Passion of the Christ

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 115 : 12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

The Lord remembers us and will bless us; He will bless the family of Israel; He will bless the family of Aaron; He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.

May you be blessed by the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. Heaven belongs to the Lord, but the earth He has given to humans.

It is not the dead who praise the Lord, for they have gone down to silence; but it is we, the living, who bless the Lord, from now on and forever.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Exodus 12 : 1-8, 11-14

YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, “This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year. Speak to the community of Israel and say to them : On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a lamb for each house. If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbour, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and to what each one can eat.”

“You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs and take some of the blood to put on the doorposts and on top of the doorframes of the houses where you eat.”

“That night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And this is how you will eat : with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily for it is a Passover in honour of YHVH.”

“On that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, YHVH! The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.”

“This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honour of YHVH. It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.”

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Chrism Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this occasion of the Chrism Mass, we all gather together, all the priests with their respective bishops and superiors in the dioceses around the world. On this day, all those who have dedicated themselves to the Lord in either religious life or sacred priesthood renew their promises and vows to the Lord, and at the same time, the holy oils are blessed, the chrism, where the Chrism Mass got its name from.

All those who are baptised in Christ, and all those who have placed themselves on the path of God’s salvation, they all have received the anointing of the holy oils upon their forehead, as these holy oils have been blessed by God Himself through His holy priests. And it is these priests too who have also been anointed with the same holy oils, when they receive the sacrament of the Holy Orders, to become the dedicated and committed servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And to them the Lord has given them the same authority as He had given to the Apostles, to His disciples and faithful ones, whom He had charged with the care of the people and the flock which He had gathered in the Name of His Father. Just as David has been chosen by God to lead His people Israel as His chosen king, and he has been anointed with oil by Samuel the prophet and judge, so therefore, our priests, bishops and all who have received the Sacrament of the Holy Orders have been blessed and chosen by God. God had called them, and they have responded with faith and sincerity.

And today, all of us gather together to remember our priests and to keep them always in our prayers as they made the efforts anew, to renew together with their bishops, and also with the whole Universal Church, the vow and promise which they had made at the moment of their consecration as God’s holy and dedicated priests. And this time it is especially crucial that we pray for them and ask for our Lord’s protection over them.

Why is this so? That is because, challenges and difficulties are always out and about, seeking to challenge our Church, bringing it problems and putting obstacles in her path, and our priests and all the faithful servants of the Lord, and the workers of the fields of the Lord are at the forefront of the Church and its works, and consequently, they are the ones who are braving those challenges.

There are many difficulties facing our priests, from how they work, to what they preach to the people of God, and to even how they live their daily lives. They are in fact carrying the cross of Christ as long as they are faithful in following the commandments of God. And what is that for, brethren? It is for our own benefit and for our own salvation. They are the shepherds that God had appointed to be in charge of all of us, to lead us on the path to reach Him and the salvation in Him.

It is not easy to become a priest, and it is not easy to remain as one and staying true as one. It is just as what our Lord had said, that while the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers and workers to gather the harvest are few, and just as He asked His people to pray for the Father to send the labourers to the harvest, thus, this is what He also wanted from us, that we pray for God to send young people to join the vocation to the priesthood, to listen to God calling them in their hearts and to choose the way of dedication and commitment to God and to His people.

We too should listen to the word of God speaking deep in our hearts. It is often that we are called by the Lord to follow Him, and yet we are not willing to follow Him because of the various reasons that we have. We like to make excuses or even closing our ears and our minds, our hearts and our feelings from the Lord. And this is exactly why it is becoming ever more difficult from time to time for our Church, as there are fewer and fewer people ready to commit themselves and their lives in the service of God.

Therefore, today, as we reflect on this occasion of the Chrism Mass, let us all commit ourselves anew in our own ways. If we want to devote ourselves wholly to God, then we should take the first step and have the courage to devote ourselves and our entire beings to serving the Lord, taking up the crosses we have, and bravely enduring the challenges, to lead and guide our brethren to the Lord as His shepherds.

And if we are not to follow the Lord in the way of His chosen priests and ministers, then all of us still have our obligations as Christians, to live a good and devout life, filled with faith and obedience to God and His commandments and laws. Then, all of us who choose that path should indeed devote ourselves to help the Church and to help one another in seeking God and His salvation.

Let us all realise in each and every one of us, the role and the responsibilities we have for God and for our fellow brethren. Let us follow the Lord and do what we can to be ever obedient to Him, and to do His good works in all of our lives. May God be with us all, and bless us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Maundy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 4 : 16-21

At that time, when Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as He usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed Him the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written : “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and to announce the Lord’s year of mercy.”

Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Then He said to them, “Today these prophetic words come true, even as you listen.”

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Maundy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Revelations 1 : 5-8

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has washed away our sins with His own Blood, making us a kingdom and priests for God His Father, to Him be the glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

See He comes with the clouds and everyone will see Him, even those who pierced Him; on His account all the nations of the earth will beat his breast. Yes, it will be so. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, He who is, who was, and who is to come : the Master of the universe.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Maundy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 88 : 21-22, 25 and 27

I have found David My servant, and with My holy oil I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him and My arm will sustain him.

My faithfulness and love will be with him, and by My help he will be strong. He will call on Me, “You are my Father, my God, my Rock, my Saviour.”

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Maundy Thursday, Chrism Mass (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 61 : 1-3a, 6a, 8b-9

The Spirit of the Lord YHVH is upon Me, because YHVH has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up broken hearts, to proclaim liberty to the captives, freedom to those languishing in prison; to announce the year of YHVH’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God; to give comfort to all who grieve; to comfort those who mourn in Zion and give them a garland instead of ashes.

But you will be named priests of YHVH, you will be called ministers of our God. YHVH said, “I will give them their due reward and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a race YHVH has blessed.”

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Monday, 8 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 1 : 1-7

Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the Church of God in Corinth, and to all the saints in the whole of Achaia. May you receive grace and peace from God our Father and from Christ Jesus, the Lord.

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus, our Lord, the All-Merciful Father and the God of all comfort! He encourages us in all our trials, so that we may also encourage those in any trial, with the same comfort that we receive from God.

For whenever the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so, through Christ, a great comfort also overflows. So, if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we receive comfort it is also for you. You may experience the same comfort when you come to endure the same sufferings we endure.

Our hope for you is most firm; just as you share in our sufferings, so shall you also share in our consolation.

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Sunday, 3 May 2015 : Fifth Sunday of Easter, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the key and heart of the messages of today’s readings is simple, that we are nothing without God, and we cannot survive on our own without God, and detached from God, or if we are cast out of His grace, then we truly have nothing and will perish, no matter how many possessions we have in life. For our Lord is the source of all life, and the source of all the things that made us who we are.

He is the true Vine, from which all the branches came from. In a plant, the true Vine means the roots and the stem, that is the core body of the plant. The branches in the plant, the leaves, the fruits and the flowers are all coming out from that stem, and gain their water and supplies from the bountiful earth from the roots through the stem. And it is with this analogy and perfect comparison that Jesus taught His disciples and the people, what it means to be the disciples of the Lord.

Jesus compared Himself with the Vine, while God the Father as the Vinegrower. The Vinegrower tends for the Vine and gives It life through the care He has given. And therefore, by the loving care of the hands of the Father, He brought forth the Son in Jesus Christ, and through Jesus, He gives life also to the world. This is precisely just as the Vinegrower gives life to the branches through the care of the Vine.

Without the vine, the branches will die and not live. All the branches must be connected to the vine or the stem, just in the same way that our limbs and organs are all attached together to the same body. All are members of the same body, that is the Mystical Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, universal and united to our Lord.

Why is this important, brethren? That is because our world grows ever more individualistic, selfish and filled with ego and wickedness. The way of this world speaks volumes on the glorification of the self and self-praising attitudes. We often think in ways that bring glory to ourselves. In the many things that we do, we often were raised up to think that we are the only ones who have done them and the success, if there is any, is solely attributed to our own efforts.

And this is how we often forget God and His role in each of our lives. This is how we forget to give thanks to Him who have given us this life and opportunity to live out that life on every single day. Without God, we would not have any life, and our life would have been devoid of meaning. It is to give praise to God, for all the wonders of His grace and works, that we live our daily lives.

I recently visited a farm and observed how the farmers treat their plants and crops. The plants were treated very well, given all the nutrients and water they need to grow healthy and strong. Those plants that bear good fruits and healthy in appearance are taken care of even more, and the workers pruned the plant in order to maximise the yield of the fruits. The parts that are not so productive are pruned off and cut, so that the plant can focus its attention to the parts bearing good fruits.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This means that while we have our lives from God, we also have been given grace and blessings, gifts and talents by the Lord for us, each unique to ourselves. These gifts and blessings are not meant to be kept within ourselves and left idle. These gifts and blessings are like the nutrients which the farmers had provided the plants, and thus, it is like all the graces that God had given us.

