Lenten sermon

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Sunday, 1 March 2026 : Second Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we gather together to celebrate this Second Sunday in the season of Lent, all of us are reminded of this Sunday’s Scripture theme that is on the topic of calling and mission, which God has called each and every one of us to do, in following Him and entrusting ourselves to Him, to obey Him and listen to His words, as He guides us down the right path, one that is not necessarily the easiest and happiest path for us. But as long as we follow Him and remain faithful to Him, we shall find our satisfaction in the Lord, and we shall gain true joy in Him and with Him. Yet, we have to keep ourselves rooted firmly in faith in God, and focus our attention wholly on Him or else, we may find it easy to be distracted by worldly temptations and all the things which may mislead us down the wrong path in life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis, the story of how God called a man named Abram from the land of Ur in Mesopotamia, in the present day Iraq, to follow Him. Abram obeyed the Lord and listened to Him, chose to depart from his homeland, which he never saw again in his lifetime, and went first to the land and city of Harran just at the boundary between Syria and Mesopotamia, together with his father, before he embarked on his own journey with his wife, Sarai and his household and belongings to the land of Canaan, following God’s instructions and commands, and it was mentioned that Lot his nephew also followed Abram as well. This was how Abram went and follow the Lord’s calling wholeheartedly, even when he could have done otherwise and just enjoyed the riches and the comfort of where he used to live in. He instead entrusted himself to the Lord completely.

Abram listened to the Lord and trusted Him, even when there were so many uncertainties in the path that he embarked on. He had great faith in God and consequently, he was greatly blessed by God, who promised him that he would become the father of many nations, by the Covenant which God Himself established with Abram. Abram dedicated and committed himself to this Covenant, and changed his name to Abraham as a mark of his commitment. Back then, a name change often signified this commitment which one made, in establishing a pact, which in this case is the solemn Covenant that Abraham had made with God. Sarai, his wife also went through the same change, known as Sarah henceforth, as would be his grandson, later on, Jacob, who was known as Israel after he renewed the same Covenant with God.

From the examples made by our forefathers in faith, all of us can see how each and every one of us are called to do the same as well, reminded that God has always been faithful to His Covenant, in how He fulfilled everything that He has ever promised to man, to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and Sarah, and then to Jacob, also known as Israel, and his descendants, with whom God continued to renew and reestablish His Covenant. St. Paul in our second reading today in his Epistle to St. Timothy, his godson and protege has highlighted how the Lord has called us to Him, and how He has always renewed His Covenant and showing His love for us, especially through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world, of all mankind. Christ has come into the world, into our midst so that by His coming, God might fulfil everything that He Himself has promised to us.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the story of the Transfiguration of the Lord, detailing the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured before three of His disciples, His inner circle, of St. Peter, St. James and St. John, who went up to Mount Tabor with Him. There, they witnessed how the Lord revealed the glimpse of the truth about His true nature, as the Divine Son of God, the Divine Word Incarnate in the flesh, God Himself, taking up our human nature and existence, coming down into our midst and walking among us, so that through His coming, He may reach out to us and embrace us truly, as His own. He came to us as God Who truly loves each and every one of us, gathering us from among the nations, and calling on us all to follow Him, turning away from our sins.

By His Transfiguration and appearance with Moses and Elijah at Mount Tabor, Christ our Lord also highlighted to us all yet again everything that He has done for our sake. Moses represented the Law of God, the Law and the Ten Commandments, and everything that God has provided to His people Israel, during the time of their Exodus from Egypt and journey to the land promised to them and their ancestors, while Elijah represented the Prophets of God, the many prophets through whom God had sent His reminders and assurances to His people, reminding them of His love and faithfulness, of the coming of His salvation, and the revelation of His love and truth. The appearance of Moses and Elijah together with the Transfigured Christ therefore affirmed us all that the Lord has truly been faithful to the Covenant that He has established with us, and He wants us all to put our complete trust and faith in Him, and follow Him.

Like Abraham in the past, and Sarah, and Jacob, who have all witnessed the Lord present in their midst and journeying with them, St. Peter, St. James and St. John who have all witnessed the Lord Transfigured before their very own eyes, have seen for themselves the love of God manifested in all of His glory. That was why, after the Lord had died, and risen in glory, and then ascended into Heaven, they together with the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord, having witnessed and received, shared and understood this same truth, they all went forth fearlessly and courageously, dedicating themselves completely to the Lord and His cause, following Him in much the same way as how Abraham trusted wholeheartedly in the Lord, and all of us have also received this same truth passed down to us through the Church of God.

Those three disciples obeyed and listened to the Lord, despite having initially wanted to stay on that mountain with the Lord, in that blissful glory, with Moses and Elijah. We must understand that this request as mentioned by St. Peter was likely made because if they were to stay there in that blissful place, then they could enjoy being there and away from the hardships of the struggles and trials that they had to endure in following the path of the Lord. But God reminded all of them to listen to His Son, and to follow Him. The Lord Himself could very well have stayed there, in a great moment of blissful glory, revealing for a moment, His true glorious nature. He did not need to endure sufferings and hardships, persecution, humiliation and pain, and if we recall the Gospel passage from the last Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent, that was exactly the intent of the devil too when he tried to tempt the Lord to give in to the many temptations he presented to Him.

Yet, all those things did not prevail as the Lord showed us all true obedience, and as the Son of Man, He shows us all mankind, how to be truly obedient to God, to listen to Him and follow Him wholeheartedly, as He Himself showed by His coming down from Mount Tabor, ready to go forth to His Passion, His suffering and death in Jerusalem, to be betrayed by one of His own disciples, to be rejected by His own people and the chief priests, condemned to death and blamed for mistakes and sins that were not His own. The Lord our Saviour obeyed His Father’s will so perfectly that He offered Himself for our own behalf, and from that, gained for all of us the promise and assurance of eternal life. He showed all of us the perfect example of perfect and most selfless love, and showed us that trusting in Him and putting our faith in Him is indeed something that we should do, because He Himself has given us His promises, not just in mere words, but He truly showed us all these in person.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to this Sunday’s Scripture passages and reflect upon them, let us all be truly touched by the Lord and be inspired by Him and His own examples, and also the examples of our holy predecessors, who had followed the Lord and answered His call. Let us also follow the Lord in our own way, and listen to Him calling on us to follow Him, and discern carefully our path in life so that, in whatever it is that the Lord had led us towards, we may indeed be able to commit ourselves fully to His path, and strive our best to walk in that path throughout our lives, so that our lives may truly be worthy of Him, and our deeds and actions may truly reflect who we are, that is God’s holy and beloved people, as Christians, called to be the disiples of the Lord and as the beacons of His light and truth in our communities today.

May this season of Lent be a time for us to recommit ourselves to the Lord once again, turning ourselves away from the many temptations of the world all around us, and spend more time with God in prayer and by other means, so that we may come to know fully what God truly wants us to do, and what He has called upon us to do as well. Let us do our best to make use of the time and opportunities that had been given to us to draw ever closer to God and to know Him more. May God bless us all and guide us through this season of Lent so that we may be able to resist the many temptations all around us, and be ever more faithful and better role models and inspirations in faith in all of our actions and deeds, throughout our lives. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 February 2026 : First Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the first one in the whole season of Lent, the first of the five Sundays of the season of Lent before we enter into the Holy Week, as we all prepare ourselves for the coming of the great mystery of the Passion of the Lord and all of His saving works, and the glorious celebration at Easter. On this Sunday we are all brought to the very beginning of how sin came into us and led us all into corruption and our downfall, so that hopefully we may realise just how dangerous and terrible sin can be, and why we have to remain vigilant and careful throughout our lives such that we do not end up falling down the slippery path towards damnation because of us being tempted to sin. It is quite easy for us to fall into sin unless we remain strong in our conviction and faith in the Lord, as how it had happened to many of our predecessors. And this is why we need to make good use of this season of Lent to remind ourselves to be more faithful and committed to God, resisting the temptations of sin.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis the story of how the first mankind fell into sin, that is of Adam and Eve, the ones whom God created in the beginning of time. God created mankind after He had created the whole universe and existence, and prepared everything all well and good, crafting man in His own image. God made everything to be all good and perfect, and He intended for us to enjoy forever the happiness, bliss and joy of our existence, full of grace and love for God, for eternity. That is what why we had been created, to share in the love of God, and to enjoy the blissful existence in Eden as our ancestors had once enjoyed. Yet, unfortunately they fell into sin because they chose to listen to the sweet lies and falsehoods of Satan rather than to trust in the Lord and His love for each one of us.

