Homily of Advent

by

Wednesday, 14 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the proclamations of the goodness of God, through which He declared to all of His people, just how loving and good He had been to them, bringing them from the darkness into the light and saving them from destruction by their enemies. He has blessed them with many things, and it was by His will and by His unending love for us all, that He had sent us the ultimate gift of all, that is His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Through the Scriptures we indeed have heard just how great God is, and how mighty He has been in ordering around everything He had created in the universe. He is supreme and a Being without any equal save in His own Trinity of Godhood. Yet, different from any other false gods and deities of this world, while many of these demanded worship and sacrifices from the people who worshipped them, God really has no need for sacrifices, but instead what He needs is our love.

Before we loved Him, He has loved us all first, and He showed it by His blessings to our ancestors, right from the very first mankind down to all of us today, and He will continue to do so right to the very last man. And He has loved us all through Jesus, through Whom, He has willed to find all of us His lost sheep, so that He as our Shepherd may gather us all and keep us safe. And to that extent He was willing to do all of that for us, even to come down into this world to gather us in and to deliver us from our troubles.

And He healed from many people their bodily afflictions and diseases, as the concrete sign of God’s love for us all, as He Himself had promised earlier on, that when His deliverance came into the world, He would heal all of His beloved ones from their afflictions, their sorrows and their sufferings, and bring them into the true joy and happiness found only in Him. And the greatest of all of these healings are the healing of our souls, the destruction of sin, and the liberation of all of us from the chains of sin that had enslaved us.

This is what we commemorate and celebrate in Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ, that a great and Almighty God beyond equal and beyond any comparison, would be willing to humble Himself and come down upon us, as merely one among us, as Man, so that by that action He might be able to gather us in, and by gathering all of our sins and disobedience upon Himself, He becomes our Easter or Paschal Lamb, Who becomes for us all the perfect sacrifice before God in order to absolve us from all the taints of our sins.

This is what Christmas is about, brethren, not about ourselves, or about our festivities and celebrations, but truly about God Who loves us so much that He was willing to do all of those things He had done so that we may all be saved. But have we ever shown Him gratitude and thanks for all that He has done for us? The reality is that many of us even ignored and rejected His love, and do not care for what He has blessed us with and we cast His love aside for the love of the world.

It is often that we are too busy with ourselves to even notice His love and His grace for us every single days of our lives. We are too preoccupied with our desires, greed and all of our daily concern to even notice of others around us, let alone God Whom we cannot see directly. And yet, it is clear and undeniable that He is the One behind all of our life’s successes and goodness. Without Him, we can do nothing, and without Him, our lives will be meaningless and empty.

In this time of Advent, as we approach ever closer to Christmas, therefore it is appropriate for us to spend time and indeed find the time to reflect on our own lives, our actions and our deeds. Have we loved our God in the same manner that He has loved us first? He wants from us only our love and devotion, that we should commit and give of ourselves in love to Him. But we are often too busy with ourselves and too distracted to be able to commit ourselves. This is where perhaps we should reflect on the life of the holy saint, St. John of the Cross.

St. John of the Cross was a holy and devout man who was one of the very important figure of the Counter-Reformation efforts during approximately five centuries ago, when the Church was assailed by the many forces of the world that threatened to destroy it from the outside and from within. Many of the faithful were spiritually lacking and corrupt in their deeds. They put ahead the concerns of the world instead of spiritual pursuits, and put ahead their selfishness ahead of the concerns of the poor and the needy, as what Christians should do.

Even among the priests and the religious corruption of the soul and corruption of worldliness had caused great perversity and danger to the whole Church. This brought about division and conflict within the Church, and many souls were lost because they were disillusioned with the Church and its leaders. When the leaders did not show good example, so neither would the members imitate what they should have done. St. John of the Cross set out to stop this decline of the Church, and by his works and many other brave and courageous servants of God, they have reversed the declining trend of the Church and its institutions.

St. John of the Cross helped to reform the Carmelite order together with St. Teresa of Avila, and also conducted many other reforms designed to purify the Church and its religious orders, casting out its corruptions and worldly taints, and promoting true devotion to God and rigorous discipline in how the people and especially the religious and the priests ought to live their lives, filled with faith. But of course, these efforts were faced with tough opposition from those whose lives had been affected by the reform.

St. John of the Cross had to suffer rejection, indignation and even imprisonment for his good works and efforts. He had to suffer many things, even torture and pain, but he never gave up his efforts. Instead, he persevered and did all the more than he could in order to bring renewal to the Church despite the threat of suffering and even death from his opponents. It is all these virtues and qualities which all of us should emulate in our own lives.

May the Lord help us to be ever more faithful as St. John of the Cross had been, and let us all do our best to resist worldly temptations, the temptations of our greed and our bodily desires, so that we may be pure and good in all of our dealings, so that we will be found worthy by the Lord when He comes again to judge all of us. St. John of the Cross, pray for us all, that God will strengthen our faith and help guide us on our path towards Him. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 13 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Lucy, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day what we heard from the Scripture passages spoke a very clear message to us, reminding each and every one of us that our faith cannot be kept on the basis of our words and promises alone, but must be true actions and real, genuine showcase by those same actions, showing that we are not making empty and meaningless promises without any backing by our dedication to do what we say we will do.

