Lenten sermon

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Thursday, 1 April 2021 : Holy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the Chrism Mass, the celebration of the Holy Mass in which the holy oils are blessed, for use in various purposes. There are three types of holy oils that are to be blessed today, namely the Sacred Chrism, the Oil of the Catechumens as well as the Oil of the Sick. These oils are blessed today by the bishops of each diocese in communion and conjunction with all the priests of the respective dioceses, and in which occasion the priests and the bishop together renew their priestly vows and promises.

Let us go through the oils that are to be blessed today, one by one. First of all, the Sacred Chrism is the holy oil used for various purposes, most particularly in the Sacraments of Initiation, those of Baptism and Confirmation, to anoint the newly baptised and to confirm those who are receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is distinct from the Oil of the Catechumens which is used to anoint the catechumens or those aspiring for Christian Baptism before they are to be baptised.

The Sacred Chrism is then also used for the consecration of the Altars and the dedication of the churches to God, as a mark of holiness and sanctity present in the House of God and in the Altar dedicated solely for the purpose of divine worship and the Holy Mass, as a representation of the Altar of the Lord, the Cross at Calvary. It is also reminiscent of the oil used by the prophet Samuel to anoint king David as the king of Israel, and the oils used to anoint the priests of the old Israel, as it is still also used today in the anointing of the priests and bishops of the Church.

Lastly, the Oil of the Sick is an important holy oil used in the anointing of the sick, during their Last Rites and the prayers with the hope of either a speedy recovery or a most blessed entry into the eternal life with God at the end of one’s earthly journey. The Oil of the Sick is truly a very important part of the Church and its liturgical rites, as well as its ministry to the people of God and the community. Together with all the other holy oils, they represent the holy presence of God in our midst, as we all have been marked in baptism, and some others also in priesthood, as God’s holy people, consecrated and dedicated to Him.

Today, we are all therefore called to remember our promises of faith to God, either in our Christian baptism, the promises we made at baptism to be faithful to God and to be committed to Him, to put our trust in Him as our Lord and Saviour, and to seek Him before anything else, and for some among us who have been called to the Sacred Order of Priesthood and the Episcopate, we renew also the vow of priesthood, of dedication and holiness in life in the image of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all creation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through today’s Scripture readings we have been reminded of the salvation which has come to us through Christ, by His coming into the world, as He Himself has proclaimed it. The Lord has graced us with His presence, and showed us His enduring love through the gift of His Son, to be Our Saviour and to rescue us from our distress and troubles. Through Him, we mankind who had once been condemned to destruction through sin, we have received the assurance of a new hope and light.

For by His sacrifice on the Cross, by willingly enduring His Passion, His suffering and death, through His wounds and His outpoured Precious Blood, He healed us from the dreadful plague of sin, and lifted us up out of the darkness. He has done so much for us, brothers and sisters in Christ, and yet, often times we still refuse to commit ourselves to Him, and we allow many temptations of this world to turn us away from His path, and causing us to slide back down into sin and darkness.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as the holy oils are blessed today and as we all renew our vows, especially for the priests and the bishops all around the world, let us all pray for each other, that we may be strengthened in faith and be more courageous to live a more Christ-like life, a more genuine Christian existence and living so that in everything that we say and do, we will always proclaim God and His truth, and glorify His Name. And especially for our priests and bishops, that they will always remain faithful to their calling and ministry.

May the Lord be with us all, and as we enter into the most sacred moments of the Easter Triduum beginning tonight, may He give us the strength and faith to live our lives wholeheartedly as Christians, dedicating ourselves to be better Christians at all times. Let us all have a blessed and most wonderful celebration of the Easter Triduum, brothers and sisters in Christ, and may God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 31 March 2021 : Wednesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is traditionally called Spy Wednesday, in the belief that since it is the day before the celebration of the Last Supper of the Lord with His disciples, it was the day that Judas Iscariot went secretly to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin to seek to betray the Lord, colluding with them for a sum of thirty pieces of silver, and therefore set the sequence of events that would led to the Lord’s arrest in the Gardens of Gethsemane, His trial and condemnation to death, and finally crucifixion.

In our first reading today from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the suffering Servant of God, which in fact was the prophecy made by Isaiah regarding the Saviour, Who would be bruised, mocked and beaten, humiliated and crushed for our sins and punishments, and all of these would happen for the Lord, just as He has predicted and revealed to His disciples, how He would be betrayed by one of His own, condemned by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin.

It is worth noting today that the Lord was ‘sold’ out by Judas Iscariot for a sum of thirty pieces of silver. This sum is significant as that was the usual sum required at that time to purchase a slave, and therefore it was very symbolic of how the Lord allowed Himself to be like a slave for us, humiliated and crushed, treated like the worst of criminals and destroyed, so that through all of His sufferings, we may be spared from those punishments that should have been due for us, and gain eternal life through Him.

