new covenant

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Tuesday, 24 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear a very profound message from our Lord Jesus, that He had made all those who are righteous and do the will of God, being obedient to the Law as His own, as the ones counted among those to whom He gives His everlasting care and attention.

Yes, Jesus had come down from heaven, God incarnate as Man, so that He can be with us, and claim us from the darkness that enslaved us all. He revealed to all the children of God, even today, on the nature of God’s love for us, so much so that He sent His only Son, that we may be saved and have life in Him.

Being the children of God, as the most beloved and precious of His creations, mankind has long been destined for great things. For even the stewardship of this world was entrusted to us through our ancestors, through God’s commands to Adam and Eve, his wife. Yet, we have fallen from grace by our corruption with sin and no longer worthy to call God, our Father.

That is where Christ came in, and His coming into this world had reestablished that link between us and the Father. He had become one of us, that our links with God become ever more tangible, and He who is God, lives within us and is present within us, we who receive the gifts of His Most Precious Body and Blood through the Holy Eucharist in the Mass.

Yes, now that the Lord is in us, and we in Him, we have been made and marked as truly belonged to the Lord, and freed from the bonds and slavery under sin. All this, if we would accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and most importantly, showing it in a concrete manner, by following the will of God, that is loving one another, and through that, loving God with all our strengths.

Through Christ, we have been remade, and made pure and wonderful again in the presence of the Lord. Through Him, we cast aside our old and sinful selves and embrace new and loving life, life anchored in faith and love towards God who also loves us dearly. It is precisely like what we read today in the first reading, on the efforts of the rebuilding of the House of God, the Temple, in Jerusalem, after the return of Israel from the exile in Babylon.

The people of Israel had done things abhorred by God and rebelled against His love, and therefore, was punished by being given over to their enemies. They suffered in exile, separated from the land God had promised them, because they had broken the covenant their ancestors had established with God, ever since the days of Abraham.

Yet, God showed them His mercy, and through His power exercised via Cyrus and Darius, the rulers of the Persian Empire, the people of God was allowed once again to walk on the land God had given them and dwell in it. The first Temple and House of the Lord, the one King Solomon had made was destroyed with Jerusalem when the Babylonians took over the city, and yet, in the first reading today, we hear about the rebuilding of the Temple, which would become the Second Temple, still standing by the time of Christ, and was the place where He often taught the people during His earthly ministry.

In the same way, the Lord had established a new Temple, that is the Temple of His Body, that even when the physical Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed soon later by the Romans, the real Temple of God, that is His house, remains. Each one of us who have faith in Christ and obey the will of God, are these new Houses of the Lord, the Holy Temple in which God resides.

And now because we are the Temples of the Lord, then within each one of us had been entrusted with a great light of God. That is why it is important that we do not hide that light, but reveal it for all to see. If we do things that are wicked and against the Lord’s wishes, essentially what we have done is that we have been corrupting that Temple that is our body and our being.

Therefore, the light that is within us will not be able to shine brightly, as it is hidden behind screen of darkness and evils, which marred the light God had given to all of us. Hence, dear brethren, let us from now on respond to this matter, and most importantly, have the resolve to break free from this prison of darkness and returns to the light.

Let us, from this moment onward, no longer fear to show the light that is in us to the world, to all those who are around us. Let us be the light placed on the lampstand, to be shown to all peoples, the bright light within us that can never be dimmed. Remember, that Christ, the Light of the world, is also lifted up high above the earth, that He was seen by all. That all who sees that Light, may have a new hope, that is an eternal life of happiness and true joy with God.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, because we who have accepted and received Christ into ourselves had already had Christ within each and every one of us, therefore, we as the possessions of Christ, should also reflect His light in us, and show it to the world, as the light that nurtures and show the way to others still lost in the darkness.

Let us not be fearful and be courageous to take up the challenge God had given us, to shine brightly and show our faith to the world without hesitation. Be like Christ who showed His love for all, and yes, indeed, for all to see, that all who saw Him receive new life through salvation. May the Lord strengthen us and empower us to love, to love both Him and one another. Amen.

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Sunday, 1 September 2013 : 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 12 : 18-19, 22-24a

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses : nor heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and storms, blasts of trumpets or such a voice that the people pleaded that no further word be spoken.

