light of Christ

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Wednesday, 21 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings emphasizes on unity, that is the unity of our faith with the Lord, and in keeping a true, orthodox and living faith. Jesus our Lord symbolised this with the likeness and parallel of the vine and its branches. Jesus spoke in this way so that His message can get through to the people, who were mostly farmers and shepherds in that time.

Jesus liked to speak in parables because He used them to help bring across His teachings, and yet some people still did not get it. Jesus as the vine is the source of all life and all things, and we are the branches. All the creations of God are the branches. If we imagine the relationship as that of a plant, God is the Creator of all, and He is like the root.

Yes, God is the root of all things, and just as a plant cannot live and survive without their roots, we cannot survive without God either, for He is the source of our lives. Remember that we were made from dust, from the earth. God breathed life into us, and His Spirit came into us and we received life and therefore we are now counted among the living.

God did these things together as One, the Holy Trinity. The Father created and willed all things into creation, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all life. But without the Son, who is the Word of God, creation would not have taken place. If we remember in the Book of Genesis, God spoke His words and things came to be. As such, it is through the Son, who is Word, that is Christ, that we were all created by the Lord.

Therefore, Christ is the vine through which the Father channels His works, power and authority to us. In this also we can see an important tenet of our faith. We believe that the Father sent the Holy Spirit through His Son, Jesus Christ, just as He said that the Father will send, through Him, the Helper or the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit to His disciples and therefore to all mankind.

Without this connection to the vine, that is Christ, we are not connected to the Father and therefore do not receive the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. If we are separated from the Lord, we will not be able to survive, and we will eventually perish. He is the One from whom all blessings and graces flow from. We have to keep this connection to the Lord at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to make sure that we keep the unity in the Church, both in love and purpose. All that we do should ultimately be aligned with that of the Lord and His precepts. We should see the example shown in the first reading to be our guide in all things. The disciples in Antioch argued on the need to follow and adhere to the complex set of laws instituted by Moses and which was greatly expanded on by the elders of Israel over many generations.

The Jews who believed in Christ, or the Jewish Christians kept all the observations of the Law as they had done before they believed in Christ. They added to their faith, the belief in Christ as the Lord and Saviour, and therefore, in a way it can be understood why they link salvation of mankind with the Law and precepts of Moses that they had kept and observed so well.

But among the Christians, in the growing faith, there are increasingly more and more those who were not of Jewish origins who followed the Lord and changed their ways to that of the Way of God. There are those who were of Greek and Roman origins, or the Gentiles, according to the Jews, who became the believers of Christ. They genuinely sought the Lord and sought to listen to God’s will, which He had revealed through Jesus, and from Him, to them through the Apostles.

The Jewish laws, if you are not familiar with it, consists of numerous rules and regulations, that apparently total about six hundred and thirteen commandments and rules, which covered very meticulously many aspects of Jewish culture and way of life. These were very distinct and different from the cultures and the habits possessed by the Romans and the Greeks.

As such, if they were to be asked to follow the way of the Jews, it would indeed bring them great troubles and difficulties, having to adjust to the incredibly different way of life, and not to point out that some of the Jewish customs were abhorred and looked down upon by the Greek-Roman civilisation at that time, especially regarding circumcision.

Hence, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why the Apostles took the fateful decision that is both wise and prudent, that what is important, as Jesus had often mentioned, is not the purity of the exterior, which most of the Jewish laws are dealing on, but instead on the purity of our interior, that is our heart and soul, which is the essence and the heart of the Law, often forgotten by those who were so set on fulfilling the laws and the rigorous enforcement of its regulations, that they forgot the true meaning of the Law.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Christopher Magallanes and his companions, who were martyrs of the faith. He was a priest in Mexico, who was very involved in missionary and evangelising work among the people, and working hard to minister to the people of God and evangelise the Good News to many native and indigenous populations, in many areas of the country. He was also a holy and dedicated parish priest.

St. Christopher Magallanes preached against rebellion and armed insurgency against the military government and dictatorship at the time, as Mexico in the early years of the twentieth century was in great turmoil and conflict between the government and its people, resulting in numerous rebellions and uprisings. However, the government mistakenly accused St. Christopher Magallanes and some other priests and people of God of inciting and supporting the rebellion.

