joyfulness

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Saturday, 9 January 2016 : Saturday after the Epiphany (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 3 : 22-30

At that time, Jesus went into the territory of Judea with His disciples. He stayed there with them and baptised. John was also baptising in Aenon, near Salim, where water was plentiful; people came to him and were baptised. This happened before John was put in prison.

Now John’s disciples had been questioned by a Jew about spiritual cleansing, so they came to John and said, “Rabbi, the One Who was with you across the Jordan, and about Whom you spoke favourably, is now baptising, and all are going to him.”

John answered, “No one can receive anything, except what has been given to Him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.’ Only the bridegroom has the bride; but the friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens, and rejoices to hear the bridegroom’s voice.”

“My joy is now full. It is necessary that He increase but that I decrease.”

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Thursday, 8 May 2014 : 3rd Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

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 Scripture he was reading : ‘He was led like a sheep to be slaughtered; like a lamb that is dumb before the sheared, 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?”

And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 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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Tuesday, 24 December 2013 : 4th Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brethren! Tomorrow is Christmas, when we will celebrate the first coming of our Lord in Jesus Christ His Son, the Word made flesh. And we should all rejoice, and break into songs of joy and praise, because our Lord and God was willing to come upon us and deliver us from sin and death. That was the promise He had made to our ancestors, ever since the day of Adam, and which He reiterated again to David, the king of Israel and His chosen one.

And in Christ and His arrival into the world, God’s promises to mankind was fulfilled. That was why Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, was joyful and exuberant, singing what is now known as the Canticle of Zechariah, which is the Gospel reading today. Such is the joy that we all should have, that in the coming of the Lord, we are saved and have hope anew.

After waiting for four weeks and preparing for the day of glory and rejoicing, during the Advent season, we can now finally see the light, that is the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. We have long expected the coming of our Saviour, and here He is, at our doorposts, as the fulfillment of salvation promises long given by the Lord.

In Christ our Lord we rejoice, and that is the joy we experience at Christmas, the joy of seeing our Saviour among us, as God who dwells with His people, incarnate as one of us. Through Christ, God professed His eternal and undying love for all of us, willing to forgive our past trespasses, rebelliousness and disobedience, even to the point of taking the burden of our sins and die for our sake, that through His death, as a worthy sacrifice for our sins, we who believe may receive life eternal.

God came into the world not for some trivial things, and neither did He do this for leisurely purposes. He came to liberate us, from our bondage to sin, and to seek the lost ones among us, looking for them in the greatest depth of darkness, offering them the light, and a new opportunity to live in the Light. Yes, the light of God indeed, the true Light of the world.

Are we all ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again? Just as He had once came into the world? Remember that Jesus promised that He will come again at the end of time, at the end of everything, when God will raise up all those who remain faithful to Him, and reunited them all with Himself, and when all taints of sin and evil will be purified and cast out of the world forever.

When He first came into the world, Jesus was not welcomed, and He was rejected by the innkeepers who did not want to receive the poor family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. They reasoned that the inns were full, and hence the king of kings and Lord of all creations have to spend His first night in this world in a humble and dirty stable fit only for animals.

And when He went forth to teach and reveal the nature of God and His coming kingdom to the people of God, He was not well-received either. While some listened to Him and followed Him, many rejected Him, booed Him, mocked Him, and even sought after His death. Chief among these were the Pharisees and the chief priests, who saw Him as a rival, and wanted to bring doom to Christ, by arrest or death.

They did not welcome Christ when He first came into the world. Instead of rejoicing, they condemned Him to death, and called Him a blasphemer and a false Messiah. They truly lacked faith in the Lord and His saving power. Their hubris and human flaws had prevented them from understanding the truth. However, how about us? Do we also welcome Christ when He comes? Or do we join the Pharisees in mocking and rejecting Christ and His love?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us professed our faith to the Lord, and we had proven it many times, and yet, are we able to truly call our lives as blessed by God? Are we able to realise that we have to put Christ in our Christmas and Christ in our lives as Christians? Christ must be the centre of our lives and He must be at the centre of our Christmas joy.

If we do not place Christ to be at the centre of everything, and especially in this Christmas, then we are just like those Pharisees and the chief priests who rejected Jesus. We often pay too much attention to the glamour of Christmas, that is the joy of exchanging gifts, the wonderful decorations and musics, as well as the secular and commercialised nature of Christmas, with the figure of father Christmas, better known as Santa Claus, to lure many away from God and from His ways.

We have to reorientate our celebrations of Christmas, that it does not just revolve or focus around ourselves, our desires, wishes and needs. Instead, let us make Christmas truly a joyful one, not only for us, but also for everyone. Share the joy of Christmas with one another, especially with the poor around us, those who do not even have enough to celebrate Christmas on their own. It is sad that many too want to join in the festivities but they could not.

It is not wrong for us to enjoy Christmas, and to celebrate it with parties and revelries, but it should not be overdone, and indeed when we rejoice, we have to keep Christ at the centre of our joy, as the reason for our joy. Let us all therefore make this Christmas, and the next Christmas celebrations henceforth, a joyful one for everyone, a joy because Christ our Lord has come, to be one of us and dwell among us, that through Him we once again have hope of life eternal. God bless us all. Amen.