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Tuesday, 28 December 2021 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the occasion of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, remembering the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, all the infants aged two and below that had been massacred by King Herod the Great in his futile efforts and attempts to destroy the infant King of Israel, the One Who was prophesied by the prophets to come into this world and Who would rule over the people as King. King Herod henceforth feared that his rule and power would be taken over from him and his family, and handed over to this new King, and hence, he tried to eliminate Him no matter what.

Contextually, we can understand his actions better if we know more about how King Herod the Great rose to power. He was born as the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high ranking official in the Jewish Hasmonean kingdom hailing from the region south of Israel known then as Idumaea or the ancient Edom, the neighbouring state bordering the land of Israel. According to historical traditions, the ancestors of Herod had converted to the Jewish faith, and dwelled among the descendants of Israel in Judea. Nonetheless, as he owed his rise to power to the assistance and support of the Romans, he has always felt insecure in his power and rule.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because he could be considered as a usurper, having usurped the rightful rule over Judea and the other traditional lands of Israel from the Hasmonean kings, the descendants of the Maccabees who won independence for the Jewish people a century prior. King Herod seized power from the last of the Hasmonean kings and forcibly took one of the Hasmonean princesses as his wife. And his rule in Judea and beyond was characterised with its megalomaniac nature and immense building projects, such as the rebuilding of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, henceforth known colloquially as Herod’s Temple, and also other major buildings such as the Herodion and many others.

Herod’s preoccupation with building such grand scale projects was a reflection of his great fear of being treated as a usurper, and as a usurper indeed he was, he feared that one day his rule and kingdom would be overcome by anyone who would contest his power and authority, being someone with greater claim to the kingship than himself. Hence, it was no wonder that the moment King Herod heard about the coming King of Israel through the three Wise Men or Magi that he began to do all that he could to find out more about the coming King, the Messiah of God, and later on, in his attempts to eliminate this threat to his rule.

Herod the Great’s paranoia and determination to hold onto power no matter what the cost ultimately caused him to commit the great and heinous sin of murder, as he ordered the murder of so many innocents in Bethlehem just that he might destroy his opponent, the newborn King of Israel. He ordered his men to commit such great murders, shedding the blood of the innocent children in order to secure his own power and authority, because he was only interested in maintaining his own glory and kingdom, and caring not for the plight of those whose lives he had destroyed, whose family members he had killed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through this historical example of the massacre of Bethlehem, we are all called to reflect on the dangers presented by sin on our daily living, for sin can easily corrupt us and mislead us down the wrong path, and cause us to succumb to evil deeds like what King Herod had done. That is how many of us had sinned and how many of our predecessors have fallen into sin, and even into damnation because of their inability to resist the allures of sin. Some of us even perhaps deny that we have sinned, and how everything we have done can be justified, for our own purposes and needs.

As St. John stated in his Epistle that we heard as our first reading today, we deceive ourselves if we say that we have no sin. All of us are sinners and the Lord alone has the power to forgive us and free us from the bondage of sin. That He has done, and He has come into this world, incarnate and born in the person of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour as we celebrate in this Christmas season. He has shown us the way out of the darkness and into His new Light, and what we need to do is for us to follow Him, reject sin and refuse to allow ourselves to be swayed by it.

As Christians, all of us should look up to Christ, the True Light and Hope that God has brought upon us and that He has given to us, as the manifestation of His love for each one of us. Let us all remember the memory of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, holy and innocent martyrs of mankind’s greed and ambition, which had led to so much sufferings, pains and sorrows, as they abused the freedom given to them, the authority and power entrusted to them as Herod the Great himself had done. Let us all not fall to the same temptations and let us do whatever we can to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, committing ourselves to His cause from now on.

May God bless us all, and may He strengthen us in our faith, that we may always aspire to be better Christians, in all things and in all deeds. Let us all distance ourselves from sin, and be good role models for each other. Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, martyrs of purity and virtue, pray for us all, your fellow brothers and sisters, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 27 December 2021 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us celebrate the great feast of one of the Lord’s Twelve Apostles, who happens to be one of the Four great Evangelists as well. St. John the Apostle and Evangelist was one of the two sons of Zebedee together with St. James the Apostle, his elder brother. With St. Peter and St. Andrew, all of them were fishermen in the lake of Galilee. They were all called by the Lord to follow Him, and they left their old profession and their families, committing themselves to the Lord and served Him from then on.

St. John became one of the Lord’s closest disciples, as one of the Twelve Apostles, and also together with St. Peter and St. James, his brother, he was often brought to the most important events in the Lord’s ministry, such as the resurrection of the synagogue official’s dead daughter, the Transfiguration of the Lord at Mount Tabor, and also the moments of Our Lord’s Agony at the Gardens of Gethsemane just before the time of His Passion. He therefore witnessed many of the important events surrounding the Lord’s ministry and works, and was a witness of His miracles and His truth.

St. John the Apostle was one of those who remained by the Lord’s side and kept following Him even up to the moments of His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross. He accompanied Mary, the Lord’s own mother as she came to the foot of the Cross, seeing her own Son being crucified and died before her. It was to St. John that the Lord entrusted His mother, and similarly, He entrusted St. John to Mary as well. St. John therefore was really important in his role in the early Church, as one of the Apostles and close collaborators of the Lord.

And not only that, he also spent many decades in spreading the truth of God all over the known world, travelling from places to places with the other Apostles and disciples, assisting in the foundation of the Church in various places. St. John also wrote several Epistles and letters in addition to his well-known work on one of the four canonical or officially endorsed Gospels. He was also the one who received the vision of the end of times in the Island of Patmos where he was exiled to by the persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. He recorded all that he had seen in what we now know as the Book of Revelations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we reflect on the life and the ministry of St. John, Holy Apostle and Evangelist, let us all first reflect on what he wrote in his own Epistle, which is in our first reading today. St. John wrote of the Word of Life that has come into this world, and how he and the many other Apostles and disciples had shared and given whatever they had experienced and received from the Lord. He showed us that this same Jesus Christ that we are celebrating this Christmas is the One Who is the Saviour of the world, and the One Who has brought Life upon us.

