living God

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Tuesday, 12 January 2016 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the continuation of the story of the birth of Samuel the prophet, who was born of Elkanah, his father, and of Hannah, his mother who was once barren and unable to bear a child at all. And the other wife of Elkanah liked to jeer at Hannah and gloat over her because she was able to provide Elkanah with children, unlike Hannah.

And when Hannah prayed fervently before the Lord, beseeching Him for His mercy and help, the Lord heard her prayers and fulfilled her wish to have a son, whom she then dedicated to the Lord to be His servant, namely Samuel. And God blessed her richly from then on, as she had dedicated the very son who had come to her, and thus she was given many more children.

It was this that is in our psalm of today, which was taken from the song which Hannah in great joy and thanksgiving praised the Lord for all that He had done for her. She thanked God for having lifted from her the shame and embarrassment that came with the fact of her being unable to have a child, which was truly something shameful in the society at that time.

In the Gospel, we heard how the Lord Jesus cast out demons and evil spirits from a possessed man. At that time, people who were possessed with evil spirits, or had leprosy and other aberrations were seen as unclean and wicked, and they were excluded from the society, forced to live outside the bounds of the villages and the cities. People were afraid to look at them, turned their faces away from them, and they were thought as cursed by God.

Jesus showed that He had the authority over all things, be it human beings or spiritual beings, and even the devil and his angels also have to bend their knees before Him. And by casting out the evil spirits from the possessed man, He had healed him from his afflictions, removing from him the stigma and the obstacle which prevented him from being truly united to the rest of his society.

In all these, we see our God Who is loving and merciful, filled with love for us, He Who wants us all to be healed of our afflictions and suffering because of our sins. Yes, sin is the disease and affliction of the soul, which prevents us from being united with the Lord our God, the snare of the devil which pulls us down into the damnation and suffering in hell.

And God wants to show us all that He has the power and the authority to liberate us from all those pains and sufferings, and He brought with Him the hope and the light for us all, so that all those who gaze upon Him will see a new hope and way out of their suffering in sin. But all these do not just need the mercy and the love of God, but also our commitment and desire to be saved.

Yes, just imagine that if God had given us so much attention and love, and yet we refuse to follow Him and reject the forgiveness and mercy which He has given us, then surely we will have no part in the salvation that He had promised us. We have been given the free will to choose, and thus it is within our choice too for us to choose between obeying the Lord and following His ways, and disobeying Him while following our own whim and desires.

Let us all today therefore reflect on our own lives, on our own actions and choices we have made in life. God has given us His rich mercy and love, and the countless opportunities for us to be redeemed and be forgiven, and now it is up to us, if we are to welcome all these with open hands and hearts, or whether we are to turn our backs against the Lord and remain with all the pleasures and the good things that this world offer us. May God strengthen our faith and resolve, and may He guide us to the right paths. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 11 January 2016 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we begin our season in the Ordinary Time, after we left the season of Christmas that officially ended yesterday with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Today’s Scripture readings made it very clear to us that God called us mankind to be His followers and to walk along His path.

In the first reading, we heard about the prophet Samuel, who was born to a couple who were once unable to have a child, as the mother of Samuel, Hannah, was barren. She prayed to the Lord and promised that if her prayers for a child were fulfilled, then she would offer her firstborn to be a servant of the Lord in all things. And thus, Samuel was born and given to the Lord to be His servant.

God listened to her prayers and fulfilled her wish, as truly nothing is impossible for God. As long as whatever we wish is within His will to grant us, then He shall grant us what we need in accordance with His will. God loves us all and He wants us all to be reunited with Him in perfect love, and that was why, just as the parents of Samuel who loved God and offered their first son to Him, God also gave us His own Son as the proof of His eternal and infinite love.

Yes, He gave us Jesus His Son, to redeem us, and through Him, all of us have been called just as Samuel was called by the Lord, to be His followers, abandoning our old ways and our sinful past, and from then on, to be faithful and devoted in all the things that we say and do. He is calling us to be light to the nations, and to be His disciples and the extension of His hands, to spread to more people His love and help.

