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Wednesday, 13 October 2021 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to reflect on them and realise that there are so much that each and every one of us can do to remain faithful to God. All of us are called to focus on the Lord and turn towards Him with sincere love and devotion, and not just showing empty and meaningless faith. This is what our Scripture passages today have been telling us, that to be good Christians, we must not do what many of the people at that time had done.

For at that time, as the Christian faith began to spread across the Mediterranean and throughout the world, more and more Gentiles or the non-Jewish people such as the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Africans, Persians and many others who came to believe in the Lord and His truth, and gave themselves to be baptised by the Apostles, the many missionaries and messengers that had been sent by God to those people to spread the Good News of God’s salvation and His truth and love to them.

However, there were also many Jews who converted to the faith, in Jerusalem and Judea, as well as in the various diaspora communities around the world. And in various occasions, some of those Jewish Christians brought with them the same opinion and view of the Pharisees and the elders who were adopting a very hardline approach in the interpretation, application and enforcement of the Law of God which had been revealed through Moses. They advocated for the wholesome adoption of the entire Judaic traditions and customs, many of which were excessive and inappropriate additions accumulated over the centuries of its practices.

To apply such a rigid and harsh application of the Jewish customs and practices would be exceedingly difficult for the Gentiles who have converted to Christianity, as there were quite a few cultural practices of the Jewish people which were not acceptable or even frowned upon and disliked by the Romans and the Greeks. Therefore, St. Paul worked hard together with the other Apostles and leaders of the Church to standardise the approach of the Christian faith and practices, in which they all agreed at the First Council of Jerusalem not to enforce the excesses of Judaic laws on all Christians, and less still on the Gentile converts.

The Gospel passage today echoed this same sentiment as we heard how the Lord strongly rebuked the members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who had corrupted and misused the Law for their own purposes and benefits, and as hypocrites who claimed to believe in God and yet in their hearts and minds, God was not the primary focus and emphasis of their lives. Instead, it was their pride, ego and ambition that drove them forward in life, and as the main impetus behind their preoccupation and obsession with their very strict version of the Law.

The Lord did not mince His words and spoke plainly, as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law consistently tried to oppose Him and made His works difficult, claiming to be on the side of orthodoxy and faithful teachings, and claiming to be better and more pious, and yet, behind all of that facade was that of incredible hypocrisy and stubbornness, as they continued to harden their hearts and minds against the Lord and His truth. They acted so also because they were jealous of the Lord, and this proved that much of their actions were based on self-serving and selfish desires for power and influence in the world.

That is why He spoke regarding this matter, and His servant, St. Paul the Apostle also echoed the same message to all of us Christians, that we must avoid this kind of selfish attitude and learn to be more genuine in our faith, and distance ourselves from the many temptations of worldly power and glory, resisting the temptations of our desires and the other things that often lead us to our downfall, by luring us away from the true path towards the Lord. We must not indulge in self-serving and selfish attitudes, but must learn to be humble to listen to God and allow Him to lead us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today, let us all pray that the Lord will continue to watch over us and guide us, helping us to remain firm in our faith. Let us also pray that we will always grow ever stronger in our love for Him, and let us help one another in being faithful to God rather than to condemn or judge one another or thinking that we are in any way better than others or more deserving of God’s salvation. May God bless each and every one of us, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 12 October 2021 : 28th 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 all called to reflect on the words of the Lord that serves as reminder and warning to all of us to remain truly faithful to Him and not to be merely paying lip service and treating our faith as merely a formality and something that we do not truly believe in our hearts completely. We must truly devote ourselves to the Lord through commitment and effort, and follow Him at all times.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Rome in which he spoke of God’s truth, His Good News and salvation which He has brought into this world, and which He offered us freely and most generously, calling us all to embrace Him and His mercy, to be forgiven through repentance and the changing of our ways. We are called to seek the Lord wholeheartedly and turn towards Him without any doubts lingering in our hearts.

St. Paul spoke up strongly against all those who have heard about the Lord, known about Him and yet, they still refused to believe and even turned against Him, choosing worldly attractions and temptations, all the false idols of human desire and cravings, for power, glory, influence, fame and material wealth, for the pleasures of the body and other things that we are often surrounded and pampered with in this world, in their respective lives all these while.