The Lord loved us all so much that He was willing to go through all these for our sake. If not for the great and amazing love He had for us, all of us would have perished and be crushed for our sins. That is why we ought to be thankful that He willingly took up all the burdens of our sins and punishments upon Himself, that by His sufferings and trials, He has led us out of the darkness and into the light, freeing us from the bondage to sin and death.

As we listened to all of these, do we all realise just how fortunate we are to have been beloved in such a way? And yet, we continue to sin, disobeying God and refusing to follow Him wholeheartedly. If we think what Judas Iscariot had done was terrible and evil, and we also often laid the blame on him for having betrayed the Lord, we must not forget that in our actions and behaviour we have also often acted like Judas, choosing to prioritise other things beside God, to put others before Him.

In fact, we often forget about the Lord and we only remembered Him when we had a need and wanted the Lord to give us help for what we wanted. And it is often that we forget about the Lord again when we have already gotten what we needed, and often not even being grateful for all that we have received and what we have been blessed with. We continue to live in a state of sin and refusing to repent or change our ways. And this is why, we are no better than Judas Iscariot.

What is different however, is that Judas despaired and committed suicide in grief and regret for all of his actions, while we are still living and still having the opportunities and chances to make amends for our faults and mistakes. We are all called to embrace God’s forgiveness and mercy, and we should appreciate this time and opportunity that God has given us. This Holy Week we are given this strong reminder of God’s love for us, His compassionate love and mercy, with which He wants us to be reconciled with Him.

Are we willing to make the commitment to follow the Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing and capable of dedicating ourselves to respond to God’s call? Let us all turn towards Him with a renewed faith, and rediscover that love and zeal we ought to have for Him, as we approach the great Easter Triduum beginning tomorrow, that we may grow ever stronger in faith and be ever closer to God. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 30 March 2021 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures and as we move even closer to the beginning of the sacred Easter Triduum, we are reminded of the important events that had happened when the Lord went through His Passion, betrayed by one of His own, persecuted and rejected by His own people, and condemned to suffer and die like a terrible criminal, nailed to the Cross, all for our sake and for our salvation.

In our first reading today, we continue to hear the discourse of the Servant of God in which we are brought to focus our attention on the Servant Whom God had sent into this world, to be the One through Whom God would deliver all of His people, all of mankind and reconcile with them, gathering them all back in from being scattered throughout the world. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Son of God Most High, therefore God endeavoured to bring His salvation to us, fulfilling all the promises He had made to us through the prophets.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the moments of the Last Supper when the Lord had the Passover meal with His disciples, and a mention was made of the moment earlier on when Judas Iscariot, the disciple who were to betray the Lord, plotted with the chief priests to hand Him over to them, on the price of thirty pieces of silver. This happened before the Last Supper as on the day of the Last Supper itself, the deed had been done, and that very night of the Last Supper, the Lord was arrested at the Gardens of Gethsemane.

In this occasion, as we heard of the account of the Last Supper, where the Lord again revealed how He would very soon suffer and endure bitter persecution and torture at the hands of His enemies, and how His own disciples and followers would abandon Him and all be scattered, we heard the disciples then saying that they all would never abandon Him and some like St. Peter even said to the extent that they would give their lives for Him.

But the reality was that all those same disciples were shaken deeply when the Lord was betrayed by none other than one of their own, all the more because Judas the betrayer was counted among the Lord’s inner circle. They were all overcome with fear and their courage left them, and even St. Peter wavered, denying the Lord publicly not just once, but a total of three times before the dawn broke, and St. Peter was overcome with regret, sorrow and anguish.

The Lord has shown us that when we try to depend on our own human strength, or depend on the many worldly things we possess, from money to material possessions, to our connections and various other resources in life, we will not be able to sustain ourselves, and eventually will break and fall apart, just as what had happened to Judas Iscariot, who allowed himself to be tempted by money and Satan’s false promises and lies.

Or like that of St. Peter, who thought that his strength was enough for him to persevere on his own, just as he militantly tried to show strength by saying that he would even give his life for the Lord, and even later on, cutting the ears of the High Priest’s servant Malchus. But when everything fell apart all around him, and seeing his Lord and Master being arrested, humiliated and condemned, he lost his courage and wavered in faith, leading to his thrice denial of the Lord.

That is why we are all called today to turn our attention towards the Lord, to entrust ourselves to the Lord and to have faith in Him, just as the Lord Jesus Himself prayed to His heavenly Father, while He was in full agony in the Gardens of Gethsemane. He did not give in to despair and temptations to abandon His Passion, and instead, went on full ahead, willingly bearing the Cross for our sake, and even after being scourged, humiliated and fell three times, He kept on going up again and again, all for the love of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should look upon the Lord’s own example, and be inspired to hold faith firmly in Him, entrusting ourselves to Him because we all know that while everything else, material and any other worldly things, and even people and relationship, power and worldly glory may fail, but the Lord and His love for us will never fail. This is the love that stood the test of time, and which allowed Him to suffer even unto His death on the Cross.

