opposition

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Thursday, 26 December 2013 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of the first martyr of the faith, that is St. Stephen, known also as the Protomartyr or simply the first martyr in Greek. We celebrate today the memory of this great and zealous defender of the faith, the very first one to gave up his life for the sake of Jesus the Lord.

Many of you may ask, why do we suddenly and so quickly jump from the joyous celebrations of Christmas into the sombre celebration of one’s death, a martyr of the faith no less? That is because St. Stephen died not for nothing, but because he gave up his life as an example to the faithful, that we should never ever leave behind or abandon the true joy of Christmas in Jesus.

St. Stephen met his death because he rebuked harshly the Pharisees and the chief priests who were judging him, because of their lack of faith in Jesus, and because of their compliance in killing the very One sent by God to deliver everyone from sin and death, themselves included. He met his death because he spoke the truth, about the Lord who came to save His people in Jesus, the joy and glory we celebrate on Christmas day.

Therefore it is no less fitting that we celebrate in honour of this saint who had courageously defended the Christ who was reviled, rejected, and cast out by His own beloved people. He did not fear man but God alone. And he truly followed the way of the Lord, imitating even Jesus in death. Remember that Jesus forgave His executioners and those who condemned Him, asking the Father not to punish them for what they had done? What St. Stephen had done was essentially the same thing.

We rejoice in the Lord at Christmas, and we celebrate with great joy and festivities, but have we put Christ at the centre of our joy and our celebrations? Or have we forgotten entirely about Him in our festivities? We cannot be Christians if we do not put Christ at the centre of our lives, just as we cannot have Christmas if we do not put Christ at the heart of what we are celebrating.

To be Christian is to follow what St. Stephen had done, maybe not into martyrdom as what had happened to him, but in terms of zealous and unchanging faith, even in the midst of persecution and societal pressure for us to do otherwise. It is sad to see how many of the faithful have changed their views of the faith, and even the faith that they have itself, to accommodate to the currently popular ways of the world.

Many of them did these because they fear persecution, opposition, ridicule, and many other similar reasons. Many did them because of the pressure to conform to the societal ‘norms’, especially the socially acceptable ones. Many did so because they do not want to look weird or unacceptable to their peers and friends. And some did so because they craved power and popularity, which they could not have gained if they keep faithfully the faith in the Lord in its completeness.

And Christmas too have often become none other than just another party time or shopping and holiday season. Christmas had become so commercialised and infused with the greed and the values of the world that we have often forgotten about Christ. Between Christmas and how we live our lives according to our faith, both are no different, assailed at all sides by the forces of the evil one seeking our destruction.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important that in this Christmas season that we look at, and emulate the examples that St. Stephen had presented to us, and what he had shown to his opponents in that judging session. St. Stephen proudly and without fear, proclaimed his faith in God aloud, without compromise and without seeking for acceptance at the price of his faith.

St. Stephen served God’s people as one of the first seven deacons, and even though his service might have been very short indeed, but his holiness and exemplary actions show that, being a Christian, and in the celebration of Christmas, firstly Christ must always be at the centre of everything, be it our lives, how we live our daily lives, in our words and actions, and in everything. We cannot be half-hearted Christians, who believed in only what we like to believe in, or what is often called to be “market” or “cafetaria” Christians.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue our celebration of Christmas, and as we rejoice in the great saint, Stephen the martyr, let us always remember to devote ourselves wholly and without distractions to the Lord, keeping the faith we have for Him devoutly, without compromising anything for the sake of the world. Both St. Stephen and Jesus Himself did not compromise anything, for the sake of what they are called to do in this world. For St. Stephen, it is for the glory of God, and for Jesus, it is for the salvation of all.

May St. Stephen pray for us, that the Lord will send His help to us, to strengthen our faith, and to be ready to stand up for our faith in the same way as St. Stephen had done, fearing not the powers of this world and proclaim our faith in its entirety. May we all have a blessed time this Christmas season and may God be with us all always. Amen.

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Monday, 16 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is our teacher and our guide, the One who would bring enlightenment to this darkened world of ours, dark in the depth of the ocean of sin, which promotes ignorance, indifference, and even hostility against the infinite and gracious love and kindness of the Lord. He came in Jesus, incarnated into man, so that He might teach His own people directly, on the truth about God and His plan for all of us.

Jesus taught with clear authority, and He showed forth His infinite wisdom and intellect even as He taught the people. He showed them the revelation of the Lord’s Good News to mankind and showed them the truth about what God has prepared for all of us, that is salvation, and the promise of eternal life. He did not make up anything in His teachings, because all that He taught was the truth and is truth.

