power

by

Friday, 14 June 2013 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened again to the words of the Scripture, in which Christ told His disciples that they should keep themselves pure in all things, so that they will not fall into sin. Brethren, sin is our weakness, and our body is our weakness, ever since Adam and Eve our ancestors disobeyed the Lord and ate from the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Ever since humankind was exposed to that knowledge of things good and evil, we have been prone to the corruption of sin, particularly in our body, through our being, our minds, and our hearts. Mankind has done things evil in the eyes of the Lord ever since the day of our rebellion, until God once had wanted to destroy all but Noah in the Great Flood, such great was the extent of our forefather’s sins.

God loves us very much, brothers and sisters, for all of us are His children, His most beloved children, the greatest and most precious to Him of all creation, so much that He had entrusted this world to our care, that we become its stewards. But as much as our God is a loving God, He is also a jealous and a just God, and He cannot let sin stand in His presence, because He is good and perfect, and no sinner can stand worthy in front of Him in heaven. That was why He sent His only Son, that through Him salvation of mankind may happen, and those who repent and believe in Him, may become worthy of Him once again.

Brothers and sisters, Christ did not mean that we should literally cut off our appendages and our limbs because it caused us to sin. Yes, without these limbs indeed we cannot do what is bad, and therefore can sin no longer, but what Christ truly meant was that we should cut us off from sin itself, from all attachments to sin, especially from our hearts. If our hearts is pure, our hands and legs, and our mouths and eyes will not ever cause us to sin.

In addition, yes, indeed, if we cut away these limbs, we cannot do what is evil, but then it will also similarly hinder us from doing what is good, because certainly our limbs can be used for either good or evil. It is entirely within our choice whether we want to use it for good or for evil. It is also to note that no sinner is beyond redemption, and even the greatest of sinners, were he or she to repent, he or she can become the greatest of saints if God so desires of them.

Yes, brethren, there are hope for sinners. All of us are sinners, and even the greatest of the saints, who were also sinners. But what differentiates the saints from the condemned are that those who were condemned did not turn away from their sins and their vices, and continued to do things abhorrent in the eyes of the Lord. That was why they were thrown into hell, all and whole, because their heart and their bodies remained in darkness.

But saints did not remain in darkness. Yes, they had much faults and past sins, but all these drove them to approach the throne of God for mercy. Full in knowledge of their iniquity and unworthiness, they surrendered themselves to God and opened themselves to His love and mercy. They did not elevate themselves nor did they become arrogant and haughty, one of our greatest weaknesses that is pride. They lowered themselves and repented truly in their hearts, and a new light was born in them, and consequently, they were purified and made whole and worthy once again before the Lord. The Lord is pleased with them, and joyfully welcomed them back, like a father welcoming a long-lost prodigal son.

Our hearts are important, brothers and sisters in Christ, because within our hearts lie the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, and it is the most important part of our beings. If our hearts are pure, and we keep the Holy Spirit strong within us, and with a powerful anchor of faith in God, we will be able to resist any temptations of the devil and the world’s evils. It is within our hearts that lies the key to defeating evil and keeping strong the faith we have in God.

That was why Christ told His disciples and the people who were with Him that even if they had already had evil thoughts with the opposite sex, they had already committed adultery, even though they had not actually done the deed itself. That is because our hearts are the start of everything, whether things good or evil, is ultimately decided by the state of our hearts. If our hearts are evil and filthy with sin, we will definitely be more inclined to do things that displease the Lord, and vice versa, that we will be more predisposed to do things that please the Lord if we keep our hearts pure and filled with light.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not fear evil, but face it with courage and faith. Let the Holy Spirit come and dwell within all of us, and keep ourselves firmly anchored in God, and in our faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That the Spirit will become the Treasure that St. Paul mentioned in the first reading today, encased within our unworthy bodies, but when unveiled through our actions and our words, the Spirit will proclaim the glory of God, for all to see, that they too may believe and repent! Amen.

by

Friday, 14 June 2013 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

2 Corinthians 4 : 7-15

However, we carry this treasure in vessels of clay, so that this all-surpassing power may not be seen as ours but as God’s. Trials of every sort come to us, but we are not discouraged. We are left without answer, but do not despair; persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed.

