Lenten Homily

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Wednesday, 27 March 2024 : Wednesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded of the need for all of us to resist the temptations of sin and to reexamine our lives and actions, to see if we have not done what the Lord has called us to do in our lives, and if we have allowed the evil one to lead us astray, betraying and abandoning Him for worldly matters, glory and achievements, for the pursuit of worldly attachments, fame and for many other things that have often kept us away from God and His love for us. This is what we are all reminded today especially through the reading of the account of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of the Lord Jesus on this Wednesday of the Holy Week, just as we are about to enter into the most solemn commemoration of the Paschal Triduum.

In our first reading today, we first heard of everything that the Lord Himself would have to suffer as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, who have been entrusted by the Lord with the prophecy of the Suffering Messiah and Suffering Servant of God, foretelling everything that this Saviour that God would send to His people, would do for the sake of all of God’s beloved ones, and how He would have to endure the worst punishments and sufferings all because of our disobedience, wickedness and stubbornness in continuing to sin against God, in all that we have done which caused and brought about hurt and betrayal towards our most loving and faithful God. And yet, this Servant, Our Lord and Saviour Himself, obeyed perfectly and completely, enduring all those sufferings and challenges, for our sake.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, Our Lord Himself had come to us in the flesh, to extend to us the most loving reach of His forgiveness, love and compassion, and He did so in order to gather us all back once again, from being scattered in this world in darkness, evil and sin, being our loving Good Shepherd Who sought us all, His beloved but lost sheep. Despite our stubbornness and our refusal to obey Him, He still reached out to us patiently anyway, calling on all of us to love Him and to seek Him out, as He poured out upon all of us most generous mercy and compassion, all the love and kindness that He has always had for us since the very beginning. He had created us all out of His overflowing love, and He wants us all to share in that love, which He made tangible and approachable to us through His Son.

And in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when Judas Iscariot decided to betray the Lord to the chief priests at the Temple, guided by the devil who went into him and tempted him, having sowed the seeds of disbelief and lack of faith in Judas’s heart and mind. Earlier in this week, we heard how the same Judas Iscariot criticised the actions of Mary who tearfully and humbly anointed the feet of the Lord with perfume, and we heard his motivations for doing so, how he had been stealing for himself from the group’s common funds that had been entrusted to him under his care. Judas Iscariot was likely an intelligent person, as he was entrusted with a responsibility that usually only an educated person could have done, and yet, he allowed himself to be tempted by the evil one.

Why did Judas betray the Lord? It was not revealed for certain, but likely his love for money and worldly pursuits, and his frustrations at the Lord’s rebuke on him against his criticism of Mary led him to commit such a heinous act, in selling off his own Lord and Master for a price of thirty pieces of silver coins. This act was in fact prophesied by the prophets who spoke about how the Lord, the Saviour of all and Master of all Creation would be priced at the mere price of a slave, which at the time of the Lord Jesus was indeed about thirty pieces of silver coins. Judas betrayed his Lord and Master for his greed for money, and because he let the devil to tempt him with all those worldly desires and attachments that he lost sight of the truth of God.

Now, as I have said it earlier on this week, before we are then quick to judge or point finger at Judas for what he had done, let us all first look at ourselves and reflect on our own lives and actions. Have we truly been innocent and without sin ourselves, and have we really not done something similar to what Judas himself had done? Each and every one of us have sinned at some point in our own lives, and we have disobeyed God in different ways. Yet, the Lord finds it in His love and compassion to be patient with us and He has kept on calling on us to return once again to His loving embrace and to be in His grace once again. He does not want any one of us to be lost to Him, and that is why we are reminded today not to follow the path of Judas into sin and damnation.

Let us all make good use of all the opportunities and moments that we have been given in this time of Holy Week, during this particularly solemn and holy occasion that we may remember what it truly means for us to be Christians in the first place. Our lives and way of living them should indeed be filled with true dedication and commitment to God, and we must always remind ourselves how fortunate and blessed we have indeed been, to be loved in such a manner by the Lord our God, although we have frequently disappointed and rebelled against Him. Let us all be attuned ever more deeply to God’s will and realise how we should carry on living our lives, no longer overshadowed by sin and evil, but following in God’s light, truth and love henceforth.

May the Lord our most loving and compassionate God, Whose Passion we are remembering this most solemn Holy Week, continue to be with us all and bless us in our journey of faith and life. May He continue to strengthen our faith and empower each and every one of us so that we may persevere and remain committed to Him despite all the challenges, trials and obstacles that we may face in life. May God bless us all, now and always, and bless our remaining Holy Week observances and Paschal Triduum beginning tomorrow. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 March 2024 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened through our Scripture passage today, we are all reminded of the important events of this great Holy Week, and what we are all called to commemorate and remember, so that we may truly be able to immerse ourselves in the whole extent of the many things we ought to focus ourselves on during this period of time. We are reminded that we have been separated from God through our disobedience and lack of faith, which led us to sin against Him, and because of this, we have not enjoyed the fullness of His grace and love. This week as we focus ever deeper on the important events in the history of our salvation, let us all do our part so that we can continue to deepen our faith as well as coming to a greater realisation of just how sinful we are, and how much we are in need of God’s mercy, forgiveness and love.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, in which the prophet spoke of the salvation of God which had been prepared and given to us, and which He has promised and proclaimed to His beloved people from much earlier on, telling on all of them that despite their rebelliousness and sins, that He still loved them nonetheless, desiring to be reunited and reconciled with them, and He would send unto them His deliverance and salvation, through the One Who would come into our midst, to bring us all back once again into God’s loving embrace and grace. God has always been patient in looking out for us, in reaching to us with His ever generous forgiveness and mercy. He sent unto us His own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour so that through Him all of us may have the hope and assurance of eternal life.