And although many things had been revealed through the prophets and the words in the Scripture, many still adamantly and obstinately refused to believe in Christ and in what He had taught them. They questioned Him and even His authority, even though they had eyes to see and ears to listen to what Christ had done, which would have been far more than enough to show the authority of the Messiah.

They doubted Him and refused to believe what He would tell them. They ignored His advice to them, and even plotted for His downfall. Such was the reception of a people for whom Christ Himself has come down upon this world for, to the point that He would even die to bear our sins and the consequences of our sins.

But was Jesus bothered by all these negative reactions, especially coming from the leaders of the people and the powerful ones in the society? No! Jesus brushed them aside, masterfully trapping them in their own queries, and He continued to teach the people. He found no point in arguing or debating with them, for after all, they were hell bent at trapping Him in His own words, and were adamantly against Him.

Similar situation also happened in the first reading taken from the Book of Numbers. In order to give all of you an understanding of what happened, one of the kings of the people of Canaan hostile to the people of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt and journey towards the Promised Land, was so terrified by the approach of the Israelites that he resolved to employ the service of a seer, named Balaam, a seer of God.

Balaam was employed to curse the people of Israel, that they would be cursed and destroyed. Is it not the same as the Pharisees who employed all their intelligence and knowledge for the wrong thing, that is wishing for the downfall of Jesus? But Balaam did not obey the orders of his employer, and instead of cursing the Israelites, he blessed them instead with rich blessings.

Balaam showed that we as the children and people of God should have no need to fear worldly authorities. Instead we all should obey the Lord, the One who has real and true authority over all creations. It is He who possesses all authority, the source of all authority that we have. We will not have any authority if we do not adhere ourselves to the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we reflect on the readings we had heard from the Scripture, let us first acknowledge the authority of the Lord and place our full trust in Him. Let us not be like the Pharisees, the Sadducees and many other people who were so occupied with their own pride and arrogance, so as to refuse to accept the Lord and listen to His teachings, stubbornly clinging to their jealousy of the Lord for challenging their own authority.

Let us trust in the Lord, and pay close attention to His teachings. Let us not ignore His call to us, a call which He intended for us to heed, that we may be called to be closer and closer to His love and mercy, changing our once sinful ways, with the ways of the Lord. Make God our guide and our leader, and resolve to walk closely within His path, without turning left or right. Listen to His words and let His words come in and transform us all. God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 14 December 2013 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Elijah, the great prophet of old, came once again into this world, in the form of John the Baptist, the messenger of God and the one who prepared the way for the coming of God. Indeed according to the Scriptures, both of them are likely to be one and the same.

While John the Baptist was not mentioned much in the Holy Scripture, and the details about his life and works are relatively scarce, gathering from what we have in the Holy Gospels, the story about the prophet Elijah, one of the greatest of the prophets, are plentiful. We can read many of his works in the Book of Kings in the Old Testament.

There are many parallels that we can find, between the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, the last of God’s messengers before the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Elijah was sent to the people of Israel, when the people of God went through times of struggle, of an identity crisis, the crisis of their soul. The people of God had not been faithful to the Lord of their fathers, and they had turned away from His ways.

The people of the northern kingdom of Israel, whom Elijah was sent to, was under a rule of wickedness, under the king Ahab, whom many of you would know as one of the most wicked and unfaithful king of Israel. The people who remained faithful to the Lord suffered and even had to lose their lives. One of them was Nabot, whom the king murdered through false testimonies, and he was killed so that the king could have his land, fertile and rich.

Elijah lived through difficult times, where those who believe in God were persecuted. It was therefore even more difficult for one like the prophet and messenger of the Lord’s will. Elijah was persecuted and had to go from one exile to another, fleeing at times from the persecutioners and the forces of the king. Elijah yet persevered and with the power and guidance of God, he continued to work, calling the people to repent from their sinful ways and returned to the worship of the One, True God.

Elijah challenged the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal on Mount Carmel, and won against them, showing the people of God who is the One and only True God. He did many other works of wonders across the land, and even went to the land of the pagans, and found truly great faith there. He brought back to life the son of the widow, and feed them with oil when the land was in famine.

Elijah ended his works in this world and found in Elisha, a successor to his works. It was unique that he among the others, did not die, but was taken up on flaming chariots into heaven. Such was a spectacular and dramatic end for this great prophet of God. But no, that was not the end. Elijah was taken up into heaven to be at God’s side so that the Lord can entrust him to do an even greater work.