Let us all therefore strive to be ever more dedicated and faithful in this Holy Week, the time of reconciliation and rediscovery of our faith and love for God. Let us all turn towards God with a new heart, no longer filled by greed and worldly desires, by pride and ego, but by real and genuine desire to love the Lord with all of our strength, and by our desire to be reconciled with Him through repentance from our sinful ways.

May God bless us all, now and always, and may He guide us through life, and help us to grow ever more in faith, and be ever closer to Him, that one day we may be truly worthy to walk with Him together in His heavenly grace. Amen.

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Monday, 29 March 2021 : Monday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures we are called to focus our attention to the Lord and to turn our hearts and minds to Him. As we enter into this most solemn time of the Holy Week, we attune ourselves to the Lord and His truth, and seek Him with renewed faith and conviction. This Holy Week we are called to prepare ourselves to enter into the deepest mysteries of our faith, that of Our Lord’s Passion, His suffering, death and Resurrection.

In our first reading today, the Lord spoke to His people through the prophet Isaiah, speaking about the coming of His Servant Whom He would send into this world in order to do His will, and this Servant would be the One to do His will, to proclaim the glory of God and His salvation to the people, and all these would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all and the Son of God, born through Mary as the Son of Man. Through Christ, all that the Lord had promised His people would come to fruition.

That is why we all have hope, because Christ has entered into this world and brought with Him the assurance of eternal life for us. He has shown us the genuine love of God for us all His beloved ones, and by what He was about to do then, He gave us all the concrete evidence of His love, as He emptied Himself of all glory and power, and humbled Himself to take the condition of a slave, to be the One to bear the punishment and the sufferings due for us, bearing all of these upon Himself and dying on the Cross.

And in our Gospel passage today we heard of an interesting conversation that happened just as the Lord was about to embark into this final part of His earthly mission, when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, poured an expensive perfume of spikenard on the feet of the Lord, and then dried the Lord’s feet with her hair. This was truly an unusual circumstance, that must have surprised all who witnessed it, the disciples who were gathered at the house.

Judas Iscariot, the disciple, one of Twelve who would betray the Lord then criticised Mary for having wasted the good perfume in that way, and said that the perfume could have been sold for a good sum of money to be given to the poor. Of course it was mentioned that Judas had been helping himself to the money as one entrusted with the common fund of the Lord and His disciples.

As we can probably deduce, Judas Iscariot was not an uneducated person. On the contrary, he might be one of the most qualified among the disciples, being one who knew his way with money and other things, and the fact that he could later go on to the chief priests and plotted with them to hand over the Lord, and how he arranged with them in showing the One that had to be arrested, by kissing the Lord, were proofs of Judas Iscariot’s intelligence and capabilities.

However, Judas Iscariot ended up being tempted by all those desires of the world and sought more worldly pleasures and pursuits. One might have thought that the Lord’s revelation that He would suffer at the hands of His enemies and be crucified as the reason why Judas Iscariot chose to betray Him, and thinking that he would be better of to profit from the occasion, he ended up doing the unthinkable, selling off his own Lord and Master for a mere thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave at that time.

We can see here how Judas Iscariot threw everything for worldly possession, as limited, futile and terrible as those things can be. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Mary threw away everything for the Lord, and by using her hair to wipe the feet of the Lord clean, she humbled herself before all others, as the hair is the crown of a woman’s glory and by using that to wipe the feet, the dirtiest part of a person, she threw aside all worldly glory and honour, for the Lord.

And by rebuking Judas and praising what Mary had done, the Lord Himself showed how eventually, in a short while, He Himself would do the same, stripping Himself of all glory and taking up the position of a slave and a criminal, punished for all the multitudes of our sins, nailed to the Cross, and raised up high, scourged, bruised and wounded, in full obedience to the will of His Father.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we heard all of these, we are all called to distance ourselves from the distractions of the world, the temptations of worldly desires, so that we may be like Mary, and like Our Lord Himself, focusing our attention on the Lord alone and not on all sorts of temptations that will distract us and lead to our downfall just as Judas Iscariot had fallen. We must not allow our desires and those temptations from leading us down the wrong path.

Let us make the best use of this Holy Week as a time to reconnect ourselves with God, to refocus ourselves on Him, and to turn towards Him with renewed faith and zeal, and to rediscover that love and devotion that we should have for Him. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that He still loves us all even after all of our disobedience and sins, and gave us His only begotten Son, to be our Saviour and Hope. He endured all the worst sufferings and rejections, so that we may live.

