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Tuesday, 13 August 2013 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saints Pontian, Pope and Martyr, and Hippolytus, Priest and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord our God is a loving and merciful God, who is quick to forgive and slow to anger. He cares deeply for all of His children that is all of us. He gave His all to save His lost ones, likened by Christ Himself as the shepherd who went out to seek for the one lost sheep. Yes, brethren, so great is God’s love for all of us, that He was willing to come down to us, as a man, to be one of us, that He may save us all through His great sacrifice, a sacrifice for all our sins and our unworthiness.

The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep and is willing to die in exchange for the life of his sheep. That was exactly what Christ had done for the sake of us all, that is to die on the cross for us, to give up His life, that we may have life in us, through Him and through His action in His saving Passion. In order to look for us, the lost sheep, He was willing to go through painful suffering and rejection, so that He may find us, and not just find us, but also gather all of us, and return us into His most loving embrace.

We have been lost ever since our ancestors disobeyed the will of God and forsook His love, preferring the devil and the pleasures of this world instead of the love of our God. If our God does not love us or care for us, then He could have easily blasted us into oblivion, erasing us from existence. Remember, He is the Almighty God, who is all-powerful and almighty, and He is the God who created the universe. Just as easily as He created us, He can as easily erase us from creation, and therefore eliminate the evils present within us.

Yes, we have been dirtied by the evils within us, and the evils of this world, that we are unworthy for the Lord who is all good and perfect. Yet, He troubled Himself and went all the way, even to incarnate Himself as one of us, through the Blessed Virgin Mary, that He became one of us, sharing our sufferings, sharing our troubles and pains, even though He certainly was not obliged to do that. He was truly like a shepherd who shared the sufferings and experiences of his sheep, be it in the sun or in the rain, in safe times or in times of danger, when wolves are threatening to eat the sheep the shepherd is guarding.

Our loving God protects us from harm and shield us from pitfalls and from our enemies. That was evident in His great providence to His people, Israel. He blessed them, smote their enemies, and gave them food to eat and drinks to satiate their thirst. He brought them through the desert into the land He promised all of them. In His love and kindness, He had poured His love to His people, and protected them as He always had. Yet, the people lacked gratitude, and they made complaints after complaints against the Lord, chiding that He had not done enough good for them.

God kept His patience and continued without end to provide help to His people, by sending them His prophets and messengers. The people hardened their hearts and they rejected God’s messengers, casting them out of their cities and even killed them in cold blood. The Lord thundered His wrath on the rebellious ones and casted them out of His presence, but He kept on hoping in us mankind, that we will find our way back to Him our Father and our Good Shepherd.

To this end He sent us a great new hope, in Jesus Christ, part of the Most Holy Trinity, who became our connector to the Lord our Father, as the bridge that bridged the uncrossable and infinite chasm created as a result of our rebellion against God and His love. Christ is that shepherd who went out of his way to look for the lost sheep, and when the lost ones are found, great rejoicing happens, to the shepherd and the whole flock of the sheep, because the lost ones are no longer lost, but reunited as one once again, with the saved ones.

We have been saved, brothers and sisters in Christ, because we have believed in Jesus our Lord and Saviour, and accepting His offer to salvation, which He granted freely to all who trust in Him and all who put their faith in Him. We have been saved because we have been joined to that One Body of Christ that is the Church, the One and only Church that God had established, to be the united body of His faithful ones, that is the flock of the Lord’s sheep. We have been baptised in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, and we have been taken away from this world and its evils, and brought together with other faithful ones, into the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, out of which there is no salvation.

Today, brethren, we commemorate the feast of two great saints and martyrs of the early Church, namely Pope St. Pontian or St. Ponziano, Bishop of Rome and successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the Vicar of Christ, and St. Hippolytus, a priest of the Church of God, also known as St. Hippolytus of Rome. Pope St. Pontian lived through the turbulent times of the third century Rome, when the Roman Empire went through a series of military and political upheavals. Pope St. Pontian initially led the Church in a relatively peaceful state, but soon faced a tough persecution of the faithful when a new Emperor came into power and began to persecute Christians once again.

St. Hippolytus lived in the same era, a contemporary of Pope St. Pontian, and in fact they clashed over certain issues during the time prior to their martyrdom. They were bitter rivals, and their rivalry even threatened to split the Church under factions led by each of them respectively. However, over time, they reconciled their differences, and worked together to bring back the lost sheep of the Lord caused by the divisions in the Church and among the faithful. Both St. Hippolytus and Pope St. Pontian were captured and exiled together by the Emperor who persecuted Christians harshly.

