preaching the faith

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Wednesday, 17 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we have heard the words from the Sacred Scriptures, telling us about the conflict that arose during the earliest days of the Church, between those who continued to keep strictly the commandments and laws of Moses, namely those who belonged to the Pharisees who came to believe in Jesus, and those who advocated the relaxing of certain laws and customs that are not truly essential for one to become a Christian.

In order to understand this, we have to understand the context of the difficulty and the dilemma facing the Church fathers and the Apostles at that time. The Jewish people at the time living in Judea and the other parts of the Roman Empire had a distinct custom among the people they lived with, most distinctive of all being the practice of circumcision, which the Gentiles, the Romans and the Greeks included found to be repulsive and disgusting.

Not withholding the ancient practice of strict food laws and prohibitions, which made the Jewish people and their faith to be a relatively exclusive one, as it was difficult for people, if not almost impossible for anyone to adopt the customs and the practices of the Jews, as the laws of Moses prescribed. However, the early Church fathers found the wisdom to overcome this issue, by seeking to relax the strict requirements of the Jewish customs on the early Christian communities.

How do all these link to the Gospel passage which we have heard? In the Gospel today, we heard Jesus our Lord Who spoke of Himself as the True Vine, from which all those who believe in the Lord draw life from, as they are the branches of the True Vine. If they are sundered from the Vine, they shall have no part in Him, and they shall have no life because they have been separated from His love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is in fact a reminder to all of us Christians, that we cannot be like those Pharisees who chose to be Christians, and tried to impose their human made laws and customs, the laws of Moses, which they held to be sacred and perfect, on the other newly converted Christians, those from among the Gentiles, who find the practices of the Jews to be repulsive and difficult to be followed.

The laws of Moses were originally given from God for His people, at the time when they went out of Egypt, in order to lead them and guide them on their path. But the laws were first of all very harsh because of a very good reason, and that is because the Israelites themselves were very rebellious and were very easily seduced by the sinful ways of the world. As a result, God gave them the set of precepts and laws in order to restrain them.

And over time, the laws that God gave to His people had become twisted and modified beyond the original purpose He gave them for. The laws became set of human laws, customs and practices, which the leaders of the people, the elders and the chief priests constantly modified in order to suit their own needs, purposes and even wishes.

As a result, the Law became increasingly and unnecessarily draconian and harsh in nature. And that became a great obstacle for many people to become Christians, and which the Church fathers later on then decided to rescind, the unnecessary requirements and excesses of the old laws, simply because, as mentioned, all these things are human adjustments and additions, that came not from God but from men.

The people of God gained justification and life from the Lord, and they have received life from Him, the True Vine. It is why the Apostles and the Church fathers argued and successfully managed to allow the Christians and their communities to follow and obey only what the Lord had truly commanded them, as Jesus Himself said, that the Law is really only about two things, that is to love and serve the Lord our God with all of our hearts, with all of our minds, with all of our being, and then to love our fellow brethren just as much as we love God and ourselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remember this even today, as this is still perfectly applicable now and even later in the future. We have to love God with all of our heart, mind and soul, and we have to love our fellow brethren as best as we are able to do so. This is the commandments of the Lord, one that we need to listen to and obey, all of our lives, from now on if we have not done so.

May the Lord bless us all and may He be with us always, at all times, so that in everything we say, in everything we do, we will always show our love for Him, and also for our fellow men, that we will always be forever righteous and just in His presence, and worthy of His everlasting life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 17 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 15 : 1-6

Some persons who had come from Judea to Antioch were teaching the brothers in this way, “Unless you are circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Because of this there was trouble, and Paul and Barnabas had fierce arguments with them. For Paul told the people to remain as they were when they became believers. Finally those who had come from Jerusalem suggested that Paul and Barnabas and some others go up to Jerusalem to discuss the matter with the Apostles and elders.

They were sent on their way by the Church. As they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria they reported how the non-Jews had turned to God, and there was great joy among all the brothers and sisters. On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church, the Apostles and the elders, to whom they told all that God had done through them.

Some believers, however, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees, stood up and said that non-Jewish men must be circumcised and instructed to keep the law of Moses. So the Apostles and elders met together to consider the matter.