But You came near to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable angels. You have come to the solemn feast, the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven. There is God, Judge of all, with the spirits of the upright brought to perfection. There is Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant.

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Saturday, 17 August 2013 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Christ reminds us that we all need to be like children. Yes, like children, but not in childish ways, but in the purity of their thoughts, their minds and their hearts, and in the true faith that they have in the Lord. Yes, if we notice it well, children, who are pure and uncorrupted, often are able to give their all, their full and undivided attention to the Lord.

This pure faith of children is what we must have in each one of us, the faith untainted by the worry of the world, or the desires of the flesh for the pleasures of this world. That is why we should not reject these children and dismiss them as naive and without wisdom, for indeed, we can learn much even from these little children! And remember that the Lord Himself had said to His disciples, and therefore to us, that those who welcome these little children, also welcome Him. Those who reject them therefore, also reject the Lord.

Compare the faith of the children to that of the people of Israel as we see in the Book of Joshua from the First Reading. Why do you think that Joshua had to repeatedly ask the people to make a choice whether they are to serve the Lord or the pagan gods of Mesopotamia of their ancestors or the pagan gods of the Amorites their neighbours? That was exactly because they have often rebelled against the Lord, in their Exodus from Egypt, when they constantly complained against the Lord their God, tested Him and even worshiped pagan gods of the Midians and their own golden calf, that made God punish them severely.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, their disobedience had brought about their death and condemnation, because they had not kept the faith of their fathers and instead putting their trust in their own power, in their own desires and evils, and in the pagan gods that the Lord had forbid them from worshiping. Yes, their disobedience truly contrasts with the faith of the little children that God had praised and God had sought for, that He also expect from all of us.

Yes, brethren, like the people of Israel, we do have a choice too, either to follow the Lord our God with all our hearts, our minds, and with our full dedication, following faithfully all of His laws and commandments, or to follow ourselves, that is we follow the path of the devil, immersing ourselves in the worldly pleasures and desires, and doing everything that we want, but brought the disgust of the Lord our God?

It is entirely within our own power, within our own conscience to make a stand, to make a choice, and indeed, to make a difference in our own lives. It is not that it is wrong to seek happiness for ourselves, pleasures and joy while we are in this world. But what is important is that we do not become overindulged on them, and lose the true focus of our lives, that is the Lord our God and His love. It is often that we become blind to God and His love, because we are simply too busy with our own selves, with our own desires, to notice Him.

That is how children have the advantage over us, brothers and sisters in Christ, not because they are smarter, and not because they are stronger, or wiser than us, but because they keep the clarity of mind that we often no longer possess. We often worry too much in our daily lives, concerning ourselves with our daily needs, wants, and desires. We often worry about what we are to eat, what we are to have, where are we to go for our outings and many other things that fill up our mind, so much that we no longer have any space reserved for the Lord, not in our minds, not in our hearts.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, after today, do we then resolve to be more like those children in our faith? That is to worry less about this world and be swayed less by the temptations and pleasures of this world, and instead seek the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our focus, and with all our strength? Let us today renew our commitment for Him, and proclaim Him indeed, as the Lord our God, just as the people of Israel had done in Shechem with Joshua, pledging ourselves to only serve Him and worship Him and not any other god.

Yes, not any other god, and these gods are not just the pagan gods of old, but also our modern day ‘gods’, yes, the gods of money, wealth, fame, and many other things that often distract us from our path towards the Lord. Let us resolve to continue our journey of faith towards God and be not swayed by the evils of this world, remaining firm in our faith and dedication towards the Lord and towards His beloved people, our fellow brethren. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 27 July 2013 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we who believe in Christ had been marked by the Lord our God, with a special mark, for each one of us, to distinguish us from those who do not believe and do not have faith and love for the Lord. That mark is none other than His own Precious Blood, the Blood of the Lamb of God, which He gave to us to mark His faithfulness and love for us, to mark the New Covenant He has established with all of us, with all mankind, a covenant that will never be broken.

The Blood of the covenant of Christ reminds us of the first reading today, when Moses sealed the covenant between the people of Israel and the Lord their God with the blood of animals, the blood of lambs and goats sacrificed on the altar made to God. The blood sealed the promise that God had made with their father Abraham, that his descendants would prosper and enjoy God’s blessing and be led to the Land of Promise.

