Lenten Homily

by

Sunday, 29 April 2018 : Fifth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, we heard about the Lord Who spoke to us with His parables, comparing Himself and the Father as the Vine and the Vinegrower. In the first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard the first works of Saul, who would later on be known as St. Paul the Apostle, just right after his conversion to the faith.

What is the significance of these passages to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is ultimately a reminder for all of us, that everything we say, everything we do, and all the things that we have, ultimately belong to God and must be for God. God is the source of everything we have, and He is the One Who has given us and blessed us with everything we need, most important one of which, is our life.

God is the True Vine, from which everything else originated. Nothing can exist when they are separated from God, and if one should sever himself or herself away from God, sooner or later, he or she will perish. Sadly, in reality, there had been many occasions throughout history, when individuals separated themselves from God and chose to go their own way through disobedience against the will of God.

Firstly, God created Angels to serve Him and to glorify Him. But one of the Angels, the greatest and the mightiest among them, the most brilliant one, Lucifer, chose to rebel against God and against His Creator and Master. He wanted to claim God’s position, and in doing so, severing himself from God. As a result, he was thrown down and banished from heaven, forever from then, known as Satan, the great enemy, whose defeat and final destruction has been assured and prophesied.

But Satan did not want to go down quietly and on his own, so he tried to strike at those whom God loved and cherished, in particular His most beloved ones, that is us mankind. That is why, he struck at our ancestors, Adam and Eve in the Gardens of Eden, tempting them to disobey God’s commands, alluring them with sweet lies and false promises, the temptation of knowledge and power, essentially providing them with an ‘alternative’ to God’s way.

And unfortunately, they chose to listen to Satan over their obedience to God, and thus mankind fell into sin by eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All because of their greed and unbridled desires, and having Satan who manipulated these greed and desires, we fell, and we sinned. And that was how mankind severed from the True Vine that is God. God never intended for us to be separated from Him, but unfortunately, we chose such a separation.

Why did I choose this narrative for today? That is because the account in Genesis is truly symbolic and relevant for what we have heard in today’s Gospel passage about the Vine of the Lord. By a tree we have been cast down, as we ate of the forbidden fruit instigated by Satan and by our own greed. We have chosen to sever ourselves from God, and as the Lord mentioned in the Gospel today, that no one who is separated from God can have life and survive, indeed, all of us mankind have been destined to perish together with Satan in eternal damnation.

However, God created us all in His very own image, far greater than all the Angels, even that of Lucifer, the tempter of all. And He created us all because of His great and unsurmountable and perfect love for us. If He has created us all because of His love, then it is illogical for God to desire for our destruction and annihilation. It is us who severed our connection to Him, but He wants to restore that connection He had with us.

And how did He do so? He did so through another ‘tree’, that is the tree of the Cross. While once mankind, having disobeyed the Lord by eating the fruit from a forbidden tree, fell into sin and disgrace, now, with the New Man, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, He bore the tree of the Cross, that bore a new fruit, the fruit of obedience and faith. It was Christ’s love and obedience for His Father, which ultimately redeems us from our sins and from our past wrongdoings.

By the cross, we receive the fruits of God’s love, and we saw His commitment to the Covenant which He has established with us. And through the cross, the Vine is remade and reestablished, with God and man reconciled and reunited by the actions of Christ, equally Man and equally God. The Cross is the bridge which has connected God and mankind, bridging over the previously impassable gap between the two.

Now that Christ has restored the vine, all of us who believe in Him as Christians have been made parts of the vine as members of His Church. He has established the Church in this world, as the physical and real existence of His all-embracing Vine. And how did we become part of this Vine? It is because we have received our faith from the Church, from the priests and our bishops, who themselves, received their faith from their predecessors.

And ultimately, those received their faith from the Apostles, who received their faith from the Lord Himself. Thus, while the Lord is the Vine, the Apostles are His principal branches, and our priests and bishops are the branches that emerge from those principal branches, and all of us Christians make up the entirety of the Vine, as members of God’s Body, the Church.

Now, it is important for us all to take note, that even though the Lord, Who by His love and ultimate sacrifice on the cross has reestablished the crucial connection between us and Him, but the threats presented by Satan and all of his wicked allies have not ended yet. Instead, these threats and attacks will only increase all the more, because Satan, realising that he has lost his grip on us, will try all the more to bring us down with him.

That is why, as all of us should well realise, that becoming a good and devout Christian in this time and era is increasingly becoming a challenge for us. Increasingly, keeping our faith as Christians and standing up for our faith become more and more difficult, as our Christian values of love, of faith, of hope, and of zeal, clash with the increasingly immoral ways of this world, seduced by Satan and his allies.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are called to follow the examples of the Apostles, including that of St. Paul, who willingly chose to turn to God after his conversion, dedicating his whole life to the service of God, to preach the truth and the Good News of the Lord to His people, that many more people would repent and be saved from the certainty of eternal damnation in hell.

God wants us to be courageous in our faith and to be devoted to Him in this way. He does not want those who are just Christians in name and by formality only. He said this in the Gospel passage today, as He said that those branches that is not healthy will be cast aside and thrown away, pruned to make sure the whole Vine is healthy. To each and every one of us have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and now, whether we are to use them or not, and how we use them, is entirely up to us.

Let us all therefore pledge ourselves to God, and to His cause, inspired by the examples of the Holy Apostles and saints. May all of us, faithful disciples of the Lord be able to commit ourselves, our time, effort and attention, to do God’s will through our every words and actions, so that we are truly Christians in spirit and in action. May the Lord be with us all through this journey, and may He help us all to persevere in faith. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Sunday, 22 April 2018 : Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday and Vocation Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, we celebrate together the occasion of the Good Shepherd Sunday, known as such because of the Gospel passage of the Fourth Sunday of Easter that is about the Lord as the Good Shepherd, as well as the occasion of the Vocation Sunday, where all of us pray together for the vocations to the priesthood and life dedicated to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is a very important one to us all in the Church, as all those who are priests and consecrated to God are the lifeblood of the Church, and an important part of God’s Church together with the laity. Without these courageous men who listened to God’s call and answered Him with concrete action, there would have been no Church to speak of today.

Why is that so? That is because they are called to follow in the example of the Lord, the Good Shepherd, Who loves us all His people. It was God’s love for us that had allowed His Church to exist and flourish, and it was God’s love, that He did not destroy us outright for our sins, but instead He gave us the opportunity to be forgiven and to be reconciled with Him.

All of the readings from the Scripture today speak of God’s love for us, which is great and its extent unimaginable. And He has often alluded to us, the love of a shepherd for the sheep, especially that of a good shepherd, the shepherd of the flock, and not of the hired men. The hired men would only care for the sheep for the money they received, and as soon as they had to do something beyond their obligations, or when they had to face danger to protect the sheep, they would flee.

