclaim the Risen Lord in our respective communities and among all those whom we encounter each day and at each moments of our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the testimony of faith which was delivered by St. Peter the Apostle to the people assembled in Jerusalem for the festival of the Pentecost. St. Peter told the people to be faithful in the Lord and to believe in Him, for everything that He had done for the sake of His beloved people. God has given us such a great and unsurpassed gift in His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, that He has done everything, even to the point of enduring the worst of sufferings, punishments, humiliation and pain for our sake. He did not hold Himself back from doing all these because He truly loved us.

And through His death and resurrection, Christ has broken the doors of death, and the chains of sin that had long kept the people of God enslaved and suffering under their dominion and power. St. Peter called all those people to turn towards the Lord and to discover the love by which God has rescued them from the darkness of sin and evil in this world. He courageously proclaimed the truth despite having no proper education, and despite having hidden himself with the other disciples earlier on due to the opposition and oppression by the Jewish authorities.

That is because as the power of the Holy Spirit was working through him, St. Peter allowed himself to be the witness of the Lord’s Resurrection, and to be filled with the courage and strength from the Spirit of God, in bringing the Good News and the truth to the people despite the risks that he had to face in doing so. He spoke with the wisdom and the eloquence that God granted him through the Holy Spirit. And in doing so, he turned the hearts of many towards God, and revealed the great love that God had for all of them, such as shown by Christ’s death on the Cross.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard again the account of the Lord’s resurrection and His appearance to Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene witnessed the Lord’s suffering and death on the cross, and she was distraught when she found out that the Lord’s Body had disappeared from His tomb due to His Resurrection. That was when the Lord showed Himself to her in all of His risen glory, although she did not initially recognise Him likely because she was still distraught, until the Lord called her and revealed Himself to her.

Mary believed in the Lord and she proclaimed the news of the Lord’s resurrection to the other disciples, the Apostles. In this way is why she is also known as the Apostle to the Apostles. She told them all of what she had seen and experienced, revealing the Risen Lord to the disciples, with great joy and courage. Mary Magdalene did exactly the same as what Peter had done, in proclaiming the truth of the Lord and turning people on the their ways towards the Lord and His salvation. This is exactly what each one of us are called to do as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have been called to follow the Lord faithfully and to embrace His path with sincerity and love, genuine love for Him as well as for His people, our fellow brothers and sisters. Are we willing and able to follow the Lord in this manner, brethren? In the way that St. Peter and St. Mary Magdalene had done, and in the way that many other saints and martyrs had done in the past, in proclaiming the Risen Lord courageously and truthfully among the many people and in the various communities that they encountered and lived in? We too should do the same in our own communities and be the living witnesses of the Lord in every moments we have.

May God, our Risen Lord and Saviour, bless us all and be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us that we may always be strong and be able to persevere despite the trials, challenges and difficulties that we may encounter in our path towards Him. May God bless all of our actions and works, that in all things we will always glorify Him and bring His truth to ever more and more people, throughout the world, and bring the salvation He has promised us to those who have not yet known Him. Amen.

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Monday, 18 April 2022 : Monday within Easter Octave (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we begin to embark through this journey of the Easter season in this Easter Octave, we are constantly being reminded of what we have to do as Christians in living our daily lives especially as we progress through this Easter season and beyond. In our Scripture passages we are reminded that our Christian faith is about proclaiming our Risen Lord and Saviour to the best of our ability, and to proclaim Him with joy and pride in our community and in whichever places we go to, following in the footsteps of the Apostles and saints.

In our first reading today, we heard of the testimony of faith that St. Peter courageously proclaimed before all e assembled people in Jerusalem at the moment right after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. The Apostles had been hiding in fear of the Jewish authorities and all who had threatened action against the Lord’s disciples and everyone who were found to be the followers of Christ, and thus they used to hide and avoid attention for those several weeks after the Lord’s Resurrection and later Ascension into Heaven.