At any moment we carry in our person the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in us. For we, the living, are given up continually to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may appear in our mortal existence. And as death is at work in us, life comes to you.

We have received the same spirit of faith referred to in Scripture that says : ‘I believed and so I spoke.’ We also believe and so we speak. We know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and bring us, with you, into His presence.

Finally, everything is for your good, so that grace will come more abundantly upon you and great will be the thanksgiving for the glory of God.

by

Thursday, 13 June 2013 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters, today we are reminded, as we should, on the importance of love and harmony in our relationship with one another. We are brothers and sisters to one another, as all of us are the same children of God. Before God, we are all the same, regardless of where we came from, our wealth, our possessions, our race, and other things that seems to divide us, and differentiate us.

That is why brothers and sisters, we must build a harmonious relationship between one another, and base that relationship in love and peace. But too often, we place ourselves and our greed before that, and we do not look at our brothers and sisters with love, not even those who are family to us, and therefore, less still those who are unknown to us.

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, a well-known saint, a Franciscan friar. He was a great teacher of the faith, and a humble man, but even more importantly, he was a man of peace, just as St. Francis, the founder of his order was. St. Anthony was committed to love and peace between individuals and reflected that in his life, which he gave into the service of mankind.

Like all the saints and other holy people of God, St. Anthony reflect the true life and offering that God wants from all of us. Yes, brothers and sisters, God wants our love, and He does not want the offerings that we place on the altar, like that of Israel of old. What He wants from us is the love from our hearts, a pure offering in His eyes, and that we live in perfect love and peace with one another, as we are brothers and sisters, all created by Him, our Creator.

That is what our faith is truly about, that we should reflect in ourselves the light of Christ, the light of love, hope, faith, and peace, that everyone who sees us, and all the things that we do will know that we are the children of God, because we practice what God has taught us through Christ, that is both to love Him with all our hearts, our minds, and our souls, and also to do the same to our neighbours, our brethren.

Sadly though, many of us in our world no longer preach the Gospel of love and peace through our deeds and our actions. We have been blinded by the evils of this world, that is hatred, jealousy, and greed, so that we no longer love our fellow brothers and sisters, but instead incite violence, anger, and hatred between one another. War, injustice, oppression, and vengeance are just some of the fruits of these evils, which today we know, brothers and sisters, are all around us.

I want to bring to your attention, the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Syria, who had been in turmoil for many years, and whose people had been subjected to a civil war between competing politicians and the powerful ones, for their own purposes and objectives, but which cause immense suffering for the people. Brothers no longer look upon each other as brothers, and neither do sisters. Families and friendships are divided and devastated. Truly, our Lord would certainly be sad to look at all these.

Injustice is also rampant in our society today, brothers and sisters, how we often treat people unequally, favouring some while treating others unfairly and badly, just because of certain objectives and desires that we possess within us. Some because of greed, some because of lust, and some because of other desires and evils. Even I am sure, brothers and sisters, that some of us had often encountered these, and even be part of these in our own lives!

If we continue to walk down this path of evil and destruction, our God will not look kindly upon us, for He is a friend of the poor, the lonely, the unloved, and the hated ones, the least ones whom we often exploit and hate, but to the Lord they are beloved. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us reflect on our lives, on our actions, whether we have lived true to the Gospel of our Lord, and His call for us to be filled with love and peace.

May we follow in the footsteps of St. Anthony of Padua and the holy saints, that we can be transformed, from beings of evil, hatred, prejudice, and violence, into beings of love, justice, and peace. How wonderful will our world become, if only everyone dedicate themselves to the cause of peace and love. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Thursday, 13 June 2013 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Psalm 84 : 9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Would that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His Glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

by

Sunday, 9 June 2013 : 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard that Jesus returned the dead only son of a widow to life. He had pity on her and brought her son back into life. That shows how great is our God, how great Jesus is, because He is truly Lord over life and death, because not even death can keep his hand against His authority. Even the dead is risen from their slumber, and the spirit is returned to them in life.

