loving kindness

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Saturday, 11 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady and Popes)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the message of the Lord, through the Holy Scriptures and the Gospels, on the nature of our faith and salvation, and how we can attain that salvation through what we are doing in this life, not just based on any race or other passive benefits or factors, but through the commitment of actions that make our faith truly alive in God.

In the first reading today, St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Galatia showed how while in the past, God revealed His Law to His people to guide them and prevent them from going astray from the path towards salvation, but the coming of Christ, the Messiah and Saviour of all, gave mankind a new focus of their faith and devotion. For God Himself had come down upon us, in our humble form, to save us from our fate that was death and oblivion.

There was also to be no more division and prejudice, or any difference in treatment between those in the society, based on either race or birth, based no longer on either status or wealth or possessions. What matters is truly whether one believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if one believes, and lives according to that faith which they have, then they are guaranteed salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

That was because, the Jews, who were descendants of Abraham, the faithful servant of God, with whom He had made His covenant with, were proud and prejudiced against their neighbours, thinking that as the heirs and sons of Abraham, they alone deserved salvation, and the others, the Gentiles, namely the Greeks, the Samaritans, Romans, Arabs, Canaanites, and others whom they considered as pagans and barbarians deserved eternal damnation.

Yet, Jesus made it clear in the Gospel, that blessing is upon those who follow the will of God, who walk in His ways, and who practice their faith in the real life, showing that their faith is truly real, concrete and dynamic. Yes, not the dead and stagnant faith shown by lack of action, by mere lip service of faith, and not by prejudicing against others or condemning others or glorifying oneself thinking that one is worthy of salvation, while others do not.

Therefore, today we are all called to reflect on our own lives, whether in all things we do, we have been truly faithful to the Lord, not just by mere faith or words, but also through actions founded in faith, filled with hope, and blessed and graced by love. This is what is necessary for us to attain our salvation, and blessed we are indeed if we listen to Jesus and what He had said, instead of following our own desires and wants.

Today, we celebrate together with the whole Universal Church, the feast of Pope St. John XXIII, the successor of St. Peter the Apostle, and one of the great and holy Popes of the twentieth century after the birth of Christ. Pope St. John XXIII, who was also called the ‘Good Pope’, was chiefly remembered for his role in convoking and gathering the latest Ecumenical Council of the Holy Roman Church, that is the Second Vatican Council, which lasted from 1962 to 1965, but in fact, his holiness stemmed not just from that act, but also from the actions which he had taken for the entire course of his life.

The life and examples of Pope St. John XXIII, the Good Pope, il Papa Buono, can be an inspiration for us all, as ever since he was born of a poor peasant family in the village and commune of Sotto il Monte, in the province of Bergamo in northern Italy as Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, he had led a very faithful and devoted life to God. He was poor, just as his family was poor, but together they as a family lovingly devoted themselves to God.

At a certain moment in his youth, the young Angelo encountered experience in faith, by those whom he met, including his uncle, which encouraged him to consider giving himself to the service of God. As his family was poor, and peasant youths were considered important assets to help out in work, his parents were reluctant to let him to go and join the seminary.

Nevertheless, in the end, God had His way, and Angelo managed to join the seminary, studying intently and eventually was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Bergamo. He eventually became the secretary of the local ordinary, Bishop Radini-Tedeschi, who was a relatively obscure individual compared to his later famous protege, but the one who had great influence on Angelo and his later great works.

Bishop Radini-Tedeschi encountered a great workers and union strike in accordance to the poor living conditions and treatment of workers by the government of that era, in the early twentieth century, and Bishop Radini-Tedeschi faithfully and tenderly exercised his works as the shepherd of his flock, calling for restraint and restoration of order while calling for reforms and great improvement in the treatment of workers. He even donated his own personal wealth to help the poor workers made their ends meet.

All these inspired the young Angelo Roncalli, the later Pope St. John XXIII, as he later was made Archbishop and appointed as the Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria, and later to Greece and Turkey. During his diplomatic missions in the service of the Church, Archbishop Roncalli did many great works, establishing links and friendship with the separated brethren of faith in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and during his mission in Greece and Turkey, even saved many Jews from the actions of the German NAZI who was bent on annihilating them as a race in the holocaust.

In his later mission as the Apostolic Nuncio to France, Archbishop Roncalli continued to do many good works, establishing links and relationship with the French government, including dealing with the difficult leader of France, Charles de Gaulle, who wanted to reduce the influence of the Church of Rome in the affairs of the Church in France.