But through His Holy Spirit, the Lord inflamed in the hearts of the Apostles a great courage and desire to serve and love the Lord, the energy and power to proclaim the Good News and truth of God and His salvation among His people. Thus, we heard St. Peter speaking up with great courage and eloquence, with wisdom and zeal, in proclaiming the Lord’s glorious Resurrection and all that He had done in the midst of His people, reminding the people of the most loving sacrifice that He had made on the Cross. He proclaimed before all the people the Christ Crucified, Who had risen from the dead in glory.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of how the Risen Lord appeared to some of the women, likely Mary Magdalene and the other women who used to follow the Lord Jesus. The Lord showed Himself in all of His Risen glory before all of them, and this was just one of the occasions in which the Risen Lord appeared before His disciples. The Lord showed that it was truly Him in the flesh, and not some spirit or mere illusion. He has truly risen from the dead, and seeing that the Lord is alive and has risen, that was what encouraged the woman, and they must have been so jubilant in telling the other disciples of what they had seen.

But on the other hand, the chief priests and all those who had condemned the Lord to death were all perplexed and confused at what they heard on how the Lord’s Body had disappeared from His tomb, as told to them by the guards who guarded His tomb. And instead of trying to find out more about the Lord and the truth about His Resurrection, they doubled down on their stubbornness and intense refusal to believe in the truth that the Lord Himself has presented to them. That was why they persecuted the disciples and tried to forbid them from preaching the Lord’s truth and Good News, and even spread false rumours and informations to try to hide the truth.

Yet, the Apostles were never deterred or scared to speak the truth, all because they had faith in the Lord and trusted in Him. They believed in Him wholeheartedly, and through the Spirit that God had sent to them, they helped each other to remain strong in faith, and as St. Peter has shown us in our first reading today, he, who was once an illiterate fisherman from Galilee, had performed such great wonders, miracles and spoke so eloquently by the power and wisdom of God, turning the hearts of thousands and more towards the Lord and convincing them to follow Him as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are called to serve the Lord and to walk in His path and presence in the same way as the Apostles had lived their lives wholly in the path that the Lord had led and guide them. We are all called to be witnesses of Our Lord’s truth and to proclaim His Good News in our communities, in our families and wherever it is that we are working, residing and living in. Through us, many people may come to believe in the Lord as well. We must never think that we could not contribute a lot to the works of the Church. Even in the smallest things we do, we may still do things that will have immense impacts on others whose lives we have touched.

Let us all therefore be filled with the Spirit of God this Easter season, and strive to do our best in proclaiming God’s truth, love, His Good News and salvation among those who have not yet known Him. We do not have to worry what we have to do or say, or even feeling inferior or reluctant to do more just because we think that we are not good enough. Ultimately, as mentioned earlier, God chose even among illiterate fishermen, among zealots and thieves, tax collectors and many more to be His disciples. If He had chosen even among the worst to be His chief disciples, then why can’t He choose us then? It is actually whether we are willing to follow Him should He call us.

May all of us be ever more committed and courageous in living our lives actively as Christians, so that in everything we do and say, in all of our interactions and dealings with one another, we will always be exemplary and be good sources of inspiration for our fellow Christians, and for many others out there who have not yet known the Lord and His truth yet. May the joy, love, courage, strength and the guidance of Our Risen Lord be with us all, and may He bless us in our every actions and deeds, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 April 2022 : Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we mark the glorious occasion of Easter, that after the forty long days of our Lenten observance and the six Sundays of Lent, we have finally reached the glorious Easter time. We rejoice greatly this Sunday together because Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, has triumphed over sin and death, overcoming their hold and dominion over each and every one of us. All of us have seen the salvation of God in the flesh, appearing before us in Jesus Christ. And it is our core belief that we believe in the Lord Jesus, Who has suffered, died and then rose in glory from the dead for our salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles about the testimony of faith that St. Peter, the leader of the Apostles and the Church spoke to the assembled people during the time when he paid a visit to Cornelius, a Roman centurion who came to believe in God with his family. At that time, St. Peter had been hesitant to visit Cornelius because visiting the house of a Gentile or non-Jew was frowned upon by the Jews and many of the early Christians had been Jewish in origin, and many of them still held strongly to their Jewish traditions, customs, as well as prejudices.

