Lenten sermon

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Tuesday, 2 April 2019 : 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, in today’s Scripture passages we listened again about the healing and liberation that come from God, as we heard in our first reading passage today from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel about the vision he received of the glorious heavenly sanctuary, of the wonderful place and how everything exists in God’s grace and bliss. And then in the Gospel passage we heard another healing miracle of the Lord, as He healed a paralytic man and made him whole once again.

Through all of these passages we have heard today, God wants to remind us all that this Lent, we are called to reflect on our own lives, on how we have lived these lives of ours so far, in our attitudes, actions and life. We are called to remember that our ultimate destination in life is heaven, as God showed to the prophet Ezekiel in the vision. And in truth, heaven is more than just a place, for it is a state of pure bliss and joy of being fully reconciled and reunited with God, where there will be no more sorrow but only pure joy of being with God, enjoying the fullness of His love for eternity.

Unfortunately, all of us mankind have been prevented from enjoying all these things and wonders in this present life, because of our disobedience against God and His will. And the fruits of disobedience are our sins, which have corrupted us and made us to be sick. We are just like the paralytic man who was lying down, unable to move and afflicted at the Pool of Siloam. And no one helped him for the entirety of the thirty-eight years he was there.

And we see how there were many people afflicted by various diseases coming to the Pool of Siloam because of the miraculous healing that happened to all the first person who went into the water when the water was stirred by God’s Angel. But no one bothered to help the paralytic man to go to the water to be healed, and everyone just bothered about their own selves, in wanting to be healed. That was how the paralytic man suffered there for thirty-eight years long.

Jesus knew how long the man had suffered and waited for the day of his healing which did not seem to come at all. But Jesus knew his faith and willingness to be healed, and thus, He approached the man and asked about his willingness to be healed. The man showed that he clearly wanted to be healed, but no one bothered to help him at all in order to be healed. And so, Jesus showed us all an example by reaching out to the man, and healed him even on the day of the Sabbath.

Jesus showed us all what each and every one of us need to do, especially during this penitential season of Lent, a time of renewal and reconciliation with God. First of all, He is calling on us to seek Him for Him to heal us all from our sins. For it is God alone Who is capable of freeing us from the bondage and sufferings of our sins. We cannot heal ourselves from the plight of sin, just like the paralytic man who could not heal himself.

And we know how loving and forgiving God is, that He was so willing to reach out to us, embracing us with His love, and healing us from our pains and sufferings because of sin. That is what each and every one of us can expect, if we are able and willing to turn towards God and seek His forgiveness and mercy. We shall be made whole and good once again, freed from our sins and wickedness, from our pains and trials.

Secondly, which is not less important, is the fact that all of us are not suffering alone in this world. Each and every one of us are equally sinners before God. All of us are afflicted and are corrupted by the taints of sin. And unless we come to seek God’s help and providence, we shall perish and suffer eternal death due to sin. But sadly, many of us are so blinded by pride as well as by selfishness and greed, that we often acted as how the people in the Pool of Siloam acted.

What does that mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we should not turn a blind eye to the sins and sufferings of our fellow brethren. We must instead show the same love and compassion that the Lord has shown to the paralytic man. It is through our actions and our obedience to God that we can inspire others around us to also follow in our examples and good actions, that together we may be saved.

Today, we should also be inspired by the good examples shown by the holy and devout, loving and compassionate St. Francis of Paola, an ascetic friar and hermit who devoted his whole life to God, serving the people through prayer, through humility and plenty of self-sacrifice, by being exemplary in faith and in all of his words and actions. St. Francis of Paola, as well as many other saints whose life we know about, show us how each one of us can become like them in holiness, for they themselves were once sinners, but they sought God’s healing and were healed and transformed.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower each and every one of us that we may live faithfully from now on, and be able and willing to commit ourselves to a life of holiness, virtue and faith. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 1 April 2019 : 4th Week of Lent (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 giving us encouragement and strength, with the message of hope in the power of God’s salvation and healing, as all of us come to the loving embrace of God, in the healing that He brought into this world as mentioned in the Gospel passage today, and also in the wonderful vision of the prophet Isaiah, who received from God the assurance of a new Jerusalem, a new place for all the faithful, where no sorrow will exist anymore.

In today’s Gospel passage, we heard the healing of the son of an official, who had been very sick and in a really terrible condition. The official travelled to meet Jesus, Whom has been renowned for His many miracles and healing of the sick people, of all various kinds of diseases and troubles. The official pleaded with the Lord to heal his son, and the Lord saw the faith that the official had in Him and in the power of God.

But take note that Jesus did not go personally to heal the son of the official. He merely said, ‘Go, you son has been healed!’ and the official believed in the words of Jesus and went back home. On his journey home, one of his servants declared that the official’s son has recovered, right at the very moment when the Lord said that his son would be healed. Imagine the joy that the official must have experienced, all because of his faith in God.

In order to appreciate the importance of this event, we must understand and appreciate it in conjunction with what occurred throughout the Gospels, especially when we see the faith that this official had shown, in tandem with the faith of the woman who had haemorrhage, as well as the faith of Jairus, the synagogue official, and the faith of the army centurion, who similarly as the official, believed that even the mere words of Jesus could heal their beloved ones.

And this ought to be contrasted with the attitudes of many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who have witnessed many times, the many miracles and wonders that the Lord Jesus had performed before them and the people, and yet refused and failed to believe in the truth that God had made clear and evident before all of them. They have seen all the great wonders that God had performed, but the reality is that, God had no place in their hearts.

That was why they did not believe in God and His works, doubting Him and even challenging, opposing and persecuting all those who believed in His truth and works. They wanted proof again and again from the Lord Jesus, while they have actually seen all the wonders with their own eyes, because the doors of their hearts have been closed to God. No matter what God had done for them, the ego and pride, the ambition and desire that are in them have prevented them from having that important faith in God.

