loving God

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Sunday, 2 March 2014 : 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Worry not, for God did not and never ever will He want to leave us uncared for unprovided. He loves all of us, just as He had always loved since the beginning when He created us. He provided for everything, and for us mankind, He had allocated many things to be our possession and inheritance, if only that we follow His ways and remain faithful to Him throughout the difficult times.

One thing which often clearly separated us from God is the concerns we have for the world and all of its goodness. We are often unable to detach ourselves from the desires of our heart, our eyes, and our stomachs, and we often succumb to these desires, ending up not following the Lord, but instead fall into the trap of the devil.

The devil offered us all many things that this world can offer, be it in food, in money and wealth, as well as in terms of illicit and dark pleasures of the flesh. These he offered us, that our minds be filled with desires and concerns for them, rather than be filled with the knowledge and the love for God. We often are ignorant of what goodness that the Lord had given us and the many blessings He had granted us every single moment of our life.

Remember this, our very life is not something for us to take for granted. We often forget that there is nothing greater in our lives than life itself. Our every breath that we take every second, every minute, and every hour, is a gift from God, that is a gift of life. We all have been given life by God, and we ought to recognise that fact. We are often too worried and concerned about many things that we end up forgetting that our life itself had been a great blessing to us.

Yes, brethren, without life, we would be nothing but one of the dead things in this world. It is life that differentiates us from them, and yet, there is an even greater gift God had given us. God has bestowed on each one of us, His own Spirit, that is the Spirit of life. He has breathed into us the spirit of life, that gave life to us, and made us special among all the other creations.

Although we were special, but we also followed the devil in his rebellion, which made us tainted and unworthy of God’s grace and perfection. Nevertheless, He continued to love us regardless, and He continued to care for us in the same way as before. He blessed us, watched over us, and protected us, and yet we often forget about His love and dedication for us.

It is often that we confuse and mix up what our needs are and what we want. It if often that we seek something that we desire, and often that this means material goods, wealth, or worldly fame and affluence. We prefer to seek these and seek solace in them rather than the One who had given us everything that is most important in our life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we be like those who choose this world over that of God? Shall we be lacking of gratitude to the One who had given us so much and yet much forgotten? Let us change our ways if we had done so, and from now on, put our trust ever greater in God.

May our Lord continue to provide for us, and strengthen us, in case we falter. Let us all be thankful to the Lord and receive His kindness to us, and from now on no longer be worrying about the world, but instead, let us live in the grace of God and let Him from now on guide our path, that we may walk towards Him and towards the eternal glory that He had promised us. Let us all give Him thanks and praise Him for His love. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 March 2014 : 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 6 : 24-34

No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money.

This is why I tell you not to be worried about food and drink for yourself, or about clothes for your body. Is not life more important than food, and is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not less worthy than they are?

Can any of you add a day to your life by worrying about it? Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at how the flowers in the field grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass in the field, which blooms today and is to be burnt tomorrow in an oven, how much more will He clothe you? What little faith you have!

Do not worry and say : What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Or  : What shall we wear? The pagans busy themselves with such things; but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God, and all these things will also be given to you.

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

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Sunday, 2 March 2014 : 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 61 : 2-3, 6-7, 8-9ab

My soul finds rest in God alone; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him comes my hope. He alone is my rock and my salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

On God rests my salvation and my honour; He is my refuge, my mighty Rock. Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him.

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Sunday, 2 March 2014 : 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 49 : 14-15

But Zion said : “YHVH has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”

Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you.

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Saturday, 1 March 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all know, that children are the greatest of the gifts of God to us. Children are the fruits of love, and they were born pure and innocent. Why are they then so great in their faith? That is because the faith of a child is the purest kind of faith, one that is unadulterated and untainted by the concerns and corruptions of this world.

The Lord Jesus showed His disciples, that if they reject these children, who came to Him in faith, that means they too also reject Him, because they failed to understand that their faith needs to be like these children’s faith. Faith is often clouded and hidden behind a thick cloud of darkness, that is the corruption of sin, and all the concerns of the world.

When we were all still a child, we do not have much worries and concerns. We do not have much things to think about, and like what many of us who have children will know, we understand that children wants just care, love and concern by their loved ones. They were innocent, pure, and if they believe in something, they truly believe in it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have our faith been like the faith of children? Or have our faith been muddled with the corruptions of the world? We have many good things in this world, all the pleasures and the joy that this world can offer. The wealth and prosperity which this world can give to us, if we follow the ways of the world.

But if we do so, then are we faithful to the ways of the Lord? The way of this world promotes excessiveness, it promotes self-indulgence and hedonistic lifestyle. It does not necessarily mean bad thing, but if we immerse ourselves too deeply with the concerns of this world, more likely than not, our faith will gradually wear down, and we will then prefer to walk on our own way.