Eventually both of them met their end in death, in sacred martyrdom, in the defense of their faith, and in their courageous and vibrant love, which they showed to their fellow men, the flock of the Lord that they have been appointed as shepherds for. They did not fear death, because the Lord who had conquered death through His own death on the cross, has been triumphant, and death will not have the last word. Through their actions and deeds, many of the lost sheep of the Lord, and those who have yet to hear the Lord’s word were inspired to seek the Lord and find His truth, bringing to them the salvation of our Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, even though both Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus had died a long time ago, but the spirit of their hearts and their works are still evident even until today. They have inspired all of us to also be shepherds for one another, to take care for one another, dissolving the differences between us, and seeking for what unites rather than what divides.

Let us seek our God the Good Shepherd, and if we are lost, let us find He who looks for us day and night. Let us not to forget to ask the assistance and help from His faithful servants, the saints, Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus, all the other saints and martyrs, and the holy angels of the Lord. Last but not least, let us also seek the help of the greatest saint of all, the mother of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Let us continue to walk in the path of the Lord, and not to be led astray by the temptations of evil, that we will be reunited by the Lord our God in complete and eternal happiness. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 August 2013 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 12 : 32-48

Do not be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, and an inexhaustible treasure in the heavens, where no thief comes and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding. As soon as he comes and knocks, they will open the door to him. Happy are those servants whom the master finds wide-awake when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, and have them sit at table, and he will wait on them. Happy are those servants, if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!

Pay attention to this : If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

Peter said, “Lord, did You tell this parable only for us, or for everyone?” And the Lord replied, “Imagine, then, the wise and faithful steward, whom the master sets over his other servants to give them wheat at the proper time. Fortunate is this servant if his master on coming home, finds him doing his work. Truly, I say to you, the master will put him in charge of all his property.”

“But it may be that the steward thinks, ‘My Lord delays in coming,’ and he begins to abuse the male servants and the servant girls, eating and drinking and getting drunk. Then the master will come on a day he does not expect, and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him off, and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.”

“The servant who knew his master’s will, but did not prepare and do what his master wanted, will be soundly beaten; but the one who does unconsciously what deserves punishment, shall receive fewer blows. Much will be required of the one who has been given much, and more will be asked of the one who has been entrusted with more.”

 

Alternative reading (Shorter version)
Luke 12 : 35-40

Be ready, dressed for service, and keep your lamps lit, like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding. As soon as he comes and knocks, they will open the door to him. Happy are those servants whom the master finds wide-awake when he comes. Truly, I tell you, he will put on an apron, and have them sit at table, and he will wait on them. Happy are those servants, if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!

Pay attention to this : If the master of the house had known at what time the thief would come, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect.

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Thursday, 8 August 2013 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged Me, and they put Me to the test.

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Wednesday, 7 August 2013 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saints Xystus II, Pope and Companions, Martyrs; and St. Cajetan, Priest (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Saints Xystus II and Companions); White (St. Cajetan)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, the case of the Canaanite widow and her daughter, and how the daughter was healed by Christ our Lord because of her mother’s faith, should stir all of us, all of our hearts. That the woman had shown her great faith and trust in God, placing all of her heart and faith in the power and ability of our Lord, recognising Him as the heir of David, the awaited Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the world.

Yes, brothers and sisters, the woman, the Canaanite woman, not of the chosen race and the chosen people of Israel, had recognised the Lord and put her entire heart and full faith in Him when so many other people of Israel had failed to do so. Not only that many of these people had failed to put their full attention and faith in the Lord, but they even complained against Him and grumbled against Him, when He had shown them so much love, compassion, care, and kindness.

So great is His love that He listened to their complaints, giving them food, the bread of heaven in the form of manna for them to eat in the morning, and quails for them to eat in the evening, as well as crystal-clear and sweet spring water from rocks for them to drink and satisfy themselves when they complained that they have not enough to eat or drink.

Yes, the Lord even promised them, as He had promised Abraham their forefather, the Promised Land of milk and honey, where the land is so rich that it will yield fruits manyfold and bring with them great riches for God’s people, that is Israel to enjoy for eternity. He fulfilled that promise and brought His people to the land that He had given to them and their descendants.