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus, reassuring us all that He came bearing unto us His peace. It is not peace as the world knows it, but an everlasting peace, that will be ours when we place our complete trust in the Lord, and follow Him wholeheartedly, as the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord had once done.

The Apostles did not have it easy on their missions around the world at that time, as they encountered many oppositions to their works, challenges from all those who refuse to follow their lead and those who refuse to listen to their call to conversion, namely those who persist in their sinfulness and wickedness, and closed their hearts against God’s words that the Apostles and the disciples had preached.

There was hardly much time for the Apostles and the disciples had to be savoured in peace. They constantly met the opposition from the Jewish leaders, from the local populace who refused to listen to them and abandon their pagan gods, and from the Roman authorities who found the teachings of Christ as a threat to their own authority, and from various other sources.

But the Lord was with them, and He guided them throughout their journey, that even though there were many who wished for their arrest, their demise and destruction of the Church, in reality, the Church and the faithful flourished both in number and in their zeal. The Lord provided for what they needed, and gave them the strength to persevere in the troubled times.

The Lord had revealed it all to them, how they would have to suffer in order to glorify God, by their works of evangelisation and mercy, calling many nations and peoples to repentance and conversion in God. But they found true peace in fulfilling God’s will and in doing whatever He had led them to do. They knew that even though the world was against them, but if they continued their good works and remained faithful, they would gain true peace, as the Lord would reward them with eternal glory and joy with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on this, and as we remember how many people have faithfully obeyed the Lord, and had to suffer in order to bring the truth of the Gospel and the Good News to all the peoples, including to us, let us all remember that their works have not been completed, as even now, there are still many more people out there who have not yet received or welcomed the truths found in the word of God.

Let us all remember this as we continue to live out our lives today. There are many more people whom we can help, by our good works and efforts, to spread the truths of the Gospel, the message of God’s peace and love. There are still so many anguish, sorrow, anger, hatred and all sorts of negativities in this world, because people cannot find in them God’s love and peace.

Let us all therefore, work together, in order to bring the peace of God to all peoples, to all the nations, as the Lord had commanded us. Let us all place our complete trust in God, knowing that He will give us all true peace, and let us share that peace we have with one another. Let us all bring our brethren out of the darkness of sin, and into the new light of God, into a new life blessed by the peace of God, that all of us may find our way towards that peace we long for.

May all of us endeavour from now on to seek true peace and joy found in the Lord alone, and not be distracted by all the desires and false peace that the world offers us. May the Lord help us on our journey of faith, and help us all to live faithfully in accordance with His will. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 14 : 19-28

Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the people against Paul and Barnabas. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, leaving him for dead. But when his disciples gathered around him, he stood up and returned to the town. And the next day he left for Derbe with Barnabas.

After proclaiming the Gospel in that town and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and on to Antioch. They were strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain firm in the faith, for they said, “We must go through many trials to enter the Kingdom of God.”

In each Church they appointed elders and, after praying and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in Whom they had placed their faith. Then they travelled through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. They preached the Word in Perga and went down to Attalia. From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had first been commended to God’s grace for the task they had now completed.

On their arrival they gathered the Church together and told them all that God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the non-Jews. They spent a fairly long time there with the disciples.

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Monday, 15 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Scriptures an interesting set of readings, which remind us all of who we are, and how we ought to live our lives as Christians. In the first reading, we heard how the pagan Greeks to whom St. Paul and St. Barnabas were preaching the faith, mistook their intentions and teachings, and thought of the two Apostles as their own pagan gods who came to the world in their presence.

The people treated St. Paul and St. Barnabas like as if they were their gods who assumed the flesh of mankind. They brought animal sacrifices to them and offered these sacrifices before them, as they thought of these two as either emissaries of their pagan Greek gods or the gods themselves. But St. Paul and St. Barnabas became very angry when they saw all these happening before them, and in their anguish, they tore their garments and told the people of their mistakes.

Then in the Gospel today, we heard the conversation between Jesus our Lord and His disciples, in which St. Judas Thaddeus asked why Jesus revealed Himself to them and not to the whole world. And Jesus replied them saying, that if they do not listen to the word of God and obey His will, then they will have no part in Him. Those who listen to the word of God and obey God’s will, will do as the Lord had asked of them. And this is what we need to pay attention to, very closely.