Therefore, just as we heard how Jesus called His disciples from among the simple fishermen at the shores of the lake of Galilee, and even tax collectors and zealots, who were counted among the numbers of His Twelve Apostles, thus, this is an example for us all too, that all of us should also follow their footsteps in following the Lord, and be transformed in our own lives, so that we no longer exist as creatures of this world, but as the people of God’s everlasting Kingdom.

Today we are all called to be like the disciples of our Lord, who left behind all of their tools of trade and even families behind in order to follow the Lord our God. Well, this does not mean that we have to literally do the same thing as well, abandoning our families and our lives. Rather, it means that all of us, who have often been in our comfort zone for very long time, should be aroused to move out and get on the path towards the Lord and His salvation.

And how do we do this then, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by removing all of our doubts and fears, or laziness and unwillingness to do what is expected from us as the followers and disciples of our Lord. Let us rather be courageous and be forthcoming in all of our words, actions and deeds, showing to all those who see us that we all belong to the Lord and we are always faithful in Him no matter what happens.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our commitment and our faith to God, by refusing to be pulled down by ourselves and our attachment to our comfort zone. But rather, at the beginning of this new year, let us all strengthen our resolve ever more to be ever more faithful disciples and followers of our God, to love one another, our brethren ever more, and bring more lost souls to the salvation in God. God bless our endeavours and be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 10 January 2016 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, the time which is usually associated with the ending of the Christmas season, or Christmastide, although in some traditional celebrations, the season of Christmas does not end until the second day of February, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, following a forty day period for Christmas.

On this day, we commemorate that moment, when Christ began His earthly ministry, to begin the works which He had been born into this world for, that is to herald and bring about salvation to all mankind, and to liberate them from their sins and from the chains of wickedness, evil, sin and death. It was at that moment of His baptism that He officially began His earthly ministry, and this is truly important to all of us as well in its meaning.

This is also the model of our Church’s sacrament of holy baptism, the first of the seven sacraments and the first one that a believer, either as a baby or as a catechumen deciding to follow the Lord, must receive, before he or she would be able to receive the other sacraments, such as the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Most Holy Eucharist, Penance or that of the Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.

It was through baptism that a faithful is welcomed into the Church of God, and through baptism, the faithful was sealed with the seal of the Living God, and became one with all the other members of the Church, adopted as God’s children and become partakers of God’s plan of salvation and in His everlasting kingdom of joy and happiness. Without baptism, the state of our souls will continue to be in limbo and darkness.

Just as Christ was immersed in the waters of the Jordan, we too have been immersed in the water during our baptism. Water itself has many symbolic meanings, the most common of which is its purifying capacity, where water cleanses things that are dirty and corrupted, and washes away all dirt and unpleasant things. It is also a symbol of life, since water is crucial for life, and absolutely no life could have existed in the absence of water.

And thus, as we were immersed in the water during our reception of the Sacrament of Baptism, we were also purified from the taints of our past sins, the wickedness and corruptions of sin that had been with us, and by the holy water blessed and made pure by the hands of the priests, the Lord Jesus had made us all whole again in body and in spirit, just as He had once healed the lepers, the sick and the dying.

And water can also bring death, as we have seen how water can be so destructive in occurrences such as tsunamis, floods and various other forces of water that brought death and misery, just as it can also bring life, and indeed is essential for life. Thus, the waters of baptism symbolised that death which all of us ought to share in the Lord, that through this sharing with His death, we may also have a share in His glorious resurrection.

Yes, the waters of baptism is a symbol of the death and the end of our old life on earth, in our commitment to abandon and reject sin and Satan in all of its forms, and by dying to this old life, as St. Paul had mentioned, we left behind all of the attachments, the bonds and the chains that kept us in our old ways and which had prevented us from attaining God’s salvation and grace.

The baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Jordan is a symbol for us all to remember, for even though He Himself was different, as He was without any taint of sin, and yet He chose to lower Himself and be immersed in the Jordan, and baptised by His servant John the Baptist, but through that action, we should now be able to understand clearly what our Lord had intended for us to do with our own lives.