Brothers and sisters, God is life, and those who believe in Him will gain eternal life with Him. If only we would believe in Him! There are still so many among us who lack that faith and do not believe in Him, and they trust only in themselves and the world, instead of putting their faith and trust in God.

Today we heard the death of an only son of a widow, and in fact just yesterday, we celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and we are reminded that that pure heart of Mary was stabbed with a sword, as prophesied by the prophet Simeon, at the Passion of Christ, when He was dying on the cross at Calvary.

Such great sorrow and sadness that is in Mary’s heart, seeing her only Son whom she loved, dying on the cross in great suffering, all for our sake and for our salvation. Jesus knows that this would happen, and therefore, He too understands the feeling of the widow, who had lost her only son, the only one who could provide for her.

God loves all of us, brothers and sisters, He loves us so much, that He gave us His only Son in death, that through His death, through His Blood, we are redeemed of our sins, and have hope of salvation, and that death would no longer have power over us, and that we would gain eternal life, if only we would believe in Him who is our Lord and Saviour.

Even a great sinner He did not shy from, nor close that sinner from the path of mercy. He turns to great sinners and works hard to bring them back to Him. That was what happened to St. Paul. As a young man, he persecuted the people and the Church of God, and his hands were soaked with the blood of God’s believers. But yet, God is willing to provide him a new life, by His appearance on the way to Damascus, that led to the conversion of St. Paul, from being the enemy of the Church of God, into its greatest champion.

Today, let us all reflect on these readings, and keep in mind always that our Lord loves all, all of us, without exception, and without preferences, and that He would give Himself, even to the greatest of sinners. He wants us to be His once again, and He wants us to be reunited with Him. He is merciful and loving, and that was why, seeing a widow in great sadness of loss, He revived her son. And that because of this, we know that He is life itself, and He has authority over all things in creation.

May God be with us and let us also remain always in His love, and let us always ask Him for mercy, in repentance of our sins and unworthiness. Amen.

by

Saturday, 8 June 2013 : Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.

The bow of the mighty is broken but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone.

YHVH is Lord of life and death; He brings down to the grave and raises up. YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour.

by

Friday, 7 June 2013 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast in the Church, that is the Most Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today we commemorate the very presence of the noble and loving Heart of our Lord Jesus, out of whom projecting light and love to all creation, to all mankind. This love He offered freely through His Most Precious Body and Blood which He offered through His ultimate sacrifice on Calvary.

Today, in the readings, we heard the readings on shepherds and the nature of shepherds’ works, and how it is compared with that of the Lord, who is often called the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd, according to Christ, gave up his life for his sheep, and protect and love his sheep with all of his being, unlike hired and rogue shepherds who do not love the sheep and the minute danger appears, they will run away and leave the sheep behind.

No, Christ did not do that, because He is indeed the Good Shepherd, the true chief shepherd of all, because He cares for all His sheep, to the point of giving Himself up on the cross, that through His surrender, crucifixion, and death, He made mankind whole again, and by the shedding of His Blood, He purified mankind and made them worthy, and redeemed them from the damnation due to the sins of our forefathers who rebelled against the love of God.

As the shepherd, He gave Himself so that His sheep may have life. He really loves us very much. He rejoices whenever there is even one amongst us who repented and return into His way. That is because, just as Christ Himself had mentioned in His parable on the shepherd and the lost sheep, even ninety-nine good and decent sheep cannot replace the joy of repentance of a single wayward sheep.

Even if just one wayward sheep is to return into the path of the Lord, that would bring great joy in heaven and on earth. Because all those who are already saved are indeed already secured in their heavenly inheritance. As long as they remain faithful to the Lord, they will eventually receive their heavenly reward and eternal life that Christ had promised to all who believes in Him.

But for the wayward one, no such guarantee exists, because as long as someone is cut away from the Lord, he will not have the promised salvation. Especially if this wayward sheep is basking in sin and darkness, in the depth of human weaknesses and the influence of evil which would then prevent salvation from reaching this one. But if this one is to repent and return to the faith in God, he will be saved, and will have equal inheritance with those who had already been saved.