What do all these things mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? What are their significance for us? These are in fact reminders for us not to fall into the temptations of worldly power, of worldly influence and human greed, which are all the things that commonly became obstacles on the journey of men towards righteousness and justification in God’s presence.

Let us reflect on our own lives, and on how we mankind have lived our lives in the past, our shared history of humanity. We mankind are easily tempted with power, wealth, fame, human glory and praise, and all other worldly things, and that is exactly what we must be wary of. Imagine if other people were to praise us, adore us, and glorify us right in front of us. Certainly many of us will fall to the temptations and become proud of ourselves. Our ego will take over our rational mind.

That is how we mankind think, the way of the world. But that is not how the Lord wants it to be. His ways are different from the world’s ways, and His norms are completely opposite of what the world’s norms are. That is why when He was hailed and wanted to be made a king by the people who saw His great and miraculous deeds, He actually hid Himself away and retreated away from the people, who have misunderstood and mistook His true intentions.

In the same manner, the Apostles St. Paul and St. Barnabas had also rejected human desires for pride and ego, when the people worshipped them as if they were their Greek gods. They stood firmly by their faith, and even with indignation, they told off the people who had mistaken them for their gods. In this, as the Lord had said in the Gospel today, they had obeyed not the whim of their human desires, but the will of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask ourselves, that in our own respective lives, have we encountered such a situation, that we have to choose between listening to our human desires or to obey the will of God? We have certainly faced that kind of situation before, and let us remember what we have done. Have we listened to the whim of our desires, to the temptations that Satan had placed in our path? Or have we instead tried to obey the Lord, our God, in His ways, even though that often bring us to difficult situations?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to progress through this season of Easter, let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord, and awaken in us the desire to serve Him with all of our heart and with all of our strength. May the Lord give us the strength to persevere faithfully in this life we have on earth. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 15 May 2017 : 5th Week of Easter (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 14 : 5-18

A move was made by pagans and Jews, together with their leaders, to harm the Apostles and to stone them. But Paul and Barnabas learnt of this and fled to Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding countryside, where they continued preaching the Good News.

Paul and Barnabas spent a fairly long time at Lystra. There was a crippled man in Lystra who had never been able to stand or walk. One day, as he was listening to the preaching, Paul looked intently at him and saw that he had the faith to be saved. So he spoke to him in a loud voice, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you to stand up on your feet!” And the man stood up and began to walk around.

When the people saw what Paul had done, they cried out in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come to us in human likeness!” They named Barnabas Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, since he was the chief speaker. Even the priest of the Temple of Zeus, which stood outside the town, brought oxen and garlands to the gate; together with the people, he wanted to offer sacrifice to them.

When Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their garment to show their indignation and rushed into the crowd, shouting, “Friends, why are you doing this? We are human beings with the same weakness you have and we are now telling you to turn away from these useless things to the living God Who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them.”

“In past generations He allowed each nation to go its own way, though He never stopped making Himself known; for He is continually doing good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, providing you with food and filling your hearts with gladness.”

Even these words could hardly keep the crowd from offering sacrifice to them.

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Sunday, 14 May 2017 : Fifth Sunday of Easter, Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the fifth in the season of Easter, it happens that we also celebrate the feast of one of the Holy Apostles, that is St. Matthias the Apostle, who was not originally counted among the Twelve Apostles, but was added to their number in order to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus our Lord.

In the first reading today, we have also heard about the decision by the Apostles to choose from among the faithful, seven holy men, filled with the Holy Spirit, in order to serve as the new order of Christian Deacons, which was the moment of the foundation of the diaconate. The deacons were meant to serve the people of God, the community of the faithful, by complementing the works of the Apostles, who were indeed the priests newly appointed by God, given the authority to forgive sins, and to transform the bread and wine offered to the Lord into the very essence and reality of the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Himself.

And in the second reading today, taken from the first Epistle written by St. Peter, the first Pope and leader of the Church, we heard about how all of us Christians have been called by God, to become living stones, meaning to become living temples of the Lord’s Most Holy Presence, for He has called us out of the darkness into the light, in order to become His disciples, and He has given us Himself, His own Body and Blood to be eaten and consumed, and thus, He Himself dwells in each and every one of us.