Yes, that is to be the one to prepare the way for the Lord, who would come as the Saviour of all, the long promised Messiah. As John the Baptist, what he did, were truly not different from what he had done as Elijah. He proclaimed to the people the need for repentance, and to change their ways, so as to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Himself.

And just as Elijah had to suffer rejection and persecution, John the Baptist too faced mockery and rejection from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who were too self-righteous to listen to the calling of John to repent and change their sinful ways. John the Baptist led the way for Christ, the Messiah, who came in Jesus, the One who finally came to liberate the people of God from sin. And finally both great servants did not hesitate to rebuke even worldly authorities, when they were faced with wickedness. Elijah rebuked king Ahab for his actions in causing the death of Nabot

And those who persecuted Elijah and John the Baptist, as opposed as they were against the Lord and His ways, would also be against the Lord, as was evident, when they opposed the Lord Jesus and all of His works during His earthly ministry. And if they persecuted Elijah, seeking to end his life, and which they succeeded in John, when through Herodias’ daughter, they ended the life of the servant of God. The Lord too, was rejected, reviled, mocked, and finally condemned to death, a death most shameful on the cross.

Yet, did the Lord give up on us? Did He turn away from us even after we have rejected so many of His prophets, and even murdered them? Did He give up the cross so that He no longer needed to suffer for the sake of our rebellious and sinful selves? No, He did not! And that is most important, for the actions of the two great servants of God, Elijah and John the Baptist, were ultimately designed after the examples of God Himself, who in His great love for us, was willing to lower Himself and die as slaves did, so that we can be liberated from our own slavery to sin.

And today, we celebrate a saint whose life has been dedicated to the Lord in much the same way. St. John of the Cross was born in Spain in the sixteenth century and joined the Carmelite order, and went on to be a famous preacher and teacher of the faith to many across Spain. And St. John of the Cross was known for his many works together with St. Teresa of Jesus, also known as St. Teresa of Avila, and both of them were declared Doctors of the Church for their numerous contributions.

St. John of the Cross took part in what was known to be the Reform of Avila, commenced by St. Teresa of Jesus herself, aimed at restoring the purity within the Carmelite order, restoring the venerable and holy traditions designed to keep disciplined and holy, dedicated lifestyle in those who had dedicated themselves to the service of the Lord.

And this was just one of the many contributions that St. John of the Cross had given to the Church. He has written many writings and books that helped greatly in the rediscovery of the purity of the faith among many people during the Counter-Reformation period. And just as many other holy people before him, as were Elijah and John the Baptist, he faced opposition, and even persecution and imprisonment.

There were many who were disgruntled and vehemently against the reforms initiated by both St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, and yet, regardless of all these, St. John of the Cross continued his hard work and did not give up despite the difficulties. He continued to labour for the Lord’s sake until his death.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is easy and often even inevitable for us to act like those who persecuted and condemned these holy people and messengers of God’s will, because simply they speak in a way that truly pierced us to the very depths of our souls.

We have grown decadent and complacent, and we have grown accustomed to the ways of this world. We find comfort in the ways of the world, no matter how wicked they actually are. We prefer to keep to our wicked ways rather than listening to the words of God that these holy people and messengers have brought with them.

That is why we persecuted these people appointed by God to be our help and our guide. Instead of persecuting them, should we not then begin to take this opportunity to reflect on what we had done? Should we not use this chance to begin our path towards salvation by taking even small steps but steps that are certain. We can no longer be ignorant of the faith we have in God. We have to embrace that faith and listen to what the saints and the holy people of God had done and preached, and suffered for in God’s Name.

May the Lord with the help of His saints, and through their intercession, help us to keep on track, on the path towards the Lord, that we will remain faithful, and will be blessed by the faith we have, that on the last day, the Lord will reward us together with His saints. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 December 2013 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Lord lies our rest, and in Him lies our true joy and hope, and the hope of true happiness in Him. This hope of joy is not the same as the joy of this world, of that which is offered by the evil one to us, through the pleasures of this world. In God only lies all the comfort and satisfaction that the world cannot give.

It may seem to us that following the Lord is not an appealing option to us, and we would prefer indeed to follow the ways of the world, enjoying what is there in the world to give us, rather than troubling ourselves with the burdens of following the ways of God. But this is exactly where we are mistaken, for indeed, the burdens that are laid upon us if we follow the Lord, are temporary, but the burdens that we will have to endure, if we deny the Lord, is heavier and eternal.

Our God loves us in ways that all of us can never completely comprehend, due to the vastness and infinite nature of this divine love. He never gives up on us, even as we fell into sin and evil, and even as we betrayed Him and caused Him suffering, as He bore our sins down with Him on the way to Calvary, and onto the cross. He loves us all the same, even after all of that.