Then some may ask, why then the hassle over just one sinful and wayward sheep. Why the trouble to spend so much just to convert one unworthy one that this one may be saved too? Can we not just be satisfied with the many people whom we have already saved? Yes, we may think that it makes perfect sense for us, especially if we consider the amount of energy and dedication needed in order to bring one in darkness back into light.

But not so with the Lord. He does not care, because Christ had died on the cross, not just for a select few, not just for His Apostles and disciples, not just for those who believe and follow Him, but also for all the people, for all mankind, without exception. He died for all, so that all may be redeemed. Through the outpouring of His Blood from the cross, He cleanses all mankind, just as the blood of the lamb of sacrifice purifies the people of Israel of old from their sins.

Yet, redemption does not yet equal salvation, because redemption just means that all of us had been redeemed and cleansed from the taints of sin from our ancestors, from the rebellion of Adam and Eve, whom first rebelled against the will of God, and instead followed Satan. Therefore, all mankind had been freed from the tyranny of Satan who enslaved us through sin. We have been released from the chains that held us and enslaved us, but it does not mean that we are guaranteed salvation.

Because at the same time, God also granted all of us free will, to choose freely the path that we want to take in our own lives, and many times we chose the path that steer away from God and became lost, just like a sheep lost from the flock, without a shepherd to guide him back into the flock. Such sheep can be in deep danger from wolves which will devour it without hesitation.

Therefore that is what can also happen to all those who became lost to the Lord in their lives in this world. This world has many evils, dear brethren, because it has many temptations, especially in our modern world today, that can deviate one’s heart away from the Lord, and instead inducing that someone to indulge in worldly pleasures and pleasures of the flesh, ignoring God’s love for him or her.

God wants everyone to be saved, because He loves us so much. Yes, our God, in His Most Sacred Heart is a very loving and kind God, who is slow to anger and merciful to sinners who repented their sins and profess their faith in Him, but at the same time, He is also perfect and good, and nothing evil can ever stand in His presence and survives.

That is why, even though it may seem to us why God did not just make everyone saved, that is simply not possible, because although we had been freed from the slavery of sin, but we still have sin dwelling within us, that still keeps us away from being truly close to God.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus, before He was lifted up to heaven, gave His disciples a great mission, that is to baptise and make disciples of all nations and seal them in baptism in the Name of the Holy Trinity, essentially, bringing all the scattered sheep of the Lord together, to become one people once again, one people who worship one and only God, our God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, since our own baptism we have also inherited this charge that has been entrusted to the apostles. We too are apostles of our own time, and our actions, while they may seem to be insignificant are always of use in glorifying God by bringing back God’s scattered flock so that they may be one again. Do not ever underestimate what a person can do, as a person can do much good and much harm even if he or she is only one person.

Therefore, through our own actions, in our daily lives, we can make a great difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters, especially those who have yet to believe in the Lord and have yet to hear and accept His redeeming Good News. It’s our charge now, brethren! With the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus within our hearts, let us bring God’s salvation to everyone so that God’s lost sheep can be found again, and there will then be great rejoicing across creation, for the sheep that were lost, had been found again, and will not be condemned to eternal damnation with Satan and his angels.

God, our Good Shepherd, bless us through Your Most Sacred Heart, and inflame in us the fire of love and zeal of faith in You, that we will never waver. Amen.

by

Thursday, 6 June 2013 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, Christ summarises for us, the Laws of the Lord, which man at the time mostly saw as the Law of Moses, and the list of many numbers of regulations that regulate daily lives of the Jewish people at the time. Christ summarises the Law in fact, into a single commandment of Love. Yes, love. No, this love is not the lovey-dovey kind of love between enamoured teenagers who just met each other and fell in ‘love’ at the first sight.

Love is so much greater than that, and love is not just for pleasure, just as what Tobias, the son of Tobit, had stated in his prayer in the first reading we heard today, that his marriage was not based on pleasure, but love that endures, that is true love. What is love then? Love has many faces and it encompasses many things, but true love is wonderful, and is life, and it is the Lord Himself, as God Himself is Love, Deus Caritas est.