First of all, now let us all look into the context of the Scripture passages today from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah and from the Gospel passage. The essence of what we have just heard is truly about how the people of Israel have always looked highly upon themselves, and in pride and boasting, they have always boasted of having been the chosen people of God. Similarly, the Pharisees, elders and the teachers of the Law all have pride in themselves as those who were educated and seen as the guardians of the laws of Moses.

However, in their pride, they have become boastful and conceited, and they forgot what it truly means to become faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. They have misused their position, power and authority for the wrong and wicked purposes. And for the case of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, while outwardly they seemed to be faithful and devout, but in truth, as Jesus Himself had pointed out, they were only serving their own purposes.

As we have seen as well, the Israelites put a great pride in being the descendants of Abraham, but they were not always faithful to God, and indeed, in many occasions, they abandoned Him for the allures of the pagan gods and idols such as Baal and Asherah, succumbing to the temptations of worldliness and refusing to obey the Lord, just as they had done when they worshipped the golden calf at Mount Sinai, just after God had liberated them from Egypt with His great power.

They often looked down on the pagans and those they deemed as sinful people, those who were tax collectors, those who were afflicted with diseases and afflictions like leprosy, paralysis, and those who were possessed with evil spirits, those who were prostitutes and very poor in the society. But they themselves were sinners, just as much as those people they have despised.

And while they were all talking and preaching about repentance and following the laws of God, they did not do what they have said and preached. Instead, they did the opposite of what they were preaching. That was why in another occasion, Jesus also rebuked these people by saying that while the people of God should listen to their words, they should not imitate what they were doing.

Then this is where it comes to us all as Christians. We profess our faith in God, but do we do as what the Lord had asked us to do? Have we acted in accordance with God’s laws and commandments? Or have we instead chosen to do what we like to do and ignore or reject what we do not like to do? Have we become like those who chose what they want to do because it is convenient to them and good for their standing in the world?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians and those who believe in God, we cannot pick and choose what we want and do not want to do, but instead we have to believe completely in the entirety of God’s ways and commandments, and we have to do something about it, that is to act in accordance to those ways. If we do not do so, then we will bring about scandal to our faith, as many others had shown, those who preached and talked one thing but acted in a different way.

Who will believe us and follow our lead if we do not practice what we preach? As. Christians, it is important for us to spread the Good News of God to other people, but if we are only all talk and have no action to back these up, then no one will believe in us. Instead, what we will receive is a rebuke from the Lord much as He had rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their hypocrisy.

Perhaps we should also heed the examples of today’s great saint, the holy martyr St. Lucy or St. Lucia, a renowned Roman martyr and virgin, who died defending her honour and faith in the Lord, refusing to compromise on her beliefs and ways, rejecting wickedness and sin even in the face of suffering and death. St. Lucy was born in Syracuse in southern Italy and spent her life there during the years of the great persecution of the faithful under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

She was born of a noble family, and vowed to remain in the state of holy virginity throughout her life. She persuaded her mother to donate much of her family’s wealth and possessions to the poor and the needy, as those who were generous and loving will receive the good graces from God. But this came to the attention of the local governor who persecuted her and forced her to offer sacrifices to the Emperor, which she refused.

And when the governor punished her to be defiled in a brothel, the soldiers sent to arrest her and bring her there were not able to move her, even when the whole company tried to pull her away. She was tortured and made to suffer greatly, but she maintained her faith and composure till the very end, and she foretold that all the persecutions of the faithful would cease soon, which did happen just a decade after her martyrdom.

Through the courage and the faith of St. Lucy, all of us should have seen how we ought to live out our lives in faith. Yes, we should devote ourselves to the Lord with true and real actions and not just with words. Let us all be charitable and be caring and loving to the poor and the needy, and be courageous to stand by our faith in God when the time and occasion rises to do so.

We should not be easily swayed by the temptations of the world, by the temptations of the flesh and of pleasure, but instead, let us all work together to become ever more devoted and good servants of our Lord in all of our words, actions and deeds. May St. Lucy be our intercessor before the Lord, praying for our sake that God will always bless us and guide us. Amen.

by

Monday, 12 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Our Lady of Guadalupe)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we honour and praise Mary, the Mother of God and our greatest intercessor before her own Son, who have appeared numerous times to mankind throughout the ages, in order to remind the people of God, who have been entrusted to her care, that they should reject their old sinful way of life and embrace anew the love and mercy of God.

And today, we commemorate that moment almost five centuries ago when she appeared to a saint, St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin in the New World, now known as Mexico, the site of which now is the site of a great church and Basilica dedicated to her, as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patron of the Americas and the New World, through whom many millions and more of souls have been converted to God.

Through Mary, God had endeavoured to make fulfilled His great promises to us mankind, and therefore, to that extent, He had set her aside and blessed her more than any other men or women, giving her the sole exception of being conceived without the taints of the original sins, which we celebrate just a few days ago at the Solemnity and Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

But even more than that, not just that Mary had been prepared by being freed from the corruption of sin, so that she would be worthy to be the vessel and Ark of the New Covenant, but throughout her life, she has dedicated her whole life to a life of purity and obedience towards the Lord and His laws. She is a paragon of faith and virtue, and an example to all of us Christians.