St. John gave his whole life and did everything he could to glorify the Lord by his life and actions. He encouraged many of the faithful back then who were going through many persecutions, and through his accounts in the Book of Revelations, he encouraged the faithful not to give up on their faith in God as no matter what, in the end, God will come and claim His faithful ones, and those who remain faithful to Him will indeed receive the promise of eternal life, true happiness and everlasting joy with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all realise that just as St. John had been called to follow the Lord and be His disciple, all of us have also received the same calling as Christians to follow the Lord and to devote ourselves to Him. This is what we have to remind ourselves well as we continue to celebrate the joy and hope of Christmas in this ongoing Christmas season. We have to remember that we are the witnesses of His truth and love, of the Love of God incarnate in the flesh, in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

Are we able and willing to follow in the footsteps and examples set by St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, brothers and sisters? Are we willing to live our lives wholeheartedly in accordance to our Christian faith, and especially now in our Christmas celebrations by putting Christ at the centre and heart of all of our rejoicing? It is through our genuine faith and sincere commitment to the path that God has shown us that we can inspire so many others to come to believe in the Lord as well.

May the Lord, born in Bethlehem and celebrated by us in this Christmas season, continue to help and guide us in our journey of faith. May St. John, His Holy Apostle and one of the Four great Evangelists continue to inspire us by his examples and intercede for all of us, that God may strengthen our faith and that we will grow ever closer to Him, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 December 2021 : Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we mark the occasion of the Feast of the Holy Family, celebrating the Holy Family consisting of Our Lord Jesus Himself as the centre and heart of that most blessed and wonderful family, and Mary, the Mother of God, as well as St. Joseph, the legal husband of Mary and the foster-father of the Lord as the Protector of the Holy Family. Today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures and keeping mind what the Lord had done for us by coming to us in this world in Christmas, let us all reflect on God’s words and remind ourselves on the significance of the Holy Family and our own Christian families.

In our first reading today, we listened from the Book of the prophet Samuel about the time when the prophet Samuel as a baby was brought by his mother Hannah, the wife of Elkanah. Both of his parents had long been expecting a son together and although Elkanah, Samuel’s father had many children and sons with Penninah, his other wife, it was Hannah, Samuel’s mother that Elkanah loved more. Therefore, when Hannah prayed to the Lord asking for help as she was often bullied by Penninah for not having a child at all, God heard her and at that time, Hannah also made the promise to offer her firstborn son to the service of God.

And thus, Samuel, one of the greatest of the prophets of Israel and also a Judge over the people, the last one before the days of the Kings, came to be presented before the Lord after he was born and under the loving care of his parents, Elkanah and Hannah. He was brought up well and later on would prove to grow up in strength and faith, in his dedication and commitment to God, such that he came to succeed Eli, the Judge and High Priest of the Israelites who took care of him since his early infancy after being presented at the Temple of God.

This story of the prophet Samuel is in a way parallel to what we heard from our Gospel passage today regarding the famous story of Our Lord Jesus when He was only twelve years old, in the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God. At that time, the Lord and His family, the Holy Family, with Mary His mother and St. Joseph came to Jerusalem to attend and celebrate the feast of the Passover in accordance to the Jewish traditions. It was a time of great celebration and many pilgrims would have come and made their way to Jerusalem from all over the world.

In such a situation, it made sense why Mary and St. Joseph could lose track of the young Lord Jesus when He purposefully remained behind in the Temple after the celebrations and the ceremonies. He stayed there in the House of God, the dwelling of His Heavenly Father, to be close to Him and at the same time, engaging in conversations and debates with the wise men and the teachers of the Law assembled there, who were all astonished to witness His great wisdom. It was there that Mary and St. Joseph found Him after they realised that He was not with them.

They found Him there in conversation with the wise men and the teachers of the Law, and were also greatly amused by what they had heard, although they knew Who He really was. When the Lord spoke to them saying that He ought to be in His Father’s House, those words were remembered by Mary, who also surely understood what He meant, as the Archangel Gabriel himself had revealed to her at the Annunciation that her Son is indeed the Son of God Most High. Jesus was there in Jerusalem, at the Temple of God to be with His heavenly Father.

However, as we heard there, the Lord obeyed His mother Mary and His foster-father St. Joseph. He returned with them to Nazareth and put Himself under their tutelage and guidance. He is indeed the Lord God, King of Kings, the Master of all the whole Universe, Lord of all creation. Yet, by His incarnation, through the mystery of His indwelling in the flesh, He had also become the Son of Man, born as a Child in Bethlehem, the city of David in Judea just as we have just celebrated it in Christmas yesterday.

He placed Himself under the authority and power of His parents as part of the Holy Family to show us that as the Son of Man, He was just like all of us, who also have to obey our own parents and seniors, to listen to them and to hear their advice for us on how we ought to live our lives. As the Son, He listened to His mother Mary and also St. Joseph, both of whom must have been instrumental in teaching Him the life skills needed for Him to face this world as any man would have, and just like how we learnt our first skills from our own parents.

The Holy Family showed all of us what a true and loving Christian family should be like, full of love and care for one another, and each member doing their part in making their entire relationship work well together. The Lord as the Son followed and obeyed His parents, listening to them and their words. Even much later on, as we all remember in the Wedding at Cana, the Lord listened to His mother’s words and performed His first miracle there to help the wedding couple who then faced an embarrassing situation of running out of wine.

Meanwhile, Mary loved her Son as His mother, caring for Him and providing for Him, walking with Him and according to Apostolic traditions, following Him on His many ministries and efforts among the people of God. And she followed Him even to the foot of the Cross, as anguished and most sorrowful as she was to have witnessed her beloved Son battered and bruised, rejected and reviled by His own people, and was forced to take up the Cross, bearing it to His most painful and humiliating death. As a mother, Mary dedicated herself totally to her Son and loved Him unconditionally.

And St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and foster-father of the Lord, the Protector of the Holy Family took great care of Mary and her Son, since before the Lord was even born into this world. Following the guidance of the Angel of God, he took Mary as his wife and doing his part in the mission entrusted to him, in guiding the Holy Family, as he helped Mary on her way to Bethlehem, enduring a lot of challenges in the process. As a loving husband, he cared for Mary and the yet unborn Jesus in her womb, as they made the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and later on in trying to find a lodging and a place for Mary to give birth as all the inns and lodgings were full and rejected them.

