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Sunday, 3 November 2024 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us as God’s holy and beloved people, as Christians, we are all called to remember that our most important mission in life is to obey the will of God and to obey and fulfil His Law and commandments, everything which He has entrusted and provided to us so that we may find our way towards Him with assurance and guarantee amidst all the distractions, temptations, pressures, coercions and all the things which had often misled so many among our predecessors down the wrong and wicked paths in life, away from God and His salvation. As Christians, all of us have received the truth of God, His Good News through His Church, and also His love manifested to us through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

From our first reading this Sunday, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, in which the Lord told His people, the Israelites during the time of their Exodus and journey from the land of Egypt to the land that He has promised to them, we have heard of the Lord speaking to all of them through Moses, exhorting and encouraging them to remain true and faithful to the Law, commandments and rules which He had set before them, so that they may truly obey them and do not fall into the path towards damnation, which the devil and all of his fellow forces of evil have always been active in trying to lead us into those slippery slopes and traps that they have laid in the path of those who are faithful to God and many others. But God has always been full of love for His people, and He has always been patient in helping and guiding us to overcome our troubles and difficulties, the challenges and problems we face in our respective paths and journeys.

The Lord reminded His people that as long as they all faithfully kept His commandments and observed them wholeheartedly, loving Him above all else and doing what He has taught and shown them, in how He has generously and constantly loved them, in how they interacted with one another, then they would continue to walk under His grace and protection, and His blessings and wonderful guidance, providence and help would continue to shelter and aid them in their moments and times of need. The Lord has repeatedly proven His love and faithfulness many times, and yet, many among those people whom God had loved so much, still hardened their hearts and minds, rebelled against Him and refused to believe in Him or follow Him.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because of our own pride and arrogance, our thinking and perception that we know what we are doing and that we ourselves can be in charge of our paths and that we know it better, even than the Lord’s words, wisdom and guidance. Many of those Israelites and their descendants afterwards, and many other people throughout history had fallen into this path of disobedience and rebellion against God as they trusted more in their own intellect, power, wisdom and understanding of the Law, twisting the Law, the commandments and rules of God to serve their own purposes, ambitions and desires instead of to help them to love the Lord more as the Law had been intended by God. By the time of the coming of the salvation of God through His Son, about two millennia ago, the Law of God had become so different in how it has been practiced as compared to God’s true intentions.

This is why in our Gospel passage today, we heard again another reminder from the Lord to us, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was answering and responding to the question from a teacher of the Law who had been asking Him regarding which Law would be the most important among all the Law and commandments of God. By the time of the Lord Jesus and His ministry, there were no less than six hundred and thirteen precepts, rules and laws, which were contained in the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament, where the Lord passed down those Law and commandments through Moses. But on top of what God had passed down, those Law and commandments had gone through extensive modification, amendments, changes and adaptations by the people.

Most importantly, even since the day and time of Moses, many amendments and adjustments had been made to adjust to the people’s stubborn attitudes, and their refusal to obey to the Lord, and as the Law was passed down through the centuries, and especially by the time of the Lord Jesus, there were those who sought to interpret and the Law very strictly according to the customs and traditions practiced by the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, and worse still, many of them no longer understood or appreciated why the Lord gave the Law to His people in the first place. Some like the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the Law were so fixated on obeying the full details, tenets and rites of the Law, in all of its vast complexities, that they obsessed over and idolised this careful observance they had on the Law, and persecuted those who did not follow the Law in the same way as them.

And thus the Lord reminded all of His people that the Law was meant for one and only one thing, that is for love, and to teach us all how to love. First and foremost, it is meant to help us to know how to love the Lord our God once again, to put Him always first and foremost in our lives, and not to be distracted by the love of all other worldly desires, pursuits, attachments and ambitions that had often distracted, pulled and tempted us away from the ability to truly love the Lord and prioritise Him in our lives. And at the same time, we are also expected to show the same love in all of our actions, works and deeds, in our every interactions with one another, to be truly generous in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us. Since God loves each and every one of us, how can we truly call ourselves His beloved children and people, if we hold hatred for others around us?

And the Lord Jesus Himself has shown us the perfect example of this obedience to the Law and of the way how we all should love each other. As mentioned in our second reading today from the Epistle to the Hebrews, He is our High Priest Who has offered on our behalf the perfect and most worthy offering of Himself as the Paschal Lamb, in obeying perfectly the will of His heavenly Father, to become the sacrifice to bring about atonement for our innumerable sins, and to reconcile each and every one of us to the Lord, our Master and Creator. And He did all these because He loved His Father, obeying Him out of love, and also for the same love which He has for every one of us without exception, that He has given to us by Him bearing the burdens and the brunt of our punishments for us, dying on the Cross for us so that by His death, we may be restored into life eternal.

Now, if the Lord, our most loving God, Father and Creator has loved us so much that He has given us all His only Begotten Son, to be our Saviour, to suffer and die for our sake so that we may be strengthened and reconciled to Him through this same Saviour, then all of us Christians, who have been called as such by our faith and trust in the promise of Christ, we all should also be filled with the same love, following in Christ’s own examples and actions, in loving God our Father first and foremost above all else, and in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us, caring for the need of all those who are not as fortunate as us. We should always be genuine in our love, care and concern for everyone so that by our loving examples, we may truly be worthy to be called Christians, to be a people who are truly holy and beloved by God.

May the Lord continue to shower us all with His love as He has always done, and may He continue to stir in our hearts the desire to love others genuinely and generously at all times. May all the things we do in life, all the words we speak, the actions we carry out, all the interactions we have with one another always be done with love in the centre of everything that we say and do, to be the beacons of Christ’s light and love in all circumstances and in all places. May God bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, in everything that we do for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 November 2024 : Feast of All Souls, Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Black or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the celebration of All Souls Day, the last among all the commemorations of Allhallowtide period, and on this day we remember all the souls of the faithful departed, all those whom we know and are dear to us, as well as all those whom we may not know, but who are all still awaiting for the completion of their period and time in the Purgatory, a place where we ourselves may one day end up in, as we await and expect the blissful joy and true happiness of Heaven which the holy saints of God have now enjoyed and are experiencing by the virtue of their obedience and faith in the Lord, and ultimately, the holy souls in Purgatory will also end up in Heaven as well, as they too are truly worthy of the Lord, but with their residual sins and corruptions preventing them from immediately attaining the entry to Heaven.

Today, we remember all those whose lives, actions, words, deeds and everything they have in their lives had not been wholly good and worthy of God, and whose residual or remainder sins, which are venial or minor in nature and not mortal sins, have kept them away from truly being able to enjoy the immediate effect of Heavenly glory and joy. This stems from the fact that God is all good and perfect, Almighty and all blissful. Hence, no corruption, darkness and sin may exist in His Presence, and in the past, God’s Presence and appearance is enough to strike dead anyone who dared to look at Him, except for the select few He gave the opportunity to do so, like Moses and Elijah. And even so, God’s Holy Presence was so great that it was unfathomable to them and those who looked at Moses after he saw God wondered at the great light and majesty of God reflected on Moses’ face.

