Lenten sermon

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Thursday, 7 April 2022 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John Baptist de la Salle, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of how God has made a Covenant with Abraham, our father in faith, and how the same Covenant has been renewed and established anew again and again, until the time when Christ, Our Lord and Saviour came into this world and accomplished the works that His heavenly Father has entrusted to Him. He has come into our midst and established with us a new, everlasting and eternal Covenant that He sealed with the offering and outpouring of His own Most Precious Blood and the shedding of His Most Precious Body on the Altar of the Cross. We are called to reflect on this as we draw ever closer to the beginning of Holy Week, the time when we are going to commemorate the events surrounding Our Lord’s Passion, His suffering, death and resurrection.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the Lord making the Covenant with Abraham, who was then still known as Abram, a man who came from the far-off region of Mesopotamia, following the commands and call of God into the land of Canaan, the land which God then promised to him and his descendants to be their own land. Abram then did not yet have a son that will carry on his name and legacy, but God promised him that he would be the father of many nations, through his son Isaac, the one that God would give to him in due time, but which then was yet unknown to Abram. Abram trusted in the Lord and although technically he and his wife, both of whom had been advanced in age, could no longer bear a child anymore, but he trusted in the Lord and believed in His words and promises.

That is why God chose to made a Covenant between Himself and Abram, choosing him and set him apart from any other men and women who were his contemporaries at that time. God chose Abram because He knew everything in his heart and mind, and how Abram truly had faith in Him and trusted in Him wholeheartedly. God sees what is in man’s heart, even to the deepest of their hearts and beings. In Abram, God found a truly righteous man worthy of becoming the one with whom He made a Covenant with. Through Abraham, the salvation of all of His beloved people would come, as it has been planned all along from the very beginning.

Thus, Abram made a Covenant with God and he devoted himself to God, with a new life blessed by God, as Abraham the righteous and just, the beloved and chosen one of God, whose descendants were numerous and many, and all of us who call the Lord as our Master, we also call Abraham as our father in faith. All of us share with him this faith which he had first shown all those years ago, dedicating himself to the Lord and followed Him wherever He called him to follow and walk to. All of us are therefore also expected to follow the Lord wholeheartedly in the same manner, giving our time, effort and attention to be ever faithful as disciples and followers of His.

However, as we heard from our Gospel passage today, it is often that many of us have failed to do this as shown by the attitude of the Jewish people in Judea and Jerusalem, especially among their leaders and elders, the chief priests and the Pharisees, who adamantly refused to listen to the Lord or believed in Him despite all the things that they had heard, seen and witnessed themselves through the Lord’s many miracles and works among the people. The Lord has come amongst His people to reveal His truth among them, and to call them to return to Him, and yet, because they were truly stubborn, they refused to believe in Him and hardened their hearts and minds.

They were all too caught up by their pride and ego, that they failed to realise the extent of their infidelity and stubbornness. They preferred to remain in their rebellious state as they thought that they could not have been wrong or mistaken, and they did not like it when others came to them revealing of how vulnerable and misguided they had been. Thus, unlike what had happened in Abraham’s case, his descendants ironically and unfortunately refused to trust in the Lord and His love and truth. While Abraham devoted himself to the Lord and followed Him with all of his heart, the same could not be said of his descendants, and thus, the Lord rightly rebuked them for that.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to these words from the Scriptures, we are all reminded that we are to follow the Lord and be committed to Him, to the Covenant that He has established with each and every one of us. The Lord has called us to follow Him, and how are we going to respond to Him? Are we going to continue to live in the path of sin and evil, or are we committed to a change in our way of life, and are we willing to walk with God from now on, in obeying Him and dedicating ourselves to His truth? Are we going to be good role models who can show others how we can be good Christians, as good disciples and children of God?

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John Baptist de la Salle, the renowned founder of the Brothers of Christian School, a religious order and fraternity of men committed to the advancement of Christian education all throughout the world. St. John Baptist de la Salle was a priest and canon of the Cathedral of Reims who was called to minister to the needs of the needy, and seeing the terrible state of education of especially young Christians all around him, he decided to embark on a new ministry, in dedicating himself to the needs of those who are last, lost and least, especially those who are struggling in their youth and education.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as St. John Baptist de la Salle dedicated himself and his whole life for the benefit of many others who are in need of help, all of us should do whatever we can to contribute to others all around us as well. The Lord has called us all to follow Him and we should respond to Him in the same way that St. John Baptist de la Salle and many other of our holy predecessors had done. Are we willing and able to commit our lives in the same way too? The choice is really ours if we want to follow Him and to spend our time and effort in walking down His path.

Let us all therefore remind ourselves of the great faith that Abraham, our father in faith, St. John the Baptist de la Salle, our holy predecessor and many other holy men and women who have inspired us all. May all of us be like them as well in faith, and grow ever stronger in our commitment and dedication to live our lives in accordance with God’s will, now and always, evermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 April 2022 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are called to follow the Lord and to remember His providence and love, the compassion which He has shown to each and every one of us that we will be willing to open ourselves to Him, opening our hearts and minds so that we may listen to the words that our Lord and Father speak to us in the depth of our hearts and minds. Too often we have been stubborn and refused to listen to Him, and instead preferring to walk down our own path, which more often than not led us to ruin.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Daniel regarding the time when king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon built for himself a great golden statue in his own image, and ordered all of his subjects and peoples to bow down and prostrate themselves in worship of the golden statue. It was common at that time and throughout history for rulers to aggrandise themselves and even wanting to be worshipped as gods and treated as divinity. They built for themselves numerous palaces, temples and other edifices to highlight and emphasise their glory and power.