And yet, they still complained, and they did not truly love the Lord their God, nor did they give Him their full dedication and faith. When the explorers sent by Moses reached the Promised Land and saw the warlike peoples of Canaan living in the land, with giant men and powerful warlords, the people chose to follow their own human instincts and immersed themselves in their own human fear, that they again complained against the Lord for having brought them to that ‘dreaded’ Promised Land filled with enemies and prospects of death.

Despite all the good things that the Lord had given them and would have given them in perpetuity, for eternity, they rejected the kindness of the Lord, because they trusted themselves more, in human power and fear, and not in divine power of our God. And therefore, because of their rebelliousness, they deserved death. The Lord rejected them from His presence and denied them from entering the Land He promised them.

Then we can contrast this, to the widow, the widow who does not belong to the people of Israel, the Canaanite woman dismissed by many in Israel in Jesus’ time as pagans and people doomed to hell. Yet, she proclaimed the Lord and recognised in Him the salvation that is to come for her and the whole world. She asked humbly for His mercy and showed her faith to Him, even when Christ seemingly rebuked her and mentioned that He was only sent to the people of Israel. She answered well and proved her faith to God, and as a result, she received her due reward, the same reward promised to the people of Israel of old, but which they rejected because they trusted more in the power of man rather than in the power of the One and almighty God.

It does not mean that the people of Israel are bad or that they are rejected by God. Remember that Jesus Himself is a Jew, and He belongs to the House of David, because He is His heir, and the widow rightly proclaimed that He is the Son of David, the One to whom God will give eternal kingship, glory, and power over not just Israel, but over all mankind, over all the world. Instead, the readings today highlight that, first, we must be always faithful and trusting in the Lord our God, and we should be fast to praise and slow to complain.

It is our nature to feel that we do not have enough when we actually already have more than enough. It is part of our natural greed and desire for things and material goods. And it is also our nature to first think about ourselves and our needs before that of others, and we are quick to praise ourselves in general, whenever we achieve something, but it is generally considerably more difficult for us to give due thanks and praise to others, when they have done something that had benefited us in one way or another.

This happened to the people of Israel in the desert, that despite the freedom God had given them from the backbreaking and hard labour under slavery in Egypt, despite that He had showed them His might and power in opening the sea, giving them His own Laws and commandments, making sweet and crystal-clear water to gush out from rocks and even giving them food from His own table in heaven in the manna, they did not feel that they have enough, and indeed, complained that their previous life in Egypt had been much better, and even brought the Lord to the test, in doubting whether God could provide for them in their journey in the desert.

Yes, brethren, the path of the Lord is not an easy one, and there will certainly be numerous obstacles lying in our path if we choose to follow the Lord. The evil one certainly does not stay idle and let us, the followers of God, His disciples to just go free without any difficulties. This is why, it is often much easier and much more pleasurable for us, to settle on things that seem to be easier and more relaxed, even though to do that means that we sin against the Lord our God.

We cannot have this mentality, brothers and sisters in Christ, because to settle for such a thing would mean that we prefer the slavery under sin and Satan, instead of the freedom God had offered all of us through His suffering and death on the cross. Do not follow the path of the Israelites who chose to rebel against God and complained against His love and kindness. Our Lord knows what we truly need, brethren, and He will not leave us without love or care, because He always watches over us, at all times.

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate the feasts of Pope St. Xystus II or Sixtus II, as well as St. Cajetan. Both of them are holy and pious men dedicated to God in their own ways. Pope St. Xystus II lived in the middle era of the Roman Empire, and reigned as the leader of the Universal Church during the height of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire in the middle of the third century. He reunited the divided factions of the people of God after healing the rifts that existed after heresies wrecked the faithful, and brought them back to God, once again as one people. He was martyred along with several of his companions following a brutal repression and persecution of the faithful by the Emperor Valerian.

St. Cajetan on the other hand was a priest who lived in the middle of the Renaissance Italy, during the sixteenth century. He helped much in the Church’s attempts to combat heresy of the Reformation which spread like wildfire during his lifetime. He dedicated much of his efforts and works to love and serve the poor, the lonely, and those without love, committing himself towards caring for all of them. He founded a religious order, the Theatines, which has a similar vision to him, that especially focus on the virtue of service and committing acts of love to others, as part of the faith.