Therefore, the Church and the Church fathers, the Apostles and their successors, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit had always taught of the necessity for all those who have met the end of their earthly lives to be rid of their sins and wickedness before they were to be admitted into Heaven. The saints, those whose virtues and good deeds far outweighed their sins and faults had by the grace of God and declared as such by the Church after a period of proper scrutiny, they have all deserved to gain entry immediately into Heavenly glory. But for many among us, whose virtues and good deeds may still be marred by some of our remaining more serious sins and obstacles, we have to bear some period of waiting in the Purgatory. It is not so much a place as it is in fact a state of our soul, where the suffering the holy souls are facing there are caused not by despair, unlike those in Hell, but rather because of the separation and yet to be fulfilled desire to be reunited fully with God. But they are ultimately destined for Heaven. 

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the very wonderful words of the assurances that God has given to His people, the Israelites living in the southern kingdom of Judah, as at that time when the peop;le of God and their kingdom had been faced with great challenges and difficulties, obstacles and trials, having been broken in their unity andd scattered, and many among them having been defeated, conquered and overcome by their enemies and neighbours, enslave and exiled from their homeland once again as they had one endured before. Hence, God’s gentle words of assurance and love, and His promise of the end of their sorrows and sufferings, all the words He had spoken through Isaiah must have indeed been significant, and they also serve as a prefigurement for the salvation of all mankind as well.

Then, in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Rome, we heard of the great reminders from St. Paul to the Romans and also to all of us, a message which our Gospel passage today also reminded us and echoed, that thankfully we have the great love of God for us which He has manifested through His Son, and this love has been shown to us most wonderfully in the most loving sacrifice of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, perfect evidence of God’s ever enduring love for us, that He was willing to offer Himself in the most selfless and wonderful way possible, becoming for us all the perfect and worthy offering and sacrifice to liberate us all from the power and dominion of sin, darkness and death. Through His loving sacrifice, all of us are brought to the perfect fulfilment of God’s love and everything that He has planned for us.

Lastly, as just mentioned earlier, in our Gospel passage today, from the Gospel according to St. Mark, we heard the part of the story of the Passion of the Lord, focusing on the moment of His death on the Cross, and afterwards, from the part of His glorious Resurrection from the dead on the third day. Through this reading we are clearly reminded that death has been defeated, overcome and conquered by Christ, Our Lord and Saviour Himself through His death on the Cross and most importantly through His Resurrection. And that is why all of us as Christians truly believe that Our Lord Jesus, our Saviour has truly died on the Cross to save us, as if He did not die, how can He then lead us through death together into the everlasting life and Resurrection that He has experienced Himself?

And if the Lord Jesus did not rise from the dead in glory, if the Saviour and Holy One of God Himself did not manage to triumph against sin and death, how can we then win against them as well? The Lord’s glorious Resurrection from the dead is a clear message of hope and reassurance from the Lord Himself for each and every one of us that if we continue to have faith and trust in Him, then we must be rest assured that we will also share in His glorious Resurrection, and death will not be the end of our existence, but rather it will be a new beginning and a transition from our mortal existence in this world to return to a new life blessed by God and to be full of His grace and love just as He has always intended us to be, from the beginning of time and everything.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore as we commemorate this All Souls Day today, let us all continue to pray for our brothers and sisters who have departed from this world to the afterlife. And we should also pray for all those holy souls in Purgatory, who may not have anyone praying for them in particular, because we must understand that our prayers are truly efficacious and the Lord will listen to our prayers made on their behalf, just as the saints in Heaven are also constantly praying for both us and for the holy souls in Purgatory as well. And we can see here the beauty of how united the Church of God is, even beyond the bounds of our mortal life and existence in this world, as both the saints and the holy souls in Purgatory are still together with us, parts of the same Church of God.

And we must not forget that one day, as I mentioned earlier at the beginning of today’s discourse and reflection, we may also end up being in Purgatory ourselves, having sinned and committed things that are against God’s Law, commandments and His will throughout our lives. If through our lack of repentance and forgiveness for some of our more serious sins, then those sins may serve as barriers preventing us from immediately enjoying the fullness of God’s grace and love, and which is why we end up in Purgatory as mentioned and discussed earlier just now, in order to purify us in our whole being, that we may be truly worthy of Him, as no evil or sin, imperfection and corruption may exist in His Holy Presence. 

Then, it may also seem that we may not be as righteous and as worthy as the saints are, but we must always remember that the saints themselves were also sinners like us, but they chose to commit themselves wholly to the Lord and embraced Him wholeheartedly. If we continue to do our best to live worthily in the Lord, then one day we too may share in the eternal glory that they have experienced as well, together with all the holy souls in Purgatory. All of us are one Church, one Body of Christ, all united in our love and faith in God, and one day, all of us will worship and praise the Lord together as one holy and beloved people, with nothing else separating us from God and the fullness of His love.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and merciful God be ever merciful and forgiving for everyone who are now still suffering and enduring the wait and expectation of Heaven in the purifying flames of Purgatory. May He remember them in His most loving mercy, and remember His ever enduring and gentle love for all of them, that He may forgive them all their remaining sins and all the obstacles preventing them from returning completely and fully to His Presence in Heaven. And may we all, who are still living in this world be reminded as always to live our lives worthily of the Lord, to distance ourselves from sin and to continue to show care and concern for one another, as the Lord has told us to do, and to always remember and show our care for those souls in Purgatory who needs our help. May they have eternal rest in God’s Peace. Amen.

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Friday, 1 November 2024 : Solemnity of All Saints (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the great Solemnity of All Saints, celebrating all the holy saints, all those holy men and women who have enjoyed the beatific vision of Heaven. Today we rejoice in the honour of all these predecessors of ours who have lived their lives most worthily of God and who have shown us all how we should live ours as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people. And today we celebrate and honour all those saints who do not have their own date of celebration or feasts in particular, together with all the other more well-known saints. They all now enjoy the great joy and happiness that the Lord has promised to all of us, the experience of Heaven, the reward that they have received from God for their faith, their virtues and all the good things that they had done in life.

And while the saints are already in Heaven enjoying the happiness and wonders there, they do not forget about us, and in fact, they are still constantly praying and interceding for each and every one of us in this world. They are in fact part of the same Church of God, and are still part of this same one Body of Christ, made up of all the believers and faithful people of God, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. While the most visible and tangible members of the Church are the ones who are still living in this world, daily struggling with our faith and with all the challenges, temptations and difficulties in life, but the saints are very much part of the same Church and they are also always concerned about us, knowing the challenges and difficulties that they themselves had once gone through and overcome.