We are also reminded through the words of the prophet Isaiah that God’s salvation, His love and blessings have been extended to everyone, and not just to the race of the Israelites, who were God’s first chosen people. Through His Son, the Lord revealed His love manifested and made approachable to all of us, and He has extended His ever generous love and mercy to all of us, to all the sons and daughters of mankind, without exception. Each and every one of us are truly beloved by God, and we have to keep this in mind, remembering everything that He has done for our sake, in reaching out to us, in sending us His Son, and everything that the Son had to endure for the sake of our sins, His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the account from the Gospel of St. John of the moment when the Lord predicted how He would be betrayed by one of His own closest disciples, at the moment when He and His disciples were having the Last Supper. The Lord foretold that Judas Iscariot would be the one to betray Him, but at that time no one understood the significance of what He was saying, and no one thought that Judas Iscariot would have betrayed his own Lord and Master, being one of His own closest disciples and collaborators. And yet, we heard of how our faith can be weak and unsettled, so much so that the devil can come in and stir us into committing sin against God, just as what Judas Iscariot himself had done.

Not only that, but the Lord Jesus also predicted how Peter, one of his staunchest disciples and supporters, would also lose faith and deny Him not once but three times. This would eventually come true when Peter was faced with the challenge from the people present at the courtyard of the Temple at the moment when the Lord Jesus was persecuted and being condemned to death. He lost his faith and courage, and denied his Lord and Master three times out of self-protection, desiring not to be found out that he was one of the Lord’s chief disciples, when he himself had proclaimed before the Lord and the others that he would gladly die and give his life up for Him. All these reminded us all that sin can indeed be very harmful and dangerous for us, leading us into this path of disobedience against God.

But lest we are quick to point fingers upon others and blame them, or discriminate against them for their sins, let us all first remember that we ourselves are sinners too, having also committed things that are against God’s Law and commandments, disobeyed Him at some point of time in our lives. We ourselves have also been unworthy before God, and what Judas Iscariot and St. Peter the Apostle had done, we ourselves had done them as well in various ways. During this time of Holy Week therefore we should do what we can in order to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy, humbly beseeching Him to help and guide us through these difficult moments in our journey of faith. We must always focus our attention on the Lord, keeping in mind that it is in Him alone that we can have hope and healing, fulfilment and liberation from all of the sins and all the chains that have been keeping us down all these while.

This is why, as we continue to journey through this sacred and solemn commemoration of the Holy Week, let us all remember that through everything that He had done for us, Our Lord, our most loving God and Saviour has given us all the means through which we can approach Him, finding our path towards the salvation and assurance of eternal life which we shall receive if we remain true and faithful to the Lord. Let us all turn away from the path of sin and evil, rejecting all the wickedness and evils that had caused us to be separated from God. Let us all remember the wonderful and ever enduring love that God has always had for us, and which He had kept renewed, strengthened and living in His interactions with us, giving us all the perfect manifestation of His love through His Son, Who has suffered andd died for us, and which we remember this Holy Week.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and forgiving God and Father, continue to be with us all and help us all throughout our struggles and journey, giving us the strength and courage to continue carrying on living our lives with faith, with the strength and the commitment needed for all of us to follow His path at all times. May our Holy Week observances and our heightened emphasis and focus on the Lord continue to help us to deepen our relationship with Him, and to be able to strive living our lives ever more faithfully and worthily at all times. May God bless us always in our every good endeavours and deeds, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 25 March 2024 : Monday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded yet again of everything which the Lord our most loving, kind and merciful God had done for our sake, which He showed us all through His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Whose actions and sufferings had been foretold even by the prophets and messengers of God in the past, just as we heard it again through the readings of the Scriptures. These are meant to help us deepen our understanding of the significance of everything that we commemorate and remember throughout this most momentous and solemn Holy Week, so that we may truly appreciate how blessed and beloved each and every one of us have been, by our most loving God.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke through His servant Isaiah regarding the coming of His salvation, grace and love which He would do through a Servant that He would send into the midst of His beloved people. And most importantly, that Servant would be the One through Whom the Lord would bring about His salvation and grace to all, fulfilling everything that He has promised to all of His beloved people throughout time. God has always remembered His love and kindness, His compassion and mercy to those whom He cared for, and He sent all of His love manifested perfectly and shown to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is the One Whom the Lord had spoken through His prophet Isaiah in a prophecy to keep His people in His hope and light.

However, this same Servant, the Son of God and Son of Man, would have to suffer greatly for this purpose, as He has to endure the most bitter and painful sufferings and difficulties, in the midst of His mission. And today as we are already in the midst of this Holy Week, we are reminded of all that Our Lord and Saviour had done for our sake, in His great and ever enduring love for each and every one of us, for the sake of our salvation. He took up His Cross willingly and endured the worst of humiliations, sufferings out of His love, in His desire to lead us all back to His Heavenly Father, reuniting all of us wholly and perfectly with our loving God, Father and Creator. He showed us all just how great God’s love is, that it even transcended beyond our sins and faults, which He would willingly forgive if we all seek Him for His forgiveness and desire to be reconciled with Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord and His interactions with Mary, one of His close friends, and also with one of His close disciples, namely that of Judas Iscariot, whom we now know as the one who would betray the Lord Jesus. Judas was likely an intelligent person, as he was entrusted with the finances of the whole group. If Judas had been uneducated and illiterate, it was unlikely that he would have been given such a responsibility. It was in this occasion that Judas criticised Mary when she went to anoint the Lord’s feet with expensive perfume made from pure nard. Judas criticised Mary’s actions, saying that the expensive perfume could have been sold and the proceeds could have been used to help the poor according to what he said. However the Gospel passage also gave a context, in that Judas was not being truthful or sincere in what he said.

That was because he was actually hoping to gain for his own benefit from stealing from the funds that he himself had managed on behalf of the group. Judas Iscariot was indeed a dishonest man and he did not genuinely follow the Lord wholeheartedly, allowing himself to be tempted by worldly desires, by the temptations of money and material possessions. The Lord knew all these, and he rebuked Judas and said that what Mary had done was right, just and virtuous. He told everyone that she was in fact preparing His Body for burial, and this was yet another important premonition of what would soon happen, as the time for the Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death was about to come at that time. Of course at that moment, no one would have realised this meaning and importance, but for all of us who have known what happened next, it was a truly important moment.