Sadly though, love is increasingly more and more difficult to be found in our world today. Love and mankind itself had been corrupted by the agents of evil that love has become perversed into something less than the true love that God embodies, and the love that is exemplified by the relationship and love between Tobias and Sara.

Even worse, in many parts of our world today, love has completely been replaced by hatred, jealousy, and all the negative opposites of love, which brought destruction and death instead of life. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, only through love that we can beget life and only through love that we manifest God’s will and show that we are truly belonging to God. If we reflect hatred and jealousy, along with all the other negative sentiments, we belong not to God, but to Satan, His adversary.

God has given His people, the people of Israel, His commandments written in stone and conveyed to them through Moses, His prophet. This is known today as the Ten Commandments, the contents of which I am sure many of us certainly know and even memorised by heart. But what is the Ten Commandments truly about, and what about all the rituals and the ceremonies surrounding the worship of the Lord as written in the Book of the Leviticus and the other books of the Torah?

All of that are good indeed, but ultimately, all of them have the same purpose, and have the same meaning, that is love. All of the commandments and the rules all breath the same thing, that is love. By truly obeying the commandments of the Lord, we breath love to the world and to those around us, because by doing God’s commandments, we become love itself, just as God Himself is Love.

Love is the key to ending many conflicts and violence that is now rampant throughout the world. Mankind had not had love because they have not obeyed the commandments of the Lord and even those who obeyed did not fully understand the meaning of God’s commandments and why they were given to us.

If only everyone in the world can have love in them and expressed out to the world. Indeed, if only more people would reflect love in their lives! Our world would surely have been a much better, a much more loveable place to live in.

There is so much hatred in this world, and hatred leads to violence, and violence lead to even more hatred, and eventually leads to death. This vicious cycle continues unabated in our world today, and many people were caught in this cycle of hatred. Only love can save them from such a fate, that is death and damnation, and love can truly breach through all the falsehood of Satan and the layers of hatred that masks the purity of our hearts.

Our hearts are certainly pure and noble from the very beginning, because our God who is good and perfect created us. It is only trapped beneath layers upon layers of sin and hatred, that prevents the love that is in us, the kindness that is in our hearts to shine through.

That is why Christ gave us His commandments of love, that is essentially the same as the Ten Commandments, because all that commandments is about love, whether God or our fellow mankind, and not doing what brings about hatred and destruction. And both the commandments that Christ had taught us are equally important and intimately linked to one another.

That is because, we cannot possibly love God without loving our neighbours, and neither can we love our neighbour without loving God at the same time too. Because if we love God, we will surely love our neighbour as well, and vice versa. Because God Himself is Love and has Himself shown love so great to us, that if we love Him, we too embodies that love and as a result, would be just like Him, that is we will love our neighbours, our brethren, even those who hates us and those who persecutes us.

That is why love is important, first by loving God, because if we do not love God, we will shy away from His love and His light, and therefore will prefer to live in darkness. This darkness is the absence of the love of God, the root of all hatred and all the bad things that happen in our world today. If we do not love God, and do not love Him with all our strength and all our being, we cannot be called the children of God, but the children of darkness.

First we have to love God, because He has loved us first, by giving all of us His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to be our Saviour and Redeemer, through His death, and His glorious resurrection. He shows us how to love Him by His own example, that is through His own words, that the greatest love is for someone to give up his life for his friends, and that was exactly what Christ had done, that He died for all of us, on the cross in Calvary.

Then, after we love God, that love is not complete yet, because in order to love God completely and perfectly, we must also love and show our care for our brethren, especially those ostracised, those who are rejected and persecuted, because they are considered weak. Remember that Christ Himself said that whatever we had done for the sake of these people, the last, the lost, and the least, we had done it for the Lord. That is why, in order to gain true love, we must love both God, and our neighbour, with all our strength and our beings.