All the plants have a purpose, that is to bear good fruits, so that the good fruits may be harvested and gathered, and when sold, the fruits may bring decent and good profits to the farmers. The plants that bear bad and rotten fruits or no fruit at all, or if the plants are sickly and dying, or infested with many pests and diseases, they all will not be favourable to the farmers. They would uproot them and then throw them away to die and rot, and the place given to other plants that show more promise.

Thus, if we also produce bad fruits, or do nothing to bear fruits that befit what God had given us in His love and blessings, then we too shall not be able to enjoy God’s favour, as then there is no need for us and our existence indeed. Worse still if the rotten fruits cause the downfall to the fruits that are healthy and good. These diseases and sicknesses are causes by our sins and disobedience against God. And thus as a result, we did not bear good fruits, but rather, the fruits which had been tainted by evil.

If we profess to be the children and servants of our God, then all of our words and actions must show this very fact. And we also cannot be idle, thinking that believing in God is enough, or just being passive is enough. If we ignore the plight of others around us, and ignore those who live in the darkness while we are in the position to bring them succour and relief, then it will be the same as the plants that bear no fruit or bad fruits.

All of these Jesus had also summed up in His parables, one on the fig tree, where the fig tree that produces no fruit, He cursed and it withered and died, as well as the story which we heard today itself, on the vine and its branches. We are all born good and endowed with many good things, for we are anchored on the good vine, the true Vine, that is Jesus our Lord. But what matters is how we make use of all that goodness and develop it for the benefits of all, of everyone around us and not just ourselves.

In the first reading we heard how the great enemy of the faithful, Saul, who had been converted by the Lord Himself on the way to Damascus, and from someone who would arrest anyone who believed in Jesus at sight and persecute them to no end, into someone who now would not hesitate to preach a testimony of faith in front of the people, professing openly and teaching the people that Jesus is the Lord and Saviour of all.

Such was the complete transformation of Saul, from someone whose life once was driven by false zeal and by the desires of worldly praise, power and accomplishment, into a life that is transformed as a light for others, carried out in humility and true zeal, that one pursue no longer the desire of his own, but the desire of the Lord who had called him out of the darkness to be the servant to carry out His word to the masses.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, today, as we celebrate together this Holy Mass, this holy day of the Lord, all of us witness the reminders from the Holy Scriptures, that we all should indeed put our whole attention to the Lord our God, and stop being so inward looking and so concerned about ourselves and our desires. It is in our nature to be selfish to the exclusion of others, but as we have heard, we are part of one big family, one whole body of the community of all the faithful ones, all united through Christ our Lord.

We also must heed our Lord’s will and do things in accordance to what He had taught us. If we want to remain part of the Lord and continue to remain in His grace, then we truly should focus on our actions, words and deeds. Have we been faithful in all of them, and have we practiced our faith in our daily life? Or have we idled and did nothing to show the faith which we have for God? Remember, if we do nothing to act according to our faith, then we are the same as those plants that bear little or no or bad fruits.

God often gives us chance and opportunities to change our ways of life, and indeed, if we have not done according to His will up to now, then now is indeed the time to take concrete action and devote ourselves anew on the new path, a path blessed by God. There are many temptations for us to do things against this, as Satan certainly does not want us to be saved. He would do all things in his power to distract us and lure us away from salvation.

God is our true Vine, the source of all our life and all of our goodness and blessings. He is also our Shepherd and Guide, who leads us to the true path. Let us from now on, if we have not done so, or have not done enough, help one another, and keep each other in faith, as members of the same Body, the Church, united in Christ. It is that eventually all of us may gain eternal life and salvation, liberation from all the consequences of sin, by having life through our Lord.

Let us all pray, that God will strengthen our faith, and help us so that we may be courageous in living up to our faith, and bear plentiful fruits, good fruits of faith, by loving one another, walking righteously in life, rejecting all the lies of the devil and helping each other to keep the faith living and strong. May Almighty God bless us this day and from now on, forevermore. Let us all be one in Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 May 2015 : Fifth Sunday of Easter, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 15 : 1-8

Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the True Vine and My Father is the Vinegrower. If any of My branches does not bear fruit, He breaks it off; and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit.”

“You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you. Live in Me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but has to remain part of the vine; so neither can you, if you do not remain in Me.”

“I am the Vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in Me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from Me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in Me is thrown away, as they do with branches, and they wither. Then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.”

“If you remain in Me and My words in you, you may ask whatever you want, and it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit : it is then that you become My disciples.”