Lenten sermon

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Sunday, 14 April 2019 : Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after going through five weeks and more of the season of Lent, a time of preparation and rediscovery of our faith, we finally come to the beginning of the Holy Week, when we celebrate the most important moments and mysteries of our faith, commemorating that very moment when salvation came into our midst, through none other than Our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour of all.

Christ was the Saviour promised by God to all His people, the culmination of the grand plan He has revealed to man, ever since the beginning of time, when man first fell into sin and because of that, sundered from the fullness of God’s love and grace. And God fulfilled His promises perfectly and completely in Christ, the One He sent into this world, bringing the salvation and true hope into our midst, that we may all be saved.

And this Holy Week, we enter into the most crucial moment in all the history of the whole world and our whole existence, the moment when God completed His plan of salvation, by none other than the Passion, suffering and death of His own Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. And on this Palm Sunday, the day that marks the beginning of Holy Week, we enter and immerse ourselves into the very important events that mark that moment of our salvation through Christ.

On this day, we heard from the readings of the Scripture, two very opposing and contradictory accounts, of what happened on the actual day when the Lord Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem in glory, which we commemorate with the blessing of palms and procession on this day, with the account of the suffering and death, the crucifixion of the same Lord Jesus on the cross, which happened just merely a few days apart.

In the Gospel passage which related to us what happened when the Lord Jesus came to Jerusalem for the time of the Passover, we heard how the people gathered to welcome the Lord Jesus as if He was a glorious and conquering King, entering the city of His reign, with palms raised and garments spread along the way on which He would enter on a donkey, as prophesied by the prophets. This event reminded us all that indeed, Jesus Christ is our Lord and King, the One Who has been promised to us, as our one and true Master.

But His kingship is not like any other kingship. He Himself mentioned on a few occasions throughout the accounts of the Gospels on the events of the Holy Week. He mentioned before His disciples, when they wanted to defend Him as He was being betrayed by Judas Iscariot and was about to be arrested, that had His heavenly Father wished it, He could have sent legions of Angels to protect Him. And before Pilate, Jesus Himself said that His kingdom was not of this world.

And this is why, many of the people abandoned Him, betrayed Him and rejected Him. And do we all realise that it was the very same people who welcomed, praised, glorified and sung ‘Hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David!’ that just a few days later cried out before Pilate, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ and ‘We have no king but Caesar?’. This is because many among them did not have true faith in God, but were following their own selfish, wicked and sinful desires.

Some certainly followed the Lord to be famous, while others misunderstood and thought of Christ and His kingdom as one like of this world, and therefore, hoped to gain popularity, power, prestige, and all sorts of other worldly recognitions and pleasures, as what two of His own disciples showed us, when St. James and St. John, the sons of Zebedee came up to Him with their mother asking for special favours over that of the other disciples.

And the others had various other reasons, many of whom were motivated by the desire of self-advancement, self-praise, self-gratification and other forms of worldly desires, that indeed quickly turned from one of apparent faith and dedication, into one of betrayal, as Judas did, and into apathy and lack of conviction to defend their faith, as what many of the people did, easily following the popular sentiment, of what was first the popularity of Christ in acclaiming Him as King and then condemning Him when the tide of events turned against Him.

Even Christ’s own disciples fled in fear and abandoned Him. And in the accounts, we heard how this King of ours, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, turned from complete glory into utter humiliation, that He was not just stripped from His dignity as even a human person, but even treated in the worst manner possible, and made to suffer the worst of the worst of injustices and treated as the worst and lowliest of criminals for sins and mistakes He did not commit.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, before we continue further, we ought to spend some time now to reflect on our own lives, on our own actions, on our own faith in God, on our own way of following the Lord and how we have lived our faith life all these while, especially as Christians, as those who profess to have faith in God. And we ought to remember that we are truly perhaps, just as terrible as those same people whom we just talked about earlier, all those who betrayed, abandoned and left the Lord behind for our own selfish desires, gain and purposes.

Many of us seek the Lord only to feel good and high, and perhaps seeking that spiritual satisfaction and fulfilment, or any other means to satisfy ourselves and to make ourselves feel good. And we often only remember the Lord when we have a vested interest, a desire that we want Him to fulfil, in our wishes and prayers, that when all those things have been fulfilled, or in the case when they were not fulfilled, we left the Lord behind and abandoned Him.

Many of us live our Christian life in most un-Christian like manner. Many of us only thought of fulfilling the barest minimum of our obligations as Christians, in coming for and attending the celebrations of the Holy Mass every Sundays of the year, and not more than that. And in this case, many of us even struggled to fulfil this barest minimum of what the Lord has called us all to do. We only hoped and wished what was best for ourselves, and not wanting to make the sacrifices for the Lord.

And even though we call ourselves Christians, how many of us continue to do what is wicked, sinful and unbecoming of ourselves as Christians? How many of us continue to act in manner that is selfish, greedy, condescending towards others, and being ignorant of the sufferings and troubles that others experience, often because of our own actions? How many of us continue to succumb to the temptations of the flesh and acted immorally, causing scandal within our own families and communities?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the sad and unfortunate reality of our world, and especially our Christian world today. Many of us profess to be faithful to God, and yet, our hearts and minds are not completely attuned and focused on Him. We are still so easily swayed by the many temptations of the world, of desire for power, glory, fame, renown, human praise and the pleasures of the body and mind, that we can easily abandon our faith or not having true faith in God, as how the Israelites and the people at the time of Jesus had done.

