lawful

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Thursday, 9 January 2014 : Thursday after the Epiphany (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in Jesus lies the salvation of this world, just as it had been foretold by the prophets of ages past. Jesus fulfilled perfectly the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, who foretold the coming of the Messiah, at which time, the world which had been long in darkness would see a new light, accompanied by signs of great joy and healing, which Christ fulfilled perfectly as mentioned by Isaiah.

And yet, even though the signs had been very clear that Christ was truly the Messiah, many of the people adamantly and continuously resisted the Christ and refused to acknowledge the divinity and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Some, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees opposed Him and even hounded Him throughout His ministry because they saw Him as a rival to their own worldly authority in teaching the faith.

Some others, like His own countrymen and neighbours, the villagers of Nazareth refused to believe in Him, just because it was incomprehensible and impossible for them to believe that a mere carpenter’s son, the son of Joseph, could be the Messiah, less so to be the Lord of all creations Himself. They were formed by this prejudice, and therefore, they were not receptive to His teachings or His message.

Jesus spoke with clear authority and with the full grasp of the truth behind the Lord’s plan of salvation. Jesus made clear the true meaning behind the Lord’s ordained laws for mankind, that is the Ten Commandments He had revealed to His people through Moses. The Ten Commandments had been followed by many, but had also been forgotten at times, and their true purpose was truly not understood by the people, at the time of Jesus, when the Pharisees and the teachers of the law taught them the twisted version of the commandments of God.

The Lord had revealed to Moses many regulations and rites in addition to the commandments He gave, but these were meant to make sure that the people obey the Law of the Lord and do not instead walk astray to worship pagan gods, as these stubborn people had shown in the desert, how easily they were swayed to worship the gods and idols of the people around them.

By the time of Jesus, these rules and regulations had been codified by the Pharisees and the teachers, experts of the law, ending up becoming a great burden for the people, for there were many additions to the original rule, following the customs handed down the generations by the Jewish people. These rules numbered about six hundred and thirteen in total, and the Pharisees as well as the teachers of the law enforced them very strictly on the people.

That was why, the Lord Jesus came to us also to make clear the true meaning of the laws He had given to mankind, that they would not perversely use them for their own purposes, or corrupt them with human greed or desire. Jesus taught the people that God’s law is love, just as He is Love. The Law of God was never meant to be the burden for mankind or to punish them, but instead, it was there because the Lord loves us and He wants us to be saved.

Yes, just like the love of a father for his children. And remember how St. John the Evangelist in today’s first reading also mentioned that the law is not a burden? And because if we love God with the sincerity of our hearts, we will surely do anything in our power to devote ourselves to Him and obey Him? That is why, brethren, we must not misunderstood the Lord or misused His commandments just as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us praise and honour our Lord and God for His great love to us. Let us not reject or cast Him away as His own countrymen and the Pharisees, the leaders of God’s people had done. Instead, let us welcome Him and His love for us, by pledging back to Him our own love dedicated to Him.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, strengthen us, and empower us to live with love, every single day of our lives. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 October 2013 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are ever reminded of the love and kindness that God has shown us all these while. We are also reminded of the love and dedication that God has for us, by sending a deliverance to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. We are then finally reminded of the promise of salvation and eternal joy that He had made with us, through the covenant, the new covenant sealed by the Blood of His Son Jesus on the cross.

That everlasting joy, the happiness that never ends will be ours, if we remain faithful to the Lord, and if we are consistent in our commitment to the Lord and His cause. If we do so, we will receive rich rewards in the end, while those who diverge from the path of righteousness and turned their backs to the Lord, they will be damned to eternal suffering in hell.

However, brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not be focused too much on the rewards and punishments that await us at the end of our lives. Our love for the Lord must not be because of our fear of punishment or indeed because we desire rewards from the Lord. In that manner, our love and devotion to the Lord must be really genuine and pure, without any hidden desires or purposes.

The Lord rewards the just and all those who keep His commandments, staying true to His laws and words, tempted not by the worldly pleasures and evils. He loves us dearly and wants us to remain in His grace. He is loving and forgiving, caring for all of us. But if we divert from the path of the Lord, and walk in the land of the wicked, His anger will be upon us.

But the Lord is angry at us not because He does not love us, but precisely because He cares for all of us with all of His heart. He sent us prophets and helpers along time, and all these times, He had given much of His attention to us, that we can be saved, and be worthy of Him, and not fall into eternal suffering of death.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is often that we spurned God’s eternal love for us. It is often that we turned away from His loving embrace, from His light, as we prefer darkness to the light of God. In the darkness of the pleasures of this world, we find the false guide and the false light, and we spurned God’s love and God’s care for all of us.

Therefore, brethren, let us renew our commitment to the Lord, to be loving children of God, loving one another and loving He who is our Father, promising that we will keep true to His words and His proclamations, casting away all that is evil from our lives and doing good at all times, giving love to our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard and be reaffirmed today, of the love our God has for all of us. That the Lord in His love, has given all of Himself through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. He gave to us an outpouring of His love, and in His strong desire to bring us and reunite us back to Himself, He had sent us prophets and messengers to deliver His will to the people and to guide them to return to Him.

In the same way, through Moses His servant, He had revealed to His children about Himself, how He cares very much for their wellbeing, and showed them His love even when they constantly rebelled against His love, worshipping other gods instead of Him. He even gave them a set of law, the Law He gave to His people through Moses, as a guide for them in their lives that they will always remain ever faithful and ever loving, and stay in the grace of God at all times.