Before the Lord Jesus was baptised, since the day when He was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in a stable, His parents had cared for Him very well, both His mother Mary, as well as His foster father St. Joseph. And He was brought up in Nazareth, the village where His family lived in, and where He Himself grew up as all men did, and He grew both in knowledge, wisdom and strength, and in the favour in the sight of God.

And as His father St. Joseph was a hardworking carpenter, and considering the fact that sons normally followed in the footsteps of their fathers, it was likely that Jesus was perhaps once a carpenter too, or at least that He knew how to handle things as His foster father had done. And so, He likely dealt with things and matters of the world such as crafting furnitures and other wooden objects.

Yet, when He was baptised by John at the Jordan, that was the moment when all was revealed regarding Jesus, His true nature and His mission on earth. And afterward, He began His ministry, tending to the sick, both in body and in spirit, and He blessed many people, fed them, and gave them the Good News of God through His own words.

And in the end, He carried up the cross that was burdened with all of our sins and iniquities, and He bore all these up with Him as He ascended the hill of Calvary, stretched up between the heavens and the earth, and He gave up His own life, as a perfect and fitting sacrifice to serve as the absolution and the forgiveness for all the multitudes of our sins and their effects.

In all these, we have to realise that the story of our Lord Jesus from His baptism to His death on the cross is actually the example of our own Christian life, of how we are all expected to live out our lives in faith. We who have received the gift of baptism should therefore go forth and do as the Lord Himself had done, loving one another, forgiving those who have done bad things to us, praying even for our enemies and for those who persecute us, as well as other things that He had commanded us all to do.

This is what we need to do, and this is what we should indeed do as those who call themselves as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and wholeheartedly follow His laws and commandments, so that in everything that we say and do, we will always be faithful, and bring glory to our Lord and God. May God bless us all and keep us in His grace, now and forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 9 January 2016 : Saturday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the actions of John the Baptist and Jesus, who were both baptising the people at the Jordan river. We heard about how he humbly rejoiced when his own Lord and Master gained popularity over that of his, and despite the protests from his own disciples, he remained true to his mission, that is as the herald and as the one who preceded the coming of the Messiah of God.

Through him, the world now knows the reality and the truth found in the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came into this world in order to save it from the certain destruction if we were all to follow our usual path in the ways of the world, and in all the vices and sins we have committed daily in our respective lives. Through Him this world has found a new light.

And it is to this light that all of us have been called, that is to shed and to leave behind all the traces and taints of our sins and wickedness behind us, and to put forth righteousness and faith in our God. In Jesus our Lord, we have the example and the lead to follow if we are to be freed from the bonds of darkness and the servitude to sin and death that had kept us and many others chained throughout the ages.

As we approach the ending of our celebration of Christmas and all of its mysteries and nature, all of us should take some time to reflect on what Christmas and its joy, and indeed what our faith truly means for us. Is it just the celebration and joy because we are following what others had done, and then we just join in all the fun and the partying? Or did we rejoice because we know what the Lord had done for us?

St. John the Baptist knew all these, and as he knew the greatness of God’s love and all that He had planned to do for us all mankind, he rejoiced and praised the Lord with all his might whenever he heard the Lord Jesus making advances in His earthly works and missions, as he knew that he had been successful in the mission he was brought into this world for, that is to prepare the way for his Lord and Master, Jesus.

It is in our human nature to be jealous and to desire things for ourselves, such as power, influence, money, wealth and many other worldly goods and things. And therefore, the disciples of John the Baptist asked such questions because they thought it would have been natural for someone to be jealous and to be angry when another person seems to be better and doing things that are harmful or in opposition to what a person is doing.

But St. John the Baptist enlightened them and told them how as a servant of God, Whose works were then just beginning to take off, into the perfect fulfilment of God’s plan of salvation, he was just a tool in the hands of the Lord. And what is important is that the work of God was done, and as he diminished and became less, the Lord became more important.

In the first reading, we all heard at the end of the reading, where St. John in his letter or epistle reminded all the faithful who read that Epistle, of the importance of avoiding idols and keeping ourselves free from the taints of wickedness. This is applicable to us all today as well, as these idols will bring us further away from the Lord and ever closer to damnation.