In contrast to Judas’ prideful and condescending attitude, Mary showed great humility before the Lord, wiping the feet of the Lord with her own hairs after having wet them with her tears. The hair is a woman’s greatest asset and the crown of her beauty, and for Mary to have used her own hair to wipe the Lord’s feet, a body part traditionally considered as dirty and filthy, it must have indeed been very significant, together with the fact that she wept as she was doing so. All of these indicated just how much she loved the Lord and had faith in Him, and also her recognition of her own sinfulness and wicked nature, her unworthiness before God. These are the attitudes which all of us should have in our own lives and faith, that we all should also be humble in seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness, in embracing His generous mercy and compassionate love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore having heard from the readings of the Scriptures today, let us all therefore reflect on how we can transform our lives for the better. Each and every one of us have been reminded and called to return once again to God’s most generous love, and to embrace His forgiveness and mercy. He has always loved us all and He has always been ready to welcome us back to Himself, opening His hands as always to embrace us all with His most generous and awesome love. However, we also have to commit ourselves to His path and show the willingness to embrace HIs mercy and love. Otherwise, we cannot truly and fully enjoy the fruits of the Lord’s forgiveness, mercy and compassion.

Let us all therefore once again seek the Lord with a contrite heart and with sorrow for our many sins and wickedness, regret and desire to be forgiven from all those evil things we have said, done and committed in our past lives and actions. Let us all seek God’s most wonderful mercy and forgiveness, and do our best so that we may receive fully God’s amazing grace and love, and be restored completely in faith and truth, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 March 2024 : Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we enter into the most solemn celebration of the Holy Week, the holiest and most important week of the whole entire liturgical year when we mark the very important and crucial events that happened at the pinnacle of the Lord’s life and ministry in this world. We mark everything that happened when the Lord began the final part of His mission in gathering all of us together and bringing us all up close to the salvation and eternal life which He Himself has promised and reassured us. And we begin this solemn commemoration with this Sunday’s Palm Sunday celebration, when we remember the grand and triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey and welcomed by the people of the city like a great conquering King.

This event had been foretold and prophesied by the prophets, particularly the prophet Zechariah, who prophesied that the Lord Himself, as King, would come to His people riding on a donkey, which the Lord’s triumphal entry perfectly fulfilled and accomplished. However, this glorious moment would soon give way to the much more sombre and sorrowful moments of the Passion of the Lord, the Crucifixion and all the sufferings that the same Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, would have to suffer and go through as He took up His Cross, bearing all of our sins, wickedness, faults and mistakes upon Himself and His own shoulders. Therefore, while this Sunday’s liturgy begins with a triumphant commemoration of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem with the procession with the blessed palms, it soon changed into the more sombre reminder of the true nature of this Week’s events that revolved around the Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross.

Essentially, we are all reminded that first of all, God’s love for us all is so great, so enduring and powerful, that He has given us all His beloved Son, as the perfect manifestation of His Love, extending unto all of us His love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness that He has offered freely to all of us, that His love for us is no longer intangible, and His Presence became truly felt, approachable and accessible to each and every one of us, without exception. He showed all of us His desire to come to us, and while He is truly our Lord and King, but we are all His beloved people, and He came to us to save us all, through none other than His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and what He would do for our sake through His Passion on the Cross.

Certainly some if not many of us may have been wondering in our hearts and minds, why is it that the Lord could not have just done it all so easily by erasing from us our sins, if He could have done it all simply because He is so all-powerful, almighty and great. He could have saved Himself the trouble and the sufferings of having to go through all the challenges, trials, rejections and difficulties that He had to go through, the humiliations and pains that He had to endure as He went through the moments of His Passion, His suffering on the Cross and His death. And yet, God did all these because not only that His love for us is truly great and enduring, but He also wants to show us through His Son, how we all can approach Him and be forgiven from our many sins.

We must realise first of all that sin is borne out of our disobedience against God, from our conscious refusal to obey Him, His will and Law, and our conscious choice to do what was contrary to the guidance and rules that He has established with us. Sin came to us, corrupting and dominating us because we have chosen to follow the falsehoods and the temptations that the devil has placed in our path to make us stumble, when we have the choice to remain faithful to God. God Who created us all and gave us life has also given us the free will and the freedom to choose our path and course in life. Should we choose to disobey God and sin against Him, it is by our conscious choice that we have done so, and if we want to return to Him, then we will have to choose to embrace the love and mercy, the compassion and forgiveness that He has freely offered to us.

And through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Himself, God has shown us the perfect example of obedience and faith, of what is needed for all of us to do in our own lives so that we may truly be able to follow God in each and every moments of our lives. The Lord, as the Son, faithfully obeyed His Father’s will, just as highlighted in our second reading from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Philippians. He faithfully embraced His mission, taking up His Cross and putting upon Himself all the punishments, sufferings and pains that are due to us, that we should have endured and suffered instead, all because He loved each and every one of us, and He wanted to show us all that love and the perfect obedience through which He can be the ultimate example and inspiration for us all to follow in our own paths in life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we begin this most solemn commemoration of everything that we remember in this Holy Week, let us all become ever more aware and attuned to our actions, words, deeds and every parts of our whole lives and existence. Have we been truly ready to commemorate this most important week in the whole liturgical year, marking the crucial events in the history of our salvation? Have we realised that it was our many sins, faults, stubbornness and wicked deeds that Our Lord Himself has taken up, as He carried His Cross onto Calvary? Otherwise, then this Holy Week will just end up becoming another regular week and event when we just go through the motion, going and attending the Masses and services, year after year, repeating the events but without true spiritual growth and without growing in relationship and closeness with God.