He is rich in mercy and great in compassion. We might have caused Him much sorrow, for our constant rebellions and disobedience against His will, but He did not give up His love and care for us all, unless we ourselves continue to defy Him, all the way to the end, and reject His offer of love and forgiveness. It is our defiance and arrogance that ultimately will lead us to ruin.

Following the Lord and to walk in His ways is not easy, not easy indeed for us. This is because we who have been tempted by Satan, in our ancestors, are predisposed to temptation by sin, and to be tempted to veer away from the true path towards salvation. We are easily swayed, by the goodness of the other way, that is the evil’s way, easier but deadly. We are also easily tempted by the offers of Satan, who gave us the offering of all the goods that he can give.

And as often mentioned, the ways of this world and the way of the Lord frequently do not match, and therefore, there will be displeasure and difficulties should we decide to follow the path of righteousness. There will be even jeers, mockery, and even hatred towards us, because we are different. Yet, such are the little price that we ought to pay, for the greater price of our salvation.

Today we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Damasus I, one of the saints who were also jeered, mocked, and opposed in his ministry. This is exactly as how the Lord Himself had been opposed and rejected by those who walked in the ways of evil. Pope St. Damasus I was opposed by his own people, many of whom supported a rival candidate as Pope, nominating him as an Antipope. Nevertheless, Pope St. Damasus I did not fear nor was he affected by all those negative opinions about him.

Pope St. Damasus I stood strong in the face of those oppositions and campaigned against them with the fury and wrath that is of the Lord Himself. He was particularly staunch in his opposition against heresy, particularly Arianism, which was truly widespread in Christendom at the time, poisoning the minds of many people against the true faith.

Pope St. Damasus I worked hard to strengthen the faith in many people and many areas under his care, as the Vicar of Christ. He was also credited with the codification of the Holy Scriptures and its translation of the Scripture into the Latin language in the Vulgate Bible as done by St. Jerome. Pope St. Damasus I was the patron of that great saint and Doctor of the Church.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you have seen how walking in the way of the Lord and to be His servant, is by no means easy. There will be many challenges and opposition, precisely as what had been experienced by Pope St. Damasus I, and by many other saints and the Apostles themselves. But they did not let these to hinder them, and instead these oppositions helped to further push them on to work even harder for the sake of the Lord.

Pope St. Damasus I and the other saints showed us that, we should not worry or fear rejection from this world, for after all, it has first rejected the Lord Himself. Instead, we should put our complete faith and trust in the Lord, in whom we will have true joy and true rest. For indeed, the Lord did offer us a burden, because His path is not an easy one, but that burden is a light one, and at the end of the way, He will lift up that burden from us, and give us an unparalled crown of unending and heavenly glory.

May the Lord with the intercession of Pope St. Damasus I and other holy men and women who ceaselessly praise Him daily with the angels, continue to watch over us, strengthen us, and reinforce our faith in Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 9 November 2013 : 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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Saturday, 7 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate mission and the fruits of the mission that Jesus Himself, our Lord, has commissioned the disciples to do. The Lord sent out His call to repentance and salvation to all the nations, and through His disciples, in the missions He gave them, He offered all peoples, literally all mankind, the opportunity to be saved and to be made whole again, through Christ.

He made salvation readily available to all the nations, and through His disciples as His mouthpiece and as His representatives in the world, He spread the seeds of faith, hope, and love in this world. And those seeds that they spread in this world grow tall and strong, despite oppositions and persecutions that faced the Lord and His followers. These seeds would either grow or wither, depending on how each individuals respond to the Lord and His actions.

Some of us readily responds to the seeds God has planted in us, and yet there are others who ignored these gifts or even outrightly rejected them. That is why, these seeds of faith, hope, and love, cannot be left alone to fend for its own. Most likely in that case, the seeds will not grow, or will grow and then wither. That is because we need to make sure that we are healthy in spirit if we are to receive the grace from the Lord.

We need guidance, and we need helpers. That is why Jesus commissioned His disciples, to go ahead of Him, proclaiming His coming and His teachings to the people. Firstly only to the people of Israel, which many of them listened to those words and teachings of Jesus, but they did not truly believe in Him. They abandoned Him when He was betrayed and put to death by the Jewish authorities.

Then, He sent the disciples to all the nations after His death and resurrection, and as a parting statement and mission before He ascended into heaven, He sent forth the disciples to proclaim the Good News to all nations, bringing the words about salvation to all the furthest ends of the earth. And this they did, faithfully, persevering through oppositions, oppressions, and rejections, until they met martyrdom at the end, as part of their mission.