We may think that we are safe from idols and from such corruptions, but we are truly wrong in this. Take note that these idols may not be the idols of gold, silver, wood or stone, carvings and images of animals as it was in the past, but our new idols are the idols of money, of fame, of recognition and affluence, all of which often come in between us and God.

Let us all therefore today commit ourselves anew in faith to our Lord, so that we may be able to better resist the temptation of these new idols, and therefore gain for ourselves the salvation that we can only find in the Lord our God. Let us commit ourselves to say and do things that will glorify God forevermore and let us no longer be idle or be distracted in our path. God bless us all in all of our endeavours. Amen.

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Friday, 8 January 2016 : Friday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord Who came into this world, proclaiming and bringing God’s salvation, mercy and healing upon all of us mankind, all of whom were sickened in our hearts, filled and tainted with the darkness of our own faults and disobediences, with our own sins and unworthiness before the Lord.

In the Gospel we heard how the Lord Jesus helped a leper who was suffering from his leprosy, the pain, the suffering, the shame and the stigma that came with it, and how Jesus brought him to fullness of healing and redemption, and his leprosy was healed when the Lord touched him, purging from him the imperfection and the filth of the physical leprosy of the flesh.

But Jesus did not desire for the man to trumpet out loud what He had done for him. In our human nature, it would be natural for us all to show off what we have been successful in, and boast of our achievements, but this was not what the Lord Jesus had done. This is because whatever He had done for mankind’s sake, His people and beloved children, He had done them for their sake entirely, and never for His own glory.

And yet, whatever He had done, out of His infinite and everlasting love for us all, He had been glorified through His actions, as we heard in the first reading today, by the testimony of the water, the blood and the Spirit, all of which acted in unison in proclaiming the love, the everlasting and great love that God had shown us all and manifested itself through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When Jesus was baptised at the Jordan, as He was immersed in the water by John the Baptist, the heaven was opened, and there came a great voice from Heaven, proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, and a dove, which represents the Holy Spirit, came to dwell on Jesus, the testimony of the truth which both the water and the Spirit agreed on, that Christ our Lord is the One Who had come into the world in order to save us.

And what is the testimony of Blood? It is the testimony of the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ Who had shed His blood and pour it all upon us as He lay dying and suffering on the cross. Had it been any other blood, animal’s blood or human blood besides that of Christ’s, it would have been useless and meaningless. But because our Lord Himself had shed His own Precious Blood, the blood which is worthy and capable of absolving all of us from our sins, then that was why, we have a new hope of salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all realise what great friend and help we have had in Jesus our Lord. It was because of Him that the love of God had reached out to all of us, and through Him we have this hope and promise of eternal life and salvation from all of our predicaments. We have once been condemned to a fate of eternal death and suffering because of our sins and disobedience, but the Lord Who loves us all, wanted another fate for us.

Have we therefore given Him thanks and gratitude for all that He has done for us? We have passed through Christmas and all of its joyful celebrations, where we revel and be happy knowing that our Lord Who had come into the world, had also blessed us with His presence and dwelling here among us, so that through Him, we may all be saved. And we see how the Lord had sacrificed Himself for our sake, which we will celebrate in the upcoming weeks as we proceed into the season of Lent and then into the Holy Week and Easter.

Let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and let us all strengthen our faith in Him, so that in all things that we say and do, we may always bring glory to Him and also that we may remain always in His grace and love, that we will never be separated again from His love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 January 2016 : Thursday after the Epiphany, Memorial of St. Raymond of Penyafort, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard of the proclamation of Jesus as the Holy One of God, the Anointed One, the Messiah or Saviour which the prophets of the old days had spoken about, revealing to all mankind of the plan of salvation through which our loving and devoted God had planned for us all, to bring us all out of our misery into the everlasting happiness to be found in Him.

Through Jesus, a people who have long awaited for their salvation and for the coming of their Saviour had seen and witnessed how their God Himself came among them and touched the least and the forgotten ones among them, healing them from their afflictions and carrying them back from the precipice of darkness and back into the light and grace of God.