To this end, thus king Nebuchadnezzar, who had conquered the Assyrians and took over control of many realms and countries including that of Judah, glorified himself and forced his people to obey his commands. But among all the people assembled there, as we heard in that passage, only three dared to refuse to obey the king’s order. The king had ordered everyone to do as he commanded on the pain of death for those who refused to obey, and yet, Azariah, Mishael and Hananiah, known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to the king, kept strong to their faith in God and chose rather to suffer and die rather than to abandon or betray their Lord and Master.

We heard the aftermath of what happened after the king of Babylon threw the three of them into a blazing furnace that was purposefully made far hotter because the defence that the three men placed before him angered him greatly. And yet, the three men were completely unharmed by the fire, and the king and everyone present witnessed the great miracle, and saw the Angel of God that God sent to safeguard them as the mysterious fourth man present in the fire with them. The Lord protected the three of them for their faith in Him and to show Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon the futility of his hubris, pride and ego.

In the end, God rescued His faithful ones and those who pride themselves in their own power and glory were ashamed and put down. In our Gospel passage today, we have then seen yet again how the Lord once more reached out to His people and gave them His deliverance and help, in Christ Jesus, the Saviour of the world and His beloved Son. By His coming into this world, He reached out to us who have been scattered and separated from Him due to sin. He showed us the path towards Him and how we can be reconciled with Him, forgiven from our sins that had separated us from Him.

However, as we heard, many among the people refused to listen to the Lord and even took offence at the words He said when He spoke of God as His Father. They also spoke of themselves as the children of Abraham and were displeased when the Lord said that they were still not free because of their attitude and refusal to listen to His words and truth. Essentially those same people proved the Lord’s words by their own actions, their lack of faith and continued stubborn resistance in not following the Law and commandments as the Lord told them to.

All these were because they were too proud to admit that they could have been wrong, and when the Lord came before them telling the truth and calling them to change their ways, they refused to do so, thinking that they knew better how to handle things and that they could not be wrong in their way of life. Unfortunately, this attitude in fact led them even further away from the Lord, preventing them from finding their way towards Him because their hearts and minds had been closed to Him. They trusted more in their own power and strength, rather than in the Lord, in stark contrast to the three friends of Daniel, whose story we heard in our first reading today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek the Lord with renewed faith and desire to love Him from now on. Let us humble ourselves before Him and not be like those who kept their prideful ways, like the king of Babylon or the people at the time of the Lord Jesus, who refused to believe in God and His truth, and even persecuted the faithful. Instead, we should be inspired by the faith of Azariah, Mishael and Hananiah, and remain firmly strong in our faith and dedication in God from now and always. May God bless us all and be with us all, through our journey of faith in life. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 April 2022 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to remember our sinfulness and all of our unworthy actions that had led us to sin against God. The Lord has given us so many opportunities to be reconciled to Him and to find our way back to Him. However we are often stubborn and refused to listen to Him and His call to us, calling us to holiness and to be forgiven from our many sins and wickedness. For unless we are forgiven our sins and all those that kept us away from God and the fullness of His love, we will end up being judged and condemned by those same sins.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Numbers regarding the moment when the people of Israel rebelled against God, grumbled and complained against Him when they journeyed through the desert and were enduring the heat and hardships. However, they forgot how God had cared for them, how He led and guided them, showed them where to go and provided for them. He gave them water to drink and plenty of food to eat, in the form of the heavenly bread, the manna that they could collect every morning except on the day of the Sabbath,

Yet, they complained against God, complaining that they had no water to drink and were impatient, demanding for more things and comforts in life, even mentioning disgust at the manna although God had been ever so generous in providing them with that food to sustain them. It would not have been possible for the entire multitudes of the Israelites to sustain themselves in the desert without any help. And God made it all possible. The people had clearly forgotten the situation they had when they were once still enslaved in Egypt, when their lives and livelihood were at the total mercy of the Egyptians, enduring extortion and humiliation.

They refused to see how God has been so kind and compassionate towards them that He has always been patient in reaching out to them and in withstanding their constant disobedience and stubborn attitudes. God has always loved His people, but those same people were overcome by their greed and worldly desires, wanting more and thinking of pleasuring themselves first, and thus committed grievous sins against God. Fiery serpents therefore came into their midst and struck many of them, and many among the people died because of the fiery serpents.

Those fiery serpents were reminders of the punishments and the consequences of our sins. For although God is indeed most loving and merciful, but we must never forget that at the same time, He is holy, all good and perfect. Sin has no place before Him and should we come to Him with sinful hearts and minds, we will be struck down by those same sins we have committed, crushed, condemned and judged by those vile deeds and acts we had done. No sin can remain unaccounted for before the Lord, and we will have to answer for every sins we have against the Lord, be it great or small. And those rebellious Israelites tasted firsthand the consequences of their sins and disobedience against God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to the people, especially many of the Jewish people who were skeptical of Him and His teachings. Some among them like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law opposed the Lord and even saw Him as a blasphemer, a fraud and a great threat of their power and influence within the community of the people of God. They doubted Him and questioned Him, His authority and teachings. Yet, the Lord continued to speak courageously and revealed to them what He would do for their sake, so that all those who believe in Him will not perish and be destroyed by their sins.

