Lenten sermon

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Monday, 19 February 2024 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to proceed through this time and season of Lent, each and every one of us are reminded that as Christians, all of us must always strive to do what God has called and commanded us all to do with our lives, in being righteous, just and committed to the path which He has taught and shown us. Otherwise, if we do not do so, then we will end up being held accountable for our lack of faith and real commitment to the path of God, and in the end, we will have to account for all of our actions and commitments to God, or for our failure to do so, if we neglect our responsibilities and calling as Christians, in whichever areas and opportunities that we have been given by God.

In our first reading today, we heard the exhortations from the Book of Leviticus in which God spoke to His people, the Israelites, whom He had brought out of the land of Egypt through Moses, His servant, whom then He entrusted with the responsibilities of leading and guiding the Israelites through their time in Egypt, their liberation and then the journey through the desert to the Promised Land of Canaan. God told all of His people that they must be holy just as He is Holy, loving just as He is always full of Love, devoted to Him just as He has always been devoted to the Covenant that He had made with each and every one of them and with their ancestors. That was why Moses told the people what they all ought to do, in doing what is right and just, in loving and caring for one another, and in not oppressing or causing hardships and sufferings to others.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, although this happened a really long time ago, but whatever Moses had told the people of Israel are still applicable to us all as well. For are we not God’s beloved and chosen people as well? Through baptism we have willingly embraced the Lord as our God and Saviour, and we have become part of God’s One Church, His united Body, where all of us have been brought together to be one holy people, filled with grace and blessings of God. That is why all of us should also strive to be righteous and just, full of love for God and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us. We should not ignore all these things, the Law and the commandments which the Lord had given and revealed to us, and which He has also explained and taught to us through His Church.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the Last Judgment as presented by the Lord Jesus to His disciples and all those who have gathered to listen to Him. He told all of them that He Himself, the Son of Man, will come at the end of time, the moment of the Final Judgment of all the living and the dead, when everyone will have to account for everything which they have said, done, and even all those things that they had failed to say, do or act upon when they had been given the good opportunities and means to by the Lord. The Lord Jesus showed how everyone will be separated by whether they have been found worthy of the Lord and His salvation, or whether they have been found lacking and wanting in their faith.

The Lord also made it clear that all those who have been deemed worthy are all those who have always lived their lives faithfully, and did whatever they could to reach out to their fellow brethren, particularly those who are less fortunate and blessed than they are, that through their care and love, they have shown themselves to be the epitome of Christian love and truth. Meanwhile, all those who have been found lacking and wanting for their faith are not only those who did what are wicked and evil in the sight of God, but also those who neglect their responsibilities, calling and spurned all the opportunities which God had provided them, as they cared more for themselves and selfishly caring and loving themselves only at the expense of others around them.

The Lord made it very clear too of what will happen to the righteous and to those who have been condemned and are deemed unworthy. The worthy and righteous ones will share together in the glory of God, forever enjoying the fullness of God’s grace and all the joy and happiness they shall receive from the Lord Himself, while those who are wicked and unworthy have condemned themselves by their wickedness and by their lack of genuine faith, to an eternity of suffering and darkness, despair and destruction in Hell. The fates of each of these groups have been made clear to us, and therefore we are given the choice by the Lord on which path we want to follow and end up in. We should not waste and squander these opportunities which God has given us, and while it is not yet too late for us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having been reminded of all these things from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore do whatever we can so that we may always strive to fulfil what we have been entrusted to do, to do what we can so that our lives may be holy, worthy and exemplary in all things. Let us all resist the temptations of Satan and all the false promises and lies which he and all the other fallen beings had given us, and also we ought to restrain our pride, ego, greed and all the things that may lead us all to our downfall if we allow ourselves to be easily swayed and tempted by them. Let us all remind ourselves of our Christian duties and our respective vocations in life, as we all embark through this Lenten journey, journeying with renewed faith in the Lord.

May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey through life, so that we may truly be blessed by our faith and commitment to Him, and may our lives be good inspirations and examples for everyone else all around us, so that all of us may share together the desire to love the Lord and to obey Him, to follow His Law and commandments, rejecting the evil and wicked ways of the world. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 February 2024 : First Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, which is the first Sunday in the season of Lent, we are all reminded of the nature and the importance of this time and season of preparation, in which we prepare ourselves for the upcoming commemoration and celebration of the most important events in Holy Week and Easter, which is highlighted in our Scripture passages today, using the story of Noah and the Great Flood as a reminder for us first of all of the fate of sinners who are unrepentant, the dangers of sin, and ultimately, how God’s love and grace can help us to overcome all these dangers, threats and dominion of sin, evil and death. If we put our faith and trust in the Lord, He will help and guide us all into the path of righteousness and freedom from all these.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of Genesis of the aftermath of the Great Flood when God sent a great rain and flood to inundate the whole world, causing the destruction and death of all the people, the descendants of Adam and Eve, except for Noah and his immediate family, who had been spared by God for their faith and obedience to God, while all the others were wicked and filled with all sorts of sins and vices of the world. God ordered Noah to build a great ship, the Ark of Noah, for which he would become very famous for, and everyone and all the living things that were present in that ship were saved by God, Who then as we heard in our first reading, made a Covenant and promise with Noah and his family, that He would never destroy anyone again with a similar Great Flood.

Through that narrative of the Great Flood, its destruction of all the unrepentant and wicked sinners in the world, and its aftermath, all of us are first of all reminded as we begin this penitential season and time of Lent, of the need for all of us to be reconciled with God by the forgiveness of our many sins and wicked ways, which have separated us all from the wonderful and generous love of God. For there can be no sin or wickedness, imperfections and corruption present before the Lord our God, Who is all good and perfect. Sin is caused by our disobedience and refusal to obey the Lord’s will, His Law and commandments, and through sin, we have been corrupted and defiled, and hence, we have to be separated from God, and cast out from the bliss of the Gardens of Eden, where everything was once perfect.

Sin led mankind to this lack of grace from God, and our separation from the Lord and Master of life, and hence, that was why we had to suffer and experience death, which was the natural and logical consequence of our sins. Disobedience leads to sin and sin then leads to death. We had not meant to suffer such fate, or to endure and experience the bitterness of death, the separation from the Lord, and yet, by our own conscious choice, we have chosen to cast ourselves out of the Holy Presence of God. Yet, God has always desired to call us all back to Him, and He still loved us all despite all the wickedness and sins that we have committed. And this is because what He despises is not us per se, but rather our sins and wickedness, which we have done and committed in His sight. And God is so great and merciful that even the greatest of sinners are still within the reach of His mercy and compassion.

Then, in our second reading today, we also heard from the Epistle of St. Peter the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in which he reminded the faithful using the same example and story of Noah and the Great Ark he built, in obedience to God, in saving himself and his family from the Great Flood of his time. St. Peter showed how our salvation was just like the journey of Noah through the time of the Great Flood, and how he persisted and survived, and how God made a Covenant with him and his family. This is because through the example of the Great Flood, the waters involved in that event was clearly a force of destruction, but also at the same time a force that brought about new life and rejuvenation. The same experience was faced by the Israelites when the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt through the leadership of Moses, as they walked through the waters of the Red Sea, into their freedom from their slavery.

In the same manner therefore, the Lord led us all through His death on the Cross, as He suffered and endured the worst punishments and trials for our sake, showing us the concrete and most enduring form of His love. His compassion and love have been shown unto us in the flesh in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. He united us all, our humanity and our existence to Him, through His incarnation in the flesh, and by the waters of baptism, He has brought us all like how Noah led all of his family and the living things in the world into the Great Ark, and like how Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea to their freedom. The Lord has therefore brought us through death and then to new life, through His most glorious Resurrection, through which He has defeated and conquered death itself, and broke forever the yoke of sin and evil over us. He renewed and made with us all, a perfect and Eternal Covenant, meant for our salvation and everlasting life.