And eventually, as the Patriarch of Venice and a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli continued to exercise the good works which he had done earlier in his earlier posts and ministries, and which eventually he continued when he was elected Pope in 1958 to succeed the great Pope Pius XII, the Pastor Angelicus, or the Angelic Pope.

Pope St. John XXIII continued to lead the Church faithfully, and he was particularly concerned with the restoration of relations with the Eastern Church, as he had experienced earlier during his time in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, in the relationships he had made with the prelates and faithful of the Eastern Church at the time. And then he was also concerned about the state of the Church, and the need for a continuation of the unfinished works of the First Vatican Council, which was prematurely ended due to the events at that time.

Thus, Pope St. John XXIII convoked the gathering of the Second Vatican Council, which commenced in 1962, and which sessions was started and opened by the Pope himself, which meeting was to continue until 1965, and concluded by Pope Paul VI, his successor as Pope St. John XXIII passed away in 1963, before the conclusion of the Ecumenical Council which he had initiated.

Pope St. John XXIII also was renowned for his role in helping to reduce tension between the superpowers, namely the United States of America and the Soviet Union, which almost ended up in a major war, during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. One of the last major acts of Pope St. John XXIII was the peace which he helped broker between the two sides, and which was the major reason behind the Papal encyclical he released in 1963, the famous Pacem in Terris, or ‘Peace on earth’.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as I have mentioned, that the actions of Pope St. John XXIII are examples to all of us, and through them, we should also be inspired to follow in his footsteps, that our faith may grow stronger and that in our devotion, we may be found justified in our faith by the Lord our God. Remember, brethren, that we have to have a living faith in us, so that our faith will not be just empty, but be real and concrete.

May Almighty God, who sees the faith and commitment which Pope St. John XXIII, also see the faith that is in us, and therefore may grant us the inheritance and reward which He promised us through Jesus Christ His Son. May we all come ever closer to His loving embrace, seeking His mercy and be made righteous once again. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 10 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are given a plain, clear and stern warning, that we have a clear choice in life, whether we choose to obey the Lord and His will and walk in His ways, or we can choose to walk in the ways of this world, following the whim of our desires and wants in life, and thus we gain the enjoyment of this worldly life, but we lose out in the life of the world to come.

Those who are not righteous and who allow themselves to be taken over by the lies of Satan will perish, and the curse of sin will be with them. They will not have any part in the inheritance of the Lord, the promise of eternal life and happiness which He had revealed through Jesus and sealed through the loving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And all who believe in Him will be saved.

That is because, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we have fallen into sin and evil ever since the very first time when we disobeyed the Lord, and through that we have lost our right to receive the inheritance which God had promised mankind. Men were not made to suffer the consequences of sin and suffer death and pain. Men were destined for happiness as the greatest and most beloved of God’s creations, but instead, in the free will which He had given us, we chose to pick the temporary pleasures of the flesh rather than the eternal pleasure of the soul.

But God did not give up on us, for He is indeed our loving Father and Creator, who would not suffer to see us fall into eternal damnation with the devil who had brought us to our downfall. Instead, He gave us a new opportunity through the covenant which He had made with Abraham, our father in faith and the father of many nations. The faith and devotion which he showed in life had gained justification and righteousness for him and those who are his descendants.

However, being descendants of Abraham by virtue of birth does not guarantee us salvation, as Jesus once rightly said to the people of Israel who were defiant against Him, that even God could raise the children of Abraham from mere rocks, when they boasted of their status and their supposed privilege as the children of Abraham. That was because while they claimed to be children of Abraham by birth, their actions suggested otherwise. Abraham himself would be ashamed to have them as his descendants!

As the Holy Scriptures had mentioned, that all of us mankind who have done God’s will and obeyed Him in the things which He had asked from us, even though we may not be counted among the tribes of Israel, but if we have done as God had commanded us, just as Abraham had done, then we deserve and are indeed counted together among the children of Abraham, and hence we will also deserve the inheritance promised by God to us.

God also renewed the covenant which He had first established with Abraham, after his descendants reneged on their part of the covenant due to their unfaithfulness, and in order to fulfill the promise made to men at the beginning of time, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and God, as our Saviour. Christ became the hope to all who remain faithful in the Lord and reject the ways of Satan.