As we heard the Lord saying about Himself going to be raised up, as the Son of Man, being raised up between the heaven and the earth, we now know that He was in fact referring to the moment of His crucifixion, the time when He laid down His life for the sake of everyone. In the comparison which the Lord Jesus Himself made in another occasion with Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees who sympathised and believed in Him, just as Moses crafted and lifted up the bronze serpent as instructed by the Lord, He would also therefore be lifted up on His Cross, for everyone to see and to witness His Passion, suffering and death.

And just as all those who were bitten by the fiery serpents and looked upon the bronze serpent did not perish but lived, hence, all of us who gazed upon the Lord and His Cross, and believed in Him, all of us who have been bitten by the venom and sting of sin will also be saved and not perish. We will be spared from eternal death and suffering. We will enjoy forever the wonders of God’s love and will be fully reconciled to Him, provided we truly have that faith in us and believing that in Him alone we can find true happiness in this life. And we are all reminded of this fact today and are all called to draw ever closer to God.

We are reminded not to continue walking down the path of sin, and do our very best to follow the Lord and walk down His path from now on. Sin is something very dangerous and can easily trap even the best and the most righteous ones among us. We have to resist the temptations to sin and the pull of our desires. And for this, we can seek the help of our holy predecessors, such as St. Vincent Ferrer, a holy priest and servant of God whose life is a great inspiration for all of us. St. Vincent Ferrer was a Dominican preacher and friar who devoted his time and effort to bring the people of God ever closer to the Lord and to return to Him.

St. Vincent Ferrer spoke courageously about the Lord among the people, encouraging many people to seek Him and His mercy and forgiveness. St. Vincent Ferrer also worked hard to make peace among conflicting parties at that time, spending a lot of time and effort to abandon their sinful ways, and embracing the path of God’s salvation. The Lord has worked through St. Vincent Ferrer as well as through many other saints, holy men and women who had gone before us, to do His many great works in our midst. How about us then? Can we do the same as well?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to find our way to the Lord with faith. Let us renew our love and faith in Him. May all of us be ever more committed to the Lord in all the things we do, and may we be good role models and inspirations for each other, in how we live our lives and devote our time and attention to the Lord. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 4 April 2022 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded of God’s kindness and love, His mercy and compassion, and at the same time we are also being reminded of the dangers of sin, and how those sins can lead us down the path of ruin as proven by our predecessors, and from what we have heard earlier today in our first reading taken from the Book of Daniel. Now that we are almost at the end of the season of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week, we are all invited to come ever closer to the Lord and to His throne of mercy and love.

In our first reading today, as mentioned, we heard from the Book of Daniel of the story that happened with Susanna, the daughter of a renowned Israelite exile in Babylon, who was beautiful in appearance and tempted two of the elders of the people who saw her and were mesmerised by her beauty. They were tempted with desire and lust, and gave in to their temptations, plotting to impose their will on her and lay on her. Despite being the elders and therefore supposedly as the role models for the entire community, they allowed themselves to be easily swayed by those temptations and fell into sin.

And not only that, after having attempted to do the wicked deed and failed, as Susanna refused to be forced or coaxed into the sinful act against God, they tried to destroy her and have her sentenced to death in order to silence her and remove her as a living testament to their own failures and wickedness. They acted in self-preservation, selfishly trying to protect themselves and for their own personal gains over their duties and responsibilities as the custodians and elders of the people of God, as those who should have shown good examples for the rest of the people.

They almost managed to get the entire assembly to condemn Susanna to death by making use of their position, respect that they had within the community and other leverages that prevented Susanna from even defending herself, as no one would have believed her over the two elders, given the vile plots that those elders had against Susanna in making false accusations against her. But God protected her and provided for her in the time of her greatest need, by sending His Spirit into Daniel, who was still a young man then, and through the Wisdom that God imparted to him through His Spirit, Daniel managed to overturn the judgment of the two elders.

Indeed, he did not only cause Susanna to be spared from the false accusations and death, but he also revealed the wickedness of the two elders’ actions, showing the inconsistencies of their false accusations and words, eventually revealing by their own words, their vile intentions and their sins. And thus, God helped those who have been faithful to Him, while those who have failed to resist the temptations to sin and even indulge in it, would be punished accordingly. They would be judged according to the sins and faults they had made, and through the vile intentions they had against the righteous.

We heard something similar in our Gospel passage today as well, in what we have also heard in our Sunday Gospel passage just yesterday, on the well-known story of the Lord Jesus and how He forgave the woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had made use of her to be an example and also as a trap for the Lord, asking Him on what to be done with her. We have to understand that the Lord often worked among the marginalised, sinners and all those who have been considered as unworthy and corrupted by others.

Therefore, if the Lord had directly said to the woman that He forgave her, then the Pharisees could have persecuted or even arrested the Lord there and then under the charge of disobeying the Law of God or even in blaspheming by claiming to be able to forgive sin, or at least they could severely undermine and discredit the Lord by saying that He was a sinner Himself for siding with sinners against God’s Law and commandments. On the other hand, if the Lord were to say that she ought to be stoned to death, then the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law could have also discredited the Lord by saying that He was merely a copycat, following the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

Thus, what was truly wicked is the intention that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had in bringing the adulterous woman before the Lord, in not only wanting to persecute her, but even in making use of her for their own self-advantage and benefits, in trying to destroy the Lord, which was not much different from what happened between Susanna and the two elders from the time of Daniel. But the Lord through His great Wisdom told them firmly that should anyone in the assembly then had no sin, then he or she was the one who had the right to cast the first stone at the woman.