On the other hand, the covenant involve a two-way promise and vow, and therefore, just as the Lord has vowed to bless His people and care for them, so the people too must keep their part of the covenant, to obey the laws of the Lord, and live according to His will. If they remain faithful to their part in the covenant, their lives will truly be happy and blessed, and they will receive the fullness of their covenant with God.

But if they break their part of the covenant, by disobeying the Lord and doing wicked things not in conjunction with the Lord’s will, then they will not receive the blessings that the Lord had promised them, and instead, they will truly suffer for having turned their back on the Lord and His covenant, the covenant of love He had offered freely to Abraham and his descendants that they will be blessed.

That was exactly what many of the people of Israel did, even just after Moses had sprinkled the blood of the covenant on them, as they complained against Moses and the Lord for having brought them in the journey through the desert to the Promised Land.

They complained because they did not keep themselves strong enough in the faith that the devil could come to them and sow the seeds of discord and evil in their hearts, and the seeds of desire and greed, desiring ever more things from the Lord, complaining to the Lord when they did not receive enough, even though the Lord had fed them with bread from heaven, the manna, and with quails and birds for them to eat, and also provide them with sweet and clear spring water to drink.

No, brothers and sisters in Christ, this is not the way that we should follow, the rebelliousness and the hard-hearted people of Israel during their sojourn in the desert. We must instead follow the path of Christ, of love and dedication, which we should give to the Lord and to our fellow men, and also thanksgiving to the Lord when it is due. That is because the Lord had given us much, very much indeed, that He gave us nothing else more precious, nor that there will ever be anything that is to be more precious, than His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour, and new hope of life eternal.

We must fortify ourselves, brethren, in our hearts and minds, that we will not succumb to the evil one. Prevent the sower of evil from sowing seeds of evil and sin within our hearts. Do not let him to reign free over us, and enslave us to the chains of sin and death. The devil will always try and utilise everything that is within his power to corrupt us and turn us from the path of the Lord, that is salvation, towards the path to hell and eternal damnation.

We must have a strong and healthy prayer life, that our heart will be defended from the assaults of the evil one. In doing so, our faith and dedication to the Lord will be complete.” But remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that faith cannot stand on its own, and without good and positive acts in our words, deeds, and actions, our faith will be dead and empty. Yes, as empty as that of the people of Israel in the desert. They had been given manna, the bread from heaven and quails as food during their desert journey, and yet they still complained and blasphemed against His Name.

Our Lord is faithful, just as He is loving, brothers and sisters in Christ. He loves us all so much, that He shed His own Body and His own Blood, through the cross, that all of us be redeemed in a new covenant that He established by His own sacrifice, for our sake. This is no blood of the lambs and goats that die, brothers and sisters, but here is the Blood of the Lamb of God who lives, the Lamb who has triumphed and conquered Satan and evil. This Blood, the divine blood given to us out of the Lord’s own will, is the blood that purifies and cleanses, washing our beings white and pure again from all the filth and darkness of sin within us.

We receive this Blood and the Body, in the Eucharist, which the priests turned from the humble bread and wine, into the very Being of our Lord and Saviour, who died as the lamb of sacrifice, the True Lamb, who is the only one worthy to redeem us from all the weights of our faults and evil, all the horrible things we had committed, things abhorred by the Lord our God. He established this new covenant, a covenant not only with the people of Israel of old, but with all mankind, without exception. He established this new covenant, especially for sinners. The greater the sin that a sinner has, the more the Lord wants to come to redeem him or her from their fate that is death and hell.

He paid for this new covenant and sealed it with His own Blood, not blood of any animals, but the most precious Blood possible, the divine blood of the Lord, poured down on us from the cross, given to us to drink in the Eucharist, in the form of wine transubstantiated into His Blood. We who partake in this divine gift is sealed in the new covenant with God, through Christ, and as long as we remain faithful to God, we will ever be in God’s grace, and we will receive the gift of eternal life Christ had promised all those who believe in Him.