Therefore brothers and sisters, today, let us be resolved to have the faith of the widow, to seek the Lord with great humility and persistence, and ask Him to show mercy and love upon us sinners. Let us not harden our hearts the way the people of Israel had done when they journeyed through the desert. Let us reflect on ourselves and our own weaknesses, and seek the Lord to enlist His aid, in helping us to overcome these weaknesses.

Let us also follow the example of Pope St. Xystus II in his commitment to the cause of the Lord, and the faith and love, as well as the dedication he had shown him, just as the widow had shown her faith to God, by her recognition of the good that the Lord had done for us. Let us also follow the example of St. Cajetan, in his own devotion to the Lord, which he showed through his love and service, and all the care he had given to all the children of God in need, in need for love, care, and compassion. In doing those things, St. Cajetan showed his love and faith in God. We too can do the same, brothers and sisters in Christ. Show Christ our love, just as He had shown us His love from the cross.

May the Lord bless us all with strength, faith, and perseverance to go on in our lives, no longer complaining but from now on putting our whole and complete trust in the Lord our God who loves us. May Pope St. Sixtus II and St. Cajetan, and all the company of saints and angels in heaven intercede on our behalf before the Lord who is loving and merciful, that He will forgive us our trespasses and deem us worthy of His presence and His kingdom once again. Amen.

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Tuesday, 6 August 2013 : Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 96 : 1-2, 5-6, 9

The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the distant islands be glad. Clouds and darkness surround Him; justice and right are His throne.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His justice, all peoples see His glory.

For You are the Master of the universe, exalted far above all gods.

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Monday, 5 August 2013 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Mass of the Dedication of a Basilica)

Numbers 11 : 4b-15

“Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate without cost in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and garlic. Now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to look at, nothing but manna.”

Now the manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bedellium. The people went about gathering it up and then ground it between millstones or pounded it in a mortar. They boiled it in a pot and made cakes with it which tasted like cakes made with oil. As soon as dew fell at night in the camp, the manna came with it.

Moses heard the people crying, family by family at the entrance to their tent and YHVH became very angry. This displeased Moses. Then Moses said to YHVH, “Why have You treated Your servant so badly? Is it because You do not love me that You burdened me with this people? Did I conceive all these people and did I give them birth?

And now You want me to carry them in my bosom as a nurse carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their fathers? Where would I get meat for all these people, when they cry to me saying : ‘Give us meat that we may eat?’ I cannot, myself alone, carry all these people; the burden is too heavy for me. Kill me rather than treat me like this, I beg of You, if You look kindly on me, and let me not see Your anger.”

 

Alternative Reading (From the Mass for the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)

 

Revelations 21 : 1-5a

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and no longer was there any sea. I saw the new Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God, out of heaven, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband. A loud voice came from the throne, “Here is the dwelling of God among mortals : He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people; He will be God-with-them.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the world that was has passed away.” The One seated on the throne said, “See, I make all things new.”

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Saturday, 3 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings urge us to always be righteous and honest in all the things that we do, in all our dealings with others and in our relationship with the Lord our God and our neighbours, our fellow men. We are urged to always take the path of the righteous ones and avoid the path as taken by King Herod and those who try to cheat and be dishonest in all their actions.

For actions like that of King Herod shows not only dishonesty, but also giving up of oneself to the temptations of the world and the power of evil. King Herod followed his lust and desire to take the former wife of his own brother as his own. It is unlawful because it seems that the King had taken her as wife while his brother was yet still alive, and therefore committed adultery with her in the eyes of man and God.

He gave in to the temptations of the devil, the lust for human beauty and pleasures of the world, especially through his privileged position as a king at the time, surrounded by good things and other things enjoyed by the privileged class. The same was warned against the people of Israel by the Lord through Moses, that they do not let themselves be swayed by their positions and privileges so as to cheat on others on their money, their possessions or other related things.

Money, wealth, and possessions are not necessarily bad, and neither does other things that can give us happiness and pleasurable feelings. However, it is important that we do not misuse them for our own selfish purposes and intents, that we end up being controlled by these things. We have to learn to control ourselves, our desires, and our emotions. Learn to control our possessions, and do not let them control us instead.

We must always focus our attention on the Lord, and put our full trust in Him. He is the One who can give us everything that we need in our respective lives. The Lord our God is the source of our true happiness and our true joy. It is not in the world that we can find our true happiness and pleasure, not in sexual relations, human beauty, wealth, or abundance of possessions, but in the love of God, supported by our love of one another. If we do this, we obey the Lord’s commands, that is to love Him and love one another with all our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength.