And since everyone knew that they were sinners, without being able to admit or pretend that they did not have any sin, hence, they left the Lord and the woman alone. We have to take note that as the Son of Man, the Lord Himself was without sin, and He as the Lord also at the same time have the power and authority to judge the woman for her actions, to condemn her according to the Law. Yet, He gave her the opportunity to change herself, allowing her to turn away from the path of sin, and giving her a new lease of life. He told her to sin no longer and embrace His righteousness and truth from then on.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we have heard from these readings of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the dangers of sin and our own desires and all the things that often mislead us into the path of sin, as the example of the elders, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law have shown us. We must not let those things from undermining our progress towards God and His saving path. But it will not be an easy path for us to follow, as challenges, temptations and obstacles will be in our path going forward in life.

That is why we should follow the good examples of St. Isidore, the saint whose feast day we are celebrating today. St. Isidore, also known as St. Isidore of Seville, was a renowned scholar, philosopher and theologian who was also the longtime Archbishop of Seville. His many works in defending the faith and in spreading the Gospels had been very inspirational to the many people both in his lifetime and afterwards. His dedication to the reform of the Church practices and eradication of heresies and false teachings are also crucial not only to his local Church but also to the wider Christendom.

His dedication and commitment to the Lord should be source of inspiration for all of us to follow, that we may also strive to purify ourselves from the temptations to sin, and reject the false ways of the devil and all the forces of evil, which are all arrayed against us, in trying to prevent us from finding our way to God and His salvation. Let us all follow in the footsteps of St. Isidore and the many other holy predecessors, our brothers and sisters who had devoted their lives to God and lead exemplary and good Christian lives so that we may ourselves be good inspiration for one another in faith.

May God bless us all in our every efforts and good deeds, and do our best to walk in the path that He has shown us. Let us commit ourselves anew to Him, and be faithful as we should, to the Lord, at all times, sinning no more and striving to lead a better and holier way of life, from now on and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 April 2022 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we gather together to celebrate this Fifth Sunday of Lent, we are all called yet again to embrace God’s ever wonderful and patient love and mercy, His enduring desire to be reconciled with us and to love us wholeheartedly. He has called us to abandon our sinful ways and our wicked deeds, and to come to Him with contrite hearts and the desire to love Him once again. We are all reminded of this call to repentance and holiness this Sunday, as we continue to progress ever closer to Holy Week and Easter.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the words of the Lord to His people reassuring them of His providence and love. He reminded them of everything that He had done in the past in rescuing them from their predicament. He spoke of the moment when He brought their ancestors out from Egypt, opening the sea before them and destroying their enemies, the armies and chariots of the Pharaoh before their own eyes. The Lord reminded them of everything that He had done for their sake, and not only that, He reassured them that He would do even more things in the future to come.

He will send to them the promised deliverance and salvation, by sending them His own beloved Son as the Saviour to all of them, a promise to be fulfilled by the coming of Christ, the Son of God into this world. He would gather all of mankind, all His beloved ones to Himself, and they shall enjoy forever the bounty and grace of eternal life and true happiness of being together with Him in the glory of Heaven. The Lord has always intended for us all to enjoy the true happiness and joy of this wonderful world that He had created, and He did create us out of love that He has for each one of us.

We were never intended to endure the bitterness of suffering in this world. However, our inability to resist the temptations to sin essentially ruined all of that. We fell into the temptations of our own desires and fell to the devil’s lies and temptations as he tempted our first ancestors to follow him and his advice instead of believing in God as they should have. By sin we have been separated and sundered from the presence of God, cast out of Eden as our just punishment and the consequence for our sins. Yet, that was not the end for us. God could have destroyed and crushed us for our sins and wickedness. But, His love for us surpassed even His disgust for our sins.

Nonetheless, the reality is that no sin can remain unaccounted for, and we have to answer for every one of these taints and corruptions on our very own souls and beings. As long as sin taints us, we will have to answer for every single one of them, and those who pass on from this world with sins still unforgiven and unaccounted for will be judged by those sins we have committed, as well as by those sins of omission we made when we ignored the opportunities when we could have done good things with our lives, be it for the benefit of our fellow brothers and sisters or for the greater community.

That is why in our Gospel passage today we are reminded through the well-known interaction between the Lord Jesus and the woman who had committed adultery and were caught in the midst of doing so, and also how the Lord interacted with the crowd assembled there, some of whom with the malicious intent of using the opportunity to try to put the Lord into a trap and to get Him into a corner and to find reasons to persecute and condemn Him. Why so? That is because the whole event was likely the effort of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in trying to discredit or even persecute the Lord, Who was well-known for His frequent interactions and works among those considered as sinners, such as the tax collectors, the prostitutes and people who were possessed, ill and had disabilities.

At that time, associating with those people were often abhorred and discouraged, and this went even to the extent that coming close into contact with them causing someone to be considered unclean and unworthy. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in particular were very convinced of their own piety, their righteous and worthy way of life, through their strict interpretation, enforcement and living of the ways of the Law of God. However, they failed to realise one very important thing that, in the end, it is not they who determine whether they are worthy of God or not. Instead, God is the One Who will determine all of that.

Through the example of the Lord’s interaction with the convicted adulterous woman, the Lord made it very clear that what He wants is not the destruction of sinners like us. Instead, as I mentioned earlier, that His love for us is indeed so great that it surpasses even the wickedness of our sins. Of course it does not mean that He condones or accepts our sins and evil actions. Rather, He wants us to distance ourselves from those actions and sins, to turn away wholeheartedly from those evil deeds and ways, and embrace wholly His love and mercy, walking ever always in His righteous path.

