Lenten Homily

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Thursday, 8 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the clear frustrations of the Lord in two cases. The first one, from the Old Testament was the Lord voicing out His displeasure of His people through His prophet Jeremiah, about their constant disobedience and refusal to listen to His reminders and teachings as He made it clear to them through His prophets.

They continued to sin and disobey the Lord, and they did not follow the examples of their ancestors who obeyed the Law meticulously and genuinely. They persecuted the prophets and messengers sent to them to remind them and to call them to repentance. Instead of turning towards the Lord, they hardened their hearts and sinned further before the Lord.

In the Gospel today, we heard yet another example of this stubbornness, as the Lord Jesus met lots of resistance from the Pharisees who accused Him wrongly and maliciously of using the power of the devil in order to perform all of His miraculous deeds, healings and wonders. They were the ones who were highly educated and were knowledgeable about the Scriptures, and yet they failed to recognise God and His works when He came to their midst.

Why is that so? That is because of their stubbornness and refusal to believe in the Lord’s words as they were so set in their ways and thoughts that they refused to listen to an alternative opinion, even if their thoughts and ways were wrong. They stubbornly clung on to their false beliefs because of their pride and arrogance. They even went to the extent of doubting God’s presence and works in their midst in doing so.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to reflect on these Scripture passages, looking at all the sinful ways and actions we have done in the past, and which we may still be doing at the moment. Have these prevented us from seeking God’s grace and forgiveness, because of our pride and our stubbornness, thinking that everything is fine and good for us? Have we allowed ourselves to be swayed by our desires and ambitions that we forget that we are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness?

In this time of Lent, we are called to reexamine our lives and our actions, and see what we can do in order to bring ourselves closer to God. God has called us to be His disciples, and to follow Him in the path that He will show us, but we must have the commitment to follow in His footsteps, and to walk in His path, which will not be easy and will be full of challenges and difficulties.

We will be tempted in various ways to leave the way of the Lord, and we will be tempted to return once again to our old, sinful way of life. That was why the Israelites fell again and again into sin, because they did not remain true to their faith in God and make little effort to resist the temptation of the devil. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law similarly allowed the devil to enter their hearts and sway them with hubris and arrogance, that closed their hearts and minds from understanding God’s words and truth as revealed by Our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what we must not do with our lives. On the contrary, we must open our hearts and minds, allowing the Lord to enter and transform us completely, from beings filled with darkness and sin, into beings filled with light and grace of God. Let us heed the example set by our holy predecessor, St. John of God, in his dedication and commitment to live his life filled with faith and devotion to God, through his actions and deeds.

St. John of God was orphaned in his young age, and later became a soldier in his early adulthood, and because of injustice and false accusation, he was wrongly blamed for a crime that he did not commit. Turning away from all worldly ways and concerns because of these turn of events, he began to turn towards God and trying to seek Him in his life, as he felt a strong spiritual longing due to the emptiness he felt in his soul.

He saw a vision of the Infant Jesus, Who bestowed on him the name, John of God, the name he was to be known by henceforth. When listening to a sermon of St. John of Avila, another great saint of the Church, St. John of God felt the calling to serve the Lord with more commitment. He began to work among the poor and the needy, caring for them and providing for their material and spiritual needs.

Later on in his life, he established a religious congregation gathering all like minded people and devoted servants of God, dedicated to the care of the sick and the poor. These dedications to the weakest and the least among God’s people should be inspiration for all of us, in how we should carry on our lives from now on, in how we ought to devote ourselves to God in a better way.

May the Lord help us through our faith journey in this season of Lent, that we may grow ever closer to the Lord, devoting ourselves, our time, effort and attention to care for the needy around us, to be humble in all that we do, and remember that we must not be proud or arrogant in mind. We must not follow in the footsteps of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in their stubbornness and refusal to believe in God.

Let us instead imitate the humility of Our Lord Himself, Who came into this world as a servant for all, loving and caring to all those who have been entrusted to Him. Let us all make our Lenten observation more meaningful and fruitful, by doing acts of charity and grace to others around us, doing our very best to help those who are in need, that through us, God may perform more of His wonderful works among us. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, we listened to the Lord speaking to us about His laws and commandments, which He had given to us His people. In the first reading today, we heard about the Lord speaking through Moses, His servant, teaching His people about the laws and commandments. The people were reminded to follow the Law and to obey God in all that He had taught them to do.

God has blessed them with His commandments and norms which He did not yet reveal to the other people and nations, and He expected them all to obey those laws and commandments. And He showed to them that if they remained true and faithful to His laws and commandments, they would be blessed and honoured, and they would be able to enjoy the graces He gave to them, in the land promised to them, all the prosperity meant for them as He promised their ancestors.

It is also exactly what the Lord Jesus reiterated in the words He said in the Gospel passage today. Yet, we see in those words, the frustration that the Lord showed as He was faced with opposition by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Why is that so? That is because the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law accused the Lord Jesus and His disciples of trying to supplant the Law they carefully and zealously guarded, with a new version of the Law.

But Jesus rebuked them and said that what He brought unto them was the true meaning and obedience to the Law which God had revealed to His people so long ago through Moses. The problem lies in the fact that the laws as preserved and observed by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been misunderstood and misapplied in such a way that the people were not able to appreciate why is it that they need to be faithful and obedient to the Law.