On the other hand, the good shepherd would do all he could to protect the sheep, to go all the way to search for a lost sheep and to do all he could to make sure that the sheep is safe and sound. And as the Lord Himself mentioned, that a true and good shepherd knows all of his sheep, and the sheep know him. And that is exactly Who the Lord is, our Good Shepherd Who loves each and every one of us.

Obviously God loves each and every one of us, for it was He Who created us from nothingness and gave us life, for each one of us. God did not create us without a good reason, and that reason is that He wants to share with us His perfect love. God has no need for our love, as He Himself is already perfect in love and having perfect love in His Trinity, between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, united in perfect love to each other.

Yet, He wants to love us, and to show His care upon us, to all He has created, and foremost of all, mankind, whom He created in His very own image, and who are the pinnacle of His creation. God is ever loving upon us, whom He considers to be His own children. And why is that so? That is all the more because Christ, His begotten Son, has willingly taken up our existence as Man, that just as He is Son, we too are sons and daughters of God.

The relationship between sheep and shepherd is a very close one, like that of parent and child. Hence, God as our Good Shepherd is yet another reinforcement of the fact of just how great His love for us is. He is our loving Father, our Guardian, our Protector, our Shepherd and our King. And because of that, He is always concerned about us, and worried about us, just as shepherds are always wary of the threats facing their sheep.

And like all sheep, which sometimes like to wander off on its own, all of us, God’s sheep also like to wander off the path that God has shown us. We have disobeyed the commands and laws that God has given us, and preferring to follow our own path. This is where the devil tries to come in, to prey upon us, just like wolves preying on sheep. And he is always ready to snatch those who are lost and separated from the rest of the flock, leading us to our downfall.

That is why the devil is never at rest, constantly trying to get his hands on us, especially those who are most vulnerable to his tricks and lies, to the temptations and persuasions with which he had swayed countless souls from their way to heaven, into the path leading towards hell. The devil is ever active, sending out his agents, demons and evil spirits, to harass us and to drag us into the depths of hell with them.

Of course, the Lord in all these does not stay silent or inactive. If we think that He has done nothing to help us, then let us remind ourselves by looking upon He Who was crucified on the cross. He, our Good Shepherd, above all else, laid down His very life for us, enduring the worst sufferings and pains, far beyond what we mankind can ever imagine or comprehend, so that by those sufferings and by His death, He could save us from a certainty of death and damnation.

He has become the fulfilment of His own words, “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.” A good and committed shepherd would do everything in order to protect his sheep, and if necessary, they might even put themselves in harm’s way in order to protect the sheep from danger. That is what a true and good shepherd would have done, as he loved the sheep as much as himself.

God, Who is our Good Shepherd, has done exactly the same thing, and as all of us are His beloved sheep, who have been scattered and cast away from Him because of our sins, He came between us and damnation itself, by accepting the punishment for our sins, that though He died, all of us may live because of His ultimate sacrifice. And that is not the end, but instead, a new beginning, because He conquered death and sin, by His glorious resurrection.

Now Christ, our Good Shepherd and Risen Lord has shown us the way forward, and He appointed His disciples, from the Apostles to their successors, all the way to the priests and bishops of our present time, to be shepherds of His flock. And these shepherds model themselves after the Good Shepherd Himself, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them have worked tirelessly, all throughout the ages, to serve the people of God and the Church, caring for the needs of God’s people, the flock entrusted under their care, as shepherds.

And it is important that today, we remember to pray for our priests and bishops, all those who are our shepherds, that they will remain strong in their faith, conviction and commitment to the vocation into which God had called and confirmed them. And not just that, we should also help them and take part in the activities of the Church together, as our shepherds cannot do their works alone. And there are many threats facing them that we need to be aware of.

Just as the Lord, our Good Shepherd, gave His life to protect us and to bring salvation unto us, many of our priests and bishops had to devote themselves, even to the point of suffering and laying down their lives as martyrs, just so that more and more souls of man may be saved from eternal damnation. That is why we need to pray for them and assist them in whatever way we can.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, Satan knows that if he wants to gain access at us, God’s flock, he must first strike at the shepherds. That was exactly what he has been trying to do, and what he will continue to do. Assaults after assaults, temptations after temptations await our priests and bishops, all those whom God had called and chosen. Now, let us all help them, and help each other, united as one Church, that we strive and persevere through these challenges together.

May the Lord continue to watch over His servants, especially those whom He had made shepherds over His people, our priests and bishops. And may He call even more young men who are destined for a life of service and shepherdhood, that they may discern well and take up the cross, to continue the good works which the Apostles and their successors had done, in shepherding God’s flock and finding their way to Him. May God be with all of our priests, our bishops, and with all of us. Amen.

by

Sunday, 15 April 2018 : Third Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, as we continue to progress through the season of Easter, we recall God’s great deeds by which He has brought us from the brink of destruction, into a new life where we are in safe condition under good hands, as God Himself took care of us, His people, and would not let harm to come upon our way.

The Apostle St. Paul, as he visited the faithful in the city of Antioch in Pisidia during his apostolic ministry, encouraged the faithful and the Jewish community living in that city, by relating to them how God had done great deeds for them, beginning with the time of the Exodus, a time when the people of Israel was oppressed and made to suffer great humiliation in the land of Egypt, and God brought them out by His great power, guiding them through the desert, and finally made them to dwell in the Promised Land given to them and promised to their ancestors.

St. Paul preached about the salvation of God, which came into this world, in the person of Jesus Christ, Our Lord. He is God’s only begotten Son, Who has willingly taken up our human existence, that He has dwelled among us and walked among us, entering the history of man. In the Gospel passage today, we heard again of the tale of the resurrected Christ, Who after His resurrection has appeared to His disciples.

In that same Gospel passage, the Lord mentioned that everything that the Laws and the Prophets have mentioned, the promises God had made and everything He had uttered from the beginning of time have to be fulfilled, and indeed, He has fulfilled them all to perfection in Jesus Christ, by His works, and most importantly, by His Passion on the cross, His suffering and death, and His glorious resurrection into life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what all of us as Christians need to do today, is that we need to remember how God has done so much in order to save us, and to bring good to all of us. He has bore all of our sins, and all the punishments due for our sins, and all the consequences and the sufferings intended for the shortcomings and mistakes we have committed. He has willingly taken up all these upon Himself, so that, all of us may live and not perish.

Yet, many of us do not realise or appreciate this great love which He has for us. And in reality, many Christians are not aware or appreciative of this great boon which they have all received. For many of us Christians, our faith can even be said as merely a formality, as merely on paper alone, and not one that is truly built upon the solid foundation of love and zeal for God.