Later on, St. Joseph would also lead the Holy Family to Egypt when King Herod the Great wanted to kill the Lord, as he came to know of His existence and coming, seeing Him as a threat to his own rule, power and authority. He followed the guidance of the Angel of the Lord and led his family to safety. Later on he would lead them back to Nazareth after those who wanted the Lord’s death had gone, and settled there, where he likely helped Mary in patiently bringing up the Lord. Although the Lord Jesus was not his own biological son, but he still surely cared for Him very much. He did not say any words throughout the Gospels, but in his righteousness and actions, in his attitude and according to traditions of the Apostles, he must have been a really good father figure.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the story of the Holy Family of Our Lord Jesus, Mary His mother and St. Joseph, all of us are called to reflect on our own families, our own parents and also our own children for those who have them and have been blessed with these. Today we are reminded that our families first and foremost must be grounded in love, the love that we ought to show one another and especially so in our respective families. Without love, the bonds that keep us together in our families will easily fall apart and that may cause our families and their members to go against each other and become divided and bitter.

This Christmas as we gather together to rejoice in the Lord Jesus and the salvation that He has brought upon us, let us all spend it together as a family. And let us use this opportunity to remind ourselves how important our family is to us. Many of us have often forgotten or sidelined our family members, in our pursuit for wealth, glory, fame and because of many other reasons. As a result, we have lost that cohesion and love that all of us ought to have as a family, and many become separated and even bickering among themselves in their families.

If we have been too busy so far in our lives, then let us all spend some time together this Christmas to get rid from ourselves all those excessive concerns and other thoughts we have, all the worries and desires we have for worldly things. Instead, let us do our best to celebrate Christmas together with our families and various family members, to reconnect ourselves and rekindle the love that we have between us, so that our family will still remain stronger together and hopefully become ever closer through. Christ and His love.

In our world today, there are many families that have been broken because of their lack of love and faith. Those families that fail to communicate with each other and spend time together often fall apart easily, especially when difficult times come. Many couples have divorced each other and many of their children were left without both parents caring for them and their love. And not only that but even the institution of marriage and family itself is often now under threat from the changing conditions and demands of our current world and society.

This is why all of us must look up to the Holy Family for strength, inspiration and guide in how we manage our own families. We should aspire to follow the examples of Christ, of His mother Mary and St. Joseph to ensure not just that our families will remain together and united, but that our families will be sanctified and holy just like that of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And often the best way for us to do this is to come together and practice our faith together through prayer. A family that prays together and love one another will have a much better chance of staying together.

May the Lord our God and Saviour, in His most holy and loving Holy Family continue to strengthen us and our faith, and give us the courage to live our lives with faith, and united in love in our respective Christian families. May He awaken and strengthen the familial love that we have among us, between spouses, between parents and children, among siblings and even among the members of our extended families. May He empower us in love, to love Him together as a family, all of us, in our own families striving to be filled with holiness and love. May all of us rejoice together this Christmas, and be blessed with ever greater love imitating the great love found in the Holy Family, our inspiration. Amen.

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Saturday, 25 December 2021 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we have finally come to the moment of our glorious celebration of Christmas, as we gather together on this Christmas Day rejoicing together because the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour has come upon us and He has fulfilled God’s promises for our salvation, our liberation from the certain destruction and annihilation due to our many sins. He has shown us His ever generous love, compassion and mercy, and God has never given up on us. He even gave us all His only begotten Son, that through Him we may be saved and have eternal life.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the glorious proclamation of the Lord to His people, proclaiming the coming of the King to the people of God, to Zion or Jerusalem, the city of God. Through His coming into the midst of His people, God Who is their King would free them all from their troubles, their sufferings and break free their fetters and the chains that were holding them. He would restore their joy and glory to them, so that they would no longer be in shame and suffering from their predicaments.

For the people of God, it was truly words of reassurance that they must have heard from the prophet Isaiah, as they were back then beset by many troubles, having been oppressed by their neighbours and facing many threats even to their own independence. The remnant kingdom of Judah, the southern half of the old united kingdom of Israel held its position precariously amidst rivalling great powers of the region, while the northern kingdom of Israel had been laid waste and destroyed by the Assyrians years earlier and its people brought off to exile.

The Lord showed His people that if they remained faithful to Him, they have no need to worry and be fearful, and they and their cities would be saved, as God would reveal His power and saving help before all, and gather all of His faithful ones and make them once again to be His beloved flock and people. This is the same promise that God had made and renewed repeatedly over the years, which He gave through His many prophets, and especially through the prophet Isaiah, who spoke many prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah.

In our second reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of the Epistle spoke of the Lord Who has sent His own Son into this world, that by appearing in the flesh, He has become the manifestation of the love that God has for each and every one of us. He, the Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate came down upon us to dwell among us that the power of God’s Word may be reflected through all who have witnessed His mighty works, the foremost of which is how He has lifted us all up from our sins and from the darkness surrounding us, by His sacrifice on the Cross.

For that is exactly how He rescued all of us, His beloved people. He sent us down His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that by His coming in the flesh, He has shown us the means out of the darkness surrounding us. He has come down to us, the Word that was made flesh, as mentioned by St. John in the beginning of his Gospel that we heard today, so that His words and His truth may become tangible and accessible to us. He is no longer unreachable to us and has made Himself as One Who is approachable, crossing the chasm that once existed between us due to our sins.

Sin borne out of our disobedience, our wickedness and evil deeds have sundered us away from the love of God, but God’s love has overcome even our many sins, as He willingly assumed our humble human existence to be reconciled and reunited with us. He assumed our human appearance and existence because He wants us to know that we belong to Him and we should no longer be separated from Him. He came to us as our Good Shepherd, full of love for us and full of His most compassionate and generous mercy.

Through His coming into the world, He has become for us the beacon of Hope and brought to us the undimmed Light of salvation. He became the New Adam and the New Man, showing His perfect obedience to His Father’s will, and through His willingness to bear all of our sins and their consequences, bearing those burden on His shoulders, by picking up His heavy Cross, He was scourged and suffered for us on our behalf. And by His offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood on the Altar of the Cross, He offered for us, on our behalf before His Father, the perfect offering of sacrificial love in atonement for all of our sins.