At that time, most of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were so focused on their aim to purify the people of Israel from all of their past impurities and sins, that they ended up creating many more rules and regulations which distracted the people of God from the true intention of the Law that is to bring the people closer to God and to love God more in their daily life. They were so caught up in their attempt to live up to their so-called obedience to the laws of Moses that they forgot why they ought to be doing all those actions and to Whom they ought to be doing it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what the Lord Jesus had done was merely to redress the errors of the Pharisees and the corruption which had twisted the laws and commandments of God. He revealed to us all the true meaning of the Law, that is love. For all the rules and regulations added in and modified by the elders and the traditions of the Jewish people, the actual Law is truly simple, that is to love God with all of our entire effort, and to love one another with the same kind of love.

That is all that the Lord wanted from His people, a pure and unconditional love, just as He Himself has loved them first with that kind of love, commitment and devotion. Unfortunately, that was not what He received from His people, and when He came into their midst, in Jesus Christ, all that He received was scorn, rejection and refusal to believe in Him and His truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us reflect, is that our attitude as Christians as well? Is that how we have treated the Lord? So far in our respective lives how many of us have truly lived them with true obedience to the Lord, loving Him genuinely in all that we do and say, in every action we take and in every moment? Or have we blindly obeyed or followed the ways and the rules taught to us by the Church without really understanding why we have done so?

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, two renowned saints and martyrs of the Church, who lived during difficult years of intense persecution against the Church and the faithful, under the Roman Empire. St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who resolved to become a Christian convert despite the objection from her father, while St. Felicity was a young slavewoman, who were imprisoned together with St. Perpetua for their faith.

They remained strong in their faith despite the physical sufferings and torture they had to endure, all the ridicule, scorn and anger directed at them, because of their great love for God. They did not mind enduring the same hatred of the world just as the Lord Himself had endured it. They willingly embraced martyrdom rather than to give up their faith in God. Their courage and commitment to the Lord inspired many people even many centuries after their passing from this world.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to live the same Christian life as St. Perpetua and St. Felicity have lived theirs? Are we able to love God in the same way that God has loved us, that is with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, with our entire beings? Let us all make use of this time of Lent to prepare ourselves mentally, spiritually and physically to grow deeper in our love and commitment to God.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He awaken in each one of us the same love, dedication and commitment as shown by His saints and martyrs, especially St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, whose memory we remember today. Let us ask for their intercession, that by their prayers God may be moved to call us all to Himself, to be forgiven and redeemed from our sins and unworthiness. St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, pray for us. Amen.

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Tuesday, 6 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day through the readings from the Sacred Scriptures we heard about the importance of forgiveness in our lives, by understanding why is it that as Christians we must be generous with our forgiveness and mercy, because God Himself has forgiven us and been generous to us with His blessings and graces despite our waywardness and regardless of our stubbornness in disobedience.

In the first reading today we heard about Azariah, one of the three companions of Daniel, who were four men of the descendants of Israel living in exile in Babylon, during those years when the people of God had been banished from their own land and brought into exile, living in shame and humiliation, as those who were defeated in war and vanquished, having no land to call their own.

The people of God had once lived prosperously in the land given to their ancestors, but they disobeyed God and refused to listen to Him. They abandoned Him for pagan idols and gods, and as a result, their enemies rose up against them and they were defeated and conquered. Their cities were destroyed, Jerusalem was in ruin and the Temple of God in that city was destroyed. Such was their humiliation at that time.

They had to endure scorn and ridicule from other nations and peoples, and as we heard in today’s first reading, it existed in the context of the time when king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon built up a great golden statue of himself, and ordered everyone to worship the statue. He wanted everyone to glorify him and to exalt him as if he was a god, and demanded the same from Azariah and his two other companions.

They were good and loyal servants of the king of Babylon, but they refused to obey the king in this matter. They refused to bow down to him and to perform things which was abhorrent and wicked in the sight of God as their ancestors had done. Instead, they faithfully stood by their faith in Him and were forced to endure great suffering in the chamber of fire. Azariah prayed to God from within that fire chamber, as we heard in our first reading today.

And God heard their prayers and saved them from the fire. They were untouched and unharmed by the fire, and the king of Babylon was amazed by the miraculous occurrence. This was a very good and concrete example of how God forgave His people and protected all those who have been faithful to Him. He did not hold grudge against them, but loved them dearly with all of His heart.

That is the essence of God’s great and undying love for us all, that even though we have often sinned against Him and disobeyed Him, but He did not allow His anger and the disgust He had for our sins to turn Him away completely from us. For He loves each and every one of us, His beloved people, who have been estranged from Him because of our sins and to whom He therefore wanted to be reconciled with.

That is why in the Gospel today, we heard of a similar story, of the parable through which Our Lord spoke about the unforgiving servant, who have been forgiven his debts, and yet, refused to forgive the debts that others had owed him. In that parable, we can see the parallel with our own story, and the story of our redemption and forgiveness by God.

The master who forgave the wicked servant represents God, Who forgives us all from our sins and mistakes because of His mercy. The servants of the master represent all of us mankind, who are God’s people. The debts that have existed between the servant and the master and between the servants are our sins. And by right, we have to pay all of our debts, or else we will have to face the punishment due for our debts, that is sin.