Therefore, let us all remember the great and ever enduring love which the Lord Himself has shown us, manifested perfectly through His Son, in His Passion on the Cross, in all the sufferings, pains, humiliations and everything that He had to endure for our sake, but which He willingly took upon Himself out of His ever generous and enduring love for us. We must never take this generous love for granted, and we must keep in mind that if we continue to remain in the state of sin, in disobeying God and His commandments, then there will be no path for us to come close to God and His salvation simply because it is by our own decision and conscious choice that we have decided to reject Him and refuse everything, all the love, compassion and mercy which He has shown us all these while. It was after all the same people who welcomed the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem as we commemorate this Sunday, who would also cry out on Good Friday, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence be aware of our many sins, wickedness, our unworthiness, and all the things in our lives which have kept us away from God. Let us all realise that every time we commit sin against Him, we have brought about hurt and pain for Him, all the wounds that have been inflicted upon Him and all the sufferings He bore, all these were due to our sins. He still bore all those sins, sufferings and pains because of His ever enduring and great love for us, but we must not take for granted all that He had done for us. That is because as long as we continue to walk in the path of sin, we will continue to fall deeper and deeper into the darkness, and in the end, if we continue to do this, we may end up being lost forever from God, because we ourselves have chosen to reject Him and decided to put our lot in the darkness and wickedness of the world, with Satan and all those forces of evil.

Let us hence make good use of this time we have been given, especially during this time of Holy Week, to renew our commitments to God, and to be ever more thoroughly committed to His cause. Let us deepen our relationship with the Lord, our most loving and merciful God, and let us all be the good role models and examples, inspirations and encouragement for one another, for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us. May the Lord continue to strengthen our faith, and help us in our journey of faith and life, especially as we embark on this most solemn journey this Holy Week, this time of intense commemoration of Our Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death on His Cross. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 23 March 2024 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that despite all of our disobedience, rebelliousness, our waywardness and evils, God’s love for us still endures nonetheless, and He still cares for each and every one of us. That was why He went through all the trouble of sending down to us none other than His own Beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to be the means through which we are all brought together to His salvation, grace and eternal life, reassuring us all of His constant love, providence and protection.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words of the Lord and His reassurances that He made to all of His people, that He had made through the prophet Ezekiel, reminding them all that despite of their many sins, wickedness and rebelliousness, in the end, He still truly cares for each and every one of them nonetheless. At that time, when the prophet Ezekiel was active, he was ministering to the exiles of the people of God in the distant lands of Babylon, where many of the people had ended up in after they had disobeyed the Lord and thus, facing hardships and destruction of their homeland when the Babylonians came to conquer and destroy their land, their city of Jerusalem and its Temple, carrying many of the people to the distant lands.

All those were caused by the stubborn attitudes of the people of God, who have preferred to follow their own ways and paths, not heeding or listening to the message of God’s reminders and truths which He had given them all through His many prophets and messengers. They thought that they were better and more knowledgeable than others, and they refused to admit their mistakes and flawed way of life when the prophets and messengers of God pointed out their errors before them. They instead persecuted those whom the Lord had sent to them in order to help and guide them along, leading to the murder of innocents and the holy servants of God, because the people refused to admit their weakness and sinfulness.

It was these same attitudes that we have also seen exhibited by many of the leaders of the Jewish people, the members of the Jewish High Council or also known as the Sanhedrin, which members were composed of the powerful and influential members of the Pharisees and also the Sadducees. They had different points of contentions and disagreements with the Lord, but essentially, all of them refused to believe in the Lord or to listen to the words and the revelations which He Himself had brought to them, or to trust in Him through the signs and miracles that He had shown them, as proofs that He was indeed the One that God had promised to send to His beloved ones that He might save all of them from damnation and destruction.

That was why we heard the discussions and disagreements among the members of the Sanhedrin, and many of them, including the High Priest, Caiaphas, wanted to eliminate the threat that the Lord Jesus posed to them, because His teachings and activities were not just in accordance or agreement with how the Pharisees and the Sadducees often did their observances of the Law and the commandments of God, but they were also afraid that His activities could lead to the Romans destroying and cancelling the privileges and good life that those Jewish elites had been enjoying, and thus, they agreed that they should condemn the Lord Jesus and hand Him to the Romans to be condemned to death. Thus, on this last day before the commencement of Holy Week, the stage has been sent for the events that would soon transpire during that most momentous week.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, a great and holy servant of God who was renowned for his efforts and works as the Archbishop of Lima in what is today part of Peru, during the time of the Spanish rule of the territory. He was very active in his many missions and works among the people throughout his diocese, carrying out his duties faithfully and caring for his flock with dedication, defending the rights of the poor, the weak and the less privileged against the powerful, the landowners and nobles who often took advantage against them. St. Turibius campaigned bravely against the exploitations and the efforts from those who greedily sought to expand their worldly gains on the expense of others.

St. Turibius de Mogrovejo spent a lot of time ministering to the people entrusted to him, often going around his diocese on foot, preaching the word of God to the natives of the region, baptising many people who have been convinced of the truth and salvation in God through his works. According to records and Church tradition, he baptised no less than one and a half million people personally throughout his ministry, and called many people to come closer to God. St. Turibius helped to establish many facilities and places for the benefit and good of the faithful, such as roads and schools, chapels and hospitals among other things. Through his efforts, many of the less privileged, the poor and the sick got well taken care of, and shown God’s great love.