Yet, it is to all of us, these delinquents, rebels, stubborn and hardhearted people that Christ has come, to deliver us all from all these attachments to sin and our wickedness. He, Who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, willingly emptied Himself of all glory and honour, taking up not just the humble appearance of a Man, like us, but even more so, to be humiliated, ridiculed, rejected and made to suffer, enduring the worst of punishments, so that by all of that sacrifice and selfless giving of Himself, He may free us all from our sins and bring us to the salvation He promised us.

Every wounds that had been inflicted on Christ’s body, as He endured all the unimaginably painful suffering throughout the moments of His Passion, are in fact all of our imperfections, mistakes, our sins and rebelliousness, all of our iniquities and faults, all of our refusal to obey the Lord’s will and our selfishness. Every time we sin, we are causing that wound in the Body of Christ to fester and be even more painful, even as He endured it all and bore the burden of our sins on His cross.

Christ, in truth, showed us all, what it truly means for us to be Christians. First of all, all of us must be filled with love, the love for God and the love for our fellow brothers and sisters. It was love for His Father and the love that He has for each and every one of us, even the greatest and most wicked of sinners, that allowed Christ to endure the bitter and terrible pain of His suffering and death on the cross. Without His enduring love and compassion for us, God would not have done everything all the way to suffer death just that all of us may live.

And as Christians, we must be humble, and the greater we are, the humbler we are to be before God and men alike. For Christ Himself said, that He came not to be served, but to serve, and He showed His disciples at the Last Supper, what they ought to be doing to one another, loving one another as brothers and sisters, and to care for each other with true and genuine love. The Lord did not allow pride and ego to be in the way, and just as He rejected Satan’s advances through the temptations he attempted on the Lord, we too should cast aside our own pride and ego.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we journey through the Holy Week, let us all delve deeper into our understanding of our faith and our own relationship with God. If all these while, we have been distant and have not been spending our time with God, because of the many distractions and temptations we faced in life, then now is the perfect opportunity for us all to reorientate ourselves and to rediscover our true purpose in life, not for our own self-glory, but rather, for the greater glory of God.

Let us all grow deeper in our faith and in our conviction and dedication to love the Lord and to serve Him through our actions and deeds in life, that are pleasing to Him. Let us all also follow the Lord wholeheartedly from now on, carrying our own crosses with Him. He has called us and we should respond to His call. Let us all turn to Him with all of our hearts and with all of our might, and embrace the great love He has for us, that He was willing to suffer and die, just that we may live and not perish.

May the Lord continue to bless us all and may He continue to guide us as we continue to progress through this holiest of all periods and times of this year. May He sow in us all the seeds of faith, hope and love, so that we may grow ever deeper in faith, ever more hopeful in our lives, and be ever more filled with love at all times of our lives. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 April 2019 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of Pope St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God speaking to us in our hearts through the Scripture passages we heard, in which first we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, the promises that God had made to His people and which He has revealed to them through His prophets. The Lord has revealed to us what lies ahead of us, should we keep our faith in Him.

He revealed to them the good things He has planned for all of them, with references to all the hardships, challenges and difficulties that they had to encounter due to their disobedience against Him. He said that they would no longer be divided into two kingdoms, a reference to the division of the kingdom of Israel to the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, due to the disobedience and sins of Solomon, the king of Israel and the people.

The Lord promised that He would restore the glory of Israel, and fulfil the promises He had made to them, in the new reign of the kingdom of David, of glory and joy without end, where God will free them from all of their guilts, their attachments and bondage to sin, and God Himself will rule over all of them for eternity, in the new and true kingdom of Israel, God’s holy kingdom that surpassed the old kingdom that had fallen by the time of the prophet Ezekiel.

And all of these were fulfilled in the person of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of God, Who came into the world just as God has promised through the prophets, the One Who is the Heir of David, the One Who will shepherd the people of Israel, all of mankind, as God’s own people, forever and ever. He is the one True King, Who has come into the world, revealing the fullness of God’s glorious and wonderful plan for each and every one of us.

Unfortunately as we all heard in our Gospel passage today, instead of being welcomed and accepted, He was instead rejected and cast out from the society by the ones who should have known of His coming and those to whom had been entrusted the leadership and shepherding of the people of God. The chief priests, the Sanhedrin and the elites of the people rejected Him and wanted to condemn Him to death, all to safeguard their own interests and desires.

That was what the Lord Himself experienced, rejected and unwanted, even by His own people, the very same people to whom He has been sent to bring them the fulfilment of God’s long awaited promises and goodness. The Lord even had to hide from them, as it was not yet His time to suffer and die then, although the time was already really at hand at the time. Yet, despite all of these, God still loves each and every one of us and is faithful to the Covenant that He had made with us.

As we are about to enter into the Holy Week period, let us all keep in mind and indeed, focus our attention on the love which God has for each and every one of us. And His love for us was so selfless and so great that, even though we mankind have repeatedly disobeyed Him, refused to believe in Him, and even persecuted so many of those whom He had sent into our midst, including His very own Son, Our Lord Jesus, yet, He is still ever loving and merciful towards us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we enter into this holiest moment in our entire year, let us all enter the Holy Week with an open mind and heart, willing to listen to the Lord and to welcome Him into our midst. God wants to love each and every one of us, and it is often that we have to be receptive to the love, mercy and compassion that He is showing to each and every one of us, or otherwise, we will end up like the Sanhedrin, the chief priests and the Pharisees who refused to believe in God because of their pride.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called to reexamine our lives and to turn our way of life from one that was filled with wickedness and disobedience, pride and human greed, into one that is aligned with the will of God. We are called to turn ourselves to the Lord with all of our hearts and with all of our might. And in order to be able to do that, we have to learn to be humble and to open our hearts and minds to welcome the Lord into our hearts and allow Him to change our lives and our attitudes.

