persecution of Christians in China

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Tuesday, 26 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today a very clear message is given to us through the Scriptures, that following the Lord and doing His commandments are the best ways to give ourselves and dedicate ourselves to Him, more so than the animal sacrifices of the people of Israel in the past, or compared to series of litanies and prayers that were not done with the full sincerity of the heart.

What God desires from us is the offering of ourselves, of our whole being, that we can be thoroughly devoted in our daily actions to the Lord our God. He does not lead loud prayers, but yet without real action and dedication to the Lord. What He wants is that we should seek to start from even small things in trying to obey the Lord and His commandments. Let us remember always the promise of our Lord Jesus, that all those who have entrusted themselves to Him will not be disappointed.

God is always with all those who have given Him their love and dedication, just as He is forever faithful. This means that if we have left behind all the worldly things and follow the Lord then the Lord will also bless them richly and His grace will be forever with us. To God, those of us who have given up certain things in order to follow Him, have given Him their love and what He asked of them. Therefore, these He will bless with His everlasting graces.

This is a reminder to us all that we should seek the everlasting treasure of heaven rather than the temporary treasures of this world, no matter how enticing and wonderful they are. These include wealth, fame, human praise and affection, and many others that often distract us and wanting us to get more and more of them. This is greed, and it has the tendency of wanting us to get more and even more, and as a result, we become too preoccupied with seeking the treasures of this world, and we forget about the true treasure in heaven.

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Philip Neri, a great priest and preacher who lived in what is now part of Italy. St. Philip Neri was a very important figure in the revival of the faith in many parts of Italy, especially in Rome, where he earned his appellation as the Apostle of Rome. He helped many people to overcome their bonds to the corruptions of the world, and he helped reformed the Church and the faith by purging it out of all the heresies and the sins of worldliness which had entered their souls.

St. Philip Neri devoted all of his life to God, and he committed much of his time, helping his brethren who are in need of help, both physically and spiritually. He did not let the temptations of the world to overcome him and get the better of him, but instead, he committed himself ever more strongly to the Lord and gave his all to worship and serve the Lord in all things. That was why by his many works, so many wondrous things had happened, and countless souls had been saved, and many others were also inspired by his examples.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all walk in the footsteps of St. Philip Neri, and also all the saints, by abandoning our attraction towards the tempting things in this world, and by offering all of our beings as worthy offerings to God, that is by loving Him and dedicating ourselves to Him through the acts of love, in accordance with what He had taught us.

May our Almighty God be with us always, guide us and protect us in our ways, so that in all the things we do. May He bless us with all of His goodness, for we have remained faithful and true to Him, despite the challenges and the temptations of the world, so may we all never be lost or separated again from Him. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 10 : 28-31

At that time, Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “We have given up everything to follow You.”

Jesus answered, “Truly, there is no one who has left house, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children, or lands, for My sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive his reward. I say to you : even in the midst of persecution, he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present time, and in the world to come eternal life.”

“Do pay attention : many who now are the first will be last, and the last, first.”

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Tuesday, 26 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 49 : 5-6, 7-8, 14 and 23

Gather before Me My faithful ones, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. The heavens will proclaim His sentence, for God Himself is the Judge.

Hear, o My people, for I am speaking. I will accuse you, o Israel, I am God, your God! Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me.

Yet offer to God a sacrifice of thanks, and fulfill your vows to the Most High. Those who give with thanks offerings honour Me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.

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Tuesday, 26 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Sirach (Ecclesiastes) 35 : 1-12

Keeping the Law is worth many offerings. Being faithful to the commandments is like a peace offering. Returning kindness is an offering of fine flour; giving alms is a sacrifice of praise. Renouncing sin pleases the Lord, and shunning injustice is a sacrifice of atonement.

Do not appear before the Lord with empty hands. The commandment requires that you bring an offering. When the offering of the righteous is burnt on the altar, the fat drips down and a fragrant aroma rises to the Most High. The sacrifice of the just man pleases God and will not be forgotten. Honour the Lord with a generous heart and do not be stingy with the first fruits of your harvest.