For Jesus Christ followed the will of God His Father perfectly, and obeyed even until suffering death, for the sake of all of us mankind. That while the old Adam and the descendants of Abraham disobeyed God and spurned His love, the new Adam, that is Christ, is perfect in obedience and love for God, so that through Him mankind is made well again, and worthy of the inheritance promised to them, because Christ had taken flesh, and the Word was made Man.

Nevertheless, as we can see in the Gospel, there are always dissenters who refused to believe in the truth of Christ and they preferred to follow the whims of their flawed humanity, and preferred to be lead by the lies and comforts promised by Satan, just as their ancestors had done before. This was what happened, when the Israelites refused to believe in the miracles of Jesus, accusing Him of casting out demons by the power of demons because in their hardened heart, they failed to see Christ as He was.

Thus, brothers and sisters, the readings of this day serve as a stern reminder to all of us, that we should keep all of our ways within what the Lord had instructed us, and we should not allow ourselves to be bought off by the tricks and the lies of Satan, who will tirelessly indeed continue his assaults on us, to wrench us away from the safety and salvation in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we stay faithful, and do all that is good and righteous, then we will be counted among the children of Abraham, and the Lord who had established His new covenant with us, by the shedding of His Blood on the cross, will make us inheritors of our promised rewards. However, if we do not remain faithful and turn our back on Him, then He will also turn His back against us, and we will be cast away from His presence into eternal damnation.

Lastly, Jesus our Lord also reminded us of a very important fact, when the people accused Him of using devil to fight against other devils. He pointed out how a house will not be able to remain standing if it is divided against each other. Thus, if all of us the children of God are not able to remain united, either because of hatred, jealousy, prejudice, arrogance or many other lies and evils Satan planted in our hearts, then we are in great danger to succumb to the assaults of Satan against the people of God.

Thus, let us today renew our commitments to the Lord, that we will be truly faithful to Him, and that we will work together as one whole community of the Church, to resist together and rebuke Satan together as one. May Almighty God guard us always, protect us from the evil one, and awaken in us the faith of our father in faith, Abraham, His faithful servant, that we may all partake fully in the inheritance promised to us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 10 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 15-26

At that time, yet some of the people said about Jesus, “He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons.” Others wanted to put Him to the test, by asking Him for a heavenly sign.

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, “Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan is also divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul? If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.”

“But if I drive out demons by the finger of God; would this not mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you? As long as a man, strong and well armed, guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on, and disposes of his spoils.”

“Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me, scatters. When the evil spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through dry lands, looking for a resting place; and finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds the house swept and everything in order. Then it goes to fetch seven other spirits, even worse than itself. They move in and settle there, so that the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

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Friday, 10 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Galatians 3 : 7-14

Understand then that those who follow the way of faith are sons and daughters of Abraham. The Scriptures foresaw that by the way of faith, God would give true righteousness to the non-Jewish nations. For God’s promise to Abraham was this : ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’

So now those who take the way of faith receive the same blessing as Abraham who believed; but those who rely on the practice of the Law are under a curse, for it is written : ‘Cursed is everyone who does not always fulfill everything written in the Law.’

It is plainly written that no one becomes righteous, in God’s way, by the Law : ‘by faith the righteous shall live.’ Yet the Law gives no place to faith, for according to it : ‘the one who fulfills the commandments shall have life through them.’

Now Christ rescued us from the curse of the Law by becoming cursed Himself for our sake, as it is written : ‘there is a curse on everyone who is hanged on a tree.’ So the blessing granted to Abraham reached the pagan nations in and with Christ, and we received the promised Spirit through faith.

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Thursday, 9 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are both reminded of the fact that temptations are always around us and they will always threaten to sever us from the connection of love which is between us and our God. St. Paul in his letter to the faithful and the Church in Galatia rebuked the people severely, after their unfaithfulness and submission to their human desire and the pleasures of the flesh, abandoning what is good for what is wicked and evil.

And the rest of the readings, including the Gospel as written by St. Luke mentioned how God is like our Father, who cared for us and loved us so much, that He would indeed give us all many things that we need, and we have nothing to worry about or fear, for our God will be with us and guide us. What we need is to have faith in Him, and put our trust completely in Him, rather than in the worldly things which the evil one is trying very hard to impose upon us.

But many of us do not know how to ask God our Father for what we need. Instead, as we grow, we become more and more affected by the world and all its corruptions, resulting in us becoming like a spoilt child, crying and causing wreckage all around us whenever what we want is not fulfilled. Thus is the same with our attitude in life, and how we live our faith life.