As St. Paul made it clear, that even though those people had known the Lord and heard His laws and truth, but they still chose to stubbornly cling to their erroneous ways, and chose to seek consolation and satisfaction in the lesser idols and things that were nothing compared to God. They glorified those things over the Lord and gave themselves and their lives to be enslaved by their desires for worldliness. St. Paul therefore reminded all the faithful, and thus including all of us to live worthily of the Lord from now on.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard something similar regarding the conversation and interaction that the Lord had with a Pharisee who had invited Him to a meal. When that Pharisee wondered and asked why the Lord did not wash His hands before a meal, contextually what happened was that he was referring to the specific ritualistic washing that the Pharisees subscribed to in their very strict interpretation and enforcement of the Law of God.

Over the previous centuries, the accumulation of traditions and customs, strict interpretations and modifications had resulted in the Law being misunderstood, misused and abused for the personal gains and misled the people in the way they ought to follow the Lord. Instead, many among the Pharisees ended up becoming overly fixated on the minute details of the Law while failing to realise and appreciate its true importance, meaning and purpose. They even looked down and despised those who did not follow the Law in the way that they did.

It is this attitude which the Lord criticised and rebuked the Pharisees for. He wants each and every one of us to take note of these things and beware of all the things that can prevent us from truly finding our way to Him, as we glorify ourselves and our desires more than we glorify God. And we should heed this as a lesson to remind ourselves that we have to develop a genuine and strong faith in the Lord, and not to fall into the temptations that is based on our vanity, pride and greed. We have to grow in faith and do our best to resist the pressure to conform to the ways of worldliness.

Let us all therefore be ever more faithful to God in all things, and let us dedicate ourselves each day with ever greater love for God and strive to be exemplary in our every actions throughout life so that we may be good examples as faithful Christians in showing one another how we ought to live our lives with faith from now on. May God bless each and every one of us in our every good efforts and endeavours, for His greater glory. Amen.

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Monday, 11 October 2021 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Lord, we are all reminded of the calling of the Lord to all of us to trust in the Lord and allow Him to lead us down the right path as our Shepherd, and each and every one of us must then also follow the example of our Shepherd and become sources of inspiration and strength for one another so that each and every one of us may be inspired to always remain committed to God.

In our first reading today from the book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard the Lord speaking to His people, who at that time was in exile in Babylon, that He would gather them like a shepherd gathering his sheep, from those scattered among the nations, and He would look for them and reunite themselves to Him, as He still loved them and cared for them as His beloved people and His children. The Lord is still ever faithful to the Covenant which He had made with them even though those same people had betrayed and abandoned Him for the false pagan idols and gods.

The Lord would prove this right by gathering all of His scattered people and moved the heart of the King of Persia, Cyrus the Great to allow the descendants of the Israelites to return to their homeland and rebuild their cities and dwellings, as well as the Holy Temple and House of God in Jerusalem. God gathered them all and reunited them, to live once again in obedience to His Law and commandments, and distancing themselves from the rebellious ways of their ancestors.

Then, in our Gospel today, we listened to the story of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection from the dead, when He appeared to His disciples in Galilee, and as they gathered, the Lord had a conversation with St. Peter the Apostle, the leader of all of His disciples, who had earlier on denied Him three times at the moment of His Passion and suffering. The Lord asked St. Peter three times whether he loved Him, and St. Peter responded each time with a sincere proclamation of his love and dedication to the Lord.

Through these series of questions, in fact, which mirrored the three times denial of St. Peter earlier on, it showed that the Lord had forgiven St. Peter, and just as He had called and chosen him earlier on, He entrusted His Church to St. Peter, as He earlier on also said that, as He gave him the name of Peter, or Cephas, ‘the Rock’, that He established His Church on the Rock of St. Peter, as His Vicar and the leader of all the faithful, as the shepherd of shepherds and the one to represent the one True Shepherd of all, the Lord Himself.

This was further affirmed as the Lord told St. Peter to ‘feed My Sheep’, symbolically presenting the Church as the flock of the Lord’s faithful, and entrusting the Church and all the faithful to the Apostles and the other disciples to be the ones to lead and guide them to the right path, as they gather together in prayer, committing themselves to a new existence together in God, and guided by the examples and the inspiration of the Holy Apostles, the saints and martyrs who had lived with devotion to God.