Lastly, in our Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan during His forty days time in the desert right after His baptism in the River Jordan. This current liturgical year’s account of this temptation story from the Gospel of St. Mark is the shortest among the other Gospels, but I am sure that all of us are familiar with the details on how the Lord rejected the advances and the efforts of the devil to make Him succumb to the temptations of sin and evil. He rebuked Satan, all of his false promises and lies, and through that, He began His ministry in this world, where He revealed to all of us the truth about God, His Good News and everything that He has planned for our salvation and how He was the One that the prophets had promised and prophesied about, the Saviour Who would redeem all of mankind and reconcile them all to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard all of these passages from the Scriptures and reflecting upon what we have all just discussed and pondered about, let us all therefore make a firm resolve and commitment to God, renewing our faith in Him and reaffirming our desire to return to Him with a contrite and sorrowful heart, full of regret and sorrow for our many sins, our many evils and wickedness, all the things which had kept us away from the fullness of His love and grace. Let us also remind ourselves of just how blessed and fortunate all of us are, to have been beloved so much by God, that He has willingly sent unto us His own Beloved Son, to bring us all out of the darkness, sin and death, by leading us through the waters of baptism, that we may become part of His Church, His one united Body, and be united to Him in death and in the new life He has promised us, that we may one day share in His glorious Resurrection.

Let us all therefore begin our observances this Lenten season with great commitment and genuine faith, and let us all do our best so that in each and every moments of our lives, particularly during this Lenten season, we may make best use of them to draw ever closer to God, seeking His love and guidance, help and strength so that by His power and guidance we may come ever closer to His forgiveness, mercy and love. Let us all help one another in seeking God’s grace and salvation, and support each other with love and compassion, with generosity in how we share our blessings and excesses with those who have less or none. Let us be ever more worthy and committed Christians in all the things we say and do, now and always.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us, and may He bless our every good efforts and endeavours, our Lenten journey and observances, our every moments and lives throughout this blessed season and time of Lent. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 February 2024 : Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this day we are all reminded that we should indeed free ourselves from the dominion and bondage of sins and evils, wickedness and all the temptations present all around us, all of which can become very serious obstacles that prevent us from truly attaining righteousness and grace in God. We are reminded of the need for all of us to remove from ourselves all the corruptions of sin, and all the attachments to those sins which had led to so many of us falling into the path of sin all these while. And God has always been full of kindness, mercy and compassion towards us, which is something that we really need to appreciate and be thankful for, as if not for the Lord, we would have been damned, crushed and destroyed because of our many sins and wickedness.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke to His people in the southern kingdom of Judah about the matter of the repentance of the people from their many sins and wickedness, from their rebellions and disobedience, all of which had caused them to endure trials and sufferings, difficulties and humiliations because of their enemies and all those who had gone into conflict with them. At that time, the prophet Isaiah was sent to the kingdom of Judah when their northern neighbour, the kingdom of Israel that ruled over most of the ten out of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, had been subjugated, destroyed and conquered by the mighty Assyrian Empire.

That same kingdom of Israel had persecuted countless prophets and messengers of the Lord that had been sent to them in order to remind them and to help and guide them all back towards God. Despite this, the Lord still patiently reached out to all of the people, His beloved ones whom He wanted to be reconciled with. Yet, they still remained stubborn and chose to do things in their own way rather than to put their trust and faith in the Lord. The people chose to worship the pagan idols and the false gods rather than to believe in the Lord Who has delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, blessed and protected them throughout their whole journey from Egypt through the desert, defended them from their enemies and made them prosper.

Hence, that was why they ended up in their downfall, as they continued to put their trust in their own strength and their own power, in their false idols and all their worldly power and glory rather than to listen to God. They allowed their pride, ego, ambition and desires to be stumbling blocks and obstacles in the path of their return towards the Lord. This was why the Lord sent Isaiah amidst His people to remind them to turn away from this foolish path, which was also affecting the people of Judah, so that they would not end up facing the same fate of destruction and hardships. Those who lived in the northern kingdom were not humiliated just because they have lost their kingdom and nation, but also because many among them were forcefully brought out of their lands and exiled in the lands of Assyria, scattered in far and distant places, while pagans and foreigners were brought in to dwell in the lands which the Israelites had lived in earlier. Something like this unfortunate fate will be ours as well, if we fail to believe in the Lord and keep our faith in Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord calling to Levi, the tax collector, in which He gained a new and close follower and confidant, as Levi willingly left behind everything that he had in order to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. The Lord had come and saw Levi at his tax collector’s booth, and He called on the latter, knowing the faith which this man had for God, and all the great things which he would do later on for the sake of God, His glory and His people. At that time, many of the people, especially among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, they had a rather negative view and strong prejudice against the tax collectors, whom they considered as wicked, unworthy of God and sinful, because of their actions and work in collecting the taxes on behalf of the Roman overlords and also that of the local kings and rulers like the Herodians.

Hence, this prejudice led to the tax collectors being persecuted and ostracised from the general community, as they were generally disliked and even hated because of the work they carried out, and some even considered them as traitors to the people for having colluded and worked with those who conquered the lands and the nation of the Israelites. Yet, this led to those same Pharisees and the teachers of the Law commonly having a self-righteous and selfish personality, in thinking that they were superior, better and more worthy than those whom they deemed to be inferior, sinners, corrupt and wicked, like the tax collectors and prostitutes. Nonetheless, the Lord called one of His Twelve Apostles from among these tax collectors, recognising that such prejudice was nonsense.

In fact, as the Lord Himself mentioned elsewhere, that the tax collectors and the prostitutes were closer to the Lord and His salvation than the self-righteous and arrogant Pharisees as the former were aware and repentant over their sins and wickedness, and desired to seek the Lord for forgiveness and for reconciliation with Him, and through God’s generous mercy and love, they were all indeed forgiven and empowered to live and enter into a new life blessed by Him. But the latter persisted in their sins because they were too proud and haughty to realise and recognise their errors and mistakes, and thus, continuing to persist in their waywardness and lack of true and genuine faith in the Lord. This is a reminder for all of us that we ourselves have to be humble and willing to listen to God, and get rid from ourselves all pride, haughty and self-righteous attitudes.

Today, the Church also celebrates the occasion of the Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These seven Holy Founders of the Servites, namely Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta, all of whom were men from the city of Florence that were called by the Lord and they all bound themselves in strong and lasting spiritual friendship that eventually became the foundation of the Servite Order, in their strong faith in the Lord as well as in the intense devotion which they all had for the Blessed Mother of God. All of them led holy and devout lives, committed wholly to God, and they all became great source of inspiration for their fellow men and women, many of whom were drawn to follow their examples as well.

Through the examples shown by those holy men of God, the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, all of us are shown what it truly means for us to be genuine and faithful Christians in all things, in all that we say and do, and at all opportunities. We should be inspired by their good role models and examples, their actions and deeds in doing what God had told and commanded them all to do. Let us all be the worthy and faithful bearers of God’s light and truth, His Good News and His teachings, so that like Levi, who would later be known as St. Matthew the Apostle, a great evangelist and servant of God, and like the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, we too may live our lives in each and every moments ever more faithfully and that we may draw ever closer to God.

May God be with us always and may He continue to guide and strengthen us in the path which we are walking in, in doing what is right according to His teachings, ways and to our Christian beliefs and faith. May God bless our every good efforts, endeavours and our faithful observances and actions in this blessed penitential season of Lent, so that we may continue to do what God had entrusted to us to do, and be ever more worthy and faithful, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 16 February 2024 : Friday after Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the readings from the Sacred Scriptures, we are once again reminded of what we really need to do during this time and season of Lent, in what we have been called to do and practice, in living our lives with greater desire to turn once again wholeheartedly towards God, in our love and desire to follow Him, in our commitment to reject sin and evil, and in renouncing the path of wickedness and worldliness. Each and every one of us should make good use of the opportunities and the time which had been provided to us this Lent so that we may indeed be ever closer to God once again, and be freed from the tyranny and oppression of sin which have separated us from the Lord and His love, and which had corrupted us and made us fallen into the darkness and evil ways.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which God made it clear to His people of what He expected of all of His beloved people, in how they all should return to Him and to the path which He has called them to. The prophet Isaiah was sent to the people of God at a time when they had faced a lot of hardships, trials and difficulties because of their disobedience against God, their lack of faith and commitment against Him, their refusal to follow His Law and commandments, and their stubbornness and constant rebellions against Him. At that time, the once united kingdom of Israel had long been divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, and it was during the early years of the ministry of Isaiah that the northern kingdom was destroyed and conquered by the Assyrians who laid siege to Samaria, the northern kingdom’s capital and destroyed it, carrying many of its people into exile, and foreigners were sent to dwell in the lands that belonged to the people of God.