For example, how many of us say or think that we believe in God, and yet, in our words, we cause harm to others, or even profane God and His Name? How many of us, by our words and by our actions, we scandalise our Christian faith, and ultimately, the good Name of God? How many of us, because of our words and actions, we make people to shun our Christian faith and refuse to be saved?

Then, how many of us said that we are God’s people, and yet, we barely even have the time to think about Him, and less still, spending quality time with Him? Surely, there are even many among us Christians, who think that coming for the Mass on Sundays, or even for many others, on Christmas and, or Easter alone is enough. And still, for many of us, when we come to the Mass, we cannot wait for the Mass to end, as we cannot wait to continue whatever business we have outside of the church, and go back to our daily habits.

And, even in our churches, in our parishes and in our Christian communities, many of us call ourselves as Christians, and yet, we do not behave as what Christians ought to be. We are jealous when others get something that we do not have, and we squabble over positions in the Church, or for things to go according to our way. When someone else does things in ways different from our own, or not meeting our expectation, we become angry or displeased at that person.

The worst of all, is how we often behave as Christians, in our gossiping and in our slanders, and this is not limited to the laity alone, but even towards our priests. We bicker among ourselves for the most trivial of things, but in all of these, are we not forgetting what we are truly supposed to be doing as Christians? Have we forgotten what it means for us to be followers and disciples of Christ?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, at our baptism, we have made the solemn promise to reject Satan and all of his evil teachings and ways, and we renew this promise every year at Easter. But are we truly meaning what we are saying, brothers and sisters in Christ? Or are we only making empty promises and meaningless words? Our actions and words, our deeds and interaction with one another are often filled with the works of the devil, and sometimes not just that we do not shun them, but in fact we even embrace them.

Hence, from now on, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to commit ourselves anew to the Lord? Are we able to really mean what we say, when we promise Him that we are faithful to Him and that we reject Satan and all of his false promises and persuasions? Therefore, let us all seek to be more devoted to the Lord in all of our ways, in all of our words, actions and deeds.

Let us all lead a new life, no longer filled with arrogance, jealousy, slanderous attitudes and hatred, but instead, be filled with love, with compassion and tenderness that God has shown us. If we are Christians, then we are truly obliged to replicate and follow the examples that Christ has set for us. He Himself has loved us when we hated Him, He forgave us when we sinned against Him and wronged Him, He showed us compassion and mercy when we are suffering.

And because God has shown us so much love and been so kind to us, then we, as His people, should be doing the same as well with our lives. Remember, brethren, that the works of the Apostles, in preaching the Good News and testifying their faith in the Lord are still work in progress, and now it is our obligation to continue their works. And the best way that we can take part in these works, is by living a true and genuine Christian life for each and every one of us.

Why is that so? That is because if we ourselves do not act in the way that God has taught us to do, then would that not make us hypocrites? Then, who will believe in hypocrites? No one will. So, if we want others to follow us and be saved, as is our obligation, then we must first be good and faithful Christians in the first place. Let this be our Easter resolution, that from now on, we will try our best to do what God has commanded us to do.

May the Risen Lord be with us always, and may He bless all of our endeavours and works. May He continue to guide us in our path, that we will always be faithful to Him, throughout our whole lives. May all of us do our very best to serve Him, and to dedicate ourselves to Him, from now and unto forevermore. Amen.

by

Sunday, 8 April 2018 : Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Second Sunday in the season of Easter, the last day in the Easter Octave, and by the decree of Pope St. John Paul II, also known as the Divine Mercy Sunday, following the vision of St. Faustina Kowalska of the Lord, the Divine Mercy. On this Sunday, as we continue to progress through the season of Easter, we continue to live up our Easter joy, celebrating the glorious and triumphant resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday’s Scripture readings remind us all to live faithfully in accordance to God’s will and obey His commandments following the examples set by the early Christian communities. In the first reading today, we heard about the details of the first Christian community living right after the Lord’s resurrection and the Pentecost. They lived a virtuous life, caring for one another and sharing their goods with each other.

The earliest Christian communities follow the examples set by the Lord, and followed the commands He had given to His disciples. He commanded them to be witnesses to His truth and His resurrection, and by their words and actions, He commanded them to go forth to the nations, and proclaim the Good News to all the peoples, that more and more people may come to know about God and His salvation.

They did not have things easy for them though, as if we have heard the Scripture readings during the Easter Octave, we would have noticed how the Jewish authorities, the High Priest and the council of elders were opposed to the teachings of Jesus and also the teachings of the Apostles, which spoke of the Christ crucified and of He Who has risen from the dead.

Yet, they did not fear the persecutions or were deterred by the threats and actions of those who opposed to them and their Lord. That is because they trusted the Lord and put themselves in His care and providence. The Lord has also sent the Holy Spirit to guide them and to give them the wisdom, courage and strength to carry out their mission and live their lives with zeal amidst the challenges from the world.

Before that, as we see in the Gospel today, how the disciples were themselves not firm in their faith. After the Lord had risen from the dead, the disciples were still filled with doubts and fear, which remained from the time when the Lord Jesus was arrested after the Last Supper. The disciples were scattered and they abandoned the Lord out of fear, fear for their lives and for their own safety.

We remember how St. Peter, in his attempt to protect himself, he denied knowing the Lord three times before those who accused him of belonging to the Lord’s inner circle of disciples. And then in today’s Gospel, we heard of the story of the famous doubter among Christ’s disciples, that is St. Thomas, who in another occasion in the Gospels also uttered his doubt and skepticism, when the Lord Jesus told His disciples that He would be going to Judea with them.

St. Thomas doubted the Lord at that time, as the Jewish authorities had warned to arrest Jesus and His disciples earlier on if they returned to Judea. He said to the other disciples rather sarcastically, “Let us follow Him, that we may die with Him.” This, combined with what we heard in today’s Gospel passage, of the time when the same St. Thomas showed great doubt and refused to believe that the Lord had risen from the dead showed a great lack of faith in him.

But, brothers and sisters in Christ, do we actually realise that what St. Thomas had thought, said and done, were in fact not so much different from what we ourselves have often thought, said and done? St. Thomas was a man who was not easily persuaded, lest he could see, hear, touch and experience by his own senses, and that was why, he said that unless he could see the Lord’s wounds, and put his fingers into those wounds, he would not believe.

How many times is it that we have also doubted the existence of God and His presence in our lives? We often think that God does not exist, because we cannot see Him, or perceive Him, or touch Him, and whenever we encounter troubles and difficulties in life, how many of us doubted God and said to Him, “Why did You not help us in our time of need? How can You be so ignorant of our suffering?”