Satan tempted Adam and Eve by playing into their desires, their curiosity for knowledge and understanding, their willingness to try out new things and to experience what it may be like to know good and evil like how God Himself is all-knowing. Yet, it was by their disobedience against God that they allowed sin to enter into their hearts and minds, corrupting them and their descendants henceforth, and because of that, we have to wander off in the hardships of this world, away from the fullness of God’s grace and love. This is because sin and wickedness have no place before God and His perfection, His all good nature. Sin has therefore held dominion over us all ever since then right up to the moment when the Lord sent us His salvation, through none other than Jesus Christ, His own beloved and only begotten Son. Through Christ, all of us have seen, witnessed and received the perfect manifestation of God’s love.

The fact is that God truly loves each one of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. He could have crushed and destroyed us easily for our disobedience and wickedness, but He chose to be patient with us, reaching out to us with genuine love and compassionate mercy. He gave us His beloved Son because through Him, we are going to be led out of the darkness of sin into the eternal life and justification in God. This is what St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome has spoken about, as he highlighted to them all how sin had entered into this world through the first man, but then, God gave us the gift of His only begotten Son, to come into our world and becoming Man like us, as the Son of Man, so that by the perfect example of His obedience to the will of His heavenly Father, He may lead us all into the right path towards full reconciliation and reunion with the Lord, our loving Father Who loves each and every one of us, without exception.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Paul clearly highlighted the comparison and difference between what Adam, the first man had done, in listening to Satan instead of listening to God, choosing to obey the words of Satan together with that of his wife Eve, so that they ended up disobeying God and doing what the Lord had forbidden them to do, with Jesus Christ, Whom St. Paul mentioned sometimes as the New Adam, the New Man, through Whom He showed us all the example of perfect obedience to the will of God. Our Lord Jesus obeyed the Father’s will so perfectly and well, that He obeyed even when He had to bear the burden of His Cross, that is the multitudes of our many and innumerable sins, evils and wickedness, our faults and corruptions, all of which should have led us to our deaths and destructions. Yet, by His great and ever patient and enduring love, God Himself has willingly done all He could for us, so that by His most loving and selfless sacrifice on the Cross, He could save us from our fated destruction.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus Himself was tempted by Satan after He was baptised in the River Jordan by St. John the Baptist, at the beginning of His ministry in this world. In this quite well known story, at that time, the Lord Jesus went through a period of forty days of physical fasting and spiritual exercise in the wilderness and desert, where Satan came to Him and tried not just once but three times to tempt Him to stop His work and mission in this world, by offering Him the same kind of persuasions and temptations that He had once tempted our ancestors with. Satan struck with all of his persuasions, tempting the Lord with all sorts of the most dangerous temptations, by first striking at Him with the satisfaction of the flesh through food, and pride, and yet again another one through hubris, ego and pride, and finally the greed and desire for worldly glory and fame.

Satan tempted Adam and Eve with the allure of knowledge and greatness, so that by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, expressly prohibited by God, they could become equal like God, to be like God in His might and knowledge, tempting them with glory, power and knowledge, among others, which moved them to disobey the Lord and choose to walk their own rebellious path as Satan himself had done before them, instead of trusting in God and His providence. But this failed to tempt the Lord, Who as the Son of Man, the New Adam, showed us the perfect example of great obedience as He obeyed His Father’s will, and refused to bend to the demands of Satan, or even paying attention or any heed to his falsehoods, his sweet lies and wicked words. He refuted Satan’s claims and lies, and spoke courageously of the truth that He Himself has brought into this world.

When Satan tried to highlight to the Lord that He is the Son of God in order to make Him to be swayed by pride and ego, to do something for His own selfish gain and benefit, by turning the stones into bread to nourish Himself, the Lord rebuked Satan and rejected his effort in tempting Him, by saying that mankind do not live and survive on bread alone, but on every words that come from the Lord. Instead of doing something for the sake of His own benefit, the Lord chose to do what is most unconventional, and that is to do what He had done for everyone’s sake, in giving Himself to them all. Instead of turning the stones into bread for His own consumption, He, Who is the Bread of Life, chose to be broken Himself, and to offer Himself for everyone, in a most selfless sacrifice and offering of love, for the salvation of the whole world.

And when Satan brought the Lord over to the top of the Temple of Jerusalem, telling Him using the phrases from the Scriptures to try to trick Him and to make Him be swayed by the fame and glory that he offered, the Lord told Satan off once again, that one should not put the Lord to the test, which is an important reminder for each and every one of us not to lose faith in the Lord and His providence. Instead, we have to keep our faith in Him and put our focus on Him, and not to indulge in the desire to be seen or to be praised for our actions. Everything we do in our lives, all of them should indeed be to glorify the Lord by our own exemplary life and works, which should be in accordance to the will of God. We should not seek to be selfish and pursuing personal glory and satisfaction over our obedience and faith in God, and also our love for one another.

Lastly, the Lord also rebuked Satan when he showed Him the whole vastness of the wealth and the greatness of the world, as the latter desperately tried to bring the Lord to succumb to the temptations of worldly glory and riches, to no avail. The Lord told Satan off and rebuked him hard with the words that the Lord alone is worthy and ought to be worshipped, and not Satan. This last effort from Satan that was greatly rejected and criticised by the Lord, Who struck at the very core of Satan’s own rebellion against God, as he aspired to ascend even the Throne of God and become the ruler over all of Creation. Essentially, the Lord proclaimed to Satan that in the end, the justice and goodness of the Lord will triumph over him, and that the faith in the Lord alone will lead us mankind to salvation through the same Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. Meanwhile, Satan and all those who choose to side with him will be crushed and destroyed.

That is why, each and every one of us are reminded today at the early beginning of this season of Lent, that we must not allow ourselves to be swayed by the lies and false promises of Satan and all other tempters and those sent to convince us to abandon our path and journey towards the Lord. We have to be ever vigilant and not allow ourselves to be twisted and corrupted by our own pride, ego, arrogance, hubris, desires and greed, jealousy, lust and other things by which we often encounter serious obstacles in our journey of faith towards the Lord. We must follow the examples shown by Our Lord Himself, as well as the innumerable saints and martyrs, our holy predecessors, those holy men and women who have resisted the temptations to sin, the temptation of worldly glory, fame and ambition in our hearts and minds.

During this season of Lent, all of us are called and reminded to deepen our relationship with God through the three pillars of Lent, that we all should be well aware of. These three pillars are that of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, and our whole season of Lent should be filled with them. Not only that, but when we carry out those actions and fulfil what we have been recommended to do during this solemn period of Lent, we should do them with the right intention and purpose, that is to bring ourselves closer to God and to restrain the many temptations from outside and within us, so that hopefully we may come ever closer to God and His salvation, and distance ourselves from Satan and all those who seek nothing else but our destruction and damnation. We should make good use of whatever opportunities and time provided to us, and do what we can to live our lives worthily of the Lord.

We must of course have a good and vibrant prayerful life, as for Christians, it is inconceivable for us not to spend any time in prayer. But our prayers must also not be one that is merely reciting and saying words, as we should use prayer as how it is intended to be, for us to communicate with the Lord. All of us may come to deeper appreciation of God’s love and actions through our interactions and time spent with Him in prayer and through our other means of reaching out to Him. And when we fast, we should do so because we want to restrain the temptations of our flesh, which can be indeed weak in the face of relentless attacks and temptations present all around us. We should not fast because we seek renown or praise for our actions, but rather we fast because we have that genuine and strong desire to distance ourselves from sin and come closer to God and His merciful love, and in loving one another ever more.