Just like the faithful in Galatia at the time of St. Paul, we often let go of our restraint and faith, taking pleasure in indulging ourselves with the goods of the world, with the pleasures of the flesh, so that we who were once good and faithful, had been defiled by the darkness of the evils we had committed. This resulted in us being separated from the grace and love of God, and if nothing is done, we will indeed come under great threat of damnation before us.

Therefore, what Jesus wanted to tell His disciples, and as well as what He wants to tell us through them, is that we ought to follow the Lord, not just with empty lip-service or superficial faith, but also through real and concrete devotion, filled with the acts of faith. And in that faith, we ought to listen to God, and know what our Lord and loving Father wants from us. He cares for us, and He will love us and bless us if we devote ourselves completely and entirely to Him, turning away from our ways of sin and evil.

Today we celebrate the lives of two great saints, whose life may indeed inspire us on how we ought to live out our faith. They are St. Denis, whose name is the patronymic for the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, France today. St. Denis and his companions in faith were martyred approximately at the time of the reign of the Emperor Decian of the Roman Empire in the middle of the third century after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, St. John Leonardi, also known as St. Giovanni Leonardi is an Italian priest who lived during the Counter Reformation era in Italy, where he was a crucial member of the efforts of the Church to reclaim countless souls from the heretical and misguided lead of the so-called ‘reformation’ by the Protestant heretics and schismatics. He also founded a community of the faithful, in which he led the effort to strengthen the foundations of their faith, by living in good devotion to the Lord and to His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

St. John Leonardi devoted himself to the education and guidance of youths and many others, so that they might find their way towards the Lord, through sincere and devout commitment to prayerful life and loving acts to others, so that by such cultivation of good deeds and efforts, those whom St. John Leonardi had touched may find the salvation of their souls in God.

Meanwhile, St. Denis was the evangeliser sent by the Pope in Rome to the faithful and the community of the people in Gaul, the Roman province now known as France, where he was sent with several other priests and preachers to bring many souls to the Faith and salvation in Jesus Christ. During his ministry there, the Roman Emperor at the time, Emperor Decius, carried out an Empire-wide persecution of the faithful, in what was later known as the Decian persecution, where many martyrs of the Faith were born.

St. Denis and his companions were arrested, rounded up and imprisoned, before they were brought for execution for their faith and for their evangelising works. St. Denis was beheaded, but even so, even after he was beheaded, he was able to walk holding up his own separated head on his hands, and continued to walk, speak and preach the word of God until a few kilometres away from his execution place. This miracle of the speaking head after beheading, or cephalophore was widely witnessed and reported by contemporaries.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we see in their examples, the love and devotion which God has for all those who put their trust and faith in Him, that these people who depended on Him will not be disappointed. They will be blessed and bountiful will be their reward, just as St. Denis received through his perseverance and martyrdom, a just reward of heavenly glory and eternal life, as well as St. John Leonardi, through his works and devotion towards the salvation of souls.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all keep always in mind that we need to preserve this faith which we received from God, and follow the Lord in all things, casting away all of the pride within our hearts, all of the wicked and unworthy desires for the pleasures of the flesh, so that we, as the children of God, may find our way to the Lord, our Father, and gain salvation in Him, He who loves us all and wants us reunited with Him.

May Almighty God, our Father, continue to watch closely over us, protect us from the assaults of Satan and his angels, and guide us through towards eternal life in Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 9 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 5-13

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is travelling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.’ Maybe your friend will answer from inside, ‘Do not bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I cannot get up and give you anything.'”

“But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need. And so I say to you, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.'”

“If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

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Thursday, 9 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

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Wednesday, 8 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Scriptures, in the first reading, in the letter which St. Paul addressed to the Church in Galatia, on the conflict which existed even among the Apostles, and of the good works which they had performed among the people of God, teaching and spreading the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, indeed, the Apostles themselves were still human, although they had indeed been blessed and inspired by the Holy Spirit which they had received together at the day of the Pentecost, and which they spread to those chosen to be Apostles and leaders by the laying on of the hand. The Holy Spirit strengthened and guided them in their actions, but they were still humans after all, even that of St. Paul.

It was human nature for them to feel fear and insecurity, which sometimes may lay in the way of the good works of the Lord, as St. Paul put it, in how Peter, the chief of the Apostles acted in such a way to the people of God, to those among the faithful who did not belong to the Jewish race, in a prejudiced and biased manner, to please those who came from Jerusalem.

