judgmental

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Tuesday, 19 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we continue on today with the story from the time of just over a hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ, when the Jews under Judas Maccabeus and his family rose up in rebellion against their Greek overlords, the Seleucid Empire, particularly that of king Antiochus Epiphanes. The Greek king and many of his successors imposed Hellenic or Greek culture and civilisation on the people, who were often forces to choose between obedience or death.

Such was the case that happened when the upright Eleazar, already ninety years in age, was brought for judgment for his refusal to obey the king’s order and abandon his faith. Eleazar was tortured, scourged, and forced to obey the king’s commands or face death. Yet, Eleazar did not budge, and not even when his acquaintances tried to convince him to lie and pretend, in order to save his own life.

Eleazar chose the Lord and his faith over the pleasures and safety of the world, knowing well that the Lord who knows all that His faithful ones had done, will reward him in the end, exchanging the suffering of his death into the glory of eternal life in joy, with God. And so he did, and he received from the Lord, the crown of life everlasting.

Such was the faith the Eleazar had, and he did not give way to sin to corrupt him, even to the end, and even through the grievous sufferings he had to suffer. He spurned the offer of the devil, which was conveyed through the acquaintances. An easy and good life in old age would have been his, had he chosen to take up the devil’s offer. But the consequences for eternity, would be immense. That was why Eleazar chose to abandon temporary joy and false happiness in order to gain one that is everlasting.

In today’s Gospel Reading, we hear the story of the repentant sinner, the tax collector Zaccheus. Zaccheus was considered a great sinner in the eyes of the people of Jesus’ time, given his position as a tax collector, that is the collector of taxes and money for their Roman masters. They were cast out of the society and considered as traitors of the nation, having done dirty work in place of their Roman superiors. They were deemed as misfits, even though many of them, were actually decent people like us. Imperfect, yes, but definitely not beyond redemption.

Zaccheus showed his great love, dedication, and faith to God, accompanied by strong desire to seek God, and the great curiosity he had shown towards Jesus. Just imagine, even though he was short, he tried very hard to be able to even get a glimpse of the Lord. He climbed the tree and see the Lord as He walked towards him. Jesus knew his faith, and Zaccheus was rewarded.

What is important, is what came afterwards. Zaccheus made a public proclamation of his faith, testifying before the masses of people, many of whom considered him an outcast, a traitor of their people, and a great sinner. Zaccheus brushed all of that aside, and caring not about their hostility, he showed the great faith he has in God, repenting for all of his sins, and made a concrete promise to the Lord, of his commitment to righteousness.

That was the faith of Zaccheus, a repentant sinner, committed to the Lord and to His precepts. It may look different from the faith of Eleazar, but nevertheless, both of them proclaimed their faith to God, each in their own distinct ways. Eleazar held fast to his faith, and did not budge even in the face of evil, frustrating the attempts of those trying to corrupt him to the ways of evil. While Zaccheus repented his past mistakes, and revelled in the new faith that he has obtained by believing in Christ, and committing himself to a total change in life.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we too have our own styles and differences in how we follow the Lord, but what is most important is that no matter what we do, we must adhere to His ways and do what He has shown us to do. We must always believe that there is always a chance for sinners, which include all of us. But we must not wait until it is too late for us. Whenever there is a chance, and in fact, at this very moment, grab the opportunity, and repent.

Yes, the Lord loves us, and if we are truly repentant and committed to change, like Zaccheus had done, He will lift us up and bring us to glories greater than we can ever imagine. Let us all be committed to change, to change our ways of life, that we will be ever more aligned with our Lord. On a side note, we must never judge others, as what the people had just judged Zaccheus with.

May the Lord empower us with His love, and grant us faith, that we will be strong in our faith and our love for Him, like Eleazar and Zaccheus had shown. Amen.

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Tuesday, 19 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 19 : 1-10

When Jesus entered Jericho and passed through the city, a man named Zaccheus lived there. He was a tax collector and a wealthy man. He wanted to see what Jesus was like, but he was a short man and could not see Him because of the crowd.

So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. From there he would be able to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, come down quickly, for I must stay at your house today.” So Zaccheus climbed down and received Him joyfully.

All the people who saw it began to grumble, and said, “He has gone as a guest to the house of a sinner.” But Zaccheus spoke to Jesus, “Half of what I own, Lord, I will give to the poor and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.”