That is because, we mankind are creatures of the flesh, whose existence depends on the flesh, and unless we experience it in the flesh, we find it hard to believe. But that is exactly why it is so easy for Satan to tempt us, because he can provide us with all sorts of worldly temptations and persuasions, that entice us with all sorts of pleasures that distract us and prevent us from having true faith in God.

How many of us, in our respective lives, have not been truly faithful to God? What I mean is that, how many of us have spent so little time with the Lord, so as to put the priorities in our lives first on worldly concerns for money, for prestige, for career advancement, for pleasures of the flesh, and for many other things that distract us from God. In fact, we always think that we do not have enough time for the Lord, and that we are too busy to Him.

Yet, if we think about it, we actually have a lot of time that we can spare in our lives. God does not ask much from us, just our time, attention and love. Yet, we find it so hard to give these to Him, all these while He had given everything from us. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that our Easter joy cannot be separated from the memory of what God had done for us, by His suffering and His death on the cross, He has redeemed us all from our sins.

It was God’s love for us that made all of that possible. And that is what had inspired generations of Christian faithfuls throughout the years and ages, especially during the early days of the Church when persecution was common. In fact, they remained faithful through difficult times and trials, even to the point of giving up their lives defending their faith in God. Thus, that is why there were so many encouraging stories of the brave and courageous martyrs of our faith, who are our role models.

Now, let us ask ourselves, why is it that those martyrs were so willing in letting go of their earthly lives and existence? Is life not very important to us? In fact so many of us are so concerned about our lives and appearance, that many of us will do everything in order to preserve ourselves and our lives, and satisfy the need of our body before anything else, even in some cases, we are willing to cause harm to others if that satisfy what we want.

But for those martyrs and those who have suffered for the sake of God, they know that in God there is something far greater than all the things that the world can ever provide us. They know that they would rather save their souls for an eternity of true happiness with God and losing their earthly existence and suffer, rather than to succumb to the temptation of the world and lose their souls to an eternity of suffering and torment in hell.

They believed in God, even when many of them had not seen the Lord in person, be it before or after the Resurrection. Only the Apostles and the earliest disciples, the first members of the Church have directly interacted and seen the Lord, while the vast majority of Christians, all those from those early days to the present day, believe in God because of what the Apostles and their successors have passed on to us, that is faith.

And we believe that God is always ever loving and ever merciful to us, and hence, we celebrate today His aspect of the Divine Mercy. He is always ready to welcome us back, to be reconciled with us and to love us tenderly and completely once again, even though we have always been disobedient and filled with sin. Every time He has forgiven us, we often lapsed back into sin, and again, God extends to us His merciful love.

But in the end, we must realise, brothers and sisters in Christ, that while God extends His mercy and is truly generous in forgiving us should we ask Him, it is also up to us, whether we want to accept that offer of mercy, or reject it instead. And if we accept God’s mercy, we have to make a commitment to follow on through our choice. What does that mean? It means that we have to make the conscious effort to reject sin and to refuse a lifestyle that we once had and filled with sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote ourselves anew to the Lord, Who loves each and every one of us very much, that He is always ever ready to forgive us and to reconcile us with Himself, the Most Divine Mercy. May He always shower us all with His love and mercy, and let us all be good collaborators of God’s mercy, by allowing His mercy and love to transform us from creatures of sin, to be worthy children of the light, God’s own beloved people. Amen.

by

Sunday, 1 April 2018 : Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord is risen in glory, He has triumphed over sin and death. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we rejoice together as the whole entire Church celebrating the coming of Easter, after we have spent over a month, forty days to be exact, to prepare ourselves in our body, our mind, our spirit and our soul, to glorify together the Risen Christ, the Lord Our God Who has saved us by His death on the cross and by His defeat of death.

The Scripture readings of Easter Vigil detailed to us the important events in the history of mankind, in the history of our people throughout time, where from time to time, God continued to make His presence and works known to us, beginning with the creation of the world itself, as He created this whole world with all of its living things and all of us, the pinnacle of His creation.

At the same time, the Scripture passages showed us how God delivered His people from harm and renewed the Covenants He had made with them. Ultimately in all of these, God showed us just how much He has loved us, to the point that He was willing to go through all the pains, sorrows and all the persecutions which we remember and we commemorate during the entirety of this Holy Week, meaning His Passion, His suffering and death on the cross.

However, everything that we celebrated throughout the Holy Week, all of them have no meaning if the Lord Jesus has not risen from the dead. The Lord’s glorious entry into Jerusalem, and then the Last Supper where He gave His own Body and Blood to His disciples, and thus from them to us all, and then His crucifixion and death on the cross commemorated on Good Friday, all these had no meaning if the Lord Jesus remained dead. All the promises He had made with us and given us, would have no meaning if He had not risen from the dead.

But the Lord Jesus did rise from the dead, the only one among the sons and daughters of Adam to do so. That is because while He is the Son of Man, born of mankind through His mother Mary, He is also God, Son of the Father, the Divine Word Incarnate, as He took up the flesh of Man, He did not leave behind or be separated from His divinity. Instead, in the person of Jesus Christ, the two natures of Man and God is united while distinct, and in the person of Our Lord Jesus, our salvation has come.

Through His humanity, He has united all of us mankind, and brought us who believe in Him to accepting the death of our past physical existence, our sins and our wickedness. While He was sinless and pure Himself, He willingly took up upon Himself the punishment for all of our sins, which He bore upon the cross. As He died on that cross, all of us Christians have also died to our sins, and shared in the sufferings of Christ, bearing our own crosses in life.

Then, as He, by His own power and majesty, triumphed over death and sin, showing to all that He is God, Who rules over life and death. And as He is God, His divinity is eternal, and by that, He overcame death, and rose from the dead. This is the pinnacle and final event in the long planned salvation which God has promised to all of us, the children of Adam, by showing us that sin and Satan do not have the final say over us.

And just as all of us share in the death of Christ, then all of us who believe in Him, will also share in His resurrection. Through Christ, all of us have been brought to a new life, no longer enslaved to sin, liberated from the chains that bound us. How did He do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? As we all heard from the Scripture passages today, we should have heard about the moment when the Israelites were delivered from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh at the Red Sea.

At that time, God used His might to free the people of Israel from slavery under the Egyptians, and brought them out of Egypt towards the land He promised to all of them. Then, Pharaoh again hardened his heart and refused to accept the fact that the Israelites were free, and chased them to the Red Sea with his armies and the chariots. Then God told Moses to stretch his hands over the sea, and God opened the Red Sea before the Israelites.