Now, in this time of Lent, all of us are reminded of the healing and salvation that God has brought into our midst, through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. But in order to be healed, we will need to have faith, like the faith of the official and all the others I have mentioned, those who seek the Lord for healing, mercy and forgiveness for their sins. Healing and forgiveness only comes when we empty ourselves of ego, of pride, of our human ambition and desire, of our stubbornness and attachments to sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, each and every one of us must realise that we are suffering now because of our sins, due to our disobedience against God and His will. And no one can free us from the bondage to sin save that of God alone. Now, the question is, are we willing to commit ourselves to the path of God’s mercy and forgiveness? If we are willing to do so, then we need to reconsider how we have lived our lives thus far, and see in what way we can live our lives more meaningfully and more faithfully in accordance to God’s will.

Are we able to put God at the centre of our lives? Are we able to make Him the very reason of our every words, actions and deeds? This will require effort from us to change our way of life, and how we focus our efforts and attentions. If we have once been proud, ambitious, selfish and greedy, let us all now learn humility, selflessness, generosity and charity in all the things we do in life from now on.

May the Lord be with us always, as we continue this journey of life with faith. May He continue to bless us and guide us, that in everything we encounter in life, we will always have the courage to remain true and devoted to Him, in each and every days of our life. May God, our loving Father and our Saviour, be our source of healing and may He forgive us all our sins and wickedness. Amen.

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Sunday, 31 March 2019 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose (Laetare Sunday) or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the fourth one in the season of Lent, we celebrate the occasion of the Laetare Sunday, which was known from the first part of the Introit of today’s celebration of the Holy Mass, ‘Laetare, Ierusalem…’ or ‘Rejoice, Jerusalem…’ speaking about the coming of the salvation and consolation of the fallen city, which had once fallen from grace, but would once again rise in glory, by the grace of God.

Therefore, this Sunday, we are reflecting on this joy that is expected to come, the joy of our Easter celebration and hope. That is why if we notice, that in today’s liturgical celebrations, the rose vestments are used instead of the typical purple of the season of Lent. This is a reminder of this joy that is expected to come, and that is why it is kind of a brief interlude and reprieve in the midst of the penitential nature of this season.

While we go through this time of Lent, the time of self-introspection, evaluation, purification and self-mortification, today we remind ourselves that ultimately, all of these are for a singular purpose, and that is for us to embrace the hope in the joy that is to come, the true joy that comes with our reconciliation with God, Who loves each and every one of us, that He wants us all to be reconciled with Him, and to be forgiven from our sins.

And we heard all of these in our Scripture passages today. In the Gospel passage in particular, we heard of the story and parable of the prodigal son that the Lord Jesus told to His disciples and to the people. This parable of the prodigal son is telling us of the great love that God has for each and every one of us, even though we mankind have sinned against Him, repeatedly and unrepentantly again and again.

In that parable, the younger of the two sons of a rich person went to his father to ask for his inheritance, and thereafter went on to squander his inheritance and wealth in faraway land. He lived with splendour and was living immorally, until the time when he ran out of money. When he had nothing left with him, he was forced to fend for himself and everyone abandoned him. He was left all alone, suffering humiliation and hunger.

In fact, his hunger was such that he did not mind to have a part of the food that the pigs were having, as he was taking care of them. But even so, no one allowed him to eat of the pig’s food. This was a sign that that prodigal son’s life and worth was even less than that of a pig, a total humiliation for any human being, and indeed, the pit of agony and suffering into which that prodigal son had fallen into.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the story of the prodigal son is the story of humanity, of each and every one of us sinners. By sin we have been cast out of God’s grace and presence, and because of the temptations of our desire and the temptations of worldly pleasures, we have been brought into this miserable and suffering-filled existence, just as the prodigal son had suffered as mentioned earlier.

Yet, everything was not lost for the prodigal son, as there was still one last path that the prodigal son remembered that he could take. He remembered how his father’s servants were even living more prosperously and in better condition than he was at that time. Thus, the prodigal son was betting on the last hope he had, by going back to the father hoping that he would at least make him one of his servants. He was so humiliated and embarrassed that he almost did not want to return to his father.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what each and every one of us also should expect, in the one and only hope that we have, the hope in our loving God and Father. He is indeed our one and only hope, for as we can see clearly from the parable, that the prodigal son had nothing left on him and had no hope in all those things that he thought once as treasures and worthy. His friends all left him, his money failed him, his properties and goods were gone. But his father alone is his last and only hope.

God is indeed our loving Father, and just as the father in the parable showed mercy and compassion for his prodigal and lost son, then God has shown us His mercy and compassion, to all of us who are coming back towards Him, with humility and the desire to be forgiven from the wicked things and sins we have committed just as the prodigal son turned back to his father in tears and regretting all that he had done.

We are called today, to reflect on our own sins and our own wicked acts, those selfish and prideful, ambitious and greedy attitudes, all of the self-serving, self-glorifying and wicked actions we have done all these while in life. All of us have sinned because of these, and while some among us may not realise it, whether we have committed sinful acts small or big, or whether it is seemingly minuscule or serious, sin is still sin, and sin separates us from the love and grace of God.

It was the greed, pride and desire within the mind and heart of the prodigal son that led him to take such a drastic action of demanding his inheritance and going off to a faraway country where he fell into wickedness and into the trap of desire. When our hearts and minds are centred on worldly things such as wealth, power, glory, ambition, and all sorts of other temptations, and not on God, we will crave even more and more of those things, and as a result, likely to fall deeper into the depth of sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us have been like the prodigal son in our life, and many of us have not lived our lives righteously in accordance to God’s will. Many of us are putting our hopes and ambitions on worldly pursuits, for us to be wealthier, to have more money and financial security, to have more friends and relationships, to enjoy more of the goods of this world, to be more famous and glorified by others, to gain more renown and prestige in our community, among many others.

We are hoping to find joy in all of these, without realising that our true joy lies in God alone. Similarly, like the prodigal son, who thought that his happiness lies in being free in doing whatever he wanted, by getting his portion and doing everything he liked, away from the father who loved him, we too have lived in ways that embrace our own hearts’ selfishness and our own human desires, for pleasure and for the indulging of the flesh.

