Passiontide

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Friday, 3 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Lord showing us even more of the frictions and tensions that existed before the Lord Jesus was to go through His Passion in Jerusalem, suffering and eventually death, as we are really near now to the commencement of the Holy Week, which begins this coming Sunday on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. This brings into our attention what we have been spending time in this season of Lent for, that is to prepare ourselves to celebrate the glorious and solemn mysteries of the Holy Week and Easter.

In our first reading today, we heard of the lamentations and words of the prophet Jeremiah for all those who have persecuted and plotted against him. For at that time, there were many people who despised Jeremiah for all the ominous words and prophecies that he brought to the people, especially the false prophets who tried to persuade the king of Judah and the people otherwise, that they were all doing fine in their state of sin and disobedience against God.

Jeremiah was persecuted terribly and he suffered much during all those years. Had it not been for some help among the few allies he still had, he would have been killed by his enemies. But he trusted in God and remained committed to the mission which the Lord had entrusted him, that he braved the challenges and difficulties in order to carry out the works of evangelisation among the people of God.

Jeremiah’s faith and trust was indeed truly evident, as he remained confident in God’s guidance and help as shown in the first reading today, that God, as a mighty Warrior who is ever faithful will be with His people, and He has devoted Himself to them and would not abandon them in their time of distress. It was this faith which allowed Jeremiah to remain strong in his ministry despite all the trials and difficulties that he had encountered in Judah and beyond.

Then, in our Gospel passage today we heard of the immense difficulties and challenges that were mounting against Jesus, as the Jews in Judea, particularly the Pharisees and the members of the Jewish High Council or the Sanhedrin as these took issues with the Lord’s ministry and teachings, and they had done a lot in trying to oppose Him and challenge Him publicly in many opportunities. And in today’s Gospel passage, we heard how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, with many of the Jews opposed the Lord and took great issue with His claim being the Son of God.

The Lord had told them the truth and revealed everything to them plainly, but they refused to believe in Him and they did not have faith in Him, and that was why they hardened their hearts against Him and wanted to have Him arrested and killed, as they considered Him as blaspheming against God. Since they were also already deeply biased and prejudiced against Jesus, it was difficult for any words of truth or reason to change their minds, and hence, they persecuted the Lord just as their ancestors had persecuted Jeremiah and the other prophets.

Today, as we approach the beginning of the Holy Week and as we continue to proceed through this season of Lent, we are called to reflect on all that we have heard in today’s Scripture passages. We are all just like those who have persecuted the prophets and also refused to listen to the truth of the Lord. Through our disobedience and sins we have committed, we have acted just like those who rejected the Lord and His prophets and persecuted them.

Yet, God is always merciful and He is always ever willing to forgive us our sins, if we are willing to turn back to Him and embrace once again the fullness of His grace and love. He wants us to get rid of our hardened and stone-like hearts, and exchange it for a new heart of love, filled with renewed faith and desire to love God as well as our fellow brothers and sisters, that we may indeed be more like our Lord in how He has loved us and in being so patient with us despite our constant rejections and refusal to listen to Him.

Let us all proceed into the blessed moments of the Holy Week with this new heart of faith, and open our minds and our whole beings to God to welcome Him into our hearts and minds that we may truly experience a most wonderful and life-changing time in this upcoming Holy Week and also the glorious Easter season. And let us also not forget to continue to pray for the world, especially for all those who are now sick and suffering. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 3 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 10 : 31-42

At that time, the Jews then picked up stones to throw at Jesus; so He said, “I have openly done many good works among you, which the Father gave Me to do. For which of these do you stone Me?”

The Jews answered, “We are not stoning You for doing a good work, but for insulting God; You are only a Man, and You make Yourself God.” Then Jesus replied, “Is this not written in your law : I said, you are gods? So those who received this word of God were called gods, and the Scripture is always true.”

“What then should be said of the One anointed, and sent into the world, by the Father? Am I insulting God when I say, ‘I am the Son of God?’ If I am not doing the works of My Father, do not believe Me. But if I do them, even if you have no faith in Me, believe because of the works I do; and know that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

Again they tried to arrest Him, but Jesus escaped from their hands. He went away again to the other side of the Jordan, to the place where John had baptised, and there He stayed. Many people came to Jesus, and said, “John worked no miracles, but he spoke about You, and everything he said was true.” And many became believers in that place.

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Friday, 3 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 17 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

I love You, o Lord, my Strength, the Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer and my God.

He is the Rock in Whom I take refuge. He is my Shield, my powerful Saviour, my Stronghold. I call on the Lord, Who is worthy of praise : He saves me from my enemies!

A deadly flood surrounded me, devillish torrents rushed at me; caught by the cords of the grave, I was brought to the snares of death.

But I called upon the Lord in my distress, I cried to my God for help; and from His Temple He heard my voice, my cry of grief reached His ears.