Through her we have seen what we should do as Christians, in obeying not our own will, but instead the will of God. We should devote ourselves and our time, our whole being to the Lord, as Mary had done. We may think that this is easy to be done, but in reality, there are many temptations and pressure for us to do otherwise. And when troubles and challenges come, it is easy for us to compromise and to lose our path.

But Mary remained faithful throughout, despite the pains and sufferings she had to endure. She watched her Son being persecuted with His disciples at the hands of the Jewish elders and the Pharisees, who opposed Him and disagreed with His ways and teachings, preferring to continue living in their wicked and corrupt ways. And she had to endure the greatest suffering of all, as a mother to see the death of her own Son on the cross. And yet, Mary continued to be faithful and dedicated to the mission entrusted to her.

That was why people like the Pharisees and the elders found it difficult to believe, because they were entangled by the temptations of power and worldly glory, by the lures of worldly goodness, by all the temptations of the flesh and the heart. They refused to believe in Jesus because of their pride and greed. They led the people as their shepherds not because they cared for them, but instead, they wanted more power, influence, fame and wealth for themselves, while others suffered under them.

Mary showed us all an example of how we should live our lives. While others embraced the demands of their greed and pride, succumbing to the temptations of power and money, she as the one to whom the Archangel Gabriel had announced to be the mother of Lord, Saviour and indeed Master of the whole Universe, remained humble and was not distracted from the task God entrusted to her, and she remained true and devoted to Him, even when the whole world was against her and Jesus her Son.

She has been entrusted by Jesus her Son on the cross to John His disciple, and John has similarly been entrusted to her care. In this symbolic trust, our Lord Jesus has entrusted all of humanity to the care of His mother Mary, who then after her Assumption into heaven, did not forget about us but continued to help us in various ways, as our greatest intercessor before God, and through her various apparitions in order to pass on her messages, calling the people of God to repentance and righteousness in Jesus.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to reflect on our own lives and actions. Have we been faithful to the Lord in the same way that Mary had been faithful? Have we obeyed the Lord and His commandments in the same manner that she had bene faithful and obedient? And when troubles and challenges come, do we seek to compromise and to negotiate our way out of trouble by obeying what the world asked of us, or have we instead been like Mary who persevered through and kept her faith?

Let us all ask ourselves these questions as we gather together and reflect on our lives today. Let us all devote ourselves to seek a renewal of our faith in God, and be truly devoted as Mary, the mother of our Lord had been. If God would raise Mary His mother up high because of her virtues, and blessed her more than anyone else, surely He will also bless us all if we remain faithful to Him and keep our faith amidst the challenges of the world.

May the Lord help us all to persevere through this life, that we will remain ever faithful to Him, and that we may remain true to our path towards salvation. Let us all direct our prayers to Him and ask for the intercession of His blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, for her prayers and intercessions for our sake. Through her, and by following her example, we shall find our path to justification and righteousness in God. May God bless us all. Amen.

by

Sunday, 11 December 2016 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the occasion of the Third Sunday of Advent, also commonly known as the Gaudete Sunday, a special occasion in the season of Advent, when we see a change in the liturgical colour being used, from the usual purple or violet into the colour of rose, to symbolise the more joyous occasion of today’s celebration.

The word Gaudete itself comes from Gaudeamus, or ‘Joy’ in Latin, signifying what we are celebrating today, that is the joy we all experience in the anticipation of the coming of the Lord at Christmas. Therefore, as we focus on this aspect of joy, in a way, we suspend for a short moment the penitential and the solemn nature of this season of Advent, a season of preparation, and look forward to the joy of Christmas.

But again, as we surely have discussed a lot during this season of Advent thus far, and year after year, we all should realise that we need to ask ourselves the same question again and again, lest we forget and misunderstood the intent of our Christmas celebration. What are we rejoicing about at Christmas? What are we so happy about when the time of Christmas comes?

Is it about the gifts and presents that we are about to receive? Is it about the good times and the holidays we are going to enjoy for ourselves? Is it about the joyful time that we are going to enjoy and share with our family members, with our relatives and with our friends? These are usually what many of us are focusing and thinking about as we approach Christmas and its celebrations, but if our focus are on all of these, then I am afraid that we have missed what the joy of Christmas is essentially about.

On the occasion of this Gaudete Sunday therefore, all of us are reminded of the great joy that each and every one of us ought to have because of one singular act of love by our God. And that was the salvation which He brought into the world, through His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who have entered into the world as a Man, that by bearing our own sins and the punishment for our sins upon Himself, we may all be redeemed through Him.

And that was the joy which the Scriptures today presented to us, the joy of the people who have been healed and made whole again, when those who were blind had their eyes opened, when those who were deaf and mute had their ears and tongues opened and loosened, when those who were paralysed and were possessed by evil spirits were healed from their afflictions.

But most importantly, above all these, besides the afflictions of the flesh, God has brought upon us His healing for the disease and sickness of our soul, and that is sin. Sin has become a great menace for us, a source of corruption that affects and destroys our soul, and from the soul, sin corrupts everything else, from mind to heart and to our bodies.