St. Turibius also spent a lot of time in reforming his diocese and clergy, uprooting many scandals and corruptions that had plagued the Church at that time. He enforced and introduced the decrees and reforms from the Ecumenical Council of Trent to his diocese and helped to reestablish discipline among the clergy and the members of the Church, and through his great dedication and works, he had brought about many good changes and improvement to the Church, and brought many souls and people of God ever closer to His Presence and to salvation in Him. As contrasted to the attitudes of those who have not obeyed the Lord as highlighted in the Scriptures today, St. Turibius de Mogrovejo showed us all what it truly means to be followers and disciples of the Lord, and showed God’s great love for us through his works and missions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we all therefore capable of following the good examples and inspirations shown to us by St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, and keep in mind how we all should live our lives with faith, with commitment and obedience to God? Are we all capable of following the Lord wholeheartedly once again, dedicating ourselves thoroughly to Him, so that we may continue to glorify Him at each and every moments of our lives? As we all enter into the most solemn occasion and commemoration of Holy Week tomorrow, let us all remind ourselves of our sinfulness, unworthiness and all the things which have kept us away from God and His love, and let us all seek His forgiveness, with the resolve to cast aside our sins and wickedness, so that we may once again be truly worthy of God and His love. May the Lord bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 22 March 2024 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard from the Scripture passages today, we are reminded of just how imminent Holy Week is, which will begin this Sunday with Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. On this day we heard how the Lord faced a lot of opposition, rejection and persecution from those who have refused to believe in Him, as those people to whom He has shown Himself to hardened their hearts and minds against Him, thinking that they all knew it better than the Lord Himself, refusing to listen to the words of Wisdom that He has spoken. That was why despite many of them having known the Law, the words of the Prophets and the many prophecies concerning the Messiah, but they still failed to believe in Him even after they had witnessed and heard everything.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah in which the plight of Jeremiah was again highlighted to us, showing us all the persecutions and hardships that this prophet had to endure amidst his ministry and works, as he faced a lot of opposition, rejection and hardships from those who refused to believe in him or in the words of warning that he had brought to them from God. At that time the people of Israel and their descendants had long disobeyed the Lord and rebelled against Him, refusing to follow His Law and commandments, choosing to do their own agenda and pursuit of worldly glory, betraying their Lord and God for pagan and false idols that they worshipped and offered sacrifices to.

Despite the Lord having sent to His people many servants and messengers, namely the prophets to help remind and guide them all in their paths, but those people still hardened their hearts and minds, refusing to listen to the truth and the reminders which those prophets had delivered to them. Like Jeremiah, those prophets from earlier times had been persecuted and oppressed, and not few were even killed for their efforts and ministry among the people of God. As such, God’s anger was stoked against His people, and they had to face the consequences of their many sins and evil deeds, that first of all, the northern kingdom of Israel had been conquered and destroyed by the Assyrians, and later on, during the time of the prophet Jeremiah, the southern kingdom of Judah was also under imminent threat of destruction from the Babylonians.

Yet, the people still stubbornly resisted the Lord, preferring to do as they please and trusting in the false prophets and leaders who gave them false assurances and promises, and made them to depend on earthly powers instead of on the Lord and His providence. They persecuted Jeremiah, made his life and ministry difficult, shut him out and rejecting his message, and even almost managed to kill him, if not for the help and intervention from all those who were still sympathetic to him. This is a reminder for all of us that often times, staying faithful to God and doing His will can be quite challenging and difficult for us, and we may realise that as we listen to the Lord and obey His will, we may encounter the similar kind of challenges in our path as well.

These same sufferings and hardships had been encountered by the Lord Jesus Himself, Who had to face persecution and rejection from the people whom He had come to proclaim God’s love and salvation to. As we heard in the Gospel passage today, the Lord continued facing the stubborn attitude and rejections from many among the Jewish people, particularly and likely by those who belonged to the group of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the elites of the Jewish community, many of whom refused to believe in Jesus and in the things which He had brought to the midst of the community of the people of God. They disagreed with the Lord and disapproved how He dealt and acted with those whom the Pharisees often considered as sinful and unworthy of God, like tax collectors and prostitutes, or those afflicted with diseases.

As such, they accused Him of wrongdoing and even blasphemy against God, rejecting Him and the words which He had spoken in their midst. And despite having seen and witnessed all the miracles and wonders that the prophets and messengers of God had spoken about, they still refused to believe that He is the Messiah and the One Whom God had sent to bring His people to His salvation and grace. This is why the Lord told them all of His frustrations at just how dull their thoughts and how hardened their hearts have been, that just like their ancestors had done, they continued to resist the Lord’s efforts in loving them and reaching out to them with His love and patience, shown in all sincerity and perfection through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Yet, the Lord still went all out to help them, reaching out to them and loving them, as He would show all of us in the moment of His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross. When the Lord willingly took up His Cross and carried upon Himself all the punishments, consequences and trials on our behalf, taking up all of our sins and the weight of them all to His own shoulders, He did it all not just for the righteous and the worthy, but He did it for everyone all the same. Yes, this means that the Lord suffered and died even for all those who have rejected and refused to believe in Him, and just as He had done from His Cross, He forgave all those who have persecuted Him and condemned Him to death, asking His Heavenly Father not to hold their sins against them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all live our lives faithfully to the Lord from now on, and do our part so that our lives may ever be more worthy of the Lord, for all the love and kindness, the compassion and grace which He has always shown us all these while. Let us all be truly Christ-like in all of our every words, actions and deeds, so that through our good examples and inspirations, we may help lead many others to the Lord as well. Let our lives truly glorify the Lord, and let us make good use of the opportunities provided to us so that our Lenten journey may truly be enriching for all of us, and everyone around us. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 March 2024 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we today as we listened to the words of the Lord contained in the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of God’s great love by which He has established and renewed His Covenant with us, again and again, from the beginning of time, and which He has constantly remembered, and last of all, He renewed it for all of us through none other than His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ, all of us have received the assurance of God’s love and grace, the promise of eternal life and true joy with Him, and all these have been shown to us through the New and Eternal Covenant which He has established through His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately through His glorious Resurrection.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis in which the story of the moment when God established His Covenant with Abram, His faithful servant. Abram was called from the land of Ur to follow the Lord to the land of Canaan, which the Lord had promised to give to Abram and his descendants. Abram at that time while he was a really wealthy man, and yet he had no legitimate descendant to be his heir and successor, and yet such a promise from God might seem to be rather far-fetched, surreal and unrealistic. Yet, Abram trusted in the Lord and obeyed His call, leaving everything behind in his homeland and journeyed to wherever God wanted him to go. Thus, with the righteousness, obedience and virtues that Abram had shown, God blessed him and chose him to be the one with whom He would establish His Covenant with.