There will indeed be challenges and difficulties awaiting us, should we choose to devote ourselves to the way of the Lord. His prophets and servants had suffered, and today, we celebrate the feast of one of those faithful servants, namely Pope St. Martin I, a holy Pope and martyr of the Church. Pope St. Martin I stood fast in his faith and dedication to the true faith, even in the midst of persecution and opposition from the Roman Emperor, who although was a Christian, but believed in the heretical teachings of monothelitism.

The Pope was arrested and made to suffer by the Emperor and his agents, and was put into exile in faraway lands, where he eventually died, a part of his suffering and martyrdom, just because he remained firm in his conviction and dedication to the Lord, to the very end. Pope St. Martin I placed God above everything else, even his own personal desires and wishes, that instead of saving himself and protecting his own self, he let himself to suffer and be martyred rather than to betray the Lord and the truth that He has brought into this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all imitate the good examples of Pope St. Martin I, as well as the many other saints of the Church. Let us all walk in their footsteps, doing what is right and worthy of the Lord, in all of our words, in all of our actions and in all that we do in our daily lives from now on. May God bless us all and may He continue to guide us through life, that as we enter into the Holy Week, we may continue to grow in faith in Him. Amen.

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Friday, 12 April 2019 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rapidly approach the beginning of the Holy Week of Our Lord’s Passion, commemorating the suffering, death and eventually resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the nature of the Scripture readings chosen for the occasion increasingly reflect the deeper understanding and ties to the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion, and how He fulfilled the mission that He has been sent into this world for, through the laying down of His life on the cross.

In the first reading today, we heard the story from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, where the persecution and plotting against the prophet by his enemies and all who opposed him were laid bare before us. They all opposed him and the forces that were combined against him were immense. He was treated as a doomsayer, a traitor and someone who ought to be killed for having spoken the truth of God before them, that is for exposing and pointing out their wickedness.

The prophet Jeremiah however trusted in God and placed himself completely in His mercy and loving care, knowing that despite all the opposition He had to endure and the challenges and difficulties He had to face, the Lord was always faithful, and would always be, and to trust in Him would lead to a true joy in the end, joy that surpasses all sufferings, pains and challenges that one had to encounter and endure.

In the same way therefore, in the Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus was also treated in a similar manner by those who opposed Him, those who contended that He was spreading lies and blasphemies, and refused to believe in all that He had told them to do. The Lord Jesus experienced the same rejection, ridicule and persecution as Jeremiah had once experienced, but He also trusted completely in the plan that His heavenly Father had placed on Him.

It was indeed tough, difficult and painful, and that was why, Jesus before He faced His Passion and suffering on the cross, agonised so much in His humanity over all that He had to endure, the pain and the whole weight and burden of the cross, that is not just the physical weight of the wooden cross, but even more so, the entirety of the unimaginably heavy burden of mankind’s sins. And yet, He obeyed the Father’s will perfectly, and by that obedience, brought unto us the promised eternal salvation and life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, during this time and season of Lent, we have been urged to remember our own sinfulness, our own unworthiness before God because of our sins, and how we have been called to renew our faith and our lives through dedication and commitment of our lives from now on, so that while once we may have done what was wicked and evil in the sight of God, but now we become a new people with a new heart, mind and purpose.

Yes, indeed, the path forward if we choose to walk down this path will be difficult and arduous, as the prophet Jeremiah’s life and our Lord Jesus Himself have evidently shown us. But this is where we need to learn to overcome our attachments to the world and all the temptations that often surround us and overwhelm us with desire, ego, pride and all sorts of things that led us into disobedience and sin against God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach and enter into this holiest week and period of time in our liturgical year, let us all prepare ourselves in body, heart, mind and soul, in our entire and whole being, to be able to celebrate the sacred mysteries of the Passion, suffering, death and resurrection of Our Lord meaningfully and faithfully, that by deepening our understanding of our faith and by committing ourselves further to God, we may be ever more worthy to receive the eternal glory that He has promised to all of us mankind.

May the Lord be our guide, and may He help us in our journey of faith, that each and every one of us may draw ever closer to Him and be worthy to receive the everlasting inheritance He has promised to all those who are faithful in Him. May He bless us always in our daily lives and in all of our actions and works in life. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 April 2019 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Stanislas, Bishop and Martyr (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 reminding us of the Covenant which God has established with each and every one of us, the children of Abraham by faith. Abraham was prominently mentioned in the first reading today taken from the Book of Genesis, in which the Covenant of God with him was mentioned, all the promises that God had made before him, how He would make him the father of many nations, and how his descendants would be innumerable and became great nations.

And Abraham were favoured by God with such a great promise because of his faith in God, his steadfastness and willingness to obey and to follow the will of God. That was why out of many other men and women of his time, God chose Abraham to be the instrument of His will and the partaker of His Covenant. To him was granted a son, even at his old age, and when his wife could not possibly have borne him any more children, as the proof and concrete sign of God’s faithfulness.

It was ironic therefore, that in the Gospel passage today, when the Lord came to fulfil the fullness of His promises to the descendants of Abraham, many among those same descendants refused to believe in Him, and in the good works and the truth that He was proclaiming and performing in their midst. Instead, they accused Him of collaborating with evil spirits and committing blasphemy before God, in their own opinion.