We should also be ever more generous, in almsgiving, that is in giving whatever we can spare for all those around us who are less fortunate than us. And almsgiving should not just be limited to material giving, but rather, should also include our time and attention, our love and care in particular for all those who are less fortunate and unloved, all around us, and especially so for those who are most dear and precious to us. During this time of Lent, each and every one of us are reminded to sharpen the side of our humility and faith, deepening our relationship with God through charity and love, while at the same time rejecting Satan and all of his false promises and lies, and resist the many temptations all around us to commit what is sinful against the Lord. We are all called to be ever more faithful to God and to be good and worthy role models in our faith, inspiring many others to follow in our footsteps as well.

May God be with us always and may He empower us all throughout this Lenten season so that we may continue to serve Him and to walk in His presence, now and always. May God bless us all in our every good works, efforts and endeavours for His greater glory, so that by each and every things we do, we will always draw many more people closer to Him and lead many more towards the salvation in God. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 February 2026 : Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the beginning of the season of Lent with this commemoration of Ash Wednesday. On this day as we receive the imposition of ashes on our forehead, we are all reminded of the fickle nature of our existence in this world, and how we are not meant to last forever in our current life. Eventually, we shall reach the end of our lives and existence in this world and we shall be made accountable for our lives and how we have lived them. And unless we remain vigilant and keep in mind the commandments, the precepts and the Law of God, we may end up falling into the wrong path, tempted and swayed by sin and evils all around us. Hence, that is why we have this season and time of Lent to help us to reorientate our lives and redirect our attention and focus back towards the Lord once again.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Joel, we heard of the Lord calling upon His people to return to Him, to entrust themselves once again to His providence, love and grace. We heard the Lord calling on all the people to repent and turn away from their many sins and wicked ways, and how He is truly merciful, compassionate and filled up with great and most generous love for each and every one of us. According to historical evidence and signs, the prophet Joel lived during the time after the destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, the exile of the remnants of the people of God to distant lands of Assyria and Babylon. Hence, what the Lord spoke to His people through the prophet Joel was a reminder that despite all the wicked things that the people had done, ultimately, His love for them still prevailed.

Yes, the Lord truly loves all of us, His people, His children and all those whom He has cherished. He did not create us all in order to destroy or punish us, but it was by our own disobedience and sins which we have separated and sundered ourselves from the fullness of God’s love and grace. God still loved us regardless, as He despised our sins and wickedness, but not us personally. What He wants us to do is to distance ourselves from those sins and wickedness, and to turn away from all the rebellious and sinful attitudes that are unworthy of Him. If only we can embrace His love, compassion and mercy once again, we will receive the fullness of His forgiveness and grace, and we shall be lifted out of our predicaments, troubles and trials in life. He has always promised us all that He will care for us and liberate us from our troubles, and He has indeed fulfilled it all.

In our second reading passage today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we heard about the Apostle speaking to the people of God regarding the salvation that God Himself has brought upon His people. St. Paul reminded us all how the Lord has sent us His own beloved Son to be our Saviour, and to provide us with the sure and guaranteed way out of the darkness and the predicaments of our lives. He showed us all the proof and manifestation of His ever enduring love for us through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Through Him, all of us have seen the light of God’s salvation, and therefore we are reminded today at the beginning of this season of Lent, that having seen and received the love of God shown to us through Christ and all that He has done for us, even to the point of enduring all the sufferings for us, and dying on the Cross, we are all called to return to the Lord once again with faith.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and followers regarding the matter of fasting and why one should be fasting and how they ought to be fasting in the right manner. Contextually, at that time, the people of God especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had not been living their lives with genuine faith, as they were doing all those things like fasting and even almsgiving for appearances, fame and praise by others. The Lord Himself often criticised the Pharisees for parading themselves and their piety before others, showing off just how faithful and dedicated they were to God, so that they could be praised by everyone and be esteemed and respected as they desired. That is why, He told His disciples and hence all of us that whatever we do in life, we have to do it out of genuine faith in God and because we truly love God and His people, our fellow brothers and sisters.

During this season of Lent, we are all called to genuine conversion of heart and to rediscover once again the love that we ought to have for God, to put our trust once again in Him and to renew our commitment to Him, distancing ourselves from the wickedness of the world and from the corruption of sin, and coming to Him seeking for forgiveness from our many faults. As I mentioned earlier on, God truly loves each one of us, and while He despises our sins, He truly wants us to be reconciled to Him, and this season of Lent is the perfect opportunity and time that He has given us again and again, for us to spend in reflecting upon our lives and think carefully of what we should be doing moving forward in life. Should we continue to walk down the path of sin and rebellion against God, indulging in the many worldly vices and temptations? Or should we instead seek the Lord with renewed vigour and zeal?

This Lent, all of us are called to spend more time with God, to be more faithful and committed to Him, and the practices that the Church has called us to do this Lent, which includes the fast and abstinence we ought to do today on this Ash Wednesday, as well as greater love and charity, generosity and almsgiving, all these should be done because we have the desire to love God more, to come closer to Him and be reconciled with Him, and not because we want to be recognised and praised in our faith, as the Pharisees had once done. That is why we are reminded today that our actions and observances of Lenten practices should be done out of focus on the Lord and the Lord alone, and not to satisfy our greed and worldly ambitions, or to gain us fulfilment and good feeling. This Ash Wednesday is a good reminder of this need for us to turn back once again towards God with faith.

Today, on Ash Wednesday, as we have ashes imposed upon us, on our head or on our forehead, let it be a reminder for us that we are all sinners in need of God’s healing and mercy, and let that ash not be a symbol of pride, for us to show off our faith to others. Instead, the ash should be a reminder instead of our humility and our need of help and regeneration from God, that as we rend not just our bodies, but also our hearts, minds, our souls and our whole beings, we commit ourselves to the Lord into a whole new existence that is focused and centred on Him. Let the ash be the commitment that we make to distance ourselves from our sinful past, ever reminded of our mortality and how sin has led us down this wrong path. And let us all rise again from the ashes, through our commitment to live our lives with greater faith and confidence in God, from now on.

Hence, as we enter into this season of Lent, let us all rediscover the love we ought to have for God, putting Him once again as the centre and focus of our lives. Let us also nurture the same love that we should have for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us, as God has also called us to be generous in loving one another, and we ought to do it unconditionally and willingly, not because we seek for benefits or return of what we have given. Let us all make good use of this time and season of Lent, and may all of us have a great experience in our preparation throughout this blessed time, that we may grow ever closer to God and be worthy to receive the fullness of His grace and love. Wishing us all a most blessed, holy and fruitful Lenten season. Amen.

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Friday, 18 April 2025 : Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is Good Friday, also known as the Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord. On this day Christians throughout the world commemorate the suffering, crucifixion and ultimately the death of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. This day is truly a Good Friday because it is a Good thing that God has died for us, as if not for this, we would have certainly perished in the eternal darkness and suffering, being separated forever from the love and grace of God. It was because of the sufferings and the pains endured by Christ, all of His wounds and hurts that we have been healed from our afflictions and sins, from all the corruptions and defilements by those sins and evils we have committed in our lives.

And indeed, God died today on this most holy and good Friday, almost two millennia ago. Such a statement is indeed baffling to many people, as to the Jews at that time, it was incomprehensible that God died, Him being the Almighty Lord and God of all Creation and the Universe, while to the Greeks and other Gentiles, such a notion that God dies, is one of foolishness and weakness, for to them, accustomed with having many gods and those gods that perished, only the strong ones remain while those that perished were weak. And yet, what God has revealed to us through His Son, the Divine Word Incarnate, Son of God and yet also Son of Man, is one of pure and ever enduring love which persists despite the many challenges and obstacles to this love that God had for us.

This death of God was made possible because in the very core of our Christian beliefs and teachings, we believe that God Himself has become incarnate in the flesh, embracing our human nature and existence, being formed and developing in the hallowed womb of Mary, whom God had sanctified and filled with His grace, keeping her away from the taint of original sin and corruption so that this vessel so pure and blameless might truly be worthy to bear the Son of God and brought Him forth into this world. We believe that in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, is a hypostatic union of two distinct and yet inseparable natures, that of Divine and Human. That means Jesus was truly and fully Divine, fully God, while at the same time He was also fully Man.