The saints of God are parts of the Church Triumphant, with them having triumphed against the evil one and their fellow forces, in trying to destroy and bring them to their downfall. They have triumphed and won a victory with God against their enemies, and have been found worthy to enjoy the eternal gift and grace which God has always intended for each and every one of us as Christians, as His holy and beloved people. Together with them, we are also all parts of the Church of God, as the Church Militant, the ones who are still struggling daily, fighting against the evil ones and their deceptions and temptations, in trying to each God and His salvation. And we must also not forget all the other members of the Church, the parts of the Church Suffering, whom we will commemorate tommorow as part of this Allhallowtide, the faithful and holy souls of the departed in Purgatory.

Let us all now go through our Scripture passages on this Solemnity of All Saints. In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Revelations of St. John the Apostle, we heard of the vision of St. John as he saw a great throng of the righteous, a hundred and forty-four thousand of them, who had been deemed righteous by God, and who had washed their garments clean in the Blood of the Lamb, all those who have arrived into the glory and the true joy which God had prepared for them, to be united as one in praising and glorifying the Lord, together with all the Holy Angels of God, and all those whom St. John had seen in his heavenly vision are truly the saints of God, the ones whom God and His Church had deemed to be worthy of veneration and of the bliss of Heaven.

This is a reminder for all of us that no matter what challenges, difficulties, persecutions or obstacles we may have to face or endure in our path and journey in life, in the end, if we remain faithful to the Lord and true to His path and to the missions entrusted to us, eventually, we will share in His victory and triumph, and we will be triumphant like all those saints that St. John had seen in his vision. To those early Christians living during the time of St. John’s ministry and when he received these visions of the end times in the island of Patmos during his exile there, being persecuted and oppressed by the Romans and the local authorities, or by the Jewish leaders and authorities earlier on, as well as by other members of the public and the pagan supporters, this would have indeed been a truly uplifting, encouraging and hopeful message of reassurance and support.

From our second reading, taken from the Epistle of St. John the Apostle, we heard of the words of assurance from St. John reminding all of us of God’s ever enduring love for us, as He is truly our loving Father, and He has always been filled with generous and most bountiful love towards us. And because we have been truly loved by God, we are truly fortunate, as He has always considered us to be His children, and has always designed it to be so. For each one of us have been created as mentioned in the Book of Genesis, in the image and likeness of God Himself, and we have been made perfect and most wonderful, to enjoy the fullness of God’s creation, to be the ones to share His most generous and wonderful love that overflows from Himself to all of us, and as His beloved children, therefore, He has always intended for us to enjoy forever this eternity of bliss.

However, because of our disobedience and refusal to obey the Lord’s words, will and commandments, we have fallen into the traps of the evil one, who lured us with the false pleasures and attachments of worldly desires and goods, all of which had made us to fall astray from the path that God has shown us. Instead, we chose to rebel against the love of God and embraced instead the false lies and sweet words of Satan, walking down this path of disobedience and sin which caused us to be sundered and separated from God’s love and grace. We have disregarded the great things that God has created and meant for us, and instead sought the inferior and illusory desires of our worldly pursuits, attachments and ambitions, all the things which had kept us away from His loving Presence and from the eternal inheritance and true glory awaiting us.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew, we heard of the words of the Lord teaching His disciples and all the people in the famous Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Eight Beatitudes. The word Beatitude is the same meaning as ‘Blessed’ or ‘Beatus’ and this is because the Lord pronounced a series of blessings for all those whose lives have truly been worthy of God, in how they have embodied good and virtuous lives, full of love for one another and with genuine faith and desire to love the Lord and to seek Him wholeheartedly in their lives. We heard about those who were poor in spirit, referring to those who were humble enough to recognise their faults and shortcomings, recognising the need for them to embrace God’s mercy and love, His guidance and strength, and also those who have mourned and in trouble, being persecuted because of their faith in God.

We also heard of those who were peacemakers and striving for peace, those who seek and hunger for justice for everyone, those who show mercy to others around them and other virtuous qualities and things which the Lord was in fact encouraging all of us to do through His proclamations. All of those virtues, values and actions were what the innumerable holy men and women, some of whom had been declared officially by the Church as saints and celebrated in our ceremonies and liturgies, have done in their own lives, in their own unique ways. And each one of us also have the potential and opportunities that the Lord Himself has granted us generously to be like one of them as well. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, on this Solemnity of All Saints day, while we celebrate and rejoice in the memory and honour of all those holy men and women, our predecessors, it is also an important reminder of what we can be.

All the saints have once been sinners as well, just like us. They had their flaws and weaknesses, faults and mistakes which they had made. If we read through the numerous lives and experiences of the saints, then we will realise that at some point in their lives, they have encountered many of the things which we have ourselves experienced, all the struggles, challenges and difficulties, the persecutions, trials and obstacles we may have faced in different moments in our lives. But what is common from the lives and experiences of the saints is that they all reject the path of sin and darkness, embracing wholeheartedly afterwards the path towards God and His salvation in their own unique ways, making good use of the various gifts, talents and opportunities that He had granted to each one of them, for the benefit of the people around them and for the causes of the Church and its missions.

We must realise that the Church is one Body of Christ, the united Body composed of those whom God had called and chosen from this world to follow Him, and to be His own people. And He had called us all with our own various diverse backgrounds, with our own imperfections and flaws, faults and sins. We are not a Church composed of perfect people without any fault, sin or imperfections, as none of us can claim to be such perfect people. But we are all reminded through the examples and the fates of the saints, who are now enjoying the wonderful bliss of Heaven, that we may also share in their joy, and that none of us are denied this opportunity by the Lord. Now what matters is for us to embrace this opportunity that the Lord has given us and do our best to walk in the footsteps of the holy saints of God, to enter into the narrow path to the Kingdom of God.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Creator, and with His innumerable saints and the Holy Angels, continue to strengthen us in all of our journey and efforts to come towards Him with faith and dedication. May He continue to bless our every good efforts, works and endeavours in each and every moments of our lives so that we may always be committed to do what is right and just, virtuous and worthy of His cause, as we should always be doing. May His glorious saints, our holy predecessors, in their constant intercessions and prayers for us continue to help and inspire us all in our own journey, so that one day, we may ourselves be in their place, to be worthy partakers and parts of God’s everlasting Kingdom and dominion. All the Holy Saints of God, Holy Men and Women of God, pray for us sinners, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded of the need for all of us to remain faithful, strong and vigilant amidst every moments in our lives when we may face challenges, difficulties, trials, opposition, ridicule, obstacles and other hardships that may dampen our desire to follow the Lord faithfully as His beloved and holy people, as His disciples and followers. We must not easily give up just because of these obstackes and challenges. We need to put our trust and faith in the Lord, that He is always with us in our journey and struggles. We must also realise that as Christians, it is likely that we may face persecution and oppression just as the Lord Himself has faced the same difficulties and persecutions.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus the exhortation that he gave to the faithful about how the people of God should always strive to put on the whole armour of God, which is a reference to all the many gifts, blessings, graces and all the guidance which we have received from the Lord, the gift of His Wisdom and the Holy Spirit, that become our source of hope and strength amidst all the difficulties hardships, trials and all the darkness surrounding us. The Lord has always provided us with the means and the help needed for us to resist the challenges and to remain strong despite the persecutions that we may face. Most importantly, we must always trust in the Lord and be open to His help, as we likely cannot overcome those difficulties by ourselves without God.