Yet, despite everything He has done for our sake, we still often ignored and even rejected Him, preferring to sin rather than to love Him and follow His path. And as we come to celebrate Christmas, many of us scarcely even remember Him and less still placing Him at the centre and as the focus of all of our rejoicing and celebrations. That is because we have often been swayed by the secularised and over-commercialised Christmas as we have often been exposed to in our world today.

As Christians, all of us are called to remember our faith and love for God. We are called to remember just how beloved and dear we are to our Lord. And knowing that we are truly beloved by Him, then it is only right that we recognise that love and strive to love the Lord wholeheartedly if we have not done so yet. In Christmas, we are celebrating this love of God made evident and real, tangible and accessible through the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. Therefore, all of us should reflect this in the way we are celebrating the joy of Christmas.

It means that we should not end up celebrating Christmas with great excesses and merrymaking, in order to satisfy our own desires for pleasure and comfort, for earthly goods and wants. Instead, our Christmas celebration and joy should come from the genuine desire we have in loving God and in thanking Him for all that He has done for us. We celebrate this Christmas because God has done so much for us, in extending His love and mercy towards us through Christ, His Son, Whom He had sent to our midst in order to show us all His love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all share our Christmas joy and blessings with one another, with our fellow brethren who need them the most. Many of our brethren out there are in fact unable to rejoice this Christmas in the manner that many of us are able to do. Some are suffering even from remaining faithful, in those parts of the world where being Christians may mean certain suffering and death. Not only that they have to celebrate Christmas in secret, but they must also practice their faith in secret or else risking persecution and death. And many others still are suffering and in difficult times, especially as we know how these past two years had been difficult for so many of us.

Many people had lost their loved ones or are still suffering the effects of the current pandemic, as well as its related complications and negative impacts on the communities all around the world. This Christmas should be an inspiration to all of us, especially if we have received more joy and blessings than others, for us to generously share those joy and blessings with those who have little or none of them. Let us all not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to their plight and need, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us all share the true joy of Christmas, that is the joy in the Light and Hope that Christ our Lord and Saviour had brought into our midst, in His coming into the world that all of us now have the assurance of eternal life and true happiness with Him. Let us be the bearers of this joy, this Hope and Light that we have received from Him, and help others who are suffering, sorrowful and are in difficult moments, to be able to see the Light and the Hope of God’s salvation, through our faith and actions.

May the Lord, our Saviour and King, born to us and celebrated this Christmas day, continue to be with us and bless us all in our every good endeavours and deeds. May God give us the strength, courage and joy to live in our world today with true Christian virtues, and bear with us the joy of His love and grace, now and always. Wishing all of us a most blessed and happy Christmas! Amen.

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Saturday, 25 December 2021 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Mass at Dawn (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this morning as we gather together to celebrate this Christmas Mass at Dawn, all of us are called to reflect on the coming of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour as the bearer of God’s great light and hope, in His glorious coming and appearance in this world, born in Bethlehem of Judea over two millennia ago. As we heard in our Scripture passages today, the Lord proclaimed His most generous and wonderful love to us through the Nativity or the birth of His Son, Our Saviour.

In our first reading today, we heard of the passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, in which we heard the proclamation of God’s saving grace and His salvation to His people, how He would rescue them and deliver them from their troubles. God has always loved all of His people, that is all of us without any exception. All of us who are sinners are beloved by God and He wants us to be redeemed and be forgiven from our many sins, and that is why He gave us so great a deliverance by sending to us His Son, to free us from the tyranny of sin.

As St. Paul made it clear to St. Titus in our second reading today, God sent us His salvation through Jesus Christ His Son, through Whom His grace, blessings and forgiveness has come down upon us. Incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He has become for us the source of Hope and the fount of God’s most generous mercy. God’s compassion and love has been extended to us, and He has given us this most wonderful means to reach out to Him, that we are no longer going to be separated from Him anymore.

He came as the Child born in that stable, placed in a manger, a small Baby, the Son of Mary. He is the fulfilment of God’s promise of salvation and the long awaited Saviour of all. Yet, unlike what most people at that time would have imagined, He came not as a glorious conqueror or a mighty King, but rather as a small Child, weak and vulnerable, Who had no place to lay His head but on a dirty manger suitable only for animals there in the stable. He came into this world in a very simple and humble way, and although He is a King, but He was born not in a palace, but in a most unworthy of places.

If we remember the story of the Nativity of the Lord, we should remember how St. Joseph and Mary, who was then about to give birth to Jesus, were struggling as they reached Bethlehem after they travelled a long way from Nazareth in Galilee for the census ordered by the Roman Emperor. All the inns and lodgings were full and they were rejected at every places and at every turns. It was probably thanks to a kind person who helped and guided them to a stable located just outside the town of Bethlehem, the place where the Saviour of the world was to be born.

And it was there, amongst animals, sheep, cows, horses, goats and others that the Lord, the King of Kings was born. He was laid in the manger and revealed before the shepherds and others who witnessed His birth. Thus at that time, the coming of the Lord into this world was marked not by great celebrations and throngs of joy on Earth, but in quiet silence and in the presence of shepherds, with only Angels attending to the King, proclaiming His glory with the words, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo! Glory to God in the Highest heavens!’

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord has come into the world, to be in our midst and among us, so that He may deliver us from our sins. Much as how God has sent Moses to His people, the Israelites to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, from their enslavement and humiliation, from their suffering and hard life there, the same He has done for us all through Christ. The Lord Jesus, by His coming into the world, He has delivered us all from the tyranny of sin, from our enslavement to those sins, and receive from Him the freedom and assurance of liberation from eternal death.

We are truly fortunate that the Lord has done such marvellous things for us, even when we are still sinners and delinquents, rebels who are often testing the limits of His patience. Any other men would have consigned us to destruction and abandon us to our fate. But that was not what the Lord had done, as His love for us remained even after all that we had done to Him, in abandoning Him and in disobeying Him. He still did all that He could to reach out to us and patiently caring for us, and by giving us Christ, His Son, He has given the most generous gift of all.