And while God in His Divinity is immortal and all-powerful, transcendent and beyond comprehension, but in His Humanity, God truly has died that day at Calvary, pierced, beaten and wounded for us all. The death of Jesus Christ is truly a real death, and not merely a symbol or appearance only, or as some would believe it otherwise, that He did not really die but was replaced by another. The Lord really did suffer and die, and He was wounded deeply because of our sins. As the first reading of this Good Friday from the Book of the prophet Isaiah highlighted to us, Christ is the One to bear all the burdens of our sins, all of our wickedness and faults, for which we should have been punished for, and yet, God’s great mercy and compassion has allowed us to find a way out through His Son, Our Saviour.

The prophet Isaiah spoke about the Suffering Servant of God, the One Whom God would punish on our behalf for all of our faults and mistakes, burdened with all of the punishments and scourges, wounds because of our disobedience and evils, all the things which we have done in this world that are not in accordance with God’s will. The Suffering Servant is the role that Christ our Saviour has taken up upon Himself, willingly and obediently accepting punishments upon Himself so that by His perfect obedience, He might craft unto us a remedy that allows us all to overcome all of our sins, through God’s forgiveness and grace, freely given and offered to us. By the willing and most loving sacrifice of our Lord and God, on the Altar of the Cross, the perfect and worthy sacrifice in atonement of our sins have been offered by our One True Eternal High Priest.

And this offering is none other than the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Himself, slain and offered on the Altar of the Cross for us. And since it is none other than the Divine Son and Lamb of God offering Himself, it is the only sacrifice and offering worthy to atone for our sins. This is the continuation of the whole grand liturgy that began yesterday at the Last Supper and which will continue through to the Easter Vigil tomorrow evening, a grand sacrifice that the Lord Himself has offered on our behalf for our salvation, with His sufferings and death uniting us all to die to our own sins and wickedness, bringing us through the valley of darkness and out into the light. And by partaking His Most Precious Body and Blood that He Himself has given to us most generously through the Eucharist, God has given us all the perfect remedy for our fallen state and sinfulness, showing us the certain path out of the darkness and into the light of God’s grace and salvation.

In our second reading this Good Friday, we then heard of the words from the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in which he highlighted the role of Jesus Christ our Lord as the High Priest, Who having shared in our human nature and being truly and fully human, He did share in our pains and sufferings. It is again His incarnation that allowed Him to experience suffering and death in His Passion and what we reflect upon throughout the long Passion story in our Gospel passage today. He has been tempted also by the same temptations that we have faced ourselves, and endured the same things that we have endured. Yet, He triumphed over all those temptations and showed us all that it is indeed possible for us mankind to resist the temptations and to be truly obedient to God, just as Christ Himself has shown us.

By His humble obedience, Jesus our Lord has shown us the perfect example of how each and every one of us as Christians should live our lives in the manner that is truly pleasing to God. And today as we focus our attention on the great sacrifice that Our Lord Himself has gone through for our sake, we are reminded that all of us should not continue to indulge in our various temptations and sins. We should instead remember that each one of our sins and faults have caused hurt on the Lord Himself, with every wounds that were inflicted upon Him being every single sins that we have committed in our lives. And yet, at the same time, God has been so generous with His love for us that He was willing to go through all the sufferings and pains meant for us so that we can be saved from certain destruction and can be reconciled and reunited with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore as we commemorate the events which happened on this Good Friday and as we continue to immerse ourselves in the important events of this Paschal Triduum, let us all grow ever more aware of our relationship with God and all of our sins, imperfections and faults. Let us all first and foremost be thankful for all the love that God has shown us, and be grateful for everything that He had done for us. Let us all lovingly gaze upon the Cross and commit ourselves wholly and wholeheartedly knowing that He has always been there for us, guiding us through our journey in life and helping us to carry our own crosses. Let us remind ourselves that whatever difficulties and sufferings we may be facing in life, the Lord has suffered them all as well, and in a manner far worse than ours. Yet, He bore them all patiently out of love for us.

Let us all therefore continue to deepen our relationship with God and do our very best to commit ourselves to Him, in everything that we do and in our whole ways of living our lives. We should be more genuine in our faith and in our efforts to build and maintain our relationship with God and we should not ignore the love that God has for us any longer. Instead, let us do our best to glorify God by our lives and our whole actions so that we may continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another in faith, as good and worthy Christians, parts and members of the Church and Kingdom of God which God Himself has established on this Good Friday through His ultimate loving sacrifice on the Cross. May our Crucified Lord and Saviour be with us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 17 April 2025 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening as we begin the celebrations of the Paschal or Easter Triduum, we enter into this most solemn and holy period in the whole entire liturgical year. And this evening marks the start of that three days period or Triduum, beginning with this celebration in memory of the Last Supper which the Lord Jesus had with His disciples, referring to the Passover meal which they had that evening just before the Lord was arrested and began with His Passion journey to the Cross. On this evening we remember how the Lord began this most important part of His ministry, in accomplishing and fulfilling everything that God had promised to His people, to all of us mankind from the very beginning of time, in order to lead us all from the domination and slavery to sin, and out into His salvation and eternal life with Him.

In our first reading this Holy Thursday, we heard from the Book of Exodus the retelling of the account of the very first Passover of the Israelites which they celebrated in the Land of Egypt, the place where they had been enslaved and put under harsh rule of the Egyptians for centuries. God has remembered them all, His beloved and chosen people, and He has not ignored their plight and misery in the land and place of their sufferings and enslavement. He sent to them Moses to be the leader to inspire and strengthen them, and to reveal unto them what He had planned to do with them and how He would lead them all out of Egypt with His mighty hands and deeds, striking the Egyptians and their Pharaoh with the Ten Great Plagues, as punishment for their enslavement of the Israelites and for the Pharaoh’s stubbornness in refusing them to go free.

And this Passover was instructed by God to be celebrated and done by the Israelites leading to the Tenth and the Last of the Ten Great Plagues, which was the death of all the firstborn of the Egyptians, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the lowest among the Egyptians and even their animals. This plague of death was a response to the continued hardening of heart of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who continued to refuse to relent and let the Israelites to go free to the land of their ancestors. Thus, God asked His people to prepare an unblemished lamb for each of their households, and this lamb was to be kept until the day when the lamb was to be slaughtered and then it was to be roasted for the whole household to partake and eat while they prepared in haste to depart from Egypt to their freedom.

And we heard how the blood of the unblemished Passover lamb was used to mark the houses of the Israelites, placed on their doorposts as a sign to the Angels of Death bringing forth death and destruction to the Egyptians that the houses where the blood of the lamb had been marked on belonged to the people of God, and they would therefore be ‘passed over’ from the death meant for all the others who have not put the lamb’s blood and observed the Passover. This festival of the Passover is the most important celebration and event for the people of Israel as it marks their freedom from the slavery that they had long experienced in Egypt and also their adoption by God to be His beloved and holy people, called and chosen to be His own, and for whom God had exercised His mighty power to lead them into their freedom.

Then from the second reading and the Gospel passage, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth and from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle respectively, we heard the two important events that have been initiated on this Holy Thursday by the Lord for His Church. In that second reading this evening, we heard St. Paul sharing to the faithful about the moment of the Last Supper when the Lord instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, linking to what we have just heard earlier from the first reading on the account of the Passover meal in Egypt. Yes, the Last Supper is indeed the same celebration of the Passover meal, but if we do read through the account of the Passover meal as detailed in the Book of Exodus and in the Jewish traditions, as compared to the Last Supper, curiously there were some very clear differences.