At that time, in Ephesus and in other places, the Christians in the community did face quite a bit of challenges from various sources, from the external attacks and obstacles laid by the local and Roman authorities, the opposition from the pagan worshippers who disliked the spread in popularity of the new Christian faith, as well as from the Jewish authorities and groups who wanted to curb the continuing spread of the Christian faith in proclaiming Christ despite their efforts to snuff the Church and the Christian missionary efforts from the very beginning. There were also significant divisions within the community of the faithful, from the disagreements in how they ought to follow the Lord and His Law and commandments, and also the presence of false teachers and heretical ideas that were already rampant even from those early days of the Church.

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus in His lamentations on Jerusalem when some of the Pharisees told Him to leave the place because Herod wanted to kill Him for what He has done in His missions among the people. In His response to Herod and the Pharisees, the Lord was in fact also showing premonition of what He would face and suffer during the time of His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, when He would be betrayed by one of His own disciples, rejected and accused by the elders and the leaders of the people to whom He had been sent to, with the people crying out for His punishment and death, even when He had no fault at all with Himself, or deserve any of those punishments.

The Lord lamented over Jerusalem because of the persecutions that He and the many other messengers and prophets had suffered and endured, despite the constant and persistent love and kindness, mercy and compassion that God has shown to them all, to those people who had been stubborn, obstinate and hardened in their hearts and minds, whose sins and wickedness, infidelities and lack of faith had led to them falling ever further and deeper away into the path towards damnation and destruction. God still does not want to see His people suffering and destroyed, and therefore, as we have received such a great grace from God, being loved so much by Him, it is essential and just for us to realise how our sins, wickedness and stubborn attitudes did not help at all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded that prayer is indeed very important, as the Epistle to the Ephesians had also mentioned earlier. Many of us have lost our path and way in life, falling into the path of rebellion and disobedience against God because we have allowed the temptations, pressures and coercions of the world to pull us away from the path towards God and His salvation. And most importantly, many of those people have not developed good, vibrant and active prayer life in their daily occurrences and moments. Without this important link to God, which prayer provides us, it is therefore easy for us to fall into the attacks of the evil ones, and to the many pressures of the world to push us to conform to its ways, and away from God’s path.

This is why all of us as Christians must always spend good and quality time with the Lord our God, in silent prayer and devotion to Him. Prayer is a way for us to communicate with God, and through this prayer and connection, we can come to know what the Lord wants from us, from our lives and paths going forward. Through prayer, each and every one of us can remain connected and attuned to God’s will, to His love and grace, and it will help us to persevere through the many challenges and trials we have to face in our journey. We should also open our hearts and minds, to be humble in listening to God, and to allow Him to lead us down the right path in life. We should not be like all those who have proudly put forward their greatness and achievements in life, that they end up being stubborn in opposing the Lord and His truth, as those people who have persecuted the Lord and His prophets had done.

Today, which is also the Eve of All Saints’ Day, the beginning of Allhallowtide and which we all celebrate as Halloween, we also remember all those holy and devoted people of God, our holy predecessors, whom have persevered through the many hardships and obstacles as mentioned, and they did not give up their faith in God. On the contrary, they remained faithful and committed to Him, living their lives and enduring through the many persecutions and challenges with joy, knowing that they have obeyed the Lord and lived their lives according to the path that God has shown them. We should also therefore be inspired by their good examples and inspiration, and remain strong in our own faith, remembering that all those saints and martyrs are in fact still with us, constantly praying for us and supporting us in our journey.

May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God continue to strengthen and empower each and every one of us with the power, wisdom and guidance, the ‘armour of God’ needed for us to resist the temptations and pressures in life. May He continue to guide us in our journey of faith and life, helping us to be good role models and inspirations for everyone around us by our faithful journey and obedience to God and His will, keeping in mind at all times to maintain a good relationship with God through prayer and other means. May He continue to bless us in our every good efforts and works, our every commitments to His cause, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, truly worthy of Him, we may continue to proclaim Him as always in our communities and among all those whom we encounter in life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are presented with the reminders that all of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people should always strive to do our best to follow the Lord ever more faithfully at all times, to do what is good, worthy, right and just in our every words, actions and deeds. As Christians, it is important that we should always embody our faith in our every moments in life, to proclaim the Lord to everyone whom we encounter and interact with, and to be truly good and worthy beacons of His light and Good News in all of our respective communities in today’s world. 

In our first reading today from the continuation of the discourse from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus, we heard the same message which St. Paul had told the faithful in yesterday’s passage, regarding Christian families and how everyone ought to play their part and roles, with great harmony and love, both for God and for everyone within their families. And today, we have the extension of this as the Apostle continued to tell the faithful that even in their own capacities, work and other areas outside their families and relatives, friends and circles, each and every one of them should still continue to obey God’s will and to do whatever He has taught them to do, to be truly loving and generous with one another.

It is a reminder for all of us that as Christians we are all called and challenged to live a truly devout and committed life at all times, to be good and just, righteous and virtuous in our every actions and interactions with others whom we encounter in our daily living, no matter what the circumstances or occasions are, and no matter what capacity we are in. All of us must always strive to be the faithful bearers of our Lord’s love and truth, His Good News and teachings, manifested and made concrete in our midst through our own good and faithful Christian lives. How can we treat our fellow men and women with contempt and disdain, when the Lord Himself has treated us well and showed us all His mercy and love, when we erred and fell away from His grace.

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard from the Lord Jesus Himself about how difficult it would be for someone to enter into the Kingdom of God, because while the Lord has always been generous in showing us all His compassion, kindness and everything that He has done to allow us to come to Him, but in the end, it is up to us to cooperate with the Lord and to embrace His love, mercy and forgiveness. It is not the Lord Who has made it difficult for us to return to Him, as He has always been willing to embrace us, to forgive us from our faults and mistakes, and He has always loved us despite all these, but it is actually our own stubbornness, arrogance, our persistence to follow the path of sin which has separated us from the Lord and kept us away from His grace and love.