Today, all of us also celebrate the feast of one of St. Peter’s holy successors, as Pope and leader of the Universal Church, namely Pope St. John XXIII, also known as the Good Pope, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, elected in the Year of Our Lord 1958 as the Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of Christ, to lead the entire faithful people of God, as the shepherd of all the faithful representing Christ, the Chief Shepherd. Pope St. John XXIII and his many contributions still inspire many even to this very day.

Pope St. John XXIII was born in a poor family in the northern part of Italy in Bergamo, in a family of many children, who raised their children in the Christian faith devoutly. One of his uncles sponsored his education, and eventually he joined the priesthood and was ordained a priest in Rome. He was then involved in working in the Diocese of Bergamo and witnessed firsthand how his bishop showed his care and concern for his flock during an incident in which workers on strike to fight for their rights were arrested, and he and his bishop helped in mediating between the workers and the authorities.

This would continue to inspire Pope St. John XXIII in his later role as the Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria and Turkey, as he worked hard to reach out to his flock and also to all other Christians and fellow men, in showing God’s love to all, in leading them towards God as the successor of St. Peter, as the shepherd of shepherds and as guide for them towards the Lord. Then, as Apostolic Nuncio to France and finally as the Patriarch of Venice, the future Pope St. John XXIII would continue to show his dedication in his efforts to reach out to the faithful.

As Pope, Pope St. John XXIII devoted himself to reform the Church, and called for the Ecumenical Council at the Vatican, also known better as the Second Vatican Council, which began during the later part of his pontificate. Pope St. John XXIII also contributed greatly to the world, in healing the divisions between Christians, through his links to the separated brethren of the Eastern Orthodox Church from his earlier tenure as Delegate in Bulgaria and Turkey, among others. And he was also well-known for his peacemaking effort, between the superpowers at the height of the Cold War, in order to avoid mutual destruction between them and the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the good examples and the life work from Pope St. John XXIII, can we be inspired to follow him and his good examples, and do whatever we can in our lives, so that we may truly be faithful disciples and followers of our Lord? Let us all be shepherds and guides to one another as well, to reach out to those who are in need, and to help one another to find our way to the Lord together. May the Lord, our loving Shepherd and Guide, continue to strengthen us and help us in our journey through life, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 10 October 2021 : Twenty-Eighth 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 Sacred Scriptures, we are all presented with the words of God’s truth and wisdom, and to all of us God has presented a very important question for us to consider and think about, to ponder and to reflect as we live our lives in this world. This question is, ‘What is the most important thing in our lives?’ And also, ‘Is God important for us in our lives?’ These are the two simple questions that we should spend time pondering and reflecting on even as we discuss the meaning of today’s readings.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Wisdom, we heard the words of the author who spoke of his prayer and desire for Wisdom, the Wisdom, knowledge and understanding from God. The author of the Book of Wisdom told everyone that there is essentially nothing more valuable, worthy or great other than the truth of God, the gift of Wisdom that God has given to us all. The Wisdom of the Holy Spirit has been granted to us, and if only we appreciate this great gift in its fullness then we can understand just how precious this gift that we have received, but often overlooked, ignored and squandered.

In our second reading today, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of this Epistle spoke about the Word of God that revealed all things in all mankind, Who pierced and penetrated deep into our hearts and minds, the Word of truth that illuminated all and knew all in us, and through which we have also received the same truth and the revelation from God. By welcoming the Word of God into our hearts, into our beings, we have opened ourselves to welcome the Wisdom of God and received the truth, and because of that, we should rejoice at what we have received.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you find the message of these readings to be rather cryptic and hard to comprehend, that is perhaps because we have not yet appreciated the truth of God that we have received through none other than Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. Why is that so? Then we should recall how the Lord has given us Himself so completely for our sake, in emptying and humbling Himself, from all glory and power, and carrying His Cross, He endured all the wounds, sufferings and pains for our sake, that is to deliver us all from the torments of our sins.