The disciples appointed many successors, who were to continue the good works they had begun, continuing to spread the seeds of faith, hope, and love throughout the world. The world was a great, fertile ground, where those seeds may grow, grow aplenty and strong. But at the same time, great challenges also awaited in the midst of all the goodness and all the opportunities.

Firstly, as Jesus mentioned, that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. These labourers are literally those who had given themselves in the service of the Lord, in spreading His Good News, following in the footsteps of the Apostles. They are today represented by our priests, bishops, our Pope and the Cardinals, all the religious priests and brothers, all missionaries, nuns, sisters, and all who devoted themselves to a life of dedication to God. Each of them devoted themselves as labourers and servants of the Lord in different ways and yet they laboured for the same purpose, that is to make disciples of all the nations as Jesus had commissioned His Apostles.

In the past, we have plenty of priests and many aspirants to the priesthood and religious life. Many people lined up to join the Seminary or religious life, in total and complete devotion to the Lord. Seminaries were full, and churches were full. Priests were in abundance, in great numbers, and even though demands of them continued to increase over time, there was no concern of shortage as we have now.

Today, our world is increasingly becoming more and more hostile to the faith, to the development of our faith, and to the dedicated life in God, in general. The temptations and challenges of this world has become greater, greater, and ever greater. The world offered increasingly more and more tempting options that lured people away from a life of devotion in God. After all, being someone who is affluent in the world offers much greater opportunities and easier life as compared to those who dedicated themselves as the labourers of the Lord, as the servants of the Good News, the missionaries, priests, and so on and so forth.

The call of the Lord for more people to come and serve Him and help Him in bringing the people of God together towards Him, as harvesters seeking the harvest awaiting harvest, increasingly becoming more and more subdued behind the screen of noise of the world. Life as a servant of God becomes more and more of a challenge, as in every corner, the servants of the Lord face numerous obstacles, be it opposition, rejection, temptation, or lack of inner self-discipline and self-control.

And then, in the end, we ourselves have often are to blame ourselves too, whenever we fail to do our part to help, or we may even hinder the process of salvation. That is because, the Lord also calls upon all of us to also play a part in the mission He had commissioned the Apostles for, that is to continue proclaiming the word of God in all the nations. We like to remain idle, and do not profess the Lord in our actions and words. Indeed, we often show things contrary to the teachings of the Lord in our behaviour, that in fact keep people away from truly believing in God.

After all, how can they believe if they see that we ourselves do not believe and do not put complete and pure faith in what we believe in? And today, we celebrate the feast of a great saint, one who did not make compromises about the faith, and one who truly act what he preached, and as a result, gained bountiful harvests for the Lord through the salvation of many souls of the people of God.

Today is the feast of St. Ambrose, the well-known Bishop of Milan in the fourth century after the birth of Christ. St. Ambrose was well-known for his piety, his devotion to the Lord, his exemplary faith, and his unyielding and unbending faith, and his fearlessness to stand up against even the authorities especially when they had subverted and corrupted the faith to suit their own purposes, as I will explain soon.

St. Ambrose lived at a time of turbulence, when the Roman Empire is gradually heading to its ultimate demise, especially in the west, where St. Ambrose had his bishopric, that is the Diocese of Milan, the most important diocese besides Rome in the West, and which is still one of the most important see in the world today. St. Ambrose was an exemplary leader and shepherd of God’s people that few people could hope to equal.

St. Ambrose began his life as a layperson, who was appointed as governor of the region where Milan was in, and he was very well-liked by the people, due to his piety, his character, and the devotion that he had showed the people entrusted under his rule. This made him the clear favourite when the election of the Bishop of Milan took place, and St. Ambrose, while still a layperson, was literally called in to serve the people of God as their shepherd, their bishop.

St. Ambrose did a very good job, and as immediately as he began his tenure as the Bishop of Milan, he set out to root out heresies there, particularly the aberrant teachings of Arianism, which doubted the divinity of Christ. St. Ambrose went on hard on the heresy, persuading and pleading many of those who had left their faith in God, so that they may return to the Lord in the true and pure faith, untainted by heretical teachings such as Arianism.

Not only that, St. Ambrose himself also censured the Empress, because she herself believed in the heretical teachings of Arianism, and tried to destroy the presence of the true faith in Milan and in the Empire, and bend them to conform to the will of the Empress, following her heretical thoughts. St. Ambrose openly condemned the Empress without fear, knowing that heresy has no place in the hearts of the faithful.