Therefore, Isaiah was sent mainly to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah in order to remind all of them of the wicked state that they themselves were in, and telling them all to turn away from all those wickedness, which would have led them ever further and deeper into the path of destruction and downfall, just as they themselves had witnessed through what happened to their separated brethren of the northern kingdom, and how the people of Judah themselves also faced a lot of troubles and hardships, when the Assyrians and others of their enemies were defeating them and conquering their cities and towns. Isaiah wanted all of the people to realise that in God there was indeed a lot of hope and opportunities for them to seek reconciliation, because God Himself is always ready to welcome all of His beloved ones back to His loving embrace.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees who questioned Him on why His disciples did not fast in the manner that the Pharisees themselves and the disciples of St. John the Baptist had fasted. This was when the Lord told them all that His disciples did not fast because He, the Bridegroom was with them, and hence it was indeed not appropriate for them to fast at that joyous time. This was then followed by the prediction that the Lord Himself would go away, which was a premonition of what He would experience, when He would suffer and die on the Cross, and how His disciples would then be sorrowful and fast hence, in anticipation of His glorious Resurrection and return to them.

In this case, the Lord highlighted how He is the One, the Bridegroom of the Church, the Holy One and Saviour of all Whom the Lord has promised and sent to His beloved ones, to bring unto all of us the salvation, liberation and love which He has always promised to us from the very beginning. The Lord has always been kind and generous to us, and He showed us the perfect manifestation, proof and example of His love in His beloved and only begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He has come to our midst so that, He, as the Bridegroom of the Church may help to bring us all, who are parts of His Body, His One Church, to a perfect, full and complete reconciliation with the Lord, our loving God, Father and Creator.

We are all reminded today that we have often fallen into the path of sin, evil and darkness, and hence, we have drifted ever further away from the path that the Lord has wanted us to walk through. We often followed the whim of our desires, our ambitions, pride and greed, which had led so many of our predecessors into their downfall, like the examples of the people of Israel and Judah themselves have shown us. If we continue to allow all those temptations to mislead and to bring us deeper into the path of sin and evil, then in the end, we will have nothing but regret for our waywardness and our downfall, especially when it is already too late for us, in constantly resisting and rejecting the Lord’s ever generous offer of love, compassion and mercy until the last possible moment before our deaths and judgment.

Let us all therefore remind ourselves once again today and henceforth that we should not allow all those temptations, desires and all the obstacles present all around us from stopping or slowing us down in our path and pursuit of the righteousness and grace in God. Let us all make use of this penitential time of Lent to help us to restrain our many desires, and help us to detach ourselves from the excessive attachments of worldly pleasures and glories. We must be good role models and inspirations for each other as well, in how we all live our each and every moments in life, in doing what God has commanded us all to do, in proclaiming His Good News and truth through our every words, actions and deeds, and in everything that we do in interacting and working with one another.

May the Lord continue to guide and empower us all so that in all the things we do, we will always strive to be ever closer to Him, and to follow Him ever more sincerely and with greater desire to abandon our wickedness and evils, and to be freed from the tyranny, bondage and dominion of sin and evil all around us. May God bless our every good efforts, works and endeavours, now and always, in glorifying His Name, forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 February 2024 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded again by the readings of the Scriptures that we should always follow the commandments and the Law of God in all things, and we should not allow the many distractions and temptations present all around us from leading us astray and down the path of disobedience and rebellion against God. As we continue to progress through this current Season of Lent that began yesterday on Ash Wednesday, we are called and reminded many times on the need for each and every one of us to resist the temptations of the world and all the allures of worldly comfort, pleasure and ambitions, and all the other things which may prevent us from coming ever closer to God and His grace.

In our first reading today, we are all reminded from the passage of the Book of Deuteronomy of the things which God had presented to all of His people through His Law and commandments, and all the words and the teachings which He Himself had made clear through His servant Moses, that He has expected all of His followers and people to do, that they should always be holy just as He is holy, and to be righteous and just in all things, in how they interact with one another, in doing His works and commandments. God told His people clearly that if they were to follow and obey His Law and commandments, and are righteous, good and worthy in their actions and way of life, they will be blessed and empowered, strengthened and they would receive true joy and happiness, while if they chose what was evil and wicked instead, then they would be condemned and destroyed in the end.

At that time, the Israelites often disobeyed the Lord and refused to truly obey the Lord wholeheartedly, as they were easily swayed and tempted by all sorts of worldly glory and temptations, which led them to turn away from the path which God has shown them through Moses, Aaron and the elders that God had chosen and appointed to guide them and help them in their path. The Lord has patiently guided them, cared for them and remained patient with them despite all the stubborn attitudes and disobedience which they had constantly shown, in disobeying His Law and commandments, and in worshipping pagan and false gods and idols throughout their journey. That was why, the Lord made it clear before all of them what He expected of them, and thus, all of us as well, in what we all have to do as His disciples and followers.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the moment when the Lord told His disciples clearly what would happen to Him, and what is expected from all of them as His disciples and followers. The Lord Jesus told His disciples clearly that they should be prepared to face hardships, trials and challenges in life, because the Lord Himself has faced the same kind of rejection and opposition, and He Himself would be handed over to His enemies, who would persecute and make Him to suffer a most humiliating and painful death, as a premonition to His Crucifixion, when He would suffer for the whole world, for each and every one of us, to suffer and die for our sake that by His death, and then by His glorious Resurrection, He might bring all of us into the certainty of eternal life and true happiness with Him.

In that same passage, the Lord also told His disciples that they all cannot be His true disciples and followers unless they also pick up their crosses and follow Him. This is a reference to the commitment and faith required of all those who have committed themselves to the path which the Lord has shown them, to be true and genuine disciples and followers of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that in all of our words, actions and deeds, in our every interactions, we have to be always ready to stand up for our faith and to endure hardships and challenges associated with this Christian faith of ours, for our beliefs and our dedication to God in all things, against all the temptations and pressures from the world.

This is a reminder for all of us that being Christians may not be as easy and smooth as what we may think it may be, as if we have not truly lived our lives in the manner that is truly faithful and true to our Christian faith, then indeed, our lives in this world may have been that much easier and better. However, this is not what we are all expected to do, as being Christians means that often we may be required to make sacrifices of time and materials, or any other means, and to put the efforts in order to live our lives faithfully as followers and disciples of Christ. But this does not mean that we are then suffering it all alone, or enduring all these trials by ourselves, for the Lord is going through them all with us.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, when we pick up our crosses in life, we are all sharing it with Christ, and the Cross which He Himself has picked up and endured as a way to give us all the assurance of salvation, by bearing upon Himself all the consequences and punishments due for our sins, and being our Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God slaughtered and sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross at Calvary, He offered for us on our behalf a perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of our sins, that through Him all of us may be forgiven and reconciled wholly with the Lord, our most loving God and Father. Through Christ, all of us have received this great love and grace of God, and we really should realise just how blessed and fortunate we all are because of that.

Let us all therefore strive from now on to live our lives worthily of the Lord from now on, doing our very best so that our every actions and words, our deeds and interactions with one another may be truly filled with God’s grace and righteousness. Let us all make good use of this penitential time and season of Lent to prepare ourselves well, wholeheartedly and sincerely, so that we may continue to deepen our relationship with God, and continue to strive to reject the temptations of Satan, all his false promises and dealings, and let us all be good role models and examples for others, helping each other in our journey of faith, assisting one another in picking up and carrying our crosses in life, and to endure them all with the guidance and help from the Lord, Whose love and compassion for us have saved us all from certain damnation and destruction.