If we do not love God with all our hearts and our strength, we will be more prone to the deceptions of the evil one, and eventually lead to scenarios such as the one in the Gospel, where King Herod was literally forced to behead St. John the Baptist and therefore made a great sin in the eyes of God, just because of his complete fascination in his own wife’s daughter’s beauty. Then, the same also can happen as in the scenario highlighted in the First Reading, where temptations can indeed be great for anyone to deal dishonestly with one another, and cheat on one another, particularly in monetary matters.

If we love money and possessions more than our brethren and our Lord, then we will grow to desire to possess them more and more in amount. This will lead to even greater desire, an unending cycle of desire, that will end up with us committing greater and greater sins in the eyes of the Lord. One good example would be gambling, in which many stories tell the same case, that an insatiable desire for more wealth and possessions resulting in major loss of money, and therefore, immense financial problems, which later on, tend to push people to do sinful things such as stealing, crime, or even corruption.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must stand up for the Lord, and stand up for His love, and we must dare to stand up against the temptations of wealth, material, and worldly pleasures. We have to realise and come to a full understanding, that worldly possessions are not everything for us. What we truly need is the Lord and His love, and the love of our fellow brothers and sisters, and not the love of money or the love of the world. This is what truly can fulfill our needs, especially our need for love. Money and possessions can satisfy us, but it can never satisfy us forever. We have to use it as a tool to bring love to others instead of being controlled by it.

Let us commit ourselves to our Lord and God who loves us so much that He gave us Jesus as the perfect gift, the divine love of God, given to us freely, that we may have a new hope and a new life in us, in perfect reunion with our God and Creator. He is the true love and true happiness that we should all seek in life, and put our focus on. Let us never forget His Passion and His suffering, and ultimately His death on the cross at Calvary. Let us always look at our crucified Lord with pride in our hearts. May God bless all of us, and remain with us at all times. Amen.

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Friday, 2 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop; and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Psalm)

Psalm 80 : 3-4, 5-6ab, 10-11ab

Start the music, strike the timbrel, play melodies on the harp and lyre. Sound the trumpet at the new moon, on our feastday when the moon is full.

This is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, a statute He wrote for Joseph when he went out of Egypt.

There shall be no strange god among you, you shall not worship any alien god, for I the Lord am your God.

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Wednesday, 31 July 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius Loyola, Priest (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, Christ reminded us in the readings, how precious is the Lord to us, how wonderful is His kingdom, that is for us to inherit as eternal reward, if we remain faithful to Him who always loves us. The Kingdom of God is truly a precious and priceless gift to all, that everyone should indeed focus their attention on, as in the allusion made by Christ, that the kingdom of God is likened to a precious and top-quality pearl, so much so that one should sell all they have, just that they can own that wonderful and beautiful pearl.

So beautiful and perfect is the entire glory of God, that as stated in the first reading today, when Moses talked to the Lord face-to-face in the fullness of His glory and majesty, he would be bathed in His perfect and wonderful light, such that his face became the countenance of the Lord Himself, brilliant and radiant like the sun. Such was the glory of God reflected on the face of Moses, that he was compelled to hide his face by the means of the veil, so great is such glory that no one but Moses was allowed to see.

Our Lord Jesus Christ too was glorified on the mountaintop when He was transfigured from His human persona, and revealed the fullness of His glory and majesty. He revealed Himself to Peter, James, and John who were present at His Transfiguration. In that event too, we saw the same thing that had happened to Moses, in how Jesus Himself was transfigured into a figure of perfection and brilliance, except that the light itself came from Christ Himself, not because it was a reflection of God’s glory and majesty as in the case of Moses.

Why is this very important, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we listened to the word of God on how Moses faced God face-to-face? And why I mentioned Christ and His Transfiguration? That is because, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been made in the image of God, that is our very face and countenance is a reflection of the very image of our God, the Creator Himself. We have the face of the Lord, but yet, we are not perfect as the Lord is perfect.

We were once perfect, in the early days of creation, when Adam and Eve still walked the Gardens of Eden, when they were still pure and without blame. After they had followed the devil instead of the Lord, they had lost sight of the treasure that the Lord would have given them for eternity. Mankind would have had no need to suffer, the suffering that is because of our sin and our rebellion against the Lord. Yet, we are the most beloved ones of the Lord, created in His own image, and He loved us still even after we had been corrupted by the sins our fathers had committed. That was why He sent Jesus Christ to the world, that man may be reunited once again with Him.