That is why we are so joyful this Christmas, because not only that God had come into the world to be with us, but through Him we have also received a new hope and an escape route from the despair that has been with us because of our sins. By our sins and disobedience we have been separated from God, and by the Lord’s doing, He has reunited us with Himself, all of us who believe wholeheartedly in His promise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day therefore, as we reflect on the joy of Advent, and ultimately the joy of Christmas, let us all keep in mind that we ought to put Christ our Lord at the centre of our celebrations of Christmas, and ultimately, of course, not just at Christmas but also for the rest of our lives, so that anchored firmly in Christ, we may not be easily swayed by the temptations and the persuasions of this world to sin and be disobedient against God.

Let us all make good use of this Advent season and help one another to reorientate their lives and spend more time to reflect and pray, so that by discerning carefully and guided through our faith, we may all be able to find our true joy in the Lord, and receive the fullness of grace as we prepare ourselves throughly to welcome the Lord Jesus into our lives.

Remember, brethren, we do not just remember His first coming into this world, which has already happened. We also anticipate in this season of Advent, the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour, Who will come in His glory to save all of us who have remained true and faithful to Him. Let us not be complacent and be swayed by the persuasions of the world, which wants us to continue on our current path filled with sin.

May the Lord Jesus bless us and strengthen in us our faith, as well as our commitment to live a life devoted to Him, that we may put Him at the centre of our lives, and in all the things that we say and do, we always declare and show to all the glory of our God and the goodness of His salvation to all. Come, Lord Jesus, come and bless Your people. Amen.

by

Saturday, 10 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we go through midway through the season of Advent, we are presented through the Scripture readings about the messenger of God and herald of the Messiah, John the Baptist. He came before the Saviour Himself in order to prepare His path, just as the prophet Elijah was sent many centuries before him to call the people of God back to the Lord and to repent from their sins.

At that time, the people of Israel, particularly the northern kingdom had often sinned against God and did not faithfully the way shown to them by their ancestors, following their kings who led them into sin, into the worship of the pagan gods and idols, of Baal, Asherah and many other false gods. They made the people to become wayward and diverge from the path God had shown them. And thus, Elijah came at that time, called by God to be His messenger, to call the people who have fallen into the darkness and call them to return to the light.

He encountered challenges and difficulties, and kings like Ahab hunted him down because of his refusal to back down from calling the people of God to repentance and for his denouncing of the kings and the pagans. Many other people who have followed the Lord had equally been put into suffering and pain, and many even lost their lives in consequence.

The people and their leaders, the kings persisted in their wickedness and many of them refused to listen to the prophet Elijah. They remained in their sinful ways and committed even more sins. The same happened to John the Baptist who came into the world to call the people of God back towards God’s path. Indeed, at his time, while the nature of the problem is kind of different, the essence is the same, that many had erred and he was sent to call them back to the light.

At that time, the people of God were more faithful than they were at the time of the prophet Elijah. However, many of them went through living and obeying God without understanding why they ought to obey the Law. And instead, their leaders and elders have misused their power and authority to gain benefits for themselves, resulting in them oppressing the people with the Law and gaining influence and fame for themselves.

That was why John the Baptist came to the people, to straighten their path and also the path of the Lord when He comes. Certainly, there were quite a few oppositions and challenges, from those same leaders, the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the elders and the priestly caste, who saw John as a challenge and rival to their power, teaching authority and influence.

In the same manner therefore, they also opposed Jesus our Lord when He came, and with even greater ferocity, for both John and our Lord came to right the mistakes of their ways as the prophet Elijah had once come to oppose the false ways of the kings of Israel who led the people into sin. And that is something that each and every one of us should also take note of as we go through this season of Advent.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, John and Elijah called upon the people to repent from their sins, to reject those sinful ways and to turn back towards the Lord. In the same manner therefore, we have all been called to turn back towards God, and cast away all those sins that have separated us from Him. However, that is where we also need to look at the examples we have just discussed in order to note the resistance and the difficulties for us to repent.

This time of Advent, we need to spend time to reflect on our actions in life thus far. We need to reattune ourselves to the Lord, and reject our sinful past. But temptations and the lures of sin will always be there, and thus it will not be easy for us to go through this path of preparation. Nonetheless, we really have to begin somewhere, or else, we will never move on in our path to seek God and His love and grace.

Let us all pray to the Lord and ask Him for strength, courage and faith, so that we may draw ever closer to Him, and that we will be able to turn our ways and follow the path of the saints, and not the stubbornness of the kings and the elders of Israel of the past. Let us all make the effort this Advent to help one another, calling upon each other to seek the Lord and be forgiven our sins. May God bless us all. Amen.

by

Friday, 9 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Saints)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Scriptures the contradictions from the ways of the Lord and the expectations of this world, as the Psalm we sung today show how different is the path of the wicked from the path of the just and the righteous. It is a reminder for us that as Christians, many of us should wake up to the reality that not all of the ways of our faith are acceptable and easily welcomed by the standards of this world.

But many of us often live our lives oblivious to this fact, and often it is because we are not living our faith in the manner it should be done. We are often lukewarm in our faith, and we are not practicing what we believe, but rather we follow the norms of this world, even though some of these ways and norms may be contrary to what we believe in our Christian faith.