Why is that so? First of all, unlike the Jewish Passover which placed an unblemished lamb at the centre of the celebrations, there was no mention of lamb being used or eaten at the Last Supper. And even if there was indeed lamb being eaten at the Last Supper in the manner that the Jewish Passover had been celebrated, what the Lord did at that Last Supper was something that was different and truly revolutionary, as He prayed over the bread, broke the bread and shared them and the wine with the disciples saying that, “This is My Body, which will be given up for you.” as well as “This is My Blood, which has been poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in the memory of Me.” Through this, the Lord placed Himself at the centre of the New Passover, no longer sealed by the blood of the unblemished lamb, but by the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Himself.

This is also supported further by the fact that the celebration of the Passover in the Last Supper was rather too early, as if we recall from the account of the Gospel on the Crucifixion of the Lord, towards the end of the Passion narrative, there was a mention of how the chief priests and Jewish leaders asked that the bodies of the Lord and the two thieves were to be brought down from their crosses as they would then hang on through the sacred day of the Sabbath, and earlier on when the chief priests and the crowd of people gathered before Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea to condemn Jesus, how they did not enter into the praetorium where Pilate governed from, as according to their traditional practice and belief, that would have made them unclean and therefore unworthy and unable to eat the Passover meal.

While the Passover day does not always coincide with the Sabbath day, but evidence from these Scriptural accounts highlighted to us how that very year when the Lord went through His Passion, suffering and Crucifixion, as well as the earlier Last Supper, the Passover that year fell on the Sabbath day, which occurred right after the Lord had been crucified and died on His Cross. Therefore that would have made the day of the Good Friday, the day when the Lord Himself was slain and died, being the day when the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered and prepared for the Passover meal, and its blood collected and used to mark the houses of the faithful. Therefore, that was why the Last Supper being the New Passover happened rather early, because the whole entire New Passover does not end with the Last Supper, but rather merely just the beginning of the whole event that spanned the whole Paschal Triduum.

During the Last Supper, the Lord did not complete the whole celebration of the Passover, as it was also mentioned during this event that He would not drink the cup of the vine again, that is wine until the coming of the Kingdom of God. This refers to the cup of suffering drunk during the Passover celebrations, which the Lord would indeed drink at the height of His Passion on the Cross. And all these would be accomplished as He mentioned at the moment of the Crucifixion, ‘I thirst’ and the soldiers gave the Lord the sour wine to drink with the hyssop, hence completing the sacrifice and offering of the Lamb of God for the sake of our redemption. By His Body broken and Blood outpoured, which we all share tonight and at every celebrations of the Holy Mass, we have received the Lord Himself, the Paschal Lamb, and by sharing in Him, we have been marked as His own, to be spared from the destruction due to sin and death.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, our celebration tonight continues throughout the whole Paschal Triduum, the great New Christian Passover that the Lord has celebrated, beginning with this Holy Thursday events, continuing through His Passion on Good Friday, His suffering and death, and it lasts all the way through the moment of His most glorious triumph, the Glorious Resurrection that He has shown us, in how He has defeated and conquered death itself. That is why there is no celebration of the Holy Mass from tonight until that of Easter Vigil, to commemorate this fact that the whole Paschal Triduum is one overarching Sacrifice that the Lord has offered for us all, the Holy Sacrifice at Calvary which is the same Sacrifice that our priests celebrate during each celebrations of the Mass. And that is why today we commemorate the Institution of both the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and also that of the Ministerial Priesthood.

And regarding that Ministerial Priesthood, it was shown this evening through what we have heard from our Gospel passage from the Gospel of St. John the Apostle in which the Lord’s action in washing the feet of His disciples during the Last Supper was highlighted to us. The Lord showed by example that He came into this world to serve all of us, to love us and to unite us all and our sufferings to Himself, and not to lord it over us and to subjugate us. Instead, He humbly accepted His role as the Saviour of all, and in being the Servant of all the servants of God. He humbled Himself and washed the feet of the disciples, the dirtiest and filthiest part of the human body, to show us all that as His followers and disciples, we must also follow His examples in loving the poorest, the weakest and the most marginalised.

After all, the Lord has loved us all even at our weakest and most unworthy moments, when we are still sinners. If God loves us still despite how defiled and wicked we have been, reaching out to us to show us His most wonderful and patient love, His mercy and compassion towards us, then how can we not love Him in the same manner as well? Our priests and bishops, all those whom God had called and chosen to be His ministers are called to embody this same spirit of service and love in them, and that is why we pray for them earnestly this evening so that the Lord may continue to strengthen and guide them all amidst their ministry and works so that they will continue to be faithful to the Lord regardless of the challenges and trials that they may have to face in their journey and ministry to God’s people and God’s Church.

At the same time, we are also reminded that the Lord’s instruction to His disciples, ‘If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet. I have just given you an example, that as I have done, you also may do.’, therefore, in this Mandatum, or commandment that the Lord has given to us, as Christians, all of us ought to love one another just as God has loved us, and be caring and loving towards everyone around us, particularly those who have been marginalised and ignored by others. We are also challenged to love our brethren around us who may not be on best of terms with us, to our enemies and those who have persecuted us and made our lives difficult. Of course this is easier said than done, but we can gain inspiration from none other than the Lord Himself, Who forgave His enemies and persecutors, and loved all of them nonetheless, dying for them on His Cross for their salvation no less.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to immerse ourselves in the events and commemorations of this Paschal Triduum, let us all deepen our understanding of what the Lord had done for us, all of His love and kindness towards us. And most importantly, let our focus be centred on the Lord, and on His Passion, on everything that He had done for our sake and for our salvation. May all of us be truly blessed and empowered by God, and may our commemoration of the sacred Paschal Triduum be a truly holy and blessed one. Amen.

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Thursday, 17 April 2025 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this morning on Holy Thursday, just before the beginning of the liturgical celebrations of the Paschal or Easter Triduum, traditionally in many of the dioceses all around the whole world, the bishop of the diocese celebrates the Chrism Mass with all the priests of the diocese, from the Pope in Rome as the Bishop of Rome to the furthest corners and ends of the earth, from the biggest and most renowned dioceses to the smallest and least known dioceses out there. Each and every one of them commemorates this day the blessing of the holy oils that are used in the many important celebrations of the Church and its Sacraments, as well as the renewal of priestly commitments, vows and promises which they renew during this Chrism Mass.

And all of these are ultimately tied to the historic and traditional association of Holy Thursday, especially what we are going to celebrate this evening at the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, in the two most important events that the Lord had done in that Last Supper about two millennia ago, when He instituted two important Sacraments of the Church, that is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, as well as the Sacrament of the Holy Orders, that of the Ministerial Priesthood. And since the role of the priests in the Church are truly intimately tied to their roles in administering of the Sacraments to the Church, to the faithful people of God, their central role in the Holy Eucharist and in the use of the holy oils, hence, many dioceses celebrate this during the morning of Holy Thursday.

First let us all examine our Scriptural verses today. In our first reading today, we heard from the words from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which we heard of the words of the Lord’s prophecy presented to His people through Isaiah, of the coming of the Saviour or Messiah, the Holy One Who has been empowered by the Holy Spirit, sent into our midst to lead us all out of the darkness and into the Light of God and His salvation. Through this same Saviour, God would also bring consolation and comfort to His people, healing to the sick and those who had been afflicted by various sickness and maladies, opening the eyes of the blind, and ministering to the people of God. All these would come to fruition with the coming and appearance of the Messiah, and would be the clear sign from God on Who the Messiah would be when He comes.

All those things were indeed fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ, the One Whom everyone had been awaiting for, and He Himself proclaimed it all at Nazareth, just as we heard from our Gospel passage today when the Lord was handed the scroll of the words of God, and it was exactly this passage from the first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah that the Lord was reading from, proclaiming the completion and perfection of God’s long awaited plan, and it was His coming and mission, His works and miracles that had proven how everything that God had spoken about was indeed true and would soon be fulfilled perfectly through Him. But even more than that is what we have also heard from that same passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the calling of those who are to be priests of the Lord.