Thus, God reassured Abram of everything that He has promised, and as was common, He changed Abram’s name to that of Abraham, the name that we are all surely more familiar with. Abraham was the progenitor of many nations, the father of numerous peoples, and was especially the father of the nation of the Israelites, whom God would choose and call to be His first beloved nation and people. God was always faithful to His Covenant, guiding and leading those whom He had called and chosen, and as we all know, God kept faithfully guiding those same people despite their stubbornness and disobedience. He led them all out of the land of their misery and sufferings in Egypt, bringing them all the way to the land of Canaan, just as He has promised Abraham.

God remained faithful to His Covenant even when His people continued to disobey Him as just mentioned. If we read through the Old Testament and are familiar with the history of the Israelites, then surely we are all familiar with how those people of God had constantly rebelled against Him, turned their backs against His Law and His ways, and chose to follow instead the path of the pagan gods and idols, betraying the Covenant which the Lord had established and renewed with them again and again. God did chastise and punish those who have disobeyed against Him, but He did so out of love and compassion, as a loving Father Who truly cares for His wayward children, wanting to discipline and help them so that they all may grow ever better in their attitudes and righteousness in life.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the example of one such disobedient and stubborn attitude that God’s people has shown, in how the Jewish people treated the Lord Jesus, the One Who had been sent into our midst, Son of God Himself, incarnate in the flesh, so that by His revelation and truth, He might lead us all towards God and His salvation. Yet, those people, the Jewish people, descendants of the remnants of the Israelites, whom the Lord first ministered to, refused to believe in the words that God’s Saviour and Son has spoken to them. The Lord Himself has spoken such truth and wisdom that no one who heard them could have not believed in Him, and performed such miracles and wonders just as the prophets and messengers of God had spoken in the past, and yet, some of the people accused Him of colluding even with the prince of demons in doing so.

They refused to believe in the Lord and as we heard in today’s Gospel, they even accused Him of having a demon in Him just because they refused to believe in what He had presented to them. They refused to believe that the Lord was greater even than Abraham, their forefather, and claimed that just because they were the children and descendants of Abraham, then they knew it better than the Lord Himself and His truth. Why is that so? That is because of their ego and pride, which was a common attitude at the time, especially among the Jewish elites, namely the Pharisees and the Sadducees among them, who considered themselves better and superior to all those who have not believed in the same way as they have believed.

Yet, God still cared for them and patiently reached out to them nonetheless. And as a sign of things to come, as we are now about to enter into the most solemn celebrations of the Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion, suffering and death, therefore we heard how these confrontations and disagreements made it such that even the Lord had to hide Himself and not to show Himself in public places. Symbolically during this period of time this week and next week, also known as the Passiontide, the images and statues in the churches are covered and veiled, so that not only we can focus more on the important events of the Lord’s Passion during the Holy Week, but this also symbolically represented the Lord being in hiding during this period.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do whatever we can so that we may grow ever closer to the Lord this time, and make best use of whatever opportunities and help that we have been given, so that we may grow ever stronger in our faith and commitment to God. As we approach ever closer to the momentous events we are going to commemorate during the upcoming Holy Week, let us all come ever closer to the Lord, doing whatever we can so that by our actions, words and contributions in life, we can continue to glorify the Lord by our lives. Let us all continue our Lenten journey faithfully, and remind ourselves ever of God’s love and His commitment to the Covenant which He has made with us. Let us all seek God’s mercy and love, and renew our desire to love Him once more with all of our heart and might. May God bless us always, in all of what we do, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 20 March 2024 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that we have to be truly and genuinely faithful to God in all things, in our dedication and commitment to Him, so that by our every words, actions and deeds, we may truly be the source of inspiration, strength and hope for everyone all around us. All of us who have received God’s grace and love, we have been blessed with His guidance and strength, and He reminds us today through the readings from the Scriptures that He will always be by our side, providing for us and journeying with us even through the most difficult and challenging moments in life. God had never abandoned those who are faithful to Him, and He will always be by our side, even in our greatest sufferings.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Daniel about the moment when the three friends of Daniel were punished by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon when they refused to worship the great golden statue built by the King in his own image in Babylon. At that time, Daniel and his friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, also known as Azariah, Hananiah and Mishael were among the many descendants of the Israelites who had been brought by force to the land of Babylon after the Babylonians had destroyed and conquered both Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. They were exiled in Babylon and had to endure humiliations and many challenges, which included how to remain faithful to the Lord in the land of those who did not believe in Him.

It was in one such occasion therefore, the three friends of Daniel stood their ground and refused to worship the great golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had built. All the other people from the many nations conquered by the Babylonians obeyed the King’s orders, bowed down and worshipped the golden statue, but the three friends of Daniel refused to betray and abandon the Lord, and obey the King’s order in this matter. That was when we also heard the testimony of faith that the three men spoke before the King and all the others who were there with them, showing their trust and faith in God, that He would be with them and safeguard them from harm, and even if He did not do so, they would still not disobey God and they would remain firm in their faith in Him.

They did not fear the King’s anger and retribution, the threat of being burnt alive in the great fiery furnace, and even when the King ordered that the furnace be made much hotter than before, the three men trusted fully and completely in God. That was why the Lord sent them His Angel to safeguard them from harm, and the three men were completely unharmed by the flames and the heat, protected by God’s providence, love and grace, to the astonishment of everyone who were present. The three men were rescued from the fire and even earned great praise from the King who was amazed and astonished at the faith that they all had in their Lord and God, in facing up and refusing even his own direct orders in staying true and faithful to their God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a reminder for each and every one of us that as God’s holy people, His followers and disciples, we must always be ready to stand up for our faith, that there will be challenges and hardships in our path if we decide to follow Him faithfully and genuinely. The Lord has shown us that throughout history it has been proven how becoming followers and disciples of His would often mean that one may have to face the disapproval, rejection, and even persecution as well as trials in this world, from all those around us who disagree with our beliefs and ways. We must always keep in mind that just like those friends of Daniel, there are likely many times in our respective lives when we may have to make a choice between following and obeying God, and doing what the world is expecting us to do and what the world commonly accepts. The choice is really ours to make on which path we are to follow.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the interactions between the Lord Jesus and the Jewish people to whom He had been sent to at first, bringing with Him the truth and the message of God’s salvation, to fulfil everything that God had promised to all of His people, His beloved ones. Yet, just as we had heard from that same passage, we heard how the people were stubborn and refused to believe in the truth of God which the Lord Jesus had spoken clearly and courageously among all of them. They had listened to the words of the Lord’s Wisdom through His Son, witnessed His power and miraculous deeds, in all the healing miracles and works that the Lord Himself had done, and yet, they all hardened their hearts against Him and refused to believe in Him. And from what they themselves had said, they had revealed why this was the case.

