hypocrite

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Saturday, 16 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings we see how, the righteous ones and the ones sent by the Lord, the prophets, and even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, received slander, persecution, and were actively rejected by many in the society, not least by those who indeed should have been closer to God than that of the rest of the society.

These people are the Pharisees, the priests and the experts in the Law of God, passed through Moses, they are also expert in the Torah and the writings of the words of the prophets, that it is why they could say that no prophet is ever said to come from Galilee, because basically they really know the prophets, their sayings, and the Law itself. But yet, they have failed to see God, and failed to see His works, when it was already in fact right in front of their eyes.

The reason for their failure to see the good works of the Lord is that they have been blinded, their eyes had been blocked by the very arrogance and pride that clouds their heart and hardened that heart against the love of God. Jealousy became the order of the day, as these priests, instead of being happy and supportive of Christ’s good works, they slandered Him, accused Him of using the devil to perform miracles, and plotted against Him to kill Him. They would eventually succeeded in capturing Him after the Lord’s Last Supper, put Him on trial, and brought Him to Pilate to be condemned to death, death on the cross.

We should not follow their examples, and we too should lower our pride and our selfishness before God. We must put the Lord ahead of men, and put our attention on the Lord ahead of any personal glorification through majesty, wealth, or even simplification, and publicity. Priests and leaders of the Church must strive to remain humble in their ministry.

But remember, very importantly, never dabble in the false sense of humility through excessive display of humility or simplification, especially and certainly, we must never let the Holy Mass be simplified to the point that it loses the sanctity and meaning, as the Holy Sacrifice where Jesus offers us His Most Precious Body and Blood.

Very often people has misunderstood the noble simplicity as mentioned in the Vatican II document, Sacrosanctum Concilium, focusing way too much on the simplicity, that it is no longer noble. There is a need for balance, that the liturgy does not become too flagrant a display of excessive wealth and worldliness, but at the same time also there should be proper decorum and avoidance of insertion of non-liturgical elements into the Mass, and also avoidance of stripping the Mass so much that it ceases to be solemn and devout.

Instead, the way is to live a life of prayer and dedication to God, and strive to put the Lord ahead of ourselves, and to make God the centre of our lives. Through the Mass, the centre of our faith, we can make the Lord indeed as the centre of our life, via the solemn and magnificent liturgy and execution of the Mass, that the Lord is glorified at the Mass.

Remember that the Mass is not about self, and it is not to be centred at the priest-celebrant, but to be centred to the Lord Himself. The vestments, the beautiful adornments, and the solemn atmosphere in the Mass is dedicated entirely to God, that we glorify the Lord, and through these external glorification, we bring mankind closer to God, simply by unearthly experience that all of us can experience in the Mass, through a solemn and devout liturgy of the Mass.

We humble ourselves before the Lord, and focus our attention on the glorious cross of Christ, both for us behind the altar, and for the priest, the altar cross, according to the Benedictine Altar arrangement, that all of us will put our full attention in Christ, and not on men. The cross must be the centre of our focus, our attention, and also be the focus of our hearts, that we continue to keep Christ in all things that we do, so that in whatever good that we do, God will be present, and will justify us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us rediscover our faith, particularly in this Holy Year of Faith, that we can grow much deeper in our understanding of the Mass and its liturgical contents, and learn to place the Lord at the centre of our lives, and grow stronger in our faith and love of God day by day. May we follow in Christ’s footsteps and not be proud, neither be vain, by discarding the darkness and veil of pride that blocks our heart from truly receiving the love and grace of our God. Amen.

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Friday, 15 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

We have to be humble, brothers and sisters in Christ, and not to be engulfed in our personal pride and arrogance, that we will be able to truly see the Lord and His good works in our world today, which He had done through the Church, with our assistance.

So how is this humility like? Is it by lowering ourselves before others physically, or by mentioning it verbally? or by acting it out so that others can see this humility in us? No, as that would not be right, in fact not true humility.