The Israelites walked through the Red Sea to the other side, while the Lord held back the Egyptians and their Pharaoh. Then the Lord destroyed the armies of the Pharaoh of Egypt in the Red Sea after the Israelites have safely passed through the waters. This, brothers and sisters in Christ, is what was celebrated at the Jewish Passover, the most important event in the Jewish calendar and celebrations.

The symbolism of water is very powerful indeed, and it is linked to why baptisms of those who accepted the faith and converted to the Christian faith are conducted optimally during this celebration of Easter Vigil, or at least on Easter Sunday. That is because, in the Sacrament of Baptism, by the holy water blessed on this day, those who are baptised receive cleansing from their original sins, and made pure to be a clean and pure slate, a new life in God.

And water is both a symbol of death as well as life. Water can both destroy as well as bring life and sustain it. Water can be a very destructive force as we see in tsunamis and huge waves, as well as floods and heavy rains. And thus, our old life is ‘destroyed’ by the water and we are made anew by the life-giving property of water. At that time, the Israelites passed through the water of the Red Sea from their old life of slavery into a new freedom, while we passed through the waters of Baptism from our old, sinful life into a new life filled with God’s grace.

Thus, Easter is also a Passover which supersedes and far exceeds the original Passover. This Christian Passover marks the moment when the Lord liberates us mankind, His beloved people, from our slavery to sin. This is just as how the Lord liberated His people from their enslavement by the Egyptians. All of us who have sinned, are enslaved by those sins, and unless we are freed from those sins, we will endure death and damnation, separation from God.

Why is that so? That is because sins corrupt us, and corruption and wickedness have no place before God, Who is all good and perfect. Thus, if we have sinned, and did not have those sins purified, we cannot be with God, and that was why our ancestors Adam and Eve were banished from God’s presence in Eden in the first place, for their disobedience and thus sin against God.

God loves each and every one of us, brothers and sisters, and that is why, even though He despises our sins and wickedness, He loves each and every one of us regardless. From the smallest to the greatest of sinners, He loves us all, and He wants each and every one of us to be reconciled to Him. If He has shown His mercy and love to the Israelites, the people with whom He first made His Covenant, faithful to His Covenant with Abraham, His servant, then surely He also wants us all, every one of the children of Adam and Eve, to be saved from our slavery to sin?

All of us Christians have been given this great grace of forgiveness through our baptism. But, as we make the renewal of our baptismal promises this Easter, let us all reflect on our lives thus far. Have we lived our Christian lives earnestly and with faith in God? Or have we lapsed back into our old ways and to our sins that God has cleansed through our baptism? We need to reflect on this so that our Easter celebrations can be truly meaningful.

Let us ask ourselves this important question, “What is a Christian to us? What does being a Christian mean to us?” Does a Christian mean for us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, it does. And then, does a Christian mean that we need to go for the Holy Mass every Sunday? Yes, it does. But is that all that we need to do, brothers and sisters in Christ? No, certainly it is not.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us need to realise that as Christians, each and every one of us are called to the same mission which God has entrusted to us, that is to be His witnesses, the witnesses of His resurrection and as the bearers of His Good News to people of all the nations, by going forth to preach the Good News and the truth, not just by words, but also through our actions and exemplary deeds of faith.

Therefore, let us all be true disciples and followers of the Lord, that is as true and devout Christians, doing His will and walking righteously in His path always. Let us all be true witnesses of His resurrection, that even though we have not seen Him physically risen from the dead, but through our fervent and genuine faith, we will declare His glorious resurrection and triumph over sin and death to all the people.

May the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Our triumphant Lord and King be with us always, that together, all of us Christians, who believe in Him, in His Passion, in His suffering and death, and in His resurrection in glory, may share fully in Him, the glory of eternal life with Him. May the Risen Lord bless us all, and may He keep us all in His everlasting love and grace. Amen.

by

Friday, 30 March 2018 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the Good Friday, together the entire Church celebrate the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and Our Saviour, suffered and took up His cross, and willingly be crucified on that cross to His death at Calvary. This day is indeed truly ‘Good’ because it is the day when our salvation has come, coming unto us from the cross of Christ.

The Lord Jesus was condemned to death and He was forced to take up His cross, a punishment for sins and for mistakes that He Himself had not done. It was the hatred, the enmity and the jealousy of the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin and the chief priests that had condemned the Lord to death on the cross. But the Lord accepted it willingly, though He did agonise over it, in His humanity, at the Garden of Gethsemane just before He was betrayed and arrested.

It was painful for the Lord to endure His cross and to bear it up to Calvary, because the burden of the cross is not just the weight of the physical wooden cross itself, already considerable due to its large size, and it is not just the distance which Jesus had to travel from the Praetorium in which He was condemned to death in the midst of Jerusalem towards the hill of Golgotha outside the city of Jerusalem.

No, the main reason why He suffered is because of our sins, all the faults and mistakes we have committed. We should have been punished for this, and we should have been cast into hell for eternity, but the Lord loves each and every one of us, for He has created us all out of strong and pure love, and surely He does not want any of us to perish because of our sins and disobedience.

Hence, He chose voluntarily to bear all the burdens of those sins and took it up upon Himself. We may think that such a feat is impossible, but remember, brethren, that what seems to be impossible for men, is completely possible for God. And God chose to bear our sins, weighing Him down on the cross, and also all the pains and sufferings He had to bear. All the lashes and wounds, all the cuts and slashes, all the spittle and all the humiliation He had to bear, all these are due to our sins.

When His accusers assailed Him and when the burdens of our sins crushed down upon Him, He accepted all of them quietly, as mentioned in the Scriptures, like that of a lamb waiting to be slaughtered for sacrifice. He gave Himself on the Altar of Calvary to be the Paschal Lamb, to be sacrificed for all of us, for the redemption of our sins. He brought all of our sins to the cross, and there, as the sacrifices of old, He poured down His own Blood, to seal a new Covenant between God and us, reconciling us with Our loving God and Creator.

That is just how much He loved us all, brothers and sisters, that He was willing to endure all of that, so that by His suffering and death, all of us who believe in Him may live. We all may think that the Lord remained on the cross because He was nailed to it, even when the people mocked Him to come down from the cross and save Himself. The teachers of the Law and the chief priests mocked Him, calling on Him to show a miracle by freeing Himself and coming down from the cross, that they might believe in Him.

Why did Jesus not come down from the cross? Certainly, He is God, and He is perfectly capable of doing so. But the words of the people who mocked Him, and the voices of the Pharisees, the chief priests and the elders were the voices of the devil, and all of his fallen angels and demons. Just as the devil tempted the Lord Jesus in the desert at the start of His ministry, then, at the very end of His earthly ministry, Satan tempted Jesus to abandon His mission and come down from the cross.