That was when the Lord showed St. Peter a vision of a great cloth coming down from heaven within which there were contained many animals deemed unclean by the laws of Moses. The Lord told St. Peter to eat of those animals, but he refused to do so citing that those animals were unclean and unfitting for him to eat. This was where the Lord then told St. Peter that whatever God had deemed to be clean and worthy, he must not deem to be unclean. As this was repeated three times, St. Peter finally realised the Lord’s intentions as he came to visit Cornelius and saw a large number of people gathering after he visited the house of Cornelius.

The assembled people were likely consisting of many Jewish people as well as non-Jews or Gentiles alike. Some of the Jews were wondering why St. Peter would go to visit the house of a foreigner, an act that would defile him and made him unclean himself in the sight of the Jews. Meanwhile, many among the Gentiles were likely curious with St. Peter and what he brought into their midst, with the teachings about this Jesus that the whole of Judea, Samaria and Galilee had been talking about, especially with the recent crucifixion, death and resurrection of the Lord.

Thus, many of the people must have been curious to learn more about the Lord, both among the Jews and the Gentiles alike, and it was at that occasion, St. Peter spoke courageously proclaiming His Lord and Master before all the assembled people, and how God had sent Christ into this world to be its Saviour, to bring salvation to all the peoples, to all of mankind. The Lord has shown His great love, compassion and mercy through Christ, Who has endured the worst of sufferings and pain, trials, humiliation and torture, all for our sake. Through His wounds we have been healed and by sharing in His death we have died to our old way of life and sinful past, and by sharing in His resurrection, we have been called to a new life and existence with Him, a new life blessed by God.

That was exactly what St. Paul spoke about in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth which makes up our second reading passage today. All of us Christians through baptism have shared in Our Lord’s death and resurrection. We have passed through the waters of baptism, the water that cleansed our past sins and destroyed our old way of life, and the water of rebirth that brought into us a new life, a life blessed by God. That is essentially what the joy of Easter is all about, brothers and sisters in Christ. The joy of Easter is the joy of knowing that we are no longer shackled and enslaved by the power of sin and death, because the Lord Himself has come into our midst and freed us.

However, as we rejoice and celebrate this Easter with great festivities and exultation, at the same time we also need to reflect carefully on our own attitudes and actions. As Christians, have we truly believed in the Resurrection and in all the truth that the Lord has revealed and taught to us through His Church? Or have we instead been lukewarm and end up only resorting to attending Mass on Sundays but without any further activities as actually required by our Christian faith? How many of us did not even spend quality time with the Lord, and only looked for Him when we needed Him? And while it is good that many of us attend the Holy Week and Easter celebrations, how many of us only willingly came to take part in those celebrations and nothing else?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today on this great Easter Sunday, the glorious Sunday of the Resurrection of Our Lord, we are all reminded that just as the Lord’s Resurrection has been celebrated every year as a reminder of all that the Lord had done for our sake, each and every one of us are also reminded of the obligations and calling we have received as Christians, to be fellow disciples and followers of Our Lord. We cannot be idle in living our lives but we have to be ready to proclaim our faith in the Risen Lord much as how St. Peter had done in the midst of many people who questioned him and some even doubting him.

Then we may be worried or are concerned that we will not be able to carry out great works at evangelisation and in reaching out to others. But this should be the least of our concern, brothers and sisters. Do not forget that St. Peter and many among the Apostles were illiterate, and by the many standards of the world, they were way less than ‘worthy’ to do the great works that were required of them as Apostles and the chief disciples of the Lord. Yet, they persevered and let the Lord to lead them and guide them in whatever they were called to do, and wherever they had been sent to work the good works of the Lord.

The Lord does not only call the qualified but instead He qualifies those whom He has called and chosen, and then answered His call. That was how the Apostles were able to carry out so many great and wonderful works that brought so many people closer to God and to His path, introducing Him and revealing Him to many people who have not yet known Him. They listened to the Lord, opened their hearts and minds to Him, and did their best to contribute their works and efforts to glorify the Lord at all possible opportunities. They were willing to labour hard, and even suffer and die for the sake of the Lord and His people, which all of them except for St. John did. St. John himself while dying of a natural old age, had seen a lot of persecution in his long life.

