mistakes

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

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very important feast in our Church and in our faith, that is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle. Some of you may ask, why do we celebrate the feast for a chair? What is its importance? That is because the Chair mentioned here is the Cathedra of St. Peter, the Cathedra Sancta Petri, the seat of St. Peter which is today at Rome, at the heart of Christendom.

The Cathedra symbolises the seat of the bishop, and therefore represents the teaching authority of the bishop in teaching the faith. This also applies therefore to St. Peter, who was the very first Bishop of Rome, and the Vicar of Christ, leader of all the Universal Church, the one whom Jesus had entrusted to lead and guide His beloved people, the faithful ones in the Church.

Therefore today, we commemorate the faith of Peter, the teaching authority and the very authority that had been granted to Peter by the Lord Himself. Peter had been set aside by the Lord to be the universal shepherd, the one and only leader of all His faithful, because of his frank and sincere profession of faith, which he made and which we witnessed in today’s Gospel.

Peter showed his faith by proclaiming without fear that Jesus is truly the Lord, the One whom God had sent into this world to save it. Peter is the rock upon which God had established His Church, to be the strong foundation for that Church, and as a focal point for all of His faithful, a point of reference and unity. That is why, our Pope, as his successor, is the leader of the entire Universal Church.

Peter was not perfect, and he had his flaws just as all of us do. He had wavered in his faith many times, and as you all knew, that he even denied knowing his Lord, not once but three times. And yet he was still chosen, and the Lord forgave him after His resurrection, asking him three times to show his love for Him, and in doing that forgave him and gave him a new task in life.

And Peter, being appointed to such an elevated position, did not take pride in it, but instead remained humble and serve the Lord with zeal and humility. Peter gave himself completely to the service of God, until the end, when he gave up his life in martyrdom in Rome. He worked hard for the spread of the Good News and for the good of the people of God.

When he was persecuted and about to die, when the Roman Emperor Nero pressed hard on Christians, Peter accepted the death gracefully and with great humility. He remained faithful to the end, and showing his faith, love and devotion to the Lord, when he was about to be crucified, he asked not to be crucified in the same way as Jesus and thus was crucified upside down.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this humble little man, Simon Peter the fisherman of Galilee, God had found a great servant and a holy person. He was called by Jesus to follow Him, and without question, he went to follow Jesus. Despite all the tribulations, temptations and downfalls that he had experienced, Peter persevered, and became the beacon of light for all the faithful.

As is often mentioned in the Scriptures, it is not man who decide to be worthy of. God, but it is in fact God who made mankind worthy and chose them to be His instruments for the salvation of mankind. Such was why the Apostles, in particular Peter were chosen. In them, who were lowly and humble men, God found the love and dedication which others did not or did not yet have.

Today, we celebrate this feast of the Chair of St. Peter to commemorate that glorification of the humble man, taken from Galilee to be the chief servant of the Lord, and became the foundation upon which the Church we know of today was built on. This small man God had made to be His right hand man, and to be the chief of the shepherds of His people, to fish them from all over the world, and bring them to Him.

Such was indeed the very heavy responsibility that Christ had entrusted to Peter, to be the cornerstone and the foundation of the Church that He had established in is world. And that responsibility is passed on through his successors down to his current successor, currently our Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ, and leader of the entire Universal Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today therefore pray for the Pope and all those who support him in his works, that he may persevere in the mission which the Lord had given him, that is to continue the works of St. Peter the Apostle. Just as St. Peter had been told to be a fisher of man, our Pope as his successor too is a fisher of man, still continuing the same mission Christ entrusted to Peter as the mission of His Church.

Yes, and we also have part to play in that mission, brethren, to be the fishers of men as well. It is also our mission to be the ones to spread the Good News to all parts of the world, especially to those who have yet to see the light of God. Let us keep alive our faith in God, and let us obey the teachings of the Church, which Peter and his successors has kept throughout time.

Today we commemorate the authority of Peter as the leader of the faithful, and it also serves as a reminder to keep us faithful to the Lord as Peter had been. It is alright for us to falter at times, because just like Peter, we are all also human beings, we are imperfect and we sin, we make mistakes. What is crucial is, can we turn that imperfection to perfection in Christ? Can we devote ourselves fully to God and change our ways as Peter had done?