Yet, despite this, the people of God did not remain faithful, and they still rebelled constantly against the Lord, defying His laws and commandment, shutting out prophets and murdering them for showing the truth about their sinful ways, and for nagging them to return to God their Father who loves them. But the Lord did not give up on them, and continued to show His love without end, even when His children often did not love Him back.

The Lord in His anger and wrath could easily have wiped us out because of our rebelliousness, our sins, and our stubbornness, but He kept His faith in all of us, and willing for us to repent our sinful ways and return to the Lord. That was why, He gave His all and become one of us through Jesus, incarnate of the Blessed Virgin His mother, and through that, become a source of hope and salvation for all mankind.

Christ came into this world as the Messiah, the awaited Saviour, but He is also a prophet and a teacher, who explained the true meaning and intention of the Law and rules that God had given mankind through Moses and His other prophets and messengers. He showed that the Law does not exist to lord over the people of God, and neither should it become a yoke to burden the people.

The Pharisees did obey the Law, indeed, they appeared to be pious and obedient people of the Law. However most of them, and the teachers of the Law obeyed the Law in a perverted manner, in a twisted version of their own ‘Law’. Their love for the Law is superficial, and they enslaved themselves and the people they led without having the Lord at the centre of their lives.

That is why, brothers and sisters, today we are reminded of the need to truly love God and give of our whole self to Him, just as He had loved us and gave us His entire being to us, and He was not even shy to shed His own Body and Blood that we may live. Let us not love our Lord and God only superficially as the Pharisees had once done.

Yes, we need to obey rules and laws, but we must not be enslaved to them. Rather, let us make use of the Law of God as a way for us to better control and coordinate ourselves that we will be able to stay true to the Lord and remain firmly in God’s love and favour, that we will not fall into the temptations of the evil one. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 23 July 2013 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 12 : 46-50

While Jesus was still talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”

Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is for Me brother, sister, or mother.”

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Saturday, 15 June 2013 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 5 : 33-37

You have also heard that people were told in the past : ‘Do not break your oath; an oath sworn to the Lord must be kept.’ But I tell you this : do not take oaths. Do not swear by the heavens, for they are God’s throne, nor by the earth, because it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King.

Do not even swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. Say yes when you mean yes, and say no when you mean no. Anything else you say comes from the devil.

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Thursday, 6 June 2013 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (First Reading)

Tobit 6 : 10-11 and Tobit 7 : 1, 9-17 and Tobit 8 : 4-9a

When they had entered Media and were already approaching Ecbatana, Raphael said to Tobias, “Friend, we shall spend the night at the house of Ragouel. He is a relative of yours. He has no son, just an only daughter called Sara.”

When they arrived in Ecbatana, Tobias said to Raphael, “Friend Azarias, take me straightaway to our friend Ragouel.” So Raphael led Tobias to Ragouel’s house and they found Ragouel sitting by the door of the courtyard. Ragouel and his wife killed a sheep and served them numerous dishes.

After they had bathed and washed, as they were relaxing before the meal, Tobias said to Raphael, “Friend Azarias, tell Ragouel to give me Sara my kinswoman. Talk about what you were saying during our journey, that the matter may come about and be accomplished.”

Ragouel overheard the conversation and he said to Tobias, “Eat, drink, and be merry tonight. You are the man who has most right to take Sara my daughter because you are my kinsman. Indeed it is impossible for me to give her to any other man but you, because you are my closest relative. But, my son, I must tell you the whole story.”

“I gave her to seven husbands from among our kinsmen. They each died on the wedding night. But, for the moment, my son, eat and drink, and the Lord will arrange things for you.”

Tobias said, “I shall eat nothing if you do not stop now and bring this matter to a conclusion.” Ragouel said to Tobias, “Take her from now on; I give her to you according to the Law of Moses and you have to understand that God Himself gives her to you. Receive your kinswoman, from now on you are her brother and she is your sister. She is yours from today and forever. Now God will bless you this night and may He give you both His mercy and peace.”

He called his daughter Sara and taking her by the hand, he gave her to Tobias as his wife. He said, “According to Moses’ Law, take her now and bring her to your father’s house.” And he blessed them. Ragouel then called Edna his wife; taking a sheet of parchment, he wrote down a matrimonial contract and they both affixed their seals. Then they all began to eat.

Ragouel called his wife and said to her, “My sister, prepare the other room and take Sara there.”Edna did as Ragouel told her and she took Sara to this room and Sara began to cry. Edna dried her daughter’s tears and said, “Have courage, my child, the God of heaven and earth will change your sorrow into joy. Have confidence, my daughter!”

When Sara’s parents had left the room and closed the door, Tobias got up from the bed and said to Sara, “Get up, my sister, and let us ask the Lord to have mercy on us and save us.” She got up and they began to pray, asking that they be given life.

Tobias began like this, “May You be blessed, o Lord God of our fathers, and may Your holy and glorious Name be blessed forever. May the heavens and all creatures bless You. You created Adam and You gave him Eve, his wife, as a helper and companion, so that from these two the human race might be born.”

“You said : ‘It is not good that man should be alone, let us give him a companion who is like himself.’ Now, Lord, I take my sister to myself in sincerity and love, not merely seeking pleasure. Have mercy on us and grant us a long life together.” Together they said, “Amen,” and returned to bed for the night.