God has not abandoned us all even though we have often abandoned Him and rejected Him for the preference of the world and all of its good offers, and thus, while we have sinned and deserved eternal damnation and death, but God Who created us and loved us all dearly since the beginning wanted to give all of us a chance.

This is why through Jesus, God wanted to show us His mercy and forgiveness, the care and concern which He showed to all of those who have been lost in their way in the world, just as He made it clear that He came to seek those who had been lost and those who have erred, those who were tainted and darkened by their sins and wickedness.

God healed them and made them whole again, filling up their beings not just with the physical food that satisfies the stomach, but also with the spiritual blessings and nourishment that fills up and satisfies the heart and the soul. And even though once we were delinquents and rebels who refused to comply and obey the laws and the commandments of our God, but God is willing to give us a chance.

Nevertheless, it does not mean that we should take His kindness, love and mercy for granted. We must take whatever opportunity He has given us, and do not wait until it is too late for us, or try to test God’s patience in His generous grant of mercy to all of us. In this we should heed what our Lord Jesus told His disciples in another occasion on the parable of the five wise women and the five foolish women.

The wise women were ready for the coming of the bridegroom and they had prepared amply for the provision of their lamps so that when the bridegroom came at the unexpected hour, they were ready and were therefore able to join him in the banquet prepared for them. Meanwhile, the foolish women did not prepare themselves beforehand, and they were caught unprepared when the bridegroom came, and they were left out.

Similarly therefore, it is important for us all to be ready and to welcome God’s mercy fully into ourselves. Let us commit ourselves and devote ourselves to receive worthily God’s mercy and love. And in this let us all follow the example shown by St. Raymond of Penyafort, a holy servant of God whose feast we are celebrating on this day.

St. Raymond of Penyafort was Dominican priest and a famous preacher who was renowned in his many works on the faith, and in how he zealously lived his life in ever preparedness and readiness for the Lord. He also refused the temptations of worldliness and human power, and instead, despite his fame and position, once appointed to lead his congregation, he remained very humble.

His examples in how he lived his life and how he committed himself to his faith can be examples for us all in how we should live out our own faith. If we can dedicate ourselves and commit ourselves to the Lord in the same way as this holy man of God had done, trusting in God’s love and mercy, then surely we shall be blessed and the inheritance of eternal joy and grace of God will be ours.

May God be with us all and may He continue to strengthen us in our faith, so that in all the things that we say and do, we may always align ourselves to the Lord and be always found in His grace. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 January 2016 : Wednesday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard yet again of the love of God, which had come into the world through our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect manifestation of God’s eternal and boundless love for each and every one of us, and then we are all urged to realise that His love is present among us just as our Lord Jesus lives on in each one of us, in His presence through the Eucharist that we received and share together as one people of God, one Church.

Today we heard in the Gospel passage, the well-known story about the Lord Jesus Who came to the disciples who struggled in the midst of a great storm walking on the water, much to their amazement and surprise. We heard how Jesus went into the boat, chided the disciples for their lack of faith, and then went on to calm the storm and everything was then fine once again.

There are many symbolisms behind what we have heard in the Gospel, just as much as it had really happened that time. The storm in the lake, which threatened to sink the ship the disciples were boarding on, was indeed just as what we encounter in our own lives, the storms of life’s troubles and difficulties, the challenges and the uncertainties that we are facing each and every day.

And if we do not hold on together as one people, then we shall fall and be crushed under the weight of that predicament. The boat represented the Church of God, holding all the faithful ones together, and inside the Church indeed, we have people with various backgrounds and faith profiles, and truly, not everyone had a strong faith in God.

We are indeed struggling, trembling with fear and uncertainty, and our faith can be shaken at times, especially when life’s troubles catch up with us. And that is when the storm frightens us, and we fear of losing our grip and falling into the darkened water. But if only that we can put our trust in the Lord, then truly we should not need to fear anything at all.