May the Lord be with us all and guide us in our journey, so that may come ever closer to Him and be ready to immerse ourselves deeply in the mysteries of His Passion, His suffering, death and Resurrection, and be filled with true grace and faith. May God bless us all and our good efforts, and help us to remain firm in faith. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 March 2021 : Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we mark the occasion of the Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, and on this day we begin the solemn celebrations of the Holy Week. This marks the last week in which the culmination of the Lord’s mission in this world. Throughout this season of Lent, we have been preparing ourselves physically and spiritually to celebrate this most important moment in the history of the world and all mankind, the moment when God Himself came to save us.

This day we remember the moment when the Lord came down to Jerusalem hailed as a King, cheered on and praised by many who were there to welcome Him, just as prophesied in the Scriptures by the prophets of the Lord, as the King riding on a donkey entering into His city mentioned by the prophet Zechariah, ‘See Jerusalem, your King is coming to you, righteous and bringing salvation, riding on a humble donkey.’

This was not Jesus’ first time entering Jerusalem, as evidenced from the Gospels that He had been in Jerusalem a few times before, not least when He was consecrated to God at His circumcision and presentation to God, and when He was just twelve years old and was left at the Temple, and on other occasions during His ministry when He came and taught the people at the Temple and other places throughout Jerusalem and Judea.

However, that time, the Lord came to Jerusalem for the one last and final time, when He would embark on the final part of His mission in fulfilling what the Lord had promised us all mankind, His beloved ones, to save us and to rescue us from the bondage of sin and death, from the tyranny and the enslavement of the devil, which He had done by His Passion, that is His suffering and His death on the Cross.

The word Passion itself came from the Latin ‘passus sum’, which means to endure and persevere through something, and in this case, it is the sufferings, the trials and pain that the Lord has suffered and endured, all the humiliation and horrible treatment He experienced at the hands of His enemies and tormentors. All of these He had willingly done, because of the great love that He has, for each and every single one of us, without exception.

We remember that the Lord so loved the world, all of us mankind, that He sent us His only begotten Son, according to the Gospel of St. John, that through Him we are to find salvation and not perish, and through Christ, God’s own Son, we have been brought to the hope of a new and graceful existence, a way to eternal life, and to be reconciled with God, our loving Father, Lord and Creator.

In this we have seen the most wonderful love of God, presented to us through Christ, the One proclaimed as King and Holy One of God by the crowd of people in Jerusalem, welcomed with much festivities and with palm branches, the Son and Heir of David Who has come to claim the kingdom of His forefather David, king of all Israel. Yet, do we all realise that the same crowd who hailed Jesus as King and praised Him wonderfully with palm branches in hand were perhaps the same ones who then cried out, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ in just a few days afterwards?

For those who followed the Lord Jesus, like His disciples and others, it might seem that the moment of the entry to Jerusalem was indeed a triumphant moment as the Lord was hailed as King and many saw Him as someone who could liberate them from the rule of the Romans. But, the moment that they saw the Lord being accused of blasphemy and of sin against God and nation, they turned against Him and became His accusers instead. Those who remained faithful, like the Apostles, hid themselves in fear and were scattered.

The Lord knew exactly what would happen to Him, and He had already mentioned it on several occasions, how He would be betrayed even by those close to Him, one of His own Twelve would be the one to hand Him over to the Sanhedrin, be arrested and then condemned to death, suffering a most painful and humiliating death on the Cross. Knowing all these, the Lord Himself did agonise over it at the Gardens of Gethsemane just prior to His arrest, the weight of the whole responsibility that He was to bear, and yet, He obeyed completely to the will of His heavenly Father.

It is St. Paul spoke of in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Philippi, the Epistle to the Philippians, when he spoke of Christ, obedient unto death on the Cross, humbling Himself and emptying Himself of His divinity and glory, allowing Himself to be scourged, punished and to endure the greatest of pain, sorrow and suffering, bearing all the consequences and punishments that we should have suffered instead because of our many sins.

Christ, Our Lord, is the New Adam, the New Man, Who obeyed God so completely and dedicated Himself so thoroughly, in contrast with the old Adam, and thus, won for us all the victory against sin. While Adam fell into sin and corruption from that sin because he was unable to resist the temptations to sin, and thus fell by his disobedience, it was Christ’s obedience, emptying Himself of all glory, that led to our salvation.

For He offered Himself, as a worthy and perfect sacrifice, both as the High Priest of all, and as the Paschal Lamb to be sacrificed Himself, on the Altar of the Cross. And indeed, the Cross is also the Throne of our King, just as the title placed on the Cross, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, and also thus, King of all of us, King of Kings. There He is, on the Cross, suffering and dying for us, for as our King, He desires nothing less than our happiness and freedom from the tyranny of sin.

It was this that brings us to the Passion of Our Lord, as this Passion, the sufferings Christ suffered for us, shows us all His compassionate love. The word compassion itself again came from the root word of Passion, cum passus sum, meaning to endure and persevere together with us, to be with us through our sufferings, to sympathise with us not just through words but also through concrete action, as He was there up on the Cross, bloody and bruised, shedding His Blood and rending His Body for us all.

