joy

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Sunday, 21 April 2013 : 4th Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, World Day of Prayer for Vocations (50th Anniversary) (Second Reading)

Revelation 7 : 9, 14b-17

After this I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands.

They are those who have come out of the great persecution; they have washed and made their clothes white in the blood of the Lamb. This is why they stand before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His sanctuary. He who sits on the throne will spread His tent over them.

Never again will they suffer hunger or thirst or be burned by the sun or any scorching wind. For the Lamb near the throne will be their Shepherd, and He will bring them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away their tears.”

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Thursday, 18 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 8 : 26-40

An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south towards the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert road.” So, he set out and it happened that an Ethiopian was passing along that way. He was an official in charge of the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians; he had come on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and was on his way home. He was sitting in his carriage and reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and catch up with that carriage.” So Philip ran up and heard the man reading the prophet Isaiah; and he asked, “Do you really understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian replied, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?”

He then invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. This was the passage of the Scripture he was reading : “He was led like a sheep to be slaughtered; like a lamb that is dumb before the shearer, He did not open His mouth. He was humbled and deprived of His rights. Who can speak of His descendants? For He was uprooted from the earth.”

The official asked Philip, “Tell me, please, does the prophet speak of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip began to tell him the Good News of Jesus, using this text of Scripture as his starting point. As they travelled down the road they came to a place where there was some water. Then the Ethiopian official said, “Look, here is water; what is to keep me from being baptised?”

Then he ordered the carriage to stop; both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water and Philip baptised him. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The Ethiopian saw him no more, but he continued on his way full of joy.

Philip found himself at Azotus, and he went about announcing the Good News in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

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Wednesday, 17 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Acts 8 : 1b-8

All the disciples, except the apostles, were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. Saul meanwhile was trying to destroy the Church; he entered house after house and dragged off men and women and had them put in jail.

At the same time, those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to a town of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. All the people paid close attention to what Philip said as they listened to him and saw the miraculous signs that he did.

For in cases of possession, the unclean spirits came out shrieking loudly. Many people who were paralysed or crippled were healed. So there was great joy in that town.

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Wednesday, 17 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a

Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”

All the earth bows down to You, making music in praise of You, singing in honour of Your Name. Come and see God’s wonders, His deeds awesome for humans.

He has turned the sea into dry land, and the river was crossed on foot. Let us, therefore, rejoice in Him. He rules by His might forever.

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Wednesday, 10 April 2013 : 2nd Week of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

Oh, let us magnify the Lord, together let us glorify His Name! I sought the Lord, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.

The Lord’s angel encamps and patrols to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!

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Monday, 8 April 2013 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Today we commemorate the day when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, the Mother of God, and announced to her, the great news of joy, that the Lord had finally made true His promises, that He would come and then save the people of Israel and all mankind. It is through Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born through Mary, His mother, that the salvation of the world came into fruition, the culmination of God’s long-conceived plan since the day of our fall into sin and death.

That day was indeed a glorious day, because the angel announced the arrival of the Messiah, who was to be none other than Son of God Himself, Jesus, born into man, incarnate from His divinity and took up the mortal man’s body though without sin. But the greater is the joy and glory because of what Mary did on that day, for her faith and obedience to the Lord was so great and perfect, that through her humble acceptance of that great mission to bear Christ in herself, and through her humility, that the salvation of the world and all mankind was possible.

Without Mary’s full obedience and acceptance of her mission in delivering Christ into this world, the coming of the Messiah would not have happened. It is her attitude towards the vocation that God had placed in her, which earned her our praise and adoration, the first and greatest of all the saints in heaven, and none other than the mother of our Lord Himself, to whom our Lord would listen, just as at the wedding in Cana.

We all had deserved death since the beginning of time, since when our ancestors, from the time of Adam, succumbed to the temptations and the lies of the evil one, preferring worldly pleasures to God and His love, rebelling against His great kindness. Through this act of treason, we deserved death, but yet, our God, with His great love for us, was keen to show us His mercy, and throughout time, through countless prophets, He had made His intentions clear for all to see and listen, that He would send a deliverer, the Messiah, who would correct all things once again, and made the world into a perfection once again, cleansed from all the taints of evil.

So great was God’s love that He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, that through Him, all of mankind and all creation have hope of a new life, an eternal life with God, and no longer be separated from the very God who loves us very much. To make all these possible, Christ would have to lower Himself, to be as men are, but unblemished, without the taints of sin. Pure as crystal and white as snow, and that is who Christ was. Because He was to give Himself up, not as mere burnt or sin offering and sacrifices, but as the true Lamb of God, our paschal lamb of sacrifice, whose purity and unblemished nature was the only one in all creation worthy of redeeming all of us from our unavoidable fate, that is death.