It is all of our love and attachments to worldly desires and pleasures, our inability to detach ourselves from all these ultimately futile pursuits, ambitions and allures of glory and worldly fame which became our undoing and these are the main reasons why the path has become so narrow for us in our path and journey towards the Lord and His salvation, which the Lord presented in His teachings as we heard from our Gospel passage today, on how many people may desire salvation in God, and yet, only few among them may actually be able to achieve this, as too many of us are so preoccupied by all those worldly desires and temptations, all the distractions and wicked things around us that we end up losing our focus and attention on the Lord and His salvation.

And as the Lord Himself mentioned to the people, that there would be many people who thought that they deserved salvation, by saying that they had known the Lord, or supposedly were close to Him, followed His ways and been pious in their practices and way of life, which was likely an indirect reference to the Pharisees and their actions, their sense of superiority against others around them, all of which made them to have this assumption that they deserved God’s grace and salvation more than others, but unfortunately, they were so preoccupied with following the details and tenets of the Law, the customs and rituals according to their interpretation and understanding, that they had forgotten the reason and purpose of those laws in the first place. They had been so busy in doing those things that they have in fact distanced themselves from the Lord and shut their hearts and minds against Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have listened and discussed earlier on through these readings from the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore do our part so that we can continue to prioritise the Lord and all of His teachings and ways in our every moments in life, to be truly committed to a life that is focused not on our own selfish desires, ambitions, our pride, ego and greed, but rather on everything that God has shown and taught us through His Church and through the Scriptures He has passed down and revealed to us. Each and every one of us as Christians are called and reminded to be good examples and role models in our faith and how we live them, that through these, we may help more and more people to come ever closer to God and His grace, His salvation and eternal life. Let us all do our parts as members of the Body of Christ, the Church of God.

May the Lord, our ever loving, compassionate and merciful God continue to help and guide us in our respective lives, and help us so that in everything that we do and in all of our whole lives, our interactions with each other, we will continue to strive to be good and faithful Christians, not just in words or appearances only, but also in everything that we do, in our every interactions and cooperations with each other, in how we genuinely show God’s love, His truth and hope to everyone whom we encounter in our lives, in each and every moments and opportunities provided to us. May God continue to bless us all and strengthen us in our resolve and endeavours, our efforts to glorify Him at all times, by our faithful lives and examples, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, each one of us must always cultivate good faith in the Lord and inculcate in each and every actions and parts of our lives good attitudes and behaviours in accordance to what the Lord Himself had told us to do, and then also provide good and suitable condition for us all to grow ever stronger and more vibrant in our faith in God. This has been highlighted throughout our Scripture passages today, and all of us are reminded to continue to do our best to live our daily lives as good and faithful Christians in each and every moments, and in every interactions and actions we carry out so that we and many others may grow ever stronger in faith and draw closer to the Lord.

In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus, we heard of the words of the Apostle reminding all the faithful in that area to remain truly faithful to God and His Law, His commandments and teachings, especially in today’s passage context, is about the matter of family and relationships, between that of husbands and wives in their respective families, and how they and the other members of the family ought to react and behave in their various interactions with one another, and how all of them as parts of the Christian community and in their own Christian families should live their lives and carry out their actions to be truly faithful in all things in following God’s path and commandments.

At that time, the people of God and those who have embraced the Lord and His truth, His ways and teachings were living amidst many people whose ways were morally and spiritually corrupt, all those who allowed worldly vices and temptations to lead them astray from the path of virtue and righteousness. Hence, St. Paul told the faithful that they all ought to follow faithfully what the Lord Himself had told His disciples and passed through His Church, in all the rules and obligations that they ought to follow so that they may truly live a genuinely Christian way of living, in devoting their time and efforts to be good role models and examples for everyone around them, to show them how one ought to live as a follower of Christ and His teachings.

St. Paul also pointed out how the faithful Christian family is just like the Church in its structure, function and dynamics, and indeed up to this very day, the family is still and is always the basic unit of the Church, and are like the bricks that make up the whole structure of the Body of Christ, that is the Church. Like the Church with the various diverse people making up its parts, thus the family with the various people inside it, be it the father, mother, husband, wife, child and even extended ones like grandparents and grandchildren, all these have to work in tandem and harmony, live and coexist with love and compassion, care and concern for one another, so that not only that the family will truly function and grow well, but also the whole Church as well. If our own families are broken and are divided against each other inside, how can we expect the Church to be vibrant and strong as well?

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we also heard about the Lord speaking to His disciples and those assembled in the crowd listening to Him with two parables by which He wanted to highlight and to teach them about the Kingdom of God, and He used the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the measures of flour to highlight these ideas. The Lord liked to use these parables because first of all majority if not most of the people at that time were uneducated and illiterate, and if He had used complicated theological and intellectual terms and ways to teach the people, then they would not have understood the meaning and significance of what He wanted to tell them.

And hence, He used the examples of mustard seed and the measures of flour and yeast in the dough because many of the people were either farmers or involved in agriculture, and many of them were involved in bread-making or were familiar with the process as bread was an important core staple food of the time of the Lord. Through these He wanted to highlight to everyone who have been waiting for and expecting the coming of the Kingdom of God, which they expected the Messiah or the Saviour to bring into their midst, has actually already existed among them with the coming of the Lord, Who showed and taught them how to cultivate the Kingdom of God, that is none other than the Church, which He has established in this world.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church highlighted that the Church came forth from the Lord, with the outpouring of Blood and water that were shed on Good Friday, at the moment when the Lord in His Passion suffered and died for all of us. By uniting all of us to His humanity and by offering Himself as the perfect and worthy offering for the atonement for our sins, He has united us all as one Body and community of believers, all those who share in the promise of everlasting life, the Church of God, the Kingdom of God manifested in this world. However, as the parables of the Lord mentioned today showed us, that to grow and manifest the Church, there is a need for us all to cultivate lives that are truly good, righteous and worthy of God in all circumstances and occasions.

Those who are familiar with agriculture will know that for seeds to be able to grow into a healthy and good plant, those seeds will need to receive the right condition, of having enough water, warmth and oxygen from the air, and also afterwards constantly being provided with the loving care and maintenance by the one who planted it. Similarly, in order to make the bread dough to rise properly and become a good quality and delicious bread, the dough has to be put under the right condition, being added with yeast and deprived of oxygen so that the fermentation of the sugars in the bread can be done properly and the bread will rise and form into a good and proper bread, one that is truly desired, soft and full of flavour.