God has revealed His love for us through His Son, that we who have once been destined to doom and damnation because of our sins and wickedness, have received the assurance of salvation and eternal life because of the enduring love that He has for us. His love for us is so great that He was willing to endure the most bitter and terrible punishments and pain just so that we may be freed from our enslavement by sin. He has not only sent His servants and messengers to remind us to turn back to the true path, but even came Himself into our midst to bring the truth to light and reveal them to us.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers regarding the matter of what it means to follow Him and to dedicate themselves to Him. At that time, a man who had been dedicated and wholesome in his obedience to the Law of God asked the Lord what was it that he still needed to do in order to attain the kingdom of God. The Lord then responded by saying that what he needed to do was to sell everything he had and give the proceeds to the poor, leaving everything behind and then follow Him as His disciple. The man left in great sorrow as for him it was impossible to part from his great wealth.

Actually, before we think that the Lord asked or even demanded us to surrender all of our wealth and worldly possessions, that was not what He intended and we should not interpret everything just based on literal understanding. Rather, what He wanted to emphasise to the man and also to all of His disciples and also therefore all of us is that, in order to follow Him wholeheartedly, we must put Him first and foremost above all and every other things. We cannot allow our many attachments or even preoccupations with worldly matters, for fame, glory, wealth and influence to keep us away from God and His salvation.

In truth, the Lord is telling us that if we depend on worldly wisdom and power, on our own might and strength, then we shall falter and fall. It is only by trusting in His providence and entrusting ourselves to Him and His guidance that we shall find our way to true glory and happiness, which we cannot find through other means. This truth has been given to us, and the Lord Himself has revealed to us through His Church, and the Holy Spirit has also been sent to our midst to be our Advocate, our Helper and our Guide. He has given us Wisdom, and yet, are we willing to accept His Wisdom into our hearts and minds?

In the same way, have we let the Word to enter into our hearts? The Word of God, Christ Himself, Incarnate in the flesh, Who has given Himself, His Most Precious Body and Blood to us in the Eucharist? We may have accepted and received Him, but have we truly believed and have that faith we ought to have in Him? Have we committed ourselves to the Lord above all else, and resist the many temptations of worldly pleasures and glory, of fame and influence among other things that kept us away from truly being able to follow the Lord?

This Sunday, let us all spent some time to discern carefully, and to pray for the gift of Wisdom and for God to strengthen us all through the Holy Spirit, Whom He has sent to us to be our Guide and Helper. Let us all grow ever more in faith, and allow God to lead us down the path of righteousness, and no longer seeking just the temporary and impermanent pleasures of this world. Rather, let us seek the Lord and our true inheritance and glory in Him. May the Lord continue to guide us and bless us in our every efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 9 October 2021 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to be faithful to God, and to believe in Him and His providence, to do His will because all of us who are faithful to Him and remain true to our commitment to Him will not be disappointed, as God knows all of our actions and dealings, and whatever we have done, our every small little actions, for the greater glory of His Name, shall be rewarded in the end.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words of the Lord spoken to His people through the prophet Joel, who was active during the years following the return of the descendants of the Israelites from their exile in Babylon. To put things in context, the people of Israel had by then endured a lot of humiliations and sufferings because of their past sins, due to their stubborn refusal to follow the Lord and to believe in His words and the prophets that had been sent to them.

They had been beaten, oppressed and conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Their cities and towns were destroyed, and they were forced to leave their ancestral homeland for a faraway exile in Assyria and Babylon, and seeing pagans and foreigners taking over the ownership of their lands. Their Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the House of God was destroyed, a House which they themselves had long forgotten and abandoned for the worship of pagan gods and idols.

The Lord never forgot about His people though, and continued to love them despite of all the troubles and the betrayals they had done to Him. He loved them regardless and desired to reconcile themselves to Him, to love them once again and to extend His merciful hands to be reunited with them. He guided them and sent His prophets to them, and after many decades, gathered them back and through King Cyrus of Persia, led them back to their homeland, and allowing them to rebuild their towns and the Temple of God.

Therefore, through the prophet Joel, God wanted to remind His people to stand by His side and to remain faithful to Him so that they will no longer experience those periods of sufferings and challenges, and even if they were to suffer from difficulties and challenges, the Lord would be by their side and they would triumph together with Him, for He will come in the end to gather them all and lead them into the true joy and glory with Him, at the very end of time.