We like to complain and be angry, especially at God, when we face difficulties in life. And we especially are angry with Him when we think that He had not heard us or abandoned us. We often question Him and His love for us, without realising that our every breath is the proof of God’s love and dedication for us.

When we pray and when we ask God for help, much of the time, we do not make those prayers in full sincerity. We pray because we need something, and we need that something be taken care of. Yet, we often fail to realise that prayer is mainly the means of communication between us and our Lord who loves us, so much that He wants to talk to us regularly and continuously. Yet, our stubbornness and lack of true faith prevent the Lord from speaking to us, and for us from listening to Him.

Brethren, this is how the Lord wanted to show us that we have many things we can learn from a child. In particular, we should be like a child in his or her faith. A child’s faith is pure, and untainted by human desires. While we are already tainted by the world and its desires, and by the power and influence of sin, what we can do, is to aspire towards having the faith of a child.

We should all aim to be faithful in the same way a child is faithful. We should unconditionally love and trust the Lord our God, without any hidden agenda or desires that keep us from having a pure faith in the Lord. If we are able to do that, then our lives will be more meaningful, because we will be firmly rooted in the Lord, and no matter what happened to us, we will always be strongly devoted to the Lord and His ways, and we will not be taken away from salvation due to us.

May the Lord therefore continue to foster in us, a strong love for Him, a constant and living faith, that we may persevere and indeed, grow further in our faith to Him. Let us also on our side, do our best to dedicate ourselves in love to the Lord and to His children, our own brothers and sisters. God be with us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brethren in Christ, today we are confronted with the reality of this world, that is the corrupting nature of wealth, affluence, and possessions. This does not necessarily mean that being wealthy is wrong, or being rich means one is automatically condemned. That is the flawed argument of those who did not understand the meaning of the Lord’s words.

This corruption instead befalls those whose faith are not strong in the Lord. The riches and material possessions themselves are pure and not faulty in themselves. It is how we as those who own them and use them that turn them into evil purposes. Remember though that wealth too can be turned into good purposes, as much as it can be turned for evil.

Indeed, what is important is that we keep ourselves pure and strong in the faith. Do not let the devil to come in and corrupt our hearts and minds. If we do so, then even if we have things and riches of this world, our heart will be more resistant to such attempts by the evil one to corrupt us. Remain pure! And remain faithful! Those are the messages that Christ wanted us to know, the key message that He wanted to deliver to us in the Gospel today.

Again, we cannot take the words of Christ at mere face value, or literally. We have  to understand what He truly meant. Does He mean that we have to literally chop off our hands if they have caused us to sin? The hands themselves are not at fault, just like our worldly wealth and riches. Does cutting our hands stop us from sinning, especially in our hearts?

Yes, brethren, sin originates in our hearts, which is then committed by our limbs and bodies, but this does not in itself condemn these to destruction. Remember brethren, that our hands and legs too can do great deeds, helping others and fulfilling the will of God. If we have chopped them off just because of one sin or a few, how are we going to use them for good things?

The key here is to genuinely change our hearts. We have to resolve to change our hearts, to turn our attention towards the Lord. We have to be consistent in our devotion to the Lord, and that begins from the heart, just as sins also begin from the heart. That is why we ought to seek profound change in ourselves, committing ourselves to a total change, that we will from now on, change ourselves to be truly servants and disciples of the Lord.

Let us change the purpose of whatever possessions we have with us. Let us change how we use whatever blessings and graces that had been granted us, that we may use it for good purposes. Brothers and sisters in Christ, be good, do good, and profess what is good, so that the Lord who sees what is good in us will grant us His blessings.

May the Lord bless us with His love, and may we all also be able to return Him the same love and devotion. Let us all profess our faith and love for He who has always been faithful and loving to us from the very start. May the Lord continue to guide us in our lives and strengthen our devotion towards Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 25 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Be righteous, be humble and be faithful. These are the key takeaways from today’s readings, from both the letter of St. James, urging us to seek the Lord and His will in our lives, and to be humble, and in the Gospel today, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, that we may have a genuine faith, that is like the faith of a young children.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the things that were reality at the time of Jesus, and indeed is still a reality even today. We squabble and fight with our own friends and neighbours, because we desire certain things, be it power, affluence, wealth, friendships, and many other things, and we as mankind, has in our nature to be greedy and to desire for more and more things.

And in the end we often miss the point on what it means to be the children and disciples of the Lord. We often seek power and glory, position and honour, that we often forget about the Lord. We did not keep faithful to His commandments but instead walk in our own ways, that is following the ways of this world, which include violence, hatred, prejudice and many other things.