The Gospel and the Scripture passages today are indicative of this, as they pointed out to us how God Who loves us all and cares for all of us had provided for us through what He has given us in Jesus Christ, His love made flesh, and through Him therefore, we may have hope amidst the dark and dangerous storms of this world. He is our anchor, our hope and our salvation, a paragon of certainty amidst our fears, insecurities and uncertainties.

Therefore, today, as we live in today’s ever more uncertain world filled with all sorts of wickedness and evil, with all sorts of darkness and challenges, let us all remember that in all things, even in the moments of the greatest danger, nothing can harm us if we put our trust in our Lord Jesus, in Whom we can confide ourselves perfectly and in Whom lies our salvation and our path to eternal joy.

Just as He calmed the storm, ordered the wind to cease and the waves to stop beating and rocking on the boat, Jesus too will be our certainty amidst a time of fear and uncertainty, that through Him, our unshaken faith will prevail against all that this world and the devil may throw against us, and no matter how dark the moment is, there is always hope in our Lord.

Let us no longer fear the things that the world can do on us, and let us not be afraid to face the evils and the challenges that it had fielded against us. But let us all devote ourselves all the more to our Lord Jesus, and in all the things we say and do, let us all profess our eternal commitment and faith to Him, He Who had willingly come down upon us and dwell among us, so that by Him and His actions, He might save us from certain death. May God be with us all, now and forever.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the readings taken from the Holy Scriptures talking to us about the love of God, how the love of God had shown itself and manifested itself to us, in none other than Jesus Christ our Lord, the One Whom we celebrate in this Christmas season, for His coming into the world had brought God’s love itself upon us.

And we see one example of how God loved us all mankind in the Gospel reading today, where we heard the well-known story of how Jesus fed the multitudes of five thousand men, not including women and children, which would certainly add even much more to the number of those whom the Lord had fed with just five loaves and two fish.

The Lord Jesus saw the people who followed Him and listened to Him teaching for many days, and they were hungry, for although they heard the word of God and were satisfied in spirit, but they are still creatures of the flesh, and their flesh were weak, and they were hungry, just as we are all going to be hungry if we do not eat any food or little amount of food for quite a period of time.

And God was loving and merciful towards His children and His people, and that was why Jesus showed compassion and mercy on all those poor souls who hunger for food. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, blessed them and broke them into many pieces by His power and gave all the people to eat until they were all satisfied and full in their stomach, with even many pieces of bread and fish to spare.

This is how loving God is, but that is not just what God has loved us with, for the gift of the physical food that Jesus had done on that day with the five thousand men and countless other women and children were insignificant compared to what other things God had done for His people, that is for all of us. This is because, He has indeed spared nothing but He gave Himself completely, in His own Body and Blood for us all to eat and partake, that all of us may have life in us.

Yes, this is the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, which our priests during each Holy Mass offered in union with that ultimate sacrifice on the cross, when our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself all of our sins and all the punishments due to our sins, and being lifted up high on the cross, He gave up His own life for our sake, that through His death, and by the shedding and thus the sharing of His Body and Blood, all may have a share in the life of His resurrection.

All of us who believed in God and who faithfully obeyed His laws and teachings through the Church, and who have shared in the Most Holy Eucharist with proper decorum and being worthy of it, have been blessed with this life which our Lord promised to all those who have faith in Him. He dwells in us just as we all dwell in Him, and united to Him Who is the Lord of all life, we have the promise of everlasting life through Him.

Today, as we heard the words of the Holy Scriptures, let us all reflect on what we have heard, and think of how we have all lived our lives, in our actions, words and deeds. Have we been faithful to God in all things? Or have we allowed our worldly concerns and desires to cloud our judgments and be unfaithful in what we do or say? As we continue on the season of Christmas and rejoice in the coming of the Lord Jesus, these are important questions that we really should ask ourselves.

This is because He Who have once come in a manger through the Blessed Virgin Mary, Who have suffered and died for us all, and Who rose from the dead in glory and ascended into Heaven in might, will come again for certain just as He had promised. If He comes again, at a time which we do not know or expect, and He finds us empty of faith and action based on that faith which we should have for Him, then what can we expect of what He will do with us?