As we heard in our short Gospel passage today, we are all then reminded that in order to do this, what we all need to do is to be faithful to God and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly, by doing His will and obeying His laws and commandments. To do the will of God is the calling for us all as Christians, and we should do our very best to live a virtuous and exemplary life, to the best of our ability, so that even in the smallest things that we do, we will always remain faithful and committed to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us also follow the good examples set by our holy predecessors, namely St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom, as well as St. John Leonardi, faithful servants of God and saints whose feasts we are celebrating today. We should delve into their lives’ examples and be inspired with how they had led lives that were centred and focused on God, and how they had shown great faith despite the many challenges and trials they had encountered in life.

St. Denis was the Bishop of Paris during the time of the later Roman Empire, during a time of great persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperors and the state. St. Denis was sent from Rome by Pope St. Fabian, and was tasked with the evangelisation and conversion of Roman Gaul, together with several other missionaries. They encountered great challenges while having a lot of successes as well, and that time, when the Emperor Decius declared a great persecution against Christians, he and the other missionaries were arrested.

St. Denis and his companions were tortured and made to suffer for their faith in God, and they refused to give in, and finally, were led to their execution, which St. Denis suffered by beheading, together with his fellow martyrs. However, in a most miraculous and amazing occasion, St. Denis remained alive even after he was beheaded, and he picked up his head, and the head preached to the people as he walked for many kilometres, to many awed witnesses and even those who were involved in the execution. It was at the place where he stopped and finally passed into heavenly glory, that he was buried and where a great church, the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris now stands.

Meanwhile, St. John Leonardi was an Italian priest and founder of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, who lived about five centuries ago. As a priest, he was remembered for his great dedication to his flock, the parishioners and the other members of the faithful whom he dedicated himself to, in the formation of young adults in the faith among other things. He also popularised the devotion of the Forty Hours and the Eucharist to the faithful, which was meant to bring them closer to God.

St. John Leonardi also worked hard to implement the many reforms of the Ecumenical Council of Trent, while also proposing to the Pope for the formation of a religious order that is focused on the reforms of the Church and greater discipline in faith, which eventually became a reality with the foundation of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, gathering many like-minded people who seek to serve the Lord following the charism and efforts of St. John Leonardi. Through his faith and dedication, and his perseverance, in facing the challenges and opposition he had for his efforts, St. John Leonardi has shown us, just as St. Denis and his companions in martyrdom had, on how to be truly faithful and committed to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord and let us do our very best to follow Him, and to walk in His path, so that in everything we do, we will always glorify Him and be exemplary and inspirational in our way of life, such that many more people may come to believe in the Lord through us and our examples. May the Lord continue to guide us and help us in our journey of faith, and may He strengthen each and every one of us to live ever more faithfully from now on. Amen.

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Friday, 8 October 2021 : 27th 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 called to believe in the Lord and entrust ourselves in His providence, as we ought to keep ourselves worthy and pure, free from sin and evil. All of us should remain true in our faith in God, and commit ourselves to Him and not to be easily swayed by those who sought to divide and destroy us, by sowing seeds of dissension and doubt in our midst.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Joel of the words of the Lord, which He spoke to His people Israel and according to historians, happened after the people of Israel had returned to their homeland after their exile in Babylon. What the Lord told His people at that time was a reminder of how they themselves had suffered earlier on from those who oppressed and conquered them, destroyed their cities and their homeland, bringing them into their exile.

And the Lord told His people that they ought to be prepared, steadfast and ready to face trials and challenges, as the time shall come when the forces of the evil one will be arrayed and assembled against us. All of us ought to remain steady in our faith and not be swayed by our fears and doubts that the enemy sought to spread among us that they hope to see us sundered from the love and protection of God. This is also where we then heard what happened at the time of the Lord Jesus and His confrontation with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who accused Him of colluding with Beelzebul, the prince of demons.

At that time, some of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had often been shadowing the Lord’s ministry, following Him wherever He went and witnessing all that He had done, the miracles and healing, the exorcisms that He performed before all the people. They had also heard His teachings and the truth which He had delivered from the Lord, and yet, instead of believing in Him as they should have done, they slandered Him and went against Him, accusing Him falsely of collusion with demons in performing His miracles and works, hoping that would discredit Him amongst the people of God.