While the blood of goats and bulls was only able to cleanse sin temporarily, and that people would still die after those offerings, those cleansed by the Precious Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ would no longer experience death, that is eternal death. For through the offering of His Body and Blood, Christ had given each of us a new lease of life, a life that is filled with the glory and love of God. In baptism, that we received, either as a baby or as an adult, we received this new life. We were dead to our old life, and we shared in this death, the death of Christ on the cross, that we die to ourselves and our sins, and with the Risen Lord, we too are resurrected to begin a new life in God.

It is not easy to obey God’s commandment and will, especially in the case of what God had entrusted to Mary, and to no other person. For Mary was born without sin as well, immaculate, just as her Son is, because, to be the vessel through whom God would be incarnate as Man into this world, no vessel that is tainted with sin would be worthy. Mary’s obedience made her role in our faith ever greater, since her obedience became a great role model to all of us. She obeyed despite the difficulties, and the implications of her acceptance would have on her.

Remember that what happened after Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant. He wanted to divorce her, though with honour, so that she would not be treated as an adulterous woman, since she was a virgin, and yet with child. This was the implication that would happen to Mary, all the difficulties she had to endure, by accepting the will of God, to bear Christ in herself, that through her holy womb, Christ was brought forth as Jesus, her Son. Yet she obeyed without conditions, and submitted fully to the will of God, gladly embracing the role that she is to play in the history of salvation.

As we commemorate this great event, let us reflect this fact, and whether we too can be as courageous, faithful, and obedient as Mary was, in bravely and gladly answering the call of God, that all the great works of our Saviour would be possible. Can we begin today, to strive to be more like her, and to follow her example? We may not have to bear Christ and give birth to Him like Mary did, but in our own surroundings and in our own lives, we have our own missions and callings by God, and the things God had entrusted upon us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us pray, that we would be able to follow after the example of Mary, the Mother of God, that we can also say yes, to our Lord, and accept His will, and the mission He had entrusted upon all of us with great humility and great joy. May God bless all of us, and make our faith stronger, that we will always live in the favour of God, filled with His love. Amen.

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Friday, 5 April 2013 : Friday of the Easter Octave (Scripture Reflection)

Christ is the stone whom the builders rejected, and had become the cornerstone. What is a cornerstone? It is most commonly associated with an arch, but can also be found in other structures, that this stone bear the weight of the entire structure, and keep the whole structure together. As long as the cornerstone remains in place, the building would stand safely despite forces applied against it. But if the cornerstone is to be removed, the entire structure would crumble in moments, since the cornerstone is truly the key part of the building structure, without which the building could not stand.

Yes, Christ is our cornerstone, the cornerstone of our life. For we cannot live without Christ, who is God, and who had come down from heaven to die for our sake, that bearing our faults and sins, He gave us a new hope of eternal life in Him. If we keep Christ as the cornerstone of our life, we will be saved, as with Christ as our cornerstone, we will stand firm despite the assaults of the evil one, and the temptations of worldly pleasures that threaten to derail us from our path to return towards the Lord who loves us.

Yet many of us make different things false cornerstones of our lives, that is not Christ, and not of Christ. These false cornerstones are the false focus of our lives, that end up diverting our attention from God and from doing the good works that is of our God, and end up being selfish, prideful, and arrogant in defiance of the love of God and ignoring the need to love our fellow mankind. Some examples of these false cornerstones are money, possessions, false pleasures, and false idols.

We often involved ourselves in mindless pursuit of wealth and money, to achieve more and gain more from our career, to gain more promotions that we can enjoy more and get more goods and live our lives to the fullest. Is it so? I am not so sure. Remember that more often that not when we dug deep into the pursuits of these worldly desires, we often neglected to do things that we should have done. What are these? Basically love and care for others, and our love for God. God had loved us whom He created and He sent us His only Son that we can be saved, and it is natural that we should love Him back, and He also told us to love one another as we had loved ourselves.

Indeed, we have often neglected those around us in our pursuit of false satisfaction, in gaining more money and more possessions, neglecting our families, our children, our parents and those who are dear to us. We forgot about them, and we cared ultimately only for ourselves, and sometimes we even inadvertently or unintentionally cause pain and suffering to others, just that we can gain pleasure for ourselves. That is when we put our trust in men rather than God, and placing our trust in our own weak self rather than placing it upon God who can indeed be trusted. Had He not watched us all the days of our life since our birth?

Let us reflect on this, and pray, that our faith in God will be strengthened, that we will once again make God the cornerstone of our lives, by throwing away all the false cornerstones of worldliness, that eventually would only bring temporary satisfaction, but one that leave one’s heart continuously longing for the true fulfillment that can only be filled by the divine love of God, and love itself. It is not wrong to gain money and possessions, but we must be careful lest we become slaves to them instead of being their master. Indeed, we should strive to master our possessions and use them for the good of others. Get rid of selfishness, pride, and arrogance, and sharpen the edge of our humility and love.

