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Sunday, 19 June 2022 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to seek the Lord, in Whom alone lies our salvation and hope. Through the Lord alone we will gain an eternity of happiness and true joy, and the true satisfaction for our lives. The Lord has come into our midst to bring us His help and reassurance, delivering all of us from our troubles and trials. This is the message that the Scripture passages today has presented to us, reminding us to keep our faith in the Lord and to bear our crosses in life together with God, with faith and joy.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the prophet Zechariah, who began his ministry in the years following the return of the exiled Israelites from the lands of Babylon and other distant lands back to their lands, during the early years of the Persian Empire. The prophet Zechariah prophesied and spoke of the coming of the salvation of God, that will come through the One Whom He would send into this world, the Saviour and Deliverer Who would restore the people and reconcile them fully to God, after they had been separated from Him, punished and humiliated because of all their disobedience and sins.

The prophet Zechariah spoke prophetically about the One Whom the people would pierce, and how the sorrowful mourning for Him would truly be great, and how on that very day, the Lord would spring forth His salvation and grace to all of His people. And all of that were clear references and prophetic revelation about what the God Himself would do through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely we are all familiar with how the Lord Jesus suffered, rejected by the people, betrayed and abandoned by His disciples, and then put to bear the burden of the Cross, which He then carried obediently to Calvary, where He died for each and every one of us, pierced in His hands, feet and side, by our sins and our transgressions.

The prophet Zechariah was obviously not speaking about the liberation that had by that time come upon the people of God, who had been rescued by the decree and action of the King of Persia, Cyrus the Great, years prior to Zechariah’s own ministry. Instead, Zechariah was speaking about the coming of the Lord, the Messiah or Saviour Whom God has promised to His people. It was by the actions carried out by the Lord Jesus that the salvation, light and hope from God has come into our midst, revealing to us that sin and death do not have the final say over us. Through Him, we have seen the path to our salvation and eternal life.

If only that more of us can believe in the Lord wholeheartedly and trust in His providence and love, then many more people would have come to believe in God and be well on their way to His salvation and grace. Unfortunately, many among us are still unable to entrust ourselves to Him, because of various reasons, but most commonly is because we do not yet know Him well enough. The Lord has revealed Himself to His disciples and in our Gospel today, He asked them who they thought He was. And the disciples frankly told Him that others said that He was one of the Prophets or Elijah himself returning from Heaven, but St. Peter told the Lord right away that he believed in Him as the Holy One of God, the Messiah.

It is that kind of faith that we ought to have, brothers and sisters in Christ, considering just how much God had gone through in His efforts to reach out to us and to love us, despite us all being sinners and having disobeyed Him time and time again. Despite our mistakes and transgressions, the Lord kept on patiently reaching out to us and loving us, because each and every one of us are truly precious to Him, and as St. Paul mentioned in our second reading today, in his Epistle to the Galatians, there are no distinctions between Jews or Greeks, or anyone based on their birth or by any other categories or divisions. Each and every children of God are equally beloved and cared for by Him.

And so great is that love, that as mentioned, He willingly took up His Cross and endured the whole burden of its weight, for our sake. The whole weight of the Cross is not just the physical weight of the wood of the Cross, but even heavier is the combined weight and burden of our innumerable sins, of all mankind past, present and future. Every single man that had existed, exists now which includes all of us, and will exist in the future, all of their sins and the consequences and punishments had been borne by Christ, Who offered Himself on the Cross for our sake, that all of us may be saved through Him, through our faith and trust in Him.

The Lord has generously reached out to us out of His enduring and everlasting love. But do we also reciprocate His love as well? Do we show Him the same love and devotion, the same commitment and love that we should have shown Him? We have been reminded of how great the love that God has shown us, and now, we are all challenged and called to love God and trust Him more, to be His faithful witnesses and courageous disciples, in proclaiming His truth and hope to all the whole world, to our respective communities today. That is our Christian calling and mission, and we must not forget about that, and we have to embrace that wholeheartedly as well.

May the Lord, our loving God, Father and Creator be with us always, and may He continue to strengthen us in our faith, so that in everything we say and do, in our every actions in life, we may always glorify the Lord and be exemplary in all things, inspiring many more people to come to believe in God as well. Let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord, and let us do our best to live our lives as missionary disciples of Christ, at every opportunities available to us. May God bless our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 16 June 2022 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, also known as Corpus Christi, marking the commemoration of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. Today we commemorate the Lord truly present in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which we partake and consume during every celebration of the Holy Mass. As Christians, we all firmly believe that the Eucharist we partake and receive in the Holy Mass is none other than the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Himself.

Although the appearance of the bread and wine remains, but the mystery of our faith in what is known as Transubstantiation means that the bread and wine had actually, by the power of God, through the priests, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and the authority given to them by the Lord through His Church, become the very essence, reality and matter of the Lord’s own Body and Blood. We have faith that this is the truth, and what we truly eat and drink is the Lord Himself, Whose Body has been broken for us, and Whose Blood has been shed and poured down to us, to wash us clean and to bring us to salvation and eternal life.

In our first reading today, we heard the account of the encounter between Abraham, the father of the faithful and Melchizedek, the High Priest of Salem and the High Priest of God Most High. In that occasion, Abraham gave offering to God through Melchizedek, who then offered Abraham’s offering to God, as His High Priest. Melchizedek according to Church tradition had always been a rather mysterious figure, but one who was highly respected and regarded, and there were many theories and explanations that some tried to provide with regards to Melchizedek. Some said that Melchizedek prefigured Christ Himself, in His role as the High Priest, just as Melchizedek being a High Priest of God as well.