It is a question that we should ask ourselves in this time of Advent, as we come to prepare for our celebration of Christmas. Are we living our lives in this world out of routine and just trying to do what this world is expecting us? Are we just following the motions and follow what this world has shown us? Have we ever stood up for our faith in the Lord and dared to be different by living our faith genuinely, even when others around us disapprove, ridiculed us and even rejected us?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to challenge ourselves in how we live our lives in faith. We cannot be lukewarm and ignorant any longer, for those who have professed to believe in the Lord and yet their actions showed otherwise, these will be found wanting by the Lord, as those whose faith are not living, but dead, for faith without good works, as St. James said in his Epistle, is as good as dead.

Perhaps, we should follow the example of the holy man whose feast we are celebrating today. St. John Diego or St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was one of the first saints of the Americas, then known as the New World. He was one of the first natives of the New World to convert to the faith, after it was brought there by courageous missionaries who delivered the word of God and His Good News to those people still living in the darkness and ignorance of God.

Through his newfound faith in God, he was inspired to live an upright and honest life in accordance with God’s ways, and he was devoted to good works and charity, caring especially for his sick uncle with devotion. And it was told that this upright and devout man received a vision and apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God, what is now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

St. John Diego received the apparition of Mary at a hill known as Tepeyac, where now the great Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is located at. He saw the Blessed Virgin clothed in the traditional cloth of the natives known as the tilma, and then related the experience to his local bishop. The bishop doubted this vision, and he did not believe at first that Mary had appeared to him.

For several times the apparition appeared again and again to St. John Diego as he went about carrying out his works among the poor as a lay member of the Franciscan religious order. And eventually the bishop asked for a sign that this vision is truly an authentic and trustworthy one. The Blessed Virgin appeared to St. John Diego with an instruction to go to the hill of Tepeyac, and there he found many white flowers that are not usually found in that region.

St. John Diego gathered the flowers in his own cloak or tilma and hurried back to the bishop to show him the flowers he had gathered. However, what surprised the bishop most was not the flowers, but rather what he saw was printed inside the tilma of St. John Diego, which is none other than the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe herself.

And ever since then, many people were saved because of the inspiration of St. John Diego, through the vision of the miraculous cloak or the tilma upon which the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is printed, which is now enshrined in the great Basilica, and through the messages that Our Lady passed on to St. John Diego, which he disseminated among the faithful.

From his example, we should be inspired by his dedication to the Lord, his upright and just ways, and despite the opposition and ridicule from others, in this case, from his own bishop and from his relatives, he nevertheless continued to persevere on nonetheless, and as a result, brought many others to salvation and liberation from sin.

May all of us be able to follow in his footsteps and be good and devoted disciples of the Lord ourselves. May He bless us and strengthen our faith, so that in all the things we say and do, we will always bring glory to Him and to His Name. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us all sinners. Amen.

by

Thursday, 8 December 2016 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together a great feast day of the Church, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. On this occasion, first of all, we have to understand what is it that we are celebrating about, and that is the moment when Mary was conceived in the womb of St. Anne, her mother, not her birth, but the moment of her conception, and she was conceived without any taint of original sin, and hence the term Immaculate.

And this fact has a special significance for all of us Christians, because although all of us are sinners, having inherited the sins of our forefathers and ancestors, who disobeyed the Lord and therefore sinned and then had to endure death and end of their earthly life, the sole exception have been made for Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who due to her special role in our salvation has been set aside by God to be immaculate, pure and free from any taints of sin.

Why is this so? That is because, as she was about to bear the Lord and Master of the Universe Himself within her, He Who is perfectly good and without evil Himself, thus, it is not appropriate for Him to be carried through a vessel tainted by sin and wickedness. This is related to what we heard in the Old Testament about the Ark of the Covenant, which God instructed Moses to make, in order to contain the two slabs of stone on which the Ten Commandment was written, as a sign of God’s covenant with His people Israel.

Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant which God has established with His people anew through His Son, Jesus Christ, Mediator of the New Covenant between God and mankind. And just as God has hallowed the old Ark of the Covenant, thus He has also hallowed the new Ark, that is Mary. She bore the Lord and Saviour of the world for nine months, and through her, the Divine Word was incarnate and made flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit, becoming Man.

But today, we are not just commemorating the fact that Mary has been conceived without sin and set apart by God to be the Ark and Bearer of His salvation into the world. Rather, we also celebrate the fact that Mary is the new Eve, just as Christ is the new Adam and the new Man through Whom the Lord righted all the wrongs and mistakes of the past, and redeemed us all mankind.

In the first reading, from the Book of Genesis, we heard about the moment of mankind’s fall into sin, because Adam and Eve were tricked by the devil who disguised himself as a serpent, and persuaded them to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Both of them were also created by God perfect and good, without the taint of sin, but they fell into temptation, and therefore became marred and corrupted by sin.

Thus, that is why Mary’s role in our salvation became even more important, considering that she had surely been tempted in every way we mankind had been tempted and persuaded by the devil. As a human being, she was also vulnerable to the same weaknesses which we have and which are part of our very being. Yet, we can see clearly the contrast between Eve and her disobedience against God, and Mary and her obedience to the Lord’s will in the Gospel today.