Looking at him Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house today, for he is also a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

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Wednesday, 16 October 2013 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious and Virgins)

Be righteous and be good, be loving, forgiving, and be compassionate, and finally be slow to anger and slow to judge on others. That is the Lord’s message to us in the readings today. These are the attributes of those who are truly belonging to God and reflect the nature of His love.

This is because, brothers and sisters in Christ, He does not want as His people those who are empty in them, empty of love and compassion, and empty of His presence. What He wants is that we would be filled with His Holy Spirit and His love, that we may be what He wants us to be, that is to be loving, merciful, caring, and compassionate.

We must not be enslaved to our pride and arrogance, the natural result of our love for ourselves and our sense of accomplishment. We love to be praised, and have good things whispered in our ears. We love words like, ‘Well done!’ or ‘Amazing!’ or ‘You have done a good job!’. There is in fact nothing wrong with these statements, as they are justified in their use if we truly deserve such praises, but it must not be overdone.

Pride and arrogance is the main reason and culprit behind why the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law cannot accept Jesus, less still whatever He had taught the people of God. That is because in their state of wisdom and learning, they like to consider themselves to be well above the other people, whom they often regard as being less pious than them, as well as lacking in the knowledge of the Law, where in fact, they were the ones misguided by their pride, and in turn misguided even more people themselves.

The Lord cursed them because of this, and denounced their selfish and self-serving behaviour. They were cast down because in their pride, they had not given glory to God, but instead attributed glory to themselves. In their pride, they have rejected the Lord who came to save the world, in Jesus Christ, just as their ancestors had rejected, tortured, and murdered the prophets and messengers of God’s love.

To be a true disciple of the Lord, one requires a great humility and faith, and not just any faith, but also the living faith empowered by love. That requires us to not be idle and thus take up actions proactively, to ensure that the faith within us remains burning brightly and alive. We must always also make sure that our words and actions truly reflect our faith in God, that all who sees us, will see God reflected in us.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of St. Hedwig, a religious from Bohemia, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a virgin and devout servant of God from France. St. Hedwig was the consort of the ruler of the area now known as Czechoslovakia and also Poland, and she was well known, together with her husband, for her immense piety and charity, especially to the poor and the neglected. And after her husband died early, she entered a monastery to dedicate herself to a life of prayer and contemplation.

St. Hedwig continued to live devoutly, and invited many religious priests and nuns into her country, greatly helping the cause of evangelisation, especially because her country was often notorious for its heresies and rebellions against the true faith by certain individuals. She also donated her possessions and wealth to the poor, giving everything she had for charity and dedicating herself fully to the Lord.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was also a very devout religious nun, who devoted herself to a life of prayer. What made her most well-known was the vision and appearance of Jesus Christ our Lord to her, revealing to her and the world, of the love He has for all mankind, through His most Sacred Heart. Jesus advocated the need for the world to devote themselves to Him, and devote themselves especially to His Sacred Heart.

That such devotion indeed can help mankind to overcome their sinfulness, and help them on the path towards salvation. That was the beginning of what we would now know as the devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This important devotion helps many to reorientate themselves towards the Lord and salvation in God.

Therefore, brethren, let us humble ourselves and seek the help of the Lord, by asking Him for His mercy, and devote ourselves, and following in the ways of St. Hedwig and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and in the latter’s devotion to the Sacred Heart of our loving God, Jesus Christ, who came down to us, to bring salvation to us, out of His undying love for all of us. God bless us all and protect us forever and ever. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear a very powerful story, one which certainly resonates with all of us. Firstly, it is that we ought not to let our  apparent inferiority and weakness be an obstacle to us, and allow others to belittle us because of our apparent shortcomings. That is because, brethren, even the least one among mankind, and the worst of all sinners have hope in them, that is hope in Jesus the Lord.

It is often that people are ostracised, bullied, and treated badly, simply because they appeared weak to their surrounding people, simply because they are perceived to be inferior, and therefore, to the people around them, they are not worthy of anything good. We are indeed ourselves also guilty of the same thing, as we often let our prejudices and pre-formed generalisations and mindsets to interfere in our approach to these less fortunate ones.

And that is how we belittle others around us and ostracise them, often even without we ourselves knowing that we had done such evil acts on our fellow brethren, simply because we are often not aware of the impacts of the actions we had done. Indeed, in fact, we have to make the habit of continuously reflecting on our own actions, especially our own shortcomings, that we become aware that as mankind, each of us have our own shortcomings, our unworthiness before God, and therefore we should not judge others, less so belittling them or treating them badly.