As the prophet Isaiah mentioned in his prophecy that there will be priests and ministers of the Lord, those whom God had called and chosen among His people. This alludes to the ministry of the ministerial priesthood which the Lord has also instituted at the Last Supper which we celebrate today on Holy Thursday, at the beginning of the Paschal Triduum. And that is why all the priests all around the world renew their priestly promises, vows and commitments today, united with their bishop and renewing their obedience and commitment to the Lord through the Church and their bishop, who is the chief shepherd of the diocese. All the priests and those who have dedicated themselves to this vocation and ministry have solemnly promised to take up these responsibilities and serve the Lord and His people faithfully all the rest of their lives.

They all represent the Lord Jesus Christ, acting in persona Christi in the celebration of the Holy Mass. And as we heard in our second reading this morning from the Book of Revelations of St. John the Apostle, they represent the mighty conquering Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God that had conquered sin and death for us, overcoming the forces of evil and brought His salvation upon us. He is the Alpha and Omega, that is the Beginning and the End, Lord and Master of all the whole universe. And He has placed His priests and ministers to be our guides and shepherds in His place, guiding and helping us to come towards Him, as He showed us all the sure path towards eternal life and true joy with Him. The priests who renew their commitments today are truly the ministers of the One True King of all.

That is why today as we commemorate this occasion of the Chrism Mass, we are all reminded of the great graces which God has given us all through His Church, in the ministerial priesthood and in the Sacraments, in all that He has provided to us so that we may truly be able to find our way to Him. On this day, the holy oils are blessed as mentioned, consisting of the three holy oils that are used for the various purposes in the Church and its liturgical celebrations and other uses. The first of them being the Sanctum Chrisma or the Sacred Chrism, used in many occasions of the Church and in the distribution of the Sacraments, used in the Sacrament of Baptism to anoint the newly baptised Christians, as well as in the Sacrament of Confirmation to affirm in faith all those who have been deemed mature and worthy of the Christian faith and teachings, as well as for the anointing of the hands and heads of the deacons, priests and bishops in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, marking them as truly consecrated to God.

The Sacred Chrism is also used for the anointing of the churches and other sacred places during their Dedication and Consecration, as well as in the consecration of sacred vessels among other uses. And then for the other two holy oils, they are more limited in use but are certainly very important parts of the Church. The Oil of the Catechumens or Oleum Catechumenorum is used in the anointing of the catechumens before their baptism, in order to strengthen them in their journey to be a Christian that is to be a follower of Christ and be part of His Church. Lastly, the Oil of the Sick or Oleum Infirmorum is used in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, when priests anoint those who are very sick and in the danger of death, preparing them for the life that is to come or for God to restore them to health if that is His will.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us can see how the Lord has provided His Church and all of His faithful with so many great means to reach out to Him, to be sanctified and strengthened in faith. Let us all therefore on this occasion pray for all of our priests and bishops, all those whom God had called and chosen from among us to be our shepherds and guides, to be the ones to minister to all the faithful and holy people of God, and to be the examples and role models in our faith and commitment to God. Let us all pray for them that God may grant them the strength, courage, faith, patience and perseverance in carrying out their missions and ministries all around the whole world. Let us pray for each other and for God’s Church too, that we may also be strong and be able to persevere in faith against all the trials and challenges that we may have to encounter in life. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 16 April 2025 : Wednesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on this Wednesday of the Holy Week, a day also commonly known as the Spy Wednesday, we draw ever closer to the peak of our entire liturgical year, the Paschal or Easter Triduum. And the reason why this day is named as such is because of the reading of the Gospel for today, which touches on the moment when Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed the Lord Jesus went to the chief priests and the Temple authorities, discussing on how they would be able to cooperate in handing over Jesus to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin to be tried and judged, so that they could all condemn Him for the faults and accusations that they would all blame on Him, such as the crime of blasphemy against God and also the crime of treason against Rome and the Emperor.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which we heard of the sufferings to be faced by the One Whom God would send into this world, to save us all mankind, to save all of us, His beloved people. The Suffering Servant, the Suffering Messiah would have to bear the brunt of the many punishments and pains, the trials and challenges that all of us should have faced and endured, all the punishments that we all have deserved because of our disobedience and sins. He faced all these humiliation and disgrace, all the oppressions, rejection and wounds, all because of the ever enduring and great love that He has always had for us. By His perfect obedience, this Servant of God fulfilled everything that God Himself has promised to His people throughout all of history, accomplishing everything through His ultimate, loving sacrifice.

And this Servant of God, suffering and humiliated all pointed towards Jesus Christ, the Son of God made Man, the One Whom had been sent into our midst, born of the Virgin Mother, Blessed Virgin Mary, to be the One through Whom God would sanctify and rescue all of His beloved ones. And during this time of the Holy Week, as we immerse ourselves in the moments of the Passion of Our Lord, and as we gaze our sight upon the Lord crucified on His Cross, all of us should remember how such great love has been shown to us all in everything that He willingly embraced and endured so that He could rescue us from our predicament and fated destruction. By His humble obedience, He is reversing the effects of our disobedience and sins, all of which had separated us from the fullness of God’s love and grace. By His wounds, His broken Precious Body and outpoured Precious Blood, He has shown us all salvation in God.

Then, as mentioned earlier, from the Gospel passage taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the story of the time when Judas Iscariot came before the chief priests, offering to them to betray his own Master and Teacher, cornering Him in a place where the Lord’s opponents and enemies could arrest Him without much opposition from the people, as previously, they feared the reaction of the people whenever the Lord was teaching in public and they dared not to move against Him. Judas was likely unhappy with the Lord through various reasons, but it was also him embracing the temptations of the evil one, who sowed the seeds of dissension and sin in his heart and mind. And this provided the chief priests with the perfect opportunity to seize the Lord and arrest Him.

Therefore, as we heard in the Gospel, they agreed to offer Judas Iscariot a sum of thirty pieces of silver, and this offer of the silver pieces is actually a very significant symbol and fulfilment of the prophecies that the Lord Himself had foretold through His prophets. This is because thirty pieces of silver was the price that a slave was commonly priced for in the slave market at the time, and therefore, Judas had betrayed his own Master for the price of a slave, and it symbolises how Jesus would indeed take the place and position of a slave, and by humbling Himself, emptying Himself of all glory, honour and majesty, He Who is the Incarnation of the Divine, the Word of God made Man. And through His suffering and death, He is uniting us all in our humanity to death to our own sins and wickedness, to all the vices and evils that have kept us separated from God.

We heard then of the account of the moment at the Last Supper from the Gospel today, in which the disciples were gathered together with the Lord while having the Passover meal. It was there that the Lord again predicted that one of His disciples would betray Him. The Lord already knew who that betrayer was to be, and Judas himself in a way confirmed his betrayal, and the Lord was in fact not too discreet in making this fact known. Yet, at that time, the other disciples were all unaware of the significance of what the Lord was telling them clearly before them all. Thus that was how Judas eventually went to betray the Lord, by allowing Satan, the evil one to act through him, in trying to derail the Lord’s plan of salvation for His people, by striking at the One that God had sent to this world to bring forth His salvation.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded today not only of God’s persistence in loving all of us and in His most generous gesture of love, which He has truly shown us all most generously through all that He had done in His Passion, His sufferings and all the wounds and beatings that He had endured for our sake, but all of us are also reminded that we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations of sin, the temptations of worldly pleasures and all the evils and wickedness around us, all the efforts and works of the evil one and his forces, all trying to lead us all into eternal damnation and destruction. We must not allow the devil and his forces to strike easily at us because we willingly embrace the path of greed, ambition and worldly pursuits, all of which had misled so many down the path of ruin in the past.