As a result, St. Christopher Magallanes was martyred with his companions, and they together represented the beginning of difficult times for the Church in Mexico, as anti-clergy and anti-Church opinions and attitudes in the government expanded to reach a boiling point. They were raised to the altar and now venerated as saints for their preaching of the truth of God and dedication to that truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all have to follow in their examples, as they put their trust in God and draw their strength from Him, just like branches that are attached firmly to the stem and to the roots. They also did not discriminate between peoples, and as St. Christopher Magallanes had done, he persevered to bring the Good News and the word of God to the indigenous peoples of Mexico yet untouched by the light of Christ.

Therefore, let us all pray, that we may ever be strong in faith and never be separated from Christ, and may our actions, words and deeds are all according to the Lord and His way, and let us never divide or judge, but instead helping each other to reach closer to God, supporting one another as equal children of God, same before the eyes of the Lord. Amen.

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Tuesday, 20 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how the Apostles continued to carry on the mission they had been entrusted with, and brought the Word of God to many peoples, bringing them closer and closer to the salvation in God. The Apostles and their disciples went to spread the Good News to many people, some of whom accepted them and the message they brought to them, while some were reluctant and doubtful while others rejected them outright.

That what the Apostles were doing, and in their hard toils, they managed to convert many to the faith and in the process. The Apostles went around to many places, around the Eastern Mediterranean seaboard, facing tough challenges in order to evangelise the people. They spread the Good News about the Lord and Christ who has died for us and was risen in glory, and whose peace and love, He wanted to share with all the nations.

Not all the people were receptive to this revelation though, because many would prefer to remain in the darkness of ignorance and sin, die to various reasons, mainly because they cannot part with the goodness and all the pleasures that this world can offer, although by indulging in these they risk corruption with sin and hence damnation.

In this world, it is increasingly becoming more and more commercialised and materialistic, to the point that many pursue their career and work, that they can gain more prosperity and more financial strength, or simply more money. This world offers so much good things to us, that we end up being bought over, and our attitudes and lifestyles change.

We have not been able to keep our faith strong because of all these temptations, which are ever present and keep us separated from the Lord and His love. This world is ever moving towards the tendency to drift away from God and indulge in oneself, that is in pleasures of the flesh and goodness of the world. Gluttony, desire and greed are common problems and weaknesses that mankind has.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bernardine of Siena, a humble and holy man, who was a priest and a Franciscan missionary, who was well known as the Apostle of Italy during his time, because of his hard works and dedication to eliminate evil and vices in the society that prevented mankind from seeking and be reunited with God.

St. Bernardine of Siena was well-known for his preaching and evangelisation works. He worked hard to spread the Gospel and explain the message of the Good News to the people of God, and calling on them to repent for their sins and unworthy behaviour. He was persuasive and yet rich of love and mercy, and his sermons and exhortations never failed to inspire the people and made many convert to the true faith and keep their lives free from sin.

St. Bernardine of Siena was particularly known for his attack on the excesses of life, where he encouraged the people to cast down and throw away those excesses into a bonfire. In that way, he encouraged the people to turn their back to the excesses and the corruptions promoted by the world, which are not different in form, even in this modern day. Yes, to turn their back on these excesses and impurities and seek the Lord with all of their heart.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, following the example and heeding the call of St. Bernardine of Siena, let us all resolve in changing our ways, that we no longer seek what is vain and corrupting, namely the pleasures of the flesh and the decadent and opulent lifestyle as promoted by the world. Especially for us who live in prosperous and developed countries, it is easy for us to fall into the temptation of possession and material wealth.

Instead, let us resolve to seek the Lord with all of our might, and commit ourselves completely and entirely to Him. How do we do that, brethren? We should be charitable in all of our actions, that in all things, we bring good to others and dedicate ourselves to make better the life of others. Shall we do this, and follow the Lord and St. Bernardine of Siena in their way? Let us cast away the old life of vice and excesses, and embrace the new life based on love.

May God be with us and guide us on our way, and may He bless us ever more with His love, and therefore grant us His light to light our path. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 May 2014 : Fifth Sunday of Easter (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Peter 2 : 4-9

The Lord is the living stone rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to Him; set yourselves close to Him so that you, too, become living stones built into a spiritual temple, a holy community of priests offering spiritual sacrifices that please God through Jesus Christ.

Scripture says : “See, I lay in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone; whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” This means honour for you who believed, but for unbelievers also the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and it is a stone to stumble over, a rock which lays people low.