Regardless what it was, the link between Melchizedek and Christ established Christ as the High Priest of all mankind, Who offered the sacrifice and offering on our behalf, for the absolution of our many sins. And this is where He uniquely offered on our behalf, the perfect and worthy offering, of none other than His own Precious Body and Blood, the only offering that is worthy enough for the atonement and forgiveness of our sins. Hence, Our Lord offered His sacrificial offering both as the High Priest as well as the Paschal Lamb being sacrificed.

In our second reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we heard the Apostle recounting to the faithful what happened at the night of the Last Supper, when the Lord Instituted the Holy Eucharist, by offering the bread and wine that He had blessed, and gave them to His disciples, saying clearly that the bread was truly His Body, broken and given to them, while the wine was truly His Blood, shed and poured on all the people, to all sinners, for the salvation of souls and for the forgiveness of sins. He instituted the Holy Eucharist to give us all the means by which we can be saved from the darkness of our sins.

At the Last Supper, the Lord began His offering as the New Passover and the New Covenant that He established with all of mankind. He offered His own Precious and Holy Body and Blood because in the past, the offering and sacrifice of even unblemished lamb was not sufficient for the absolution of the whole multitude of mankind’s many sins. At the original Passover in Egypt, which the Israelites henceforth commemorated every year, the Passover lamb was slain and then its blood used to mark the houses of the Israelites, that they might be rescued and freed from the slavery and suffering they endured in Egypt. Thus, in the New Passover that the Lord had brought with Him, He Himself, as the Paschal Lamb, and the High Priest, offer on our behalf, the sacrificial offering to redeem us and free us from the suffering and slavery to our sins.

But that sacrifice and offerings did not end at the Last Supper. On the contrary, everything that happened during the Passion of the Lord, His suffering and journey, the suffering and rejection He endured, and His Way of the Cross, culminating with His death and suffering on the Cross. It was at Good Friday that His sacrifice and offering was completed and made perfect, as He offered His own Body and Blood, the Divine Word Incarnate, as the perfect and unblemished offering that cleansed all the faithful from the taints of sin. Through the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the Lord has given us the assurance and guarantee of salvation and eternal life.

That is what the Lord also meant to do as highlighted in our Gospel passage today, as we heard from that the account of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand men with unknown thousands more of women and children with merely five bread and two fishes. He fed them all, and nourished them, giving them the strength to go on, as they were all hungry after following Him and listening to Him for His words and teachings. He then later on would tell them that He is the Bread of Life, the One Who had come into this world to bring life and nourish all of us, with the food that is His Body, and the drink that is His Blood, and as He said it Himself, all of us who share and partake in His Body and Blood shall never die and will have eternal life.

That is because when we eat His Body and drink His Blood, the Lord Himself has come to dwell within us, and He has made us into the Temple of His Holy Presence. As long as He remains in us and we remain in Him, we shall not be lost from Him, and we shall forever enjoy the glorious inheritance and true joy that can come from the Lord alone. The Lord has given His Body and Blood to us freely, and through this act of ultimate love and sacrifice, He has opened for us the gates of Heaven and the path to eternal life. This is what He has promised us and provided for us, and yet, many of us still do not have the firm faith in His providence and love.

Many of us still do not show that we truly believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. We may profess our faith in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, but from the way we behave and respond to the Eucharist more often than not showed just how little we appreciate the Lord’s Real Presence in the Eucharist, and how little the faith and love that we have in Him. We treated the Lord with indifference and even contempt, in the manner how we receive the Holy Eucharist, in our lack of respect for the Holy Mass and the important tenets of our Christian faith, and in not living our lives in accordance to what we have been expected as Christians.

Today, each and every one of us are reminded that we have been so fortunate that the Lord, our most loving Father, Creator and Master, have been so kind, patient and compassionate towards us that He has given us all His Son, to be Our Lord and Saviour, and by Whose sacrifice, both as our High Priest and Paschal Lamb, He has brought unto us the assurance and guarantee of salvation and eternal life, by giving us His own Body and His own Blood, for us to partake, that He may dwell in us, and that we may always be together with Him.

Let us remind ourselves that we are in the Holy Presence of God, that the Lord Himself has dwelled amongst us, and within us. Let us remind ourselves that we have to be worthy of Him, and strive to be better Christians for now on, in honouring and loving the most loving and perfect sacrifice that He has shown us, in bringing about our salvation. Let us all deepen our faith from now on, in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, that what we receive in the Holy Eucharist, is truly real Body and the real Blood of Our Lord, and not just merely bread and wine, or just merely a symbol.

And we have to begin that from ourselves. We have to give due reverence and honour to the Holy Eucharist, in the manner we receive it, such that we ensure that we are in a proper disposition and state of grace, just as St. Paul said that it would be harmful for Christians who are not in the state of grace to partake of the Holy Eucharist. We have to keep in mind that our every actions and deeds reflect our faith and what we believe in, and how can we expect others to believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, Transubstantiation and that the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord is truly present in the Eucharist, at every celebration of the Holy Mass, if we ourselves have not wholeheartedly believed in it and showed that we truly believe?

May the Lord, Who has given us His own Precious Body and Blood, for our salvation, continue to love us and may He strengthen each and every one of us by His grace and love. May all of us draw ever closer to the Lord and His saving grace, with each and every moments of our lives. May God bless us all and be with all of our works, efforts and good endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 16 June 2022 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard from the passages of the Scriptures both the works and deeds of the prophet Elijah, who was taken up from Heaven in a flaming chariot, and also the prayer that the Lord Jesus offered to His heavenly Father, the prayer that we now know and call as the Lord’s Prayer, the Pater Noster. Through these readings from the Scriptures, all of us are reminded that as Christians we have to follow the examples shown to us, in remaining connected to God, in being righteous in all of our actions, words and deeds, and to be faithful to God at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Sirach, we heard of the praise that the prophet Sirach spoke with regards to Elijah, one of the most renowned prophets of Israel, who had laboured and worked hard for many years, in serving the Lord and calling on the people of God to turn away from their wicked deeds and ways. Elijah had to go up against the king and those who opposed him and stubbornly refused to listen to him. Yet, he persevered and continued to work hard for the glory of God.