Our Lord loves us so much and He wants all of us saved, from our fate of certain death in sin. He has given His best and His all in His part on the covenant. But as I have mentioned, a covenant is made between two parties, in which both parties have to commit to the covenant that it is made valid and true. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we ready to commit ourselves to Christ, to His love? Are we ready to take up our own crosses and follow Christ, so that we will make whole the new covenant of the Lord?

Are we ready to commit ourselves to the Lord present in the Most Holy Eucharist? In His Body and Blood that He gave us that He may be in us and we in Him? Let us from now on strive to be the loving partner of our God in that holy covenant, and play our part, that is following the Lord’s commandments that is love. Love our God and love our fellow brethren as we love ourselves. For God is love! Amen.

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Monday, 8 July 2013 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Jesus healed the woman suffering from a bleeding problem and also resurrected the daughter of the official, all because of their faith in Him and in what He can do. Faith can indeed go a long way, brethren. Our Lord rewards those who are faithful to Him. He wants only our love and our obedience to His will.

Faith is essential for salvation, as without faith, there is no hope at all for us to be saved. For we have been tainted by sin and darkness, of evil and this world, that we were unworthy of the Lord and His perfection. But yet, Jesus Christ came, the very Son of God, who opened the path to salvation by His death and resurrection. Through Him hope came into the world and dwell in us, in the Holy Spirit, that He sent to the Apostles on Pentecost.

We need faith to be the anchor of our lives, and as the centre of our very being, as with faith, we will have a strong anchor in God, and we will not be easily swayed by the temptations of Satan and the evils that are in the world. Without faith, we cannot love God, and consequently we would not be able to embrace Him and the salvation He offered to all of us freely.

To Christ had been granted all the authority on the heaven and the earth, over the living and the dead. That was why, He healed the suffering of the bleeding woman, and resurrected the dead daughter of the official. The readings today showed that Jesus did not just heal anybody and everyone. In fact, He sought those who truly were repentant, and sought God’s mercy, and showed their sincere love, devotion, and most importantly faith in Him, faith in His divinity, that He healed them from their afflictions and sickness.

Yet, faith alone is not sufficient, brothers and sisters in Christ, as the Lord taught us and His disciples, that faith must be in tandem with love and hope, as the three most important values of being a Christian, that is faith, hope, and love. These three virtues embody all that a Christian must be, must become, and must aspire to.

For faith without love is akin to a faith that is dead, and a faith that is empty, because this faith does not generate love and life. Love can simply be expressed as our service and care for our brothers and sisters, that is part of doing good works. This is why we do not believe in salvation through faith alone, but salvation through faith and good works, that is faith made alive through good works and actions that reflect love, and generate hope in others.

For faith lacking in love and hope is also a selfish faith, where we are concerned only in our own salvation and not others. A true Christian desires the salvation of all mankind, himself or herself and all those around him or her. Most especially, a true Christian desires the salvation of those who had caused suffering and pain to the Christian, and those who had wronged the Christian, or in short, the ‘enemy’. That is also in tandem with Christ’s teaching that we should love our enemies and those who persecute us.

Then going back to what we talked about earlier, love can neither exist without faith and hope, for love is intricately linked to faith and hope. It is not possible to truly love someone without first having faith in that person. We certainly will not truly love someone if we cannot even trust the person completely without fear or concern, or otherwise that love will by an empty love, or infatuation in some situations, where relationships are not born out of love but sexual desires and lust.

Then love also must bring hope, because in love, there is hope, hope for a new beginning, and indeed, hope for a new life. If you allow me to digress a little bit, yes, love does bring life and hope, that is children. For marriage as we know it, must be based on love, and as far as possible, should be fruitful and bear children, the gifts of God to man. Children represent this new hope, in a new life, a promising life, that should be nurtured with love and faith. That is also why it is important for us, to always link love with faith and hope, even in our own families, in the development of the spiritual faith of our children.

Then finally, hope itself cannot exist without faith and love, for to have hope in something means that we must at least have faith in that something. Hope itself cannot exist as long as we do not have faith in Christ, because Christ is the source of all hope, because only in Christ exist salvation, and out of Christ, we can have no hope. And hope itself begets love, because when we hope, we also express love, and because we love that someone, we have hope in that one. No better example than our Lord Himself, who loves us so much, that in His hope that we will be reunited with Him, that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to be our Redeemer and our Saviour.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, in this excellence experience of the Year of the Faith, let us renew and rejuvenate our faith in God, and dedicate ourselves fully and completely in Him, together with our hope in Him and our offering of the love for Him that is within our hearts. This Year of the Faith is the excellent opportunity for all of us to renew our commitment to our God and commit ourselves to Him and His cause.

