people of God

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Saturday, 8 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins and Saints, or Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Mark 6 : 30-34

The apostles returned and reported to Jesus all they had done and taught. Then He said to them, “Go off by yourselves to a remote place and have some rest.” For there were so many people coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. And they were away in the boat to a secluded area by themselves.

But people saw them leaving and many could guess where they were going. So, from all the towns, they hurried there on foot, arriving ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began a long teaching session with them.

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Friday, 7 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 47 : 2-13

As fat is selected from the peace offering, so David was chosen from among the Israelites. He played with lions and bears as if they were lambs or young goats. He was still young when he slew a giant to restore the honour of his people; with a sling he aimed a stone that killed the arrogant Goliath.

He invoked the Lord Most High, who gave him strength to slay a mighty warrior, and so exalt the power of His people. So they glorified him for his ten thousands and praised him as a blessing from the Lord when he was chosen king. For he wiped out his enemies on all sides and annihilated his adversaries, the Philistines, crushing their power forever.

In all that he did he gave thanks to the Most High, and showed his love for his Maker by singing with all his heart. He placed singers accompanied by harps before the altar to make beautiful music; he gave splendour to feasts and even greater magnificence to the more solemn occasions, exalting the Holy Name of the Lord and having the sanctuary ring with his praises from early morning.

The Lord forgave David’s sins and established his power forever; He made a covenant with him for the benefit of the kings and gave him a glorious throne in Israel. A wise son succeeded him and fared well because of him. Solomon reigned during times of peace, and God gave him rest from war to enable him to build a House for His Name, a sanctuary that would stand forever.

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Thursday, 6 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings and the saints we commemorate today match very nicely, in that today, we talk about mission, and about spreading the Good News of the Lord, in evangelisation and mission. Jesus sent His disciples to many places, to bring forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit in many through their works.

And today we commemorate the feast of St. Paul Miki and his companions, the martyrs of Japan, who lived during the late Sengoku era Japan, when the earlier tolerant and welcoming attitude of the Japanese turned into one of open hostility and persecution, not unlike the persecutions of Christians during the Roman Empire.

And much like those saints and martyrs who died during the Roman persecutions, they were tortured, punished, and forced to reject their faith and embrace the pagan faith of their oppressors. Some of them relented and turned their back on the Lord, but many kept strong their faith in God, and did not give up the faith.

The example of St. Paul Miki and his companions showed us the reality of serving the Lord, particularly those who had chosen to dedicate themselves to a life of mission work, by becoming His priests and missionaries, all over the world, spreading the Good News via various means to different groups of people. And this reality is still true, even to this day.

They have no need to fear, because God Himself will provide for them and protect them. This is what David, the king of Israel, before he died, told his son Solomon, who would succeed him as king. Those who keep God’s commandments and keep their faith in God, shall have great rewards, and as Jesus and His disciples had taught us, that these rewards not necessarily mean a worldly reward, because an even greater reward awaits us in heaven.

Being a follower of Christ almost always means to be in constant odds with the ways of the world, simply because the world does not recognise the Lord, but instead it recognises Satan as its master. That is why being a follower of Christ often means to be rejected by the world, to be an outcast, and at the times of persecutions in the past, and even in the present, many had to brave death to defend their faith in God.

The world which does not know Christ, does not know us. But our Lord knows us and He loves us all equally. He knows us all by name, and He knows all about us. And He cares about all mankind, even those who had done evil things and even those who had persecuted His chosen ones and His faithful. He wants all to be reunited to Him, particularly those who are deepest in darkness and those who are far from His salvation.

Our Lord had offered us salvation in Jesus, His Son, through His own death and resurrection, that all who heard of Him and believe in Him, are promised the promise of eternal life and redemption in Jesus, gaining for eternity the glory God had intended for mankind since the beginning of time. That was what the martyrs gained for their constant and undying faith for the Lord. In death, they received the glory of heaven as saints of the Lord.

St. Paul Miki was born in Japan in Nagasaki, and he was converted to the faith by the missionaries of the faith, who introduced the faith to Japan, by their hard work and preaching. St. Paul Miki himself followed suit and joined the Jesuit order, preaching about the faith to many of his fellow countrymen.