In the Gospel reading that is used for the Easter Sunday evening Mass, the reading of the two disciples of the Lord who went on their way to the village of Emmaus and encountering the Lord on their way, we are reminded through it that many of us are perhaps like those two disciples, who were unsure and uncertain, doubtful and had not given ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord just yet. We are like the two disciples who went away with fear in their hearts, with uncertainties and unwillingness to commit to the Lord, and they were also unable to recognise the Lord being present in their midst. Yet, we heard how the Lord patiently opened their eyes and minds by explaining to them the Scriptures and all that He had done in saving the whole world, and they eventually recognised Him, returning to the Apostles and the other disciples and proclaiming the truth about the Risen Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to open our hearts and minds to the Lord as well. Just as we rejoice in this glorious Resurrection of Our Lord, we have to remember to bring this Easter joy to our own various communities and to the different people whom we encounter in life. As Pope St. John Paul II famously mentioned, ‘We are all Easter people and Alleluia is our song!’, this serves as a reminder to us that we have to proclaim the Lord joyfully through our lives, through our actions and attitudes in life. In our interactions with one another, we have to show the love of God, the love of the Risen Lord and Saviour, that whoever whose lives we touch, they may come to know our Risen Lord through us.

As we renew our baptismal promises this Easter Sunday, we are called again to remember what we need to do as Christians, to be filled with God’s love and to do our best in whatever even little things we do, to be exemplary in our faith and way of life that our lives may inspire many others to follow us in the path that the Lord has shown us. We must not forget that we too are witnesses of Our Lord’s truth and love, His resurrection and the salvation that He has promised all those who are faithful to Him. We are the beacons of Christ’s light in this world, that through us the Light of Christ may penetrate the darkness in the heart of many of our fellow brothers and sisters.

May our Risen Lord and Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, be with us all and may He bless all of our works, actions and good deeds, all for the greater glory of His Name. May God strengthen us with the courage to persevere, no matter what trials and challenges we may encounter, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 April 2022 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after a long period of forty days and the six Sundays of Lent that we have spent before this night, we have finally come to the culmination of all of our preparations for this most important event in all the history of mankind and in the history of our salvation. For this very night we commemorate that time when Christ Our Lord, our Crucified Saviour, rose gloriously from the dead, overcoming sin and death, and therefore barring open the gates of hell, showing the triumphant victory of God and His faithful ones against the forces of evil and darkness, against sin and death.

Tonight as we gather together to celebrate the coming of Easter, we rejoice greatly as we finally see the great Hope and Light that Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour had shown us by His glorious Resurrection, that we know that sin no longer has its hold on us, and death no longer has the final say over us. There is life and existence after death, when our physical bodies meet its end in this world, because we shall rise and join our Risen Lord in a new and blissful existence, sharing in the joy of all the Angels and saints in Heaven, to be forever with God and to be in His light and Presence always.

That is why we sing with great joy the Gloria tonight, praising God and singing our joyful heart out, glorifying Our Lord Who has conquered sin and death, and Who has loved us all so much and so dearly that He has done all these things for us, as we look back to our Holy Week journey to remind us of everything that He had done for us. We sing the great Alleluia, the triumphant proclamation of praise and joy, which we have not sung for the entirety of the season of Lent, as we look forward to the true and great joy of seeing God’s light and salvation in our midst, reflecting the joy that the disciples had upon seeing that empty tomb and then later on, seeing the Risen Lord in their midst.

In our many Scripture readings tonight, traditionally numbering seven from the Old Testament, the First to the Seventh Reading, and then two from the New Testament, the Epistle and the Gospel reading, we have heard the long account of God’s plan of salvation for each and every one of us from the beginning of Creation, culminating at the Lord’s Resurrection in our Gospel today where all of God’s plans and promises were accomplished and fulfilled perfectly. Let us look back into those readings to remind ourselves of how beloved we are in God’s eyes that He has done so much for our redemption and liberation from sin and death. We are reminded that He has loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son, that through Him we will not perish but have eternal life.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the account of the Creation of the universe, the whole world as know it. Through His will and by His words, all of the universe we created, God creating everything that exists and made everything as He desired it to be, all good and perfect as we heard the Lord Himself saying. He made the firmaments, the Heaven and the Earth, and all the living things, from the smallest to the greatest. The Lord then lastly also made us all mankind, the pinnacle of all His creation, as creatures made in His own image and appearance. He gave us the Spirit of life, and made us all good and perfect.

