Monday

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Monday, 16 December 2019 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded of the many wonderful blessings and works which God has bestowed and done among His people all throughout time, just as we heard the story from the Book of Numbers in which we listened to the story of the prophet and holy man of God named Balaam, who was hired by one of the enemies of Israel during their Exodus and journey from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan.

Balaam was hired to curse the Israelites and to give their enemies an edge over them, but as we heard in our first reading passage today, instead of cursing the people of Israel, Balaam blessed them and prayed over them for good bounty and prosperity to the dismay of the enemy of Israel, as God had spoken and delivered His will through him and Balaam obeyed God’s will to the end.

It was a wonderful providence and reassurance from God, how He will always be faithful to His Covenant, that even curses intended for His people turned into blessings. And Balaam also in fact prophesied of the coming of the Star of Jacob, as a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah to come, even though it was still a long time away by then. This Star coming forth from Jacob, referred to a vision of the Almighty, was none other than Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

It was indeed fitting that as we come gradually closer to the celebration of Christmas within just slightly more than a week from now, we are reminded yet again of the One Whom we are celebrating for in this Christmas. Not the glamour and festivities, not the merrymaking and gifts, but rather, for the love and compassion of God, by which He gave us a new Hope through the giving of His own beloved Son, to be our Saviour.

That is the true meaning and purpose of Christmas, the joy that we celebrate for the coming of the glorious Saviour through Whom we have been saved and brought out from the darkness of sin into a new life filled with the grace of God. However, it is sad to note how many among us mankind, even among us Christians who have not understood or realised this truth, and treat Christmas as merely just another holiday or time to party and be merry.

As we heard in our Gospel passage today, the Temple authorities, the chief priests and the elders, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees all rallied against the Lord, with the context of His earlier action in driving all the cheating and greedy merchants and money changers out of the courtyards of the Temple, questioning Him on whose authority that the Lord had acted in that way, for they saw in Him a threat to their own power and authority.

At that time, the priests and elders of the Temple benefitted from the presence of the merchants and money changers, as probably they gained from the rental fees and other costs incurred for those merchants to use the Temple courtyard, and they also provided the necessary means for the worship at the Temple by selling the animal sacrifices for the Temple worship. However, those merchants likely profited immensely from such endeavours, overcharging the pilgrims and worshippers for their products and services.

And the Temple authorities also benefitted in the same manner, and when the Lord acted justly in driving out all those who brought corruption and the defilement of sin into the holy House of the Lord, they became angry because they saw not the Lord acting as how He and everyone who had faith in God should have acted, but rather, they saw the loss of their income and their many other worldly concerns.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how is this then related to us? It is in fact exactly what often happen to us in our own lives. Too many times we often sidelined the Lord in our lives, preferring to put our priorities to gain things and benefits for ourselves, in our pursuits for power, glory, wealth and all the other things that we seek in this world that made us to forget about God. We ended up living for the world and forgot about the love which God has lavished upon us, all these while.

Through today’s Scripture readings, through Balaam’s blessings of Israel and the rejection of Jesus by the Temple authorities, we are all called to remember God’s love and blessings for us, in each and every moments of our lives. God has loved us so much and yet we often disappointed Him by our refusal to detach ourselves from our ego and many desires in life, in our repeated fall into sin and living in a state of sin all these while.

But God is ever loving and ever merciful, brothers and sisters in Christ, and this time of Advent is truly the best time for us to take a stock of our lives, to reevaluate our direction and current heading in life. Let us all make a new commitment from now on, that we will try our best to live our lives with ever greater faith, each and every days of our lives, and draw ever nearer to God and His love through our every living actions.

May the Lord bless our journey of faith this Advent, that we may indeed make the best use of these few remaining days left in this time of sacred preparation that we may prepare ourselves well, not just for the coming of Christmas, but also for our conversion to be better and true disciples of the Lord in all things. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 16 December 2019 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 21 : 23-27

At that time, Jesus had entered the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities came to Him, and asked, “What authority have You to act like this? Who gave You authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “I will also ask You a question, only one. And if you give me an answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. When John began to baptise, was it a work of God, or was it merely something human?”

They reasoned out among themselves, “If we reply that it was a work of God, He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ And if we say, ‘The baptism of John is merely something human’, we have got to beware of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what right I do these things.”

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Monday, 16 December 2019 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4bc-5ab, 6-7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

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Monday, 16 December 2019 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Numbers 24 : 2-7, 15-17a

Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping, tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered this song : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, and beholds the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled.”

“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your encampments, Israel! Like valleys stretching far, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes planted by YHVH, like cedars beside the waters. His buckets are overflowing and His seeds are always watered. His king becomes stronger than Agag, and His kingdom grows.

Then Balaam pronounced his oracle : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, who has the knowledge from the Most High, and sees the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled. I see a Figure, but not really. I behold Him but not near. A Star shall come forth from Jacob, He rises with a staff in His hand.”

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Monday, 9 December 2019 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is usually celebrated on the eighth day of December but since yesterday the eighth fell on a Sunday, which is the Second Sunday of Advent, this Solemnity is brought to the next day that is today, the ninth of December.