As we enter into this season of Christmas and as we are going to celebrate the festivities of Christmas, therefore let us all spend the time to reflect on what Christmas is all about, brothers and sisters in Christ. Is Christmas to us just like any other holiday, festivities and celebrations? Is it just about all the parties, the glamour and all the merrymaking, about the gifts and the goodies that we are going to receive and exchange with each other? Is it just another time for us to look forward to good food and good pleasures, happiness and joy of this world?

Or is it a time for us to remember once again just how fortunate for us to have been beloved so generously and wonderfully by God, so much so that He has given us His only begotten Son as Our Lord and Saviour? This is unfortunately not what many of us are doing, as many of us in our celebrations of Christmas do not even have Christ at the centre and as the focus of our celebrations and joy. Instead, what we have done is placing ourselves, our greed and ego, and our selfish desires instead as the focus of our Christmas celebrations. To do so is for us to rejoice without understanding the true meaning and significance of Christmas.

Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, all of us who should have been consigned to annihilation and eternal destruction have received new hope and lease of life through His love and grace, by His most generous love in coming to us and in reaching out to us, in looking for us sinners. He is our Good Shepherd Who has come to us, the lost sheep and gathered all of us, calling on all of us to follow Him and be lost from Him no more. He came to us and showed His love to us, only for many of us to shut Him out and ignore Him. Is that something that we should be doing, brothers and sisters?

That is why today as we begin our Christmas joy and celebrations, let us all return to the true roots of the meaning of Christmas. Let us all remember once again why we even rejoice this Christmas, and that is because Christ and His presence in our lives, even today. We rejoice because of the love we have received from Him, and as Christians, all of us are called to share this love with one another. Of course we have to love God first and foremost of all, but we also must not forget to love all those others whom God had placed all around us in our lives.

Let us all share the love of God and the joy we have received this Christmas, and be generous in giving and sharing especially to those who have little or none to celebrate with this Christmas. And instead of excessive revelry and merrymaking, let us all share in the true joy of Christ by reaching out to one another with the genuine faith in Our Lord and His salvation, and share His love and blessings in our everyday lives with those who need them the most. May God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, born and celebrated on this Christmas day, be with us all and may He continue to bless us and watch over us throughout our joyous Christmas celebrations. Wishing all of us a most blessed Christmas! Amen.

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Saturday, 25 December 2021 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Midnight Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all rejoice together as after the long wait and expectation during the Advent season, we finally mark the beginning of the Christmas season, the time for us to celebrate in the glorious coming of Our Lord in the flesh, the Divine Word Incarnate, Son of God born into this world as the Son of Man through His mother, the Blessed ever Virgin Mary. He was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the city of David, as the fulfilment of the long awaited promise and assurance of God, Who has come to dwell among His people and to deliver them from their enslavement by the evil one and from the tyranny of sin and death.

In our first reading today, the Lord through His prophet Isaiah has spoken to the people, revealing how He would send them a Child, to be born of Man to them, in a great prophecy proclaiming the coming of God’s Saviour or Messiah. In that prophecy, God spoke of the coming of the time of salvation and liberation for His people, the Israelites, as He would gather them from among the nations and break the yoke of their oppressors and all of their enemies. He would send them a Child, the One prophesied to come, and His Name as proclaimed, would be Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

While the people of God back then could not have foreseen or known what these things truly meant, but to them it must have been strange for the words of the prophet Isaiah to have mentioned a Child born into this world and named such as Mighty God and Everlasting Father, for these were the titles that ought to be reserved to God alone. How could God descend and come down into this world as a Child, born of Man no less? How can the Almighty and Infinite God of the entire Universe and existence be contained in the Child or Son of Man?

Such is indeed the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation, as He willingly came down to us, being Incarnate in His Aspect as the Son and the Word of God, incarnate in the flesh, willing into existence by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ the Son of Man, the Child born two millennia ago in Bethlehem of Judea, Who was truly Man, but also truly God at the same time, the Eternal God and King of us all. That Child born in Bethlehem is the King of all the whole entire Universe, Who has entered this world by His own will and by His enduring and amazing love for each and every one of us.

As St. Paul mentioned in our second reading today, in his Epistle to St. Titus, the Lord has given us all His grace and love through Jesus Christ, His Son born to us and which we celebrate this night at Christmas. He has entered our world, sharing with us our human nature and experiencing what we ourselves have experienced, so that we may be reconciled and reunited with Him, and this is all that the Lord had intended to do from the very beginning. Just as if we remember from the Book of Genesis, God said to Satan, the deceiver, that while he may have dominion over the sons and daughters of man, but through Woman, a reference to Mary, he would be conquered and defeated.

The Lord wants us to be reconciled to Him, but this will not happen unless we have been forgiven and cleansed from our sins. Sin is caused by our disobedience against God, and it sundered us off from Him, and as a result, we should have ended up falling into eternal damnation and suffering in hell. The Lord could very well have destroyed us from the very beginning, as creatures that had been defiled and corrupted by sin. But that was never His intention. His love for us is greater than His disgust for our sins and wickedness. To that extent, He committed Himself to us, by coming down to us, to be with us and to save all of us.

He Who is the Almighty Lord and King over all things willingly embraced our human nature to show us the way out of the darkness, reminding all of us of our true nature of being holy and perfect in God’s grace. This had been interrupted by the appearance of sin in our lives, and by the temptations that we face daily, and how we fell again and again to those temptations and ended up sinning against God. But God made Himself to be like us, to unite Himself to us and to act as a Bridge spanning the once uncrossable chasm that existed between us and God due to sin.

Christ is that Bridge, the One Who bears the Light of God’s grace and salvation into our midst. His coming into this world revealed to all of us just how beloved we are to the Lord, so much so that He was willing to make Himself small, to be born an Infant, a small little Child in Bethlehem just as we heard in the account of our Gospel passage today. He made Himself that little Child in Bethlehem, to show us what is meant for us to be beloved by God, and at the same time, also His desire to be loved by us. This Christmas is a great celebration of God’s most generous love for us, a love that overcomes sin and death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together in this celebration of the Christmas Midnight Mass, we are all called to reflect on the true nature of Christmas and why we rejoice so greatly and wonderfully not just tonight but also this entire Christmas season. The Lord has entered into the world and revealed to us His love in the tangible form of the little Baby Jesus in the manger, to be our Lord and King, gathering all of us to Himself. And in time, that same Child would also come to bear His Cross with the weight of our innumerable sins, which by His perfect obedience to His Father’s will and by His infinite love for us, He offered on our behalf the worthy sacrifice for the atonement of our sins.