The people claimed that the Lord could not have been true in what He spoke, because they were unable to see the wisdom of God being revealed in the person of Jesus. They were amazed and in fact enraged when they heard Jesus saying that He was there even before Abraham was, and they thought of Him as merely a Man and nothing else. Some among them even thought of the Lord Jesus as a heretic, a dangerous influence that must be removed.

In this occasion therefore, we saw two very different attitudes and expressions between the attitude of Abraham, who was faithful and committed to God, and the attitude of the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham who lacked faith in God and who refused to believe in the One Whom He had sent into the world, into their midst. We saw how mankind had succumbed so deeply into sin, that those sins hardened their hearts and minds, and prevented them from coming closer to God and His truth.

In this case, we saw the contrast between the humility of Abraham in accepting God’s plans for him, and the pride of his descendants who refused to acknowledge the truth of God being revealed before their very eyes. And that pride brought danger to them, for it made them stubborn and even ardently opposing the Lord’s efforts and wanting to kill Him for His supposed ‘blasphemy’ in their opinion.

And therefore, through the passages of the Scriptures we have received and heard today, we are reminded that we have been presented with many choices of actions in our daily lives. We can choose to obey the Lord and to follow His commandments and laws just as Abraham, our father in faith has done, or we can instead indulge in our own worldly desires and in our own ego and pride, as the Israelites did, many times throughout history, including at the time of Jesus, in how they disobeyed God and opposed His good works.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be aware that if we choose to follow in the path of Christ, as we should, we will likely encounter the same opposition and challenges as the Lord Himself has faced. It is indeed much easier for us to be wicked than to be righteous, to be prideful rather than to be humble, to be filled with anger, hatred, lust and jealousy rather than to be filled with love, compassion and mercy.

Today, therefore, we ought to listen to the story of the life of St. Stanislas, a holy bishop and servant of God, and also a martyr of the Church and the faith. St. Stanislas was a Polish bishop who stood up courageously against the ruler of Poland at the time, king Boleslaw the Brave. The king and his nobles were not living righteously and were enacting laws and regulations that were corrupt. St. Stanislaw himself chastised the king for his sexual immorality and lack of proper conduct as a ruler.

The king was so angered by the bishop’s opposition to his rule and his policies, that he tried to have him killed, only for St. Stanislas to be even firmer in his opposition to the king’s waywardness. Eventually, the holy and devout servant of God was martyred at the hand of the king himself, when the men the king sent to slaughter him refused to lay their hands on the holy bishop. And thus, a faithful servant of God fell for defending his faith, and yet, be assured that his reward in heaven and everlasting life is unimaginably great.

Thus, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us ought to be inspired by the faith of both Abraham, our father in faith and that of St. Stanislas, holy servant of God and faithful defender of the faith. Let us all purge from ourselves all taints of sin, of ego and pride, of anger and jealousy, of hatred, greed and worldly desires. Let us all instead fill ourselves with humility, with love and compassion in our hearts, and with the burning desire to love God and put Him at the centre of our lives from now on. May the Lord always be our guide, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 10 April 2019 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings we heard about the story of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and the three friends of the prophet Daniel, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. In that story, we heard how the king of Babylon built a great golden statue of his own image, and commanded all of his people and all those under his dominion to worship the great golden statue as himself.

But the three men, the friends of Daniel refused to abandon their worship and faith in God, the Lord and one true God of all. While literally everyone else submitted to the king’s commands, even begrudgingly, at the pain of suffering and death, but three men refused to bow down and remained firm in their conviction to be faithful to God and not worshipping any other gods or idols. They made the king very angry and he ordered them to be thrown into the blazing furnace.

The three men believed wholeheartedly in God, and they trusted in Him, that He would not abandon His faithful ones to destruction. And even if the king did destroy their body and existence, but God would not allow their eternal soul to be destroyed, for God alone has authority over our eternal souls. That is why, even though the three of them, who were counted among exiles and slaves of the king, for they were conquered and defeated by the Babylonians, and slavery was a common fate at the time, but in truth they were truly free.

This ought to be contrasted with what we heard in our Gospel passage today, as the Lord Jesus confronted many of the people who doubted Him and refused to believe in the truth and in the good works that He has performed in their midst. They contended that they were the sons and daughters of Abraham, as those who have been born of the race of Israel, born into the community of the Israelites, descendants of Israel of old, and because of that, they were free.

This must be understood in the context of what the Lord said. The Lord said that because of sin, man has been enslaved and lived in bondage to sin, but the Israelites misunderstood and thought that He was referring to an actual, physical state of slavery as was understood at the time, or to the slavery of their ancestors in the land of Egypt. As compared to that time, the Israelites were relatively free, as even though they came under the domination of the Roman Empire, but they had ample autonomy and freedom.

But the Lord rebuked them for their misunderstanding and lack of faith in God. They did not realise that their stubbornness in their opposition to the good works of God done through Christ, and their constant prideful attitudes were only hurting themselves, and keeping themselves enslaved to the power of sin. Instead, the Lord was showing them the true path, the same one that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had taken, that is the path of faith.

The people who opposed Jesus indeed did not worship idols and statues like that of the people of Daniel’s time. However, they did not realise that they have made idols out of various other things in their lives, such as money, power, possessions, societal influence and fame, glory and human praise, and many others, that the Lord often criticised the people for. They might indeed appear outwardly pious, and yet, in their hearts, there was no love for God.