Yet, as mentioned earlier, none of these ‘joys’ of the world will last. Those things are impermanent and temporary at best, illusory in nature and imperfect. We can never be truly happy with them, and as we have seen in the prodigal son’s story, they cannot be depended on, when times of trouble and trials come for us. In the end, there is nothing more dependable and there is no true hope but in God alone.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do you know why all of us Christians practice certain things such as fasting and abstinence during this season of Lent, and are also encouraged to spend more time in prayer, and also to go for the Sacrament of Penance by confessing our sins before the priests? That id because, in this time of Lent, we are called to peel off from ourselves the many layers of pride, of ambition, of haughtiness and vanity, the layers of greed and desire from ourselves, and rediscover who we truly are.

It is by restraining our desires and tempering our human pride and greed that we will be able to realise just how despicable and wicked our state has become, just as the prodigal son discovered at the moment of his greatest humiliation and weakness, when he had to endure a fate even worse than animals, and valued even less than animals. It is the moment when we die to ourselves in the flesh and in our worldly existence that we can finally find the way forward to God.

Yet, it takes a lot of courage for us to be able to make that journey back to the Father, our loving and ever merciful God. Indeed, the prodigal son also must have had a lot of thinking and consideration before he finally mustered the courage and threw away his ego and pride, in reaching out to his father, and be willing to humble himself and beg for his father’s forgiveness. Similarly therefore, it will take us a lot of effort for us to overcome this fear, doubt and reluctance in us, for us to finally accept God’s offer of forgiveness and mercy.

God offers us His forgiveness freely and generously, but more often than not, we are not able to commit ourselves to the path of mercy and forgiveness. Either we are too easily tempted by the temptation of worldly things, or we are afraid that God will be angry at us, and thus we continue to live our lives the way it has been lived, and we fall even deeper into the pit and trap of sin. That is why, today, on Laetare Sunday, after we have journeyed through this season of Lent to realise just how despicable and sinful we are, now we turn our focus for a while to look forward to where our destination is.

We look forward knowing that God is awaiting us all, wanting to embrace us with love, with mercy and compassion, welcoming us back to His embrace. If we can close our eyes for a moment and imagine in our minds of the moment when the prodigal son came to the embrace of his father, can we imagine just how joyful he must have been, in gazing at his beloved father once again? And he was welcomed to his father’s house again, to be the son of the house once again, receiving what he had once lost.

And that is exactly what we are going to experience, all of us, God’s scattered and lost children, all of us who have been scattered and lost because of our sins and disobedience. We are looking forward to this true joy of being reunited fully with God, our loving Father, which is the joy of the Resurrection, the joy of Easter. And now that we know what lays ahead of us, are we now willing to make the new commitment to love the Lord, our God, with all of our hearts and minds from now on?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make this our commitment to live more in accordance to the path that God has shown us. Let us embrace with joy and with courage the mercy and love that He has offered so generously before us. Let us all keep strong to this hope we have in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has come to us to show us the fullness of God’s everlasting love and mercy towards us. May God show us His compassion and may He forgive us all our sins when we ask Him for this grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 30 March 2019 : 3rd Week of Lent (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 passages in which we heard about the pride of the Pharisee and the humility of the tax collector, in a parable that the Lord Jesus told to the people and His disciples. Using that parable, the Lord wanted to show just how great God’s mercy and love for each and every one of us is, that no one is truly excluded or prevented from receiving His merciful love.

The Lord mentioned a tax collector and a Pharisee because of the prejudices and perceptions that each one of them experienced at that time. The tax collectors were often treated with disdain and contempt, with distrust and suspicion due to the nature of their work in collecting the taxes for the Roman governor and administration, while the Pharisees were treated with reverence and adulation because of their respected position in the community.

Therefore, there was then a strong bias against the tax collectors, who were collectively treated as rebels, traitors and unworthy of being members of the community of the people of God. The tax collectors were shunned and treated as if they were great sinners who were incapable of receiving God’s mercy and unworthy of God’s love. This is such while the Pharisees were seen as holy and pious group of people, who always made public their prayers and devotions before everyone.

Through the parable He mentioned, the Lord Jesus wanted to break this prejudice and bias, which the people have had in their hearts and minds. He wanted to show them that even a tax collector in truth was aware of the sins and whatever wicked things he had done, and having been treated so badly by the community in general, it was quite certain that they must have felt very bad about their own actions.

But the tax collector in the parable, knowing and understanding about his own shortcomings, humbled himself before God and begged Him to show mercy and compassion, admitting his sins before Him, unlike the Pharisee who did not just brag about his own achievements and supposed piety, but also looked down and ridiculed the tax collector before God, thinking of himself as being more worthy than the tax collector.

In the eyes of God, a repentant sinner is far more worthy than a proud person who may outwardly be pious and good, but in truth, is still a sinner in heart. In fact, pride is the number one reason why many of us have continued to live in sin, firstly because we refused to admit that we have been wrong in our way of life, and secondly, we have that false sense of security and even superiority, in thinking that we are better off than others who seem to be deeper in sin than us.

Pride is a great obstacle in our path and journey towards God’s grace and loving mercy, for pride keeps us hardhearted and stubborn, unwilling to seek healing for the sins and wicked things we have committed all the while. And it also often gives us the reason and excuse to say no to God’s offer of mercy and forgiveness. But at what cost, brothers and sisters in Christ? Nothing less than the salvation of our souls!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all called to reflect on our own lives, on our every actions, words and deeds. And surely we will become more aware of how sinful or broken we have been in life. But are we going to allow our sins and our brokenness to continue to affect us through life? Or are we going to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy, He Who alone is capable of healing us from our sins?

Let us all therefore pray for the grace to be humble like the tax collector in the parable that Jesus said to the people. Let us pray for the grace to be aware of how sinful we have been, and how broken our lives have become, and ultimately for the grace and courage to seek healing through forgiveness that comes generously from God alone. May the Lord continue to guide us through our journey in this season of Lent and beyond. Amen.