They stumble over it in rejecting the Word, but the plan of God is fulfilled in this. You are a chosen race, a community of priest-kings, a consecrated nation, a people God has made His own to proclaim His wonders. For He called you from your darkness to His own wonderful light.

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Saturday, 17 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not harden our hearts against the Lord and do not close the doors of our hearts against the Lord who constantly tries to seek to enter our hearts and speak to us, and do not close our ears and senses against the Lord who seeks to communicate with us, that we may not just listen to Him, but also allow ourselves to be transformed by Him into beings capable of love and goodness.

Do not be persistent in our ignorance and lack of understanding, that we do not end up like the elites among the Jews who feared that their authority and power would be undermined by Christ and hence persisted in their rejection of Jesus. Let us also not be hard at heart and mind, thinking that we know it all or have the knowledge to be able to know everything, as these are common mistakes that men tends to make and therefore bring them into the pits of damnation.

Many of the problems today lie in the arrogance and pride of mankind, who thinks that we can understand everything by ourselves and explain everything around us with the limitation of our minds and our intellect. Rather than using the gifts God had granted them with humility and passion to do things that are good and favourable in the eyes of God, we use them for various wrong and wicked reasons.

Many people today left the faith of their fathers, who had kept the faith truthfully for ages, just because they doubted the Lord and His truth, and rather than trusting in the Lord and His clear and unmistakeable revelations, mankind prefer to depend on their flawed senses and imperfect wisdom. They prefer to trust in their observations and understandings of the world, which result in their lack of faith.

Those who refuse to see the truth did so because they think that God does not exist. After all, according to them, they cannot prove using human means that He exists. It seems so because using physical means known to man, we cannot see God, we cannot listen to God’s sound, nor can we physically and directly touch Him. But why does the Faith persists so strongly then? Those people mentioned said that we are ignorant and superstitious, where in fact, they are referring to themselves when they said so.

There is one way through which mankind had been able to experience God directly and without any impediment. And that is none other than Jesus Christ, who is God, and who is Son, but who has assumed flesh and become Man, to be one of us. Those who saw Jesus, who met Jesus, who listened to Jesus and His words, and those who touched Him and had been touched by Him therefore had been in contact with the Lord Himself.

The Apostles and the many disciples of Jesus Christ who saw and witnessed all these therefore became the ones who proclaimed the truth about God and His love, and what further proof from God is necessary other than for Him to voluntarily suffer and die in place of us, on the cross, to bear the countless sins and punishments due for us? And what greater proof is necessary, other than His resurrection that brought about life and the promise of salvation to all who believe in Him?

It is sad indeed how mankind had fallen into gross indecency and ingratitude by refusing the great love, care and mercy that God had showered us with, and instead chose to persist in our rebelliousness. We cannot allow this to continue, brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, Christ died for us, and He died for us so that we may live. That is the truth, and that is our faith.

So, on this occasion, I hope and pray that our faith may be strengthened and may our souls be affirmed in the Lord, that we will not easily stumble or be persuaded to turn against the One who loves us very much that He gave Himself for our sake. And let us also pray and act such that those who refuse to believe in God and His truth, and those who adamantly closed their hearts and minds to God may see the light of truth and believe.

God be with all of His people, and may all be blessed! Amen.

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Saturday, 17 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 14 : 7-14

Jesus said, “If you know Me, you will know the Father also; indeed you know Him, and you have seen Him.”

Philip asked Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough.” Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you so long and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever sees Me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me?”

“All that I say to you, I do not say of Myself. The Father who dwells in Me is doing His own work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do.”

“Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in Me will do the same works that I do; and he will do even greater than these, for I am going to the Father. Everything you ask in My Name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon My Name, I will do.”

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Thursday, 15 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God has planned His coming into this world since a very long time ago. He had revealed His plans to the prophets who proclaimed the Lord’s coming, and yet the people failed to appreciate and understand in its fullness, the message passed down by the prophets of the Lord. In Jesus, all of God’s long awaited promise is fulfilled in its perfection.

The coming of the Lord is intended to be the end of the suffering of mankind in darkness, for through the Lord, a new light has dawned, and that light is not to be put out, and become the source of salvation and inspiration on all the people who sees Him. But not all the people welcomed the Lord when He came, and some of them even rejected Him and closed their hearts to Him when He came to knock at their doors.

Today’s first reading showed us the history of the Lord’s work of salvation, which He had long planned ever since mankind first fall to the temptations of Satan. St. Paul told the people of God the entirety of the history of salvation summarised in short words, but yet still clear enough to show the sincerity of God, and His seriousness to help us to return to His embrace.