That was why the Lord told the woman that He did not condemn her, just as no one gathered there did not dare to do so either. When the Lord told the assembled people who pressed Him to take action against the woman, and He said that the one who was without sin ought to cast the first stone at her, it reminds us all that each and every one of us are sinners, no matter how small or insignificant, how great or serious our sins may be. Sin is sin, and as long as we have sin in us, we are unworthy of God and cannot come close to Him. And yet, it was God Who first made the move to close up the distance between us.

He told the woman that He did not condemn her either, but wanting her to turn away from those sins she committed, sinning no more and embracing fully His forgiveness and mercy. It proves that God hates not the sinner but the sin. He does not despise us as a person, but rather our attachment to sin, our stubbornness in remaining attached and obsessed over those worldly desires and all the other temptations that we often fail to resist and even indulge ourselves in. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were so fixated on their own sense of pride and self-righteousness that they failed to realise that they themselves too, were sinners.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, should we allow our pride and ego, our desires and the many other distractions in life to prevent us from finding our way to God and His salvation? We must not let ourselves be dissuaded and distracted by all those things that may end up getting us further and further away from the Lord’s path. And that is why we must remind ourselves yet again to seek the Lord with renewed faith, genuine desire to be reconciled with Him and with a contrite heart full of regret for our many sins and wickedness, with the commitment to make amends and to get closer to Him, Our Lord and Saviour once again.

As St. Paul said in our second reading today, in his Epistle to the Philippians, all of us have to seek Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, find Him and do whatever we can to walk with Him together, and we have to seek Him as in Him is worth everything and more than whatever we can find and gather in this world. He has willingly reached out to us, with plenty of mercy and compassion, willing to forgive us our sins if we desire to have them forgiven, and as long as we sincerely show contrition and regret over those faults and mistakes that we had done. What better reward and prize we can get as compared to these?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together this Sunday in the Lord’s presence, let us all remind ourselves of our sinfulness and how we all are in need of God’s healing and mercy. We are all in need of this forgiveness for God alone can forgive us our sins. Otherwise, we will have to answer for every sins we have with us that are still unaccounted for and unforgiven as I mentioned. And if we do not change our ways, remaining in our state and path of sin, we will be judged by those same sins we committed. God generously wants to forgive us our sins, but it is often we who reject Him and His love.

And are we going to be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who gloated over those whom they deemed to be less worthy and more wicked than they were? This is a reminder that this is not the attitude that we should adopt at any point of time, as this kind of attitude truly prevents us from humbling ourselves and realising that we are always in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. While the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners are all fast going forward in the path towards God’s forgiveness and eternal life as they realised their sins and made the efforts to be forgiven by God, those who kept their pride and ego will perish because of that pride.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us remind ourselves and one another to be humble before God, and to make good use of the time and opportunities that have been given to us, such that we may benefit from the gift of Our Lord’s ever generous mercy and compassion. He has proven to us again and again of how faithful He has been to the Covenant that He had made and sealed with us and our ancestors, while we have proven yet again and again, how unfaithful we have been to Him, and how terrible we have been in living our lives so far, in not following God’s path and in walking down our own paths towards doom.

Can we do our best and strive to reject those temptations to sin, brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we reject the devil and all the wicked things that he has been persuading us to do, and all the lies and falsehoods that he has presented before us? Let us follow the Lord’s advice and call, for us to sin no more and turn wholeheartedly towards Him, knowing that in God alone there is true happiness and satisfaction. Let us remember that while God loves us and does not despise us, He still despises our sins and wickedness. Let us do our best in the remaining time of this Lenten season, to purify ourselves and to make a good habit of living virtuously in God’s path, so that from now on we may be ever better Christians, ever more committed disciples of Our Lord.

May the Lord be with all of us as we journey together with Him, as we walk down the path of reconciliation and forgiveness. May He grant us the courage and strength to follow Him with commitment and strong desire to love Him in each and every moments of our lives, and may we also be good examples, role models and inspirations for one another in how we live our lives so that many more people may also share in God’s salvation and eternal life with us. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we draw ever closer to the end of the season of Lent and the beginning of the Holy Week which is really just over a week away, we are reminded of the things that the Lord and His faithful ones had gone through in their efforts to bring each and every one of us to the Lord and to help reconcile us with Himself. He has gone through so much opposition and hardships in His efforts to call us back to Himself and to help us to find our way to Him once again. He sent His prophets into our midst to help and assist us, only to have them being rejected and persecuted by those people.

In our first reading today we heard the passage from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah about the persecutions that Jeremiah had faced from the opposition and the enemies he had among the people of Judah. He was sent to the kingdom of Judah with the warnings and reminders of God’s judgment for the people, all that they had committed, the sins and wickedness they had committed, which would lead them to ruin and destruction. The Lord wanted to remind them all that they could still turn back and return to Him.

Unfortunately, the people remained stubborn and refused to believe in the Lord or in His prophet Jeremiah. They persecuted Jeremiah, plotted against Him, accusing him of being a traitor and sought to kill him, and they nearly managed to do so, if not for the help of one of Jeremiah’s few remaining friends who managed to keep him safe, although he had to remain hidden and suffer nonetheless for his dedication and hard works for the greater glory of God. He truly suffered a lot in walking down the path of faith, but he remained fully trusting in the Lord’s providence.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the argument and debate among the members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council. That council was composed of the most influential and powerful members of the Jewish community, including the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the chief priests and the elders of the community and many other influential members, who were mostly opposed to the Lord Jesus and plotted against Him. They wanted to find ways to arrest Him and even to condemn Him to death.