St. Ambrose eventually won the day, and the true faith prevailed. And on another occasion, with the another Emperor, Theodosius I, St. Ambrose in fact censured the Emperor himself, by denying him from receiving communion, because he had razed and destroyed the lives of innocent peoples, when they rebelled against him asking for help and assistance. Instead, they were brutally assaulted and executed.

St. Ambrose did not fear at all even to censure the most powerful man on earth, and he stood his ground until the Emperor eventually came to him in sackcloth and in the spirit of repentance, asking the Lord for forgiveness for the sins he had committed in God’s eyes. The Emperor had to publicly acknowledge his sins in public and wore sackcloth and mourning clothes until he had shown his public act of repentance, only after which he was received back into the Church by St. Ambrose. It can be seen here, how exemplary St. Ambrose was, in daring to stand up to authorities in order to defend our faith.

So, after we heard the case of St. Ambrose of Milan and that of his persistence and zeal which made the faith in God truly concrete and real, through the zeal he had in His ministry, he was truly a very good and inspiring servant of God. But is this limited only to the holy men and women? No! All of us in fact also have a role to play. We are the agents of the Lord just as much as the disciples were.

We may not have to go to the extent of what St. Ambrose had done, and it may indeed be difficult to replicate what he had done. What we can do is indeed, starting from simple things, such as through our own deeds. If our faith in God is truly genuine, as that of St. Ambrose’s, and if our hearts are touched by the love that God has given us, I assure you that, we will bring rich harvests to the Lord, and the Lord will reward us with kindness and justice.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we reflect on the life of St. Ambrose of Milan, and coupled with what was said in the Holy Scriptures today, let us resolve to seek to advance the cause for evangelisation, and for the conversion of many nations to the Lord. We should also resolve take part in the process, and not just standing in the sidelines, watching and doing nothing.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, idleness does not reward us with anything. If anything at all, we will be scrutinised for our failure to act according to what the Lord had instructed us to do, through His disciples. Follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, and in the footsteps of St. Ambrose. We may not be able to do much, but it is the intention which counts. We ought to take part and support evangelisation where possible, and as much as within our capabilities.

Be brave, be courageous, and be fearless as St. Ambrose was! Do not worry for the Lord is with us, behind us, supporting us, in all the things that we do in His Name. May God bless us all, and bring more and more souls towards salvation. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 November 2013 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we approach the beginning of the Advent season and the end of the current liturgical year, we are reminded yet again, on the imminence of the coming of Christ, that is His glorious and final, second coming, in which He will judge all things and all creations living and dead, in one final judgment for the souls of all mankind.

The time will come indeed, for the enemies of the faithful ones in God to gather and plot against the people of God, with their chief and lord, that is Satan the deceiver, for a final attempt to wrest victory from the hands of God. Just like in our first reading, where Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den by the machinations of his enemies, who pushed hard for his imprisonment and punishment, the same too will happen at the end of times, as Jesus Himself had mentioned.

Indeed, if we listen to the readings today, our fate as the faithful ones of God seems to be very bleak indeed, as we know that there will be lots of opposition, lots of suffering, and lots of tough times for us to go through. There will be oppression, and when we will be facing insults and anger of the people shown against us, for keeping the faith in God alive and strong in us. Well, to be honest, even these days, we all know that all of these are already happening, even daily these days!

Difficult times will certainly be upon us, but we should not be overly worried or give in to fear. Remember that the Lord protects all who are faithful to Him, and He cares for all of them, that is us. He will not leave us in jeopardy, nor will He abandon us to the evil one. It is we who often abandon Him, to choose the better and easier way out, taking the shortcut of the world, thinking that it will lead us to an easier and more enjoyable life later on.

Such is the delusion the enemy is trying to put to us, in order to bring us away from the Lord, and therefore from salvation. Through this world, the enemy has made his move, intended to bring many souls into damnation, a state where eternal suffering without hope and love will be upon us who stumble on our path towards the Lord. We must stand strong, and we cannot give in to the temptations of the devil.

It is not, however, that we should shun the world, hate the world, or anything like that. Rather, hate the developments that had grown accustomed in our society, where consumerism and excessive greed has eaten ever deeper into the hearts of mankind. Our modern day society is one where we can say that money is god, money is everything. Yes, money is indeed important, and we cannot deny that. We need money and other things which money can buy, so that we can sustain ourselves and continue living.

However, needing money does not equate the glorification of money, and the corruption of our hearts by greed. Yes, the greed for possessions and material wealth. It is pervasive in many in our world today. How many people have you known that enslaved themselves to their work and their career? How many people are obsessed with getting more wealth and possessions? How many people spent hours or even days of their time gambling and playing in casinoes in order to gain fast money? How many people did illegal jobs and corrupt funds just so that they can fill their coffers with more money?