Let us all therefore as we prepare to enter into the most holy and solemn Paschal Triduum tomorrow continue to deepen our faith in the Lord and focus ourselves wholly and wholeheartedly on the Lord as we centre our focus and attention on Him and on His most wonderful love, on everything that He had done for us. Let us no longer harden our hearts and minds, and no longer be stubborn or obstinate in our refusal to obey and follow Him. Let us instead do our very best so that we will truly immerse ourselves in the important events we are going to commemorate during this time of the Paschal Triduum. May all of us be truly blessed and be enlightened by our experiences these next few days, and may all of us be ever more strengthened in faith in God, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 15 April 2025 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on this Tuesday of Holy Week all of us are reminded ever more of God’s salvation which has been fulfilled through Christ, the Son of God Incarnate, Who has embraced our Human existence and nature, becoming one of us and one like us in all things but sin, becoming the means for our salvation and liberation from the tyranny of sin. Through everything that He has done during the time when He endured His Passion, all the obstacles that He has to bear through and overcome amidst His efforts in bringing us all, His lost children and scattered lost sheep from the darkness all over this world. We are reminded that the Lord has done all these because He loves us all generously and genuinely, showing us truly great love that surpasses all things, and is greater even than our sins and wickedness.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the words of the Lord for His people reassuring them all of His salvation that He would send unto them through His Saviour, the One that He would send into their midst to gather those who have been scattered around this world, made to wander around in suffering because of our sins. And this Holy One of God would be marked from before He was even born, given the Name above all the other names, and by the will of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, He was given the most important task to bring the Light of God, God’s Good News and love, God’s mercy and compassion to all of His people in this world, to all of us sinners who are still separated from the light of God’s salvation and from His grace.

In that prophecy of the prophet Isaiah that we heard today, we heard the prophet speaking as if he was the Saviour that God had sent, speaking in the first person, proclaiming everything that God would do through this same Saviour, the Word of God Incarnate. And through this manifestation of God’s love, His generous mercy and compassion which He has lovingly poured out upon us, and which He has constantly given to us despite our many sins and disobedience, God wants us all to be healed and to be reunited with Him. And the only way that this can be done is through His Son’s coming into this world and what He had done in redeeming us all from the clutches of sin and death. God has made His only Begotten Son to be our Eternal and one True High Priest to redeem us all from destruction and death, to be the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice, the perfect offering and the only One that is worthy to redeem us all.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist we heard of the moment during the Last Supper between the Lord and His disciples, the Passover meal that He had planned to have with all of them, where He revealed how one among them, namely Judas Iscariot would betray Him to the chief priests and hand Him over to them to be condemned to death and crucified by the Romans. This was part of what the Lord had predicted through the various prophecies and messages that He had given to His disciples throughout time and history. But God also gave us all the freedom of will and the freedom to choose our path in life, whether we want to embrace His righteousness and virtues or whether we want to follow the path of sin and darkness.

Judas Iscariot chose to listen to the temptations of the evil one, who have often tempted him on many things, such as what we have heard in our Gospel passage yesterday, on how he had often stolen from the common funds of the Lord and His disciples to enrich himself, giving in to selfishness and wicked desires. Judas Iscariot also likely clashed with the Lord on other matters that might not have been highlighted or shown in the Gospels or elsewhere, but regardless of the details or specifics, what matters is that Judas chose the easier path of embracing the temptations of desire and greed, the desire for money and wealth and the acceptance of the world over the Lord’s often rather controversial teachings and ways, including how Judas himself was chastised after he criticised Mary for anointing the Lord’s feet with expensive perfume.

Judas clearly had the freedom to choose his path in life, just as Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and God had been given the same freedom to choose. While Mary indeed had the advantage of being free from the taint of original sin due to her Immaculate Conception, she was no doubt also tempted by the various sins and evils of the world around her. Yet, she trusted in the Lord completely over those temptations, fears and uncertainties. That was why she was greeted with the words, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace’ by the Archangel Gabriel. Mary chose to obey the Lord and to trust in Him, while Judas chose to give in to the temptations, to his fears and desires, and that was how he fell into sin, in betraying his Lord and Master for a mere value of thirty pieces of silver, the price for a slave, the price that is to pay for our salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we are all reminded today through these readings from the Sacred Scriptures are the revelation of God’s ever enduring love for us and also all the opportunities that God had given to us, in sending unto us His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, to be our Lord and Saviour, to be the One to heal us all from our faults and iniquities, and to lead us all one by one, all to the Throne of the Mercy of God. And we have also been reminded of the free will and the freedom that God has given to each and every one of us in choosing our path in life. Let us make the conscious effort and choice in our respective lives, directing ourselves towards the Lord because it is in Him alone that we shall find true satisfaction and happiness, and not in all the distractions and temptations that are around us in this world.

May the Lord our God, our Crucified Saviour and King continue to lead and guide us all to Himself, and continue to strengthen us in our faith and commitment to Him, so that in everything that we say and do, in our observance of this sacred period of the Holy Week, this holiest week of all weeks in the year, we will continue to grow ever more committed to God and that we will become more aware of the great love that God has shown us through His Son, Our Saviour and King, and also of our own sinfulness and unworthiness before God. Let us all make the concrete effort and strive to commit ourselves, our time and our whole being to embrace this Holy Week period with dedication and true desire to be reconciled and reunited with our loving God and Father. Amen.

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Monday, 14 April 2025 : Monday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the Monday of the Holy Week and as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are called to remember the role that Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Our Saviour had done in accomplishing everything that God had planned for our salvation, and on this most holy and solemn of all weeks in the year, we remember the things that the Lord has done for us, in loving us most wonderfully and generously, that He was willing to empty Himself of all glory and honour, embracing all of us and bearing our sins and faults upon Himself so that by His sufferings and by His willing endurance of the punishments meant for us, He may show unto us the path to eternal life.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the words of the Lord regarding the Servant Whom He would send to His people, the people of God and the whole world, bearing forth the salvation of God made manifest through this same Servant. And God reassured all of His people that He would be with them through this Servant on Whom His Holy Spirit and favour was on, and through Him the salvation and liberation of all of God’s people would be accomplished perfectly, just as He has foretold and prophesied to them through His many prophets including that of the prophet Isaiah. God does not want any of His children and beloved ones to be separated or lost to Him, and that was why He sent to them the salvation and promise of eternal life.

And this Servant Whom He has spoken about through Isaiah was none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God incarnate in the flesh, Who has become the Son of Man, bringing forth the love of God perfectly manifested and becoming tangible and reachable to us. This same Christ, Our Lord and Saviour would also indeed suffer just as Isaiah prophesied, revealing how the same Lord Jesus would be rejected, persecuted and oppressed, and would be inflicted with the worst of punishments, but He would not resist or fight, and He accepted those sufferings with genuine and ever enduring love for us. He was led to the slaughter place, like a Lamb brought to be sacrificed, so that by His perfect obedience and most loving and selfless sacrifice, He might heal us all and bring us all to full reconciliation with God our Father.

Then from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the moment when the Lord was in Bethany near Jerusalem during the week leading to His Crucifixion, when Mary, the sister of Lazarus came to the Lord before His disciples, anointing His feet with expensive perfume made of pure spikenard, and then wiped the perfumed feet clean with her hair. It was at that moment when Judas Iscariot, as mentioned, being the one who would betray the Lord to the chief priests, immediately criticised her for having wasted the expensive perfume, and in such case, the author of the Gospel, St. John pointed out the hypocrisy of the action of Judas because he himself had stolen from the funds of the Lord and His disciples to enrich his own pocket. Therefore, for him to criticise the actions of Mary was truly pure hypocrisy, and the Lord condemned Judas as such.

What Mary had done was more than just a prefigurement of the Lord’s sufferings and crucifixion, which the Lord hinted on as He mentioned how Mary was preparing His Body for His death, like that of how dead bodies were to be prepared for burial. Even more importantly is the symbolic representations of Mary’s actions before the Lord which should serve as important lessons for all of us to heed and to follow. First of all, Mary humbled herself before everyone and she put perfume on the Lord’s feet, when the feet at that time was considered as the filthiest and dirtiest part of a person’s body. Yet, she touched the Lord’s feet without hesitation, and even used her hair to wipe and clean the Lord’s feet. A woman’s hair is the crown of beauty and the pride of a woman, and Mary humbled herself such that she threw away all that pride in serving the Lord.