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Friday, 29 March 2019 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Lord through the Scriptures reminding us of the importance of love in our lives, for love is the foundation of our whole lives. In the first reading today, we heard of the love which the Lord our God lavished on us, His beloved people, despite of the sins that we have committed all these while, just as how He showed mercy to His people who have disobeyed Him.

The prophet Hosea lived and ministered at a time when the people of God had been scattered and humiliated because of their disobedience against God and for the wickedness they did before the Lord. But the prophet revealed God’s ever merciful and loving compassion for each and every one of us, because of the tender love and mercy that He has for us. God does not ever desire our destruction, but instead our redemption and reconciliation with Him.

God blessed His people again and again despite them having wrought much pain and sorrow for Him, in their refusal to obey the Law and in their persistence to continue to sin and do what was wicked before God and His people alike. And even when they obeyed the Law, it was not because of the love which they had for God, but rather for their own vanity and selfish desires and intentions, as what the people of the time of Jesus had shown.

In both cases, there was no love between those people and God, and God was sidelined from their hearts, minds and attention. That is why they were not able to appreciate and make good use of the Law and the commandments that God had given to them. Instead of learning to love God and to draw closer to Him by obeying the Law in its full meaning and understanding its purpose, they feared God as One Who was distant and to be feared.

As a result, they did not draw closer to God, and in the way they practiced the Law, they did so out of obligation, or fear, or just for formalities and to fulfil what has been required by the traditions of their ancestors. And some, like the Pharisees, instead made use of the Law to make themselves look righteous, pious and good before the people. But in their hearts, there was no true love and devotion for God.

This is what we all need to overcome, the temptation of worldly desires, the idols of wealth, of human glory and praise, the pressure to conform to the standards and expectations of the world, which have caused us to be unable to realise God’s love being present in our midst. Sometimes, we are just too busy with our daily preoccupations, our concerns for many worldly matters, to be able to realise just how blessed we are, to have a God Who loves us all so dearly.

And this is where Satan is working very hard in trying to prevent us from gaining God’s grace and salvation. He is trying to make us to be too distracted from realising God’s love and wish to forgive us. And if he is not successful, he will then leverage through our fear and doubts, to prevent us from seeking God’s merciful love. This is most evident when we mankind feared of reaching out to God, thinking that He is angry with us and wants to punish us for our sins. But this is in truth, not what the Lord feels about us.

In this time of Lent, we are invited to embrace God’s ever present and ever readily available mercy. He has extended so generously His mercy and forgiveness, that He is willing to overlook all of the trespasses and wickedness that we have committed thus far in life. However, this offer of mercy and forgiveness must also be matched with the genuine and strong desire in our hearts and in our minds to be forgiven.

Are we able to accept God’s loving mercy? In order to be able to receive God’s forgiveness, we need to reorientate ourselves and relook into how we have lived our lives thus far. And this is truly a good time for us to begin making a change in our direction in life. Let us all make good use of this opportunity that God has granted us, so that we may grow ever more faithful towards God and be ever more loving towards Him, each and every days of our life. May God bless us all and our efforts. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 March 2019 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God in the Scriptures speaking to us about the matter of being united to God and not to dissent by our disobedience and refusal to believe in Him. We are reminded that if we are all united in God, we will stand firm despite the challenges and pressures from the world, and we will not be shaken and lost from God, for God loves us all, and as long as we keep our faith in Him, God will provide for us and protect us.

In today’s Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus rebuked some of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who have slandered Him publicly by saying that He performed His miracles and exorcism of demons and evil spirits, by collusion and collaboration with Beelzebul, the prince of demons. The Lord said this with disbelief and probably even anger at the irony presented by those who criticised the works of the Lord.

They criticised the Lord that He was using demons to cast out other demons, but the Lord pointed out that it was not the devil and his forces that were divided among themselves, rather, the people of God, who were divided among themselves and unable to unite themselves in thought and belief in God. The devil, that is Satan and all of his allies are all united in the same purpose, that is to bring about our downfall and damnation, while we mankind are often prone to being divided among ourselves.

The moment that men do not put their trust and faith in God, that is the moment when the devil and all of his wicked allies strike, manipulating us and dividing us through pride, through ambition and human greed, through the temptations of desire and other worldly pleasures. The devil is waiting for us when we are at our weakest, to strike at us, knowing that when we are united, he cannot assail us. He tries his best to divide us, one against another, so that it is easier for him to strike us down, one by one.

The devil is using our pride and ego, ambition and desire, greed and jealousy against us. That was how he led the Israelites astray, by hardening their hearts and minds with pride and worldly desires, when the lust and desire for gold, wealth and power brought them to sin against God, in making an idol for themselves, and in disobeying the laws and commandments of God. They bickered and quarrelled among themselves, for God was not at the centre of their lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must be mindful that this is how the devil is also constantly striking at us, by luring us with the temptation of power, of pleasures of the flesh, of money and wealth of this world, with fame, influence and glory, all the things that caused us to bicker among one another, and quarrel among ourselves. Even friendships and relationships have been torn apart by the pressure of worldly desires and ambitions.

This is how even within our Church, we often see divisions and conflicts, where the members of the Church ministries quarrel and bicker among each other, gossiping and backstabbing, complaining and being mean and hurtful to one another through our words and actions. The devil is truly busy at work, with all of his allies and agents, in trying to tempt us to sin, by planting in us the seeds of disagreements and dissensions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, during this time of Lent, we are called and indeed challenged to overcome all of these negative thoughts, emotions and desires within us. But the path forward will not be an easy one, as there will be plenty of opposition, as the devil and his kingdom are hard at work, trying to subvert us and to prevent us from gaining salvation in God. There will be plenty of challenges in our path, and unless we make the conscious effort to restrain ourselves, we will end up being more and more divided among ourselves, and the devil will swoop in for the kill easily.