It was because they were all too proud and haughty, arrogant in thinking that just because they were descended from Abraham, that they were God’s chosen people, His favoured ones and therefore merited great honour, and were superior and better than everyone else. Yet, the reality could not be further than this, as they continued to persist in refusing to listen to God and His words, His revelations and truth spoken through His Son. This is why each and every one of us are reminded of this today, so that we may live our own lives worthily and full of faith in God. We must always be humble in realising that we are sinful, full of faults and mistakes, imperfections and all the things which have kept us away from attaining the fullness of God’s grace and love. We must not think that we know better than others, or that we are more worthy somehow, and that we are without fault.

For it was through pride that many among us and our predecessors have fallen into sin, just like the hubris of King Nebuchadnezzar who built that golden statue in his own image, and the hubris and ego of the Jewish people, especially the Pharisees among them who thought that their ways were right and that they had nothing to gain by listening to the words of the Lord. In this time and season of Lent, we are all reminded to turn away from this prideful and haughty ways, and return once again towards the Lord our God, with renewed hearts and minds, full of regret and sorrow for our many sins and wickedness. We are reminded that the Lord has always loved us generously, and He has always wanted to provide us with the opportunities to return to Him, to be forgiven from our sins and to be reconciled with Him. Let us all therefore commit ourselves to this path of repentance and renewal, and be inspired by the faith of our holy predecessors, like the three friends of Daniel who had stood up courageously and faithful for their faith in God.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to bless and empower us so that we may continue to live ever more worthily from now on, in His Presence, be filled always ever with His grace and love, now and at all times. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, in all things, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 19 March 2024 : Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark and celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Joseph according to the Scriptures and Church traditions was a carpenter living in the town of Nazareth of Galilee, who was the husband of Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, Son of God and our Saviour. Therefore, as the Spouse of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, St. Joseph is the foster-father of Our Lord and Saviour Himself, and also an integral member and part of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. St. Joseph is also the Heir of David, being descended after many generations from King David through the kings of Judah and their descendants, as the one through whom God’s promises to David would be fulfilled.

And as St. Joseph was legally married to Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour, thus this made the Lord to be the legal heir of St. Joseph and hence, making Him the Heir and Son of David as in accordance to the Law of Moses. St. Joseph was also remembered as a great and righteous man, who was upright and just in all of his works and deeds, in all of his ways and obedience to God. He is therefore a great role model for us all and not merely meriting that great honour which had been given to him solely from being the foster-father of Our Lord. St. Joseph’s virtues and righteousness made him to be a truly ideal person to be the protector and guardian, and as an essential member of the Holy Family, as he carried out his responsibilities with great faith and commitment.

St. Joseph was upright, just and caring for others because as mentioned in the Scriptures, he could have divorced Mary or cancelled his engagement to her upon knowing that she had become pregnant. Before he knew more about it, he decided to do things quietly because if everyone else had known that Mary became pregnant outside of marriage and that the Child did not belong to St. Joseph, the young Mary could have been condemned and stoned to death according to the Law of Moses, as she would have then been accused of adultery and sin. But St. Joseph cared about Mary and wanted her to avoid that predicament. That was when the Lord told St. Joseph of everything that He had planned, and the true identity of the Child that Mary bore within her.

St. Joseph willing took up and shouldered the responsibilities that had been entrusted to him by the Lord. He took Mary as his own wife and accepted the Lord Jesus, the Child that Mary bore within her as his own even though He was not his biological Son. He devoted himself to a life of service to God, being the protector and head of the Holy Family henceforth, facing many struggles and difficulties, and helping both Mary and her Child to endure and persevere through all those issues all throughout their journeys. I am sure we are all well aware of how St. Joseph helped Mary on their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem when they were all expected to be part of the Roman Emperor’s great Census, while Mary was heavily pregnant and was almost due to give birth.

We all know how St. Joseph helped Mary to find a lodging in Bethlehem, despite having difficulties to get one because all the inns and houses were full. He helped the Holy Family to face the struggles and difficulties thereafter, evading Herod the Great’s efforts to destroy the young Messiah, the Lord Jesus, when he heard of His coming through the Magi. St. Joseph patiently and obediently led the Holy Family to seek refuge in Egypt, staying there until Herod had died, and then returning back to Nazareth. The last time he was heard in the Scriptures was in our Gospel passage today, where we heard how St. Joseph led the twelve years old Lord Jesus and His mother Mary to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, and it was there that Jesus purposefully stayed behind in His Father’s House.

We heard how Mary and St. Joseph went to look for the missing Jesus, and found Him at the Temple of Jerusalem, speaking with the priests and others assembled there at the Temple. Throughout the whole thing, St. Joseph was shown as being the quiet one, but the Gospels recorded how the Lord Jesus went back to Nazareth together with His parents, and subjected Himself to their authority. It was likely from St. Joseph that the Lord learnt many skills in this world, as well as other knowledge and also understanding of God’s Law and commandments. He was not mentioned anymore after that, and it was likely that he had passed away before the Lord began His ministry, and yet, St. Joseph had done so much for the Lord, for His mother Mary and had become great role model and example for all of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today therefore on this great Feast and celebration of St. Joseph, head and protector of the Holy Family, Foster-father of Our Lord and Saviour, and the Spouse of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, let us all be inspired by all the good examples, righteousness and faith which St. Joseph has shown each and every one of us. St. Joseph has also been declared as the Patron and Protector of the Universal Church by Blessed Pope Pius IX over a century and half ago, and in that role, he continued to intercede on behalf of the Church, for all of us living in this world, as members of the Church, that his watching eyes and guidance continue to help us in living our lives and in doing what God had commanded us to do, just as St. Joseph himself had done earlier.