Who would not want to save himself or herself? Who would not want to be relieved from a great pain, inconvenience and suffering? We mankind have always been selfish by nature, and certainly we are tempted to put our own needs, desires and wants ahead of that of others. But that was not what the Lord Jesus had done. Despite all the pain He suffered, all the painful wounds He had to endure, all the blasphemy and all the insults He had to listen to, and the painful wounds of the nails that were hammered into His hands and feet, He persevered on.

For whose sake did He do all these? For all of us. It was not the nails that bound Christ fast to the cross, but it was the love He had for each and every one of us. It was His love that enabled Him to bear such a great burden and such an unbearable amount of pain. As huge and massive as our combined burden of sins are, even much greater is the love that God has for each and every one of us.

That, is what we need to realise when we look upon He Who is crucified on the cross, He Who died for us on Good Friday, the day when God Himself, Who took up the existence of Man, laid down His life, to save His beloved people. Have we appreciated the love that He has for each one of us? This is what we need to reflect on, as we remember His suffering and death today, on Good Friday.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, all of us are called to follow in the example of Christ. If the Lord Himself has shown such great love and concern for each and every one of us, and if He has been so merciful and forgiving towards us, granting us opportunities after opportunities, and chances after chances for us to be reconciled with Him, even to endure such great pain on the cross for that purpose.

Are we able to love Him in the same way, this God Who has loved us so much? Just as He has given everything for our sake, even dying on the cross, are we able to love Him with all of our heart and devote ourselves to Him? That is first and foremost our priority in life and our primary obligation. If we have not done so, then we must love God with all of our strength, with all of our effort, with all of our mind, heart, body and soul.

Then, naturally, as Christians, we must also show the same love to one another. After all, God loves each one of us equally. He even forgave all of His enemies, and all those who have condemned Him to death on the cross. He prayed to the Father, that He would not hold them accountable for the sin they have committed for condemning Him to death, because of their ignorance and inability to see and understand the truth.

Yet, sadly, we see in many occasions around us, how we Christians act in the most un-Christian manner. We often gossip about each other and we often slander and seek to harm one another, either physically or mentally. We often bicker over worldly matters and we become jealous and covetous when we do not get or have what others possess. In the end, our actions and deeds, and even our words cause hurt and pain in others.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, our actions that cause harm upon others are sin before God, and as we have just discussed earlier, it is the same sin that the Lord Jesus bore upon His cross for our sake. How can we call ourselves as Christians if our actions are contrary to what God has done and what He has shown us and called us to do?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we move on from today’s remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to His glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday, let us all renew our commitment before Lord crucified, that from now on, we will no longer live our lives with selfishness, ego, anger, and all sorts of negativities that had plagued our lives in the past. Instead, let us all love Him and love one another, just as He has shown us His ultimate love with the cross.

May the Lord, crucified for us this day, be the source of our strength and inspiration, that we may continue to live our lives in His footsteps, devoting ourselves at all times to serve Him wholeheartedly. May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless all of our actions. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 March 2018 : Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Thursday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we begin the three most important and solemn days of celebration in the entire liturgical year, that is the Easter Triduum. This is because all the events that are commemorated every year between this Holy Thursday evening until the morning of Easter Sunday are all linked together as one whole event, of the Passion, suffering, death and eventually glorious resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

On this day we commemorate together the beginning of the most pivotal moments in our human history and existence, beginning with the Last Supper which the Lord Jesus had with His disciples on the night before He was to suffer and die on the cross, betrayed by one of His own closest disciples, Judas Iscariot. On that night, the Lord Jesus celebrated the Jewish Passover, which was mentioned in our first reading passage today, as the celebration of the liberation of the people of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians.

The Jewish Passover is the most important feast of the entire Jewish calendar, and the most pivotal moment in the history of God’s people, the Israelites. At that time, the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were persecuted and enslaved in Egypt, and faced even extermination by the hands of their slavemasters. The Egyptian king, the Pharaoh even ordered the killing of all newborn male babies of the Israelites to exterminate them.

God saved His beloved people by sending to them deliverance through His servant Moses, and sending ten great plagues against the Egyptians and their king, the Pharaoh. When the Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the Israelites go, again and again, the ten plagues bore down hard on the Egyptians, that they even begged their king to let the Israelites go free.

Eventually, the Lord sent the last and the greatest of all among the ten plagues, the death of all the firstborn child of the Egyptians, from the Pharaoh’s child to the lowest among the Egyptians, from all the men to all the animals and beasts of the Egyptians alike. It affected everyone and every animals in the land of Egypt, but passing over the houses of the Israelites, hence the term of the celebration as the ‘Passover’.

The Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites because He has instructed Moses, His servant, to tell the people to choose a young and unblemished lamb, to be kept for a certain period of days, before it was slaughtered for the feast of the Passover. The blood of the lamb was collected and then used to mark the doorposts of the houses of the Lord’s people. The Lord saw the mark of the blood of the Passover lamb, and passed over the house. The lamb meat itself was roasted over the fire and eaten during the Passover.

As we remember this very first Passover, which the Lord instructed His people to keep year after year, and at all times, we can see great parallel and rich symbolism with what the Lord has done at that Last Supper He had with His disciples, as that meal is also a Passover meal like that of the old Jewish Passover which commemorated the liberation of God’s people from the slavery they suffered in Egypt.

But in that Last Supper, the Lord did things very differently, though in parallel with the original Jewish Passover. First of all, the Last Supper did not feature any lamb eaten during the meal, unlike the original Passover. Why is this so? That is because Our Lord Himself, the Paschal Lamb, is the Lamb to be sacrificed on the Altar of Calvary. And the shedding of His own Body and Blood, parallel to the use and purpose of the lamb in the original Passover, has become the source of our own salvation.

Thus, whatever we commemorate in the Last Supper, cannot be separated or distinguished from what we commemorate tomorrow on Good Friday, for all the things that happened at the Last Supper is united to the loving sacrifice of the Lord on the cross. Without the cross, then the Last Supper and all that the Lord has said in that event would not have a complete meaning, and vice versa, without the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist, then the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross is not complete either.

At the Last Supper, the Lord took up the bread, and blessed it, and then, gave it to His disciples, saying that it is His Body, given up to all of them to eat. Then He also passed around the wine He blessed, which He said that it is His Blood, poured out for all the people as the atonement for their sins. While the people of Israel were enslaved in the body to the Egyptians at that time, but all of us, the Israelites included, have been enslaved to our sins.

That is why, even though the Israelites were freed from their bondage in Egypt, but after that, as they journeyed through the desert, they disobeyed God and sinned against Him, and then they perished. They perished because death is the just consequence and punishment for sin, and all of us have sinned and thus deserving death. Sin is the greatest of all plagues and sicknesses, which claimed everything it touched and corrupted everything it was present in.