That was exactly what the Pharisee in the story of Jesus in the Gospel today had not done. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are the supposed experts and examples for the entire people of God, because of their piety and strict observation of the entire Jewish laws. Yet, as Christ had repeatedly pointed out in many different occasions, they did not truly have God in their hearts, as what they truly yearned was the glory and praise of men instead of the love of God.

They give in to their pride and arrogance, especially being placed in high esteem by the people, that they often judge others whom they deemed to be not as ‘holy’ as they were. They condemned prostitutes, tax collectors, and those they had considered as sinners in general. They failed to notice that they too were sinners, and in condemning these people, they have in fact judge others, while they themselves ought to be judged for their own wickedness.

They acted mighty and proud, proud with their great ‘piety’ and ‘obedience’ to the Law, but in fact, all these were empty, because they did not have God in their hearts. It is such that they have always been in the way during the Lord’s ministry in this world, planting obstacles wherever they could, and sowed dissent and trouble for Jesus and His disciples.

They failed to see the great repentance in the woman, the great humility in her as she approached the Lord and Saviour. She showed her regret for her sins through her tears, and through her complete humility. She did not show her faith, love, and dedication for the Lord through loud and long prayers as the Pharisees had done, but through her concrete actions. And to the Lord our God, her faith and love for Him was truly far greater than all of them combined.

Prayers are important, brethren, as it is our way to communicate with the Lord our God, in a two-way communication between Him and us. That is why, it is even more important to make sure that the prayers that we make truly are prayers worthy of our God, that is not like the prayers of the Pharisees.

We must humble ourselves before the Lord as the prostitute had done, seeking for God’s most merciful heart, throwing far away our pride and arrogance. The Pharisees liked to praise themselves and their ‘piety’ in prayers, and did not humble themselves for their sins. This is what we must not do.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast day of St. Januarius, who was once the Bishop of Naples in the early Church in Italy. St. Januarius lived and ministered through the times of difficulty for the Church and the faithful. He worked hard for the faithful, and ministered piously, even despite the harsh persecutions of the faithful, by the Emperor Diocletian, who led the last great persecution of the Church.

St. Januarius died protecting his faith and in his loving service to the people of God. As a result, he provided much ground for the Church to continue to grow and he also defended the faith against threats both external and internal. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow in the footsteps of St. Januarius, to serve the Lord with passion and commitment. Let us also be humble before the Lord our God. May the Lord who is merciful and loving, continue to watch over us and protect us sinners, that we may return to Him and praise Him forevermore.

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Wednesday, 18 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learn on how difficult it is to be the followers of Christ in our world. This is precisely because, mankind always judges others, and they judge based on their flawed understandings and assumptions, which they made on everyone and everything they encountered.

We also like to compare on things, especially with other people, tending to prefer things or person that we favour, and reject things that we dislike or person we abhor. In this, we create divisions and ill-feel between ourselves, which result in myriads of things such as prejudice, jealousy, persecution, oppression, ostracism, among many other things born of this evil.

We often put our trust more in our own human emotions and opinions, instead of trusting in the wisdom and judgement of the Lord our God. That is why we often end up in conflict with one another, and unable to resolve the differences between us, and thus leading to even more conflicts. We often judge people based on their backgrounds, their races, language and by many other criteria.

The Lord Jesus today challenges us to be different, to dare to be different in that we do not judge others based on their appearance, or indeed judge other people on how they are different from us. The Lord wants us to look in deeper, into one’s heart and to be fair in all our judgments. If we want to judge on something, we must not do it based on half-truths and lies, but instead, seek first for the truth, the real and unbiased truth, and only then, we can judge.

Indeed, it would be even better if we do not judge anybody at all. After all, who are we to judge when we ourselves deserve to be judged by the Lord who is the Great Judge of all? If we do not want to be judged ourselves, then we should not judge in the first place. Note that many of the world’s calamities were caused by people being prejudiced, judgmental, and bitterly opposed to one another. Holocaust, Rwandan Civil War, and many others, many of which atrocities are still fresh in our minds.

Instead let us put our complete trust in the true judgment of the Lord and give our full faith and attention to Him. Let us instead in this world, promote love, peace, and harmony among each one of us, ending the evil cycle of prejudice and being judgmental of one another. In doing so, we made ourselves worthy in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord God who is the Judge of all, will not condemn  us in the Last Judgement.