By default, that would have meant for us to be damned in hell fire. For the combined weight of our burden and sins are truly very great, all the wicked things we have done in our respective lives, in disobedience against God. But we see how God forgave us all our sins generously just as the master forgave the great debt owed by the servant who begged him to show him mercy.

Yet, that servant refused to forgive another servant who owed him much smaller amount of debt. The master who heard about how the servant treated his fellow servant became angry and threw the servant he had forgiven the debt into prison, to suffer the consequences for his debts as well as his refusal to follow his example in showing mercy and forgiveness for each other.

Now, let us ask ourselves, how many of us have been angry or holding grudges against our fellow brothers and sisters just because of what mistakes and problems they have caused to us? Let us not forget that we ourselves might have done the same to them or to someone else in other occasions or circumstances in our lives. And God has forgiven us for all these trespasses and sins we have committed, when we cause harm, hurt and inconvenience upon others, just as He has forgiven others for the sins they have committed towards us.

If God has forgiven us all our heavy and numerous sins which have merited us hell and eternity of suffering, by none other than His loving sacrifice on the cross, through which He died for our sake, that by redeeming us from our sins, all the debts of disobedience we owed Him, and forgiving us from those debts, all of us who accepted His love and mercy may receive eternal grace and life from Him. And remember that He died even for His enemies and those who hated Him, and He forgave all of them from His cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, thus it is imperative that during this Lenten season, as we continue to prepare ourselves for the coming of Holy Week and Easter, we must imitate the examples set by Our Lord Himself, in being more merciful and forgiving in our relationship with one another, showing more care, love and compassion for one another especially to those who are poor, unloved, lonely, depressed and all those without hope.

May the Lord be with us always, that He may continue to guide us in our journey of faith, that we may be able to love one another more and more, and be merciful in all of our actions, and thus grow to love God ever more, day after day. May the Lord bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 5 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture reading with the story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian, who was the trusted army general and servant of the Aramean king during the time of the prophet Elisha at the northern kingdom of Israel. Naaman was searching for a way to be cured from his illness, as he suffered from terrible leprosy on his skin.

Naaman came to Israel seeking for help, as he heard that the prophet Elisha had the miraculous powers in healing many people who came to him, as God worked His wonders through His servant. In the end, as we heard from the Scripture passage, Naaman met up with the prophet Elisha, who simply asked him to go for a dip in the river Jordan seven times, and he would be healed.

Initially, Naaman refused to do so, thinking that such a menial task would not be something that could have cured him. He has expected that the prophet would place his hands on him, touched him or performed some wonders before his eyes, and he would be cured as how the other pagan priests and magicians at that time performed their supposed miracle works and wonders.

But eventually, Naaman listened to the prophet and humbled himself, doing what he was asked to do, and he was cured from all of his physical and bodily complaints. He believed in God from then on, and went home praising God for all that He had done for him. This amazing story of Naaman’s healing and conversion is something that we should take note of, as a parallel to our own conversion and healing.

Let us look at the Gospel passage today, in which we heard how the Lord Jesus was rejected in His own village in Nazareth. He has preached to them and even performed miracles before them, but the people hardened their hearts and refused to believe in Him. Why is that so? That is because Jesus hailed from that very village, where all the people likely had known Him in person since when He was very young, after He returned to Nazareth with His foster father St. Joseph and His mother Mary.

That is why they likely assumed that they knew Who He was, the mere Son of a lowly carpenter of the village. At that time, being a carpenter was truly a lowly and undesirable occupation to have, having to work very hard and yet gaining very little, and only contempt and ridicule from others who used his service. And this prejudice continued on to apply to the Lord Himself, Who was likely also a carpenter like His foster father St. Joseph.

We see here the irony of their actions, those who were at Nazareth who were in fact belonging to God’s own people, the descendants of Israel. While Naaman, the Syrian pagan and non-Israelite came to believe in God despite his earlier reservations and doubts, but he believed nonetheless, as compared to the Israelites who hardened their hearts and refused to believe, just as what happened to the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the Sadducees and their followers.

The essence of today’s Scripture readings is that all of us must not harden our hearts and refuse God’s generous offer of mercy. Otherwise we will gain nothing for ourselves, and no healing will come to us. Naaman at first also hardened his heart, but he relented in the end, and humbly submitted to God’s will as spoken through His prophet Elisha, and he received grace and healing from his illnesses.

Similarly, all of us are sick, sick in the heart, mind, body and soul. We may seem to be physically perfect and not sick, but in reality due to our sins, born of our disobedience to the Lord, have made us to be sick. Sin is a very dangerous sickness that will destroy everything. Unlike any other earthly illnesses and diseases that can be cured, the disease of the soul, that is sin, cannot be cured by any worldly means, save that of by the Lord.

It is God alone Who can forgive our sins, and He does so, through none other than His own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave us His life through the cross. Through that cross which He bore on the way to Calvary, and as He was raised up high for our salvation, all of us who believe in Him will receive the grace and forgiveness from our sins. This is what we need to realise, and which we need to take action on, especially at this good time of Lent.

Let us all open our hearts, our minds and our whole being to receive the Lord into our being. Let Him transform us, our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, that we may be turned from sickly beings of darkness, into purified beings of light, worthy to be called His children. May the Lord bless us all, and may He forgive us our sins, that we may draw ever closer to Him and receive His eternal grace and blessings. Amen.