Therefore, in this same manner, in order for us to grow in faith and to be ever closer to God, to be better Christians we will have to strive to provide the best conditions available so that we may nurture our faith in the Lord, especially within our families and among those who are close and dear to us, linking to what we have discussed earlier from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians. We should do this through constant and meaningful prayer life and practice, both personally and together within our families, our circles of friends and relatives, and more. We should also continue to show genuine love to one another, forgiving each other our mistakes and imperfections, our faults and flaws, our trespasses and sins. As Christians we must always be full of love and compassion, mercy and kindness just as Our Lord Himself has been full of these for us.

Therefore, let us all continue to strive to grow in our faith in God, doing whatever we can so that by our lives and dedication to Him, we may always show good examples and be inspiration for everyone around us, teaching and showing all on how we should live our lives as Christians in all things. Let us all continue to nurture our faith and give ourselves the best condition that we may continue to be inspired to follow God at all times. And may the Lord continue to help and strengthen us in our path, and may He continue to bless us in all and everything that we say and do, in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 28 October 2024 : Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the great Feast of not just one but two of the Lord’s Twelve Holy Apostles, namely that of St. Simon the Apostle and also St. Jude the Apostle. St. Simon the Apostle was also known as Simon the Zealot, and was a member of the radical Zealots who were very much opposed to the Romans and their rule and occupation of the lands of the Jewish people at the time. Meanwhile, St. Jude the Apostle should not be confused with the traitor Judas Iscariot, as he is also known as Judas Thaddeus or Jude Thaddeus. Sometimes this St. Jude the Apostle is also identified by some Church historians and scholars with Jude, one of the relatives of the Lord. Both of these Apostles had extensive work and ministry after the Lord commissioned and sent them during His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven.

First of all, let us all look through the Scripture passages which we have heard and receive today, reflecting and pondering upon the messages and words that the Lord wants to remind us all as His followers and disciples. In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard of the Apostle telling the faithful there about how they have all been made parts of the Church of God, becoming God’s holy people, having been called and chosen from the world to be truly beloved and holy in Him, and tofo share together the mission that God has entrusted to His Church, because all of them are part of this same one Church of God, as we all are as well. Too us all of us, God has entrusted the same missions which He has entrusted to His Apostles and His Church.

In this Epistle, all of us as the disciples and followers of the Lord, we are all reminded that we are all as parts of the one Church of God have been made to be the Temples and Houses of God’s Holy Presence, as the Lord Himself has come into our midst, dwelling in us and giving us all the gift of His Holy Spirit, and through Him coming into us and dwelling within us, each and every one of us should always remember to keep ourselves truly holy and worthy of God by our actions and deeds, our contributions and efforts that mark as truly as those whom God had called and chosen. If we are idle in living our lives as Christians and if we do not do what we can do in order to follow the Lord and obey His commandments, then how can we be worthy part of the Temple of God, this one Church of God that is His Body?

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard of the Lord calling His Apostles, choosing the Twelve of them from among all of His disciples, and which St. Luke introduced each by their names, including that of St. Simon and St. Jude whose feasts we are celebrating today. We heard how the Lord chose them to continue His works and to extend whatever He has been doing in our midst, reaching out to the people of God, healing those who are sick and troubled, proclaiming the Good News of God to those who have not yet heard them, and to prepare the way for the Lord, to reach out to the people and to bring them to God. And through these actions that the Lord Himself had done, He has shown by His own examples, what each and every one of us as Christians should be doing in our own lives.

Linking to what we have heard and discussed earlier today in our first reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, this is therefore what each and every one of us as Christians need to do in order for us to do what God had entrusted to us to do, to commit ourselves wholeheartedly and to do His will, to show His love, compassion and kindness manifested through our own exemplary lives and actions, by each and every one of our loving actions towards our fellow brothers and sisters around us. All of us as Christians must always practice and show the love of God and embody His Good News and truth in everything that we say and do, in every opportunities and occasions, and that is how we take part in the efforts and works of the Church, which the Apostles had begun and which all of us ought to continue and carry on.

And now, after having discussed and discerned on the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, let us all discuss further about the lives of the two Apostles whose feast we all celebrate today. St. Simon the Apostle as mentioned was a member of the radical Zealots who often attacked and sabotaged the Roman rule in Judea and Galilee, and he was likely part of this efforts and uprisings before he came to know of the Lord and became His follower. After he followed the Lord, it was likely that he was no longer involved in the activities of the Zealots, and gave himself wholly to the service and cause of the Lord, and after the Lord has risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven, he together with the other Apostles, strengthened and empowered by the Holy Spirit, went to proclaim the Lord in many places and regions.

St. Simon the Apostle according to Church history and tradition went to various places all around Judea and Galilee in the Holy Land, as well as further regions like Lebanon and Armenia, Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as traditions that showed that he was also involved in ministry and evangelisation in areas even further like Africa and Britain, where he likely encountered many people who have not yet known the Lord in very distant places, and he brought the seeds of Christian faith to all those people, telling them of the salvation and eternal life that Christ has offered and reassured them with, and which St. Simon himself had heard and witnessed. Eventually, like most of the other Apostles and the early disciples of the Lord, he was persecuted and martyred in Georgia in the Caucasus, during one of his missionary trips.

Meanwhile, St. Jude the Apostle, also known as St. Jude Thaddeus as mentioned, had different stories and legends depending on who he was associated with in history. He was known either as St. Jude of James or son of James in the Gospel of St. Luke today and in the Acts of the Apostles also written by St. Luke, or as the brother or relative of the Lord as mentioned. Nonetheless, regardless of the actual identity of the St. Jude we honour and celebrate today, he went to many regions to proclaim the Lord and His Good News, travelling all throughout the regions of Judea, Samaria and Idumaea around Jerusalem, preaching among the Jews and Gentiles alike, and also further afield in Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya, travelling to those places and bringing the Good News of God to many people.

St. Jude was credited as one of the first missionaries to bring the Christian faith and teachings to the region now known as Armenia, where he revealed the Good News of Christ to many of the people in the region, many centuries before Armenia was to become the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as the official faith. Eventually, like St. Simon the Apostle and the many other Apostles and disciples of his time, St. Jude the Apostle was persecuted and eventually martyred in the region of Beirut in what is today part of Lebanon. According to one tradition, it was also where St. Simon the Apostle was martyred, and why they were usually celebrated together. Regardless, the commitment and dedication that St. Jude the Apostle showed, with that of St. Simon the Apostle should serve as good example and inspiration for all of us to follow in our own life as Christians.should serve as great inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives as Christians.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all have listened through the life and examples of St. Simon the Apostle and St. Jude the Apostle, their commitments to God and their dedication in proclaiming His Good News and truth, let us all realise that we are all also part of this same Church of God, entrusted with the same mission to do God’s will and to proclaim Him faithfully at all times, in our various groups and communities and among everyone that we have encountered daily in our lives. May all of us continue to exhibit the strong faith, dedication and commitment like what St. Simon and St. Jude, holy Apostles of the Lord have shown us. And may the Lord continue to bless us in our every good and faithful works, endeavours and efforts, all for His greater glory. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 October 2024 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us heard from the words of the Sacred Scriptures the reminders for us of the richness of God’s love and mercy, which He has always provided generously to us all, to remind all of us that we are truly beloved and precious in the eyes of God, without exception, and that all of us have the chance and the opportunity to seek full reconciliation and reunion with God, our loving Father and Creator, our Master and Lord, through everything that He had done for us in order to make all of these possible for us. He provided the path for us to return to Him and patiently gave us the guidance and help so that we may find our way and be restored to grace in Him.