Do not be afraid my brothers and sisters, for our Lord will always stand by our side, and supporting us, comforting us, as He had done to Israel of old. He is true to His covenant and promises, as He had once promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What we need to do, is to keep our part of the covenant, and remain faithful, loving, and hopeful, to God and our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 7 July 2013 : 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Galatians 6 : 14-18

For me, I do not wish to take pride in anything except in the cross of Christ Jesus our Lord. Through Him the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Let us no longer speak of the circumcised and of non-Jews, but of a new creation. Let those who live according to this rule receive peace and mercy : they are the Israel of God!

Let no one trouble me any longer : for my part, I bear in my body the marks of Jesus. May the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 June 2013 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learn from the readings, of the need to put our complete trust in the Lord and in His power and authority, instead of placing our trust in the falsehood and facade of the power of man. Not that man does not have any power, but any power that they have with them ultimately came from the Lord, and therefore no man should boast of his or her own abilities and powers, but instead should give due praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, who is the source of all power and authority in the universe.

When man begins to lose trust in the Lord and begins to put their trust in feeble man, that is when problems will rise, and even though initially not that apparent, the problems will certainly and eventually rise to the surface. Such was what happened with the case of Abraham, then Abram, who was kind of desperate of having a son to be his successor and heir to all the wealth he had in his possession.

The Lord promised Abram great wealth and affluence because of his faith and love for Him, but above all, He promised Abram that his descendants will number like the sands on the shores of the sea, and as numerous as there are stars in the sky. Such is the greatness of the descendants of Abram, so numerous that they would indeed fill up the entire earth with their presence. But Abram was growing old, and more importantly so was that his wife, Sarah, then Sarai, was also growing old, and had gone past the child bearing age.

That was when alternative methods were sought and then taken up by Abram, with the suggestion from Sarai, that he took Hagar, Sarai’s slave, to be his wife, and therefore act as a proxy to produce an heir for Abram. For in those times, slaves have little value for themselves, and therefore, the mistress, Sarai, had every right to claim the child birthed by the slave and claimed him as her own. Nonetheless, as we saw in the first reading, we can certainly note that tensions soon arose between Sarai and Hagar, as Hagar felt proud in her achievements in being able to bear a child for Abram, which her mistress could not do herself.

Pride and arrogance quickly become the order of the day if we put our trust in the powers and abilities of man, and do not give proper glory to the Lord, to whom we should give all glory to. The same had happened to Hagar, whom in her pride had brought about division and frictions within Abram’s family, and caused the diversion from the true plan of salvation that God had brought through His promised son to Abram, that is Isaac.

Abram did not wait for the promise of the Lord to reach its perfection and completion, but following the advice of Sarah and succumbed to human weakness, that is to distrust the promise and words of the Lord, and the result is the birth of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and Hagar. Later on, further conflicts between Ishmael and the newborn Isaac, the child of promise, would end up in Ishmael and her mother to be cast away from Abraham and his family. God indeed did not leave them to die, but provided for them and also made Ishmael a great nation, but it is not through him that God would make perfect His covenant with Abraham and mankind, but through Isaac and his descendants.

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate the feast day of St. Cyril of Alexandria, the bishop of the early Church, a Church Father and a Doctor of the Church, who fought ceaselessly against those who denied the divinity of Christ, the Nestorians, led by none other than the Patriarch of Constantinople himself, one of the most senior clergyman at the time. He chastised those who opposed the orthodox faith and those who had embraced the heresies of man.

Yes, just as the theme of today’s readings had indicated, those who rejected God in favour of man will not survive, and they will be condemned, because they did not place their trust in God. Therefore, following the example of St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his courageous defense of the faith in the Lord, let us follow him in defending our love and adoration for the Lord, and reject those who glorify themselves at the expense of the Lord.