We follow the ways of the world often because it offers us very many things, things that look beautiful and tempting in our eyes. It offers us influence, power, authority, wealth and other things that may prevent us from reaching out to the truth in God. The reality is that, while these things seem to be very enjoyable and pleasurable to us, they are merely temporary. The pursuit of these things will not bear us much fruits, other than bitterness and regret at the end of our lives.

For if we make friends with the ways of the world, in all its corruption by evil, then we are no longer following God or remain as His disciples. We instead walk in the rebellious path of the devil. And God does not want this to happen to us, and that is why He sent to us Jesus His own Son, to straighten the path for us and to make us aware what it truly means to be followers of the Lord.

We have to be genuine in our faith and love for God, and we have to change our mindset and actions, that we no longer adhere to the ways of the world, but instead follow the Lord in His ways and walk in His ways. We cannot be half-hearted in our faith, because we must be firm and strong in resisting the temptations and challenges of this world.

We have to put away our pride and dull the edge of our human ego. At the same time, we should also remain humble, and keep strong this humility at all times in our life. Pride and arrogance often separates us from the Lord, and they act as barriers preventing us from accessing the Lord, keeping us away from His salvation. Humility, on the other hand, allow us to open ourselves to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the Lord and His call. Let us not turn our back towards Him, and let us give Him our full attention without divide. We have to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, and practice it in our words, deeds and actions. As the prophet Micah said, let us walk humbly with our God, and let us follow Him with all of our hearts. Amen.

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Monday, 24 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ! Today we are taught how to be good disciples of the Lord. We are told what are the characteristics that make us children and servants of the Lord. We have to be humble and open to suggestions, listening to others’ opinions, and most importantly, to pray and pray seriously, and pray deeply with our hearts.

We have to get rid from ourselves all of our negative influences and emotions, ridding of ourselves from pride, arrogance, hatred, jealousy and many other things that prevent us from truly becoming good and holy servants of the Lord. We have to detach ourselves from many things of this world, and instead put ourselves ever closer to the Lord our God.

Our faith in God must be a living one, and must be an active one, which St. James, whose letter is in our first reading today, often emphasised in his writings. This faith must be based on genuine love we have for God and for His people, that is our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow mankind.

One way for us to be faithful to God is as often emphasised by St. James himself, is to love, that means to love one another, and to show it in all of our actions. However, we also need to pray, that is to devote ourselves to God in a deep conversation, from our heart to the heart of God. This is in essence what a prayer should be, and indeed prayers must not become a litany of demands and desires, but instead, prayers must be a genuine channel through which we communicate with God.

Through prayer, we strengthen ourselves, in terms of our spiritual defense and grace from God. We receive much grace and power through prayer, because it is through prayer that God gets into contact with us individually, and it also strengthen the anchor of faith that we have in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all reflect on the readings and their meaning to us today, let us take a look at our own lives, whether we have truly been committed to the Lord through prayer and action. We cannot separate one from the other, just as St. James had told us, that faith cannot be separated from action, and neither can good actions be truly separated from faith in God.

Have we been faithful to God and spend our precious time with Him? Have we been faithful and walk always in the ways of the Lord, showing it through concrete actions? If we have done these, then our faith is genuine and alive, and we are on the right track. Otherwise, change, brothers and sisters! Change and abandon all the wickedness of your past and go seek the Lord with all the strength that you have.

It may be a daunting task for us to do so, but if we do not begin even from simple and little things, we will never get things done. It has to begin now, and it can begin even by us spending small amount of time every day, especially before we are about to go to sleep, to quieten ourselves down, and to open our hearts to God. Forget about all the things that bother us in this world, and forget about all the business and the dealings that we have in our daily lives, just for a moment, and offer that time wholly to God.

If we do so, then we are on the right track. Have faith in the Lord, my brothers and sisters in Christ, open our hearts to Him and communicate intimately with Him, so that we may know what He wants from us, that we will be able to translate it into concrete actions, filled with love, both for God and for our fellow mankind. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 23 February 2014 : 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 5 : 38-48

You have heard that it was said : An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you this : do not oppose evil with evil; if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other. If someone sues you in court for your shirt, give him your coat as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give when asked, and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said : Love your neighbour and do not do good to your enemy. But this I tell you : Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun rise on both the wicked and the good, and He gives rain to both the just and the unjust.

If you love those who love you, what is special about that? Do not even tax collectors do as much? And if you are friendly only to your friends, what is so exceptional about that? Do not even the pagans do as much? As for you, be righteous and perfect in the way your heavenly Father is righteous and perfect.

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Saturday, 22 February 2014 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Peter 5 : 1-4

I now address myself to those elders among you; I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, hoping to share the Glory that is to be revealed. Shepherd the flock which God has entrusted to you, guarding it not out of obligation but willingly for God’s sake; not as one looking for a reward but with a generous heart.

Do not lord it over those in your care, rather be an example to your flock. Then when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will be given a crown of unfading glory.