Through Christ’s obedience, and by bearing all of our sins to Himself, by uniting us all in our humanity to His own humanity, Christ suffered and died, so that by His death, we may gain access to new and everlasting life. And thus, today this Palm Sunday we mark the beginning of this intense culmination of the Lord’s ministry, the beginning of this great Passion of Our Lord, as we witness and are reminded yet again of all that the Lord had done for our sake, out of enduring love for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we now enter into this Holy Week proper, are we going to celebrate it solemnly and properly, with clear understanding and appreciation? Or are we going to treat it just like any other week without any distinction? Let us think of how we can make our Holy Week meaningful and good, that we may benefit as much as possible, and become ever closer to God, being more faithful and dedicated to Him.

Let us all focus our attention on the Christ Crucified, and remind ourselves of what a wonderful grace and privilege we have received, to be beloved by God so much that He was willing to do all these for our sake. As we look on our Lord crucified, let us remember that His every wounds are our sins, our transgressions, our wickedness, and all that we have done which were in contradiction to the way of the Lord.

Christ endured all that pain and suffering, brothers and sisters in Christ. Are we still insisting on following the wrong path in life, in doing what is against God, and inflicting those wounds that we have seen on our Lord? The Lord did indeed suffer, in His humanity, and He did indeed die, suffering all these so that we may live. Let us all appreciate everything that He had done for us, and strive to do our best in life to be more and more committed, to be closer to God and to love Him more.

Let us all enter into this most solemn time of the Holy Week with clear focus on the Lord, on His Passion and suffering, His love and the great compassion He has shown to each and every one of us. Let us all be exemplary in our faith and be good role model to one another so that we may help our fellow brothers and sisters to find our way together to the salvation and eternal life in God. May God, our Crucified Christ, Our most loving Saviour, be with us all as we journey through this Holy Week, that we may come to share ever more deeply in the mysteries of His Passion, His suffering, death and Resurrection. Amen.

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Saturday, 27 March 2021 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are about to begin the Holy Week of the Passion of Our Lord tomorrow on Palm Sunday, today we are reminded through the Scripture passages of the coming of God’s salvation and all of His loving promises as the prophet Ezekiel has revealed to the people of Israel in exile as we heard in our first reading today, and then we also heard of the coming of the time of the Lord’s Passion, His suffering and death as we heard of the meeting of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish high council in the Gospel today, plotting the end of the Lord.

Beginning with our first reading today, we all heard of the Lord speaking to His people through the prophet Ezekiel at the time when most of the descendants of the Israelites had been scattered away from their homeland, without a home to return to, without a nation and king to rule over them, without the Temple around and within which they could worship the Lord their God, for they have been defeated and crushed by the Babylonians. Their cities were destroyed, the kingdom destroyed and the Temple of God was also destroyed.

But God reassured His people through Ezekiel that He did not forget about them, and neither did He desire for them all to continue to suffer. On the contrary, He revealed that He would save all of them in due time, sending His salvation into the world, to gather all of His scattered children and call everyone to Himself through His Saviour, Who is none other than Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the Son of God and Son of Man, the Divine Word Incarnate.

It was therefore by the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ into this world that we have seen the light and salvation of God, the hope and enlightenment through which we shall find our liberation and freedom from the tyranny of sin and death that had reigned over us all these while. Just as the Lord reassuring His people through Ezekiel that the dark and difficult times of their exile in Babylon and elsewhere would not last forever, thus the Lord through Christ, His own beloved Son, He would liberate all of His beloved ones and gather them all into His loving presence and grace.

Unfortunately, as we can see many people refused to believe in the Lord when He came to them bringing the revelations of God’s truth. This is likely because those chief priests, elders and the members of the Pharisees were to proud to admit that they had been wrong, and they did not want the good situation, prestige and respect they had garnered from the people to wane and disappear. That was why the High Priest Caiaphas discussed among the chief priests and elders, and mentioned the need to bring an end to Christ so that their whole nation could be saved, when in fact they meant that their own livelihood and status could be preserved.

Thus, as we heard, the Lord went in hiding and did not openly show Himself anymore in public until when He was arrested and put on trial before the Sanhedrin and later on eventually by Pontius Pilate, to be condemned like a criminal and to die a most painful and humiliating death on the Cross. But through all that, God had brought salvation unto us, that by the selfless, perfect and most loving sacrifice He had made, Christ reconciled us with God, our loving Father and Creator.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are therefore reminded first of all of the Lord’s ever gracious and generous mercy, the great patience by which He awaits us and is still waiting for us to return to His righteous embrace. We are all called to seek Him and to rend our hearts, minds and souls before Him, allowing Him to touch us with His love, compassion and mercy.