St. Paul pointed this out in his first Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, where he compared Christ with Adam, and as the old and first Adam had sinned and disobeyed God, bringing sin into the whole race of mankind, to all of us, thus through the perfect obedience of Christ, all of mankind have been redeemed and forgiven their sins and iniquities. And thus, in the same manner, while through one woman, Eve, all have received sin through disobedience, thus through another woman, whom God had promised, Mary, all have received the salvation of God.

While Eve disobeyed the Lord and followed her curiosity and greed for knowledge and power, Mary showed her obedience to the Lord, by her profession of faith in God’s will and her complete surrender to it. She did have her doubts and uncertainties, as it was unheard ever before, that a woman should bear a Son without a husband, but certainly, after God reassured her through the Archangel Gabriel, she put her full trust and faith in God and His plan.

And Mary did not just keep her faith and devotion until she gave birth to Jesus, her Son. She had been devoted to the Lord since when she was born and when she was young, but she carried on her devotion throughout her life, throughout the life of Jesus, bringing her up with her husband, St. Joseph with commitment and with the true love of a mother for her son.

It was under the loving and tender care of Mary that Jesus grew up as a Man, and it was under her supervision that He grew strong in the sight of God and men alike, ready for the mission which had been entrusted to Him. They often say, that behind every successful man is a committed and good woman, their wives, but I would say that, even more importantly, behind every successful individual is a loving and dedicated mother.

Therefore, Mary and her steady commitment to the very important role she had been placed in, is an inspiration to each and every one of us Christians, in how we ourselves should live our lives, with faith and commitment to the Lord. She is the greatest among all the saints and all the children of God, being closest to the Lord Himself, for she is at His side as His mother.

Our world today, and many of us are troubled with the problem of the lack of faith, dedication and commitment to the ways of our Lord. We face many temptations, persuasions and even coercions to abandon the ways of our God and instead follow the seemingly better and more convenient ways of this world. And therefore, many of us followed the path of our ancestors, diverging and pulling away from the path which God has shown us, and instead, following our own paths.

This season of Advent, and particularly on this day of the special Solemnity celebrated in the memory of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we should spend time to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas, by reflecting on our own lives. Have we been faithful as Mary, the mother of our Lord and God had been faithful? Or have we instead chosen the path of Eve, that is to sin and to disobey the Lord for the pursuits of earthly and worldly glory and goodness?

Through Mary, God had brought into this world His new Covenant with each and every one of us, and through her also, He brought into this world a new hope through her own actions and devout ways, showing us all how we ought to be faithful in all the days of our lives. We should also be faithful as Mary has been faithful, and if we wonder why, that is because by the outpouring of His own Body and Blood, our Lord had dwelled inside each and every one of us who have received Him in the Eucharist.

Therefore, we too are like the Ark of the Covenant of God, and if we bear the Lord inside each one of us, as St. Paul had said, that we are the Temples of the Holy Spirit, then we should do our best and behave in all of our actions and deeds, so that we will not falter into sin and corruption, or else the Lord’s wrath will be upon us. We must keep ourselves free from sin and fornication as much as possible.

Let us all pray to the Lord, asking Him to help us and to give us courage to live our lives faithfully and with commitment, that we will not falter despite the challenges and difficulties we encounter in this life. May the Lord bless us all and keep us all in His grace, and may through the intercession of His Blessed Mother Mary, all of us will draw ever closer to Him and receive from Him one day, the blessed fruits of our faith. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 7 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard that familiar word from the Gospel, “Come to Me all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” And also another one, “For My yoke is good and My burden is light.” In this we see God as One in Whom we can find rest and succour amidst our burdens of life and amidst the challenges and difficulties we often encounter in this world.

However, the problem lies in the fact that the devil is never tired of trying to pull us away from God’s salvation, by presenting to us temptations and persuasions, making it seems as if his way is more attractive and a better option for us, because it seems to be less challenging, lighter and easier on us as compared to the way that God offers to us.

As human beings, it is in our nature to be lazy and to be slothful, preferring the easier way out than the difficult ones. We tend to seek the path that is favourable to us, and most beneficial to us. But what we have to take note of is the outcome at the end. Are we going towards eternal life and salvation, or are we instead heading to damnation in hell for eternity?

The path of the Lord is light and yet we often perceived as difficult and troublesome, because we are often focused on the sufferings at the moment. We tend to focus on the challenges we encounter as a follower of the Lord, as His disciples and bearers of His Good News. We think that it is too difficult for us to carry on when we are faced with ridicule, rejection and even persecution because of our faith and because of what we believe in the Lord.

And therefore, there are several ways we can go ahead with this, that is either we conform with the expectations of the world, meaning that we choose instead the path other than the path God has provided us with, following instead what the world expects us to do, enjoying ourselves and living without restraint from sinning, or we can also pretend not to know the way of the Lord, which was exactly as what St. Peter did when he was asked three times by the bystanders on whether he knew the Lord. He denied Him all the three times.

The other way is for us to endure the path of the Lord, by being true to our faith despite the challenges and difficulties. This is the path followed by the saints and the martyrs, all those who have remained true to the Lord despite of the persuasions to do otherwise. They chose to remain true because they know that, while there are difficulties to be faced at present, what awaits them is an eternity of joy and happiness with God. The current challenges are only temporary.