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Sunday, 4 March 2018 : Third Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the third in the season of Lent, we have come to the midway of this season of preparation for the coming of Holy Week and Easter. And from the Holy Scriptures we continue to hear about God’s wonderful works among His people, especially with regards to the Covenants which He had made with us and our ancestors.

In the first Sunday of Lent, we heard of God’s Covenant with Noah, who have been saved from the great flood that cleansed the earth from all the sinful man, descendants of Adam and Eve who have disobeyed God. With Adam and Eve themselves God had made a Covenant, that they and their descendants would be blessed and be given the rule over all the earth. Yet, they have fallen from grace because of sin.

And thus through Noah, the Covenant was renewed, and yet, broken once again, as the people of God continued to sin, and therefore fell into the darkness once again. Then, last Sunday, we heard of the Covenant which God made with Abraham His servant, as shown through the obedience that Abraham had, in offering even his own beloved son, Isaac, to the Lord as a sacrifice when He asked for it in a test of Abraham’s faith. God rewarded Abraham for his faith, and renewed His Covenant with him and his descendants.

Now, this Sunday, we listen to the continuation of that Covenant story, with the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, who have been brought out of their enslavement in Egypt. The Lord renewed the Covenant which He had made with their ancestors, and made them His own people. And He showed His love towards them by giving them His Laws and Commandments, the Ten Commandments that we heard in our first reading passage today.

The laws which God gave to His people were meant to guide them to Him, to show them the way to obey the Lord and to be righteous and just in His presence. But unfortunately, the people refused to obey and fell into sin and disobedience just as they have done before in the days of their ancestors. As we all know, Moses received the Ten Commandments above the Mount Sinai, where God spoke with him and revealed to Him all that He wanted His people to know.

But before Moses even came down from the mountain, the people abandoned God and established a horrible, pagan idol to be god over them, the golden calf which they have built using the gold and other goods they have brought over from Egypt. They refused to trust in God’s providence and love, and instead, they took matter into their own hands and decided to walk down the path of sin.

Why did they do so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because they trusted in their own human intellect and understanding, in their own desires and strengths that led them to disobedience and to sin. Ever since Adam and Eve chose to trust in Satan and believed in him, desiring the knowledge and understanding like God, they ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil, mankind have fallen into sin because of their unquenchable desires.

They trusted in their own wealth and power, and thus worshipped beings of this world, glorifying material goods and wealth. The golden calf itself is rich in symbolism, and the reality of how mankind’s greed can lead to its downfall. A calf is an important commodity in those days, especially because the people of Israel were mostly farmers and shepherds by occupation. A calf can fetch a lot of money when brought up properly and later sold in the markets.

Meanwhile gold has been used for many millennia as the most precious among all noble metals, used since the earliest days of our human civilisation as the means of financial transactions and exchanges, as sources of wealth and possessions. The more gold a person has, the wealthier he or she was and the more prestige and glory he or she possessed in the community. People desired for gold and other precious goods greatly.

Thus the symbolism of the golden calf is indeed very powerful, as the epitome of the people’s greed and worldly desires. They worshipped what they desired, and as we all know, when we desire something, we cannot be satisfied until we have what we wanted. And indeed, when we already have what we wanted, we still desire to have even more and can never be satisfied.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is where we need to take a step back in our own respective lives, and reflect on whether we have been living our lives in the right way thus far. Have we been seeking the glory and wealth of this world, like our ancestors often had been, and disobeying God in the process? Have we lived well in accordance to the laws and commandments that God has given us?

Let us look deeper into the Ten Commandments God has given to His people Israel. The first three set of the Ten Commandments remind all of us that we have to love God, with all of our hearts, with all of our efforts, and we have to give Him the best of our attention, and not to have any other gods beside Him. He alone is worthy of worship, glory and honour.

Then, the other seven sets of the Ten Commandments remind us that we need to love our brethren, our fellow neighbours, relatives, family members and indeed, all those whom we encounter in our own daily lives. We are called to love our parents, and respect each other as fellow brothers and sisters, children of God. We should not covet what others have, or steal or kill.

This is against what the world has exposed us to since our youth. In a world filled with greed, desires, and all other worldly pursuits, of power, ambition, glory and many others, it is difficult for us to love others, as we are bound to put our own interests ahead that of others, and when interests clash, more often than not, we are willing to sacrifice others, or even hurt others in our pursuit to satisfy our desired and ambitions.

That is why we easily became jealous at others for what they have which we did not have ourselves. We desire and covet others’ possessions, and for that reason, man has caused hurt on other man, or kill and murder in some cases. And wars and conflicts have risen up because of the insatiable desires of the rulers and kings of this world. And we put those desires above everything else, above all sense of respect and love for others, and even above God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all during this season of Lent rediscover our faith and grow stronger in it. Through what we have reflected thus far today, let us see how we mankind have fallen again and again into sin, simply because we are so stubborn in our hearts and minds, that we refuse to allow God and His love to be in our hearts, just because of our pride and ego.

We are so full of desires and ego, that we want everything to go according to how we want it to be, and we are not happy when others get ahead of us. As long as we are filled with these desires and the ego in our hearts, we will not be able to proceed further in the way to achieve salvation in God. In order for us to be better Christians, thus, it is important that we walk through this season and time of Lent with greater understanding of what we need to do.