May all of us continue to grow ever deeper in our conviction and desire to live our lives most worthily as Christians from now on, and may God bless us all in everything that we say and do, in all of our dealings and interactions each day, and bless our Lenten observances and practices in all occasions. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 February 2024 : 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, also known as Quadragesima, a time of preparation and reflection as we prepare ourselves well for the upcoming celebrations of Holy Week and Easter, the most important moments in our whole entire liturgical year. On this day, the day of Ash Wednesday, we have this imposition of blessed ashes on all the people of God as a clear and symbolic representation of our desire to be forgiven from our sins, and as a sign of our repentance and regret from all the things that we have disobeyed the Lord for, and which therefore brought us into the path of sin and evil, out of which we are seeking the Lord for His help and grace, so that, He may free us from the shackles of our sins and evils.

In our first reading today, we heard the reading from the Book of the prophet Joel in which we are all called to repent and turn away from our many sins and wickedness, all because of the great love and compassion, His mercy and forgiveness that He was willing to offer us all generously. The prophet Joel came to the people of God, to those who have been afflicted by hardships, trials, sufferings and difficulties because of their disobedience and lack of faith in God. They have committed all sorts of wickedness and evils, as they allowed themselves to be tempted by the pleasures of the world, its glory and fame, and all the other distractions that have pulled them away from the path of God’s righteousness and grace. That was why they fell further and further into sin and darkness.

Yet, the Lord never gave up on His beloved people, as He continued to send prophets and messengers, one after another, to call upon those people to return to Him, to seek His forgiveness and mercy, and to remind them all that He has always loved them and has always been willing to embrace them all once again with His love, and to bless them and give them all His grace once again, and that He is a merciful God, if only that each and every one of them would return to Him with contrite and repentant hearts and minds. Through the repentance and genuine regret that the people felt for their sins, they would receive the fullness of God’s love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness. Thus, the prophet Joel called on all the people of God to return to Him once again with love and faith.

In our second reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, in which the Apostle St. Paul reminded the faithful there of the fact and truth that the Lord their God has saved their people and brought them all to His presence once again, through none other than His own Beloved Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent into this world in order to bring unto us the perfect manifestation of His love and salvation. This brings once again our attention into the great love and kindness which God has always had for us, and for which we really should be thankful for, as without this love and generosity, we would have been condemned into our downfall and destruction, because of our many sins which should have led us into the utter darkness.

God does not intend for that to happen to us, and He has always shown that His mercy and love are greater than the power of sin, and all the darkness that have surrounded us. He has sent us His Son so that through Him all of us may have and receive the guarantee of eternal life and true joy, by His loving sacrifice on the Cross, through which He has redeemed us all from the power and dominion of sin and death. Each and every one of us who have been defiled by the corruption of sin have been called to embrace God’s love and kindness found in His beloved Son, manifested perfectly to us, and shown to us, in His most glorious and wonderful act of love, bearing our many sins, all the consequences and punishments for them, on His Cross, so that He, as our Paschal Lamb, slain and sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross, may become the perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of all of our many sins.

This is the truth which St. Paul, the other Apostles, the disciples and missionaries of the Lord had preached and proclaimed about. They have spoken about everything that God has done for our sake through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, and therefore, each and every one of us, as God’s beloved people, may be holy and filled with His grace once again, rejecting firmly the path of sin and evil, renouncing and resisting all the temptations and the false promises of Satan, and all the things which had led to the downfall of so many among our predecessors, and which we have been reminded about so that we ourselves will not fall into the same trap of sin, that we may find our way to righteousness and grace through our repentance and sincere desire to reject firmly the path of sin and evil.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord’s discourse to His disciples and the people listening to Him regarding the matter of the practice of fasting, which is practiced by the Israelites as mentioned by the prophet Joel in our first reading today, and also by their descendants, the Jewish people. The Lord was teaching them about the right way how each and every one of them ought to be fasting, that is by doing so not because they wanted to be seen or witnessed, praised or honoured by others in doing that. In essence, the Lord reminded them and hence all of us as well, that our practice of fasting and abstinence which we always do today on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstinence itself which we practice on Fridays throughout the year, and other Lenten practices, like almsgiving and other devotions, should always be centred on God.

This is because if we fast or carry out our Lenten practices in order to be seen or be praised by others, just as how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law liked to do it during the time of the Lord’s ministry, then we are not really being sincere in our intention and purpose of doing such actions. We are instead feeding our ego and pride, desire and greed, among other things, and we fall short of doing our obligations and what we are expected to do as God’s followers and disciples. We ought to fast and abstain because we want to learn to restrain our desires and the demands of our bodies from worldly satisfactions and all the pleasures of the flesh, and not because we want to be praised and honoured, which is in fact contrary to the spirit of fasting and abstinence in the first place.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this Season of Lent today, being marked with the blessed ashes as a sign of our repentance, let us more importantly mark our hearts with the genuine sign of repentance and with the strong desire to seek God’s love and mercy, His compassion and forgiveness. The ashes should not be merely just an external symbol or formality, and it should not be the source of pride and ego, thinking that we are better or more righteous than others. Rather, it should remind us all of our sinfulness, and our weakness in our faith life, so that we may come to seek the Lord, to seek His loving compassion and mercy, that He may lead us all out of the darkness and into His light once again.

Let our fasting and abstinence today mark the beginning of a renewed desire to come closer to the loving and merciful Presence of God, and accompany them with the genuine change and conversion of hearts and minds, heeding the call which the Lord had made to each and every one of us, and be reminded of the great and most generous love, mercy and compassion that He has always had for us and which He has shown us from the very beginning of time. Let us not take for granted everything that He has always patiently and generously provided for us, and let us open wide the doors of our hearts and minds to welcome Him once again, this blessed time and season of Lent, so that we may prepare ourselves for the upcoming celebrations of Holy Week and Easter.

Let our whole lives, our whole existence, way of life, actions, words and deeds from now on be truly worthy of the Lord, and let God be our guide and strength, the source of our courage and inspiration, our power and our hope. Let us all live through this season of Lent, spending each and every moments as always, filled with the strong desire to purify ourselves from the corruptions of sin, evil, of all of our ego, pride, desire and greed, of all the things which have kept us away from the Lord and His path, and use this time and opportunity given to us so that we may continue to do our part in walking down this path that the Lord has guided us through, and be better Christians in all things. May the Lord continue to bless us and empower us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always, and may He bless our Lenten journey to come, that we will make best use of it. Amen.

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Sunday, 9 April 2023 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Alleluia!Christ is Risen from the dead, Alleluia! Tonight all of us rejoice most wonderfully as we finally arrive on this most holy, wonderful and solemn Easter Vigil, also known as the Mother of All Holy Vigils, the greatest time and moment in the whole entire liturgical year. That is because on this night we rejoice most greatly at the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world. Throughout this Easter Triduum period, the culmination of the Holy Week, we have been focusing on the Lord and all of His actions, His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, and then the peak of everything, which is tonight’s celebration, is the Resurrection that Jesus Christ our Lord went through, as He rose gloriously from the land of the dead, rising in glory from hell, breaking free the chains of the dead, and all who have sinned against God, releasing their bondage to sin and death, freeing them just as how He has once liberated His people Israel from the tyranny and enslavement by the Egyptians and their Pharaoh.

Today, in our Scripture readings, especially those from the Old Testament detailed for us the history of God’s work and salvation for us, from the very beginning right up to the coming of His salvation in Jesus Christ, Our Risen Lord. We are reminded of God’s ever-present love for each and every one of us, and how fortunate all of us to have been beloved such by God, and how He gave us all the ultimate gift of Love, manifested perfectly in His own Son, Who has been incarnate in the flesh, to dwell amongst us and to be with us, so that God’s love may become tangible, real and approachable, and that we all may know, how it is in Him alone that we shall have the hope and assurance of eternal life, true joy and glory with Him. We have once been lost from Him, separated and sundered from God’s grace and love, but God wanted us all to be reconciled to Him, reunited with Him completely and no longer be lost from Him, and that is what Christ’s triumphant glory and Resurrection has achieved for us.