And it was those attachments to sin that prevented them from becoming truly free, the path that the Lord Jesus was showing to all of them. And the devil is indeed busy at work, trying to prevent us all from attaining this true freedom in Christ. For if everyone become free, then he, our slavemaster, will no longer have any slaves to dominate over. And that is why Satan makes the path of false freedom, that is the path of sin, much more appealing and attractive, as compared to the path of faith.

That was the same choice that the three friends of Daniel faced. They had to face a very difficult choice, of choosing between the obviously much easier path of accepting the king’s commands and bending the knee to worship the abomination, and receive from the king much favours, graces and good things, even pleasures and joys in life, or to choose the much more difficult and painful path of remaining true to their faith in God, and perish.

But they showed their courage and mettle, and they remained firm in their faith and in their choice, and this is what each and every one of us Christians are called to do in our lives as well. We are faced with choices all the time throughout our lives, to choose between following and doing what is convenient and good for us, and yet, disobeying God’s commandments and causing us to sin, or to choose to remain faithful, even despite challenges, disapproval from others and even those who are close to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we approach the coming of the Holy Week, let us remember that we should unite ourselves with Christ and with all of our holy predecessors, including Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in our obedience to God’s will and in our willingness and conviction to live our lives in accordance with His ways from now on. Let us all turn to God and focus ourselves entirely towards Him, and let us all be faithful from now on, in all of our words, actions and deeds.

May the Lord give us the strength and courage to continue to persevere down this path of faith, and journey together with Him, as we carry up our crosses in life, together with Christ, Who chose the difficult path of suffering, and die for us on the cross, that by His death, and by us sharing in His death, He may restore to us all the gift of eternal life and glory. Amen.

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Tuesday, 9 April 2019 : 5th 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 reminding us of the role that Christ Our Lord has in the salvation of the whole world, especially because we are approaching the time of the Holy Week, when we will commemorate the most important event not just in our entire liturgical year, but also in the whole of our human history and existence.

And we begin today’s passages with the reading from the Book of Numbers where we heard the moment when God struck against the Israelites during the time of their Exodus from Egypt and travel to the Promised Land. This was because of the people’s stubbornness and lack of faith in Him, as they grumbled and complained again and again, saying that they were suffering in the desert, when the fact was such that the Lord provided them with ample food to eat and water to drink, and guided them throughout the way.

As a result, fiery serpents came into their midst and bit the people, and many who were bitten by the serpents died. And only after this that the people regretted having disobeyed God and begged Moses to intercede for them before God, that God would not destroy His people because of the sins they have committed. When Moses asked God for help, he was told to make the image of a serpent from bronze and put it up on a staff, that it might be lifted up high and made visible to the whole people.

This is what the Lord Jesus alluded to as He spoke to the people as recorded in our Gospel passage today. He mentioned how He was about to go to a place that they could not follow, as a reference and prophecy of His own upcoming and indeed, then imminent suffering and death on the cross. As He approached the moment of reckoning the Lord often spoke of His own suffering and death to the people and to His disciples, many of whom could not quite understand why He said all those ominous words.

He mentioned clearly before the people how the Son of Man will be lifted up high for all to see, and He revealed that the Father’s will shall be fulfilled in due time, when the plan of salvation that He had put in place, is completely fulfilled by the obedience of the Son, that is Jesus Christ Himself. And this salvation is much like what was already earlier alluded and experienced by the Israelites themselves, when Moses made the bronze serpent in the desert.

The bronze serpent is a representation of Christ Himself, the Son of Man Who was to be lifted up high on the cross, just as the bronze serpent is put on a tall staff that everyone might be able to see it. And just as the bronze serpent became a symbol of hope and salvation for the sinful and disobedient people of Israel, thus Christ Our Lord has become the symbol of hope and salvation for each and every one of us, the children of men.

The serpents that bit the Israelites are the sins that we have committed in our lives, and as St. Paul mentioned, the sting of sin is death. Thus, just as the Israelites perish due to the sins of their disobedience and refusal to believe in God, thus all of us should have perished because of our sins and disobedience. But through Christ, all of us have received a new hope in the salvation that He is offering to all of us freely and generously, the forgiveness of our sins and the liberation from our bondage to those sins.

And just as the bronze serpent was lifted up, in fact, what we see is Christ being lifted up, gathering all of our sins, the ‘serpents’ of our life, and gathering them all upon Himself, that He, the Sinless One, would suffer the suffering of the combined weight and burden of all of our sins. By His suffering and wounds therefore, we have been brought a new hope and salvation, because of the great and boundless love He has for us all.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to draw closer to the beginning of the Holy Week, let us all focus our attention on Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has willingly taken up our sins and suffer for us. As we look upon the Christ crucified, let us all look upon Him and realise the great love that He has for us, and the mercy He has shown us, in the desire He has to forgive us from our sins and reconcile us to Himself.

Have we had in us the desire to repent from our sins? God has shown us such great love and mercy, that we ought to be ashamed at the continued presence of sin in our own lives. Let us all turn ourselves completely to the Lord and grow ever stronger in our faith and dedication towards Him, at all times. May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower us all to live courageously with faith, each and every days of our life from now on. Amen.

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Monday, 8 April 2019 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into the fifth week in the season of Lent, we are all reminded that sin is truly something that is very dangerous and sinister, and we are certainly familiar with the many forms of sin, born out of refusal to obey God and the failure to follow God’s will. And there are the seven deadly sins, referring to the seven forms of sin we frequently encounter in life, from pride, to sloth and greed, to wrath and envy, and to lust and gluttony.