The prophet Elijah continued to labour for the people of God, and eventually, the Lord called him to Heaven, after He had appointed Elisha to be the successor of Elijah for the ministry to the people of Israel. Elijah was taken up in a flaming chariot into Heaven, and while he has been taken up into Heaven, his story, his courage and hardworking efforts remained and had become great sources of inspiration for many people throughout history. There were many other prophets whose lives and dedication to God can also be our inspirations as well.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the story of the Lord Jesus showing His disciples how they ought to pray to God, His heavenly Father. He told them all that they should not pray in the manner that the pagans liked to pray, who often used many words and invocations, and instead, they should pray in the manner that He Himself showed them, praying to the Lord in a truly Christian manner, as we all have been shown and taught how to do through the Church.

In prayer, many of us often made a mistake of not meaning and appreciating what we were saying. Many of us prayed with the prayers common to the Church and yet, not meaning what we said, because we were merely reciting the prayers instead of actually meaning every single words that we utter from our mouths. We were praying more with our mouths and not internalising those words we said, and not linking our mouths with our hearts and minds. This is one of the mistakes that we often made with prayers.

And then, we also often think of prayers as a way for us to get what we wanted and desired. We often think of prayers as means for us to miraculously gain what we hope the Lord would give us, and as such, many of us made such demands with the expectation that God will do something for us. Then, when we do not get what we wanted or if things do not go according to what we wanted it, we ended up getting angry at God, becoming unhappy at Him and even leaving Him behind. If we do get what we wanted, we often forgot about Him afterwards.

No, brothers and sisters in Christ, these are not how we should be praying to God. The true essence of prayer is communication, and it is the way through which we should communicate with the Lord, our God and Father, and how do we do it? A proper communication should involve listening and understanding, and it is very important that we open our hearts and minds to engage in a proper and meaningful conversation with God. We should dedicate time and effort to prayer, whenever we can, and in not demanding God, but rather, to communicate with God and to know His will for us all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to these words from the Scriptures, and based on what we had just discussed earlier on, we are all called and reminded to turn back towards the Lord and to be reconciled with Him. We are all called to follow the good examples of the prophet Elijah, the many other prophets and servants of God, the innumerable saints and martyrs who had spent their lives to glorify God by their actions and deeds. And we also have to deepen our spiritual and prayer life, so that we may come to know the Lord and that we may become ever closer to Him.

Let us all hence seek the Lord with renewed hearts and desires, to love Him and to serve Him at all times. May the Lord continue to guide us in our journey, and may He empower us and encourage us to walk ever more faithfully like that of the prophets and the saints. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 15 June 2022 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are reminded of our actions as Christians in responding to God’s call for us to follow Him and dedicating ourselves to Him. Each and every one of us as Christians must be truly faithful and genuine in our way of life so that we are truly deserving of being called as God’s followers and His people. God has always been kind in reaching out to us, and He has shown us the path forward in life. It is then up to us whether we want to follow Him or instead following our own path in life.

In our first reading today, we heard of the transition between the prophets Elijah and Elisha, as Elisha had been appointed to be the successor of the prophet Elisha in the ministry to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. Elijah had come to the end of his ministry while the Lord had called and appointed Elisha to be the successor to Elijah. Hence, today as we heard in our first reading, Elisha followed Elijah to the place where Elijah was suddenly taken up to Heaven in a flaming chariot, and Elisha was left to continue the good works that Elijah had begun.

Elisha was called by God and he responded to this calling with faith. Elisha dedicated himself henceforth to the works that he had been entrusted with, in labouring among the people of Israel. He continued to work for the greater glory of God, despite the stubbornness of the people and their kings all of whom refused to listen to the Lord and continued to rebel against Him, in their worship of pagan idols and gods, and in their continued disobedience and in all the wicked deeds that they had committed. Elisha had to work hard and labour against the challenges he had to face, but he followed the Lord faithfully and gave his all to his ministry.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord telling His disciples on how each of them ought to behave and act as His followers. The Lord Jesus called on them to be generous in giving and charity, and to do so not because they want to be lauded by others. The Lord told them that as Christians, they ought to do so because they genuinely want to give, and have care and concern to the other person they are giving to. They also ought to do other things and practices like their fasting and observance of other rules, with the right reasons and intentions. Otherwise if they did things with the wrong intentions, then they are no better than hypocrites.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called through the words of the Scriptures to embrace the call which the Lord had made to us, in calling us to be genuine in our Christian living. We should not be like hypocrites who profess to believe in the Lord and yet did not do things or act in the manner of how they believed in. We have to spend the time and effort to follow the Lord and to commit ourselves to His cause, and we must not allow ourselves to be distracted and swayed by the lies and the falsehoods of the devil, or any other worldly temptations to make us fall deeper and deeper into the wrong path in life.

We are all sharers in the works and efforts of the Church, called to minister to our fellow men and women, to those around us who are perhaps not yet attuned and still ignorant of the way and the truth of Christ. It is through us and our actions that we can bring forth the Lord’s truth and His love to our brethren. Otherwise, if we ourselves did not act and do things in the manner that we have believed, who will then believe in the Lord? In fact, if our actions are contrary to what we believe in, then that will push other people further and further away from the Lord, and we will be fully responsible for having led and pushed them away from the path to salvation.