Let us all begin from the first reading today taken from the Book of Genesis. In that reading, we heard about the story of the Creation of the world, how God made all things and all the whole Universe to come to existence, at the very beginning of time. It highlighted to us and reminded us that God has always been ever present and eternal, with Jesus Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, as the Son, the Eternal Word of God, having existed with the Father and the Holy Spirit, a perfect Union of Love, of God in His Most Holy Trinity, with no lack or need for anything. And yet, God wanted to share His love with us, and He made all creation to be, by His own will and through the Word He uttered, to make all things to be as what He imagined them to be, everything as we have heard it from the passage of the Book of Genesis, culminating in the creation of Man, made and formed in God’s own image. Everything was made all good and perfect, without any defect yet.

God made us all in His own image, and gave dominion unto us to rule over all the other created things and beings, and to be His stewards and caretakers over all of creation. That is what God has always intended for us, to enjoy the fullness of His love and grace, and to exist with Him in perfect love, harmony and joy, in the place that He has prepared for us, this whole world and all of its wonders. We were never meant to suffer or to endure hardships, struggles and the harshness of this world, but in our own folly and inability to resist the many temptations of sin, we have chosen to disobey God and to listen to the falsehoods and lies of Satan, allowing his wicked words to tempt us and to turn us away from the path of God’s righteousness. That was how we ended up in the path of sin, cast out from Eden and separated from God’s love. But God’s love for us was so great that, He did not want to see us destroyed by our sins.

Sin has no place before God, Who is all good and perfect. Sin is defilement and wickedness that is abhorrent to God, and those who sin are thus separated from God, because no one can stand before God with sin and survives. And hence, God wants to free us from that bondage and dominion by sin, and in order to do so, He has given us help and guidance, calling on us to turn away from our wicked way of life and calling on us to follow Him. And through what we have heard in our second reading today, we are reminded of what God Himself had done for us in order to achieve that goal, of saving us and liberating each one of us from the tyranny of sin. In what we heard of Abraham and his attempted sacrifice of his son, Isaac, we actually heard the premonition and prefigurement of what the Lord Himself would do for us all, out of the love and commitment He has towards us.

Abraham was a man that the Lord made a Covenant with, calling him from the land of his ancestors in Ur of the Chaldeans. God called Abraham to follow wherever He would tell him to go to, and Abraham obeyed the Lord, leaving his ancestral lands behind and following the Lord wholeheartedly. God made a Covenant with Abraham, promising him that he would have a son to succeed him, and that he would become the father of many nations. That son eventually was born in the person of Isaac, the promised child born of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. That long promised and awaited son must have brought such great joy to Abraham, who have not had any son or child at all. Yet, as we heard, God called on Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, the same Isaac whom Abraham had been awaiting for, and must have loved so much. Yet, Abraham obeyed God and did as the Lord had told him to do, bringing Isaac to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, there is deeper theological and symbolic representations in what we have heard of that story of the sacrifice of Isaac at Mount Moriah, and how it is connected to what we have been commemorating in this Easter Triduum and Holy Week period. That is because Mount Moriah is located exactly at where Jerusalem would be standing in the future, from Abraham’s point of time, and Mount Moriah itself was identified by Biblical and other historical scholars as the site of Calvary, the very place where the Crucifixion of Our Lord happened on Good Friday. Thus, just as Abraham gave Isaac, his most beloved son willingly to be sacrificed and offered to God, God Himself had done the same with us, in willingly giving us His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be the offering and sacrifice, slaughtered on the Altar of the Cross, at Calvary, where Mount Moriah was at, the same place as Isaac’s supposed sacrifice.

But the difference was that, Isaac was not actually sacrificed, as God was just testing Abraham and his faith and commitment to His Covenant. Having seen the pure and genuine nature of Abraham’s faith, how he committed himself so thoroughly to the Covenant and to God, that he was willing to part even with his most prized possession, his own most beloved and long awaited promised son, thus, God sent a ram in place of Isaac to be sacrificed instead. This in itself was also symbolic, as God sent us His own Son to be offered as a sacrifice, to take our place and to bear the burden of our many sins, that even though it should have been us who faced the consequences of our sins and wickedness, but God extended His great love and mercy towards us, giving us the way out of the darkness and into the light of His salvation. He bore all the heavy burdens of our sins, all of which were His wounds and pain, so that by His suffering and death, His ultimate loving sacrifice, He might save us all.

In our third reading from the Book of Exodus, we then heard of how the Lord delivered His people Israel from the slavery in Egypt and how He delivered them from the hands of their enemies, the Egyptians and their chariots and armies. The Lord made the very sea itself to part before them, allowing them to walk on the dry seabed, guided and protected by His guidance, and He threw all of the chariots and armies of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh into the sea, crushing them under the rushing waves and water. As the Israelites passed through that great journey through the sea, they passed from their past slavery to a new life of freedom and liberation from whatever that had bonded and dominated them. God brought them by His own hands to freedom, and ransomed them, so that they might no longer be under the yoke of the Egyptians, entering into a new life and existence with God.

Therefore, in the same way, God has also led us all through the waters of baptism, as He brought us into a new life that is free from sin and from our enslavement by those sins. Just like the Israelites who were under the bondage and dominion of the Egyptians, all of us have also come under the bondage and dominion of sin, that is until the Lord came to us and delivered us from our enslavement to sin, by His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately by His Resurrection from the dead. That is what we have been commemorating through this whole Holy Week and particularly the Easter Triduum, as tonight we focus our attention on the Triumphant Christ, Risen from the dead and Victorious over sin and death. Not even death can hold Him and hell has no power against Him, and through His Resurrection, the Lord showed us all that through Him, there is hope of this new and eternal life, a new existence through Him and with Him.

Tonight is when many people all around the world are received into the Church, through the Sacrament of Baptism, as they are made anew and becoming partakers and members of God’s kingdom on earth, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Thus, just as the Israelites ended their lives in slavery and left behind their past existence through the waters of the Red Sea, thus, our fellow brothers and sisters, our newly baptised Christian brethren, all have been led to a new life and existence in God, abandoning their past sinful existence and way of life. They are no longer subject to the dominion of sin, and like us all, have become part of the same Body of Christ, the Church of God. The Lord has called on all of us to follow Him, and these brothers and sisters have followed in our examples and leads, to seek and follow the Lord in each of their own ways.

The rest of the Scripture readings reaffirm further God’s love for His people, for all of us, and they all spoke of God’s providence and the coming of His salvation and grace. All of these, which God had promised from the very beginning of time, had finally come to its fruition and completion with the glorious Resurrection of the Lord. The Lord’s Resurrection proved that there is life and existence beyond death, and that He has conquered death itself, by breaking the hold that sin has over us. As our Eternal High Priest, He has offered on our behalf, the most worthy offering and sacrifice, the offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, shed and broken on the Altar of the Cross. The payment and ransom for our sins and unworthiness have been received, and God had reestablished with us the connection that was once lost because of exactly those same sins and wickedness that we had committed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this night, as we rejoice greatly at the wonderful things that the Lord had done for us, and for all the love that He has shown us, and as we glorify Him for His most wondrous Resurrection, let us all remind ourselves that Easter is not just celebrated tonight or tomorrow on Easter Sunday only. In fact, we often forget that the Easter season lasts for a whole period of fifty days up to Pentecost Sunday. However, in fact, our Easter spirit and energies should be continuing even beyond that. All of us as Christians have been called by God to be His disciples and followers, to proclaim His truth and Good News to all the people, all around the world. That is our calling and our ministry as Christians, in whatever way the Lord had entrusted us with various gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities through which we can affect and influence many people throughout our various communities and places.

That is why, as we recall our Scripture readings today and what we have just discussed earlier, let us all spend the time tonight and then beyond to renew our commitment to the Lord, to dedicate ourselves and our time and effort, with a greater fervour and zeal, to serve the Lord more wholeheartedly and to follow Him with more vigour and effort. The Lord has not hold back from us even His own most beloved Son, Who willingly suffered and died for us, enduring the worst humiliations and beatings for us, so that by His death we may also die to our past sinful lives, and by His Resurrection, we may share in the new life and existence that He is leading us into. That is why, as we enter into this new glorious season of Easter, let us all remind each other of what it truly means for us to be Christians, to be a people called and sanctified by God, made to be His own sons and daughters.