Let us all not harden our hearts or be swayed by our ego or pride. Instead, let us all humble ourselves and be inspired by Christ’s own humility and obedience to the will of His Father, that as we enter into the most solemn celebrations of Holy Week beginning tomorrow with Palm Sunday, we may reflect well on the great sufferings that Christ has suffered for our sake, in His willingness to endure the worst of humiliations, sufferings and pains for our salvation.

May the Lord be our guide, and may He strengthen each and every one of us, that we may find our way to Him, and be ever more committed and willing to live our lives as good and dedicated Christians from now on if we have not already done so. May all of us have a blessed Holy Week celebration beginning tomorrow, and become ever closer to the Lord, our God, through Jesus Christ, His Son. Amen.

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Friday, 26 March 2021 : 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 Scripture we are called to focus our attention to the Lord and His truth, humble ourselves and accept that truth which He has brought to us. We should not harden our hearts and minds against Him, and instead we should allow Him to enter into our hearts and minds and transform us.

In our first reading today, we heard of the persecution and the trials faced by the prophet Jeremiah, who was sent by God to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah in is twilight days. Jeremiah often called the people to repent from their sins and to turn away from their wicked ways. He laboured hard to speak God’s truth and His will among the stubborn people, and this brought him much opposition and many enemies.

But Jeremiah remained firm in his faith and conviction, and while he did grumble and complain over all that he had to suffer, which was understandable given the very tough circumstance he was in, nonetheless, he held firmly to his belief and trust in the Lord. He trusted that the Lord is always by His side, guiding Him and protecting Him, and would remember all that he had done for His sake, rewarding His faithful ones while exacting just punishment on those who continued stubbornly to resist.

In our Gospel passage today then we heard about the Lord Jesus and how He proclaimed the truth of God to the people of Judea, the descendants of the same people to whom the prophet Jeremiah had ministered to many centuries previously. Many of those people also refused to believe in the Lord, doubted Him and opposed Him, particularly many from among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

They were angry when the Lord openly referred to Himself as the Son of God, and God as His own Father. They wanted to arrest Him for having blasphemed against God, and eventually, during the Passion of the Lord, not long after this encounter between the Lord and the people in Jerusalem and Judea, those opponents of the Lord managed to charge Him on this same accusation after they had Him arrested and tried before the whole Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council.

But had they read and understand the Scriptures and the words of the prophets more carefully, they would have realised from all the truth that the Lord Jesus had spoken, from all the miraculous deeds and wonders that He had performed before so many of them, that He could only be the Messiah, or the Saviour of the whole world, Who had been prophesied by the prophets and Whose coming had been long anticipated and awaited.

Yet, many among the people refused to accept the truth, and among those who did this were those who held on to their pride and ego, their worldly desires for power, influence and status, refusing to allow the Lord to shine over them as He gained more and more followers throughout His ministry. They saw Him as a threat to their power and status within the society, and thus worked and plotted against the Lord, inciting the people with false leads in the process.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in these readings from the Scripture, we are therefore reminded that we must really be careful with our ego, with the desires in our hearts and minds, and with the many temptations by which the devil is constantly and consistently trying to tempt us with into disobedience against God’s will, to oppose the Lord as those people had once done against Him, and their ancestors also rose up against the prophet Jeremiah.

Let us all during this season of Lent be filled with remorse and regret for our sins, sincerely desiring to be forgiven from all the things we have committed that were against the will of God. Let us all be reconciled with God, seeking for His mercy and kindness, through true and genuine repentance. May God be with us always, and may He bless us and guide us in our journey towards righteousness. May God bless our many good works and endeavours for His greater glory. Amen.

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Thursday, 25 March 2021 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, marking the exact nine months before the date of Christmas as we recall that moment when Our Lord and Saviour was incarnate in the womb of His beloved Mother, Mary, right upon her acceptance of the will of God and her total and complete entrustment to God. By her positive response to the Good News delivered to her through the Archangel Gabriel, Mary has completed and heralded the long awaited coming of the Messiah.

On this day we rejoice in the memory of the Good News that was brought by the Archangel Gabriel, announced to Mary in Nazareth, the coming of God’s long awaited salvation, the fulfilment of all of His plans in saving us mankind. Mankind has long awaited the coming of the salvation which God had in fact proclaimed from the very beginning, right from the very moment that mankind fell into sin because of the temptations of Satan.

Right at that moment the Lord proclaimed that while Satan would strike at the heel of the children of men, but the Woman shall crush Satan himself under her feet. That Woman referred to by the Lord was Mary, the one who would indeed come a long time later as the proof and the fulfilment of God’s many promises to His people, that in the end, He is always still with them and never abandoned them to destruction and evil.

He renewed His promises and as we heard in our first reading today He made the same commitment through His prophet Isaiah, speaking to Ahaz, the king of Judah. The king refused to ask for a sign from the Lord which the Lord then rebuked the king for his false humility and faith, as although he said that he did not want to put the Lord to the test, in his actions and rule as king, he did quite a lot in misleading the people down the path of sin and wickedness, and hence, God again reiterated that the Woman would bear a Child.