At first, the faith was welcomed in Japan by the local rulers, but with ulterior motive of gaining the European technologies such as guns and other weaponries in exchange for tolerance of the faith. Some of those local lords even converted to the faith, some did it genuinely. However all this changed after a warlord named Hideyoshi Toyotomi managed to reunite Japan under his rule.

The warlord was always suspicious of the faith, and the reunion of the country under his rule gave him the excuse to persecute the faithful. Many Christians including St. Paul Miki and his many fellow faithful were arrested and tortured under threat of death to recant their faith. But they remained faithful and preferred death to apostasy.

He and his fellow companions were forced to march on foot from Kyoto the capital of Japan at that time to Nagasaki, a journey of almost a thousand kilometres, and they did so while praising the Lord and singing the hymn Te Deum. They were then crucified and martyred in Nagasaki, the centre of the faith in Japan at the time. Intended by the enemies of the faith as an example, they instead served as an inspiration to the faithful both in Japan and abroad.

Yes, brethren, we too should be inspired by their tale, and what they had to go through, and their perseverance and persistence for the sake of the faith in God. We must not let their sacrifice and perseverance to go to waste, brethren. Tell of this among many, and tell of their faith to all peoples, that they too may be inspired as we are inspired by them.

And let us seek to be part of God’s mission, which He indeed entrusted to us, that is to bring His Good News to all nations, and to bring all peoples to Him. Let us continue the good works of St. Paul Miki and his companions, and let us all keep our faith in our Lord alive and strong! St. Paul Miki and companions pray for us all! Amen.

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Thursday, 6 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

1 Chronicles 29 : 10, 11ab, 11d-12a, 12bcd

May You be blessed, YHVH God of Israel our ancestor, forever and ever!

Yours, YHVH, is the greatness, the power, the splendour, length of days, glory, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is Yours.

You are supreme ruler over all. Riches and honour go before You.

You are ruler of all, in Your hand lie strength and power; You are the One who gives greatness and strength to all.

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Wednesday, 5 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

2 Samuel 24 : 2, 9-17

The king said to Joab and the commanders of the army who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and count the people that I may know how many they are.”

Joab gave the total count of the people to the king : eight hundred thousand sword-wielding warriors in Israel and five hundred thousand men in Judah. But after he had the people counted, David felt remorse and said to YHVH, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now, o YHVH, I ask You to forgive my sin for I have acted foolishly.”

The following day, before David awoke, YHVH’s word had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, “Go, and give David this message : I offer you three things and I will let one of them befall you according to your own choice.”

So Gad went to David and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine in your land? Or do you want to be pursued for three months by your foes while you flee from them? Or do you want three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, think and decide what answer I shall give Him who sent me.”

David answered Gad, “I am greatly troubled. Let me fall into the hands of YHVH whose mercy is abundant; but let me not fall into human hands.” So YHVH sent a pestilence on Israel from morning until the appointed time, causing the death of seventy thousand men from Dan to Beersheba.

When the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, YHVH would punish no more and said to the angel who was causing destruction among the people, “It is enough, hold back your hand.” The angel of YHVH was already at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel striking the people, he spoke to YHVH and said, “I have sinned and acted wickedly, but these are only the sheep; what have they done? Let Your hand strike me and my father’s family.”

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Monday, 3 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Ansgar, Bishop (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

Today we witnessed the exorcism conducted by Jesus our Lord on the possessed man of Gerasenes, and how even the evil spirits obeyed the Lord and feared His authority. In today’s readings, we listen about the concept of authority and power, and how mankind had interacted with these across time, with the story of the rebellion of Absalom, the son of David, and how Jesus cast out the demons from the man.

The authority of Jesus was clear. He was the Son of Most High God as the demons themselves proclaimed. He was the Word of God made flesh, incarnate into Man in Jesus through Mary His mother. The evil spirits, the Legion feared Him because they knew who He was, even if mankind could not recognise who He was.