Let us all therefore strive to live a life that is more worthy of the Lord, resisting the many temptations, pressures and coercions around us to conform to the world and its wicked ways. Let us instead be the shining beacons of God’s Light so that as we remember of the promises we made at our own baptism, we may truly live our lives as faithful and devout Christians, and that our every actions, words and deeds may inspire one another in faith, and touch the lives of countless others, who may come to know and experience the Lord, His love and truth, by their interactions with us. Let us all no longer be idle and no longer be ignorant of our Christian calling, remembering that all of us have been called to be holy, to be filled with the love and zeal for the Lord. Let us be good role models and inspirations to one another so that our Easter joy may truly inspire more joy and light in everyone.

May the Lord, our Risen Christ, risen gloriously from the dead continue to inspire and strengthen us. May He bless us and strengthen us so that we may always be committed and ready to live our lives wholeheartedly, dedicated to Him and to proclaim His Resurrection, His truth and love to all those whom we encounter daily in life. May all of us continue to live with faith and with the joy of the Risen Christ in each and every moments of our lives. May God bless us all and may His light shine upon us, illuminating our path forward in life. Wishing all of us a most blessed Easter season, and may the Risen Christ be with us and our loved ones always. Alleluia! Amen!

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Friday, 7 April 2023 : Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the occasion of Good Friday, the day when the Lord suffered and died for us all. It was on this day over two millennia ago that the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour of the whole world took up His Cross, embarked on the way of His suffering and eventually dying on the Cross for our sake. This is truly a ‘Good’ Friday because without everything that the Lord had done for us, we would have no hope out of the darkness of our lives, and we would not have enjoyed the assurance of God’s love and grace which He has poured down generously upon us and shown us through Christ, His Son, Whose death on the Cross is the everlasting sign of His undying and most generous love, His ever enduring love and commitment towards all that He has promised to us, to the Covenant He had made with us.

Continuing from the discourse of Holy Thursday, we must realise that the whole Easter Triduum is one great celebration that cannot be separated from each other. On Holy Thursday yesterday, as we commemorate the Lord’s Last Supper with His disciples, His institution of the Eucharist and the ministerial priesthood, we are reminded that what the Lord had said at that Last Supper, as He broke and shared His Body and Blood to His disciples, with the words, ‘Take and eat, this is My Body which has been given up for you.’ and ‘Take and drink, this is the chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal Covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.’, all of these came to completion with the Passion, the suffering and crucifixion of Our Lord Himself on this Good Friday. What began on Holy Thursday, the great Passover feast, was accomplished on the Cross, just as the Lord Himself said at the end, ‘It is accomplished!’

Like the Jewish Passover of old, when the Lord told His people, the Israelites, to take a one year old young, unblemished lamb and to sacrifice it on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, the month of Nisan, therefore, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Paschal Lamb, also took it upon Himself, to offer Himself as the Lamb to be slaughtered, on the day of preparation just before the Passover, which was on Good Friday itself. As it is noted at the end of our Gospel reading of the Passion today that the crucifixion ended when the Jewish people were on the eve of their Passover, it was truly not a coincidence that the Lord suffered, was crucified and died at the exact same time when the Passover lamb was to be slaughtered and sacrificed, for the liberation of the people of God from their enslavement and domination by the Egyptians. That is because by His offering of Himself as the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, the perfect offering, He has become for us the same source of liberation from the tyranny, dominion and enslavement by sin and death.

The Lord willingly did all of these because of His great love for each one of us. Everything had been prepared and foretold in advance, but no one could have predicted the extent to which the Lord was willing to go in order to save us all. Instead of sending a mere prophet or messenger to complete everything that He has willed to happen, the Lord chose to embrace us Himself, by coming down upon us, to dwell in our midst and being incarnate in the flesh, walking amongst us in the form of a Man. That was what the Lord had foretold and spoken through His prophets and messengers, veiled from the fullness of truth and understanding until everything had come to pass. From our perspective, we who have received the fullness of God’s truth, we have seen the truth revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Who has come to us, and willingly embraced and took up upon Himself the full burden of the Cross, all the sins and wickedness we have committed, and the punishments associated with them, to bear them Himself, to the hill of Calvary.

As we have heard in our first reading today, everything happened just as the Lord had revealed it to us through His prophets. The prophet Isaiah had spoken particularly a lot about the Messiah or Saviour Who was to come into the world, revealing that He would be born through the Woman, the Holy Virgin that God would appoint, and everything indeed came true with Mary and her miraculous conception and birth of Our Lord Jesus. The Lord has also come into our midst, willingly becoming the Man to be humbled, humiliated and crushed, to be burdened and pushed to endure the great sufferings and persecutions for the sake of all of us, His beloved ones. As we heard from the prophet Isaiah, the Holy One of God would be broken for us, crushed for us and be destroyed so that by His suffering and pains, His sorrows and wounds, all of us would be healed. As Isaiah said, this Man would bear upon Himself all of our punishments and sorrows, so that by His brokenness and sorrows, His wounds and hardships, all of us would be healed from our own hardships and wounds.

Then, there was also that clear allusion and reference to the lamb being slaughtered, referring to the Passover lamb, and in this case, the Lord Jesus Himself, as the Lamb of God, the Paschal Lamb Who takes away the sins of the whole world. By His wounds and the broken Body, the outpoured Blood, all of which He has done freely and most generously out of love for all of us, He has shown us the path to eternal life and true joy with Him. That is what Good Friday is all about, the love of God made Man, and His love manifested and shown to us, by His willing embrace of suffering and death, to suffer our punishments and trials for our sake, loving us most selflessly and generously despite of our constant and frequent rebelliousness and wickedness, everything that we have always done in spite of His love and compassion, His kindness and patience all these while. On this Good Friday, we remember especially Christ our Lord, our Saviour, Whose kindness and compassion towards us has opened for us the path to true happiness, and which is why this day is a truly a ‘Good’ day.

However, on this day, we have to better appreciate everything that the Lord had done for us. Too often we mankind have ignored the Lord, rejected and spurned His love, refused to listen to Him and being difficult in resisting His many efforts to reach out to us with love and kindness. Through His Son, God has reestablished with us, the connection that was once lost for us due to sin, the connection that we have to God, our loving Father and Creator. For Christ through His Cross has made a Bridge that linked us all with God, as a Bridge that crossed the uncrossable and infinite chasm existing between Him and all of us due to sin. Sin has caused us to be sundered and separated from God, and we have been cast out of Eden and God’s Presence because of our pride, greed and desires, everything that we did in rejecting His generous love. But God’s love for us endured still, and that is why He sent us His Son, and through Whom we have received the guarantee and assurance of salvation and eternal life.

He established with us a new and eternal Covenant, sealed by His own Most Precious Blood, and by the offering and sacrifice of His own Most Precious Body, as a most worthy sacrifice, allowed Himself to be betrayed and rejected by His own people, and even by one of those closest to Him, that by uniting His sufferings and hardships to ours, He might raise us all up from the depth of our downfall due to sin, and bring us back to Himself. Through His perfect obedience to the will of His heavenly Father, Christ showed us as the Son of Man, how we ourselves should be like in our way of life and in our actions. He showed us all perfect love, both for God, His Father and also for all of us, His own brothers and sisters, by the shared humanity that He has embraced us with. He Himself has told us that the most important Law and Commandments are to love God with all of our heart, with all of our strength and might, and that we should do the same to our fellow brethren as well. That was exactly what He had done for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we commemorate the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and King, let us all focus our attention on the Cross of Christ, and remember all that He had done for us, the love of God made Man, manifest and tangible for us. Let us all remember everything that God had done for us as we look upon the Cross. On that Cross hung the salvation of the whole world, our entire Hope and the Light that pierced through the darkness of sin and the wickedness of this world, leading us all towards righteousness in God. And as we look upon the Cross, let us all affix our gaze upon the Lord, Whose own gaze was affixed at all of us, and let us all remember how He prayed even for those who have persecuted and condemned Him to death. We often forget the fact that Christ died for everyone, even for all those who have hated and persecuted Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is indeed very easy for us to point our fingers to blame Judas Iscariot, those chief priests and Pharisees and everyone else who have been involved in the Passion, the suffering and death of Our Lord. However, do we all actually realise that we are all just as great sinners as they were too? Do we all realise that we ourselves have also often betrayed the Lord, rejected and abandoned Him for worldly things, matters and attachments that we had? Do we realise just how often we refused to listen to the Lord and preferred instead to listen to the lies and falsehoods of the devil, embracing all sorts of temptations and pressures from the world, doing what were wicked and evil in the presence of God? Today, as we look upon the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, let us all spend the precious time to look deep within ourselves, and see in what way our actions and way of life had caused hurt and pain towards the Lord.