That is why, we are all reminded of this obligation that we have, that as Christians we cannot be idle anymore in living our faith. We have to be active in living our lives and practicing all that God had revealed and told us to do through His Church. And we should not wait for others to begin doing so, as that may end up causing none of us doing anything in the end. Instead, we have to initiate it from ourselves and from every little things that we do in life. That is how we live our lives as faithful Christians and how we can be good inspiration for each other and help one another in our path and journey towards the Lord and His salvation.

May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us in our respective journeys, that we may faithfully commit ourselves to glorify the Lord by every actions, words and deeds we make. May He empower us and give us the courage to stand up for our faith, and to be His exemplary disciples and followers at all times. May God bless us and all of our good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 14 June 2022 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are presented with the continuation of the story of king Ahab and Naboth, the vineyard owner, who was put to death by the order of the king upon the plotting of his wicked wife, queen Jezebel. Upon committing such a terrible and sinful act, king Ahab, who had seized Naboth’s property as his own, faced the wrath of God that was delivered to him through the prophet Elijah. The Lord knew all that Ahab had done in committing the vile murder of Naboth in order to gain his property and land unlawfully, and God was angry at the great wickedness he had shown.

That was why Elijah proclaimed God’s upcoming retribution and punishment for Ahab and his family. The wickedness that they had committed would result in the extermination of his entire family, by whose actions the entire land of Israel and its people had been led down the path of ruin. Ahab and Jezebel would face terrible deaths, and then his entire family itself would be wiped out and destroyed from the face of the earth. This was the rightful consequences of what wickedness that Ahab and his family had caused, in persecuting all the faithful people of God, and in the efforts they made to impose pagan and idolatrous worship among the Israelites.

Yet, despite all the anger that God had at Ahab and his family, when Ahab himself remonstrated and showed great regret and humility before God, abashing himself and seeking for His mercy, God did not ignore him. In fact, as we ourselves had heard, that God had pity on Ahab, and while everything would still happen as He had said it, but He would postpone the destruction of Ahab’s family until after Ahab himself had passed on, and not immediately. This showed us all that first, sin is something truly serious, and there are grim consequences for our sins, especially the greater they are. But secondly, at the same time, we must not forget God’s love and mercy, which He freely showed all who seek Him with genuine and contrite hearts.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord telling His disciples again how they should behave and act as His followers. They are all called to love and to genuinely show that affection, care and compassion for each other. They should not just only love those who love them back or those who are good to us, as the Lord said that anyone else also could have done that, even those who were wicked. After all, was that not what Jezebel did for Ahab, when she helped him to obtain Naboth’s land unlawfully, at the expense of Naboth? No, that is not what the followers of Christ, that all of us as Christians, should be doing in our lives.

Instead, as Christians, each and every one of us should heed the Lord’s words and follow His examples in how He has reached out to us with perfect and genuine love, love that is unconditional and patient, love that is never-ending and enduring. All of us are encouraged to love one another unconditionally and we are all called to be role models and examples of that unconditional love just as the Lord Himself has shown us His love despite us all having treated Him badly, rejecting Him and betraying Him for various idols and other distractions in life. Each and every one of us are sinners, and yet, God willingly reached out to us in order to heal us and to treat us from our maladies that is our sins.

The Lord Himself showed from His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross how He loved each one of us regardless of our sins. Each one of us are precious and important to Him, and we have all been very fortunate to have been beloved by God in this way. He forgave even those who have persecuted Him, betrayed Him and handed Him over to be scourged and eventually killed because of His alleged crimes. He loved them patiently and prayed for all of them, that they might also turn away from their sinful ways and embrace once again, God’s righteous ways, His compassionate love and forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are challenged to love as how Christians are expected to love. We are all called to be the bearers of this genuine love of God, love that is selfless and pure, coming from the Lord Himself. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted any further by our desires and the many temptations in this world, the temptations of sin and desire, as what Ahab had done, in failing to resist his greed and desires and leading him to fall deeper and deeper into sin. Instead, we should strive to free ourselves from sin, and to embrace the righteous path of God, doing whatever we can to help one another in this same journey of faith.

Let us all therefore seek the Lord with renewed conviction, dedicating our efforts and works for the greater glory of His Name, and for the greater good of His Church, all the faithful, our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us all be filled with the Christ-like love that each one of us have been expected to have, to love tenderly and to love even those who have made our lives difficult and hated us. Through this love, all will know that we are truly God’s people, and through our love, more will come to believe in God and be saved as well. May God be glorified through our works, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 13 June 2022 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded that we cannot let the desires in us and greed to bring ruin to ourselves, as the lessons of the past contained in the Scriptures should remind us. Instead, as Christians we have to heed the words that the Lord Himself had told us, that we must not be a people of greed and hatred, of anger and jealousy. Instead, we have to be filled with the same genuine love that God has for each and every one of us, and because of this, we are all called to be righteous, loving and exemplary in all of our actions, words and deeds.

In our first reading today, we heard from the First Book of Kings the account of the encounter between king Ahab of Israel and Naboth, the vineyard owner from whom Ahab wanted to purchase the vineyard from. King Ahab has strongly desired that vineyard, but Naboth refused as that vineyard was on the land that he had inherited from his forefathers. By Law, Naboth was entitled to keep the land of his inheritance, and not even Ahab as king could lawfully force Naboth to sell his land to him. This made Ahab very upset and his wicked wife, Jezebel, plotted and arranged that Naboth was to be falsely accused of blasphemy and of faults that he had not committed.