The evil spirits feared Jesus as Lord not because He has wealth, influence, or power that denote greatness in our human eyes. The greatness of the Lord is not measured in terms of human power and glory. What is power and glory to us mankind have no meaning and are nothing before the Lord our God. Jesus Himself showed us all this through His own actions.

Jesus was great not just because He was already the Lord and Almighty God, but because in His actions He showed the perfection of God’s love and mercy to us all. He was great because even though He has power, majesty, and authority, He chose to come down and be our servant, that through His works, we may have new hope in Him, and as our Shepherd, He guided us through the narrow gates towards salvation.

As Jesus mentioned in His Last Supper with the disciples, that the true meaning of leadership is service. A leader must be the servant of the people whom he or she leads, and the power and authority that the leader has been given must not be misused. True authority does not equal oppressing others or destroying those whose ideas or views not necessarily in line with our own views and opinions.

The Lordship and authority of Jesus is one of humility and service, and He did not boast of His miracles and achievements, while mankind like us must have been tempted to glorify ourselves or seek praise and glory from others for what we have done, gaining credits for our works. The irony is that, it is always the devil and the evil spirits in league with him that clamoured to proclaim Him! Yes, such as the evil spirits that inhabited that man of Gerasenes.

The authority of Jesus in casting out the numerous demons, the Legion, from that man showed His power and sovereignty over all things, be it angel, man, or demons, and is a testimony clear enough for all of us today to hear. We are fortunate to be able to witness this testimony through the Holy Gospels written by the Holy Apostles, who witnessed what happened first hand on that day.

If we trust in the Lord and in His power, then we will have no need to worry, for our Lord will be with us and He will take care of us well, and He shows us how to live a good and faithful life. The contrast we can see in the first reading today, which is centred on the civil war in Israel, between king David, the faithful servant of God and his own son, Absalom.

Absalom as the oldest son of king David was driven by his youth and ambitions, and he aspired to be the king of Israel, even though his father was still the reigning king and the chosen one of the Lord. Absalom succumbed to the taste of power and human glory, and that doomed him, causing him to rise up in rebellion against his own father.

As the story would go, Absalom was defeated in that war, and he lost his life in the process. The example of Absalom and David in today’s reading showed the frail nature of human power and glory. Power and glory in human terms are just temporary. We cannot hope to depend on our human power, as if we depend on them as Absalom had done, then we shall fail.

In a way even king David also had a part of blame on himself in this matter. David as a king as was common among the kings of his time, had many wives and children. Having more wives and children was associated with power and glory, and the more wives and children one had, the more powerful and prestigious was one seen by their people and their neighbouring countries.

Trusting in human power and authority was what had made David, the faithful servant of God, to err in some occasions. First of which was his plot to kill Uriah after committing adultery with the latter’s wife, Bathsheba, despite Uriah’s great loyalty to him, and then David’s sin of wanting to count the number of the people of Israel and Judah, as if he revelled in the great glory God had given him and was immersed in a moment of self-glorification and self-praise.

And David met his troubles because of what he had done, be it the rebellions of his sons and their mischievous behaviours, or the disease and pestilence that swept across the land and killed many, as the sign of God’s displeasure. This is proof that trusting in human and worldly power does not bring us good. Rather than be proud of our own power, ability, and achievement, we should rather trust in the Lord and walk in His ways.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of two saints of the Church, that is of St. Blaise and St. Ansgar. St. Blaise was the well known patron for throat based diseases, which feast day usually saw the traditional blessing of the throats with two crossed candles. St. Blaise was a renowned physician who went around many places to heal peoples, often with miraculous results, and people flocked to him seeking the consolation of the flesh as well as the soul.

St. Blaise was a faithful follower of the Lord, and practiced his faith truthfully in the works that he had done, but when Christians were persecuted by the last persecution of Christians by Emperor Licinius of the Eastern Roman Empire, he was arrested by the governor of his province and subsequently was tortured and martyred for his faith in the Lord.

Meanwhile St. Ansgar was an Archbishop who lived in northern part of Germany during the late Dark Ages, and was renowned as the Apostle of the North, for his works of evangelisation, bringing the Good News of the Lord to many peoples in the northern Europe, where paganism still dominated most of the people. St. Ansgar tirelessly worked for the cause of the Lord and gained many converts, even baptising lords and kings of the pagans.