We need to get rid of all of our pride and ego, and die to ourselves. I am not referring to the killing of oneself, but rather, to our desires and wants, to all the mentality of putting ourselves above others. And in this, as Christians, we should be following and imitating the example of Our Lord Himself, who in the Gospel passage we heard today, is the perfect fulfilment of all the prophecies and the promises God had made with us and our ancestors, the New and Everlasting Covenant.

Yes, through Christ, He has renewed the Covenant He made with us mankind, but this time, it is one that will never end, everlasting in nature. He sealed this Covenant with His own Blood, and being both equally Man and God, He became the bridge that bring together once again God and His people, who have long been separated because of disobedience and sin. By His cross, and by His selfless and loving sacrifice on that cross at Calvary, He has become the perfect obedience and the perfect Man, our role model. And by His Blood, a New Covenant had been made, one that will never end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Our Lord Jesus emptied Himself from His glory and divinity, as He took up that cross, which is our sins and the sum of all our disobedience and wickedness. He willingly made Himself to be punished for our sins, so that by that action, we may be brought to reconciliation with God. He has obeyed the Father’s will in everything, so that by His obedience, He may erase from us the disobedience we have in our hearts.

And He showed us all, that the essence of the Law and the Ten Commandments, is love. Pure love for God, and pure love for one another. As I have mentioned earlier, this is what the Ten Commandments is truly about. It calls upon us to love God and our brothers and sisters around us, at least as much as we love ourselves. Therefore, during this season of Lent, let us strive to live our lives filled with love, with greater charity and compassion for one another.

Let us all look around us and see if there are those who are in need of our love, care and attention. Let us no longer be blind and deaf to the cries and the pleas of the poor, the weak, those who are oppressed and without help, those who are lonely and without hope. Let us do our best, in whatever way we can, to help them, to show them love, that by doing so, we may indeed be like Christ, and through His example of love and obedience, we may find for ourselves, the way forward to reach out to God and to His salvation. Let us sin no more and be forgiven from our sins. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 March 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passage relating to us about God’s mercy and great love and compassion for each one of us. God revealed that through His prophet Micah, who reminded the people of God, of the moments when God had cared for them and loved them, when the people were faithful and obedient to God’s laws.

Even though the people of God had wandered off their path, and fell into disobedience and sin, God was always ready and willing to welcome them back to His embrace, caring for them and loving them with all of His heart. He was always ready to forgive them for their trespasses and mistakes, and He even actively tried to bring them back to Him, by sending to them many prophets and messengers, to call upon them to repent from their sins, including that of the prophet Malachi.

Now, let us all reflect on the parable which the Lord Jesus told His disciples and the people, the famous parable of the prodigal son. This parable is a primary example of God’s rich forgiveness, which was framed within the story of the prodigal son, who left his father with all of his inheritance to try out his luck in faraway lands, only to squander all that he had, and lost everything. Yet, the father was very willing and ready to forgive him and embrace him back when he finally returned to him.

The father in that parable is none other than God Himself, Who is always loving and filled with joy for all of His beloved children, all of us mankind, as represented by the two sons that the father had. The elder son represented those who have always been faithful to the commandments and the laws of God, while the younger, prodigal son represented those who have fallen into disobedience and sin, and thus became separated from God’s love, symbolised by the estrangement that happened when the younger son went off for the journey to the foreign lands.

We see how that prodigal son spent off his life in the faraway lands by indulging on the pleasures of life, and squandered off all of his money and possessions on prostitutes and merrymaking, and when he had nothing left, no one was left that cared for him and loved him. They only befriended him and cared for him because of his money and possessions, and once these failed him, he was left with nothing.

But he remembered his father’s love and care, which was a distant memory in his mind. Initially he was embarrassed to return to his father, as he had surely disgraced him, not only by his lifestyle, but because he has also wasted away all of the portion of inheritance that he was to receive from his father. Nonetheless, in the end, he mustered the courage and conviction to come back to his father, even if he had to humiliate himself and beg for forgiveness.

And as we heard in the story, he was forgiven by the father, who did not just welcome him back, but even threw a big and lavish party in welcoming him back, who have been thought lost and gone, but was then found again and reunited with his father. This, as the Lord Jesus explained, was the same with all of us, sinners and rebels, those who have been separated from God and His grace, when we sincerely desire to be forgiven and to be reconciled with God, Our loving Father.

Now, let us reflect on what we have heard, and think of what it is that we should be doing as Christians during this season of Lent. This time of Lent is a particular time of grace, of the preparation of the heart, mind and body, to prepare ourselves to celebrate worthily the coming of Easter and its joyous occasion. First of all therefore, we should remember that joy which we must look forward to, the same joy which engulfed both father and son, when the prodigal son came back to the father in tears, and was received with great joy.

The Lord has given us all His own Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be Our Saviour, by His death on the cross, and by the outpouring of His Body and Blood. He has become the worthy sacrifice by which all of us who believe in Him and accept Him as Our Lord and Saviour, will be reconciled and reunited perfectly with God. God has gone all the way to this extent, sparing nothing less for us, because He loves each one of us, just like the father who was so joyful in seeing his son that he had a great celebration for his return.

Secondly, all of us should follow the example of the prodigal son, who despite his earlier doubts, was willing to come back to his father, seeking his forgiveness and mercy. Are we able to overcome our doubts, our reluctance and especially, our pride, to humble ourselves before the Lord, knowing that we are sinners and therefore are in need of God’s healing, love and mercy?