In today’s readings from the Scripture we are presented with two stories, one from the Book of the prophet Daniel and one from the Gospel written by St. John. In both stories, there are many parallels, in both of which a woman was accused of improper conduct under two different circumstances. In the Book of the prophet Daniel, we listened to the story of Susanna, an innocent and pious woman who was accused by two elders who tried to hide their own wicked sins, while in the Gospel passage, we heard of a woman who committed adultery and was condemned to death by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

In the case presented in the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard how two respected elders of the people fell into sin, because of the lust that affected their judgment of action, which made them to sin in their hearts and minds. That such respected and senior member of the community could have fallen into such wickedness is a reminder for us all that we should not take our chances with sin and the temptations to sin.

The lust and also greed in wanting to have the beautiful Susanna made them to desire and to be selfish, and in the end, as Susanna refused to be party to their immoral action, they were overcome by their sins, and instead of repenting and turning away from their sinfulness, they doubled down instead on sin, and ended up making false witnesses and accusations before the people against an innocent person.

That is just how dangerous sin is, and how we should not allow it to have power and control over us. The two elders were swayed by the temptation of worldly concerns, for the security of their positions, for their own selfish gains and advantage, even if that means causing hurt and sufferings for others, as what they almost managed to do with Susanna, causing the loss of life of an innocent, had God not intervened through Daniel.

Then in the Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord was confronted with the difficult situation when His opponents brought to Him a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, and asked Him what should be done towards her. The Lord knew that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were like those who accused Susanna in the past, as those people resented the authority and popularity that He enjoyed among the people, and their pride, greed and desires overcame them with jealousy and anger.

That was why they hoped to trap the Lord with a seemingly impossible situation, that if the Lord either sided with the adulterous woman or if He punished her, either way it would cause Him to lose credibility and following among the people, and they could even use the occasion as evidence to arrest Him and to condemn Him. Again therefore, we see how sin is so dangerous, that it can cause us to do things that are even contrary to God’s good works and will.

But we also see how the Lord acted in that instance, in calling the ones who had no sin to cast the first stone at the adulterous woman. Instantly, the crowd began to leave one by one, beginning with the oldest, for those who lived the longest were likely to have more sins with them, and ending with the youngest among them. None of them threw a single stone at her, because ultimately, all of them were sinners, just like the adulterous woman.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, there are three important things that the Lord wants us all to realise through today’s Scripture passages. First of all, it is the fact that each and every one of us are sinners, and it does not matter how many sins we have committed, but sin has us in its snare, and it is a great threat towards us. And then, secondly, as mentioned, sin is something that is very dangerous, as if we allow ourselves to be tempted and sin, we will likely fall deeper and deeper into sin.

And last of all, we are reminded that it does not matter how powerful sin and its temptations may be, but God’s mercy and forgiveness are even more powerful. Even God forgave a woman who committed adultery, but that forgiveness came with a stern provision, that she should repent and sin no more. This is a call for each and every one of us to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness for our own sins, and for us to commit ourselves to repentance and sin no more as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to progress through the season of Lent, let us all make the commitment from now on, to live our lives with a renewed purpose, and turn ourselves away from all the sins we have committed thus far, with a firm desire to sin no more, and not indulge even a moment further on those sins. Remember how dangerous sins have been to those whom we have just discussed earlier. Do we want the same fate to happen to us, to perish as the two elders and to sin like the enemies of the Lord?

Instead, we should follow the examples of the Lord, Who forgave even His enemies, and loving everyone, regardless of their status or past experiences or any societal prejudices. Let us all be more loving and forgiving in our own lives, and let us from now on, be true disciples of the Lord in everything we do in life. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 7 April 2019 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this fifth Sunday of the season of Lent, we are just one week away from the beginning of the Holy Week on Palm Sunday, the beginning of the most important week and time in our entire liturgical year. And traditionally this Sunday, the Fifth Sunday of Lent is also known as the Passion Sunday, marking the beginning of the two weeks Passiontide period spanning the period from today to the Resurrection of Christ at Easter.

At this occasion therefore, the Lord wants each and every one of us to delve deeper into the mystery of His Passion, suffering and death on the cross, as we approach the time when we will commemorate the most important events in our history, the time when God Himself willingly gave His all and fulfilled the promises that He had made with our ancestors, the promise of salvation and liberation from sin, and the promise of freedom from the tyranny of Satan and sin, and to make with us a new and everlasting Covenant.

That is why today’s Scripture readings focus on the love and mercy of God being shown and made evident before us, from the promises that God made to His people through the prophet Isaiah in our first reading today, where He reminded them of the many wonderful things that He had performed and done before them, since the time of their ancestors, and how He has loved and blessed them ever since. God wanted to show His people that His love and mercy is ever trustworthy and ever good.

And then, the Lord showed it firsthand through what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, when the Lord Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who wanted to corner and trap Him in an impossible situation, by bringing into His presence a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, and asking Him what should be done upon that woman. Their plotting and opposition were truly sinister and wicked, and we will go through the reason why.

First of all, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were hoping that Jesus would side with the woman who had been caught in adultery, based on how He has often spent His time in the company of sinners, people like tax collectors and prostitutes, with people who were sick with various diseases, those who were considered unclean in body and in spirit, all those who have been spurned and rejected by the society and looked down upon as sinners.

And if the Lord sided with the woman, by forgiving her outright and ignoring whatever the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had accused her for, then they could quickly seize on the opportunity and discredit the Lord Jesus, labelling Him as a friend of sinners and as a blasphemer, for allowing sin to continue to exist. This would have immediately brought a great problem for the Lord, Who would then lose His credibility, following and even trust by the people. And He could even be condemned by the authorities for such an action.