Let us all strive to be true disciples of Christ in this blessed season of Lent onwards, by turning ourselves and our lives back to be in accordance with God’s will and centre our focus and attention back towards Him. Let us also strive to overcome division and conflict, by putting love in all of our actions, words and deeds. Before we act and say something, let us always put ourselves into considerations of love.

Let us love one another sincerely and graciously, remembering of the love that God Himself has shown us, that each and every one of us may also love one another in the way that He has loved us all, so generously and so sincerely, that even though we have disobeyed Him and walked away from Him, time to time, again and again, He still continues to love us all despite all these. Let us all be generous with our love, and continue to live our lives well, as good and faithful disciples of the Lord from now on. Amen.

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Wednesday, 27 March 2019 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scriptures reminding us of the Law which God has given to us, as the precepts and guides for us all to follow, in how we ought to live our lives, with faith and obedience to God. And through Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Our Saviour, God has revealed to us all what His Law is truly about, and how the Law can guide each and every one of us to righteousness.

In the first reading today, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, we heard about the moment when Moses gathered the people of Israel before him as they journeyed through the desert after their Exodus from Egypt, and just before they entered the Promised Land. Moses reminded the people of the special privilege that they have received, for being God’s chosen ones, those to whom God has revealed His Law and commandments.

Moses had brought the Law of God to the people, in the Ten Commandments and in the many other precepts and commandments of the Law as passed on from God to the Israelites through Moses. And Moses also reminded the Israelites of the special relationship that they all had with God, as God was with them and guided them, such that they were able to persevere through the hardships of the forty years of journey through the desert.

God provided His people with everything that they needed, feeding them with manna daily, the bread of heaven itself, as well as clear and sweet water flowing from the rocks. It was even told that a rock was following the Israelites, as a sign of God’s providence, that He would always provide for the needs of His loved ones. He even drove away and destroyed all those who sought to bring ruin to the Israelites, their enemies and all those who did not welcome God’s chosen people.

God was so close to His chosen people, and this was in fact a foretaste of what each and every one of us, who are called and chosen, will enjoy through God’s love and providence. God is leading us all to Himself, and it is His will that each and every one of us be closer to Him, but unfortunately, God’s people did not fully understand what His Law truly meant. That was why they constantly disobeyed and rebelled, as they thought of God as an angry and exacting God, Who oppressed them with the Law.

That is why it was up to Christ to come and reveal the fullness of the truth of God’s Law before all of His people, to reveal fully why God gave the Law to His people, to the generations of people who have failed to understand the true purpose and intention why God gave the Law to His people. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at the time of Jesus accused Him of disobeying and trying to discredit the Law by His actions, and hounded and persecuted Him and His disciples endlessly because of this.

That is why the Lord made it clear to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as well as all those who have heard of His message, that He came into this world bearing the fullness of God’s truth and wisdom, and not to override what God has given to mankind. He was in fact going to purify the Law and the practices of the Law rather than to override or abandon it. For many ages and centuries, the Law had been corrupted in its understanding and purpose by human desires and corruption.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God Himself revealed to us that His Law is the Law of love, not of oppression and fear. His Law was intended to teach us the way of love, and the Lord did not just impose those ways on us. On the contrary, He Himself showed by example through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For Jesus Himself summarised the Law into two main categories, that is first of all, loving God with all of our hearts and with all of our strength, and then secondly, to love our fellow brothers and sisters with the same love.

The Lord Jesus loved His Father dearly, spending a lot of time to pray in secluded area to talk to Him in prayer. He obeyed the Father’s will to the very end, when He willingly accepted death, death on the cross for His love of His heavenly Father, as well as for all of us. He also loved each and every one of us because of His compassion for those among us who are the last, the lost and the least. He reached out to those who are sick in body and in spirit.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now we are all challenged to follow what the Lord Himself has done, in fulfilling the Law so perfectly and in the examples that He has shown us all. Are we able to commit ourselves from now on to live faithfully according to the Law of God? And this means for us to abandon pride and ego, human greed and desire in all of our actions. But this is not something that can easily be done.

Temptations and challenges will be in our midst at all times, and unless we restrain ourselves and try our best to do what pleases the Lord, by loving Him and our fellow brethren, we will fall again and again into sin. But, remember, brothers and sisters, that the Lord is ever patient, ever forgiving and ever loving. God will guide us and lead us to the right path if only we allow Him to do so. Too often we are too distracted and busy to seek Him or to understand just how much He loves each and every one of us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make a new commitment to the Lord from now on, beginning this Lent, that we will be ever more generous in love, first of all for God, spending our time and prioritising Him above everything else, and then, loving our fellow men, reaching out to those who are around us. Let us all grow ever more in faith and love for God, and obey the Lord in His laws and commandments, in its true purpose and intention, for us to love God and to be closer to Him always. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 March 2019 : 3rd Week of Lent (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 that remind us the importance of mercy and forgiveness in our lives. First of all, in the first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard of the prayer of Azariah, who was one of the three friends and compatriots of Daniel. And then in the Gospel passage, we heard of the Lord Jesus telling the people of the parable of the unforgiving servant.

These two readings are related, in how God wanted us to see how He has shown us His rich mercy and forgiveness, all these while, despite of all of our refusal to obey Him, our stubbornness and obstinate attitude, in continuing to live our lives in defiance of His will, and in continuing to do what is wicked and evil in our daily lives, in our every actions, words and deeds. This is why God is so gracious and generous in extending His merciful love to us, that despite all of these, He is still so forgiving and loving.

In the first reading today, as mentioned, Azariah prayed to God together with his other two friends, who were together condemned with him to perish in the great furnace that king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had commissioned to burn to death all those who refused to worship the great golden statue that the king had commissioned in his own image. While everyone else submitted to the king’s will and worshipped the golden statue, Azariah and his two friends refused to betray their faith in God by worshipping the golden idol.