Despite his position in the Church, St. Ansgar did not have an easy work ahead of him. Often times many of his supporters withdrew their support from him, and St. Ansgar had to proceed with his missions with great difficulties. Yet, St. Ansgar persevered and he never complained. And the Lord gave him the help he needed through various sources, and he prevailed in his missions.

The examples of St. Blaise and St. Ansgar show that if we walk upright in the path of the Lord and if we remain faithful to Him and trust always in Him, then we have no need to fear at all about the work we are to do, our about our lives. God will care for us and He will protect us. He has all the power and authority, and no evil shall dare to approach us, for they know who they will be dealing with if they mess with us.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today therefore put our trust in God, and keep our faith in Him strong, especially avoiding the bad influences of this world, taming our greed and desire, particularly for power, authority, and influence among many others, and seek only for the Lord. May our Lord therefore be with us, and guide us to walk upright at all times in His ways, that we may never again fall into sin. Amen.

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Monday, 3 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Ansgar, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

2 Samuel 15 : 13-14, 30 and 2 Samuel 16 : 5-13a

A messenger came to report to David that the Israelites were siding with Absalom. Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Let us flee, for we cannot resist Absalom. Go quickly, lest he come hurriedly and overtake us. Surely he will put the city to the sword if he can bring disaster upon us.”

David himself went up the Mount of Olives, weeping. He was barefooted and had his head covered, and all the people who were with him had their heads covered and wept as they went.

When king David came to Bahurim, a man from the clan of Saul’s family named Shimei, son of Gera, came out cursing him. He threw stones at David and his officers although the king’s men and warriors flanked the king on the right and left. Shimei said as he cursed, “Go away! Go away! You bloodthirsty good-for-nothing! YHVH has brought down on your head all the blood of the family of Saul.”

“You became king in his place, but God has now placed the kingdom in the hands of your son Absalom. Ruin has come upon you because you are a bloodthirsty man.”

Then Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go and cut his head off.” But the king said, “Why should I listen to you, sons of Zeruiah? If YHVH has ordered him to curse me, who shall ask him why he acts like this?”

Then David said to Abishai and his officers, “If my own son wants to kill me, how much more this Benjaminite! Leave him alone and let him curse me if YHVH has ordered him to do so. Perhaps YHVH will look on my affliction and turn to good things the curses heaped on me today.”

So David and his men went their way.

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Sunday, 2 February 2014 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Malachi 3 : 1-4

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts.

Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching. He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be.

Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

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Saturday, 1 February 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Mass of our Lady)

2 Samuel 12 : 1-7a, 10-17

So YHVH sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to the king and said to him, “There were two men in a city : one was rich; the other, poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb he had bought. He himself fed it and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and slept on his lap. It was like a daughter to him.”

“Now a traveller came to the rich man, but he would not take from his own flock or herd to prepare food for the traveller. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for his visitor.”

David was furious because of this man and told Nathan, “As YHVH lives, the man who has done this deserves death! He must return the lamb fourfold for acting like this and showing no compassion.”

Nathan said to David, “You are this man! YHVH speaks : ‘Now the sword will never be far from your family because you have despised Me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself.'”

“Thus says YHVH : Your misfortune will rise from your own house! I will take your wives from you and give them to your neighbour who shall lie with them in broad daylight. What you did was done secretly, but what I do will be done before Israel in broad daylight.”

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against YHVH.” Nathan answered him, “YHVH has forgiven your sin; you shall not die. However, because you have dared to despise YHVH by doing such a thing, the child that is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan left and went to his house.

YHVH struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and he became sick. David entreated God for the child; he kept a strict fast and lay on the ground the whole night. The elders of his house asked him to rise from the ground but he refused. Nor did he join them to eat.

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(Special) Friday, 31 January 2014 : Chinese New Year Day Mass (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 6 : 31-34

Do not worry and say : “What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? or; What shall we wear?” The pagans busy themselves with such things, but Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God, and all these things will also be given to you.

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.