This celebration of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception refers to the time when Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne without any trace or corruption of original sin, and does not refer to the moment of her birth, her Nativity which is celebrated exactly nine months from now, on every eighth of September. This Immaculate Conception is a very significant belief of our faith, which was formalised as a Dogma by Blessed Pope Pius IX in the year 1854 in his Papal Bull, Ineffabilis Deus.

Although it has only been formalised as a Dogma relatively recently by the Church but in truth, the Church and the faithful since the earliest times and history of the Church has always believed that Mary, as the Mother of God was free from any taints of sin by the singular grace of God, because of the role that she has been entrusted to by the Lord Himself. Mary has been called and chosen to be the one who was to bear the Messiah in herself.

Through this, we can see essentially what is the significance of the Immaculate Conception of Mary to all of us, as her Immaculate Conception actually underlines the core tenets of our faith, the central focus of our beliefs in God. This is such that if we do not believe in the Immaculate Conception, or worse still, reject this Dogma, then we actually have done nothing less than to reject the basic and most important core beliefs of our faith itself.

That is because the belief of the Immaculate Conception, or Mary conceived without the taint of sin is rooted in the belief that Mary is none other than the new Ark of the Covenant. Why is that so? That is because the Ark of the Covenant was the historical relic and an actual receptacle, a large box made of the most precious materials to contain several objects that represent the Covenant which God has made with His people, the Israelites.

Inside the historical or the old Ark of the Covenant according to the Old Testament was the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. These were the ones that Moses made to replace the ones written by God which had been destroyed when God became angry at His people’s disobedience in worshipping the golden calf idol. It therefore became a symbol of the Covenant of God renewed with His people.

Besides that, there were also a bowl of the manna, the miraculous bread of heaven by which God had fed His people through their forty years journey in the desert, yet another reminder of the Covenant of God, how God has been faithful in taking care of and loving His people all the way even though the people had often disobeyed and walked away from the path of God. And lastly, in the Ark was also the staff of Aaron, the staff used by Moses to perform the many plagues of Egypt and his many other miraculous works, to show the power of God among the people.

The Ark of the Covenant had always been, since the time of its creation, the most hallowed and blessed object in the world. It was made from the most precious materials and God also blessed and hallowed it, for it is on the Ark of the Covenant, placed at the Holy of Holies in the Tent of Meeting, and later on in the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, that God and His Holy Presence descended to dwell in the midst of His people.

It was so holy that no one was allowed to touch it, and when one of the priests accidentally touched it when it was about to be moved to Jerusalem during the time of king David, the one who touched it was immediately struck dead. And the Ark was always placed behind a veil, to represent the great holiness of God. No one except the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and even so, he was only allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies only once a year.

We can see just how holy, blessed and hallowed the old and historical Ark had been, which was still a creation of man, no matter how precious and amazing it had been. Then let us imagine just how much more wonderful, amazing and holy the new Ark of the Covenant is, because Mary was made not by the hands of any man, but by the hands of God Himself. There can be no creation of man, no matter how great can compare with God’s creation.

And while the inside of the old Ark was two slabs of stone, a bowl of manna and the staff of Aaron blessed by God’s presence, but the new Ark contained nothing less than God Himself present in the Flesh, God incarnate, Son of God, Jesus Christ. And that is why, if the people of Israel had treated the old Ark of the Covenant in such a hallowed manner, it is just perfectly logical that Mary would also have been hallowed and blessed by God.

It is as simple as how God Who is perfect and all good can never be paired together with any form of sin. No sin can ever stand in the presence of God. That is why, if He was to be born of a human being, through His incarnation in the Flesh, how can He Himself be borne into this world in a vessel so pure and blessed, free from any corruption, if all men had fallen into sin, are sinners and are tainted by sin? That is why, because of this, God gave Mary the singular grace of being immaculate, pure and free from sin.

This is primarily why we honour Mary, the Mother of God and our Lord Jesus Christ so much. And that is why so many of us are so devoted to her, because not just that she is the Mother of God, and therefore the one closest to her Son, but even more so, that her own exemplary faith and life, her complete obedience to the will of God as shown in our Gospel passage today, is truly the best example for us all to follow in our own journey of faith.

Her acceptance of the great role as the mother of the Lord and Saviour of all, her humble obedience and readiness to respond to God through the Archangel Gabriel is indeed a very amazing example and inspiration for us all to follow, as it is indeed not easy for any one of us to bear the burden and the crosses that Mary herself had to bear in her own journey, in having to raise Jesus and then to see her own Son being condemned, tortured and died on the Cross before her very own eyes.

Now, all of us then have to realise that each and every one of us are called to follow the example of Mary, in our own journey of faith. Do you remember what I have just said earlier on, that no creation of man can ever compare to the creations of the Lord? Each and every one of us are God’s creations, brothers and sisters in Christ, and all of us are special even more so, because we have been made in the image and likeness of God.