God sent His Son to be with us, and to walk among us, so that we may see the Lord in Jesus, and walk in His ways, and therefore, obey the will of God and hence, be in the favour of God and be saved from their afflictions. Jesus is the true and real manifestation of God’s love for us, and the reminder to God’s people how they were saved from their various afflictions and persecutions, as He had done when He liberated them from the bonds of the Egyptians.

The Son of God came to perfect all the laws of the land, which He had revealed through Moses, the Law of God. He made everything clear through His explanations, and on the real and true purpose of the Law, that is love, God’s love for all of His creations, particularly mankind, the most beloved out of all His creatures. He explained with love, how much the Lord wants His children to be reunited and reconciled with Him, and showed them how to do so.

Jesus showed by example, encouraging His disciples to love one another just as He had first loved them. He sought sinners and fornicators, and those looked down upon by the society, gathering them and bringing them back to His loving embrace. He showed God’s love for them through His own love, and brought many of them back to the Lord and redeemed them.

Jesus shows how God’s mercy and love is available to everyone, even to the greatest of sinners and the most unworthy of the faithful. But this requires us to be open to this mercy and love, or otherwise, the Lord’s works will not be able to make a concrete change in us and transform us from creatures of sin into creatures of holiness and hope.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we commit ourselves to the Lord, that in all the things that we do, we do it for the sake of the Lord? Shall we focus all our attentions to the Lord and turn our ways to align with His? May the Lord guide us ever in our path, that in all things we do we may always bring glory to God. May our hearts always be open to the love and mercy of God, that we may ever seek the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness whenever we sin and therefore gain the grace and blessings of the Lord. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 13 : 13-25

From Paphos, Paul and his companions set sail and came to Perga in Pamphylia. There John left them and returned to Jerusalem while they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they entered the synagogue and sat down.

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent this message to them, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the assembly, please speak up.”

So Paul arose, motioned to them for silence and began, “Fellow Israelites and also all you who fear God, listen. The God of our people Israel chose our ancestors, and after He had made them increase during their stay in Egypt, He led them out by powerful deeds. For forty years He fed them in the desert, and after He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land as an inheritance.”

“All this took four hundred and fifty years. After that, He gave them Judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was king for forty years. After that time, God removed him and raised up David as king, to whom He bore witness saying : ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all I want him to do.'”

“It is from the descendants of David that God has now raised up the promised Saviour of Israel, Jesus. Before He appeared, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for all the people of Israel. As John was ending his life’s work, he said : ‘I am not what you think I am, for after me another One is coming whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.'”

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Wednesday, 14 May 2014 : Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of St. Matthias, one of the Twelve Apostles, although originally he was not included among the Twelve, until after Judas Iscariot had betrayed the Lord and committed suicide for his sins against the Holy One of God. Only then that Matthias was selected, as we heard how it went in the first reading today, to replace Judas so that the number of the Apostles will always be full, that is twelve.

There are great symbolisms behind the number twelve chosen by the Lord to be the chief among His disciples and followers, and He set them aside to become His Apostles, to be the ones who led in the evangelisation of the Gospel and the spreading of the Good News to many nations. The number twelve is often associated with the number of the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob to whom the Lord had bequeathed the Promised Land long ago after their exodus from the land of Egypt.

The Apostles, if we read the Book of Revelation, are the ones who will judge the people and the tribes of Israel, at the end of time, and Jesus Himself said that they will be the judges of the people of God. They were the chief assistants of the Lord, to whom Jesus even promised that He went ahead of them to prepare the places for them. Such a good life for them, is it not?

But, brethren, you have to look at what they have to face in life, as they proceed on with what they had been entrusted with. They were charged to bring the people of God from many nations and return them to the embrace of God, their loving Father. This was no easy task, and they had enormous challenges in their ministry, facing rejection after rejection, and the open and blatant hostility of the Jewish leaders and priesthood, as well as opposition from various groups of people who refused to listen and believe in the truth.

And eventually they also met their end in various means, through martyrdom and suffering, in different parts of the world, when the people to whom they had dedicated themselves to, turn their back on them, rejecting them, and murdered them, shedding the Apostles’ blood, which in turn became the seed for the faith of more Christians, as inspirations for even more martyrs to rise up and defend their faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what St. Matthias had been chosen for. It was not an easy task, but he and the other Apostles persevered nonetheless, and  they served as an inspiration for all of us. So how is this relevant to us who live in this modern era, in this modern day world? It is relevant because we are all also charged with the same mission to evangelise the world, to spread the Good News to all men.