We may wonder why God had created us all in the first place. After all, is God not perfect and has everything? God has no need or any shortage of anything. He has perfect love shared within Himself in the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But the reason why God created us all and everything is indeed that love is not truly full and wholesome unless it is shared with even more people. That is why God created all of us, in order to share His overflowing love with us. We were always destined and meant to live in pure happiness and bliss with God, just as how the Gardens of Eden were described as a blissful and perfect place.

It was by our own failure to resist the temptations to sin, in giving to the desires of our hearts that led us into our downfall. Satan, the great adversary plotted for our destruction and downfall, and he knew well how to tempt us. He tempted Eve and eventually Adam through her to disobey God’s commands by eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and as a result sin entered by into the hearts of mankind. Ever since then, sin has reigned over us and we have been made defiled and corrupted, and thus we are no longer able to be hiwith God. That was why Adam and Eve were both cast out of Eden.

God created all things good and perfect, and that includes us all as well, brothers and sisters in Christ. But sin enslaved us all, corrupted us and made us all separated from God. Yet, God did not give up on us, and He still loved us all the same. He could have destroyed and annihilated us by the mere power of His will, or to condemn us all to hellfire just as what happened to Satan and all the fallen angels, but He clearly did not do so. He loves us all mankind beyond anything else, as His own most beloved ones, as His beloved children that He has formed and made His own. Because of this, it is natural that God wants to find us and be reconciled with us.

Hence, He promised us His salvation that He would send into our midst, and He made a Covenant with us through Abraham as His effort to rebuild the relationship that has been broken with us, and this Covenant was meant as a reminder of the great love that He has for each and every one of us, that in the end, He did not desire our destruction but instead our reconciliation with Him. That Covenant serves as a reminder of this love that God has for each and every one of us. And most importantly, a Covenant involves both parties that take part in the Covenant, and just as God has reached out to us with love and mercy, then we have to respond to Him as well.

Then, we ought to remember how the Lord blessed and fulfilled His promises to Abraham, and as He has promised to him, he became the father of many nations and many people. These descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, God’s chosen people was led by God to Egypt during the time of great famine, and then blessed them and made them prosper greatly in the land of Egypt which led to them being enslaved by the Egyptians and their Pharaoh. But God again showed His great love and compassion for His people, in sending Moses, whom He called to be His servant, and then through Moses and his brother Aaron, God performed many great miracles and signs, sending ten Great Plagues to persuade and force the Egyptians to let His people go free.

In our third reading today, we heard that iconic moment in the history of God’s people, recounting to us the moment when the Israelites were pursued all the way to the edge of the sea, out of which there was no where else to go. They were at the threshold of escaping and leaving behind the land of their slavery towards freedom, on their way towards the Promised Land at Canaan, promised to them and their ancestors from the days of Abraham. They were all afraid and fearful seeing all of the armies and the chariots of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but God was with His people, and He did not just stop those armies and chariots with a great pillar of fire, but He also opened the sea itself before them.

I am sure all of us are familiar with the story of how the Israelites walked through the sea on the dry seabed, and how they were led to the other side through the water, and then the Lord brought the water and the waves down against the Egyptians who tried to pursue after the people of Israel, crushing their armies and chariots, winning a great victory and triumph for the people He had chosen and loved as His own. And this reading is very symbolic for today in particular especially because this night is typically when the catechumens are baptised and therefore welcomed into the Church, and for all of us who have already been baptised, we are reminded of our baptismal promises.

For just as the Israelites were led through the water of the sea, from the land of their slavery into the land of freedom, therefore the catechumens who have committed themselves to the Lord are led through the water of baptism, to leave behind their past enslaved state under sin and death, and be freed by the grace of God to enter into the freedom and true joy that He has called us all to come towards. When we are immersed in the waters of baptism, we leave behind our past lives and are washed clean, becoming a clean slate, beginning a new stage in our lives and existence, transformed into God’s own adopted children, His sons and daughters. And all of us who have been baptised earlier are reminded of this moment when our lives are transformed forever.