That is why, it is sad that we have seen so many occasions in our Christmas preparations and celebrations, when Christ Himself has been sidelined and even forgotten as we have become accustomed to the more secularised way that Christmas has been celebrated. If we see all around us, in all the Christmas rejoicing and festivities, we rarely even see the Lord being part of any of the celebrations. Instead of the Child Jesus, we saw figures like Santa Claus, the elves and many other secular characters depicted throughout our Christmas parties and revelries.

It is like the birthday boy has been excluded and forgotten from his own birthday celebration, as Christmas rightfully is the celebration of our Lord’s Nativity or birth into this world. As we all know that in any birthdays, the most prominent person must be the person whose birthday we are celebrating, then the same should apply to Christmas as well. Have we prepared and celebrated our Christmas celebrations with Christ as the focus and the centre of our efforts? Have we placed Him at the heart of our merrymaking and rejoicing?

Or instead have we allowed the excesses of worldly pleasures, desires for satisfaction and even ego and pride to guide us in our Christmas celebrations? If we have done all these, then we really need to ask ourselves, what is Christmas and its meaning to all of us. We cannot treat Christmas just like any other holidays or festivities, and certainly it is not just a time for us to be merry and happy without knowing its true importance and reason. We rejoice especially because God has loved us so much, that as I mentioned earlier, He manifested His love to us in the Child Jesus.

God’s love made all of our rejoicing possible and we can rejoice because we know that through Christ, we have been assured the salvation and eternal life, and have been freed from the bondage and power of sin. Through our baptism we have been made sons and daughters of God Himself, through adoption by exactly Christ’s birth and incarnation in our human nature, as we all share with Him our humanity, and since He is the Son of God, we too therefore share with Him in becoming the adopted children of God, as members of His one Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we have lapsed and failed to prepare ourselves to understand the true nature and meaning of Christmas, and if we have not prepared ourselves to celebrate Christmas worthily, then it is still not too late for us to do so. This night’s Scripture readings serve as important reminders for all of us that we have to make our Christmas celebrations and joy a truly meaningful one. Let us all not waste this opportunity and instead do whatever we can in order to bring the light of Christ into this world, and be the witnesses of His love present in our midst.

Let us share the joy we have and all the blessings and wonders that we have received from God, especially with our fellow brothers and sisters who are unable to celebrate Christmas, as well as to those who are encountering hardships and sorrow in life. Let us bear the true light and hope of Christmas to them, and share with them the wonders of God’s love. May God bless us always and may His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, born and celebrated this Christmas day, guide us to the glory of everlasting life and grace. Wishing all of us here and everyone a most blessed Christmas! Amen.

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Friday, 24 December 2021 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Eve (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after a long time of preparation and expectation we have experienced and journeyed through in the season of Advent, we have finally arrived at the beginning of the Christmas season with this Christmas Vigil Mass. This night we gather together as one community and one Church in celebrating the moment of the great appearance of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world, as He was born of His Mother Mary in Bethlehem, the city of David over two millennia ago.

This night we remember that most beautiful and wonderful night when light and hope are restored to all of us who have lived in a world filled with darkness and sin. That was the night when God’s long awaited salvation has finally come, the moment when God revealed before the people the extent of His most magnificent and enduring love, as He showed His love to us manifested in the flesh, in Christ Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God alike, the Divine Word Incarnate, fully God and fully Man. Through Him, the love of God has been made concrete and manifest, and He became tangible, approachable and reachable to us.

The Lord reassured all of His people in our first reading tonight taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, as He told them of the coming of the time of renewal for Jerusalem and for the nation of God’s people. They would be renewed and enlightened, redeemed and made whole once again. These were significant words of hope, encouragement and love for a people who at that time had been troubled with the continuing downwards fortunes of their nation. For by the time of the prophet Isaiah, the old glory of Israel under King David and King Solomon were long gone, their kingdom divided and the northern half of which had been destroyed earlier on by the Assyrians.

For a people who were then beset with many troubles and worries, persecuted and oppressed by their neighbours, and for the faithful who remained true to their faith in God despite the evils and wickedness of even many among the people of God themselves who chose to abandon the Lord for the various pagan idols, those words spoken by the Lord must have been a great consolation and encouragement, a gift of new hope and light that God has always been with His people, and He will send to them His salvation, as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, who also mentioned how the Saviour would be born of a Virgin, and the mention of the Builder marrying the metaphorical Jerusalem, representing the people of God.

It means that God would indeed come to dwell among His people, and He would come to deliver them from their troubles and sufferings. He would reveal to them the path to follow towards eternal life and true happiness through Him. All these happened as foretold as Mary, the one whom God had prepared to be the Mother of God and Saviour, wedded St. Joseph, the heir of King David. She also bore within her womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God Most High. As such, the Saviour that was born that day in Bethlehem was truly the Heir of David, as prophesied by the prophets.

For St. Paul himself in our second reading, in the Acts of the Apostles, spoke of how God guided His people and how He had promised King David, His faithful servants that the Saviour of all would come from among His descendants. Thus, on that day in Bethlehem two millennia ago, what so many people had awaited for a very long time, awaiting for the salvation of God, had come to fruition at last. A people who had long laboured and waited in the darkness have seen a great light, the Light of God’s salvation and truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this Christmas season and begin our joyous Christmas celebrations, let us all continue to constantly ask ourselves, what is Christmas and its meaning to all of us? What is the significance of Christmas and how we are going to celebrate Christmas joyfully and with proper understanding and appreciation of what it is all about. Otherwise, it will be very easy for us to lose focus and end up celebrating Christmas with a lot of festivities and merrymaking, and yet, all those joy and celebrations were superficial and meaningless.