Today, we commemorate the feast day of St. Norbert, also known as Norbert of Xanten, a bishop in medieval era Germany, who did much work in advancing the cause of the Lord among the people and the society at the time. He embodied what we had listened in the readings today, that is love. Through his devotion and love for the Lord, he had toiled and laboured much, establishing many foundation of future evangelisation in the society, building up bases by establishing religious institutions, and making that love alive and perfect by service and care for those in the society.

Although it had been almost a millennia since the time of St. Norbert of Xanten, even in our modern world today, love is still needed, if not more than ever. Violence and hatred has always been increasing and becoming more prevalent, especially among our young people today. We have to do much work to inculcate love and compassion in the hearts of many, especially youths.

Remain in our devotion and love for God, and also in our love for our neighbours, just as Christ had commanded us to do. If we remain faithful and strong, we will be rewarded with eternal glory in heaven, and Christ will welcome us there with praise, that we had indeed fulfilled His will and the commandments He had given us. St. Norbert of Xanten, pray for us, that we will always have love in our hearts, both for God and our neighbours. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 5 June 2013 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Christ is risen and He is our resurrected Lord, who triumphed over death and evil through His own glorious resurrection. Even the chains and the power of death cannot restrain Him, and neither can hell restrain Him. Jesus is our victorious Lord, who died on the cross, and yet risen in glory, conquering death forevermore.

God loves us so much, His greatest creation, the mankind, just as He loved all of creation, but to us, even in our rebellion and our disobedience against Him, He was willing to provide the only solution to salvation from the eternal death and condemnation which awaits us in hell. That was through the power of Christ, whose resurrection brought about the salvation of all mankind who believes in Him, and through whose death, He redeemed us all from the sins of our fathers.

God never abandons His people in need, and He is always with them, ever since the beginning of time. He never forget the promise that He had made with them, and always gave them His fullest attention, even when the people did not remember Him and in fact had forgotten Him and His kindness.

God always provided sustenance and deliverance to His people, ever since the beginning of time. He did not abandon Adam and Eve but gave them provisions that although their lives would be hard, He provided for them, that they could survive, even if death still has power over them. And neither did He abandon Abram and his relatives when they were in need. He rescued Lot from Sodom before its destruction, and gave Abram, whom He then called Abraham, a great promise to be made true through his descendants.

Throughout history, God has provided, and those whom suffer persecution and injustice always receive the justice of the Lord Most High, and they always receive the just treatment of the Lord, who is good and just. He sent many of His prophets to the nations, especially to Israel, who constantly was in rebellion against Him and His will, preferring the evil one and the pagan gods to Him. But He did not give up His people, and He did not abandon them to death and eternal damnation.

Even after that people slaughtered many of His prophets and messengers, He remained true to His love. Yes, our God is a just and avenging God, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. He hates sin and all things that is of the evil one, which had corrupted mankind ever since our ancestors were first seduced by him. Yet, our Lord is at the same time is also a loving and merciful God, and His love for us is so great, that He is willing to give His all, in order to reunite ourselves with Him.

That is why He gave us Jesus, His Son, to be incarnate into mankind, as one of us, a humble man, that through Him, eventually, the salvation of this world and all mankind would come true. Although our sins are great and vast in their extent, but Christ, who is God, and with God, is worthy of freeing us from the chains of sin and the slavery of death, which had enslaved us ever since men fall into darkness. Yes, death is our pay for having rebelled against the Lord’s will and the goodness of God.

Christ died on the cross, bearing all our sins, all the sins and faults of all the people who lived, is living today, and will ever live in this world. He carried all of them on Himself on that arduous path to Calvary. He suffered and yet He did not open His mouth in protest. All out of His great and undying love for all of us, even to the greatest of sinners.

But Christ did not remain dead forever, because unlike all of us, He is good and He is pure from sin, and He is the only One found worthy in all of creation and in all the universe. If Christ had remained dead, and if the Sadducees were true in that there is no resurrection, then our faith is gone, our faith is dead. Because we are Christians simply because we believe, and truly believe that Christ is resurrected, and through that resurrection, He was triumphant over death and evil.