May God always remain as our cornerstone, the cornerstone of our faith, and the cornerstone of our lives, that by entrusting ourselves fully to Him, we will not be disappointed, and will be rewarded with abundant graces and blessings. Amen.

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Monday, 1 April 2013 : Monday of the Easter Octave (Psalm)

Psalm 15 : 1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Keep me safe, o God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.”

I bless the Lord who counsels me; even at night my inmost self instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.

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Monday, 1 April 2013 : Monday of the Easter Octave (First Reading)

Acts 2 : 14, 22-33

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, and, with a loud voice, addressed them, “Fellow Jews and all foreigners now staying in Jerusalem, listen to what I have to say. Fellow Israelites, listen to what I am going to tell you about Jesus of Nazareth. God accredited Him and through Him did powerful deeds and wonders and signs in your midst, as you well know.”

“You delivered Him to sinners to be crucified and killed, and in this way the purpose of God from all times was fulfilled. But God raised Him to life and released Him from the pain of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in the power of death. David spoke of Him when he said: ‘I saw the Lord before Me at all times; He is by My side, that I may not be shaken. Therefore My heart was glad and My tongue rejoiced; My body too will live in hope.'”

“‘Because You will not forsake Me in the abode of the dead, nor allow Your Holy One to experience corruption. You have made known to Me the paths of life, and Your presence will fill Me with joy.'” Friends, I don’t need to prove that the patriarch David died and was buried; his tomb is with us to this day. But he knew that God had sworn to him that one of his descendants would sit upon his throne and, as he was a prophet, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah.

So he said that ‘He would not be left in the region of the dead, nor would His body experience corruption.’ This Messiah is Jesus and we are all witnesses that God raised Him to life. He has been exalted at God’s right side and the Father has entrusted the Holy Spirit to Him; this Spirit He has just poured upon us as you now see and hear.

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(Easter Sunday) Sunday, 31 March 2013 : Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Week, Easter Octave (Scripture Reflection)

Alleluia! The Lord is Risen! He had conquered death through His glorious Resurrection, and victory over death. He triumphed over Satan, who had tried to end His mission on this world by condemning Him to death through the people and crucifying Him, but all to no avail. Satan failed to realise that in crucifixion lay the very key to our redemption by Christ, who became our Paschal Lamb, through whom we are made whole and worthy of God.

Yes, just as the lamb was sacrificed and the blood marked the doorposts of the people of Israel in Egypt, Christ had shed His blood on the cross, and this blood marked all of us as His chosen people, whom He would protect against certain death, and bring into life in Him. For the blood marked the people of Israel apart from their Egyptian masters, so that the angel of the Lord passed over them when they killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, animals and humans alike.

Therefore, in Christ, lie our new Christian Passover, for all of us deserved death for our sins and our sinful ways, and through the rebellion of our forefathers, since the days of Adam and Eve, who disobeyed the Lord and ate the fruits of the tree of knowledge. But although we deserved death, God loves us so much that, He could not bear us to face death and separation from Him.

That is why, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who became man like us, and was born in the flesh through Mary, His mother. He is the Lamb of God, that became the Paschal Lamb, that is the lamb of sacrifice for our sins, but not like any other lamb. Being divine, and yet lowering Himself as a human, He alone is worthy to redeem all mankind from their sins. His Precious Blood that flowed down from the cross washed down evil and sin in those who believed in Him, and who has faith in Him and believe in His Resurrection.

Let us firmly reject Satan and his lies, and reject his temptations on us with worldly goods and desires, just as our Lord rejected his approaches in the desert. Remain true to our mission just as Christ was obedient unto death on the cross. That through our faith we will be rewarded with resurrection into life just as Christ was resurrected. Let us renew our commitment to serve the people of God and make the Holy Spirit that God had given us through baptism and confirmation to bear much fruit in both ourselves and in our fellow men.

Let us strive to become truly the people of God in this blessed Easter season. Let us make full use of this season of Easter, both in our great joy in the resurrection of our Lord, and as well as to share this joy that we have, with others around us, that they too will learn of the great joy of all Christians, that is the Lord crucified had been risen from the dead, and through that resurrection, all of us are saved, and had our life restored to us.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us keep on praying that God will continue to bless us everyday of our lives, and may He guide us as we embark on the new year after this Easter season, that from today onwards till the next year when we celebrate Easter again, we can make this year a truly fruitful and blessed year. Also in the spirit of the Year of the Faith, let us also strive to strengthen our faith in the remaining half a year of the celebration of this Holy Year.

I wish everyone a happy and blessed Easter, and may the Risen Christ our Lord shine His face upon all of you, to share in the glory of His Resurrection. Amen!