If we want a part in God’s kingdom and be sharers of His love and blessings, then all of us should from now on reorientate our lives and refocus them in order to attune ourselves to the way of the Lord, and that in all the things we say and do, we may glorify God and proclaim His truth to the nations. May God awaken in all of us the love and the devotion which all of us ought to have for Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 4 January 2016 : Monday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue on from the Solemnity of the Epiphany which we have just celebrated yesterday, we revel in the knowledge of God Who had revealed Himself to all of us, the truth about His love and the truth about the salvation which He had readily made available to all of us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The nature of the Epiphany and its celebration is about revelation, from which it got its name. The Lord Who was once not visible and intangible to us, had made Himself tangible and visible, by His incarnation in Jesus Christ, Who was God, is God, and will always be God, and yet by His assumption of the flesh of men, and by His birth through His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, He became Man and walked on this earth just as we do.

The Lord showed His love to us through Jesus, Who went about healing the sick, not just from the sickness of the flesh, but also from the sickness of the soul, that is our sins. He fed His people and led them to the right paths by His words of truth that did not mince any of its words and their meanings. He is the Good Shepherd Who leads all of God’s beloved flock to return to the embrace of God our loving Father and Creator.

And we rejoice because of this, our Christmas joy that continues to be strong and vibrant. The Lord Jesus and His salvation is our true Christmas joy, and not all the things we in the world often associate with Christmas and how it is usually celebrated. It is not a celebration of fun and merrymaking, partying or revelry, or holidays or anything related to the way Christmas is often portrayed, but it is indeed a celebration of God’s love.

The readings from the Holy Scriptures today place a great importance in this fact, with the prophet Isaiah who wrote about a great Light that was to come to a people living in darkness, and how that light would enlighten the paths of those who dwell in the darkness, and how the darkness would give way to the true Light through which men would find their way to the Lord.

Jesus is that Light, the Saviour Who had come to rescue all those who are still lost in the darkness and in the uncertainties of the world. Through Him, God reached out to His beloved people, who although they have erred in their ways and lost their path, but they are truly still deserving of His mercy and love, as long as they are willing to listen to the Lord’s calls for their repentance and thus accordingly repent from their sins.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the Scripture readings today, let us all ask ourselves, in our own words, actions and deeds, whether we have done what we can do, in order to help the Lord’s efforts in reaching out to the last, the lost and the least of His beloved people. Have we been welcoming to our brethren who seek to be reunited with God, or do we instead reject them?

Have we been forthcoming in our actions to seek out those who have yet to know of the Lord and His salvation? Have we endeavoured to make these all available for them? It is our duty and responsibility as those whom God had called and chosen out of this world as His disciples, to bring even more souls into the salvation that can only be found in the Lord, our God.

May Almighty God bless us in our works and efforts, and let us commit ourselves anew to bring the Good News to all those who have yet to hear of it, and then also practice our faith in our own lives, in all that we say and do, so that through us, God may show His salvation and His truth to His people, and more and more souls will be saved from the threat of eternal damnation and hellfire. God be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 January 2016 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we glorify God and praise Him together in the occasion of His glorious moment of Epiphany, the time when He revealed Himself to the people, the true nature of His coming and His birth through the Three Magi, or the Three Wise Kings of the east and their respective gifts, each of which bear very significant symbolism of His nature and truth.

Today, we heard the well-known story of how the three people, either learned and wise men or kings from the east, came to Bethlehem following the very bright star that appeared during about the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and seeing that star, they knew that someone with great power and authority is coming into the world although they did not know who this One would be.

They came to Bethlehem from their faraway country, braving difficult conditions and tough travel, long journeys and arduous paths in order to seek the King Who was prophesied to come into the world. And this is why, the star in our Christian teachings and understanding, specifically the Star of Bethlehem is the symbol of faith, for it represented the faith of the Magi who was though not counted among the chosen people of God, the Israelites, but they believed and made the effort to come and pay obeisance to Him.