In our first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the words of assurance and comfort from the Lord Who was telling His people to have faith in Him and in His salvation because He would not forget about them and He would always care for all of them without exception, and He would show them His mercy and love, His compassion and passionate mercy, as He led them all to the right path and reconciliation with Him, by fulfilling everything that He has promised to them and to their forefathers, of the salvation that He has brought unto them all through the Messiah or the Saviour that He has revealed to them, that is none other than His own Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom the fullness of God’s love and power has been manifested in our midst.

Then, linking to that reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, continuing with the Epistle to the Hebrews in our second reading this Sunday, we are all reminded by the author of that Epistle of the role which our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God has taken up at the moment when He accomplished perfectly everything that God had planned in order to save us all mankind. It was the moment when He redeemed and freed all of us mankind from the slavery and domination by sin, evil and darkness, He has become our one and true, Eternal High Priest, the One Who bridged between us and God our loving Father and Creator, from Whom we have once been separated and sundered due to our disobedience and sins, our wickedness and evils.

As our High Priest, Our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour has gathered all of our prayers and needs, our petitions and sorrowful longing for God our loving Father, and He offered all of His prayer and ours together, as He united Himself to us and our humanity, while bearing up the heavy Cross of the burdens of our sins and wickedness, the punishments for all those evils and sins, which He does not have to bear for us, and we should have indeed faced the consequences of our faults and errors, and yet, our Lord willingly and lovingly, selflessly and kindly bore for us those punishments on our behalf, so that by His sufferings and by the breaking of His Most Precious Body and the outpouring of His Most Precious Blood, Christ our Lord may redeem us and lead us all to eternal life and true happiness in God.

For our sins and wickedness, our evils and the corruptions of the darkness around us are so great that no amount of offerings, sacrifices or prayers could have sufficed to atone for our many trespasses and sins, the combined weight of all of our sins and all the burdens of our punishments, except for the one and only worthy offering that is found only in Christ, Who is both our High Priest and also the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, Who has been slaughtered for us on the Altar of His Cross at Calvary. That like the blood of the lamb having saved the Israelites in Egypt during the Passover, thus, through the Most Precious Blood of the Lamb of God, all of us are rescued and saved from the corruption of sin and death, and we have been washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb, made pure and worthy again of God.

Finally, in the Gospel passage of this Sunday from the Gospel according to St. Mark, we heard of the story of the moment when the Lord encountered a blind man during His mission, and in that occasion, Bartimaeus, the blind man, the son of Timaeus, did not give up on trying to ask help from the Lord, despite the approval of everyone around him, who discouraged him, as he shouted to beg the Lord, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’. The Lord heard his cries and words well, and He saw the faith in the blind man, seeing how the man kept on trying his best to seek His help and did not lose faith despite all the challenges and discouraging comments and obstacles that he had to face in the midst of him striving to seek the Lord and His help.

Brothers and sisters, we are just like Bartimaeus, the blind man who has been healed by God. We may be physically well and have no issues with our eyes and vision, but like Bartimaeus, there is a part of us that is not whole and well, and for all of us, we all suffer from this affliction of sin, which had made us all spiritually unwell and unfit. The Lord is always ready to come and heal us, and to welcome us back to Him, just as He had done and reassured us all through His Son, and everything that He has done for us. But we must first have faith in Him, and seek Him like what Bartimaeus had done, to call on Him and to have the resolve and conviction to follow Him, to find Him and His love, His mercy and compassion. Can we do that, brothers and sisters in Christ?

Let us all therefore renew our faith and commitment in the Lord, doing our best to seek Him and to centre our lives and existence on Him, to do our best to live our lives in the manner that He has shown and taught us to do. Let us no longer harden our hearts and minds against Him or resist His patient outreach and love towards us. May the Lord continue to love us all regardless of our rebelliousness and persistence in sin, and help us so that we may be touched and called to repent from all those sins, to change our lives so that from now on we may no longer dwell in sin, but come towards Him ever more faithfully at all times, seeking His mercy and compassion, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded clearly that as Christians, as God’s followers and as those whom He had called and chosen as His own, each and every one of us must always do our best at every time to make good use of every gifts, blessings and all the things which He has provided and blessed us with. We should not be ignorant of the many things that we can do with all that God had bestowed upon us and blessed us with, the many opportunities that He had provided to us. Through all these we are in fact called to be active collaborators with God in how He carried out His loving actions towards our less fortunate brethren, and through our actions and efforts, based and grounded in our Christian faith, we may touch the lives of so many people.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus where the Apostle spoke of the many gifts, talents, blessings and opportunities which He has provided to each and every one of us, His people, and how every one has their own unique calling and mission in life, in different areas and situations, and each and every one of us have been given these so that we may make good use of them to grow ever stronger, more faithful, more committed and dedicated as those whom God had called and chosen, as His beloved and holy people, All of those things have been given to us with the intention for us to learn to walk faithfully and with real commitment in the path that the Lord has led us to walk through, to be truly exemplary and committed in our lives as Christians, at all times.

By His coming into the world, the Lord has shown us all His perfect love and has also bestowed on us this great grace, sending unto us the Holy Spirit, through Whom the whole world has received the rich gifts of Wisdom, truth and love of God, manifesting in all of us, in the various gifts and talents that we have received. God has not intended for everyone to receive the same gifts as He wants us all to make good use of our diverse and unique gifts to build up the Church and Kingdom of God and to strengthen one another in our respective roles and parts, by which we can contribute to the overall good efforts and works of the Church, to benefit more and more people that we may encounter in our journey throughout our daily lives.

What we are also reminded is that no one of us should think that we are better than others by virtue of our calling and ministry. Some people would think that they are better simply because they are part of the ordained ministry, being bishops or priests, but this is not the case, as to each and every members of the faithful, God has given unique gifts and vocations, and each one of them are equal in virtue, value and honour to each other, and should indeed not be compared or used for justification for prejudice or discrimination. Each and every vocations in the Church come along with their respective unique challenges and difficulties, as well as rich fruits and wonders, and they help and complete each other in fulfilling God’s works and missions.