In our world, the devil has many tools to steer us away from the true path towards the Lord. There are many things that he can use, in order to continue his subversion of mankind, just as what he had once done to Eve and to Adam. He offered Eve the knowledge of things good and evil, and the tempting suggestion that eating the fruit of the forbidden tree would make her God’s equal. These are the same things he can utilise in our world today, to make us falter in our journey of faith.

We must set our focus right, on the true treasure that is the Lord and His love, and not be distracted by the false and temporary treasures of the world, such as wealth, properties, pleasure, and many other thing this world offers us, and our world offers us as things that we should all pursue. It is not that it is wrong to have money, wealth, and pleasure, because it is perfectly fine for us to have these, if these would help us to live in our increasingly challenging world. We do need money and worldly goods to be able to live on and survive.

What is important is that we do not become distracted by them, that we lost track of our real treasure, that is God. So precious is this wealth to us that we all should be motivated to seek it, and the wealth and treasures we have in this world should be directed to help us to obtain the real treasure. We do not have to go to the extent of selling everything in order to get that true treasure, but certainly, we need to put in effort in order to gain our true treasure and reward in God.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius Loyola, the priest and founder of the Jesuit order, the largest religious order and movement in our Church today, of which our current Pope, Pope Francis, is a member of. St. Ignatius Loyola was born in Spain to a family of noble, who inherited much wealth and affluence in the society. St. Ignatius Loyola was destined to be a great knight and noble, and participated in much activities that the nobles used to do at that time.

St. Ignatius Loyola was born to a life of privilege, to a life of wealth and sufficiency, with all the things that all of us surely would have craved for. He was brought up to be a knight, seeking valour and fame through all his activities, seeking ever greater fame as he grew up, participating frequently in battles and duels in order to gain more fame and power. Yet, as he progressed on through life, he grew unsatisfied by these ‘treasures’ that he had.

St. Ignatius Loyola eventually left all that he had and abandoned the inheritance, the fame, and the glory he had once had, and instead, became the knight of Christ. Therefore, he no longer served himself, his own ego, his own pride and glory, but instead he gave it all to serve the Lord our God. Christendom then was in great turmoil, with people leaving the Church to the Reformation heresy every day. More and more left the Church tempted by the devil and his tools in this world, those who rebelled against the Lord and His Church.

That marked the beginning of the Jesuit order, which was first established by St. Ignatius Loyola and several of his companions. The Jesuit order rapidly grew and spread throughout Europe and Christendom at the time, combatting heresies and evils of the world, converting many back to the true faith, and stemmed the tide of destruction caused by the Reformation. The Reformation itself might have had good intentions, but in its implementation, it was a disaster for the faith, for God’s people, for the Church of God.

That was what the Jesuits, under the leadership of St. Ignatius Loyola was trying to combat and fight, in the Name of the Lord, which was the reason behind their name, that is the Society of Jesus. They, who had found the true treasure in God, and truly treasure this treasure, the priceless treasure, sought to ensure that others too can find their true treasure that is the Lord our God, and not to be misled by the devil into the chasm of damnation in hell, because of their heresy and transgressions against the true faith, as was rampant during the time of St. Ignatius Loyola.

The Jesuits are still active today, and together with many other religious orders, they work to continue the good works started by St. Ignatius Loyola and many other saints, so that more and more souls may be saved and prevented from falling into the traps of Satan. The hard work by St. Ignatius Loyola and his successors ensured that many are saved and received their true treasure in God, their eternal reward of everlasting life in the bliss of heaven.

We too, brothers and sisters in Christ, can do our part to bring more souls and indeed, ourselves to the Lord and His salvation, by ensuring that we keep our focus right, that is to focus ourselves on the real treasure that is the Lord our God, and do not become distracted by the world and all its temptations. Instead, let us use whatever graces and blessings that had been given to us, in wealth and other things, that we may use them as best as possible, to help us to achieve the real treasure of our lives. May St. Ignatius Loyola intercede for us that the Lord will always keep us strong in our struggle against evil and keep us in His embrace and favour, always, forever and ever. Amen.

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Wednesday, 31 July 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius Loyola, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 13 : 44-46

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The one who finds it buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it.