Contextually, at that time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were seen as the intellectual elites and the spiritual leaders and guides of the people, who were highly respected and even feared by many of the descendants of the Israelites, for their very strict and strong enforcement of the orthodox traditions of the Jewish cultural and religious practices, which were centred on the Law of God revealed through Moses, but with numerous excesses and flaws which led to the friction with the Lord Jesus when He came into this world bearing the true meaning and purpose of the Law of God.

As such, due to this rivalry and the jealousy which many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had against the Lord Jesus, as He gathered and brought more and more people to His side as His disciples and followers, and the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law grew desperate and used the false accusation to try to discredit the Lord and His works, and to turn the people against Him. However, they made such an outrageous claim that in fact blasphemed against God, by accusing His works as the work of the devil.

Essentially, what those people claimed was that a prince of demons colluded with the Lord Jesus to cast out other demons, which was nonsensical as that would have meant that the evil spirits and demons were divided against each other in their efforts to attack mankind, all of us, God’s people. While those demons, who were fallen angels and spirits might have had their differences and disagreements, there is nothing that unites them more than in their desire to see about our downfall and destruction. Hence, not only that the accusations made by the Pharisees false, but they were outright wicked and blasphemous in nature.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from what we have heard through the Gospel passage today, it is indeed sad to see how mankind can be so divided against one another in such a vicious manner, when ironically the evil and wicked spirits were much more united in their efforts against us. This is where all of us need to discard our ego, pride and greed, and resist the temptations that are present all around us. The Lord has called us all to put our trust in Him, and we should unite ourselves together to Him, and overcome all the divisions and disagreements we have between us.

Let us all not be divided any longer and let us all not be distracted by the numerous efforts by the wicked and evil spirits, Satan and all those enemies of the Lord who always seek to destroy us all. Let us commit ourselves to a new existence and life in God, and as a united community of the faithful, let us all do whatever we can to glorify the Lord at all times. May God be with us always, and may He strengthen each one of us to follow Him, and may He empower each one of us to walk ever more faithfully in His presence, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 October 2021 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, a highlight of this month of October, which is also the Month of the Holy Rosary, a time when we are all encouraged to pray the rosary daily and to rediscover that love and relationship we have for God through Mary, His loving Mother and our beloved mother too. Mary has always interceded and prayed for us on our behalf, and her thoughts are always ever focused on us, her wayward children still living in this dark and sinful world.

Today, we mark the occasion of the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto, a great and decisive battle, a triumphant victory for the forces of Christendom and the champions of the Lord in the struggle against the forces of heathens of the Ottoman Empire and its allies, who sought the domination of the world and the subjugation of Christians and the Christian kingdoms and states of that time. At that time, Christendom was beset not only with these external pressures but also with many internal divisions, having suffered from the effects of the reformation that led to many leaving the Church and many in rebellion against the true faith.

Therefore, at that time, the Church, the faithful and the entire Christendom itself were under great threat of destruction, and that would have happened if not for the great intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, by the actions of the Pope then, Pope St. Pius V, who exhorted all of Christendom to stand together and asked all the faithful to pray the Rosary as he gathered together forces from the various kingdoms and realms, establishing a great Holy Alliance aimed at standing up against the great Turkish invasion forces.

At the same time, the Church also geared up her efforts in combating the heresies and divisions by the conclusion of the Ecumenical Council of Trent and its many sweeping reforms through which many excesses and previous errors of the Church were eradicated, and the teachings of the Church were reaffirmed and reinforced. Missionaries and teachers of the faith, led by the courageous Jesuits were sent to the forefront where many of those who have lapsed from the true faith were to be encouraged and welcomed to return to the Holy Mother Church, and many more still were sent to evangelise in far away nations and places.

And then, the forces of Christendom were gathered together, numerous mighty ships, sailors and soldiers, all gathered against an even larger armada of the Ottomans bent on destruction of Christendom. With the guidance and intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, as Christendom was united in the prayer of the rosary as encouraged by the Pope, the forces of the Holy Alliance met the enemy at the Bay of Lepanto in a great battle that is still remembered to this very day, as a major turning point in the history of the world.