While unlike Mary, we have been tainted by sin, and corrupted by the darkness of our sins and disobedience, but God has always intended for us all to be like that of His mother, in faith and purity, as He made all things to be good and holy. Sin was not God’s creation and was never intended to be part of us or our lives. This is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, we must all strive to be holy, just as Our Lord is holy, and resist all the temptations to sin.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today as we honour Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God, for her wonderful faith and life, let us all ourselves devote ourselves anew to God, with a new faith and commitment, to be holy and to sanctify ourselves, by turning away from all of our sins, and by embracing a new life dedicated to serve God and to walk in His path alone. Let us all do our best and help one another in this journey together as one faithful people of God.

Mary, Holy Mother of God, conceived without sin, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Monday, 9 December 2019 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 26-38

In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

The Angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the Angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”

Then Mary said to the Angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the Angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”

Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the Angel left her.

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Monday, 9 December 2019 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, Who, in Christ, has blessed us from heaven, with every spiritual blessing. God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy, and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us, in love, to be His adopted sons and daughters, through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness, which He granted us in His beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

By a decree of Him, Who disposes all things, according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.

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Monday, 9 December 2019 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.

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Monday, 9 December 2019 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 3 : 9-15, 20

YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”

The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

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Monday, 2 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into the season of Advent, all of us are called to prepare ourselves fully and well for the upcoming celebration of Christmas, the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ into this world for the first time two millennia ago as a little Child in Bethlehem, the moment when God’s long-promised and long-awaited plan of salvation came into its final fruition.

On this day we are called to reflect on God’s love and kindness towards us, His strong desire to reach out to us and to heal us from our brokenness, sinfulness and unworthiness. Through our Scripture passages today, we are called to remember just how fortunate we all are to have this such a loving, compassionate and caring God as Our Lord and Father. He never ceases to care for us, provide for us and protect us from harm all these while.

In our first reading today, from the passage taken out of the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the prophecy of the Lord spoken to His people, whom at that time were already brought low after centuries of divisions and misfortunes because of their own sins and refusals to obey the Lord and His commandments. The northern kingdom of Israel and the ten tribes of the people of God had been crushed by the Assyrians and were brought to exile in far-off lands.

That was why at that time, the prophecy of the Lord that He spoke through His prophet Isaiah was truly a very delightful and awaited promise, as the Lord promised the coming of His deliverance and salvation, the Shoot of the Lord, a reference to another part of the Book of the prophet Isaiah where the Messiah of God was referred to as the Shoot of David, promising that the Saviour would come through the House of David, and restore to the people of God the true joy and happiness that they once enjoyed.

This is what He has fulfilled by sending His own beloved Son to us, Our Lord Jesus, Who came into this world to be the bearer of the Good News and truth of God, calling all of us to be redeemed and to be gathered back into His presence, reconciling us to Him by absolving us from our sins and disobediences. In our Gospel passage today, we heard of how the Lord reached out to likely a Roman army centurion or commander.

In that occasion, the Lord encountered an army commander who sought Him to heal his servant who was truly dear to him. The Lord was astonished at the great faith which the army centurion had in Him because the army centurion had such a great faith that he knew that by the commands and power alone, the Lord could heal his servant without any doubts at all. That was why he asked the Lord that He should just merely say the word, and the servant would be healed.

And he made such a profession of faith that he humbly said before all, how he was not worthy to accept the Lord coming into his house. He made such a comment first of all because it was likely that because he was a Roman and non-Jew or Gentile, for a Jew like the Lord Jesus to enter into the house of a Gentile would be considered to be unbecoming and even terrible especially by the Jewish authorities.

That was why the army centurion did not want the Lord to come into his house, and this is also then supported by what is likely to be his own personal humility and faith as well. For a person with such a high rank like that of the centurion, and as a Roman who at that time was seen as in every way superior to the local Jewish population, for him to humble himself before everyone else showed just how great a faith and love he had for God, that he willingly threw away all pride and ego, and humbling himself in seeking the Lord.

The attitude of the army centurion can indeed be contrasted with those of the Pharisees, the elders and the teachers of the Law. The latter had seen so many of the Lord’s miracles and yet they refused to believe in the Lord. Instead, they continued to doubt Him, oppose Him and worked their hardest against Him. Compare this to the army centurion who believed in the Lord and did not even need to see or witness the miracle from the Lord directly in order to believe in Him.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having contemplated how the Lord loves us all so much, and also on the humility and faith of the army centurion. The Lord wants us all to know how precious and dear all of us to Him, and through what we have heard in today’s passages, distinctions between Jews or Gentiles, or in any other ways that we have often classified ourselves no longer stand before Him, for every single one of us are equally beloved by God.

In this time of Advent, as we proceed through our preparations for Christmas, let us all therefore put our effort and endeavours to grow in love and faith towards the Lord, and let us strive to have the same faith as what the army centurion had, that in everything we say and do, we will always glorify God, and put Him at the very centre of our own lives, now and always.

May the Lord continue to guide us through this season of Advent, that this time may truly be blessed and meaningful for us to be able to celebrate the true meaning and joy of Christmas. May God bless us always. Amen.