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Friday, 3 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 20 : 10-13

I hear many people whispering, “Terror is all around! Denounce him! Yes, denounce him!” All my friends watch me to see if I will slip : “Perhaps he can be deceived,” they say; “then we can get the better of him and have our revenge.”

But YHVH, a mighty Warrior, is with me. My persecutors will stumble and not prevail; that failure will be their shame and their disgrace will never be forgotten. YHVH, God of hosts, You test the just and probe the heart and mind.

Let me see Your revenge on them, for to You I have entrusted my cause. Sing to YHVH! Praise YHVH and say : He has rescued the poor from the clutches of the wicked!

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Thursday, 2 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the story of how God established His Covenant with Abram, a man whom He called from the land of Mesopotamia to follow Him into the land of Canaan, which He promised that the land would be the inheritance of Abram and his descendants forever. And even more significantly for Abram, who until then was still childless in his marriage with Sarai his wife, God promised that he would become the father of many nations.

God made a Covenant with Abram, whom was known afterwards as Abraham, and He kept the promises that He had made with him, that through Isaac, the son that Abraham and Sarah had, as well as through Ishmael, another son of Abraham, many nations were born from the descendants of Abraham, principally the Israelites who are Abraham’s direct descendants and chosen race, as well as many other nations related to Abraham through descent.

It is this blood ties and descent that the Jews in our Gospel passage alluded to when they stood by their ground against the rebukes made against them by the Lord, Who showed them the errors of their ways and called them to turn away from their sinful path and disobedience. They proudly asserted themselves to be the children of Abraham, and they took offence at Jesus just because He spoke the truth of God which may indeed be unsettling for some.

They in fact behaved contrary to what Abraham had done in the past. God chose Abraham among all other people of the nations in his time because he had great faith in God, and he followed when the Lord called him, not hesitating or minding even when he had to leave all the comforts of his old life behind as he journeyed far away from his ancestral homeland, to travel to the unknown land of Canaan led only by the faith which he had in the Lord, entrusting his whole life entirely in the hands of God.

Abraham was faithful, even when he was tested by God, at the time when he was asked to offer his own son Isaac as an offering and sacrifice to God. Abraham did not even hesitate, as sorrowful and affected as he might have been, and still devoted himself wholeheartedly in the Lord, and he was indeed richly and doubly blessed by God because of his steadfastness and faith. On the contrary, the people of Judah at the time of Jesus, the descendants of the same Abraham, had not been faithful.

In fact, they doubted when the Lord Himself performed miracles and deeds that had been prophesied by the many prophets sent to the land of Israel, and even after they saw how the Lord performed those miraculous deeds before their own eyes, hearing all the testimonies and words from all those who had been healed, many of them still refused to believe in Him and doubted Him. Some even accused Him of colluding with demonic forces, such as Beelzebul the prince of demons.

We can see here how the people lacked genuine faith in God, and they were stubborn in refusing to listen to reason and God’s wisdom, preferring instead to trust in their own often flawed human judgment and ideals. They had great pride in having such intellect, abilities and power that they have so that they refused to accept that they could be wrong or mistaken, and they refused to listen when they were criticised and provided with feedback on how they ought to improve themselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through all these we are reminded to be more like Abraham, our father in faith, and not to follow the examples of those people who had little faith in God. This is also why we are urged to be more humble and be more willing to listen, not to be quick to judge and to temper our pride and desire. We should be careful of our ambitions and hubris, and we should not allow all these to tempt us and bring us to our downfall.

Today, we celebrate the feast of a saint whose life and examples can inspire us to be more faithful to God, namely St. Francis of Paola, a renowned holy man and hermit, a member and founder of the Franciscans inspired Order of Minims. St. Francis of Paola dedicated his life to God in a life of prayer and service to God, caring for the spiritual needs of many people through prayerful life away from the distractions of the world.

Since his youth, St. Francis of Paola had always been attracted to the solitary life in prayer, often seeking secluded places to contemplate and live a life of prayer. He inspired like-minded people to form the Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi, named after the saint who is St. Francis of Paola’s namesake, and inspired by the humble and obedient charism of the Franciscan order. They all lived in simplicity and practiced rigorous chastisement of the physical body through strict abstinence.

St. Francis of Paola showed us all that it is indeed possible for us to live entrusting ourselves completely to God’s providence and love. We do not need to live our lives in the manner that St. Francis of Paola had done in being a recluse and hermit, although some did follow in his footsteps inspired by that way of life in serving God. Rather, we need to take note how St. Francis of Paola entrusted his life to God in the same way that Abraham had entrusted his life in Him.

Are we able to dedicate ourselves to God in the same way? We are given this perfect opportunity during this season of Lent to turn towards God once again with all of our hearts and devote our whole lives once again to Him. May the Lord be our guide and be our constant source of strength at all times, that we may live ever more faithfully in God’s loving presence, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 2 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 8 : 51-59

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never experience death.” The Jews replied, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets as well, but You say, ‘Whoever keeps My word will never experience death.’ Who do You claim to be? Do You claim to be greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets also died.”