Through that exchange between Ahaz and God, we heard the clearest yet of the prophecy of what was to happen, as Mary, the Woman mentioned and promised by God, would indeed bear a Child, Who is the Son of God Most High, the Word of God, Only Begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh becoming Man, the Son of Man. He is the Emmanuel mentioned by the Lord to king Ahaz, as His coming into the world meant that God Himself has then dwelled in this world, in our midst, among each one of us.

Today therefore on this great Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, all of us rejoice in the Lord and His love for us, that He has fulfilled the promises He made to us, and gave us all His Good News, through the Archangel Gabriel to Mary, soon to be Mother of God, of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Through Mary’s obedience to the will of God, her faith in God and her humble acceptance and commitment to her role as the Mother of the Lord and Saviour, we have therefore received the salvation from God in Christ.

Today therefore we ought to reflect on the faith that Mary had in the Lord, her virtues and dedication, as although she was conceived without the taint of original sin by the grace of God, but she was still a woman, and she remained pure and blameless throughout all her life, and hence the Archangel Gabriel hailed Mary as being in the fullness of God’s grace, which made her to be perfect as the one to bear the Lord and Saviour of all, and as the Ark of the New Covenant.

We may be wondering if it is indeed possible for someone to remain pure, blameless and immaculate from sin throughout. Yet, it was how we ourselves have been created by God, pure and incorrupt, and we were tainted only because we allowed sin to enter into our hearts and minds. Our love for God is not great enough for us to resist the temptations to sin and to do what is against the will of God. On the contrary, Mary loved God with all her heart and with all her might, and that love allowed her to remain true to Him, and remain in fullness of grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how about us then? Have we been living our lives in accordance of God’s will as Mary had done? Or have we instead allowed sin and our desires to control us and the direction of our lives? This is the question that we should really ask ourselves today on this Solemnity of the Annunciation and looking back throughout our Lenten journey, and even further back throughout these past years of our lives. Have we been genuine and good Christians, brothers and sisters?

Let us all seek the Lord with renewed conviction and faith from now on, by looking upon His mother, Mary as our role model and example. Let us all be inspired by the faith of Mary, her piety and dedication, her commitment and humility to accept her role in whatever God had entrusted her with, that she dutifully followed and committed herself, all the way even to the foot of the Cross, when she saw her own Son dying and suffering on the Cross for our salvation, for our benefit.

May Mary, the Mother of God, our loving mother as well, pray for us and continue to aid us in our journey through her guidance and ceaseless intercessions, that we may draw ever closer to her Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour that we all may be worthy to receive from Him the gift of eternal life and glory. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Wednesday, 24 March 2021 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded of the bravery and the courage with which the friends of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood by their faith before the great king of the Babylonians, the lord of many nations and the one who led the conquest of Judah and Jerusalem, destroying the city and the Temple of God, and how this can then be related and compared with what we heard in our Gospel passage today with regards to the Lord and His confrontation with the Jewish people.

In the first reading today, we heard of the moment when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the great golden statue built by king Nebuchadnezzar in his own image, as they held fast to their obedience and faith in God, and would not betray Him for the likeness of any idols or false gods. Even when faced with the full wrath of the king and the certain threat of suffering and death, all of them held firmly to their faith and did not give up their faith.

They were thus punished by the king of Babylon, to suffer and perish in the great furnace prepared for all those who dared to defy the command of the king. And as the king was furious with the refusal of the three friends of Daniel, and with their adamant and resolute stance against the worship of the idolatrous golden statue, he made the furnace to be much hotter, and threw the men into it. Yet, by divine providence and grace, they were unharmed. God protected them and sent His Angel to watch over them.

These three faithful men were among the people who had been brought off to exile in Babylon, as a people without a country, without land and honour left, humiliated and humbled. Their own original names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, as the names they were known by were actually forced upon them as the names the Babylonians imposed on them, as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. This symbolised the situation that they endured, bereft of their own homeland and even name, enslaved and oppressed.

Then we move on to our Gospel reading in which we heard the argument and confrontation between the Lord and the Jewish people in Judea, the latter referring to those who held and supported the hardline views of the Pharisees and therefore opposed the Lord Jesus and His works and ministry. The people argued that they were not enslaved and were free as they were the children of Abraham, when the Lord told them that if they were to believe in His words and accept His truth, then they would be free.

The people who refused to believe in Jesus hardened their hearts and stubbornly declined to listen to reason, and therefore they were actually enslaved. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, they were enslaved, and not free, because they were controlled by their desires, ego and pride, their refusal to admit that they could be wrong and mistaken, as they heard the truth from the Lord.