King Nebuchadnezzar became angry and threw them into the fire after hearing their confession of faith, but Azariah and his friends remained firm in their faith in God. Not even the threat of pain, suffering or death could cause them to abandon or betray their Lord and Master, He Who is far above all worldly kings and their false aspirations of majesty and glory. Thus they prayed to the Lord as we heard in our first reading passage today, asking for His intervention, providence and mercy.

They humbled themselves before God, presenting themselves as the remnants as they were, of a nation and country humbled and scattered because of the sins and wickedness they have committed, in the days of their ancestors and predecessors. They showed the contrition of their people, and asking God to have mercy on them, for otherwise they would have been wiped out, all those who still remained faithful to God.

And God saved them from the fire, as the fire did not harm them at all. The king of Babylon was amazed at what he has witnessed, and was so impressed that he immediately tore down the golden statue of his own image that he has built in shame. This is just one of the many proofs of God’s wonderful love and rich mercy for His people, that He will not abandon them to destruction even when they have sinned against Him.

What we all often overlook is the fact that God does not despise us sinners. He loves each and every one of us because after all, He created us because of the love He has for each one of us. If not for His love, He would not have created us in the first place, or that He would have immediately struck us down and destroyed us the moment we disobeyed or sinned against Him. He did not do that, and in fact, He gave us opportunities, again and again, to be reconciled to Him and to be forgiven our sins.

That is what we have also heard in our Gospel passage today, as the Lord Jesus used a parable to bring forth this important point on forgiveness and mercy, in telling the story of a servant who was forgiven by his master for a large amount of debt he owed the master, and yet, refused to forgive a fellow servant who just owed him a much smaller amount of debt. At that time, ten thousand pieces of gold meant a lot of money, and was far more valuable than the hundred pieces of silver that the other servant owed the unforgiving servant.

The master became very angry at the unforgiving servant, and threw him into jail and revoked the pardon he had given to the servant earlier for his large amount of debt, simply because, he had not done as what the master had done for him. The unforgiving servant refused to forgive a small amount of debt owed to him when the master had forgiven him a far larger amount of debt earlier on.

This is an important reminder to each and every one of us especially in this penitential season of Lent, when we are called to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy, reconciliation by the forgiveness of our sins and true repentance. The master in Jesus’ parable represents the Lord, Our God Himself, while the servants represent each and every one of us. And the debts owed by the servants represent our sins. Sins came about because of the disobedience and evil acts we have done, or good things we have not done, both towards God and towards our fellow men.

And as mentioned earlier, God was so loving and merciful towards us, that even though we have disobeyed Him and refused to listen to Him, and despite of our great and unimaginable amount of sins, He ultimately still loves each and every one of us, for He despised our sins, and not us the sinners. This was why in the parable, the master, representing God, has pity and showed mercy even to the servant who had a lot of debt to him. This shows us all that God will forgive us all, whether our sins be great or small.

No one is out of the range and reach of God’s ever available mercy, as long as we are sincere in our repentance and desire to turn away from those sins. But this is where today, through what we have heard in the parable, we are all reminded of the need for us to forgive just as we have been forgiven. It is often difficult for us to forgive, as hatred, jealousy and anger often find their way into our weak and vulnerable minds and hearts.

But unless we forgive the sins of those who have caused us hurt and to suffer, we cannot be truly forgiven, as the parable of the Lord showed us. The unforgiving servant was ultimately not forgiven from his debts, because he refused to forgive another servant who owed him much less than what he himself owed his master. We must remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that no matter how painful is the suffering and pains that others have done to us, all these are truly nothing compared to the pain and suffering we have caused the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect then on the Passion and suffering of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. He willingly bore the unimaginably heavy burden of our sins, the combined weight of sin of all mankind, with Him as He bore the cross down the path of suffering to Calvary. In all of this, He bore it willingly and out of love for each one of us. As He look down upon us from the cross, He has only mercy in His loving Heart, intended for us, His wayward children.

If God is willing and able of endure such pains and sufferings to remove from us our sins, then why is it that we cannot let go of even small slights and insults, pains and sufferings that our fellow brethren had done to us? Every single wounds on the body of Christ, after all, are every single sins we have committed, whether it be small or significant sin. Sin is still sin, and God is willing and capable of forgiving us from our every sins. Now, are we able to forgive those who have sinned against us?

Let us make this our Lenten commitment, and in fact not just during Lent, but from this moment onwards, to forgive one another our sins and mistakes, our deeds and words that have brought about hurt and injury on those whom we have encountered in our lives. May the Lord forgive us all our sins, we unworthy sinners, just as we have forgiven our brothers and sisters, our sins and trespasses against each other. Amen.

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Monday, 25 March 2019 : Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate together the great Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, which is celebrated on every twenty-fifth day of the month of March each year unless it falls within the time of the Holy Week and Easter Octave or on Sundays. The Annunciation of the Lord therefore marks a period which is exactly nine months prior to the date of Christmas, that is the twenty-fifth day of the month of December.

And that is because the Annunciation of the Lord marks the time when the Lord finally proclaimed His Good News to His people at the time He has appointed, after long waiting and expectation by mankind throughout time. This was the moment marked by the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel before Mary, the virgin and young woman at Nazareth, in which the revelation of God’s Good News was made. When Mary accepted her role as revealed by God, the Lord was incarnate in the flesh of Man right at that moment.

The Archangel Gabriel came to Mary bearing a very important revelation, which all of mankind have awaited for a long time. That was the news of the coming of God’s salvation, which most unexpectedly came in the form of the virgin conception and birth of the Child that Mary bore within her. Yet, that was the exact fulfilment of what the prophet Isaiah had mentioned before king Ahaz of Judah, when Ahaz refused to ask God for a sign, showing his lack of faith.

In contrast with the lack of faith in king Ahaz, when Isaiah spoke to him of God’s favour, we saw the faith in Mary, who despite the uncertainty in her heart, accepted fully and faithfully God’s plans and intentions for her, to be the bearer and mother of the Messiah or Saviour of the whole world. When she asked the Archangel, “How can it be, since I am a virgin?”, Mary was not expressing her disbelief or lack of faith, instead, it was natural that anyone who heard those proclamations by the Archangel would be surprised.