Yes, these are the realities of our world. So many people have been ensnared by the temptations of the world, the allures of money, wealth, and worldly pleasures, which few indeed could resist. After all, given a choice, who in the right mind would choose suffering and difficulties over easy life and pleasure? And yet, brothers and sisters, the fact that you all are here today, is that, the very fact that we all still have faith and truly believe in the Lord our God and Saviour. We believe in Him and His promise, that at the end of all things, He will come again, and give us who remain faithful in Him, an eternal rest and glory with Him.

While we are living in this world today, we ought not to hide ourselves from the world and remain passive. We must not shield ourselves from criticism and persecution. Rather, go out and preach the Good News and the words of the Lord’s salvation, especially to those who did not believe, and those who persecutes you. We do not have to say a single word to do that. Our actions will do just the same. Remember what Jesus had said, and when we follow them, we will do fine.

Yes, for example, when someone insults us and our faith, do not insult them back. Instead, embrace them, love them, and pray for them. That is the way of the followers of Christ, the Christian way of life. Whenever people persecute us for our dedication and devotion towards the Lord, do not be angry at them. Rather, let love fill ourselves, and pray for them. Embrace them with your love. In doing so, not only that we do not corrupt ourselves with the anger and the negative emotions that the devil wanted to trap us with, but we may even help to bring more souls to salvation, to join us to be saved by God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, keep our faith up! Never fear, and keep the Lord always foremost in our heart. Let us all be loving children and disciples of our loving God, always loving and always forgiving, especially to those who hate us most, and to those who insult us and persecute us for our faith. Remember, they too need to be saved, just like us. God bless us all, and all peoples. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 November 2013 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Daniel 6 : 12-18

So those men who were opposed to Daniel went to the king and reminded him about the prohibition, O king, did you not publish a decree that anyone who prays or makes petition to any god or man except to you would be thrown into the lion’s den?”

The king answered, “Yes, and the decree stands, in accordance with Medo-Persian laws which cannot be altered or annulled.”

Then they said, “But the Jewish exile Daniel pays no attention to you and to your decree. Three times a day he still prays to some God other than you.”

Greatly aggrieved at what he heard, the king decided to help Daniel. He made every effort till sundown to save him. But the men kept coming to him and insisting, “Remember, o king, that under the Medo-Persian laws every decree or prohibition issued by the king is irrevocable.”

The king, therefore, could not help giving the order that Daniel be brought and thrown into the lion’s den. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve faithfully, save you.”

A stone was placed at the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with that of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might remain unchanged. Then the king returned to his palace and spent a sleepless night, refusing food and entertainment.

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Saturday, 23 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, and St. Columban, Abbot (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbot and Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the fact on the lack of faith that mankind has in the Lord. Mankind has grown feeble in the faith that they have in God, preferring their own reasoning, their own ideas and their own wisdom rather than putting their trust and faith in the One and True God. They refused to believe and hardened their hearts against God.

Yes, that was what the Sadducees had done, when they opposed Jesus and tried to test and challenge Him with questions about the resurrection of the dead. The Sadducees are the moral and theological opposite of the zealous Pharisees, being influential Jews that in our modern terms can be equated as being secular in nature, even to the point of atheism, that is disbelief in the presence of the divine God.

They refused to believe in anything spiritual and otherworldly, preferring to trust in their own human senses and judgment. They did not believe in angels, in saints, and in the resurrection of the dead, and believe indeed that their lives in this world is to be savoured in its entirety, that they ought not to worry about the life that is to come. They thought of death as the end of our lives, a definitive end.

But to us, brothers and sisters in Christ, we know and believe that death is not the end of all things. Indeed, death marks the beginning of a new and eternal life in God. That is proven by none other than Jesus Himself, the One who rose from the dead in glory, and in the process, gaining mankind to Himself, and releasing them from the slavery of sin, providing them with an exit from death’s grasp.

For death is the fate of us all mankind, who had disobeyed the Lord and went astray from His laws and His precepts. Beginning from Adam and Eve, our first ancestors, mankind had been trapped in the cycle of death. Death is the punishment for disobedience, for our waywardness have led us away from God and His love. But the Lord loves us so much, that He would not let death have the final word.