May the Lord be with us at all times, and remind us that we belong to God, in the covenant He had made with all of us through Christ our Lord and Saviour. May He remind us that He alone is worthy of praise and glory, and that His love is everlasting and infinite. St. Cyril of Alexandria, pray for us sinners, and help to bring us closer to our Lord and God. Amen.

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Monday, 24 June 2013 : Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our God loves us, and He loves all of us so much that He is willing to save all of us from the damnation of hell. He sent us His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour, the One who redeemed us from the sins of our forefathers, from their rebellion against the love of God. Through Him we are saved, if we accept Him as our Lord, and His free offer of salvation to all of us.

To prepare for the Messiah, the Lord sent His messenger, in the person of John the Baptist, the precursor and the preparer of the way for Christ. His dedication to the mission for which he had been chosen for, and his tireless work had indeed straightened the way for Christ and paved the way for salvation.

Today we celebrate the feast of this great messenger of God and saint, John the Baptist, whose baptisms called the people back towards the Lord through repentance. Repentance allowed the people to set their hearts and minds right, so that they would be in the correct state of heart and mind to be receptive of the Lord and His message that is brought by none other than Christ, His Son and our Saviour.

St. John the Baptist had dedicated his whole life to the Lord, as someone set aside for the works of God, through whose hands God had worked His wonders to the people of Israel, the last of the prophets before the coming of the Messiah, who would eventually liberate God’s people from the tyranny of evil, sin, and therefore death.

God is faithful, and He remembered His covenant that He made with Abraham years ago, with the promise He had made that the descendants of Abraham, all of us, will be fruitful, and will be blessed. Even when the descendants of Abraham, as shown through Israel did not stay faithful entirely to the Lord, but fell into rebellion, in the similar way as their forefathers, God did not give up on us, just as He did not give up on mankind after the disobedience of Adam and Eve, our first ancestors.

We are all precious to God, so precious that despite the covenant broken by our rebellion and our stubbornness against God’s love and compassion, He was willing to forge a new covenant with all of us, and this covenant will never be broken, because this covenant is not made just by God’s words alone, but sealed with none other than the Most Precious Blood of the Lamb of God, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who shed His blood from up there on the cross, flowing from His holy wounds, pierced by our sins and our rebellion.

St. John the Baptist had a great part to play in this plan of salvation, not only as the one who helped to bring God’s mission to perfection, and helped to convert many to the cause of the Lord through repentance, but also through his direct role in the initiation of Jesus’ ministry on this world. Through his baptism of Christ on the Jordan, he initiated Christ on His ministry, which began after that baptism, when the Lord proclaimed to the world, that Jesus is indeed His Son, and that His favour is on Him.

His humility that he showed when he declared the identity of Christ to his own disciples, so that He would increase while John himself would decrease in importance is an example for all of us, that whenever we do things, let us remember that we should do it for the greater glory of God, and not to our own personal human glory, and seek the praise of the Lord, and not the praise of man.

We can follow the many examples of Saint John the Baptist, my dear brothers and sisters, that we should emulate him in our lives. To love and serve the Lord with all our hearts, with all our minds, and with all our being, that we truly become the children of God, and people beloved by the Lord our God. May the Lord guide us at all times in our lives, that we will not be led astray in our path towards Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 21 June 2013 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our faith in the Lord is possibly the greatest treasure that we will ever have in this world. What is treasure? A treasure is something that we find precious and really have a substantial meaning and value to us, either in financial terms or in any other terms. Basically, it is something very valuable to us, and presumably we will want to have it and keep it from losing it.

But, if we notice, in our world today, too many people are enamoured with treasure, so much, that they become obsessed with it. Treasure in this means worldly treasure, the treasure of wealth, possessions, goods, and amenities, that come with our world today and all its conveniences. All of these materialisms widespread in our world today, can easily be seen in the amounts of the advertisements in our television programmes, and in the internet media.

These advertisements take advantage of our human desire, of our greed and desire to have more of the material goods and pleasures that this world can offer in its various forms. Not that this is bad, brothers and sisters in Christ, as a tempered desire for possessions and wealth may indeed be beneficial if not necessary for mankind at times. We do need money and certain goods in order to lead a good normal life in our world today. What matters is however, do we really seek what we need? Or do we seek so much more than what we need, that it becomes a kind of greed?