But then, if the Lord so chose that He would punish the woman in accordance with the Jewish customs and laws, then the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would also seize upon the opportunity to enhance their own position and prestige, by pointing out that in the end, the Lord Jesus was no different from them, and probably was a usurper and a fake who is trying to seize the teaching authority from the Sanhedrin or the Jewish elite, and He would have also ended in trouble for this choice of action.

Clearly the Lord Jesus was trapped and cornered by the action of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and all those who have opposed Him. But the Lord then made a move that His enemies did not anticipate at all. He asked that the one who was without sin cast the first stone at the woman, for the punishment for adultery according to the Jewish laws and customs was stoning to death. And the people gradually left the place, beginning from the oldest to the youngest.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we have just heard and witnessed from the story in our Gospel passage today is the sad reality of our human life and our actions towards one another. We like to point out the shortcomings and faults in others, and we want to see others fail and we find joy in causing hurt and suffering in others, just because we hate or dislike the other person, or think that we are better than them.

That was how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were capable of doing such a heinous and wicked act, in trying to frame and discredit the Lord Jesus, by trapping Him in what was to be an impossible situation. But the Lord knew all that were going on in their minds, all their plots and thoughts, and surely, He must have been very sad to see many of His people behaving in such a way, condemning sinners and being selfish in their attitudes towards others.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we see today, the great mercy of God as we saw how Jesus was merciful towards the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. When all the people who wanted to condemn her had left, and no one threw the stone at her, the Lord told her to go and change her life, no longer sin but obeying God’s will from then on. And just as none of the people condemned her in the end, He Himself said that neither did He condemn her.

This is a reminder to each and every one of us, that first of all, each and every one of us are sinners, and all of us are in need of God’s healing and help, for otherwise, sin will become our undoing. And no one can heal us from our sins, except for God. For it is He alone Who is able to forgive us from our sins and restore us to the state of grace in Him. Sin is indeed a very dangerous disease that is slowly destroying us and corrupting us from inside out, often without us realising it.

And that is why, today through the passages, we are reminded to come to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy. And then, as we are all sinners, none of us have any rights to condemn and be judgmental on others, just as what the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law had done, in wanting to condemn the woman to death, and having that sinister intention to discredit the Lord Jesus by using that opportunity.

That was why, the Lord Jesus said, ‘Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone’. This reminds us that before we accuse others and try to make others look bad or suffer, or punishing them for their faults, we must always try to contemplate deep in our hearts, and think whether we have sinned or done the same fault ourselves. When we point a finger to judge and demean others, do we realise that the other four fingers are pointing to ourselves?

We know of one parable of Jesus, where it was said that ‘Remove first the splinter from your own eye, before trying to remove the plank from your brother’s eye’. A lot of us have this hurt and angst within us, in our relationships towards each other, to our friends, to our family members, to the members of our community, and frequently, within our Church ministries and organisations, in our parishes and in our faith communities and groups.

And that is caused by the pride that we have within us, in refusing to admit that we ourselves are not perfect and we ourselves are in need of the same healing that the other person is needing. We often think that others need to change to suit what we want or what we expect of them, but how many of us actually stop to think that we ourselves are in need of a similar change in our own lives? When we allow ego and pride to take charge of our thoughts and actions, we will end up doing exactly what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been doing.

Let us instead follow the example of Christ, Who forgave and healed the adulterous woman from her sins. He told her to go and sin no more, and that is what we should be doing as well. God is so merciful and loving towards us, even towards His enemies, that when He was on the cross, He forgave even all those who have condemned Him. He, the Perfect One, willingly took up our imperfections and sins, and be punished for them, all because of His love and tender mercy towards us.

Are we able to follow Christ’s loving examples in our own actions in life? Are we able to reach out to all those whom we have hurt and who have hurt us, and forgive each other? This is one important challenge that I think we should take up in this remaining time of Lent, as we prepare ourselves to enter into the mystery of the Passion, suffering and death of Our Lord. It is essentially all about God’s love and generous mercy towards us.

Let us all look towards the cross of Christ, on the Lord crucified. Let us all look at how wounded He is, and realise that each and every one of those innumerable wounds are our own sins, that God has willingly taken up on Himself, that each and every one of us may be healed. Let us all be ashamed at our sinfulness, but with the hope that Christ will heal us from our sins, and instead of being prideful and judgmental to each other, let us all help each other to overcome the temptations of sin, and be loving and forgiving at all times, as Christ Our Lord Himself has done.

May the Lord our God continue to love us, and may He continue to shower us with His love and mercy. May God guide us always in our journey of faith towards Him, each and every days of our life. And may all of us be prepared to enter meaningfully into the commemoration of Our Lord’s Passion, suffering, death and resurrection. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 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 reminding us that the time of the Holy Week is truly coming closer and closer, as the nature of the Scripture passages speak to us about the upcoming moments of Christ’s betrayal and handover to His enemies, His suffering and Passion. We are hearing more and more about the persecution of God’s faithful ones, which is a reminder of the suffering of Christ.

We are reminded of this fact in order for us all to reflect and do some self-introspection on our own stubbornness and refusal to listen to the word of God in our way of life. We heard how the prophet Jeremiah suffered in the first reading today, as he mentioned the opposition that he had to encounter during his ministry, the sufferings he had to endure, as his enemies gathered up against him, accusing him of many wrongdoings and even threatened his life and safety.