And last of all, we should not be like the elder son, who became angry at his father for welcoming back the long-lost child, because he was jealous of the treatment that his younger brother had received from his father. That was what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done at the time of Jesus, as they always sneered and jeered at the Lord’s constant efforts to bring sinners to reconciliation.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, during this season of Lent, we should be filled with greater love and joy, living with greater commitment and dedication to love God with all of our hearts, with all of our efforts and strength. Let us love our brethren with greater heart and dedication, caring for them and looking up to them, that more and more souls may be saved from damnation.

May the Lord awaken in us the strong desire to love Him, that day after day we will grow to realise more and more how much He loves every one of us. Let us all seek to be forgiven and to be reconciled with Him, and receive from Him the gift of mercy and eventually the glory of eternal life. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 2 March 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to two important stories from the Scriptures, one from the Old Testament, in the Book of Genesis, and another one from the Gospels, as a parable told by the Lord Jesus to His disciples. Both of these stories tell us the same message and are parallels of each other. And what is this message which all of us should take heed of?

The Old Testament story tells us about the sons of Jacob, also known as Israel, who were the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. We heard about how Jacob loved Joseph, one of his youngest sons very much, doting on him and giving him the best of everything, because he was born of his beloved wife Rachel, the woman she loved. And Joseph’s brothers resented him because of this preferential treatment, and they plotted against him.

We heard how they wanted to kill Joseph, and they were plotting to do so among themselves, but Reuben, one of the brothers, spoke out against the killing of Joseph and wanted to rescue him from the plots of his brothers who hated him. In the end, after they have seized Joseph and threw him into a well, they agreed to sell him to the Midianite merchants who were passing by that area, and they got twenty pieces of silver in return for the sale.

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus told the disciples a story, about a landowner who possessed a vineyard and then entrusted that vineyard and property to several tenants when he left the country for other lands. This story was indeed very similar and a parallel to what we have heard from the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers, as we heard how the tenants entrusted with the vineyard refused to obey their part of the obligations and contract.

The landowner sent his servants several times to the tenants, asking them to fulfil their obligations according to the contract that he had set with them. They refused to listen to the servants of the landowner and instead rejected them, cast them out and even persecuted them and tortured them, and killed some of them. The tenants refused to pay their due to the landowner, likely because they were tempted by the riches that they have attained through their harvests and refused to share them with the rightful master of the vineyard.

Eventually, in the end, the landowner sent to them his own beloved and trusted son, the heir to all of his vineyard and properties. He thought that the tenants would respect his son and listen to him. But no sooner that he reached the vineyard that they plotted against him and killed him, thinking that if they did so, they would be able to seize all the properties and the riches of the vineyard for themselves. That was what we heard from the New Testament today, which is a clear parallel to the story of Joseph and his brothers.

As you can see, just as the brothers of Joseph plotted against him, the wicked tenants also plotted against the son of the landowner and his servants. Ultimately, in the end, many of the concerns were about property, worldly wealth, power, prestige, and all the other things which throughout the history of mankind, have resulted in much bitterness and rivalry among us, causing relationships to break, and even for man to oppress and to hurt his fellow men.

Then, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we look at yet another example, which even though was not part of our Scripture passages today, but it is in fact the most important of all? What the Lord Jesus had told His disciples on the parable of the landowner and the wicked tenants was in fact a premonition and prophecy which the Lord Jesus spoke about Himself. He spoke of what would happen to Himself, when He was betrayed and handed over to the chief priests, with the price of a slave.

Surely we all remember how Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, went to the chief priests and offered to betray Him? And what did he receive from the elders and the chief priests in return? Thirty pieces of silver, a price comparable to that of Joseph when he was sold to the Midianite merchants as a slave. Thus, the Lord Himself has been betrayed and sold out like a slave, the most humiliating of all positions and peoples.

But that was exactly what He has done, in the manner of Joseph, who was brought to the land of Egypt. Yet, it was all God’s plan, for Joseph was sent ahead of his brothers and family, to be powerful in the land of Egypt, eventually becoming its Regent, and by whose wisdom and authority, helped not just his own family, but countless other people when the whole world was wrecked by famine, which was alleviated only by Joseph’s wisdom and preparedness.

Similarly, the Lord has done everything as He had done, for our sake, for our salvation and liberation from the tyranny of sin. He has lowered and humbled Himself so much, assuming the appearance of a slave, a criminal, condemned to death for sins and mistakes that He Himself did not commit. Yet, He took everything up upon Himself, endured the great and unimaginable agony of the cross, with the singular purpose of our salvation. That is ultimately because God loves each and every one of us, His beloved children.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on the Scripture passages today, the story of Joseph, the parable of the wicked tenants and the landowner, and the Passion of Our Lord Himself, let us think about our own respective lives, in all that we have done in our lives thus far, and how we can follow the Lord more faithfully by our actions. Let us not be tempted by the allures of worldly glory and the passions of the flesh, all the things that have caused the brothers of Joseph, the wicked tenants, the chief priests and the Pharisees to do sinful and wicked deeds, in order to preserve themselves and their worldly desires.