When Christ mentioned that in the treasures lie our heart, He was not further than the truth. Indeed, our heart certainly lie with our treasures. Imagine a man with an enormous wealth stored inside a safety box inside his house. Certainly he will do all that he can in order to ensure that the treasure ‘chest’ remain safe from all external threats, such as thieves and even maybe natural disasters. He would not have done such things if his heart had not been with the treasure.

But what Christ had rightly warned us is that, these kind of wealth are temporary. my brothers and sisters. They are not permanent, nor will they remain with us forever. We will not bring our wealth and possessions with us to the afterlife, be it to heaven or hell, because in heaven we have no need for such possessions, because the Lord alone is our possession, and we will have enough, and in hell, no amount of material goods will be able to alleviate the ultimate suffering of the separation of man from God.

Another example I would like to bring to your attention is the recent curious cases of entire life savings being destroyed by termites that managed to get into the safely kept money, and almost brought disaster to the old lady who had saved the money. The bank kindly replaced most of the money for her, but this gives us yet another reminder that these possessions are not permanent, nor will they be able to withstand natural forces, just as Christ had mentioned.

And yet another case, where a safety box in a bank in India was thought to be untouched and safe, but in fact a colony of termites managed to find their way inside and destroy whatever it was that were kept inside that safety box. Nothing of this world lasts, brothers and sisters in Christ.

That is why, Christ told us, to seek the true treasure of our lives, that is God, because God, unlike the worldly material possessions can never be subjected to rust and the natural forces of destruction, termites or whatsoever. If we keep faithful to God’s covenant with us, keep His commandments at all times, God will belong to us, and we too will belong to God. This divine possession is lasting and eternal, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Yes, of course, we are free to seek to obtain possessions and treasures of this world, but always remember that in doing so, let us always remember that in God, we have the true treasure, such that we will never be led astray by the worldly treasures or even overcome by our greed and human desire, that we fall into sin and be led away from God, which will end likely in eternal damnation in hell. No amount of our wealth in this world will be able to save us or alleviate our suffering in hell, my brethen.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a former noble youth from Italy, from the very renowned Gonzaga family of lords, dukes, and kings. But despite being the firstborn of the family, and therefore was entitled to inherit all the titles he was entitled to, with all its possessions and wealth, that many of us even today can only dream of, he was awakened to the true treasure of this life, that is the Lord.

He forsook all the privileges he had and his inheritance, seeking to become a religious, dedicating his entire life and entire being to the Lord. He forsook the inheritance of the powerful and the wealth of the world to seek a nobler and greater purpose in life, that is the Lord, and to serve the people of God. Yes, many opposed his decision, especially his father, who was completely surprised and angered by his decision. Nevertheless, in the end, St. Aloysius Gonzaga managed to be what he wanted to be.

Although unfortunately, St. Aloysius Gonzaga died early in his early twenties, in his short life, he had shown us the virtue of seeking the true treasure of our life. No, this does not mean that all of us should enter the monasteries and embrace the ascetic lifestyle of monks, and neither we should impoverish ourselves by selling all the things that we have. Yes, some of us can do that, if they do choose to do so, but what matters is, to look beyond the material and the pleasures of this world, in seeking the real treasure that will never be depleted, and that will never be lost.

No matter how much money and possessions that we have, eventually, they can run out. No matter how much pleasures we have in our lives, they can also run out, and we can also become bored of such possessions and pleasures, because they are not the true treasure. The love of God, that is our true treasure, will fill us and renew us, such that we will never be empty again. He will fill us and make us whole. God is always with us, if we too, love Him and remain in His grace. Amen.

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Wednesday, 12 June 2013 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

2 Corinthians 3 : 4-11

This is how we are sure of God, through Christ. As for us we would not dare consider that something comes from us : our ability comes from God. He has even enabled us to be ministers of a new covenant no longer depending on a written text but on the Spirit. The written text kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The ministry of the Law carved on stones brought death; it was nevertheless surrounded by glory and we know that the Israelites could not fix their eyes on the face of Moses, such was his radiance, through fleeting. How much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be!

If there is greatness in a ministry which uses to condemn, how much more will there be in the ministry that brings holiness? This is such a glorious thing that in comparison the former’s glory is like nothing. That ministry was provisory and had only moments of glory; but ours endures with a lasting glory.