It is in our human nature to think first about our own self-preservation and for our own safety and benefits first before thinking about others. We are by nature selfish and proud of ourselves, which if we can see, even St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians espoused this, in his manner to establish how his own actions compared to that of Peter was righteous and just.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be in constant touch with our Lord and God, so that we may always be reminded our own frailties and insecurities, and also reminded of what God has in stock for us, and as well as the nature of our God, that is mercy and love. He is loving just as He is forgiving, and to all those who walk in His ways, He would grant them much grace and blessings. He provides for us all in all things, so that we really have no need to worry or fear.

And today Jesus showed us in the Gospel, how to pray to the Lord, with proper disposition and attitude, which will definitely bring spiritual goodness to our hearts, minds and souls. We may think that we know how to pray, and we may think that we do not need to be coached and taught on how to do so, but that is where we are again very, very wrong.

If we notice, many of us when we pray, we end up in creating a litany of requests and demands, asking God to fulfill and heed to our wishes and wants. As a result, our prayers became insincere, and what ought to be a communication and loving contact between us and our Father in heaven, who loves us and cares for us, end up being like a spoilt child crying for demands to be fulfilled by his parents.

That is why, the Lord’s Prayer, Pater Noster, the prayer which Jesus taught His disciples is the perfect prayer, which establishes between us the crucial link with God our Father, beginning by extolling His greatness and holiness, as well as showing our perfect and complete obedience to His will and graces, which He as the Lord of all heaven and earth, has right to justify all that He has planned for us.

And instead of boasting of our achievements and demanding from Him what we want to have in life, we should rather give thanks to Him for His provision in our lives, that in our daily lives, we have enough to live for ourselves, and if we do not have enough, that He moved the hearts of those around us to help us make ends meet in this life, just as He moved those with excess to generously give part of what they have more.

And ultimately, that we seek God’s mercy for the sins and wrongs we have committed in the course of our lives. Our days do not pass without us committing sins and unworthy things, and no matter how small they are, they bar us from proceeding forward to be closer to God. And we have committed sins and cause injury, both physical and mental, to our brethren around us, just as they have done the same unto us.

If we persist in our hatred and unwillingness to forgive one another, this will merely lead to more and more pain and suffering among us, which will lead to even more sin and darkness in our lives, that will end up separating us further and further from the love of God and bring us ever closer to the brink of damnation. Thus, it is beautiful and wonderful indeed if we can truly forgive one another, that is to forgive each other the sins and mistakes.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, we who are all children of God, the members of His Church, we must all stand together as one. Do not let our ego and Satan break our unity and strength. Let us all forgive one another when we committed any wrongs or mistakes, and let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord, by spending precious time with Him, in deep and genuine prayer, not for our own needs and desires, but for our spiritual growth and salvation in God.

May Almighty God, our Father who is in heaven, forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven others who have sinned against us, and may He never cease to love us and grant us His daily blessings. God be with us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all celebrate with the whole Church, the feast of our Lady of the Rosary, that is we celebrate the Blessed Mother of our Lord herself, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom we always ask for intercession and help, whenever we pray the holy rosary. Today we are reminded on the good qualities of Mary and why we ask for her intercession, to help us on our path towards salvation in God.

And why is today selected as the day to remember this very important nature and use of the holy rosary? That is because the holy rosary is a powerful tool of prayer, and when used right, it will help us to fortify ourselves against the forces and the assaults of Satan, by asking for the help and intercession of the Blessed Mother of our God, the one who is nearest to the throne of her own Son, praying and interceding for us all the time.

And today marked the anniversary of the great victory of the faithful against the threat of the great forces of evil and infidels, in the Battle of Lepanto, the renowned great battle in which the combined forces of the faithful from all over Christendom defeated the great force of the Islamic Ottoman Empire, conqueror of the Christian city of Constantinople, the scourge of Christendom and the Empire of the heathens. This victory marked the turning point in which, the faithful triumphed against their enemies.

The Pope at the time, Pope St. Pius V, dedicated the great victory to the Blessed Virgin, and attributed it to her constant intercession for the faithful ones of her Son, through the holy rosary, at the time when Christendom was threatened with oblivion and darkness, when the forces of the enemies of the Lord were advancing. The holy city and capital of the Roman Empire of Constantinople had fallen to their advance, and as the tide went on, it seemed as if it was inevitable that the rest of Christendom would also fall to the same force.

The intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the faith of the people of God eventually triumphed over the forces of the evil one. And this is because of the promise which God had granted mankind and all of His faithful, that He would give them hope through the Saviour, also called the Messiah, who He promised to the people who had fallen into the darkness of evil and sin.

When mankind first fell into sin, they have lost the inheritance and the promise shown to them, as they became unworthy due to their lack of faith and inability to listen to the will of God, and rather they followed and listened to the sweet lies of Satan instead. But God reminded both men and Satan after that unfortunate event, that while mankind would suffer the consequence of their disobedience, that is to suffer the difficult life in the world, but salvation would come through them.

The Lord said that while Satan the snake would trouble mankind and cause problem to them, a Son would be born from the woman, and that the woman would crush the head of the snake. This woman in fact referred to the very one whom the Lord had chosen among many, to be the instrument of His salvation, that is Mary, the mother of Jesus. It was her and her Son’s actions and deeds which counteracted the evils which our first ancestors had committed, and thus in the process, gained for us a renewed hope in God.

The obedience and faith of Mary, which she showed perfectly when the Archangel Gabriel came to her with the surprising and unprecedented news, the Good News of the coming of the long awaited Saviour, and that she would be the crucial cornerstone in the execution of the plan of salvation, by being the bearer of the Saviour Himself.

And unlike Eve who chose to listen to Satan instead of God, Mary listened obediently to God’s will, and rather than succumbing to the temptation of her flesh, like that of Eve and Adam, who were tempted by the temptation of knowledge and power, Mary declared obediently, that she was the handmaid of the Lord, and all that God wills for her, she will have it done unto her.

And it was also the obedience of Jesus our Lord, who listened and obeyed the Lord till the end, even unto death. Remember what Jesus had done in the agony which He went through in the Garden of Gethsemane? He was indeed tempted to forgo such a great burden He was to bear for the sake of all our sins. Imagine the weight of all of our sins, from our youth to our old age, all mankind combined together as one, and that combined weight of sin burdened on Jesus.

But Jesus did not complain, and through His obedience, He gained favour with God, and through His sacrifice on the cross, He gained for us salvation and eternal life for all of us who believe in Him and put our trust in Him. He is the new Adam who obeyed in His fullest to the Lord, in contrary to the old Adam who disobeyed and sinned before the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, on this day, we call into our mind this fact, that we all are sinners, and yet if we obey the Lord in all things as Mary had done, and as Jesus Himself had done, we will be assured of safety and salvation in God. However, we have to also keep in mind that the evil one, Satan, who is always desiring to bring about the downfall of every mankind is always lurking around us, seeking to tempt us into sin.

That is why it is recommended that all of us pray the holy rosary regularly, and if we do so, the rosary is a powerful tool against the advances of Satan, just like forces of the faithful who prayed and asked for the intercession of the Lord and His blessed mother before the great battle against the forces of the unbelievers and the followers of Satan.

And triumph and victory was given by the Lord to His faithful, just as decisively as Jesus had defeated Satan forever through His triumphant resurrection from the dead, by which He liberated all mankind from the bonds of their original sins and granted new hope to all those who believe in Him.

It is indeed important to take note that we should make use of the rosary meaningfully. Praying it for the sake of praying and praying for the sake of saying the prayer is meaningless. Rather, when we pray the rosary, let us be like our mother Mary in heaven, who is ceaselessly praying for us, interceding for us, and begging for our sake the sinners, just as she had done in Cana, on behalf of the wedding couple in distress.

Let us therefore from now on, especially on this day too, pray the holy rosary regularly, sincerely and devotedly, that we may honour Mary our mother, and the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, for her model in faith and obedience to God, and at the same time, also ask her sincerely to intercede on our behalf, that as she is the closest to the throne of the Lord, she may be our greatest defender against the evils of Satan.

May Almighty God therefore, awaken the zeal and love we have for Him within our hearts, so that from now on, with the help of the devotion of the holy rosary, we may be brought ever closer to our Lord and God, and to His love, which He gave freely to us. God be with us all, brethren, now and forever. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 7 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 1 : 12-14

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is a fifteen minute walk away. On entering the city they went to the room upstairs where they were staying. Present there were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Alpheus; Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James.

All of these together gave themselves to constant prayer. With them were some women and also Mary, the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.