Let us seek what unites us instead of focusing on the divisions that divide us or the things that caused such divisions to occur. Let us seek harmony and peace in love with one another, with our fellow brethren even from different backgrounds from us, that we may live together in the harmony and peace of God, free from discord, mayhem, and destructions wrought by Satan the deceiver.

If we fight among ourselves, between brethren in the Lord, and seek on what divides instead of unites, then we have fallen to the traps of the devil, who desires only to see us broken, destroying one another, that in the process, all of us will fall with him into condemnation, that is eternal suffering for all ages. The Lord clearly does not want this to happen to us, and that is why, through Christ, He wanted to show the importance of love and harmony between us, and between us and Himself.

May the Lord who is a loving God, continue to shower us with His love, bless us with His peace, and teach us how to be truly just to one another. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 7 : 31-35

What comparison can I use for this people? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, about whom their companions complain, “We piped you a tune and you would not dance; we sang funeral songs and you would not cry.”

Remember John : he did not eat bread or drink wine, and you said, “He has an evil spirit.’ Next came the Son of Man, eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton for food and wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” But the children of Wisdom always recognise her work.

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Thursday, 12 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Luke 6 : 27-38

But I say to you who hear Me : Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favours to those who are good to you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of grace is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return.

But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great, and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For He is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do not be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.

Alternative Reading (from the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

Luke 1 : 39-47

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!”

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Monday, 22 April 2013 : 4th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

God, our Father, knows us, dear brothers and sisters. He knows us truly inside out. He knows everything that we do in our lives, whether it is done in the open, or done in secret. He knows our hearts and know our thoughts. Is he not our shepherd and we His sheep? He knows us and chose us, and justifies us.

It is not up to us and not our right to judge others, especially based on our perceptions and prejudices on them, which clouds our own judgment. The Lord, who is our shepherd, is also the Chief Judge who deems the ones worthy to enter the Kingdom of God, because He knows us and He knows if we are worthy for Him.

That was why He showed to Peter, and through Peter to the apostles, how He made all the people, His children worthy of Him, by showing that the ancient laws of unclean foods is no longer essential for the faithful ones in Him. Just as Christ Himself had rebuked the Pharisees, that one can only be made unclean by what comes out of that person, and not by something that the person takes into himself, therefore God made it clear that who a person is, and that person’s characteristics does not affect one’s prospect of salvation in God.

For God loves all mankind, and He sent Christ His Son, not only to the Jews, but in fact to all mankind, to save all of them, and not just the Jews, God’s first chosen people, from the slavery of sin and Satan. He did not discriminate between the Jews and the Gentiles, but as long as those whom He had chosen among the nations loves Him just as much as He had done, He would shower them with all graces and blessings, and promise them salvation that is due to them.

For it is one’s own faith and belief in the Lord, and their trust in Him that justifies someone, whom the Lord, as our shepherd, can see in all those who believe in Him, as the ‘good sheep’, as compared to the ‘bad sheep’ that is those who disobeyed the Lord’s commandments and refused to love Him just as He had done. Many of the Jews at the time of the Acts of the Apostles believed in God and converted to the faith, but there are even more who opposed the Lord and persecuted God’s faithful ones.

This being amidst growing conversion among the Gentiles, who were called to receive the Good News of the Lord, who having never heard of God and His love and teachings before, now hearing the message through the apostles, felt the true feelings of love and desire for God in their hearts and soul. Therefore, it is not right to discount them by the fact that they were not Jews, and therefore as some Jews would argue, did not belong to the ‘chosen people’ of God.

For being the chosen people of God, entails obedience and love, which God had always shown to His people, and yet Israel often rebelled and disobeyed God’s will, and preferred worldly gods and temptations instead of God’s love. God, our Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and conversely, all of us who truly have faith in Him, and therefore His sheep, knows Him, and answers only to Him. We ought not to be swayed by the call of the false shepherds, who are the agents of Satan, the evil one, who tried in vain to snatch the people of God and drag them into hell and damnation with him.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive to rebuke Satan and his temptations, and answer only to Christ, our one and true Good Shepherd, and put ourselves ever closer into God’s infinite love. Let us remain in God’s love, and remain His faithful children, and let ourselves be led by Him in our daily lives. Let us not judge one another by appearance or by our backgrounds, but rather look deeper into each one of us, and surely we will find that all of us has God’s love in us, that makes all of us truly beautiful, especially in the eyes of God. Amen.