May our Lord Jesus Christ see our love and devotion, and bless us as He had blessed Peter His Apostle. May our faith too grow strong with a strong foundation, that we will never go astray from the path of the Lord, and remain faithful to Him all our lives, and may return to Him if we have fallen away from His path. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 November 2013 : Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Christ the King (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 23 : 35-43

The people stood by, watching, as for the rulers, they jeered at Jesus, saying to one another, “Let the Man who saved others now save Himself, for He is the Messiah, the Chosen One of God!”

The soldiers also mocked Him and, when they drew near to offer Him bitter wine, they said, “So You are the King of the Jews? Free Yourself!” Above Jesus there was an inscription in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, which read, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals hanging with Jesus insulted Him, “So You are the Messiah? Save Yourself, and us as well!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Have you no fear of God, you who received the same sentence as He did? For us it is just : this is payment for what we have done. But this Man has done nothing wrong.”

And he said, “Jesus, remember me, when You come into Your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly, you will be with Me today in paradise.”

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Monday, 11 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 17 : 1-6

Jesus said to His disciples, “Scandals will necessarily come and cause people to fall; but woe to the one who brings them about. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck. Truly, this would be better for that person, than to cause one of these little ones to fall.”

“Listen carefully : If your brother offends you, tell him, and if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he offends you seven times in one day, but seven times he says to you, ‘I am sorry.’ Forgive him.”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!’ And it will obey you.”

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Tuesday, 4 June 2013 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

To Caesar, give to him what is his due, and to God, give to Him what is His due. Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the well-known tale from the Scripture, in which Christ countered the attempt of the Pharisees to test Him, by giving them a perfect answer which they could neither deny nor use against Him. Because Jesus did not say give all things to God or to the civil authorities, but give to each, what is due for each one.

Because if Jesus had said that we should not obey the civil or secular authority, the Pharisees and the chief priests would surely accuse Him to the Romans of inciting the people against them, and therefore would ask the Romans to punish Him. On the other side, if Jesus said that we should obey the civil authorities completely, which was actually disliked at the time, remembering that tax collectors were seen very negatively by the people at the time, the Pharisees too would accuse Jesus of colluding with the Romans and therefore was at fault.

That was why, Christ gave them the perfect answer, the truthful answer. What matters for us in this world is that we obey God, with all our hearts, our minds, and our soul, but in this world, we are not alone, or by ourselves only, for in this world, we also have the often secular, civil governments having power and authority over us, just as God has the power over all mankind and all governments of this world.

We should obey the rules and regulations of the civil authorities, as long as they do not violate our ultimate obedience to God. It is our right to choose out of the free will God has granted us all. But if the state and the nation do not reflect God’s will and love in their actions, we should be awakened to our conscience and our hearts, to not follow the same path, which will certainly lead to disobedience against the Lord.

But if the civil authorities are doing this for the good of all, and in accordance with God’s commandments of love, by all means we should also obey them, and give them what is due. For the states have rendered service to us by ensuring that a proper system is in place, from education and all others like healthcare which enable all of us to have a comfortable life in this world. Therefore it is just right for all of us to repay them in a way, through what is commonly used form as taxes.

But never forget, brothers and sisters in Christ, that our ultimate obedience should always be in God, and God alone. States and nations are human-made, and as human things, they also can err, because they are not perfect, unlike God who is perfect and good. That is why, often at times, states become erroneous in their path and development. But to all of us, that is in fact not the time for us to run and shy ourselves from that erroneous path. Indeed, what all of us should do, is to inspire a change in that error, that the error can be rectified, that states and nations can once again reflect the nature and the will of God in all the things that they do.

Obey the authority in this earth, and the authority that is in heaven, but place our complete and ultimate obedience in God only, brothers and sisters in Christ, and be proactive in our society, that whenever the society begins to go astray from the path of God, let it be that through our actions, things can be made right and straight once again. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 27 May 2013 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop (Psalm)

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.