That was how Ahab managed to unlawfully and illicitly gain ownership of Naboth’s vineyard, and that was a great sin that he committed before God and men alike. That was not what the Lord had told His people to do, and as king, Ahab was expected of an even greater standard and obedience to the ways of the Lord, to His Law and commandments. But Ahab failed it all, and he allowed his wife to mislead and misguide him, and to enforce policies and practices that promoted pagan worship, idolatry, and also the act of tyranny and wickedness as what Jezebel had done in the name of Ahab in persecuting and then seizing the lands of Naboth.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord telling His disciples that while Jewish traditions and customs demanded that ‘an eye is ought to be repaid with an eye, and a tooth repaid with a tooth’, they should not be following that path any longer, as He has shown them the better path, the path that He expected all Christians to follow, the path of His love. The old customs and practices were done in accordance to the principles of divine justice and retribution according to their understanding of the old laws of Moses, which had been misinterpreted and misunderstood by the people of God.

Hence, the Lord came to reveal the true intention of His Law, and to call on everyone to turn once again back to Him, abandoning their sinful ways, their selfish desires and greed, and instead embracing His path and following what He has been revealing and showing to us by His own actions. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Our Lord and Saviour, we have seen the love of God manifested in the flesh, coming into our midst and dwelling among us. He did not just tell His disciples to love one another and to show genuine care and concern, doing more than what had been expected of them, and not to retaliate upon being treated badly, but He Himself did as He told His disciples, in His own actions, in what He had done in loving and forgiving even those who had persecuted Him.

For if we recall what took place during the Lord’s Passion, suffering and death, the Lord Jesus endured bitter rejection and harsh treatment from His enemies, abandoned and betrayed, and was condemned to death and accused of a crime that He was innocent of, and even after all that, He still looked lovingly upon His people, even to all those who had rejected and condemned Him, praying for them and asking His heavenly Father not to hold their actions against them. He showed how a true and genuine Christian love is like, a truly selfless and unconditional love, that does not seek one’s own comfort and benefits, but rather, truly caring for the well-being and the good of the other person.

Compare that love and path of life as compared to what king Ahab and his wife, the wicked Jezebel had plotted and done against Naboth. Then we can obviously see what we are expected to do as Christians, in obeying the will of God, and in following His love, His truth and compassionate ways. Each and every one of us have been called to follow the Lord and to walk in His path in the same manner, and today, we also have the examples of St. Anthony of Padua, the renowned saint and Doctor of the Church, whose faith and commitment to God can be great sources of inspiration for all of us Christians to follow in our own lives. All of us should look upon St. Anthony of Padua, his determination to love his fellow brethren, the poor and the sick, as our examples.

St. Anthony of Padua was a Franciscan friar and priest who was greatly remembered for his eloquent and moving sermons, inspired by the Holy Spirit and by the love that he had for both the Lord and for his fellow brothers and sisters. Many people were touched by his personal sanctity and all the efforts he did in reaching out to those who have been lost to the Lord and His Church, and also for those who were poor, sick and abandoned, ostracised and neglected by the society, and he was remembered for his many works and efforts to bring the people of God back to Him, and to bring the love of God closer to all of His people, wherever he went and ministered to.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as St. Anthony of Padua had inspired numerous people to follow in his examples, let us all also walk in his path, and remembering what the Lord Himself had done for our sake, in His selfless love and in His desire to be reconciled and reunited with us. Let us all ourselves be the beacons of God’s light, and the bearers of His truth, showing the genuine love of God, His compassion and kindness to all of mankind, to those whom we encounter in life daily, and doing our best to follow the Lord in all of our lives. May the Lord continue to guide us, that we may not walk down the same path that king Ahab had walked, and instead of succumbing to the temptations of our desires, let us all seek to live a better and more Christ-like lives from now on. May God be with us and bless our every endeavours and good works, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 12 June 2022 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, celebrating the Most Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the core of our Christian belief in one God Who exists in Three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This belief in God Who is Three but also One at the same time is what made us unique among other monotheistic beliefs out there, and the one that we all held to be the only Universal truth above all else. For we all believe that God, our Supreme Lord and Master, the Creator of all things and the whole entire universe, of all existence and time, is this Most Holy Trinity, the Triune God.

The belief in the Most Holy Trinity had always been kept and upheld. Since the earliest days of the Church, the Christian faithful had believed in the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and while there were differences in how the Holy Trinity was perceived by the faithful, but in general most of them believed in the presence of three distinct Persons and identities in the One God. This belief was also Scriptural in basis and also based on the teachings and traditions of the Apostles and the Church fathers who all received their truth and knowledge not just from the Lord Himself but also through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The most obvious passage is the Lord’s great commission to all His disciples, to go forth to the nations and to baptise all in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This belief in the Holy Trinity is truly crucial and important as part of our Christian identity and faith, as we define our faith within the context of this belief in the Holy Trinity. And in order to understand our Christian faith fully we have to go and understand the nature of the Holy Trinity more fully. Many Christians unfortunately do not truly understand and appreciate the importance of Holy Trinity of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and quite often we may even see and hear those who had wrong and mistaken idea on what the Holy Trinity is truly all about. There are those among us who think that we really worship three different Gods, something that those who do not have the Christian faith also commonly misunderstood about. There were those who criticised Christians simply because they thought that we worship more than one God, misunderstanding the nature of the Holy Trinity.