And He has revealed all about God’s love to us, how God has sent us His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, that through Him, and by all those who believed in Him, all will be made worthy of the Lord, and be forgiven of all their sins, provided that they are willing to be forgiven. This is what the Lord intended for us mankind, His desire that all of us should be reconciled with Him, and saved from eternal damnation in hell, which was our fate.

Thus, after hearing all of these passages from the Scriptures, keeping in mind what the Apostles, the disciples of the Lord, the deacons had done for the sake of the Church, and what each of us as Christians had received from the Lord, it is time for us all to reflect on what being a Christian and being a member of the Church which Christ our Lord had established in this world mean for us.

What is the mission of the Church, and indeed what is our mission, our responsibility as part of God’s Church? What is it that we need to do so that we may be able to actively take part in the works of the Church? The primary mission of the Church is the salvation of all the souls of all mankind, that no one, not a single one of us mankind, children of God, should have to perish in hell because of our sins and wickedness.

The Church is the manifestation of God’s love, which He had made evident and real to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord, by His suffering and death on the cross, and then by His glorious resurrection from the dead. It was His triumphant victory over death, over the chains of sin and evil that bound us mankind to suffering and death, which had become the foundation of the Church He established and entrusted on the Apostles He had called.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, God had entrusted to all of us in His Church, the mission to deliver the truth He had revealed to His Apostles, and thus to all of us, that if mankind are to believe in Him, have faith in Him, and put their trust in Him, then they shall not falter any more, and sin and evil will no longer have any dominion or power over them. For just as the Lord had conquered sin, evil and death, He will also liberate all those who have put themselves in Him from all these, and lead them into the eternal life and glory He had promised them.

But there are still many people out there who have not yet heard of God’s love and mercy, of His desire to forgive them from their sins and wickedness, and they continue to live in ignorance of God and His truth. They continue to live in a state of sin, and if nothing is done, the devil and his allies will then be victorious over them, as they will be successful in dragging these souls into hell, for their failure to repent from their sins.

And there are also many others who have drifted away from the Lord, even many of those who were once counted among the faithful ones. There are indeed in reality, many Christians who are no longer regularly attending the celebrations of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, coming to the church only in the festive moments of Christmas and Easter, or certain feast days, instead of regularly attending and participating in the Holy Mass as is necessary.

And there are even more of those who have stopped coming to the Holy Mass altogether, and those who have stopped believing in God. Thus, after coming to realisation of this reality, all of us must do our best to help these brethren of ours who are in need of our help. It is often that our actions in life are not representative of what we believe in Christians, and it is often this that had prevented many more people from coming to believe in God.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ. How are we supposed to make people believe in God and accept the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, if we ourselves as Christians fight among ourselves, and are involved in numerous immoral and unjust acts? How can people believe in what we preach to them, if we ourselves do not do as we have believed? Then we are no better than the Pharisees, whom the Lord Jesus Himself had criticised as those who preached well, but did not practice what they preached, and thus told the people to listen to them, but not follow their practices.

Let us all therefore, from now on, renew our commitment to the Lord, by putting our greatest effort to live faithfully as Christians, devoting our time and effort to serve Him with zeal, and by practicing love and grace in our daily actions. We must be true Christians through our actions, that we should show love to the unloved, to those who have been rejected by others, and show mercy to our enemies and those who have wronged us.

Let us all be exemplary in our actions, and do whatever we can as members and parts of the Church of God, devoting our time and effort, walking in the footsteps of the holy deacons, the Apostles, St. Matthias and his fellow disciples of the Lord, so that many more people may come to be saved through our efforts, and all of us may rejoice together as one people, in the loving presence of our God. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, 100th Anniversary (Centenary) of the Apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we as the whole Church are all celebrating a very special occasion and anniversary of one very significant event in our faith, one that happened not that long ago such that it was still relatively fresh in the living memory, that is about a century ago in Fatima, a small village in Portugal, in the year of our Lord 1917.

At that time, Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three young villagers, named Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia. She appeared to them bearing messages to the people of God, calling mankind to repentance, and to rediscover their faith in God. There are many messages which Our Lady’s apparition, later known as Our Lady of Fatima, passed on through the three children.