Christ was resurrected in glory, and embraced His full divinity, as His work in this world was finished, after He redeemed all mankind through the fee of His blood that flowed down from the cross. He ‘purchased’ all of us from Satan and broke the command of death over us forever. Death no longer has power over us, as long as we remain firmly faithful in our Lord God. By His death, Christ also made all of us who believe in Him, to die to ourselves, and to our sinful past, to all the evils that we had once committed. But again, if Christ had remained dead, then we too would have remained dead, without the hope of salvation and eternal life.

That is why exactly because of Christ’s resurrection, that we too arose with Him, and free ourselves from the chains of Satan, and death truly no longer has any power over us, because Christ has claimed all of us to be His own. This belief is vital, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that we believe in God who is a living God, and a God of the living, and not of the dead, because our Lord and God Himself is life, and therefore, to those whom remained in His favour, He would grant eternal life to them, as reward of their faith.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Boniface, who was a bishop and a martyr. St. Boniface toiled greatly in the Name of the Lord, by his missions to the land of the pagans, which still occupied much of the northern and central Europe at the time, especially what would today be known as Germany. St. Boniface converted many to the cause of Christ, and in his firm faith in the Lord, he brought many to salvation through conversion and baptism into the Church of God. Yet, he was not unharmed in his numerous ministries, as he faced many rejections, and even there were many who would dispose of him.

St. Boniface ultimately faced death when he was ambushed and killed by brigands while in the middle of his proselytising works. He faced death openly and remained strong in his faith to the end, even unto death. He faced death bravely because, yes, Christ is a living God, and He lives! In each one of us. That is why those who believe in the Lord has no need to fear death because Christ Himself has mastered death, and death no longer has power over us, especially if we remain true to the Lord’s words.

May our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ become even firmer from today onwards, and may God strengthen our resolve in order to spread the Good News of the Lord to all mankind, and to no longer fear death, but believe at all times, that God is with us, within us, and that He will always watch over us, all the days of our lives, because He loves us, and He is Love Himself. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 5 June 2013 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Tobit 3 : 1-11a, 16-17a

Distressed, I wept and prayed and expressing my sorrow, I said, “You are just, o Lord; all Your actions and all Your ways are merciful and just; Your judgments are always true and just. Remember me, Lord, and look on me. Do not punish me for my sins nor the wrongs I have committed through ignorance.”

“Pardon the sins which my fathers have committed in Your sight, for they disobeyed Your commandments. You have allowed us to be mocked by all the pagan nations among whom we have been dispersed. Ah well! All Your judgments are just when You choose to punish me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we have not accomplished Your will, nor have we sincerely obeyed Your commands. We have not walked before You in truth.”

“Do with me as You will. Order my life taken from me, and turn me into dust, because I prefer death to life. In this way free me and let me return to dust. It is better for me to die than to live, because these unjust reproaches have caused me great distress. Command that I be now released from trials, and let me enter my eternal dwelling place. Do not turn Your face away from me.”

That same day, at Ecbatana in Media, Sara, the daughter of Ragouel, was insulted in a similar way by her father’s young maidservants. Sara had had seven husbands, but the demon Asmodeus had killed each one of them before the marriage had been consummated.

The maidservants said, “It was you who killed your husbands. You have had seven husbands and you have not enjoyed marital relationship with any of them. Why do you punish us? Since they are dead, go and join them. May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”

That same day Sara was so distressed in mind that she went to the upper room in her father’s house. She wished to hang herself. But she thought better of it and said : “If people ever reproached my father and said to him : ‘You had an only daughter whom you cherished and she hanged herself because she was unhappy,’ I would cause my father in his old age to die of grief.”

“It is better for me not to hang myself but to ask the Lord that I may die and not live to hear any more insults.” At that moment she stretched forth her hands towards the window and prayed. The Lord in His glory heard the prayer of Tobit and of Sara and He sent Raphael to heal them both – to give back his sight to Tobit and to give Sara the daughter of Ragouel, to Tobit’s son Tobias, as his wife. Also, Raphael would enchain the wicked demon Asmodeus so that Sara would be the wife of Tobias.