Then, on the other extreme, we also have those who misunderstood how the Holy Trinity works, in that they think of God as a single God without different Persons, those who claimed to be Unitarian in faith as opposed to our Trinitarian faith. Those who are holding such thoughts and ideas are also quite varied in their thoughts with some of them rejecting that Jesus Christ is God, thinking that He is merely a created Being, a Prophet and not the Son of God, contrary to what our Christian faith and the Apostolic tradition through the Church have revealed to us. As mentioned, since the earliest days of the Church, the teachings of the Church, the Apostolic traditions passed down through the Church have always affirmed the Trinitarian God as the One and only True God, the One and only Saviour of the whole world, the same Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Proverbs, we heard the words relating to the moment of Creation, by the author of the Book of Proverbs, which was King Solomon of Israel according to historical evidence and tradition. In that account about Creation, we heard of the peculiar and interesting words regarding a Being that was created by God, Who was already existent when everything was created and formed, the formation and creation of the entire world and the universe. This was in fact an allusion to the presence of the Holy Trinity in Creation, as we can see from the Book of Genesis, of its first chapter when the author of the Book of Genesis described how the whole world and universe was created by God.

At the moment of Creation, if we go back to the Book of Genesis, we can see how the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit was present all in one, taking part in the work of Creation, as the one and only True God, Who knows all, has dominion and power over all, and oversees all of the entire Creation. God the Father willed Creation into being, and by His words, the Word of God, He willed all of Creation into existence, with the words like, ‘Let there be Light’, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters, to separate the water above the Heavens from the water below it.’, ‘Let the water be filled with living creatures, and let the skies be filled with birds that fly above the earth in the vault of the sky.’ among others, all of which heralded the Creation of the world.

The Book of Genesis began with the account of what happened before the moment of Creation. Back then, there was complete nothingness, and the whole entire universe had not been created yet. The Lord our God existed before time and existence itself, and He is not bound to time and existence. God surpasses time and space, and as mentioned in the Book of Genesis, the Spirit of God was floating and going around and about all things, this Spirit of God refers to the Holy Spirit. How about the Son then? The Son is the Word of God, through Whom the Father created all things, and the Persona mentioned in the first reading today from the Book of Proverbs in fact refers to the Son, as we see things from His perspective.

The Son of God is begotten from the Father, before time and existence, and He is Co-Eternal and Co-Equal with the Father. Since He existed with the Father from even before the beginning of time, He is of the same Essence, same Nature and essentially same as the Father, as part of this Holy Trinity of Godhood. The Church teaches that the same Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Incarnate in the flesh as the Son of Man, is this same Son, Co-Eternal and Co-Equal with the Father. While His humanity was given form only at the moment of the Incarnation after the Annunciation of Mary, His mother, but His divinity has existed from before all ages, just as the Father and the Holy Spirit are also Co-Eternal and Co-Equal.

The Holy Spirit meanwhile according to the Creed, proceeds from the Father to us and the world, and He does so through the Son, as is written and mentioned in our Creed, that the Holy Spirit, the Lord of life, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son, He is adored and glorified. This procession of the Holy Spirit must be understood in the context that it does not imply that the Holy Spirit is inferior or subservient to the Father and/or the Son. Rather, the Holy Spirit is also Co-Equal and Co-Eternal to the Father and the Son, existing before time and creation, and existing in perfect equality to the Father and the Son. Rather, the Holy Spirit naturally comes into this world and to us, by the will of the Father, and hence flowing from Him, and through the Son, through Whom, the Father’s will was made manifest to this world.

Now, I hope that through what we have discussed, all these can help us to better understand the nature of the Most Holy Trinity, the Triune God that we believe in. This is important because if we ourselves do not understand the nature of the Most Holy Trinity or even attempt to learn more about this core and most important tenet of our faith, then how can we expect others to believe in the Lord when the Lord calls us to be His witnesses and missionaries in our communities today? If others asked and even challenged us on our belief in the Most Holy Trinity among other tenets of our faith, because they did not know what they meant, or had the wrong impression or understanding, then are we able to respond confidently and share with them the truth of God as accurately as possible?

We do not have to worry if we cannot comprehend or understand the whole mystery of the Most Holy Trinity of our One God in Three Persons. Even many of the greatest saints and Church fathers struggled to understand the whole meaning and nature of the Most Holy Trinity, and it remains a mystery for all of us as well. It took the Church and the whole assembly of the faithful, and several Ecumenical Councils before the teachings and tenets regarding the Most Holy Trinity were formulated and standardised. And even so, if we were to study the history of the Church, there were numerous heresies and false teachings that disputed this truth that we have for the Holy Trinity, as I mentioned earlier.

And in one occasion, the famous St. Augustine of Hippo, the great Doctor of the Church according to tradition also received a vision as he walked by the seashore, reflecting and being intrigued with the nature of the Holy Trinity, and he saw the vision of a young boy who was trying to empty the entire ocean into a small hole in the sand, and when the saint asked the boy, who according to explanations, was in fact God in disguise, He explained that just as it is impossible to pour the entirety of the ocean into the small hole in the sand, hence, it is impossible for us in our limited intellect and ability to understand, to comprehend the entirety of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We do not need to worry, but instead we should let the Lord to guide us and teach us His Wisdom and truth, and hold firmly to the true teachings of the Church and our faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Trinity Sunday, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, our Triune God, He Who is One and yet existing in the perfect harmony of Three Divine Persons. Let us all ask the Father to bless us all and continue to love each and every one of us at all times, and the Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us through our journeys of faith in life, inspiring us with His obedience to His Father and His loving sacrifice on His Cross, and the Holy Spirit, for the guidance and the strength, the courage and power to carry out our mission of evangelisation in our world and communities today with faith. May the Lord, the Most Holy Trinity, be with us always, and bless us in our every good works and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 11 June 2022 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the occasion of the Feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle, one of the Holy Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the companion of St. Paul the Apostle, another great Apostle and missionary of the faith. St. Barnabas has dedicated much of his life for the evangelisation of the people in all the communities and places that he has visited, both in his missionary journeys with St. Paul and in his own missionary works and other engagements. As we listened to more of his works and ministry, his dedication and commitment to God, we are reminded that we ourselves have been called to the same mission by the Lord as well.