But God, through His great love for us, did everything He could in order to save us, by none other than the giving of His own beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice for us all. As the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites have been marked by the blood of the Passover lamb and death passed over it, so has the Blood of Christ, which we receive into us, marking us as God’s own beloved ones, made death and damnation in hell to pass over us.

This is the Christian Passover, the new and everlasting Covenant God made with each and every one of us. And this can only happen if each one of us truly receive from God, the gift of His own Body and Blood, in the Most Holy Eucharist that we partake in the Mass. That is why on this occasion when we celebrate the Last Supper, we also celebrate the Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist as well as the Holy Orders of Christian priesthood.

Why is that so? That is because Jesus made it very clear when He said it, that the bread He gave to the disciples, is not a symbol, or a representation, or an image, or a memorial or a mere substitute for His Body, but it is His Body, real in the flesh, though in our eyes it appears as a mere, lowly bread. The bread, by the power of Our Lord Himself, has been made in existence and substance, the essence and material of His own Body, and the same with the wine, made to be the essence and material of His Precious Blood.

And to His disciples, the Lord has given the same authority, to bring unto us His faithful ones, the same Body and Blood that Our Lord has offered as a willing sacrifice on the cross, by transforming in matter and existence, the bread and wine offered in the Holy Mass, to become His Real and Most Holy Presence, that we partake and therefore all of us share in the glory and eternal life He has promised us all His faithful ones.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we proceed on through the Easter Triduum, we are moving on towards the suffering and death of Our Lord on the cross, which will be celebrated tomorrow on Good Friday. Let us all appreciate and understand even more, just how much that God loves us, to the point that He gave us everything He could, and did the best He could, even to the point of death on the cross, just so that we may be saved.

Let us all spend time with the Lord tonight, by remembering what He has said to His disciples, that while the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Let us grow ever more devoted to God, and spend time with Him, so that we may appreciate ever more how God is ever present in our lives, and by receiving Him in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, He now dwells in us, making us His holy Temple. Turn away from sin and be righteous from now on.

May God be with us all, be with His Church, and also especially with our priests and bishops, to whom He has entrusted the governance and guidance over His Church. Let us pray fervently and help one another, together as members of God’s Church, striving to live earnestly and faithfully in all things. May the Lord be with us always and bless us forevermore. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 March 2018 : Chrism Mass, Holy Thursday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this morning we celebrate together as the whole diocese, the occasion of the Chrism Mass, the moment when annually the bishop of the diocese blesses the oils to be used in the celebrations of the Sacraments of the Church. They are the sacred chrism used in the Sacrament of Baptism and Holy Orders, the holy oil to be used in the Sacrament of Confirmation, and the oil of the sick used for those who receive the Sacrament of the Sick.

These holy oils to be blessed today are a continuation of a longstanding custom from the Scriptures itself, as if we read throughout the entirety of the Old Testament, we see in many occasions that oils are used. First of all, oil is important for life, as it is used in cooking, when the widow of Zarephath was with the prophet Elijah, she used the oil to cook food for herself, her son and for the prophet.

Then oil is also used to sanctify and dedicate an altar to God, as used by the ancient patriarchs and servants of God, the priest or the servant of God would pour the oil onto the altar, and therefore mark the altar as an altar dedicated to the greater glory of God. The use of the holy oils mark the altar as a holy place worthy of sacrificial offerings to God and as the sign of God’s holy presence.

And oil was also used to anoint kings, from Saul to David, both anointed by the prophet Samuel, as the sign of God’s grace and choice as king and ruler over the people. The oil also signifies the king at that time being elevated to the same privilege and order as the priests of God, who were also anointed with holy oils as sign of total dedication to a holy life committed to God.

And ultimately, as mentioned earlier, those holy oils are also used on the Sacraments of the Church, anointing us all as God’s chosen ones, as the ones to whom He has bestowed His grace and love, all of us who believe in Him, and therefore, commit ourselves to live in accordance with His ways. All of us are God’s chosen ones, anointed at our baptism and confirmed at our Confirmation, to be priests, kings and shepherds.

What does this mean? This means that we are all called to share in the priestly, kingly and in the leadership roles of Christ, the one and true High Priest, the King of Kings and the Good Shepherd of all the people of God. All of us are called to live upright lives and lives filled with devotion and commitment to God, ministering to one another with love, and to make evident and concrete, the Good News of God in our own daily lives, that we show others, of God’s love and truth, not just based on our words, but also based on our actions.

And today, especially let us all pray for all of our priests, all of our bishops and all those who have been ordained to the sacred order of priests, bishops and consecrated life to God. They have been called to an even higher purpose in their respective lives, all coming from various backgrounds yet called to be people consecrated to God, surrendering everything to God, and to be the ones who ‘in persona Christi’, reenact the same sacrifice at Calvary at the celebration of the Holy Mass.

The heads and the hands of the priests and bishops have been anointed with the holy oils, to show the sanctity and the importance of their role and vocation, as their hands alone are worthy to hold the Lord in the Eucharist directly, and through their hands, they will feed all of us, God’s own holy people, with His own Most Holy and Real Presence in the Body and Blood that He has laid down for us on the cross.

Let us all pray for them, these most faithful servants of God, who are often at the forefront of slander and gossiping, at the speartips of Satan’s attacks against His Church, as this great enemy of God is always ready to strike at God’s faithful ones, and he knows that if he strikes at the priests and bishops, he can cause so much harm and danger to so many of the faithful ones.

Let us give them our support and strength, our prayer and our assurance, that these holy priests and holy bishops, as well as our Pope, the Vicar of Christ and leader of the Church, will continue to persevere in their constantly ever-growing mission, to care for God’s people and to provide for the spiritual needs of the faithful, and also to bring God’s words and truth to more and more souls out there who are still lost in the darkness of the world.

May the Lord be with His Church, be with His servants and disciples, and be with all of us, that each and every one of us, anointed by the holy oils in accordance with the rites and sacraments of the Church, will grow ever more devoted to God and grow in our commitment to Him, day after day. May the Lord continue to watch over us and guide us in our journey of faith. May God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 28 March 2018 : Wednesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the Wednesday of the Holy Week is traditionally known in the Church as the Spy Wednesday, as on this day the Scripture reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew highlights the betrayal of the Lord Jesus by Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples. On this day, according to the tradition of the Apostles, Judas went to the chief priests and the elders to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus because he did not have genuine faith in Him. He followed Him for ulterior motives, that is to profit and enrich himself through his frequent ‘helpings’ to the common fund of the disciples which was placed under his care, and thus he was corrupt in his ways and dealings. All these despite him having followed the Lord Jesus for over three years as one of His closest disciples.