After all, it seemed to be against all natural laws, for a virgin to bear a child, as since the beginning of time, children came about when a man and a woman become joined together, and bearing together the fruits of their love for each other. But Mary, as a virgin and yet to be married to her fiancee, St. Joseph, could not have been with a child yet. Nonetheless, what is impossible or seemingly impossible for us, is completely possible for God.

And Mary chose to trust in God and in the plans He had for her and for the salvation of the whole world. Even more importantly, Mary committed herself not just to a part of God’s plan for humanity, but for the entirety of the journey and the plan that God had made evident through Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary. Mary chose to devote herself to her Son, dedicating her whole life to take care of and raise the One Who had been entrusted to her as Son, and later on, to follow Him throughout His life and ministry, right to the very foot of the cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why, Mary is so honoured in the Church and our faith, not because she was different in essence from any one of us. We do not worship her as God is worshipped, but we honour her and glorify her as all saints are honoured, and her honour surpasses that of all the other saints. For her faith, dedication and total commitment to what the Lord has entrusted to her, she has indeed become the Co-Redemptrix of our salvation, as without her faith and commitment, our salvation through Christ would not have been possible.

That is why, Mary is not just a role model to all of us Christians, but she is also the shining example for all of us, in all of her actions, in how humble she was in accepting the role that she was to play as the mother of Our God and Saviour. She remained simple and humble throughout life, and continued to dedicate herself to God and to her Son, Jesus, in doing what she could to support His ministry, as a faithful servant and mother attending to Him.

In this season of Lent, there is a reason why the occurrence of the Solemnity of the Annunciation often happens within the boundaries of this blessed season. That is because all of us have also received God’s Good News, that He has proclaimed to us through His Church, just as Mary received the Good News of salvation through the Archangel Gabriel, as well as how king Ahaz accepted his through the prophet Isaiah.

Now, we all have a choice, brothers and sisters in Christ. Do we want to follow the example of king Ahaz, in his refusal to accept the Good News and in his lack of faith, or do we want to follow the example of Mary, Mother of God and humble servant of His? I think the choice here is very clear. While Ahaz is often condemned and grouped together with those wicked kings of Israel and Judah that led the people of God to sin, but Mary, though once a poor and unknown young woman from the small village of Nazareth, now, she is remembered all over the world as the very Mother of Our Lord and Saviour.

Yet, we must also remember that Mary committed herself thoroughly to God’s call, and dedicated herself in her faithful service. In the same way, all of us are also called to devote ourselves to God, in changing our way of life and turning completely to God. And this season of Lent, with its penitential nature, is the perfect time for us to begin this transformation and conversion, that we may become new beings, filled no longer with doubt, pride, ego, hatred, jealousy and wickedness, but instead with God’s love, full of faith and love in us.

May the Lord continue to guide us through this blessed season of Lent, that each and every one of us may imitate the faith and commitment that His own Mother, Mary, has shown us all, in her humble acceptance of the role that He has granted to her, as well as in her commitment and faith to serve the Lord wholeheartedly, throughout her whole life. May God empower us all, to be ever faithful, that we may grow closer to Him, and be worthy to receive eternal glory at the end of our earthly journey.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, full of grace and blessed among women, pray for us all sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 March 2019 : Third Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the third in the season of Lent, we heard of God’s call to His people, that each and every one of us ought to heed, as we continue to live our lives in this world. He is calling on each and every one of us to reform our way of life and to turn away from sin, that each and every one of us may be saved from our current wretched state, and be worthy of God’s grace and love.

In the first reading today, we heard of the calling of Moses, when God appeared before him at Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, as he was shepherding his flock. The Lord appeared to him as a burning bush that miraculously was not burnt by the fire. Moses approached the burning bush and God called him from within the fire, revealing to him Who He was, and what His will was for Moses, the calling He made to him to be the leader of His people, Israel.

In order to understand this better, we need to understand the context and the historical condition of the time, that is, at the time, the Israelites have been living in Egypt for a few centuries after their forefathers came there to escape the great famine of the time of Joseph, son of Jacob. The Israelites flourished in Egypt, and their numbers grew rapidly, but this created fear among the Egyptians and their Pharaohs, who then enslaved the Israelites and tried to destroy them as a race.

Moses was one of the male children of the Israelites who were supposed to be killed in accordance to the law meted by the Egyptians in trying to destroy the people of Israel. But Moses was saved when his mother put him in the basket in the water, and the daughter of the Pharaoh saved him from the waters, adopting him to become her own son. Later on, as Moses grew up, he saw the injustice and the oppression that his own people had to experience, and in one occasion, murdered one of the guards who were torturing one of the Israelite slave.

As a result, Moses had to flee from Egypt to the wilderness of Sinai, as the Pharaoh and his guards wanted him for his murder of the Egyptian. There in the desert, Moses found a new life as a shepherd and married into a Midianite family. It might have seemed that Moses would remain there till the end of his life, while the Egyptians would continue to enslave and oppress the Israelites, God’s own chosen people.

But God had an entirely different plan, as what we have heard today from our first reading passage. God called Moses to become His instrument to bring His people out of their slavery in the land of Egypt, and lead them towards the Promised Land which God has promised to Abraham, to Jacob and his descendants. This is God’s plan, and He revealed it all before Moses at the burning bush, calling on him to be His servant.

Initially, Moses had his reservations, as he was not sure how the Israelites would welcome him or know his purpose in Egypt, the land he had fled from many years ago in fear of his own death. But God reassured him and told him that He would be with him, and He revealed His Name before Moses, to be told to the Israelites as the sign that God has not forgotten His people after all the years of suffering that they had gone through, but would free them and lead them to their own land as He had promised.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings have deep meaning and revelation to each and every one of us as Christians, those whom God had called from among the world, to be His disciples and followers, servants and friends. God called on us to follow Him just as Moses had been called and led by God to be the leader of His people, Israel. Therefore, there are two main messages that we have to heed from these passages today.