St. Barnabas according to Apostolic traditions was a Jew who lived and hailed from Cyprus, one of the Jews living in the diaspora, who came to believe in Christ and became one of the earliest disciple and follower of Christ after His Resurrection, and who gave himself for the service of the Lord and His Church, in which he and St. Paul managed to convert many of the Gentiles during the course of his work, and his successes in Antioch and the region as mentioned in our first reading passage today led to him and St. Paul being sent to evangelise and minister to the faithful in many parts across the Mediterranean region. The Apostles prayed over them and sent them to the people in their mission areas to bring the truth of God to them.

St. Barnabas and St. Paul went through many things together, facing obstacles and challenges, having to endure persecutions and rejections just as they managed to gain a lot of success in some places as well. He helped to champion the cause of the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people who converted to the faith, that they should not need to obey and follow the entire extent of the Jewish customs and practices, contrary to what some among the Christian converts, especially from among the Pharisees, had pressured the Church to do. St. Barnabas also did many other things for the benefit of the faithful and the larger Christian community.

St. Barnabas continued to carry on the mission of evangelising to many people and establishing the Christian faith and its foothold in various places and communities. He continued to do his works even after he had parted ways with St. Paul and continued to evangelise to the people with the help of some other helpers, serving the Lord to the best of his ability. He helped many people to know God and to turn away from their sinful ways. St. Barnabas helped to establish many new Church communities and helped them all in remaining faithful to God. Eventually, he was also martyred for his faith in God.

In our Gospel reading today, we then heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples, as He sent them out, in pairs, two by two, to go before Him and to do the works that He had sent them to do. He told them to go from place to place, preaching the words of His truth and love, calling on everyone to turn back towards the Lord and to follow Him. He told them to do all the wonders and works which He would guide them all to do. He told them to live among the people they had been sent to, and God would provide for them wherever they were welcomed, accepted and successful.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, each and every one of us as Christians are also sharing in the same mission that God has entrusted to His disciples back then. The works and the mission of the Church are still far from being completed, and we have to realise that we are part of the works and efforts of the Church to continue this mission that the Lord still expects of us to complete. We have to active ministers of the Lord’s works and answer His call towards us, as He called us to be His missionaries, the witnesses of His light, truth and love, His hope and mercy in the midst of our respective communities, many of whom are still living in ignorance of God and His truth.

That is why, each and every one of us should be inspired by the examples set by St. Barnabas and the many other Apostles, disciples, all the saints and martyrs who had dedicated themselves and their lives to love and serve the Lord wholeheartedly. We are all called to live our lives to the fullest and to live them as faithful Christians, such that in our every words, actions and deeds, we will always bring glory to God and that everyone who hears us, sees us and witnesses our works, will come to know that we are truly God’s beloved people, and will come to know God and His truth through us and our lives, and not only just through our words but also through our actions as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore heed the Lord’s call and our mission, and be good and faithful Christians at all times. Let us follow in the footsteps of St. Barnabas and the many other saints of God, our holy predecessors, and let us seek to glorify God by our lives and by our every actions. May the Lord continue to guide us and to strengthen us in our resolve to follow Him and to serve Him at all times. May He empower each and every one of us and may He encourage us all with His power and Holy Spirit, that we may continue to be beacons of His light, truth and love at all times. May the Lord bless us all, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 10 June 2022 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for us all to embrace God’s calling and to seek Him wholeheartedly as Christians, living our lives well and righteously at all times, so that each and every one may remain firmly rooted in the path that God Himself has shown us and guided us through. We must always strive to avoid the corrupting power of sin and evil, the temptations that are always ever present all around us, so that we may not be swayed away from the righteous path towards God.

In our first reading today, we heard of the moment when Elijah went all the way to Mount Sinai after a long journey of forty days and forty nights from the land of Israel, during the time when he fled the intense persecution and hunt against him by the forces of his enemies. Elijah went up Mount Sinai and God showed Himself to him through a series of phenomena, preceded by the coming of earthquakes and strong winds, and eventually revealing Himself to Elijah, who therefore stood in the very Presence of God much as how Moses once did, during the time of the Exodus of the Israelites. Elijah pleaded with the Lord, stating the frustrating conditions suffered by the faithful and how wicked the people of Israel had been.

God had been guiding Elijah all throughout the way during his ministry among the Israelites, and He told him that He was sending him again to the midst of the Israelites and revealed what He would do for the people that He loved so much and yet were so stubborn in refusing to believe in Him and refusing to turn away from their sinful past. He would raise a new king over the Israelites, Jehu, who would later on destroy the house and descendants of Ahab, who had led the Israelites into great sin against God, and Hazael, the king of Aram who would punish the sinful Israelites, and finally, God had chosen Elisha to be the prophet succeeding Elijah in his work among the Israelites.

Elijah was called to go onto that great mission, and he would have to suffer more, but God would be with him, guiding him and providing for him, and He would not leave him alone in the struggle against those who refused to believe in Him. And through that revelation, God also showed how the time of reckoning for those who continued to oppose Him and His servants, those who have rejected Him and His Law, like king Ahab and all those who continued to oppose Him and His servants. God would punish those who deserve that punishment because by their sins, they had led many others into sin and damnation as well.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples regarding the matter of living their lives with faith. He told them to be righteous in their actions and deeds, to be truly faithful in all things and not to be easily swayed by the temptations of their flesh and bodies, and by any temptations of worldly desires. The Lord told them all metaphorically to remind them that each and every one of us as the children and people of God are called to holiness in each one of our lives. He wants us to remove from our hearts and minds the temptations of sin and evil, and to excise from our hearts, minds and our entire being, the despicable corruption of sin.