Then Jesus said, “If I were to praise Myself, it would count for nothing. But He Who gives glory to Me is the Father, the very One you claim as your God, although you do not know Him. I know Him, and if I were to say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I know Him and I keep His word. As for Abraham, your ancestor, he looked forward to the day when I would come; and he rejoiced when he saw it.”

The Jews then said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old and You have seen Abraham?” And Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” They then picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the Temple.

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Thursday, 2 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 104 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Look to the Lord and be strong; seek His face always. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.

You descendants of His servant Abraham, you sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments reach the whole world.

He remembers His covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

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Thursday, 2 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 17 : 3-9

Abram fell face down and God said to him, “This is My covenant with you : you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will you be called Abram, but Abraham, because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you more and more famous; I will multiply your descendants; nations shall spring from you, kings shall be among your descendants.”

“And I will establish a covenant, an everlasting covenant between Myself and you and your descendants after you; from now on I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you, for generations to come. I will give to you and your descendants after you the land you are living in, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession and I will be the God of your race.”

God said to Abraham, “For your part, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.”

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Wednesday, 1 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Lord through the Scriptures which highlighted to us what it truly means for us all to be followers of God, as Christians who believe in the Lord and in His salvation. Through the Scripture passages beginning with the tale of the three friends of Daniel in the first reading today, and then to the confrontation and the strife that existed between the Lord and the Jewish people of Judea, we are reminded yet again that to follow Christ, it requires us to have a sincerity of heart in faith.

In our first reading, we heard about the three friends of Daniel, the exiles of Israel who were in Babylon then, under the rule of king Nebuchadnezzar who conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar built for himself a great golden statue in his own image and ordered all of his subjects and people to worship that golden statue under the pain of death. But the three friends of Daniel refused to do so, and when the king confronted them under the pain of death, they stood by their faith in God.

This is the kind of faith that we all need to have. It is however not that we have to be confrontational or suffer in the way that those three friends of Daniel had suffered, or that necessarily we will encounter persecution in any way. Rather, it means that we must have that strong and genuine faith in God, so much so that we will be willing to even choose death over life rather than to betray the Lord and sell our souls to the evil one.

It means that we put God as the focus and the priority over our lives, and we have to be sincere in that faith, genuinely loving God and desiring to follow Him and to walk with Him, and not just giving Him a lip service or treat our faith as a mere formality. That was what the Jews in our Gospel passage had done, as these people were descended from the Israelites of old, especially those who were once part of the kingdom of Judah and they saw themselves as the privileged people and a chosen race, looking down on others.

They took great pride in themselves as the direct descendants of Abraham and the sons and daughters of Israel, but yet, in their hearts, many among them only paid lip service to the Lord and superficially obeyed His laws and commandments rather than keeping true to the spirit of the Law and truly love God with all of their hearts and minds. Especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law among them always took great pride in their way of observing the laws and commandments, and looked down on others they deemed to be inferior to them.

It was these people whom the Lord rebuked in today’s Gospel passage, all those who were proud of their ancestry and status, and yet, compared to the three friends of Daniel, they did not have true and genuine faith. They were focused much on themselves in how they lived their faith, they turned inwards and became fascinated with their own pride and ego, failing to see and realise how they are in need of healing from their sins.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, in this season of Lent, are we able to change our way of life and heed what the Lord Jesus had told His disciples and the people, that is to be truly faithful to God and to devote more of our time and effort to serve the Lord, to focus our attention on Him more and to dedicate ourselves with greater reverence and commitment? Are we able to overcome the temptations of pride and worldly desires that we may be more Christ-like in our lives from now on?

May the Lord continue to guide us in our journey of faith so that we may walk in His path and trust in Him more. We must put God as the priority of our lives, and we must put a focus on Him in each and every moments of our lives from now on. Are we able to do that, brethren? Are we able to trust Him with all of our hearts just like how the three friends of Daniel trusted in the Lord so much that they were even willing to endure great sufferings and death, defying a great king for His sake?

May the Lord bless us all and may He be with us always, and may He strengthen us in our resolve to live our lives more faithfully, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 April 2020 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 8 : 31-42

At that time, Jesus went on to say to the Jews who believed in Him, “You will be My true disciples, if you keep My word. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered Him, “We are the descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone. What do you mean by saying : You will be free?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave. But the slave does not stay in the house forever; the son stays forever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be really free. I know that you are the descendants of Abraham; yet you want to kill Me because My word finds no place in you. For My part, I speak of what I have seen in My Father’s presence, but you do what you have learnt from your father.”

They answered Him, “Our father is Abraham.” Then Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. But now you want to kill Me, the One Who tells you the truth – the truth that I have learnt from God. That is not what Abraham did; what you are doing are the works of your father.”

The Jews said to Him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God.” Jesus replied, “If God were your Father you would love Me, for I came forth from God, and I am here. And I did not come by My own decision, but it was He Himself Who sent Me.”