She came at the time in the world where there were so many great evils lurking around, in the midst of the first World War, then known as the Great War, where millions of people lost their lives over conflict of national interests and sovereignty, over human greed and pride, over all worldly concerns and other things. Millions more people had been displaced from their homes and their dwellings, and had become refugees in their own lands.

And the year 1917 was the beginning of the Communist movement gaining momentum and power throughout the world, beginning in Russia, when the Bolshevik Revolution succeeded in allowing the Communists to establish the world’s first Communist regime. And this in time would result in the extermination of countless faithful, both the laity and the priests alike, the closure of many churches and parishes, and the spread of atheism throughout not just Russia but also through many other parts of the world.

Our Lady of Fatima made her appearance to the three children of Fatima, two of whom are now Blessed and will soon be made as Saints, right at the anniversary today, because she is the mother of our Lord, whom the Lord Jesus Himself had entrusted to all of us as our own mother, by His entrusting of her to His disciple St. John as He hung from the cross. Therefore, at the same time, just as she is our mother, we have also all been adopted as her children.

After all, which mother does not love her children? If a mother refuses to love her children, or neglect those children she had, then even if the children were her own biological children, she should be ashamed of even calling or considering herself as a mother. But Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, is truly our mother, because not only that she is concerned for our well-being, but she also tries her best to help us as we journey through this journey of life towards the end, trying out to reach the Lord and His salvation.

She has made frequent apparitions, and in the recent years alone, the two most well known of those were made, namely at Lourdes and at Fatima, in order to remind us all, the children of God, whom God had made to be her children as well, that all of us mankind must turn away from our sinful ways, and begin to make our journey towards repentance and forgiveness from our sins.

Otherwise, much sufferings, sorrows and evils will come out of our human behaviours, as shown and proven right at the very moment Our Lady of Fatima chose to make her appearance. The Great War or the first World War was the product of human greed, of the desire for power, for wealth, for renown and many other things, first of which is human ego, which led to men killing one another and making sufferings to happen on each other because they could not restrain themselves from the temptations.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it may have been a century since the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, but the message she had spoken to us all through the three Fatima children remain true to this very day. It may seem that in our world today, things are now less chaotic and dangerous than it was a hundred years ago, and yet, if we pay a closer attention to what is happening around us, we will realise that mankind have not yet learnt from the lessons of their past.

There are many people who continue, in the pursuit of their personal desires and wishes, to oppress other people and cause suffering upon other people, and there are also still the forces of those who refuse to believe in God, and impose their will on the faithful people of God, causing much harm and suffering on the people of God, much as how it had happened in the past.

Therefore, a century after the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, Our Lady of Fatima appeared to the three children at Fatima, delivering grim messages of destruction if mankind were to continue in their current path, and how we should act in order to avoid that fate, by bringing ourselves closer to God through the path that Our Lady had shown us, now the challenge is upon us, in order to listen again to what she had told Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, and reflect on our own deeds in life, and think of what we can do, in order to be ever more faithful to God.

As Christians, all of us should do our best to help one another to live faithfully in accordance with the ways of the Lord, turning ourselves completely away from sin, and abandoning all sorts of wickedness and evil, and seek to serve the Lord with all of our might. Let us all listen to the messages of Our Lady of Fatima, and begin our way towards redemption, as we turn away from selfishness and worldly temptations, and renew our commitment to the Lord.

Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, should be our role model in life, as she is the paragon of virtue and obedience, as someone who had dedicated her entire life in the service of God, by obediently following her Son, Jesus our Lord, throughout His entire ministry in this world. She obeyed the Lord with faith, entrusting herself to God and His plans, and therefore, she became for all of us, an example in faith not surpassed by any other.

That is why we have such a deep devotion to Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, because we honour her great faith and commitment to live her life in accordance with the will of God. Let us all remember this, whenever we try to act selfishly and bring suffering on others, that our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, had been ever so selfless in her life, that she gave her all to love her Son, Jesus, and always thinking of Him all the time, the perfect love shown by a mother to her Son.

Let us all remember that despite all the darkness present in our lives today, and despite all the evils and wickedness that we mankind commit in this world, all of us as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord, can follow in the footsteps of Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, whose faith in God and life was brilliantly bright, that we can become beacons of light, to bring light to those who are living in the darkness, and make our world a better place, and save more souls from the damnation to hell and the darkness.