Offer your gifts with a smiling face and when you pay your tithes do it gladly. Give to the Most High as He has given to you; give generously to the Lord according to what you have; the Lord will repay, He will reward you sevenfold. If you attempt to bribe Him with gifts He will not accept them; do not rely on offerings from dishonest gain. The Lord is judge and shows no partiality.

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Monday, 25 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church, Pope St. Gregory VII, Pope, and St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests, Popes and Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the message of today’s Gospel and the readings of the Scripture is very clear indeed, that God is loving and merciful, just as He is understanding and patient in dealing with all of us. And He is calling on us to repentance, to change our ways, by sending reminders after reminders, prophets after prophets, messengers after messengers, and eventually until He came Himself to save us from perdition and condemnation in hell.

In the first reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes, it was mentioned how God knows all things that we do, be it good or evil. He knows it all, and we cannot hide from Him. All that we do must truly show our faith and devotion to the Lord, or otherwise, our faith in God is meaningless and empty, fake and useless. This is simply what God wants from us, to be true to our faith and to practice them in real life, but indeed, it is truly much more difficult than it seems.

That is because we mankind are naturally predisposed to temptations of the world, such as possessions, human greed, lust, desire for the pleasures of the flesh and of this world. What we heard in the Gospel today, about a rich man who asked Jesus on how to follow Him and eventually failed because he was unable to leave his riches behind, does not mean that we have to literally sell everything we have and follow the Lord.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because firstly, if everyone does this, then the world as we know it today will no longer function, as we cannot have everybody surrendering all their possessions at once. Rather, what the Lord Jesus wanted to show us is that, instead of condemning the rich and casting them aside as those who deserved punishment, God wanted to show that everyone is equal before Him, whether rich or poor.

Being rich is not a fault in itself, but being rich has its disadvantages, as we all know that wealth and possessions can detract us from our faith in the Lord, and instead we may grow more drawn into those worldliness and become distracted and corrupted by those worldliness. We must be aware that riches, wealth and possessions themselves are not inherently evil but indeed neutral, yet it was because of our human weaknesses and greed, that we end up being controlled by our desires.

That attachment that grows between us and our possessions end up becoming the undoing for all of us. It is this attachment and its unhealthy results, the obsession and desire for even more, that our Lord Jesus Christ is warning us about. As long as we prize our possessions and things of this world higher than we prize our Lord, then the way forward is closed for us. We will not be able to proceed further on the path towards salvation, and worse still, the dangers of hell may be ever before us.

All of us should have the aim to overcome the temptations of the world and resist the lure of the pleasures of the world and the flesh. And in order to help us all, we should all reflect on the lives of the three saints whom we are celebrating today, namely St. Bede the Venerable, Pope St. Gregory VII and St. Mary Magdalena de’ Pazzi.

St. Bede the Venerable was an English monk and holy man, who had given almost all his life in the service of God. He had entered the monastery since his youth, and after he had completed his education, he decided to continue to serve the Lord with all of his strength. His many works and writings would become a source of knowledge and inspiration to all those who followed after him, and even for us today.

And just as St. Bede the Venerable had given all of his life in the service of God, without regards for himself, Pope St. Gregory VII was a great Pope and leader of the Universal Church in his wide-ranging reforms affecting all structures and members of the Church, resisting and combatting heresies and the sins of money or simony which had infiltrated and corrupted the Church and many of its members.

Pope St. Gregory VII also enforced rigorous rules on celibacy and other codes of conduct for clergy and laity alike, to help them to remain focused on the task at hand, that is to serve the Lord and not to be distracted, tempted or corrupted by the things of this world and by the temptations of the evil one. He also resisted the attempts by the worldly and secular authorities from trying to corrupt the faith and its practices, and he remained ardent and unbending despite the challenges of the evil ones.

And lastly, St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi was born a noble woman from a very rich and influential family in Renaissance era Italy. She was born into great wealth and status, and yet, she decided to give it all up, so that she might follow the Lord with all of her heart and her strength, joining the convent at a young age. Later on, she began receiving visions from the Lord, and as a mystic, her reputation spread far and wide.

All these holy saints are inspirations for us, that they have rejected the lures and temptations of the world and focus their sight and attention on the Lord alone. It does not mean that we have to throw away or give away everything that we have, but it means that we must not let these control our lives, and we must not let ourselves to succumb to the desires of our heart, if it not the desire to love our Lord all the more.