There were a few of them who were sympathetic to the Lord, His cause and His teachings, namely Nicodemus as well as Joseph of Arimathea among some others. Nicodemus stood up for the Lord and tried to defend Him, by stating to the assembly that the Lord should have been allowed to state His reasons and present His arguments before they just summarily tried to accuse Him without even listening to the other side first. But Nicodemus was easily overcome by the rest who really were not interested to listen to reason.

They were all carried by their desire to persecute the Lord, out of the fear for their loss of influence and power in the community. They saw the Lord as a great threat to their power, and they refused to let all their privileges and power to go away. They tried to do whatever they could to stop the Lord and to destroy Him, and despite everything they had seen and heard in the Lord’s works, the many miracles He had performed, and all the wisdom and truth He has spoken before them, they closed their hearts and minds to Him, hardening their hearts and being unreasonable, finding excuses to try to persecute Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are all reminded how pride and ego, worldly desires and temptations can mislead us down the same path as those people who had persecuted the prophets and the Lord Himself. We must never allow all those things again to distract us and to pull us away from the path towards the salvation and eternal life in God. And we have to be vigilant as we must always remind ourselves that the other destination is eternal damnation, an eternity of suffering away from God.

That is why, during this season of Lent, all of us are called to open our hearts and minds to welcome the Lord back inside, and to come back to the Lord with contrite hearts, seeking His forgiveness for all the faults and wicked things we have done. Let us all then return to the Lord with renewed faith and love, with the sincere desire to be forgiven and to be reconciled with Him. And may God continue to love us all, and continue to show us patience, for us sinners whenever we stumble and falter again in our journey of faith. May God bless us all in our every actions and deeds, and may all of us draw ever closer to Him and to His salvation. Amen.

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Friday, 1 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we heard of the opposition that the servants and messengers of the Lord, including that of His own Son encountered in this world as the forces of those who opposed them rose up against them. There were many who stubbornly refused to follow the Lord and kept in their wicked ways, and all these led to the persecution of the servants of God, culminating in the condemnation of the Messiah and Son of God Himself, by the same people to whom He had been sent to.

In our first reading today, we heard the passage from the Book of Wisdom regarding the plots that the wicked assembled and planned against the faithful servant of God. It was essentially a highlight summarising what God’s servants and prophets had to endure during the time of their ministry among the people of God. They were often hated, rejected and ridiculed against, oppressed and persecuted. They were cast out and treated as how foreigners were treated, and even worse than that. No one would hear them even though they spoke God’s words and truth.

Those people had closed themselves against God’s words and truth, and then, as the Book of Wisdom itself also spoke of what would happen in time to come, it was also a prophecy of the Messiah and how the people would treat Him just as they had treated the prophets and messengers of God. That was what we heard in our Gospel passage today, regarding the Lord Jesus and what He experienced as He ministered among the people of God. The chief priests, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as well as members of the Sadducees, all plotted against Him and sought His downfall.

Nonetheless, that did not make the Lord to cease His actions and work, as He still even went to the festival in Jerusalem, and spoke loudly in the Temple proclaiming the truth about Himself. The people doubted Him because they all assumed to know where He had come from, a backwater village in Galilee where no prophet or great man was prophesied to come, and therefore thought that He was a fraud and even a blasphemer, or that He was colluding with demons and evil spirits. All of those false accusations were untrue and were maliciously made against the Lord to discredit Him and to undermine His works.

The reason for those lies and falsehoods? It was likely the jealousy and insecurity experienced by those same people, the chief priests and the Pharisees who feared that their position and influence, their privileges and power in the community would be destroyed and lost to them. They feared that the Lord would snatch the people away from them, seeing how popular He had become, and this intense preoccupation with their worldly desires and concerns likely prevented them from allowing God to make genuine communication with them, as they closed their hearts and minds against Him.

That would explain well why those same people, the ones who should have recognised the Lord first when He came upon their midst, the same ones who should have the best knowledge of the Law and the commandments of God, the words of the prophets and the prophecies they spoke, why they refused to believe even though all the signs and things have pointed clearly to the Lord Jesus being the One Whom the prophets were speaking about. They refused to accept the truth as they gave in to the temptations of their worldly desires, the desire for power, satisfaction and glory among other things.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all ponder these events and consider carefully our own choices and paths in life. Are we going to be like the Pharisees, the elders and all the people who had persecuted the prophets and messengers of God? Are we going to follow them into their rebellion against the Lord? This is why it is important that we must resist the temptations of worldly things which often lead us down the path of ruin because of our disobedience against God, which often times we may even commit without having realised it at all, just as what the Pharisees had done.

In this season of Lent, all of us are called to seek the Lord with contrite and open hearts, with minds that are welcoming towards the Lord, and the willingness to listen to Him speaking to us and calling on us to return to Him. In this time of reconciliation and call to repentance, we are all reminded that we are sinners in need of healing and reconciliation with God. Are we willing then to make the effort and to do what is needed for us to draw ever closer to God and to receive the fullness of His mercy and compassionate love? The decision and choice is ours to make, brothers and sisters in Christ.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower each and every one of us to live ever more worthily in His presence, listening to Him and obeying His will in each and every available opportunities. May all of us be good examples and role models for one another from now on, in how we live our lives as dedicated Christians, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 March 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to listen to the Lord and to follow Him, cease our rebellion and disobedience against Him. He has given us many opportunities to return to Him and to be reconciled to Him, but it is our stubborn attitude and persistence in our way of sin which often led us back to the path towards downfall and destruction. We have not heeded the Lord’s call and desire to be reunited with us, as we allow sin to rule over us and to keep us separated from Him.