Then, in our Gospel passage taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and the people who were gathered to listen to Him where He addressed their questions about the recent events and misfortunes that happened to some of the people who perished during the uprising in Galilee, as well as in the collapse of the Tower in Shiloh, where several people also died. He told them all that they did not die and perish because of them being sinners, as everyone are equally sinners before God, and no one deserved to die more than any other person, not because one sinned more than the other, and then they were deemed or judged to deserve their death in that manner.

This must be further understood in the context of the situation at that time, as the Lord was likely addressing the questions from the Pharisees and their supporters, who were there around following Him. This is also coupled with the attitude of those same Pharisees and the religious elite of the community who always looked down on those whom they deemed to be inferior and less worthy than they were. They thought of those whom they labelled as sinners, like those who lived less than worthily, the tax collectors, prostitutes and adulterers, criminals and those afflicted by diseases to be cursed by their sins, and had no right for God’s love, blessings and grace, which is contrary to God’s ever strong and enduring mercy, His love and compassion, that He has extended freely to everyone.

In fact, in their preoccupation with their own sense of superiority and self-righteousness, those same religious elites and leaders had ended up losing sight at their own flaws and mistakes, and they ignored their own shortcomings, prejudices and attitudes that kept them away from truly being able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and faithfully. They proudly thought that they could not get things wrong and that they are better than others, when their pride, arrogance and greed had prevented them from realising their weakness and shortcomings, where others who were more humble and willing to listen to the Lord were way closer to them on the path towards salvation in God. This is the same reminder for all of us that we should not follow the same path, to compare ourselves with others or to be proud of our own piety and achievements.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we ponder further upon the messages of the Sacred Scriptures and the words of the Lord today, let us all keep in mind our important roles as members and parts of the Church, that we must always be active and contributing in all of our efforts and works, to obey and follow the will of God at all times. We should strive to always be humble in listening to the Lord Who has called us to follow Him, and trust in Him wholly, faithfully and with commitment, doing whatever we can so that by our every actions, words and deeds, and by our every contributions, we may truly proclaim Him ever more wonderfully to all the people whom we encounter in our respective communities, to lead by example with our own holy and worthy lives.

May the Lord our most loving God continue to guide us and strengthen us in faith so that we may always be willing to do our best and to do our part to contribute to the good works of God’s salvation through His Church. Through our every moments in life, let us all continue to inspire everyone and all of us fellow Christians in our journey towards God, helping each other to persevere through the difficult challenges and obstacles that we may have to face in our way. Amen.

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Friday, 25 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord contained in the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded through them that each and every one of us as Christians must always live our lives in each and every moments, in every day living to the best of our abilities, to do what the Lord has shown and taught us to do so that our lives and works may truly be worthy of God, and that we may truly be inspirational and exemplary in our own actions, words, deeds and all the things we have, so that many more people may come to know the Lord through us and our examples, and hopefully by our inspiration we may continue to lead more and more people to follow the Lord as well.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus, we continue to hear the same exhortation which St. Paul had made to the faithful there regarding how they all ought to continue to follow the Lord faithfully in the manner that he himself has taught and shown them, and to remain united as one, just as he highlighted in today’s passage, reminding them of their one common baptism, the same Church and Body that they all belong to, the one united Church of God that they should all keep together, and not to be divided by the many sources of divisions that are often around us all, which threaten the unity of the Church and the salvation of souls among other things.

At that time, as we have discussed earlier in the week, and if we understand the context of the early Church situation at the time, there were strifes, distrust and disunity among the early faithful especially between the Jewish converts and those who came from the non-Jewish origins, or the Gentiles, with some of the former often seeing themselves as superior to those who did not follow the Jewish laws, rules and customs. They claimed that those who did not follow the fullness of the strict Jewish laws, practices and customs could not have a share in God’s grace and Presence, but St. Paul and the other Apostles definitively opposed this view and false idea, reminding all the faithful to remain true to the path that the Lord has shown them and not to follow the excesses of the way of how the Pharisees had practiced and observed the Law, which the Lord Himself had criticised earlier on.

In their preoccupation to follow the Law, in all of its rituals and details, all the extensive restrictions and rigid ways, those people had forgotten the true meaning and intention of the Law of God, which was never meant to oppress, restrict or make the people’s livelihood and circumstances difficult. Rather, the Law of God was always meant to teach and show the people, all of us mankind on how to love the Lord and to follow Him, He Who is Love, as God is Love, and this great love which God has for us therefore brought Him to teach us all His Law, which had been meant to show us all how we can love Him ever more perfectly, and then show that same generous and genuine love in our own actions and interactions, in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples and to the people assembled all around Him about the signs of times, and all the things that they could perceive from their senses and experiences. He told them all that they all had seen and known the signs of things around them, and yet they failed to perceive the truth from what He has taught and shown them all, and some among them were still stubborn in their refusal to follow His teachings and truth by their constant opposition and attempts to discredit Him and make His path difficult. And there were some others yet who also failed to understand and believe despite everything which they had seen, witnessed and heard from the works and ministry of the Lord, Who has performed great miracles and spoken with great Wisdom as prophesied by the prophets.

He also told them all to make peace with one another and to settle things that had divided them, and all the obstacles to peace, harmony and love, which had caused divisions among them. It is our prejudices, arrogance, ambitions, ego, pride, greed and all other negativities in us, all the temptations and wickedness around us that can lead us astray away from God and into the path of disobedience, disharmony and all the things that lead us into our downfall and destruction. And we must not forget that the evil ones are always busy at work in trying to divide us against each other, to be jealous, angry and hateful towards our brethren, because it is when we are divided and when our hearts and minds are filled with these negative thoughts and emotions that we are more susceptible to their strikes and attacks.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard and discussed from the Scripture readings earlier on, clearly all of us are reminded to keep the Lord at the very centre and focus of our whole lives, our existence and our every actions and deeds. And we have also been reminded to keep the unity in our Church and Christian community, to remain firmly united in love and to remain rooted in God in all things. We should not allow our pride, ego, ambition, desires and attachments for worldly glory to distract and tempt us away from God and lead us to be divided and torn in our unity in the One Church of God. We should always work towards strengthening the unity of our love and actions, so that we may draw ever closer to God and His holy Presence, all united in our common love for God and our generous love for each other.

May the Lord, our ever loving God and Father continue to bestow upon us His strength and encouragement so that we can always remain firmly faithful in Him at all times, and may He continue to help us to preserve the unity in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, in the one united Body of Christ. May all of us also strive to be good and active contributors in our respective ministries and calling in life, to do what we can to proclaim the Lord and His salvation to more and more people, by becoming holy and worthy beacons of God’s light and grace, His love and compassion in our own communities, now and always. Amen.