During the battle, many eyewitnesses saw a great vision of heavenly forces led by Our Lady, with a rosary in her hand, which terrified the forces of the enemies of the Lord, and many of the sailors and slaves on the ships, who were enslaved Christians forced by the wicked Ottomans, turned against their masters and slavers, seeking freedom and turned the whole tide against the enemy, resulting in a great overwhelming victory for the forces of Christendom. The forces of the enemies of the Lord were scattered, and the faithful were saved from the destruction planned against them.

Through this great victory, the whole Christendom rejoiced and celebrated, as church bells tolled and rang all around, commemorating the great triumph which God had led His people into. The Pope proclaimed the day of this great victory initially as the celebration of Our Lady of Victory, before eventually it was changed to the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary as we all celebrate it today. We remember the great intercession by which Our Lady of the Rosary had helped the faithful being attacked by the forces of the enemies of the Lord and His Church.

As we heard in the story of the Battle of Lepanto, and undoubtedly many other examples present in our world and in our own lives, the Lord often delivered the faithful through the intercession of His loving mother, who always directed her gaze upon us, her children in this world, and through the Holy Rosary that we dedicated to her, we united ourselves in prayer through Mary to her Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. So, we ought to ask ourselves if we have spent at least some good quality time in prayer to God and also asking His blessed mother to pray for us, by devoting ourselves through the rosary.

The rosary devotion has been given to us by our own blessed mother Mary, as a way for us to draw closer to the Lord through her, as a way for us to deepen our relationship with God through prayer, by removing from us the distractions and the temptations of our daily living, and instead focusing ourselves on the Lord and His mother, through which we may grow ever deeper in spirituality and in commitment to God, and through the rosary, we may grow ever better as Christians, and also even inspire others to follow in our good examples.

Let us all therefore entrust ourselves to our beloved mother Mary, Our Lady of the Rosary, so that we may grow ever deeper in our love for God through His mother. May the Lord, our loving God and Saviour deliver us from those who seek our destruction, and may He strengthen and encourage us all always, to strive and persevere through the challenges of our lives, at all times. Our Lady of the Rosary, our most loving mother, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 October 2021 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bruno, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures we are all called to seek the mercy of God, our loving Father and to rebuild the relationship we have with Him, just a child seeking and asking for his or her father’s forgiveness. The father who loves his children will forgive them after he has chastised and disciplined them, and he will reunite them to himself, guiding them down the right path.

In our first reading today, as we listened to the words of the Lord speaking to us regarding the conversation that God has with Jonah, the prophet that He has chosen, called and sent to the people of Nineveh, the great capital of the Assyrian Empire which at that time had conquered many countries and peoples, razed multiple cities and settlements, enslaving innumerable people across the known world then. They committed great sins before God and their fellow men alike, and for that, they should have been destroyed and crushed.

That was what God told them through the prophet Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh to proclaim the imminent destruction of that city and its people. Upon hearing that, the people of Nineveh, from its great King, all the nobles, to all the people to the lowest status ones, all listened to the words of the Lord and sought to appease the wrath of God, humbling themselves from their previous pride and haughtiness, stripping themselves from their regal and proud appearances, and wore the penitential sackcloth as a sign of their regret and penitence before God and mankind alike.

The Lord then did not carry out what He intended to do to Nineveh, as He saw their sincerity in humbling themselves and in asking for His forgiveness, that He forgave them and spared them their destruction. But this angered Jonah in turn, for he has earlier on tried to escape from the Lord and His calling for him to go to Nineveh to speak the judgment for Nineveh. For Jonah, he was angry probably because he has laboured for the Lord and went through a great many things to come to Nineveh and speak of God’s words, only for whatever he had spoken to not have come true, as God spared Nineveh its destruction.

But God in truth never desired the destruction of Nineveh or any of its people at all. That is because ultimately, He still loves each and every one of His children equally, and every single one of them are precious to Him. Although the people of Nineveh and its king had committed great sins against Him, just as a father with prodigal and naughty children, he still desired their conversion and return to righteousness. Is this not the same as the attitude showed by the elder son in the famous parable of the prodigal son? Jonah was acting exactly the way the elder son behaved, while the younger son was representative of the people of Nineveh.