Let us all not forget that all of the wounds and pain suffered by the Lord, are all of our sins, our evils, wickedness and unworthy actions, words and deeds. Each and every one of our iniquities are what causing the Lord all the wounds and hurts He experienced. As we recall the reading of Our Lord’s Passion, everything that He had done for our sake, let us be abashed and humbled, and reminded of just how wicked and sinful we had been. Let us commit ourselves to follow the Lord faithfully once again, and reject the wickedness of the world. Let us all seek the Lord with all of our might and focus our attention on Him, remembering His Passion and His love for us, which He has given us most generously from His Cross. And as we behold the Holy Cross of Christ, let us all remember that through the Cross, all of us have been brought into triumph in the great struggle against sin, evil and death.

Now, let us all continue our faithful observance of the Easter Triduum, by keeping our focus on the Lord, our Crucified Christ, Who has died for us. Let us always remember that He did not remain in death, but rose gloriously in His Resurrection, conquering and defeating death in His wake. Through Christ, let us all therefore come ever closer to God and His salvation, and may all of us continue to grow ever stronger in faith and commitment, in our desire to love God and to follow Him wholeheartedly at all times. May all of us be exemplary Christians, as good and faithful disciples of Our Lord at all times. May God bless us always, continue to love us and grant us His grace. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 April 2023 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on this evening all of us are gathered together as the whole Church to commemorate the beginning of Easter or Paschal Triduum with this Mass of the Lord’s Supper, marking the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ had the last meal with His disciples just before the beginning of His Passion, which refers to His suffering and death. This night as we gather together as the Church, all of us remember that night when the Lord gathered His disciples to eat the Passover meal with them, and in that occasion, He also gave them the new mandate and commandment, which is why today is also known as Maundy Thursday, for this new ‘Mandatum’ that He told all of His disciples to do, to be servants and ministers of the people of God, and also to obey God’s will. In that same occasion therefore, the Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist and also the institution of priesthood.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Exodus in which the account of the Exodus of the Israelites from the land of Egypt was read, and how the Lord instructed His people to have their very first Passover in the land of Egypt, marking the moment when the Lord brought His tenth and final plague against the Egyptians and their Pharaoh for their stubbornness and refusal to let the people of Israel go free. The Lord therefore sent His greatest plague upon the Egyptians, that He would kill all of their firstborn, from the Pharaoh’s firstborn right down to that of the lowest among the Egyptians. But the same plague of death did not affect the Israelites for God has ‘passed over’ them and their houses, because they followed the Lord’s instruction, for them to prepare an unblemished lamb, and then mark their houses with the blood from that slaughtered lamb, and which meat was eaten by the families on that Passover night.

We may wonder why this particular reading from the first Passover in Egypt was read as our first reading today, but this in fact highlighted the clear link and parallel between the original Passover that were celebrated each year afterwards as the Jewish Passover or the Seder, and the new Passover, our Christian Passover that superseded the old Passover, revealing the true intention of the Lord for us all. That is because just as the Lord has rescued His people Israel from their enslavement in the land of Egypt, from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh in the original Passover, and thus, the new, Christian Passover is the representation of God’s desire to rescue all of His people, and not just the Israelites, from the tyranny of sin, and from their enslavement to sin and death. The first Passover was the precursor and prefigurement of the Lord’s grand plan of salvation for all of us mankind.

If we look at the Passover of the Israelites, the Lord instructed them all to choose an unblemished young lamb to be slaughtered and then its blood to be painted upon the doors of their houses, to mark those houses so that the Angels of the Lord would ‘pass over’ them as they scourged the whole land of Egypt and destroyed all the firstborn of the Egyptians. In the same way therefore, the Lord has sent us all His own Son, to be the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, the most worthy of all offerings and sacrifices, far surpassing the offering of worldly lambs and animals, and One Who is truly spotless and blameless, all perfection and good within Him. Then, just as the Passover lamb was kept and prepared and eventually slaughtered on the day of the Passover, the same thing happened to the Lord, the Paschal Lamb, Who embarked on His own Passover journey, becoming the One to be slaughtered and at the same time also as the One Who offered on behalf of everyone, the perfect and worthy offering to God.

In the Last Supper, as we heard from our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we listened to how the Lord conducted the Passover meal in a most curious and distinct way. That Last Supper was indeed a Passover meal structured around the Jewish Passover, as it was mentioned that the Lord wanted to have a Passover meal with His disciples, but what is interesting is that, if we notice, unlike the central presence of the Passover lamb in the usual Jewish Passover, as we heard from our reading from the Book of Exodus, at the Last Supper, the Passover lamb was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the Lord Himself took the centre stage, and as He prayed and broke the bread over His disciples, He passed the bread to them while telling them that the bread is His Body, broken and shared for them to partake and eat. He did the same with the wine, which He passed to them as the chalice of His Blood, shared and outpoured for them to drink and partake as well.

Obviously, as we can see, the Lord Himself is the Paschal Lamb, Who was to be offered and slaughtered at the Altar of His Cross. However, at the time of the Last Supper, no one present except the Lord Himself could have understood what was happening. It was likely only afterwards that the Lord’s disciples realised everything that had happened, and how all that He had done at the Last Supper was a revelation of what He Himself would have to suffer on the next day after on Good Friday. Then, if we look upon the events of the Easter Triduum, what many of us might not have realised is that, everything that happened is one great liturgy and celebration, of the great Sacrifice that Our Lord offered on our behalf, as the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, offered and slaughtered on the moment of His Passion at Calvary. His broken and shared Body and Blood, have been broken and outpoured for our salvation. That is why, the Church does not celebrate any Mass on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, with tonight’s Mass being the same sacrifice that encompass the whole of Easter Triduum.

Historically, the Last Supper was also known as an incomplete Passover, as according to the Jewish customs, there are four cups of wine that ought to be drunk at the occasion of the Passover. However, according to the Apostolic tradition, Scriptural and historical evidence, the Lord and some of His disciples, St. Peter, St. James and St. John left for the Gardens of Gethsemane, where the Lord Jesus prayed in agony in tears and sweat of Blood as He agonised over all the sufferings and hardships that He would have to endure very soon. But the Passover meal was not yet complete, and this is another hint that, what the Lord would have to go through in His Passion, is part of the whole entire Passover, the moment when He offered Himself, His Most Precious Body and His Most Precious Blood, for the salvation of all mankind, for the atonement and the reconciliation of all of us with God, His Heavenly Father, Who is our Lord, Master and Creator.

That is why, tonight, as all of us gather together to commemorate that night when the Lord embarked on His Passion, beginning with the final and most important phase in His mission to save all of us from eternal damnation and destruction, we are all reminded of God’s most amazing and enduring love for each and every one of us, which He has shown to us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We remember that moment when the Lord instituted the Most Holy Eucharist, offering Himself, His own Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood freely and willingly for our sake. By His sharing of His Body and Blood, and by our partaking in the Eucharist, the Lord has united us all to Himself, and by embracing us fully and wholeheartedly, taking up upon Himself all of our sins and faults, He has opened for us the gates of eternal life, freedom and liberation from the tyranny of sin and death. That is because if the blood of the Passover lamb had marked the Israelites as a people free from the enslavement and domination of the Egyptians, thus, all of us, who have been marked by the Blood of the Lamb of God, through the Eucharist, have received the mark from the Lord, the mark of salvation and freedom from sin.