Despite all the miracles the Lord had performed before him and the other disciples, and also all the teachings and parables He had used and mentioned throughout His ministry, Judas ultimately chose to betray the Lord and instead settled for what he has always been tempted to, that is money. He could not resist the temptation of wealth and worldly goods, and Satan made use of it to bring him to commit a great sin against God.

And thus Judas Iscariot was forever placed in the hall of infamy, for having committed the betrayal against Jesus, for his repeated and unrepented sinful acts, cheating his fellow disciples for the sake of his own greed and selfish desires. He had been given the free will to choose whether he should follow the Lord and repent, or whether he ought to continue walking down his path of sin.

Is that the path we want to take, brothers and sisters in Christ? He alone out of the Twelve chosen by the Lord at the start of His ministry fell out of grace and he alone did not die in the state of grace, having failed his Lord and Master, and instead of being obedient, he fell into sin and betrayed Him for worldly wealth, for thirty pieces of silver. To him, the Lord and His ministry was just means to an end, to achieve more wealth and power for himself.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, we should follow the examples of the Apostles, especially that of St. Peter. Why is that so? Just like Judas Iscariot, they have also abandoned the Lord when He was arrested after the Last Supper, and they were scattered in fear after that moment. Yet, they repented and had great regret in their hearts after what they had done, and that was how they were reconciled and eventually became the courageous Apostles.

Those Apostles henceforth had to endure the same pain and suffering that the Lord Jesus had endured, being subjected to ridicule, rejection, anger, persecution, punishment and even prison and exile by those people to whom they had gone to, in preaching the Gospel and the Good News. They had embraced the roles which the Lord had entrusted them with, and did their best to follow the Lord in His ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now as we have heard all these readings from the Scriptures and reflected on it, let us all think of how we can apply it in our own lives. We have been called to be true and devout Christians, to walk in the Lord’s path with faith and devotion, and with genuine and zealous love for God. Are we able to devote ourselves in this manner? Or are we still like Judas Iscariot, who placed his greed and worldly desires ahead of his commitment to God?

As we journey through this time of the Holy Week, let us all turn away from our sinful past, from all of our wickedness, and turn towards the Lord with all of our hearts. Let us all grow ever more faithful day after day, that despite the challenges and temptations we may face along our way, we will continue to persevere regardless and grow deeper in our commitment towards Him.

May the Lord bless us all and may He grant us the strength to persevere in faith, that all of us will grow to understand and appreciate better the love that He has for each and every one of us, that we will no longer be swayed by the temptation of money as Judas had done, but instead, place the Lord as the priority and the centre focus of our lives. May God be with us always, now and forever. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 27 March 2018 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings we are reminded of God’s salvation that He sent to us through His Son Jesus Christ, Our Lord, of Whom the prophet Isaiah wrote in our first reading passage today, of the coming of the liberation and reconciliation of the descendants of Israel to their Lord and God. God sent His Messiah or Saviour into the world, to gather back all the scattered children of God, and to reconcile them to Himself.

But remembering what we have just heard in another passage taken from the book of the prophet Elijah in our Palm Sunday readings, about the suffering Servant of God, the Suffering Messiah, God did all of His works through the suffering and the obedience of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, that by accepting death, death on the cross, persecuted and rejected, and even betrayed by His own disciple, Judas Iscariot, He became the source of salvation for us all mankind.

That is how God gave us His love, the proof of His dedication and love for each and every one of us, that He was willing to bear and suffer the unimaginably heavy burden of the cross. The cross that the Lord Jesus bore was extremely heavy not only because of the physical mass and dimensions of the wooden cross, but even more so, because as He bore that cross, He bore for us, the multitudes of our countless sins and trespasses.

Every wound He endured and suffered from, every lashes of the whip He received, every ridicule and rejection He received and heard from those same people who have just so recently welcomed Him as King, but then quickly rejected Him and condemned Him to death, all of these, every single one of them, are our sins and wickedness. Yes, our sins and evils are the wounds that we have inflicted upon the Lord’s Body.

But many of us do not realise this, and we are not aware how our sins and faults have been borne by the Lord, Who suffered because of all the things we committed in our respective lives. Instead, we continue to sin more and more, and we continue to do what is wicked and unworthy in the sight of God. As a result, we are dragged deeper and deeper into the state of sin, and we become even more desensitised from sin, that we are no longer ashamed of what we have done.

Our attitude is also often like that of St. Peter, when he said before the Lord Jesus, that he would defend Him, even to the point of giving up his own life for His sake. The same thing was repeated by the other disciples as well. But when the time came, all of them abandoned the Lord and ran away, scared for their own lives, and when confronted about being a disciple of Christ, St. Peter denied knowing Him three times, just as He had foretold.

How many of us have this kind of faith, brothers and sisters in Christ? How many of us are not firm in our faith, that we flee the moment persecution and trouble come to us? Let me ask you now, brethren, when the Lord Jesus was presented with the great suffering and tribulation that He had to endure as part of His work of salvation, having to bear the heavy and painful cross, did He run away or reject the responsibility?

Indeed, His humanity agonised over this, for no human being should ever have to suffer such great misery and trouble. But in the end, He is always obedient to the will of His Father, Who loves each and every one of us, and thus He was obedient unto death, death on the cross for us, because of His great and undying love. If God can love us so much, to the point of enduring everything for our sake, then can we not love Him in the same way?

Today, as we continue to progress towards the Easter Triduum at the end of this Holy Week, are we reflecting upon these realities of our faith? Have we lived our lives with true and genuine faith? Have we loved the Lord just as He has loved us? If He can love us so much so as to accept a most painful death and to endure the most horrible of sufferings and pains, then why can’t we do the same?

Too many of us think that we have no time for God. But if we actually spend some time to think about it, we can actually take some time of our busy schedule if we want to. But do we want to? Do we want to spend time with God? Remember that He spent an entire six hours on the cross, and not counting the many more hours on the way to Golgotha, since the moment when He was arrested, full of ridicule, persecution, suffering, torture and difficulties for our sake.

Shall we all make a new commitment to the Lord during this Holy Week? Shall we devote our time, effort and attention to the Lord with renewed zeal and love for Him? This is what we should do, and which we should prioritise in our own lives. Remember, that if God can do so much for us, then at least we should give our very best to love Him as well.

May the Lord continue to be with us, guiding us on our way and blessing us all the days of our lives. May He empower us to live ever with more commitment and love for God, day after day, living with faith, alive and zealous. May our Holy Week celebrations be fruitful for us, for our salvation in God. Amen.