Let us all be ever more generous with our love and charity during this time of Lent, by reaching out to our brethren in need, those who are in need of our love, care and attention, those who are hungry and suffering, those who have no one to feed them or be with them when they are in need of company. May the Lord move our hearts and limbs to be His tools to do His will among His people. May the Lord bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 1 March 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the stories and reminders from the Scriptures, which is an apt reminder to each and every one of us to be careful and indeed be mindful on how we ought to live our lives and on what we depend on in our respective lives. Let us begin first by looking into what we have heard from our Gospel passage today, the story of Lazarus and the rich man.

In that story, we saw the contrast between Lazarus, a poor man who often sat just outside the large mansion belonging to a rich man, hoping that he could eat from whatever scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. It was likely that Lazarus was so poor that he could not even afford anything to eat and satisfy his daily needs, to the point that he had to beg for the food.

Meanwhile, the rich man had everything that he needed, from food, drinks, friends, company of loved ones, possessions, shelter over his head and all other forms of earthly needs. He was good in everything save for the fact that he was unable to see the plight of the poor man who was sitting just outside of his residence. He had everything that he needed, but he kept them all to himself and did not lift a finger to help Lazarus, who was in great need.

In the end, we heard how both eventually met the end of their earthly lives and existence. We all know that everyone will meet and experience death at the end of their lives, and thus the same thing happened to both Lazarus and the rich man. Yet, the fates awaiting the two of them each could not be much more different, one from the other one.

Lazarus went up to heaven and sit beside Abraham, the ancestor of the people of Israel and many other nations, a righteous servant of God, deemed worthy of the glory of heaven promised to those who have been just and faithful to God. Meanwhile the rich man fell into damnation and the sufferings in hell, which is reserved for Satan and all those who have disobeyed God, and had willingly refused to follow the Lord.

In the first reading today, taken from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, we gained some deeper insight of what had happened to the two of them. It is about how and what we put our trust in, be it in God or be it human beings and worldly matters. The prophet Jeremiah made it very clear that if we trust in worldly things and in our own strength, we will likely end up drawn away from God, and fall into the temptations to sin.

But if we put our trust in God, we will grow ever more in faith, and we will draw closer to Him. It may be a life filled with challenges and difficulties, but we can be sure that God is always on our side. While the wealth and all the goods we have in this world may bring us happiness to a certain extent, but they will not last forever, and eventually they may perish and be destroyed.

Similarly, regardless of all the bountiful riches and goods that the rich man possessed, none of those came to his rescue or were available to him when he fell into the eternal suffering in hell. He was suffering all by himself, and without any hope of rescue and salvation, as he has lost all the opportunities given to him by God, to touch the lives of others, especially the poor Lazarus sitting by his doorstep.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we need to know is that we sin by both doing what is wicked and sinful in the eyes of God, but also by not doing what we can do in order to truly be followers of the Lord. God was not against the rich and those who have more possessions and wealth, as some would try to argue it that way. Instead, God wants us to make good use of what He has blessed us with.

To those of us who have been more blessed than others, we should learn to share our joy and blessings, especially to those among us who have little or none to be joyful. This is why in this season of Lent, we are called to be more generous in giving, be more charitable in our love towards our brothers and sisters. Let us make good use of our time during this Lent to be ever more devoted and committed Christians, loving our fellow brethren more.

Let us not abandon or ignore all the ‘Lazaruses’ we see around us. Let us show mercy, love and compassion to these brethren, who may need our care, attention and other forms of help. May the Lord move our hearts to be ever more loving and dedicated in all the things we do, for the good of our brethren. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 28 February 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages telling us about the challenges, difficulties and all the obstacles that we will face as those who follow the way of the Lord, as the reality that we must understand and face, if we are to continue to be faithful to Him. This we have heard from the prophet Jeremiah in our first reading, as well as the Lord Jesus Himself Who made it plain and clear to His disciples of the sufferings He Himself was to face.

The prophet Jeremiah lived during the last days of the kingdom of Judah, at the time when the once glorious kingdom of God’s people have fallen into a sad state, as it fell into bad times and was humiliated by its neighbours, and at that time, it was under danger of falling into the hands of the Babylonians, who would eventually destroy both the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem and its Temple in the year 586 BC.

In those days, the prophet Jeremiah spoke of the impending doom that would come upon the kingdom and the people of Judah. And his words would come true when the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar came to conquer Jerusalem and brought its people to exile in the land of Babylon for many years. But false prophets and the refusal of the people to believe in what the Lord said through Jeremiah, combined with their continued insistence to live in sin, brought about their ultimate downfall.

The prophet Jeremiah did not have it easy, as he had to endure ridicule, persecution, rejection, and imprisonment. He was harassed at many opportunities, by those who refused to believe in him and in the message which he received from God. The prophet Jeremiah had to endure scorn and mockery, the opposition and to endure the anger of his own countrymen, because they steadfastly and stubbornly hardened their hearts against God and His call.

In the Gospel passage today we also heard about what the Lord Jesus Himself told His disciples when two of them came up to Him trying to curry favour with Him, with their mother in tow, asking for them to be given the special privileges of being able to sit at the left and the right hand side of the Lord, essentially being given importance greater than that of the other Apostles and disciples.

At that time, the custom was such that in a banquet, whoever sat beside the master of the banquet will be considered the greatest of importance amongst the guests and thus, garner the greatest prestige and honour. In fact, in order for someone to be able to sit at the places of honour, they would often jostle and compete with one another, seeking to outdo each other for the prestige and honour. And that was exactly what the disciples had done.