In our first reading today, we heard the Lord speaking to Moses in the Book of Exodus, at the time after He has revealed His Law and the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mount Sinai. At that time, Moses spent forty days with the Lord atop the mountain, listening to Him and receiving from Him the extensive set of laws and guidance meant to be passed to the people of Israel, as a guide and help for all of them to remain true to the path of righteousness. But the people thinking that Moses had perished on the mountain quickly lost their trust and faith in the Lord, and forced Aaron to craft for them a great golden calf idol to worship as god over them.

This happened even though the Israelites had witnessed themselves the great wonders and power of God in freeing them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, as God sent the Ten Great Plagues to crush the Egyptians and force them to let the Israelites go free. And all these happened despite the people of God having themselves witnessed how God opened the Red Sea before them, allowing them to cross free and safely through the seabed, and then destroying the chariots and armies of the Pharaoh of Egypt that were chasing after them.

The people of God still disobeyed Him and refused to have faith in Him even though they had seen all the wonders and good things that God had done for their sake, all of which showed and proved to them how beloved and dear they were to God. Yet, they established a golden calf idol over them, offered it sacrifices and committed other grievous sins against the Lord, when God had been so patient in loving them and caring for them. But Moses stepped in and pleaded with the Lord when He wanted to destroy all the people save for Moses as was just and right for Him to do, and Moses asked the Lord to withhold His anger and judgment, reasoning with Him and reminding Him of the constant love that He has shown to the people.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the same attitude being shown by the people of the time of the Lord Jesus, as they showed lack of faith, refusing to believe in the Lord and even in the messenger and herald that He had sent before Him, namely that of St. John the Baptist. St. John the Baptist had called the people of God to repent from their sins and to return to the Lord with faith, and baptised many people who had come to him seeking to walk the path of conversion and redemption, opening their hearts to the Lord and His truth and love.

Yet, the Pharisees and the chief priests in particular were skeptical of St. John the Baptist, doubted his authenticity and authority, and even openly questioned him on the legality and validity of his actions, doubting that he was sent by the Lord, an action which led to St. John the Baptist to rebuke those self-serving and self-righteous leaders as brood of vipers, those who sought their own glory and personal benefits over others’ sufferings and for their efforts that went against God’s good works. The same thing happened to the Lord Himself as well, and this was what the Lord referred to as He spoke to the people in our passage today.

The Lord rebuked the people for their continued lack of faith and trust in Him, despite everything that He had done and shown to them, despite all the miracles and signs that He had made before all of them. They still would not believe and even demanded for more signs and wonders. Their hearts and minds were closed against God in their pride, in thinking that they knew the Law and commandments of God better than any others, and that was why, no matter how much wonders and miracles they had witnessed, they failed to believe much as their ancestors had betrayed and abandoned the Lord, their Saviour and Liberator, for a golden calf idol made by human hands.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we reflect on these passages from the Scriptures, let us all look back in our lives and remind ourselves whether we have been faithful to the Lord wholeheartedly as we should have, or whether we have behaved much like the people of Israel in the past, in their lack of faith and trust in the Lord, preferring to trust in idols and other worldly means, in their own strength and power rather than to trust in the Lord and journey together with Him. We are called to reflect if our way of life have been in accordance to the path that God has shown us, or whether we have walked down the wrong path all these while.

Sin is very dangerous and we should not take it lightly, for the temptations to sin and the allures of worldly desires can tempt even the most resistant to falter and fall away from God and His way. We must not let our weakness and vulnerabilities to sin to affect us, and we have to do our best to resist those temptations, or else we may end up like the Israelites, who succumbed to their fears and to their desires for worldly pleasures, and like the Pharisees and the chief priests, who fell into sin because of the temptations of worldly power and glory, and pride and ego.

Let us all make good use of the remaining time of Lent to prepare ourselves, not just physically but also spiritually and mentally, so that we may be more attuned to the Lord, be more ready and prepared to live in accordance with God’s path. Let us seek the Lord with ever greater faith and commitment, and let us do our very best to glorify Him by our lives and actions, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 March 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded yet again through the Sacred Scriptures of the great love of God, the many wonderful things that God had done for our sake. He has showed His love to us repeatedly, again and again, even when we have often betrayed and ignored Him, abandoned and left Him for other idols and distractions in life. He patiently extended to all of us the offer of His love and compassionate mercy, wanting to be reconciled with us sinners, and calling on all of us to return to Him.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke to His people of His promised salvation to all of them. He would rescue them from their troubles and deliver them from the hands of the evil one, and all of the plots against them. This is significant given the context of what happened at that time, as the people of Israel, the descendant of the people of God had been going through a lot of challenges and trials, having been torn apart and lost their unity, and not only that, the northern half of the Israelites, the northern kingdom had been crushed by the Assyrians.

Hence, at that time, the people of God clearly knew what happened to those who have not obeyed the Law and the commandments of God, as the northern kingdom had almost always done, and as a result, many of the people were brought off from their ancestral lands, and sent into exile in far-off lands, while foreigners were brought to settle in the lands once settled by the people of God. The same fate would eventually befall the southern kingdom of Judah as well, because the people also continued to sin and disobey against God. But God did not abandon His people, and instead He reassured them through His prophets that He would be with them.