They continued to resist the truth even after having witnessed all that the Lord had done, and even after they had heard the great wisdom in His teachings and revelations, and the authority with which He has taught the people. This can be indeed contrasted with the attitudes of the three friends of Daniel. While the former, the people of the time of Jesus were free, but their hearts were in fact enslaved by sin, and the latter, the friends of Daniel, while they were enslaved in body, yet in their hearts and minds, they were truly free, by God’s grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard all of these, therefore we are all called to reflect on our own lives and actions. Have we been truly free, brothers and sisters? Are we still enslaved by sin, by our ego, pride, desire and all sorts of worldly concerns and temptations, while we may be free in body? This is why as we continue to progress through this season of Lent, we are all called to do self-introspection, reflect and ponder on what we can do to be more faithful and to be righteous in life.

There will be plenty of challenges and trials facing us, brothers and sisters in Christ, but we must not be afraid, for just as the Lord took care and protected the three men, the friends of Daniel from even the worst of persecutions, the Lord will also stand by our side, that even when we suffer, we will not be alone, and we will walk through and survive even the most challenging trials, by God’s grace, guidance and help. May the Lord be with us all, and may He strengthen us all that we may ever persevere in faith, at all times. Amen.

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Tuesday, 23 March 2021 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture, hearing how the people of Israel rebelled against God and disobeyed Him when they grumbled and complained against Him as they journeyed through the desert from Egypt. They complained that they had a better life in Egypt even though over there they were slaves and were treated badly.

They did all these even though the Lord had in fact treated them very kindly, patiently answering their pleas and requests, giving them daily the bread from heaven itself, and also other food and plenty of water to drink in their journey through the desert. The Lord took good care of His people and patiently cared for them only to gain contempt, betrayal and disobedience, rebellion and wickedness in return.

The Lord then sent fiery serpents that were disastrous in their effects on the people, as many were bitten by those serpents and died. Those serpents killed many and the people begged the Lord for mercy, asking Moses to intercede for their sake. The Lord had pity on His people and showed them His clemency through instructing Moses to build a great bronze serpent standard, and lifting it up before the whole people that all those who had been bitten and saw the bronze serpent would be saved.

This is related to our Gospel passage today in which we heard of the Lord Jesus speaking plainly to the people and all gathered about what would happen to Him. Those Jews were the ones living in Judea and many of them supported the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in opposition against Jesus. They doubted Him and refused to believe in Him, demanding to see miracles and signs from Him even when He had done all those wonders before them all.

And the Lord then revealed to all of them how He would be lifted up high above the Earth, a prelude to what He would endure during His Passion namely when He would be scourged, stripped and nailed to the Cross, and lifted up on the hill of Calvary, for all the same people to whom the Lord had spoken, to see the ultimate and greatest of all the signs of God’s wonders and love.

What is the significance of this, brothers and sisters? It is just like the lifting of the bronze serpent of Moses in the past through which the people were saved from the deadly sting of the serpents, thus, the Lord also had Himself lifted up so that all those who see Him, believe in Him and have faith in Him will be saved from certain death and destruction from the sting of sin.

This is therefore an important reminder for each and every one of us that we are all called to shun the temptations to sin, the allure and pull of its corruption, and all the things that have led us to our downfall, and the downfall of so many who came and went before us. As we approach the beginning of the Holy Week in less than a week’s time, we are all called to reflect deeply of the Lord’s Passion, all that He had done, out of His great love for us.

It is thanks to Him, His enduring love and great patience that each and every one of us still have hope, the hope of entering into a new and blessed existence free from sin, and one that is no longer corrupted by those wicked and evil taints of the world. The Lord has willingly taken up His Cross, bearing our many sins and their consequences and punishments, all because of His love for us. If not for Him, we should have been lost to despair and the darkness.

That is why we should appreciate the love of God and everything that He had done for us, and we must not take the opportunities that He has given us for granted, or else, we may find it that we are too late to realise how fortunate we are to have been beloved by God and to have received so many good opportunities from Him. We need turn towards the Lord, look at Him crucified and remember the love by which He selflessly took up that sacrifice in order to save all of us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we can also be inspired by the good examples set by St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, one of our holy predecessors. St. Turibius de Mogrovejo was a great and renowned Archbishop, who was once also the confessor and trusted advisor of the King of Spain. He was credited with the conversion of numerous people, many of whom he personally preached to and worked with. He dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the improvement of the life of his flock, and committed himself to care for them.

St. Turibius de Mogrovejo travelled extensively throughout his diocese and beyond, often on foot and baptising many, taking care of the spiritual needs of those whom he had encountered throughout his ministry. He established many chapels, convents, hospitals and schools for the benefit of many people, and many indeed were helped and touched by the actions of this saintly bishop that they became converts and believers.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all turn towards the Lord with a new heart and desire to follow Him, inspired by the good examples of the saints, particularly that of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo. May the Lord be our guide that we may journey successfully through life with faith, and focusing our attention from now on, to the Lord and His saving grace. Let us always remember all the sufferings and humiliations that Our Lord had to face in order to save us all, out of His enduring and ever-present love for us. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.