The way that the devil offers us seems to be easier, less difficult to be done, with no opposition and challenge to us. However, if we follow this path through sinning and disobeying God, while now we enjoy the time and the present moment we have, we are looking forward to an eternity of despair, suffering and torment, when the Lord judges us for our failure to remain faithful to Him, and He will cast us all into hell where we suffer because of that eternal separation from God’s love and grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we have been given an opportunity to reexamine our lives, on our actions and deeds. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord amidst challenges and difficulties? Have we instead chosen to conform to the way of the wicked because we fear the repercussions or because we are ambivalent and lukewarm about our faith?

Today we commemorate the feast of St. Ambrose, the great and renowned Church father and Doctor of the Church from the early days of the Church, who was the Bishop of Milan and one of the most influential leaders of the Church of his time. He was a Roman noble who was renowned for his great piety to the Lord, who was an administrator and governor of the region now known as northern Italy.

But at that time, there was a great discord within the Church, due to the heresy of Arianism, a false teaching proclaiming that Jesus our Lord is mere Man and not God. And many of the faithful were swayed by this false teaching and followed the way of heresy, including even many of the priests and bishops, and also those in power, even the Roman Emperors themselves.

At a time when there was a dispute in the succession of the Bishop of Milan and disagreement of the two parties, the Holy Spirit guided the Church to elect St. Ambrose as Bishop by acclamation, and since then, he devoted himself wholly to the Church and his flock despite his initial doubt and uncertainty. And soon, St. Ambrose promoted the teachings of the true faith among his flock, and encountered many troubles with those in power, those who believe in the Arian heresy.

But St. Ambrose did not give up, and even it was said that he openly rebuked the Roman Empress for her Arian heresy and for her attempt to promote the Arian heretics to positions within the Imperial court and the Church. And later on, when the true faith returned to the leadership of the Empire, St. Ambrose was renowned for his courageous act of formally rebuking and excommunicating the Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great for his involvement in the massacre of the people of the city of Thessalonica.

The Emperor regretted his sins and openly repented for his sins before St. Ambrose and the faithful, and St. Ambrose welcomed the Emperor back to the Church. From all these examples, we see how St. Ambrose is such a great role model for us on how we should live our lives faithfully before the Lord. We must not be afraid to stand up to our faith and indeed, point out to each other so that we may help and guide each other that we may remain strong in our faith and stay on the right track towards our salvation in God.

Let us all ask for St. Ambrose to intercede for us, that he may ask God to strengthen our courage and commitment to Him, and in all that we say and do, we may be able to show all others that we are the disciples and followers of the Lord, and be examples for one another to lead us all towards the Lord. May the Lord bless us and help our endeavours. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 6 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened again to the words of the Scripture from the prophet Isaiah and from the Gospel according to St. Matthew about the coming of hope for mankind, and how God Who loves us all His children and His people, will not abandon us in the darkness, but indeed He will seek us all who have been lost to Him, like a shepherd looking for his lost sheep, even if there is only one who was lost.

That is the reason why Jesus our Lord came into the world, which we celebrate in Christmas. Many of us celebrate Christmas with joy and revelry, with dancing and partying, but without truly understanding what is it that we are really rejoicing about. And many of us are celebrating like how the rest of the world celebrate Christmas, with joy and happiness in the family, in the exchanging of gifts and presents, in our feasts and in our sumptuous dinner parties, but let us ask ourselves, have we put Christ at the centre of our celebrations?

If our answer to this question is no, that means those who have not put Christ at the centre of our joy and celebration this Christmas have not celebrated Christmas in the right way. It is easy indeed for us to fall into the temptation of this world, which constantly bombards us with many persuasions and temptations, and misleading us into seeking for a materialistic and Christ-less Christmas rather than a Christmas joy centred in Christ.

Perhaps in this, we can be inspired by the example of a holy servant of God, whose feast we celebrate on this day, namely St. Nicholas of Myra, a Bishop of a small diocese in what is now Turkey, in the region of Asia Minor in the early years of tolerance of Christianity in the Roman Empire. This same St. Nicholas of Myra is what the secular world had adapted and became the legend of Santa Claus, which image is certainly ubiquitous especially as Christmas approaches.

Many of us would know of Santa Claus as a bearded old man who is kind and who like to give many gifts to young children at Christmas. And many of our youths recognise Santa Claus, and are indeed waiting for him to give them presents. We hang red and white coloured socks at the fireplace or at the window hoping that Santa Claus would come and put some gifts inside of them. And indeed, everyone always look forward to our Christmas gifts and presents, but let us all ask ourselves, are we really not missing something from all of that?

St. Nicholas of Myra was indeed a kind and loving bishop, who always showed tender love, mercy and care for his flock, and he liked to give gifts to children who came to him for his blessings. And it was from this that it was likely the twisted legend of Santa Claus was born, one that was sadly not focusing on another aspect of St. Nicholas of Myra that we all really need to know.