The other disciples were not happy against the two brothers because of their attempt to get ahead of them in supposed prestige and honour among the disciples. But the Lord rebuked them all and said that the way of a Christian, of those who believe in God, is that of humility, obedience and service. This comes contrary to the ways of the world, which prioritises individuality, selfishness and ambition, as shown by the attitudes of the Apostles towards each other.

In this world, all of us are surely accustomed at how the world values power, glory, wealth and all the things that we have been taught since our youth as those that bring about more pleasure, more happiness, more joy and more satisfaction for ourselves. And when we do not get what we want, we try our best to gain more of what we desire, sometimes even at the cost of others, when we acted like those two brothers, St. James and St. John, seeking for their own personal gain and glory for themselves.

However, let me ask you this question, ‘How does it benefit us to gain all the power, glory and prestige in this world?’ As I have often mentioned during this season of Lent, we mankind are always desiring for more and more, as the devil is ever ready to tempt us with ever more temptations and persuasions to make us to disobey God and sin even more. If we pursue all the power, glory, prestige, lust and all forms of worldly satisfactions, we will never be satisfied and happy.

And it does not matter how much we have in life, but none of these will come with us to the time of judgment in the end of our lives. Everyone, be it rich or poor, powerful or weak, we will be equal then before God. We should build for ourselves our true treasure in God, and not the treasures of this world, and we can do this by being humble and meek, caring for others in our midst, especially those who are unloved, those who are poor and oppressed amongst us.

In order to become a disciple of Christ, we must indeed share the same cup of suffering that Our Lord had taken up. We must follow in the footsteps of the prophet Jeremiah and the Lord Himself, as how both were rejected by the world and all those who refused to listen to God. We are called to endure the same sufferings, challenges and difficulties, and as the Lord Himself said, we need to ‘take up our crosses and follow Him.’ That is the essence of true discipleship.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us renew our commitment to live in faith towards God during this blessed season of Lent. Let us throw far away, our pride, individuality, selfishness, and all the wickedness and sins we have committed in life. May the Lord be with us in our journey, so that we may grow to be ever more faithful, and draw ever closer to His righteousness and justice. May the Lord bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 27 February 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard first of all the Lord’s calling to us, His people, to repent and turn away from our sins. This is in particular appropriate and relevant during this season of Lent, as a time of renewal and spiritual rediscovery for us, as we come to the presence of God with sincere regret and sorrow over our sins and wickedness.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a warning to those who sinned and disobeyed God, as represented by his reference to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the two cities that God destroyed because of their wickedness and sinful lifestyle. Yet, at the same time it was also a message of tremendous mercy and unprecedented love, as the prophet continued on by calling on the sinners to repent from their sins and turn away from all of their wicked ways.

‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow.’ This was what God had told His people, which at that time had lived through various sins and disobediences, refusing to obey the commandments of God and following the worship of pagan idols and even slaughtering the prophets and messengers sent to them to remind them to turn away from their waywardness.

This means that God was perfectly capable of turning even the worst of sinners back to His path, and no one was truly beyond God’s saving grace. God after all is omnipotent, and whatever we may think is impossible for us to do, is possible for God. No one should be discouraged and think that they are beyond God’s saving power, for if someone believe that they are beyond God’s salvation and mercy, that is most likely because they themselves refused to accept God’s forgiveness and loving compassion.

And as we listened to the Gospel passage today, we would have noticed how the Lord criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, because of the way they carried themselves and acted before the people, by showcasing their faith externally for the purpose of self-gratification and self-praise, seeking to be honoured and adored for their show of piety and obedience to God. In reality, in their hearts, there was no place for God, as their ego and pride filled all places of honour.

That is exactly how we also refused to listen to God and to accept His forgiveness and mercy, because we are too proud to admit that we are sinners and that we have been wrong in our ways. We hardened our hearts and continued to live in sin, thinking for what is best for ourselves, and aiming to satisfy our own needs and desires before thinking of others, less still, thinking of our obligations to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we progress through this season of Lent, we are all called to throw far, far away this wicked mentality and our predisposition to pride which had become a great obstacle in our journey towards salvation and reconciliation with our loving God and Father. Let us heed what the Lord Jesus told His disciples in the Gospel today, ‘let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For those whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.’

Many of our holy predecessors, saints and martyrs were once great sinners as well. They lived lives of debauchery and sin, which some would have thought as being hopelessly far away from God’s grace and salvation. Yet, in the end, it was their commitment and resolution to turn away from their sins that allowed them to open their hearts to God, and allowing Him to enter into their hearts and minds, they experienced a total conversion.

And thus the same can happen to us, if we humble ourselves and allow ourselves to be transformed by the Lord, by our renewed commitment to live faithfully in accordance with God’s ways, shunning all the sinful past we had, and embracing a new life and existence with God. And let us do that in this season of Lent, by our renewed faith and by our fasting and abstinence, through which we try to deepen our relationship with God while resisting the temptations of our flesh and our ego and desire.

May the Lord be with us throughout this Lenten journey, that we may be filled with a renewed faith and be ever closer to Him. May we make use of this opportunity presented to us, to repent and turn away from our sins, and be once again worthy to be called the beloved children of God. Amen.