When the Lord told His disciples to cut off their hands and legs, and take out their eyes should those things led them to sin, He was in fact warning them of the seriousness and great dangers of sin, so much so that sin caused by the temptation of our flesh can lead us all to fall into damnation in hell, a suffering for eternity that I am sure none of us will want to suffer should we be aware of the terrible fate awaiting those who still continue to stubbornly reject the love and compassionate mercy of God. But at the same time, we also should not try to understand what the Lord said literally either, as He was using that comparison and language to highlight the importance of repentance from sin for us. We have to turn away from sin and embrace God’s righteous ways as soon as we can.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded that as Christians we have to be genuine in faith, and we will be judged based on our righteous or wicked deeds, and we will be held accountable be it whether we are obedient to God and His Law, or whether we are rebellious and disregarding His path and truth. The choice is in our hands, whether we want to follow and obey the Lord, or whether we want to go and forge our own path in life, which more likely than not will lead us down the path to ruin, for without God we are nothing, and without His guidance, it will be very easy for us to lose our path.

Let us all therefore remind ourselves and one another to be faithful to God, to listen to Him and distance ourselves from worldly temptations and other things that can lead us down the path of ruin and sin, and let us all also embrace and answer God’s call, just as He has called and sent the prophet Elijah to minister to the people of Israel and others, so that by our actions and deeds, rooted in our faith in God, we may inspire many more people to come to believe in God as well. Let us also help one another to persevere through the trials and challenges that we may face in our lives as faithful Christians, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 9 June 2022 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Deacons)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded that as Christians we have to be genuine in faith and we have to be righteous in all things, and God will provide for us in our time of need. We have to follow Him wholeheartedly and commit ourselves to His cause, that we have to live in accordance to the path that He has shown us, the path of Christian virtues, righteousness and obedience to God in all the things that we say, act and do. We have to do our best to be good inspirations to one another in faith, from now on.

In our first reading today, we heard from the First Book of Kings the conversation and encounter between Elijah and king Ahab of Israel after Elijah had triumphed against all the priests of Baal and proven that the Lord, the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was truly the one and only true God at Mount Carmel. At that time, the whole land had suffered from three years without rain that led to great drought and famine, all because of their refusal to believe in God and their king’s efforts to promote the worship of the pagan idols and gods like Baal and Asherah, persecuting the faithful and the prophets sent by God to remind the people.

Elijah told Ahab that God would show His power before the people, and how while He has withheld the rain for a whole period of three years, then He also has the power to bring the rain back to the land. Thus, the Lord showed His people and called on them to repent from their sinful ways because even though He despised their sins and wickedness, He still loved them very much and wanted them to be reconciled with Him, not to be lost from Him forever. As if they continued on with their rebelliousness and sins, they would fall into damnation and eternity of sufferings in hell, and that is not what God intended to happen to any one of us.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples telling them all to be righteous and good, to follow the way of the Lord wholeheartedly more than what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Lord had done. For those people imposed very harsh and strict interpretation of the Law of God, of customs, rules and regulations on the people and yet, they themselves were hypocrites who often did not do what they had said, and many of them did not truly have faith and love for God as they should have. Hence, the Lord told His disciples to be truly faithful to God and not to follow the faith of those hypocrites.

That is why, today each and every one of us are reminded and challenged as Christians to be the beacons of God’s light and truth in our communities today. We have to be genuine witnesses and followers of God in all the things we say and do, or else, we will end up being no better than hypocrites and worse still, we may even discourage and turn people away from the Lord because of our actions and all that we do which kept us away from the truth of God and His love. And the temptation for us to do this is truly great, brothers and sisters in Christ, just as the people of Israel in the past had constantly fallen again and again into sin.

In our world today, there are plenty of temptations, false idols and other things that can easily mislead us in our journey of faith through life. There are plenty of distractions like the pursuit of worldly pleasures, wealth and other things that we are very often accustomed with, the desire for power and glory, for fame and human praise among other things. All these are the new idols and false gods that can keep us away from doing what we should have done as Christians, and in making us to continue to sin because of our desires, greed and ambitions that made us to bring suffering and unhappiness to others around us, just because we selfishly seek our own pleasures and happiness.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord reminded His disciples and therefore all of us as well, what Christians are called to be, that is to be filled with love both for God and for one another, for their fellow brothers and sisters. Christians are challenged to be forgiving to one another, to be peacemakers and to show love, care and concern for their fellow brethren, and to be ever mindful of the needs and sufferings of others, so that we may reach out and help one another whenever we can. It is by this love and genuine care and concern that others will come to know that we are Christians, because through our love, others will also come to experience the ever generous love of God.

Remember how I said earlier today that God still loved His people despite their sins and transgressions? It is that same attitude which each and every one of us must have as well. We have to learn to love one another more, to be more patient, understanding and forgiving, instead of fomenting hatred and vengeance, or instead of being solely focused and emphasising on our own selfish desires and needs. As Christians, we are all called and challenged to be better and to follow the Lord in all the things we do in our lives, so that our lives will shine with His light and be the beacons of His truth to all.

May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us in our resolve and conviction to live in accordance with His ways and to devote ourselves in obeying Him and doing His will, for His greater glory and for the salvation of more souls. May God bless us always, in our every good endeavours. Amen.