True humility is rather shown by our hearts, and our being, in how we listen to God’s will, and accept the advice made by others, which in this case, is exemplified by the prophets who told the people of Israelites of the coming of the Messiah, that is Jesus Christ.

Instead, the people of Israel hardened their hearts, filled with pride and arrogance, rejected the Lord and plotted against Him, that is because of their refusal to settle down and open their hearts. both to God, and to listen to the words of their fellow men, the prophets who had been chosen to speak the words of our God.

These people in their pride thought that they knew the Lord, and through their great faith, they had been saved. But it is exactly this pride that covered the true humility that is in the heart, and brought about veil on their eyes, that they fail to see Christ, the Chosen One of God, and failed to recognise Him and His works as the works of that Divine Messiah.

Therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray that our eyes can be opened, and the veil of pride and vanity that we have in us can be lifted from us, that we no longer focus on ourselves, but now can see clearly the graces and works of our God, and at the same time, also capable of sensing and seeing the sufferings and the troubles facing our fellow brethren in this world, and do our best to help alleviate their suffering. Physically, yes, but even more importantly, to help others in a spiritual manner.

For physical nourishment is finite and one will always be hungry again, but spiritual nourishment, through the love of God poured into them through us, will satisfy them and make them hungry no more. For spiritual hunger is more sinister and worse than that of the physical hunger, which bread can solve, but not for spiritual hunger.

May God bless us in our daily lives, that all of us will remain humble, in true humility that is of the heart and not of the shedding of externals, and true humility that humbles our souls before God instead of hypocrisy before others. May God bring our works for the good of others, make them greater, and bring them to complete fulfillment, Amen.

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Saturday, 9 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Luke 18 : 9-14

Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give the tenth of all my income to the Temple.'”

“In the meantime, the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Saturday, 16 February 2013 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday (Scripture Reflection)

Today Jesus, our Lord, shows us that no one is beyond redemption, and no one does not have hope for eternal life in Him, since all mankind, though sinners as they are, they do have the ability to listen and come towards the Lord, who will forgive them if only they would turn their hearts sincerely back towards Him.

We must make use of this Lenten season to take concrete steps in our path to return back to the Lord. Yes, the Lord calls us, and He wants us to return home with Him, and dwell no longer in our world of sin. This however, requires not just a sincere heart for repentance, but also through our actions of love and mercy, especially towards our fellow men, our brethren in Christ.  If we want to be forgiven by God, first we have to forgive those around us, who have offended us, and even caused us pain and suffering.

If we inflict pain and suffering back in return for the same pain and suffering, we are merely prolonging the endless cycles of hatred and evil. It is through the act of love and mercy that the Lord taught us, that we can truly liberate ourselves from this cycle, and thus release us from the bondage of the evil one, and then, and only then, we can be reunited with our Father in heaven who loves us.

If we do so, the Lord will bless us, and not only He will forgive us, but He will make us prosper in our lives, and also those around us. For God rejoices when a lost son or daughter of His is found once again, for is the shepherd not overjoyed when even a single sheep of his flock that was lost, is found? As the Scripture says, even if only one sheep was lost, the shepherd would go and look for it, and when he found it, he will be happier, even happier than having the other sheep that were not lost.

No, this does not mean that the Lord does not care for those who believe in Him and stayed faithful to Him. This means that the Lord comes especially to seek those who are lost, and have yet to receive His inheritance of love and everlasting life through Him, those who are still under the yoke of Satan, that is the yoke of sin and death. We who believe in Him are already saved, and already have a part in God’s inheritance, that is if we stay faithful. Let us help the Lord, to reach out to our brothers and sisters, particularly those who are still in darkness, those who still do not yet know the Lord, and have yet to receive the Good News.

Let us therefore this Lent, not be hypocrites and seek only to make ourselves holy and worthy, but rather, let us help one another to make ourselves worthy of God through penance and good works in Christ. Let us help this world become a better world, for everyone, that through our labour, the love of God is made manifest in this world, that many will see and then believe, becoming lost sheep no more, but one with the flock of Christ. Amen.