O, Our Lady of Fatima, Most Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for all of us sinners who are still struggling with our lives in this world. Help us to persevere in faith as you have done, and pray for our sake before your Son, our Lord and God, and help us to say in sincerity the prayer which the Angel your Son had sent to the three children had taught us to pray, for the sake of our souls and their salvation from eternal death and damnation in hell.

Let us all pray together, brothers and sisters in Christ, with the words taught to us by the Angel at Fatima a hundred years ago, “O my Jesus. Forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need of Your mercy.” Amen.

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Friday, 12 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, Martyrs and St. Pancras, Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded that if we follow the Lord our God, even though on our life’s journey we will encounter, and indeed, had encountered many forms of tribulations, sufferings and troubles, all the challenges we have to face, but in the end of it all, God will reward us with His everlasting grace and love.

This is the promise which God Himself had made through His Son Jesus, Who revealed the perfect love of God to all of us. He has revealed that all of those who are faithful to Him, remain faithful and true to Him despite the temptations and the challenges from the world, will be rewarded, and places have been prepared for all of them in the glorious heaven.

This is why we believe that saints and holy martyrs are present, and they are with God, praying for our sake. For it is this belief in the resurrection from the dead, and the hope of a glorious everlasting life with God, in the bliss of heavenly glory and joy, that make us to have faith in God and believe in Him, because of the saints and martyrs that had preceded us, all those who had to even give their lives for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.

If they had not believed in the glory in the life that was to come to them, then it would indeed have been foolish for them to die as they had done, or to suffer as they have suffered. Yet, those faithful people continued to believe in God, and resisted the efforts by those who wanted them to abandon their faith in the Lord Jesus. That is because they believed in the promise of God, which is indeed not just a mere promise, but already a reality in waiting for those who keep their faith in Him.

That is what the holy martyrs whose memory we celebrate today had done in their lives. St. Nereus and St. Achilleus were martyrs of the early Church, among the earliest of the known martyrs, who lived during the years, as told by the tradition of the Church, of the Roman Emperor Domitian, who was known to persecute the Church and the faithful. And at that time, being a Christian meant difficulties, challenges, and they could even be arrested for being known as Christians.

Yet, St. Nereus and St. Achilleus were among those Christians who did not let the difficulties of the time to hamper their zeal and devotion to the Lord, as many other martyrs had also done. And when the other saint, St. Pancras or St. Pancratius, who lived during the years of the great persecution under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, was found out to be a Christian, he did not give up his faith, despite all that the enemies of the faith were trying to do in order to subvert them.

For example, when the Roman Emperor Diocletian tried to persuade St. Pancras to abandon his faith in the Lord, as he was impressed with his wisdom and intellect, St. Pancras refused to do so, even when he was offered good life and safe conduct by the Emperor, in exchange for his abandonment of the Lord and the Church. St. Pancras would rather choose to suffer and to perish rather than to follow what the world wanted him to do, because he had faith in the Lord and His promise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now the question comes to us. Do we believe in God and in His teachings? Do we truly believe what He had promised all of us who are faithful to Him? Do we really believe in all that we have come to believe through the Church? If our answers to all of these are yes, then we must remember the examples of our predecessors, the holy saints and martyrs in particular, in how they lived their lives and also in how they encountered persecution and rejection.

Let us all be inspired by their examples, and strive to follow their examples in how we lived in our lives and in how we should be faithful to the Lord. May the Lord also give us strength to live our faith with commitment, and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. May God empower us to become ever more devoted disciples and followers of His will. Amen.

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Friday, 12 May 2017 : 4th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Nereus and St. Achilleus, Martyrs and St. Pancras, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)
Acts 13 : 26-33

Paul said to the Jews in the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia, “Brothers, children and descendants of Abraham, and you also who fear God, it is to you that this message of salvation has been sent. It is a fact that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognise Jesus.”

“Yet in condemning Him, they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath but not understood. Even though they found no charge against Him that deserved death, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. And after they have carried out all that had been written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.”

But God raised Him from the dead, and for many days thereafter He showed Himself to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They have now become His witnesses before the people. We ourselves announce to you this Good News : All that God promised our ancestors, He has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus, according to what is written in the second psalm : You are My Son, this day I have begotten You.”