We all know how commercialised Christmas has become in the recent years and decades. Christmas has become so commercialised and secularised that many had mostly ignored its true meaning and purpose, and instead of celebrating Christ and His coming into our world, the Love of God made Man, we are celebrating our own vain desires and wishes for pleasures, comforts and worldly joy. Instead of remembering how much beloved we are by God and all that He has done for our sake and our salvation, we end up being distracted by the many temptations of worldly grandeur and pleasures.

What is Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is the time for us to celebrate and remember the most wonderful love of God, given to us so generously and unconditionally. And having received that great and amazing love, it is then just right and proper for us to show the same love for our fellow brothers and sisters, to pass on the love that God has given us and to remind ourselves that we are truly fortunate to be so beloved by God and also by one another. This is how we should celebrate Christmas, with genuine love for God and for our fellow men, and not for our own vainglory.

Let us also remember that there are many of our brothers and sisters out there who may not be able to celebrate Christmas in the way we do. There are many out there who are unable to celebrate Christmas because they are not even free to express themselves and their Christian faith, and are persecuted daily for their faith. And there are also others who are too poor and marginalised to be able to celebrate Christmas in the manner that many of us are familiar with. Many of these brothers and sisters of ours are even struggling to make ends meet each day, and struggle to have enough food to sustain themselves everyday.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make our Christmas celebration tonight and beyond a more meaningful one by refocusing our celebrations on Christ and not on ourselves. Let us all moderate our festivities and merrymaking and not forgetting all others who may not be so fortunate as us in being able to celebrate the Lord’s coming. And if we are able to, let us share our joy and love with those who have little or none, and bear to them, our own brethren, the light of God’s hope and the warmth of His love, that they all too may share in the true joy of Christmas together with us.

May the Lord, our God and Saviour, born and celebrated this Christmas day, be with us always and bless our Christmas celebrations, that they may be fruitful and wholesome. May God empower each and every one of us with His love and with the Hope that He has brought into our midst, that we may become the beacons of His light and hope in our daily lives and always. May all of us have a most blessed Christmas season ahead, Merry Christmas and God bless! Amen.

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Friday, 24 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the last day of the Advent season, marking the end of our almost month-long preparation for the coming of Christmas, and we are reminded of the coming of the long-awaited salvation of the world through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today. The Lord has always held His promise and kept His part in the Covenant He has made with each and every one of us.

The Lord has revealed His plans for us, from the beginning, as He revealed from the very moment that mankind fell into sin, how He would send His Saviour through the Woman who would bear a Son, and through that Woman, the power and dominion that Satan, the evil one, had over us would be totally crushed and destroyed. He would send His salvation through the descendants of Man, through Abraham His servant and the House of David, the one He had chosen to be King over all of His people.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel of the account of what transpired at the time when King David had been secure in his reign and power over the land of Israel and beyond, and had settled in his kingdom and dominion, and wanting to build a house for the Lord, just as he has already built and established his palace in the city of Jerusalem. The King spoke with the prophet Nathan who then relayed God’s message and words to him afterwards.

God told David that it was not him who would build a great House for His sake, and instead, it would be his own son that would build that House, the great Temple that would be built in Jerusalem, by the hands of King Solomon, David’s son, as God Himself had spoken and promised to David himself. God reassured David that his kingdom and house would be forever secure and firm, and this was firstly a reference to the succession of his own Solomon to rule after him, at the zenith of the power and majesty of the old kingdom of Israel.

However, it was also an indirect reference and revelation to David and also to the rest of the people of God, that He would send His Saviour, the Messiah, to be born into the House of David, as His rightful Heir and Son, to gather back the people of God once again, and to rebuild the glorious kingdom of God, with all of God’s people reconciled and reunited to their Lord and Creator. Little did the people know then that, it was the Lord Himself Who endeavoured to come to us.

He willingly embraced us and by His incarnation in the flesh, as the Son of Man and Son of God alike, in the person of Jesus Christ, He has fulfilled all the promises that He had made to all of us His beloved ones, from the very beginning of time. Christ has come into this world to restore His people and to reunite all of them, not just the Israelites but also including all the rest of the children of Adam, all of mankind who have been sundered from God through sin.

Zechariah in our Gospel passage today, in his famous Canticle of Zechariah, full of the Holy Spirit, singing a great hymn of thanksgiving and praise, for all that God had done for him and for all mankind. He has become a father after a long wait for a son, and God gave him a son, and not only that, but that son was the one to be the Herald of the Saviour of the whole world. St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah was the one to proclaim the coming of Christ, and Zechariah, seeing all of these glimpses of the glory of God to come, sang in great glory praising God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore spend some time to reflect today, as we prepare for the great celebration of Christmas beginning this very night. Let us remind ourselves again why we are celebrating Christmas, and what Christmas truly means to each and every one of us. Is Christmas merely just yet another holiday and celebration? Is it merely another time for feasting and merrymaking, but forgetting about Christ Our Lord, our Saviour, Whose coming into this world is the reason for all of our joy and celebrations?

Let us all therefore seek the Lord anew, with a new faith and love for Him, and let us all enter into the season of Christmas and celebrate it with full understanding and appreciation of God’s love, which has been manifested in Our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of us all. Let us all bear the Light and Joy of the true Christmas spirit, and proclaim the truth and salvation of God to all the nations. May God bless us all, and may He bless our wonderful Christmas celebrations to come. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we are almost at the end of the Advent season and the start of the Christmas celebrations, through what we have heard from the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to reflect on the life, work and faith of St. John the Baptist, whom the Lord had sent into this world just before His coming and revelation to the world, to prepare His way and to proclaim His coming to everyone, so that all may know of the Lord’s salvation.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Malachi, we heard the words of the Lord revealing to His people that He would send His messenger ahead of Him to prepare the way for His own coming. This was a prophecy of the coming of God’s Messiah, the Saviour Whom He has promised to all of His people for a very long time. And the coming of this Messiah would be preceded by a Herald, the one sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Saviour. This Herald is none other than St. John the Baptist.

St. John the Baptist came into this world to prepare the way for the Lord, which happened through the miraculous pregnancy of Elizabeth, who was Mary’s relative, and that happened despite Elizabeth having been in an advanced age and had been barren, unable to bear a child at all. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, his father in the Temple and proclaimed to him the Good News, that the son he would soon bear through his wife Elizabeth would be the one prophesied to proclaim the coming of the salvation of God.