And the Magi came to Bethlehem, found the Baby Jesus in the manger with His mother Mary and with Joseph, His foster father. The Magi then paid Him homage and honour due to a King, and not just a King, for we see their offerings to Jesus, which gave us a revelation of Who Jesus really is. These are the gifts of gold, of frankincense, and of myrrh.

Gold is a precious metal which had been revered and treasured since the ancient times due to its beauty and lustre. The magnificent shine of gold and its incorruptibility had been the properties that many people had used to denote something that is great and precious, and over time, the use of gold denotes wealth, greatness, and then in particular, its use is regulated and sometimes reserved only for the king and the royalty.

Yes, the gift of gold by the Magi to the Baby Jesus revealed to us all, to all mankind that even though as a fragile Baby, the Son of Man, He was born among animals in the filth of a stable, in great poverty, but He was truly a King, King of all kings, Who did not choose to be born in pomp and grandeur, but to be born among His people, as all men were.

The gift of gold revealed Jesus to the world as a King, not as one of the kings of the world who flaunted their wealth and power to sustain their prestige and position, but as the true King Whose authority is absolute over the whole world. And yet, He chose to lower Himself and humble Himself, by being born in such a simple place and in such a circumstance, because He loves us all and He came into this world with a mission, which I will elaborate further in a while.

Then the three Magi also offered frankincense to the Baby Jesus, a curious gift indeed for a baby. But frankincense represented yet another aspect of Jesus that was revealed to the world through that gift. Incense were usually made from natural sources such as dried amber or tree secretions, and other sources such as fragrant wood materials that were then burnt as either perfume to remove bad odour or as offerings for the gods and the idols.

And frankincense is the finest quality incense that were around, and the gift of frankincense to the Baby Jesus revealed to all mankind, that He is God, a Divine being surpassing everything else. Yes, indeed, for He is the One Who created everything that ever existed, now exists and will exist. He is the one and only true God, to Whom only all honour, praise and glory should be directed to.

And just as incense is used in our worship, in the celebration of the Holy Mass and on other occasions, as the symbol of the offering of our prayer to God and as a way to honour the Lord our God, thus the Magi offered the finest frankincense to Jesus to worship Him, the one true King of all kings, and Who is also the Lord God of all the universe, Who had chosen to come into the world, again for a mission that is related to the last gift of the Magi.

The last gift is that of myrrh, a natural material used for preservation purposes, especially for burial in the preservation of the body of the dead before they were buried. This is certainly a gift that is completely out of place considered that it was given after a Baby was born, but this gift, just as that of the gold and the frankincense, was equally important, as this revealed to the whole world, just what Christ was to do in order to save it.

The gift of myrrh reminded us all about the mission which Jesus had taken upon Himself as He came into this world. It is a premonition of His suffering and death, which would take place at the very end of His earthly ministry, when He was rejected by His own people and were punished for the sins of the people, including the sins of those who have persecuted and rejected Him.

Yes, the gift of myrrh symbolised the death which Christ would pass through in order to save us and rescue us from our own fate of facing death, that is the eternal death and separation from the Lord. By His death which we share in our death in Him, had liberated all of us from the snares of death and gave us all a new hope, for now we know that through Jesus, death has no final say over us.

By His death, Christ had united all of us who share in His death and keep our faith in Him, and through His glorious resurrection from the dead, when He triumphantly destroyed and defeated death as well as all evils, He also brought all of His faithful ones into His victory and triumph, that we too will share in the joyous and bountiful graces of His promise of eternal life and blessings in heaven.

Therefore, today, on this Solemnity of the Epiphany, let us all reflect on our actions, so that in all the things that we do, we shall understand how much God has loved us that He had given us His own Son, Jesus to be our Saviour. It was because of His great love, that He, Who is King of all kings, King of the Universe and Almighty Creator God, had been willing and indeed willingly came down to us, assuming our humble human form, that as both Man and Divine, He ascended up the cross, and became our salvation.

Let us all therefore strive from now on, if we have not done so yet, to be good disciples and followers of our Lord in all the things we say and do, so that through us more and more people will come to believe in the Lord Jesus our Saviour and be saved through Him. May God be with all of us in this endeavour and strengthen our faith and devotion for Him always. Amen.