He sent His prophets like Isaiah and many others to remind the people of His constant love and the Covenant that He had made with them. He has shown them the path to salvation and righteousness as He had always done again and again, which culminated with the sending of Christ, His only begotten Son, into this world. By this action, He has given us the means to enter into the joy and glory of eternal life together with Him, that is through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour.

What we have heard today in our Gospel passage today is the affirmation of this truth, as spoken by the Lord Himself, as He revealed what He would do for our sake. Through Him, the Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, the Lord willed and wanted to be reconciled with us, and He came bearing the salvation of God and also the reminder that unless we are reconciled with Him, or if we reject His generous offer of mercy and love, then we will be judged and condemned by our own sins and wickedness.

Those who side with the Lord and accept His love and mercy shall have eternal life. But those who walked away from the Lord and refused to be reconciled with Him will have nothing but eternity of suffering and damnation in hell. We have always been given many opportunities to return to the Lord and to be reconciled with Him, but more often than not we have squandered off these opportunities because we still remained firmly attached to the path of sin. We were often unable to resist the many temptations of sin and therefore we still continue to walk down this ruinous path.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, having been constantly reminded of our predicament and what awaits us in the end should we choose to remain in this path. Do we want this to happen to us? Surely not right? That is why this Lenten season we are given yet more opportunities and reminders to return to the Lord with contrite heart desiring His forgiveness and to turn our way of life and outlook that we no longer walk in the path of evil and instead do whatever God has called and commanded us to do, to be righteous and just as His disciples and followers, to be exemplary in our way of life, in all things we say and do.

May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our respective journey of faith, and may He empower us all to live ever more worthily of His presence from now on, if we have not yet done so. Let us consciously reject the temptations to sin, and strive to live a good and worthy life at all times. May God bless us all and our every actions, so that we may always strive to glorify Him by those same actions and deeds. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 March 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Lord speaking to us through the passages of the Scriptures reminding us that in Him alone lies true healing, happiness and joy. For in the Lord is our true hope and liberation, our path out of the darkness, the light that dispels the despair and the troubles facing us. If only that we have enough faith in Him and are willing to turn towards Him with renewed conviction and commitment, we shall surely be blessed and be truly happy.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel in which the vision of Ezekiel of the heavenly Temple of God is told to us. The prophet Ezekiel saw the vision of the great heavenly Temple and sanctuary in which God Himself resides, and saw great rushing of water that came from the Temple. That water is a life-giving water that bursts forth from God’s presence, a great purifying stream that purifies all things. The water makes everything wholesome again, purifying the sea of foul water and giving life wherever it went, and all these are symbolic reminders from the Lord of all that He would do for us.

Through Him, we have received the promise of healing and purification, the cleansing of our corruption and sins, the healing from our sickness and troubles. Through our Lord, we have received the guarantee and sure hope of everlasting life, by the coming of His Son in our midst, Our Lord and Saviour, through Whom the love of God has been made manifest. Through Him, the Lord has renewed the Covenant and promise He had made with us from time immemorial, reminding us yet again and again of His ever enduring love and kindness.

Then, we heard of how the Lord Jesus healed the man who had been sick and was likely paralysed and unable to move for a whole period of thirty-eight years. He had pity on that man who had been waiting forever to have a chance to be healed by the miraculous waters of the Pool of Bethzatha. No one had helped him to come near the water whenever the Angel of God came to touch the water and caused the people who came to it first to be healed. The Lord has shown Him the love that He has again and again showed us, and He became that life-giving water, renewing the life and hope in the sick man.

Thus, the Lord helped and made the sick man whole once again, allowing him to walk once again. He healed him from his troubles and gave him strength. This happened after all those thirty-eight years long suffering he had endured. In the end, he was satisfied and redeemed by the Lord, Who by His great power liberated him from the clutches of his disease and disability. Thus, we heard how God rescued us in our time of greatest trials and troubles, which He did for all of us through the offering and sacrifice He made on the Cross, by which the atonement of our sins had been done and completed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to these readings from the Scriptures, we are all reminded that in this season of Lent, we ought to redirect our attention towards the Lord once again. We are all called to follow Him and to return to Him with faith. Are we willing and able to do so? Are we willing to turn away from our sinful path and our wickedness, and embrace our Lord again with genuine and true love and devotion? These are the questions that we should ask ourselves as we continue to journey through this season of Lent ever closer to Holy Week and Easter.

We have long been dominated and taken control over by sin, which corrupted us and made us weak, sick and diseased, for sin is indeed the corruption of our soul caused by our disobedience against God and refusal to listen to His words, commandments and will. And there is no cure for sin save for the forgiveness, grace and mercy from God. However, we often refuse to allow God’s mercy and love to works wonders with us because we are simply to proud to admit that we could have been wrong or mistaken in our way of life. We refuse to admit that we are sinners and are sickened by those sins, in need of help and healing from God.

Are we willing to humble ourselves and ask the Lord to heal us from those malignant sins within us? Are we willing to make the effort to walk with the Lord and to follow Him wholeheartedly from now on? We are all called to drink from the fountain of God’s mercy, and to receive from Him the life-giving water, the spring of life coming from God Himself. Let us all seek Him and turn ourselves towards Him, looking at His mercy, kindness and love, and entrust ourselves to Him from now on. May our Lenten observances be fruitful and help us to get ever closer to God. May God bless us and our actions, our efforts to walk ever more faithfully in His path, now and always. Amen.