Now, what all of us need to ask ourselves is that, do we heed what the Lord Himself has told His disciples, as we heard in our Gospel passage today. As we heard how the Lord humbled Himself and went to wash the feet of His disciples, the job usually done by slaves and servants, He has shown us all what each and every one of us as Christians should be doing in our lives. As those whom God had called and chosen from the darkness of this world, and freed from the tyranny of sin, all of us are called to a new existence, one that is blessed and graced by God. Tonight’s celebration is a reminder that as we enter into this most solemn and holy period in which we recall everything that God Himself had done for us, from His ever enduring and great love, all of us should dedicate ourselves to the Lord anew, to follow Him and obey Him, His Law and commandments just as He had told His disciples to do.

As He ‘mandated’ for them to do, all of us are called to live our lives worthily and virtuously as all Christians should, and each one of us are reminded that we should not seek personal glory and gratification, but instead be focused on the Lord and be like Him in how He loved His Father and each one of us, in His humility and commitment to us, so that all of us may also be like Him, and be good role models and examples of faith to one another. All of us have been given the great gift and grace from God Himself, Who has willingly offered and sacrificed Himself, as the Paschal Lamb, so that we may be fully and completely reconciled with God, and find the sure path to eternal life and true joy with Him. Let us all therefore discern these carefully, particularly as we enter into this Easter Triduum and deepen our focus on the Lord Jesus, His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross, all for our sake.

Let us all be exemplary in our way of life and resolutely reject sin and all of the wickedness found all around us, as the mark of our obedience and our adherence to the path that the Lord has shown us. If we truly believe in the Lord and have faith in Him, then naturally we should strive our best to be worthy of Him, to do what is right and just in accordance to what He Himself has shown and taught us to do. As Christians, we should not be people of empty or shallow faith, but we must really ‘walk the talk’, in being sincere in loving God and in loving our fellow brothers and sisters, and in doing what God had told us to do. The mandatum or commandment that He has given to us is a reminder that each and every one of us as members of God’s Church have particular responsibilities and calling in our own lives, to do what we can so that we may inspire more and more people to come to believe in God as well, because they have seen God and His truth in us, in our actions and way of living. This is what we are reminded today, on this Holy Thursday evening, as we embark into the Easter Triduum and the culmination of our Lenten exercise and observance.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Saviour continue to be with us, guiding us and strengthening us in our journey of faith, so that our every experiences and moments, especially during this Holy Week and Easter Triduum, be most enriching and inspirational, in allowing us to come ever closer to Him and to His salvation. May God be with us always and may He bless our days, our Easter Triduum, the upcoming Easter season and our lives beyond. May He bless our every good efforts and endeavours, and bless our loved ones all around us. Wishing all of us a most blessed Easter Triduum, brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 April 2023 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this occasion today, which is typically celebrated in the morning of Holy Thursday just before the beginning of the most solemn Easter Triduum, the Church all around the world usually celebrates the Chrism Mass, in which the holy oils to be used in the various purposes in the life of the Church are blessed and sanctified, and the bishop of the diocese together with all the priests of the diocese together commit themselves anew to the Lord, in their priestly ministry, in ministering to the people of God, the flock of the Lord. In this morning’s Mass, the whole Church gathers together in prayer, united with the whole presbyterate and the bishop, in recalling the ministry of priesthood that Christ our Lord Himself has instituted on this day at the Last Supper that He had with His disciples.

In our first reading and Gospel passage today, we heard the passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord proclaimed His salvation and the coming of His grace and love into our midst, as He reassured all of His beloved people that He always remembers them, and He will never abandon any of them, as well as any of us, at any time, since He truly loves us all, and He wants us to be saved and be reconciled with Him. That was why, He revealed through the prophet Isaiah and His many other prophets and messengers, that He will send unto us His Holy One, His Messiah and Saviour, the One Who in our Gospel passage today, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man proclaimed before all the assembled people, that everything which God had promised them and their ancestors, all had become true and been fulfilled with His coming, Him being the Messiah long awaited.

Then, in the same readings we have also heard how this Holy One of God came unto us to bring us healing from God, healing for those who were sick and afflicted by various maladies and hardships, consolation and strength for those who were grieving and without hope, as well as the comfort of His truth and love, opening the eyes of the blind, both of our physical eyes and also for all those who are physically fit, the ‘eyes’ of our hearts and minds, that we all may see and recognise the truth of God. That was what the Lord Jesus has been tasked to do by His Heavenly Father, to be the One to bring the love, grace and salvation from God to His people, to be the Bridge that connects us all back to our loving God and Creator. And it is this same mission which the Lord then transmitted to His Apostles, Whom He appointed as the first priests of the Church, to be the servants of God forever.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is what the calling of a priest of the Lord is like, and as today all the priests of the dioceses in the world come together with their respective bishops, to renew their commitment and dedication to the service of God, all of them are reminded to follow the Lord more wholeheartedly and to remember that each and every one of them are truly the representatives of Our Lord Jesus Christ, first of all as the shepherds of the people of God, and during the celebration of the Holy Mass, as the representatives ‘in persona Christi’, acting in the person of the Lord Himself, in consecrating the bread and wine, offering them to the Lord and uniting them to the same Sacrifice made by the Lord on His Cross at Calvary, becoming the Lord’s own Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood, broken and outpoured unto us all, all of us who partake in His Covenant and His Most Holy Eucharist, the greatest gift that the Lord has given us.

All the priests of the Lord have given themselves and committed themselves to a life of sanctity and celibacy, dedicated completely to the Lord and to the service of His people, and they are all facing a lot of challenges and hardships, which only become more and more in these days, as many trials and attacks face our priests. Yet, despite all of these, they still have to continue to minister to the people of God, caring for them and giving them the guidance that they all needed, so that they may find their way to the Lord, their Chief Shepherd and Saviour. And all these are related to the holy oils that are being blessed in this Chrism Mass happening now as well. Those holy oils are used in many important and integral aspects of our Christian faith, and the priests are charged with the dutiful application of these oils in the many different stages of the lives of those of the faithful people of God, from their birth, right down to the end of their earthly lives.

There are three holy oils in total, namely the Oil of the Catechumens also known as Oleum Catechumenorum, the Sacred Chrism also known as Sanctum Chrisma, and the Oil of the Sick also known as Oleum Infirmorum. Each of these holy oils are important in the life journey of Christians, as the Oil of the Catechumens are used to anoint Catechumens who are preparing themselves to become Christians, in an occasion prior to their baptism. Oil of the Sick by its name, is used to anoint those who are gravely ill and sick, and are usually in the danger of death, as part of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, one of the Church’s seven Sacraments. Meanwhile, Sacred Chrism is used most extensively, in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, as well as in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, in the dedication of churches and Altars, among many other uses. All of these are blessed today by the diocesan bishop, to be used for the good of the Church and the flock of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together as the whole Universal Church today, united with the bishops and their priests all around the world, let us all unite our prayers and renew our support for all those who have dedicated themselves to God. Our priests have dedicated their whole lives to the Lord and committed themselves, and they face many struggles and hardships, and are in need of the support of the whole Universal Church. We must remember that every members of the Church and the faithful have to be active partakers of the works and the actions of the Church. The bishops, priests and deacons, the ordained members of the Church cannot be the only ones who carry out the works of the Lord and obey God’s will, as each and every one of us are part of the same Church, the same Body of Christ, and hence, have a part to play in the works of the Church, in whatever missions that God has entrusted to each and every one of us.

Let us hence pray for our priests, for the bishops and all those who have been ordained for a specific ministry in the Church, so that the Lord may continue to guide and strengthen them, to resist the many temptations, pressures, coercions, and to endure trials and hardships all around them. Let us all pray for the sanctification of our ordained ministers, that they all may continue to serve the Lord and His people with all of their hearts and minds, and with particular attention to sanctity and purity in their lives and actions. May the Lord continue to bless His Church and all of us, His beloved people, and especially our priests, whom we remember today. May God bless us always, in our every good efforts and deeds, and may He particularly bless our upcoming Easter Triduum observances and commemorations. Amen.