First of all, we must endeavour to be free from the chains of slavery that we have suffered from all these while. We may be wondering these questions in our minds right now, ‘We are slaves? We do not know about that, I thought we have always been free?’ or that ‘How can we be slaves if we are not suffering in this world, but instead we live in abundance and plenty of happiness and joy in this world, being prosperous and good in all things?’

That is because many of us perhaps do not even realise that each and every one of us are enslaved, right now, because of our sins. Slavery of sin has enthralled us all, and the chains of sin have kept us from truly being free in the Lord. Every time we disobey God, we sin against Him, and this sin keeps us chained to even more sin, and the desires, greed, pride, ego, jealousy, hatred and all negative things inside us keep us bound to the bondage of sin.

And we cannot free ourselves from the bondage of sin, for no one can forgive and remove from us our sins, except that of God Himself. Fortunately, God is so loving and so forgiving towards us all, His beloved children, that just as He sent Moses to the Israelites as a deliverer and liberator, He has sent Jesus Christ, His own beloved Son, to be our Saviour and Liberator from sin. He extends to us His generous love and mercy through Christ, Our Saviour.

Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, the land of their slavery, and made a Covenant between them and God. Similarly, Christ Our Lord also led us all out of the land of our slavery, that is sin and darkness, and made a new and Eternal Covenant between us and God. And while Moses brought the Ten Commandments, God’s Law to the Israelites, Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Law and the fulfilment of the Law of God, that He revealed before us all.

Through Christ, we have been forgiven our sins, and He has lovingly sacrificed Himself, bearing for us the burdens and chains of our sins. But unfortunately, we are often still consciously wanting to bind ourselves back to those chains of sin, just as if we read the rest of the Book of Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, how the Israelites continuously grumbled and complained against God and Moses, rebelling against Him and thus sinned.

They argued that it was better for them to have remained in Egypt and therefore remained being slaves, rather than for them to die in the middle of the desert. This was despite the fact that God had cared for them so well, that even in the middle of the desert, God gave them food to eat, the bread of the manna from heaven, and clear and sweet water to drink, and they had all that they needed even in the middle of the barren desert.

That was why they had to journey for forty years in the desert, a long journey before they enter the Promised Land. In the same way, therefore, we live our lives today in parallel with what the Israelites experienced. The Israelites went through the baptism of water, as they passed through the Red Sea that God opened before them, destroying the armies and chariots of the Pharaoh in the sea behind them, as the symbolic sign of their liberation. In the same way, we have been freed from the chains and bonds of sin, through our own baptism.

But along the rest of the journey, in our lives today, we can still be tempted by sin. Our life today, from the moment of our baptism till the end of our earthly life, is like the journey of the Israelites, with all of the challenges and difficulties. The temptations of the devil is all over the place throughout our journey, as the devil, who was our slavemaster, wanted us to be enslaved once again to sin. Yet, God provides for us, just as He has provided for the Israelites.

We heard last Sunday, that our Promised Land is heaven itself, for according to St. Paul, our citizenship is in heaven. And that is the very Promised Land that we are heading towards. God is leading us towards there, but at the same time, if we look at the example of the Israelites again, there were many who did not make it towards the Promised Land because of their refusal to obey, their sins and defiance against God.

That is why, this journey towards God and His eternal glory, our final destination in heaven will not be an easy one. It will be filled with challenges and difficulties, but this is exactly what St. Paul in our second reading today, in his Epistle to the Corinthians reminded us, that God is with us along the way, and we should heed His words and obey His laws, and do not follow the path of the wicked, who will lead only into death and eternal suffering.

In the Gospel today, we are reminded to be fruitful and to bear good fruits, as the Lord in His parable reminded us that those trees that do not bear fruit ought to be cut down and be destroyed. God gives us another chance in this life, just as the gardener pleaded for the trees, to be given more time and fertiliser to grow, that they may grow in due time and produce fruits. Now, it is up to us, whether we want to be fruitful and bear good fruits of our lives, or whether we prefer to remain barren or produce bad fruits.

What are these good and desirable fruits, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is the fruits of love and faith. That is why, today, we are also secondly challenged by God, just as Moses is called by God, to be the leader of God’s people, that each and every one of us may lead one another, our fellow brothers and sisters, by bearing the true faith in ourselves. How can we expect others to believe in the Lord if we ourselves have not believed in Him? And how can others believe if we have not practiced our faith? Anyone who profess to believe in God and yet act in ways opposite to that faith are hypocrites.

That is why, today, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded to make good use of the wonderful opportunity that God has given to us all, by doing what the Church has prescribed for us in this season of Lent, that is to restrain our greed and desire, our pride and ego through abstinence and also fasting. Let us all turn away from our past sins, wickedness, selfish actions and any moments when we have caused hurt and suffering in one another.

And let us also be generous with love and with our giving, in sharing our blessings with those who have little or none to get by with. Let us all not be ignorant of their pleas for help, and be willing and be courageous, like Moses, in answering God’s call to free His people Israel. Moses could have refused the Lord and remained in a good life with his new family, but he chose to follow the Lord and embark on the arduous path, not just in liberating the Israelites, but in leading them for many decades to the Promised Land.

Just as Moses endured so many difficulties, even plenty of people who were not thankful and rude towards him, and how he had to suffer rejection many times, and threats to himself, we too will encounter all these challenges throughout our life and journey towards God. But we must keep heart and remain faithful, for remember, our end point and last destination is heaven, where we truly belong and God will reward all of us who have borne good fruits of faith and love for Him.

May the Lord continue to guide us through this season of Lent, that we may make good use of the opportunities given to us, that we may draw ever closer towards God, and be ever more righteous and upright in all of our actions and deeds. Let us all heed God’s call and commit ourselves to Him, as Moses had once done, and devote ourselves to Him from now on, with hearts and minds full of faith, love and dedication. Amen.