He was born into this world and was dedicated to God from his infancy and youth, to be the servant of God Most High, and became the instrument through whom God prepared the revelation of His great plan of salvation to all of us. God sent St. John the Baptist into the midst of His people to call them all to repentance, to call them to remember their sins and wickedness, and resolve to overcome all those evil and wicked deeds that they had committed. The Lord called on all of them to embrace His mercy and love, and through his baptism, St. John the Baptist prepared the hearts and minds of many to welcome the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having been reminded in the same manner, as we are all now about to celebrate Christmas, have we prepared ourselves well in order to be ready to welcome the Lord, the One Whom we are celebrating this Christmas for, into our hearts and minds? Or have we instead been too busy and distracted by the many concerns, the many busy commitments and tight schedules we have, our work and preoccupations that we ended up forgetting God, ignoring and sidelining Him in our busy lives and shutting Him out from ourselves.

Then, many of us have also been too distracted with the many distractions and temptations of the secular Christmas, and how it has been celebrated all around us. Many people have forgotten the true reason and meaning of Christmas, and this sadly include many of those who have called themselves as Christians. We do not have to look far, brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, let us all just look at ourselves and our attitudes towards the Lord and our faith in Him. How many of us can confidently say that we have truly devoted ourselves to Him?

Today, all of us should spend some time to reflect on how we can be better disciples and followers of our Lord, in living our faith in a more genuine and committed manner in our lives. Let us all also look for inspiration from the saint whose feast we celebrate today, namely that of St. John of Kanty, also known as St. John Cantius, who was a Polish priest and theologian renowned for his great piety and dedication to the Lord. He was involved in theological teachings and many other works among the people of God.

But what is most remembered from his actions were his compassionate nature and the efforts he put in reaching out to the poor and the people suffering all around him in his community. He also helped to support the students in the university he was teaching in, providing support and assistance whenever and wherever he could, while at the same time doing his best to do many other good works for the Lord and His Church. St. John Cantius devoted his life to follow the Lord and to live out the Christian faith in his daily living.

Are we able to do the same too, brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us all reflect on this, and spend the remaining time on these last two days of the Advent season to reorientate our lives if we have not yet done so thus far, so that we may once again focus our attention and our lives towards the Lord. May God be with us all too, and may He strengthen us in our resolve and faith to live our lives ever more faithfully in the service of His greater glory. Amen.

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Wednesday, 22 December 2021 : 4th Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the great love and providence by which God had generously and marvellously cared for us since the very beginning. God has never looked away from us or ignored us when we are in our hour of great distress. Through various ways, He has always reached out to us and wanted to bring us all back to His embrace, to be reunited with us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Samuel in which the mother of Samuel, Hannah, was about to dedicate her firstborn son to the Lord as she herself had promised. At that time, Hannah was one of the wives of Elkanah, who also had another wife named Penninah. Hannah had not been able to have any son or child with Elkanah while Penninah had borne many sons and children to Elkanah. Children back then were highly regarded as symbols of fertility and prestige for the women, and the apparent barrenness of Hannah was often seen as as sign of someone being cursed or unworthy, and Hannah experienced exactly just that.

Penninah also often bullied Hannah and took pride at the fact that she had borne many children for her husband, while Hannah had none. Although Elkanah did love Hannah more than Penninah, but the fact that she did not have a child and could not bear one still weighed very heavily on her mind. It was at that occasion then that Hannah came seeking the Lord at the House of God, in the presence of the Judge Eli, praying before God and seeking His help and providence. She begged the Lord for His assistance and for her to be rescued from her predicament.

The Lord heard Hannah’s prayer and answered her, and she miraculously bore a child, whom she had promised to the Lord if she were ever to bore one. Her firstborn son was named as Samuel, and was offered to God to be His servant forever. Hannah was very grateful to the Lord for all that He had done for her, praising Him and thanking Him for all that He had blessed her with. Through Him, her shame and predicament had been overcome, a light and hope had returned back to her face and heart once again.

The Lord had done the same to all of us through Mary, as we heard in our Gospel passage today. The Psalm today is Hannah’s song of rejoicing and thanksgiving, for all that the Lord had done for her in removing from her the stain of humiliation and suffering due to her earlier barrenness. And after having offered and entrusted Samuel to the Lord, she was blessed with more children with her husband Elkanah. And in the Gospel passage, we heard Mary, great song of rejoicing that is similar to Hannah’s great song of rejoicing, the Magnificat.

In the Magnificat, Mary, full of the Holy Spirit sang a great song of praise, thanking God for all the wonders He had done for His beloved people, ever since the very beginning of time. God has always ever been faithful to His people and He has always showed His kindness to them, and to all those who have devoted themselves to Him, He has brought them His grace and blessings, as He had done to Abraham and David, fulfilling His promises to them, and bringing into this world its salvation, through none other than Christ, Who was then in Mary’s womb.

As we listened to those words and recalled God’s great and amazing deeds done for our behalf, and as we progress ever closer to Christmas in just a few days’ time, all of us are encouraged to spend the time to deepen our relationship with God, to remember His love and all the blessings He has given us all these while throughout our lives. We are also called to rediscover the love which we should have for the Lord, and to be thankful for everything that He had done for our sake, and foremost of all, for His coming into this world which we celebrate this Christmas.

As the famous words in the Gospel of St. John mentioned, God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, to be born into the world, the Divine Word Incarnate, to be born of His mother Mary and revealed to the whole world, to all of us, so that through Him, all of us who have lived in darkness may come to see the great light and hope that God alone can bring to our midst. Through Him, the world has the reason to rejoice again, and all of us can finally see hope at the end of our earthly journey, to look up to the hope of everlasting joy and peace in God’s presence.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore focus our attention on the Lord, and do our best to make our upcoming Christmas celebrations a more wholesome and meaningful one. Let us make this Christmas a time of renewal of our faith in God and a rejuvenation of our love for Him. May God be with us all and may His light and hope rekindle in our hearts to continue to desire to seek Him in each and every moments of our lives. Amen.