And through the other Scripture readings that we have heard today, in the prophets and how they speak of God and His care and love for His people, reminding them of everything that He has done for them, again and again throughout the ages, and all of us are called to refocus our attention on the Lord, keeping in mind that God has been so loving, kind and merciful that He has always been willing to reach out to us, forgiving us and welcoming us back to Him whenever we sinned. The Lord has given us all the means for us to return to Him, because He loves us so much more than He despises our sins. Nonetheless, as mentioned before, because of sin we have been corrupted and made defiled, and we have been separated from God because of this.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God gave us His only begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be Our Saviour, and through Him all of us have received the assurance of eternal life, all because of everything that happened that time which we celebrate now, the moment when He overcame sin and death, gloriously triumphant through His Resurrection. By His Passion, His suffering and death, Christ has taken upon Himself all of our sins and faults, our mistakes and all the punishments due to those sins. He redeemed us by offering Himself as the perfect and most worthy offering, the only one by which all of us mankind can be absolved from our many, innumerable sins.

While Our Lord endured death and descended into hell after His passing on Good Friday, He did not remain in death forever, showing us all that death has finally been overcome, for the Master of Life and Death Himself has come to liberate all those who have been awaiting Him to see the hope of their salvation. That was why when the Lord rose gloriously in His Resurrection, many eyewitnesses saw the tombs of the righteous were opened and the souls of the deceased righteous went out and were taken by God to their rightful place in the afterlife.

According to Church tradition and teachings, the Lord went down into hell, in what is known as the harrowing of Hell, as God liberated all those who were deemed worthy of salvation and brought them out of their waiting place, and you can just imagine the kind of joy that those souls of the faithful departed must have upon witnessing the light of the Lord coming into their midst, liberating them, much as how the Israelites were led out of their slavery in Egypt into the freedom, and to the Promised Land. And all of us share in this same joy because through baptism, in fact, we have also shared in the death of Christ, dying to our old ways of life, and striving henceforth, to live lives truly worthy of God.

That is why we rejoice this Easter, brothers and sisters in Christ. We rejoice because through Christ, we have received the assurance of true happiness and we are all made His beloved children, called to be His disciples, and through our common baptism, we have been marked as God’s people. We are now members of God’s Church, His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the one united Body of Christ. However, at the same time, we also have to remember and keep in mind that we cannot be idle in the living of our faith.

That is because although today, the Easter Vigil is the pinnacle of our entire liturgical year, remembering and celebrating the single most important event in our entire human history and existence, but we must remember that Easter and our baptism is not the end journey, but only the beginning of the journey towards God. Just as the Israelites in the past have had to travel for an entire forty years, before they actually reached and entered into the Promised Land, and they fell again and again into sin, the same applies to us all as well. If we allow ourselves to be swayed by worldly temptations and our desires, then we can easily fall back into our old sinful path and way of life again.

We have to keep this in mind as we celebrate the most wonderful and joyous festivities happening today this Easter Vigil. That we must not forget our calling in life as Christians. We have to follow the Lord and walk in His path, having seen the hope of His light and salvation, and the empty tomb showing us hope that there is path beyond sin and death. Through Christ, His loving sacrifice on the Cross and most importantly, His resurrection from the dead, He has shown us the path out of darkness and into the light.

God has established a new Covenant with us, and as we all should be aware of, this Covenant requires us to be actively doing our part of this Covenant, and means that we have to be active in contributing to the Church, in living our lives with faith, dedicating ourselves to serve Our Lord in all times and opportunities. We have to walk this path with faith, and realise that there is still a long path forward for us. Let us all be inspirations and good examples for one another, and be good role models and witnesses of Our Lord’s truth and resurrection in our community and world today. Let us all be true Christians in all things, and proclaim the Lord in all opportunities.

May the joy of Our Risen Lord be with us always, and may He empower us all to remain firm in faith, and that we may always ever be committed to Him, no matter what challenges, trials and temptations may be present in our path. May God bless us always, in everything we do, and may all of us have a blessed Easter season and celebration. Alleluia! Our Lord is Risen! Amen!