For all of his loving and kindly ways, St. Nicholas of Myra is an ardent defender of the true faith, which happened at that time came under great threat from the heretical ways of Arianism, as taught by the false prophet and heretic Arius, which unfortunately divided the Church in many places and swayed countless souls away from the true way leading to the Lord and His salvation. Arius preached that Jesus our Lord is merely Man and not God, while the truth is that He is both Man and God at the same time.

Many people were swayed by the false teachings of Arius, even among the priests and bishops. But St. Nicholas of Myra were among those bishops who refused to listen to the falsehoods of Arianism and fought hard to restore the true faith to the many people who had been lost to the false and heretical ways. At the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in the year 325 AD, convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine to resolve the issue of Arianism and the true teaching of the Church about the divinity of Christ, it was told that St. Nicholas of Myra even punched the heretic Arius at the face.

Eventually Arianism was condemned by the decision of the Ecumenical Council, and defeated after many years of long struggle. Yet all of us must not overlook and forget the role of St. Nicholas of Myra in trying to defend the true faith from all these aberration and heresies. He acted as a true shepherd, a good shepherd modelled after the Lord Himself, the Good Shepherd, who are concerned about the well-being of his flock, especially those who have been lost.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, there are two things which all of us must understand and appreciate, so that our preparation in this Advent will be fruitful, and our Christmas celebration will be meaningful. Firstly, we need to return Christ to Christmas, putting Him back at the centre of our effort and our joy in Christmas. Whenever we plan for Christmas, let us all remember that we rejoice because of Him, because of the love He has shown us.

And thus it brings us to the second point we need to take note of, that we have to appreciate how God wants us to be redeemed and be forgiven our sins, for as what St. Nicholas of Myra had shown, the fate of our souls is indeed very important. Since if we fell into damnation and are lost from God, what await us is nothing but despair and eternal regret. The Lord has sent His servants to help and guide us through the turbulent world, so that we will be able to persevere through and avoid falling into temptation.

Therefore, let us all as Christians renew our faith and renew our effort to help one another to prepare ourselves, by deepening our relationships with God, and by seeking repentance and forgiveness for our sins. Let us all make use of this time of Advent to prepare ourselves, not just preparing how we will celebrate Christmas, but also prepare ourselves in our hearts and minds, that we will be ready to welcome the Lord with joy at Christmas, and share this joy with one another. May the Lord bless us and keep us in His grace. Amen.

by

Monday, 5 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of hope, as we just celebrated yesterday the first aspect of Advent, that is hope. For in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we have gained a new hope in the Lord, and received from Him a new encouragement and strength, that where once our situation seemed to be hopeless.

In the Gospel today, we heard about the Lord Jesus and how He healed the man who was paralysed, through his faith and the faith of all those who lifted him and the mat up through the roof to bring him down in front of the Lord. Through this, we see how the Lord brought healing and new hope to all those who had been downtrodden, those who had been sick and afflicted.

And most importantly, through what Jesus had said, He heals all of our afflictions, not just of the bodily and physical afflictions, but even more importantly, the afflictions of the heart, mind and soul, that is sin. If sickness can be cured by doctor’s prescriptions and medicine, by certain diets and abstinences from certain unhealthy foods, sin cannot be cured except by the forgiveness from God.

And Jesus is God, His Divine Word made incarnate into flesh, taking up the shape and reality of Man. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law refused to believe this fact, despite that the prophets and messengers having declared this throughout many centuries beforehand in their messages and the Scriptures they wrote. They refused to believe that Jesus could forgive their sins, even though He forgave even them their sins from the cross.

Of all the sickness, as I have mentioned, the disease of the soul, that is sin, is the most dangerous of all. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, even though they were free from the disease of the body, but their refusal to admit their sins and their refusal to believe in Jesus have left their souls diseased with sin, and if left uncured, this will lead them into damnation in hell.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, sin has separated us from the love and grace of God, and because of our disobedience against God’s will, we have been sundered and made unworthy. Yet, God loves each and every one of us, and by His generous will, He wants to heal each and every one of us from our afflictions, our sins that separated us from Him.

And that was His coming into this world is about, that by His love, God has sent to us His only Son, so that through Him and by the works He had done, all of us may be made worthy, all who accepted His offer of love, mercy and forgiveness. In this season of Advent, all of us are given the opportunity to take a step back and reflect on our own lives as we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas.

Let us ask ourselves, how do we really celebrate Christmas? Do we celebrate Christmas by following what the secular world is always doing? Do we celebrate in revelry and in partying without end, rejoicing with our friends and families, but forgetting Who it is that we really need to celebrate about this Christmas? Christmas is about the Lord, brethren, for it is a celebration and a joyful time to remember that because He came into this world, we all have hope once again.

We should spend our time this Advent to pray, to reassess and indeed re-strengthen our relationship with God. It is a time for us to realise and understand just how sinful and wrong we have been, and prepare ourselves by seeking God with faith and devotion just as how the paralytic man and his four helpers had faith in Jesus. If we seek Him with faith and genuine desire to repent, certainly God will hear us and forgive us our sins.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all pray that each and every one of us may draw ever closer to the Lord, and be forgiven our sins and trespasses, so that we may truly rejoice and be happy with true joy this Christmas, welcoming and thanking God Who have come into the world because of His love for us, and by His love, we have been healed. Do not harden our hearts like those of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. May God bless us all. Amen.