He sent deliverance into this world, pretty much as what He had done as witnessed in our first reading, from the Book of the Maccabees, which retells the story of how a people was saved from the hands of evil. The forces of the world struck against the faithful ones of the Lord, through the hands of the Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes. And yet, the Lord raised up the Maccabees family, beginning with Judas, who led the people in a sort of holy war, in order to preserve their purity and sanctity against the forces of evil arrayed against them.

They rose up, cast out the forces of the Greeks, and regained their righteous freedom. And in the same way therefore, the Lord has come as the source of deliverance for all, through Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh. He led the salvation of all and dealt the forces of evil a final defeat, and gained a final victory for all creations. And this, most importantly will not happen, without resurrection.

For resurrection is the Lord’s answer to death, and therefore, is His answer to sin, and to evil that had engulfed our world, and all of us, that through the resurrection of Jesus, which happened on the Easter Sunday, three days after His death on the cross, the sovereignty and power that death has over us is cast down. Without the resurrection, there is no hope for all of us. With it, and the with the Risen Christ, we have a new hope, that at the end of our journeys in this world, if we keep faith in God and attach ourselves to His ways, we will be saved.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Clement I, one of the early and direct successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the leader of the entire Universal Church. He was also a holy martyr and a dedicated leader of the faithful, who dedicated his life in the complete service to the Lord. And in him today, we rejoice. That is because, if not Pope St. Clement I’s death in holy martyrdom would have been in vain, if there is no life after death.

Pope St. Clement I was one of the great early leaders of the Church, leading the faithful through difficult times, both against external oppositions and challenges, as well as internal disputes and rivalries. Pope St. Clement I wrote extensively many letters to the Universal Church, giving them encouragement and directions to keep strong and true the faith in God. And the core of that faith in God is the faith in the resurrection, for it is from the resurrection that our Faith is born.

Pope St. Clement I faithfully served the people of God, and he followed them even into custody, prison, and persecution. He was tortured by the Roman authorities who persecuted Christians, sent him into exile, and finally he was executed by drowning. Pope St. Clement I did not back down, and he kept his faith to the end, the faith in the Risen Lord. For he knew that there is hope in the Risen Christ, and through his hard works he had been rewarded with life eternal in the fullness of the glory of God.

St. Columban is another saint whom we commemorate today. He was an abbot and a pious worker of the faith who travelled across different areas and territories for many years, spreading the Good News and the teachings about the faith in those areas. St. Columban is a great missionary, who went around many areas of Western Europe, converting many to the cause of Christ, and bringing people closer to the salvation in the Risen Lord.

St. Columban worked hard and laboured for the faith, across the modern day France, and went on to many parts of Celtic Europe in the British islands. St. Columban worked in the islands and spread zealously the word of God as far as Ireland, where he spent significant amount of time in. He led the example for many to follow a dedicated religious life to God, giving of oneself in prayerful service to God and the fellow men.

Both the saints we celebrate today, in their own ways, proclaim the greatness of the Lord and testify for His glorious resurrection, through which the salvation of this world came about, delivering many souls from their intended path towards doom and eternal death. Through the hard works of these two saints therefore, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is therefore brought even closer to us, as Pope St. Clement I himself showed through his martyrdom, how he did not fear the suffering at the hands of men nor death, because he knew that, as St. Columban and all the other saints and holy men and women knew, that the glory of God and all the rewards are awaiting us at the other end of the tough road, if they remain faithful to the end.

We are shown how, death did not have the final say. For Jesus had made His appearance and through His own death, He had definitively proven to the entire creation, that the One with all the authority and power over life and death is God, and just as God did not intend us for death, for we have been made for perfection, so for those who remain true to His ways, God will grant everlasting life, if we will just believe, and keep on strongly to that faith. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 November 2013 : 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 21 : 5-19

While some people were talking about the Temple, remarking that it was adorned with fine stonework and rich gifts, Jesus said to them, “The days will come when there shall not be left one stone upon another of all that you now admire; all will be torn down.”

And they asked Him, “Master, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” Jesus then said, “Take care not to be deceived, for many will come claiming My title and saying, ‘I am He, the Messiah; the time is at hand!’ Do not follow them.”

“When you hear of wars and troubled times, do not be frightened; for all these things must happen first, even though the end is not so soon.”

And Jesus said, “Nations will fight each other and kingdom will oppose kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues; in many places strange and terrifying signs from heaven will be seen. Before all these things happen, people will lay their hands on you and persecute you; you will be delivered to the synagogues and put in prison, and for My sake you will be brought before kings and governors. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

So keep this in mind : do not worry in advance about what to say, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends, and some of you will be out to death. But even though, because of My Name, you will be hated by everyone, not a hair of your head will perish. By your patient endurance you will save your souls.