Let us all remind ourselves and remind one another, to be ever better disciples of our Lord and show it through real actions and deeds. Let us be ever faithful, and may our Lord who sees our genuine and sincere faith, lead us into the life everlasting He had promised all those who faithfully followed Him. Amen.

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Monday, 25 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church, Pope St. Gregory VII, Pope, and St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests, Popes and Virgins)

Mark 10 : 17-27

At that time, just as Jesus was setting out on His journey again, a man ran up, knelt before Him and asked, “Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments : Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat, honour your father and mother.”

The man replied, “I have obeyed all these commandments since my childhood.” Then Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him and He said, “For you, one thing is lacking. Go, sell what you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow Me.” On hearing these words, his face fell and he went away sorrowful, for he was a man of great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus insisted, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

They were more astonished than ever and wondered, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus looked steadily at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God; all things are possible with God.”

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Monday, 25 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church, Pope St. Gregory VII, Pope, and St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests, Popes and Virgins)

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.

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Monday, 25 May 2015 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church, Pope St. Gregory VII, Pope, and St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests, Popes and Virgins)

Sirach (Ecclesiastes) 17 : 20-29

Their misdeeds cannot be hidden from Him, all their sins are before the Lord. He holds a man’s almsgiving dear as a priceless signet ring; He cherishes a good deed like the apple of His eye.

One day He will rise and reward them; He will place their prize on their heads. He allows those who repent to return; He comforts those whose hopes are fading. Be converted to the Lord and give up your sins, plead with Him to lessen your offense. Return to the Almighty, turn aside from wrongdoing and totally detest evil.

For who in the grave will praise the Almighty, if the living do not give Him glory? The dead man is as if he did not exist and cannot give praise; he who has life and health can praise the Lord. How great is the mercy of the lord and His forgiveness for those who turn to Him!

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Sunday, 24 May 2015 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday, World Day of Prayer for the Church in China (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark a truly great feast day of the Church, that is the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday, at the fiftieth day of Easter, the culmination of our Easter celebration, and then, as the new beginning of the time of glory and service, as today also marks the birthday of the Church, the day when the Lord established His Church on earth, with the sending of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Helper to the Apostles and disciples, and the baptism of the three thousand people.

On this day, we rejoice, because God had reversed the bonds and destroyed the darkness in us, the lies of the devil and the confines of our selfish desires, and thrust upon us the undeniable and all-revealing light of truth, the very Light of our Lord Jesus Christ. God made it clear this day, by sending the Spirit of truth to dispel the darkness and the shackles of blindness that Satan and his allies has imposed on us, that is sin, desire, greed and selfishness.

If we look at the readings of the Vigil, we see in the beginning how God scattered men across the world by confusing their languages and causing divisions to appear among the people. We may think that this is something that God had done out of His anger at us, but if we look more closely at it, in fact, it was the pride and greed of mankind that had brought it upon themselves.

For since the beginning of time, men had always desired things that are often beyond their means, and as a result, they received harm instead. First, they were tempted by the devil to eat the fruits from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil, and as a result, they received the punishment for their disobedience of the word of God. This was the first sin.

And then, they did not repent and continued to sin, and God sent the Great Flood to destroy the wickedness in the world, and to purify mankind. Only the righteous Noah and his family was spared. But yet, they continued to gather in their pride and gave in to their greed, that they endeavoured to build the highest building possible, the Tower of Babel.

And their aim was to reach out even to the heavens itself, and for their arrogance and pride, the disrespect that they showed against God, they received their just reward, and God scattered them all, to show them that God alone has the power and might, and all of us and our pride cannot stand before the might of God.

However, God did not punish and then leave us alone in suffering. Instead, He gives us chance and opportunities to change our ways and repent, and to those who do so, He gives succour from the sufferings which have been ours because of our disobedience. And that is by giving us the Spirit of truth, and the Spirit of life, so that our afflictions may be healed, and all falsehoods may be dispelled.

The disciples being able to speak many languages, is a proof of this revelation, that God would lift up the punishment from those who have willingly put themselves in the path of salvation and devote themselves to Him. The veil of darkness and the veil of ignorance and the lack of knowledge had been lifted up from them, and Wisdom itself entered into them by the Holy Spirit.