The prophet Jeremiah went up against tough opposition, particularly many of the nobles and the advisors to the king of Judah. Jeremiah proclaimed the imminent coming of the end of the kingdom of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem, but those who opposed Jeremiah accused him of being a traitor to the nation and as a doomsayer, bearer of bad news. They wanted him to be killed and executed, but there were still some allies who helped to keep Jeremiah safe.

Nonetheless, Jeremiah still had to suffer imprisonment, incarceration, and for several months if not years, he was suffering in a dry sewer where he was hidden from his enemies who wanted him dead. At least, Jeremiah did not suffer the fate of the other prophets who were slaughtered and murderer by those who refused to believe in them. And that was the fate that the Lord Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, suffered from.

The chief priests were plotting with the members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as well as with the other prominent members of the community, who were opposed to Jesus, and they wanted to arrest Him and to punish Him and even kill Him, that He would no longer become a threat to their own influence and position of honour in the community. They saw Him as a threat and rival to their own teaching authority and power.

And as they indulged in worldly power and desires, they closed their hearts and minds from wisdom and reason, and they sinned because of the jealousy, pride and desire in their hearts, which led them to arrest the Lord, made Him suffer and handed Him over to the Roman administration and demanding for His death by crucifixion, a most humiliating and painful death preserved only for the worst of criminals.

Through all of these we have witnessed and heard, we are in fact called to look deep into our own lives, and on how we have lived them all these while. And we need to ask ourselves if we have allowed all these wicked desires, the ego and pride in our hearts to affect us and our judgment of actions? Should we not try to overcome and remove from ourselves these obstacles, by which we have been separated from God’s grace and love?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all pray that as we continue to prepare ourselves physically, spiritually and mentally during this season of Lent, we may draw ever closer to God and attune ourselves to His ways. Let us no longer be separated from Him and let us all shed from ourselves the taint of human pride, of greed and ambition, that we may receive from Him the fullness of pardon and forgiveness from our sins.

May God be with us always, and may He continue to lead us to the right path, that we will not be easily led astray by the devil and all those seeking our destruction and damnation. May this blessed season and time of Lent be a time of renewal and reconciliation for all of us. Amen.

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Friday, 5 April 2019 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (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 all about the opposition that those who are faithful to God has to experience through life, and we are going to focus more and more on this theme as we approach the beginning of the Holy Week of the Passion, suffering and death of Our Lord, which will be in just about more than a week’s time.

In the first reading today, we heard the passage from the Book of Wisdom relating to us how there were a lot of opposition against the faithful and against all the servants of God. The Book of Wisdom is a book that focuses on much of the internal thoughts and deliberations of the people, and in today’s segment, we focus on the thoughts that went in the minds of those who persecuted the prophets and the messengers of the Lord.

And we see the kinds of wickedness and stubbornness present in the minds of those people who refused to believe in the prophets and in the messages of truth they brought with them. They plotted against the faithful ones of God simply because they refused to let go of the pride, ego and the greed within their hearts and minds. They took it personally that those prophets and messengers had criticised them and the way they lived their lives.

This is parallel to what the Lord Jesus mentioned and spoke before the people in our Gospel passage today. At that time, as the time was coming close to the moment when Jesus was about to be betrayed and handed over to His enemies, the oppositions against Him among the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees and all others who saw Him as their rival and as a dangerous influence were increasing rapidly.

And this is where unfortunately, the pride of men came in between them and the ability to welcome the truth of God. They were doubting the truth that the prophets and eventually, Christ Himself revealed because they thought of themselves as being holders and owners of the real truth, as they perceived themselves as being better, more educated and even more worthy than the ones who have come speaking the truth of God before them.

That was why they refused to listen, as they hardened themselves and their mindset on what they thought were the right ways and attitudes to do. They viewed the words of the prophets and the Lord Jesus as dangerous threats and perhaps even falsehoods from their point of view. That was why they even refused to allow the truth of God to enter into their minds, and continued to do what they thought was right, even when they were actually wrong and committing sins.

Today as we heard all of these, we are reminded that each and every one of us may have been like the Pharisees, the priests, the teachers of the Law and all those who have oppressed the prophets and the Lord Himself. We may have refused to listen to the words of the Lord that He spoke deep within our hearts and minds, and closing the doors of our hearts and minds to Him. We are often so preoccupied with the many worldly matters and concerns that we do not allow God and His truth to get through to us.

Unless we open our hearts and minds, by putting aside ego and pride, desire and greed from all things, by humbling ourselves before the Lord and by realising that each and every one of us are not perfect in our ways and in our thoughts, we will likely not be able to change our ways and as such, continuing to sin, and getting more and more distant from God as time passes by. There is a need for us to reorientate and change our direction in life, so that we may find a new way and path in life, one that leads to the Lord.

Today, all of us are also called to follow the good examples set by St. Vincent Ferrer, in how he devoted his life to the good service of God, travelling to many places and preaching the truth about God to the people in various places. St. Vincent Ferrer helped many people to turn themselves to the Lord, and was very generous with his work among the poor and orphans, caring for the need of the people of God.

Through all these, we are all reminded that we need to have a profound change in attitude and approach in life. And during this season of Lent, we are called to turn away from sin, and to die to our human pride, greed, desire and all the things that have been preventing us from being able to come closer to God. We are reminded through the call to repentance, that each and every one of us are sinful and are in need of healing from God.

Let us all turn away from sin, and let us all refocus our attention to God from now on. May the Lord be our guide, and may He continue to bless us and by His encouragement, may He help us always to overcome the many temptations and challenges in this life. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.