And even these days, it does not mean that this work is getting any easier. On the contrary, it is getting more and more difficult, with challenges and oppositions from every possible sources and corners of the world, from both outside the Church and even from within the Church. Being a missionary and a worker of the Lord like the Apostles is not easy, but arguably, it is truly worth doing. Why? Because the Lord takes good care of all those who believe in Him and those who do His will, like the Apostles did.

Let us therefore be encouraged, that we will be faithful and committed to the cause of the Lord, that we may be fruitful in our attempts at evangelisation, and bring more souls closer to the salvation in God. May the Lord protect and guide us on our way, that through the help and intercession of St. Matthias the Apostle, we may become ever better disciples of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial Feast of our Lady of Fatima (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a truly wonderful and beautiful feast of the Church, honouring the blessed mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that is His mother, Mary, who appeared to three children at a village known as Fatima in Portugal, almost a century ago, in which she revealed much revelations of truth to the children, about the faith and the Church and the constant battles it faces daily against the evil in the world.

The revelations of Fatima had been a very popular topic among many of the faithful, and many speculations about its contents had arisen. But most importantly, the truth is that Mary who appeared to the three children foretold the many events that would happen, and did happen in the course of the last one century since the apparition.

The apparition was seen by the three children, but many tens of thousands of other people saw the miracle of the sun and testified to its truth, through which the Blessed Virgin Mary showed the truth of her message, and the urgency of the contents of such message, in the view of the increasing dangers facing the Church of God and the faithful disciples of the Lord.

Our Lady and mother of our Lord had often appeared to us, to mankind to continue to urge us to return to the loving embrace of her Son, and abandon our past, sinful lives, in exchange of a new life anchored upon God’s love. She appeared to the three children at a time of great difficulty, not just for the Church but also for the entire world and mankind.

The first world war was raging when the three children saw our Lady in Fatima, and her appearance occurred just moments before the downfall of the Christian nation of Russia, the Russian Empire, which was overthrown by the Communist rebels and agitators, ushering in a long period of suffering, death and destruction, which we all are very aware about, the effects of which are still felt today.

The Cold war, and the second world war was all indirectly and directly linked to that event, and also to other sad events that had unfolded during the past one century. And the apparition revealed those sad events to the children, who eventually one of them revealed much of the revelations to the Church. This world indeed had been filled with so much violence and evil for much of the past century, and it is therefore ever more urgent that we heed the call for repentance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to change our ways if we have dwelt in darkness and engage in wicked behaviours and dealings. We cannot be ignorant and continue with our lives as if nothing has happened. We have to commit ourselves to the way of the Lord and listen to the call of His mother, who, as the greatest among the saints and intercessors, and as the one nearest to her Son’s throne, she is our greatest help in this life’s battle against the corrupting nature of sin and evil.

The Lord Himself said that those who do the will of God, and keep as well as understand His precepts will be blessed. As such, that is what our Lady at Fatima encouraged mankind, that is to give themselves to the Lord and dedicate themselves to Him, and to ask His mother for help and intercession during the time of troubles. We must not be afraid to do so, for the mother of our Lord is loving and merciful, and she wants to help us that we may be saved and be reunited with her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have to be profoundly changed in our ways, that in all the things we say and do, we will always reflect the will and nature of our God, and in that, be blessed in all that we do. Let us heed the call of our beloved mother Mary, who appealed to us to reform our ways that we may shun violence and evil, and embrace instead her Son who showed us love in all its perfection through His sacrifice on the cross.

O, our Lady of Fatima, the mother of our Lord and our mother, help us to change our ways and continue to speak to us, just as you had spoken at Fatima long time ago, that we may understand better, how to become loving children of God, and sin no more but live eternally in His grace. O most loving mother, pray for us sinners. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial Feast of our Lady of Fatima (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 10 : 22-30

The time came for the feast of the Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus walked back and forth in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will you keep us in doubt? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in My Father’s Name proclaim who I am, but you do not believe because, as I said, you are not My sheep.”

“My sheep hear My voice and I know them; they follow Me and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from Me. What the Father has given Me is above everything else, and no one can snatch it from out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

 

Alternative Reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

 

Luke 11 : 27-28

As Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”

Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”