Through the example of Mary, the Lord Jesus wanted His disciples and hence all of us to take note what it truly means to become His disciples and followers. As the Lord Himself would do on the Last Supper a few days after this event, He would humble Himself and wash His disciples’ feet, an action which also drew a similar comment and astonishment from His disciples, especially from St. Peter the Apostle. But the Lord showed that true Christian love and leadership is one of service and not one of vainglory and ambition. He came into this world to lead us all to salvation and to reconciliation to the Father, and He showed this to us not through glorious and mighty deeds, but through humble and perfect obedience to the Father’s will. To be Christians, we have to follow the example of Our Lord Himself, Who has been always full of love, and like Mary, whose love for the Lord made her to humble herself and to serve Him in the manner that few would have thought of or considered.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to deepen our faith in the Lord as we continue to progress through this Holy Week period. Let us make good use of the time and opportunities which had been presented to us so that we may truly benefit fully from this time when we commemorate Our Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, all of which He had done for our sake, for His great and ever enduring love for us. We should always be grateful at what we have received from God and all the opportunities that we have been given for us to come back to Him, being called and reminded many times by our loving and most compassionate Father. Let us all continue to focus our gaze upon the Cross of Christ this Holy Week, and spend good quality time to reflect on our sinfulness and how God’s love and compassion had made it possible for us to overcome those sins and return back to God, forgiven and reconciled with Him by the sacrifice of Christ on His Cross.

May the Lord continue to guide us all through this time and period of the Holy Week, helping us to focus our attention on the Lord and His Passion, His love and sacrifice for us amidst all the busy schedules and things that we have daily in our time this week. May He continue to encourage us all with the strength and wisdom to carry on living our daily lives with faith and obedience, with righteousness and desire to follow God in all things, to be the inspiration for our fellow brothers and sisters around us. May God be with us all and may He bless our every good efforts and works this Holy Week, and bless our family and loved ones too. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 April 2025 : Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy Week, the holiest and most important of all weeks and periods in the whole entire liturgical year. This Sunday marks the Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, in which the moments surrounding the Lord’s Passion or suffering is highlighted to us, in this most solemn week when the Lord fulfilled all of His promises of salvation to us, bringing unto us the fulfilment and perfect completion of everything that He had planned for us from the very beginning, the plan of bringing us all back to God’s loving embrace the moment that we fell into sin through disobedience and rebellion against Him. On this day we remember the Lord embarking on this most important mission which has been entrusted solely to Him alone in order to bring us all out of the darkness and back into God’s light and grace.

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, which was read before the triumphant procession with the Cross and the blessed palms, we heard of the account of the time when the Lord was about to enter into the city of Jerusalem for the last time prior to His Crucifixion, at the appointed time when He would accomplish everything that had been planned for our salvation. We heard how He sent His disciples to prepare the time of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, getting a colt or a young donkey that had never been used or sat on before. This fulfilled the prophecy which God had made through His prophets, particularly the prophet Zechariah who prophesied about the coming of the Messiah or Saviour, the King of Kings, Who would come on a donkey to the Holy City of Jerusalem, marking the coming of God’s salvation for His people.

That is why by this action of this triumphant entry of the Lord into the city of Jerusalem, the people of God and hence all of us are shown God’s fulfilment of everything that He has promised to us, everything that He had said that He would do for those whom He dearly loved, and He came on a donkey instead of a great and fearsome warhorse, highlighting the manner by which He would accomplish this mission. He came into this world not to subjugate it to His will or to force us all to obey Him, but rather as our loving and compassionate King, Jesus showed us all this most generous love in restoring hope in our hearts, through His coming that fulfilled the prophecies of the prophets and the promises of God. And while Jesus came to Jerusalem with great pomp and celebration, it was all to obey the Father’s will and for Him to suffer for our sake on the Cross, to be the Source of salvation for all of us who believe in God.

Then, from our first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the prophecy of the Suffering Servant, the One Whom God sent to be with His people, the Saviour Who would suffer on behalf of all of mankind. This was indeed a curious and strange prophecy because the common understanding by many of the Jewish people by the time of the ministry of Jesus and His works, was that the Messiah would be a mighty, conquering King Who would restore the Kingdom of Israel as how it was during the glorious days of David and Solomon, and that He would be born into the House of David. But little did many of them realise that the Lord did not intend for that, as His plans and ways are truly beyond that of man’s comprehension. Firstly, He chose to be born into a poor family in Nazareth, the simple family of a carpenter, and then, He would accomplish His mission through suffering and not through war and conquest.

And that is how the narrative of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem then shifts to the sombre details of the sufferings and the trials that the Lord’s Saviour had to endure as we heard from the first reading today onwards to the Passion Reading, showing us what we are going to experience throughout this coming week, this Holy Week commemorating our Lord’s Passion, His sufferings and all that He had to endure in His mission to bring us all to salvation and eternal life. God has never forgotten about us and while we are suffering the consequences of our sins and wickedness, He has always persisted in loving us so generously and lovingly as a loving Father loving His children. And in order to save us all, He has given us all His own Son, manifesting His love in the flesh, so that by His perfect obedience and His ultimate loving sacrifice on the Cross, He might offer us the assurance of eternal life and true freedom from the bondage and domination of sin.

From the second reading this Palm Sunday taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Philippi, in what is now part of Greece, we heard of the Apostle speaking about the obedience of Christ, the Son of God made Man, Who has come into our midst and revealed God’s love for us, and as just mentioned, how this perfect obedience of Christ, as the Son of Man, as the New Man, the New Adam, has for His Father’s will, counteracted perfectly the disobedience of our ancestors that had once led us all into our downfall. By acting as our High Priest in offering the perfect offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, and by His perfect obedience, His sacrifice has been accepted by the Father for the atonement of all of our innumerable sins and flaws, allowing us all to access His love and grace once again.

Therefore, as we remember then everything that the Lord Jesus, Our God and Saviour had done for us as we recall our long Passion reading today, the story of the sufferings which Our Lord had to endure in the midst of this ultimate show of His genuine love, all of us are reminded on why we celebrate this Holy Week with such great dedication and faith, and with such great effort and intensity, because ultimately, it was God Himself Who has loved us all so intensely first that He has done such a deed for us. And today as we recall the story of everything that happened in Our Lord’s Passion let us keep our gaze upon the Cross of Our Saviour, the Cross with the figure of Our Lord crucified on it, His wounds and everything that He had done for us. Each and every one of His wounds have been caused by our wickedness and sins, and He bore all these punishments for us.

That is why as we enter into this Holy Week with today’s commemoration of Palm Sunday and the beginning of the Lord’s Passion story and experience, let us all appreciate and internalise why we celebrate this most important series of events in the history of our salvation. Let us remind ourselves on how God has reached out to us, His beloved people, with love and generous mercy and compassion, that He was willing to forgive us all our sins even when we do not deserve such a nice treatment. We should have suffered eternity in Hell and be damned for all of our rebelliousness, disobedience and sins. Yet, by God’s mercy and His grace, and by Him extending to us this assurance of salvation through His Son, made available to us through the Church and the Sacraments, we have been led through the darkness and into the Light of Christ.

This Holy Week should be different from our past Holy Week observances and experiences, especially if we have not truly devoted ourselves, our time, attention and effort to focus ourselves and our whole lives to the Lord, to the One Who has overcome sin and death by His most painful and sorrowful death on the Cross. And by the glorious Resurrection that He has shown us at the end of this most Holy Week, the triumph of Our Lord over sin and death by His Resurrection reminds us all that if we put our faith and trust in the Lord our God, we will be truly be victorious in the end, sharing in His joy and majesty. We shall no longer be bound by the tyranny and power of sin, evil and all the things that had kept us separated and sundered from God’s fullness of grace and love for us. That is why we should strive our best to focus ourselves well this time of the Holy Week, to centre ourselves upon the Lord’s Passion, all the sufferings that He had to endure out of love for us all.

May the Lord our most loving God and Father continue to guide us all through our lives and especially through this upcoming celebrations this Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum so that each and every moments of this most solemn and sacred period be truly fruitful and faithful to Him. Let us all continue to do our best to follow the Lord ever more faithfully each day and let us continue to be good role models and examples in our faith and in how we live our lives so that our lives may truly be exemplary and be good beacons of God’s Light and truth to all mankind. May God be with us all and be with our every efforts and good works in all things, and may He bless our Holy Week observances and time. Amen.