Let us all hence continue to live our lives faithfully as Christians, as God’s holy people, in all righteousness and justice, in following His Law and commandments, in being responsible towards our many commitments, responsibilities and missions in life, following the good and inspiring examples shown by St. Joseph himself. Great and holy Patron, St. Joseph, pray for all of us and pray for the Church of God, so that we will continue to be good role models and inspirations to everyone through our way of life, actions and works. May God be with us all and may He empower us to continue living our lives faithfully at all times. Amen.

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Monday, 18 March 2024 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the Scripture readings, particularly the long reading from the Book of Daniel in our first reading, each and every one of us are reminded of the dangers of sin and how sin can lead us down the path of ruin and destruction, and how we have been constantly reminded to resist those temptations of sin, and stay within the path that God had shown and taught us all to walk in. But at the same time we are also reminded that God has the power to forgive us our sins, and to restore us to His grace and love, as long as we are willing to commit ourselves to Him, rejecting our past sinful way of life and embracing His forgiveness and mercy wholeheartedly, as we all should have. This season of Lent is the perfect time for us to seek the Lord with contrite and repentant hearts, to be reunited once again to Him.

In our first reading today, as mentioned, from the Book of Daniel we heard of the story of Susanna, the wife of a wealthy Jewish man in Babylon, during the time of the exile of the people of God in that land after the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. We heard how two of the elders from the community of the exiled Israelites there grew to lust upon Susanna when they saw her bathing in her estate’s garden, and tried to force themselves upon her. When they could not get what they wanted, they tried to silence her and bring about false accusations upon her so that she would be punished and sentenced to death, which would therefore prevent their wickedness and their evils from being discovered, abusing their status and authority to serve their own selfish purposes.

But God intervened through Daniel, who was then a young man blessed by God’s favour and wisdom, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, God led Daniel to intercede for Susanna’s cause, asking the people to reconsider the judgment that they had prematurely given to Susanna based on the lies and false accusations made by the two elders against her. Therefore, we heard how Daniel, speaking with great wisdom from God, helped Susanna to escape her fated demise, and instead, by revelation of truth and the inconsistency of their lies, the two elders were judged by their own words and admissions, through which they revealed how they have lied about the affairs involving them and Susanna, the latter being cleared of all charges while the two elders were sentenced to death.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard from the Gospel of St. John the Apostle about the interactions between the Lord Jesus, the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law wanted to use the adulterous woman to trap the Lord in a difficult situation from which they likely hoped that they could benefit from, by accusing the Lord falsely of colluding with those who sinned against God, should He decide to be kind and nice to the adulterous woman, as they expected that He would, based on His other actions. Even if the Lord were to be harsh on the adulterous woman, they could still benefit from that by saying that what the Lord had done, was merely following what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves had done.

But the Lord knew everything that was planned against Him, and at the same time, He also saw the adulterous woman and had pity on her, knowing that this poor soul was also repentant and desiring His love and compassion, His mercy and forgiveness. That was why He told everyone that if any one of them was without sin, then he or she could throw the first stone at the woman. This Law was meant to discourage the people from sinning, but was never meant to cause people to discriminate against those whom they deemed to be less worthy or greater sinner than they were, just as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done to many people including to the adulterous woman. The Lord wanted to guide all sinners back to Himself, and therefore, at that moment, He reminded all of those people of their sins.

No one present there obviously was without any sin, and hence, as we heard, beginning with the oldest ones among them, who had lived the longest and therefore were aware that they had committed the most sins and disobedience against God, and then to the youngest ones, all of them left one by one, realising that they themselves were sinners, ashamed and embarrassed, and no one dared to claim that any of them was without any sin, and hence, we heard how no one was left to condemn and punish the woman. What we must realise is the Lord Himself was actually the One Who was without any sin, and He could have condemned and punished the woman, and yet He did not do so, because He loved her and all sinners, and wanted everyone of us to return to Him, to be forgiven our sins and reconciled with God.

This is a reminder for all of us that we must not let sin to continue to be an obstacle in our path towards God and His salvation. We have to strive to do what the Lord has taught us all to do, to live faithfully and worthily in accordance with God’s will. What the Lord told the adulterous woman is a reminder for us not to sin anymore and to turn away from our evil and wicked ways, embracing God’s ever generous love and compassion, His mercy and desire to forgive us our many sins. That is why during this time and season of Lent, we should make good use of the opportunities and moments given to us so that hopefully we may come ever closer to the Lord with sincere, contrite and repentant hearts and minds, committed to walk once more in the path of God’s grace and righteousness.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, who was one the great early Church fathers, and honoured as one of the venerable Doctors of the Church for his many contributions to the Church. He was remembered for his great dedication to the Lord and His Church, for the many efforts and hard work that he had done as the Bishop of the prominent See of Jerusalem, in opposing the then terrible heresy of Arianism that was raging throughout the Church, leading countless souls astray from God’s path. He was locked in long years of struggles against the Arians, particularly with Metropolitan Acacius of Caesarea, a prominent Arian leader who had the support of the powerful members of the Roman state and governance at the time. St. Cyril had to face many struggles and even exile from his See at times, and yet, he remained firm in his dedication and conviction, doing his best to continue leading the people of God to the right path, especially through his many theological works refuting the falsehoods of Arianism and other heresies.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect well upon what we have discussed today, and be inspired by the great examples that our holy predecessors, particularly that of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, so that our whole lives may be great examples and inspirations for everyone around us. May God be with us all at all times, and may He continue to guide and strengthen us in our journey of faith and life. May He empower and strengthen all of us so that we may continue to be strong and courageous in living our lives in His path, now and always. Amen.