Pope St. John Paul II once said in his Papal Coronation and Enthronement ceremony, that we must not be afraid to open up the doors of our heart to the Lord. We must open wide these doors indeed, so that the Spirit of truth may come into us, dwell into us and transform us. During his visit to his country, Poland, then a Communist country oppressed by ideologies hostile to the Faith, he said, inspired by the passage from the Holy Scriptures, that may the Holy Spirit come down upon the earth and renew it thoroughly.

And today is such a perfect occasion, the coincidence that today is both Pentecost Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for another Church that is in suffering and persecution, that is the Church in China. In China, ever since the takeover by the Communist regime in 1949, the Church has been suffering in various degrees for the past almost seventy years.

And so today, we have to pray, and pray that the Lord will indeed send His Spirit and His might, that eventually our suffering brethren of the Church suffering in China, may be relieved from their burdens, and from all the oppressions that the enemies of the Faith had placed on them. Remember that it does not matter how the forces of this world try to destroy the Church and the faithful, they shall never succeed. For God will protect all those who have entrusted themselves to Him.

Just as God eventually triumphed and cast down all the oppressors of the faithful and the holy ones in Poland and beyond, the same too He will promise and do for all of His faithful persecuted no matter where it may be, and when it may be. But at the moment, the situation remains very dire, and blatant disregard and assault on the freedom of the faithful to worship the Lord freely is rampant. We need to pray for our brethren in China, that the Lord will soon deliver them from this great suffering.

This day is also a reminder for us that God has given us many gifts through the Holy Spirit, that is the fruits of the Holy Spirit, namely love, joy, patience, peace, goodness, kindness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity and others. But these fruits will never grow if we do not cultivate and utilise the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us.

Remember what the Lord Jesus told His disciples about the fig tree that is barren? Remember what He did to it? He cursed that barren fig tree, and the fig tree which was without any edible fruits withered and died. Then in another separate occasion, Jesus told the disciples about the tree that does not bear fruit, and the farmers wanted to kill and uproot the plant, for it has no use. But the Master gives it a chance, by pruning it and giving it more fertilisers to grow, hoping that it will bear fruit.

Thus, the Lord has also done the same to us. He gave us the Holy Spirit not just as a gift for us just to be passive and wait passively for salvation. Instead, on the other hand, God gave us His Holy Spirit so that we may be actively pursuing the works which He had taught us to do, that is to love one another tenderly, to show concern for the oppressed, for the poor, sick and dying. It is also to show concern for the salvation of souls, by sincerely and truly being concerned about how the people around us are falling into hell because of what they have done.

If we do things according to God’s will, then we will bear many fruits, and the Lord who sees what we have done, and what we have produced will be satisfied and will be pleased at us. And our reward in heaven shall be rich and great. Indeed, the giving of the Holy Spirit is not just a one-off event, but a continuous call for us to work ceaselessly and act ceaselessly in accordance to the way of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this event of Pentecost Sunday, the season of Easter may have come to an end, but this does not mean that our Easter joy should end. Rather, as I have mentioned, it is a new beginning, that just as the Church was born on this day, we too should renew our commitment to the very mission which our Lord had entrusted us, when He gave us the Spirit. This mission is for us to be the witnesses of the Lord, to be the bearers of His Good News to all the peoples of all nations.

May the Lord our God Almighty be our guide, and strengthen our resolve always to live out our lives in accordance to the truth which He had revealed to us through the gift of His Holy Spirit. Let us all also commend in our prayers today, our brethren persecuted in China, by the godless and the worldly peoples and authorities, and let us then also pray for all others persecuted for their Faith around the world, asking God that He may send His Holy Spirit to renew the whole world, and give succour to all those who are currently suffering. God be with all of us. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 May 2015 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday, World Day of Prayer for the Church in China (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 20 : 19-23

At that time, on the evening of the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews. But Jesus came, and stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!”

Then He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy. Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” After saying this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

Alternative reading

John 15 : 26-27 and John 16 : 12-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “From the Father, I will send you the Spirit of truth. When this Helper has come from the Father, He will be My witness, and you, too, will be My witnesses, for you have been with Me from the beginning.”

“I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come. He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me.”

“All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”