Just as in that parable, the Lord, Who is our loving Father rejoiced at the conversion of hearts of the people of Nineveh just as the younger son was welcomed with great joy by his father. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is our God, our loving Father, Who truly desired to be reconciled with us and for us to find our way back to His love and embrace, to be filled once again with His grace and blessings, and to walk once again in the path of His truth and to be righteous and good just as He is righteous and good.

And therefore, as the Lord Himself has taught us the Lord’s Prayer in our Gospel passage today, we ought to deepen our relationship with our heavenly Father through prayer, and not just any prayer that merely passes through our mouth, but prayers that are made with genuine love and desire to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord, to spend precious time with Him and to know Him more in each and every available opportunities. Through deepening ourselves in prayer and devotion to Him, and through a more genuine living of our Christian faith, all of us are called to be ever more faithful children of our Father in Heaven.

Today, let us all also be inspired by the faith and examples showed by St. Bruno, whose feast day we are celebrating today. St. Bruno was a priest of Cologne in Germany, who is also the founder of the renowned Carthusian Order. St. Bruno was a longtime educator and theologian, credited with the upbringing and development of numerous students who became great priests and servants of God. He was humble and dedicated to God, and when he was about to be appointed as a bishop, he renounced secular glory and privileges, choosing to leave behind his position and assuming the simple life of a priest.

He was a close confidant of the Pope and through his contributions by the foundation of the Carthusian Order, St. Bruno inspired many others to follow in his footsteps in being ever faithful to God, to be humble in one’s ways and to put God ahead of everything else in one’s life. St. Bruno is truly a great example that all of us ought to be inspired to follow, and today, we are all reminded and called, to reflect on our lives and to ask ourselves if we can commit ourselves to the Lord with sincerity and genuine love for Him.

May the Lord continue to guide us in our journey and may He strengthen each and every one of us that we will always persevere through whatever challenges we may encounter throughout life. May God bless us in our every endeavours and efforts to live our lives ever more worthily in His Name. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 October 2021 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us heard the readings from the Sacred Scriptures in which all of us are reminded of the great love and mercy of God, the compassionate and merciful love which He had for each and every one of us that He is willing to forgive us from our sins if we are willing to listen to Him and repent, turning away from those wicked and sinful ways. Unfortunately, more often than not, we are too preoccupied and busy to listen to the Lord’s words and urging in our hearts.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jonah on the words that Jonah brought on behalf of the Lord to the people of Nineveh, the capital of the great Assyrian Kingdom, which at that time was the Hegemon of that part of the world. Assyria was rising in power and they conquered many other smaller states and cities, committing atrocities and acts of wanton destruction during their conquests as attested by historical records and evidences. They grew rich and mighty over the sufferings and pains of others and this was their great sin.

As such, God sent Jonah to them to warn them of their upcoming destruction and annihilation, and yet, while God desired destruction upon the wicked that is justified because of their sins, the fact that He actually sent His prophet Jonah to proclaim this to them was truly a clear sign how the Lord still loved and cared for His people, even after they had sinned greatly against Him, disobeyed Him and betrayed Him. That is why, one of the reason why He sent Jonah to them was actually to make them to realise the errors of their ways, repent and turn back to righteousness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the truth is that God never intended for any of us to be destroyed or crushed because of our sins. Otherwise, He could have destroyed us right from the beginning when our ancestors first disobeyed and betrayed Him for the temptations of Satan. He created all of us out of His love for each one of us, and it is by His love and enduring attention to us that we all live by His grace. He wants all sinners to return to Him and to find salvation through Him, be freed from the bondage of sin and death.

However, as we have also heard in our Gospel passage today, the main hindrance to this is our own preoccupation in life, as we are often distracted by the many desires, temptations and other things in life, as well as the lies and the falsehoods that the devil has planted in our hearts and minds, which we heeded to instead of the truth and love of God. In our Gospel passage today we heard of the Lord Jesus visiting to the house of Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, who were good friends of the Lord, and while Mary was listening to the Lord and His teachings, Martha was very busy tending to the preparations and possibly cooking.

When Martha scolded Mary and told the Lord that Mary should have helped her in her work and efforts, the Lord lightly rebuked Martha and told her that what Mary had done was right. Martha was not wrong in her desire to serve and provide for the Lord, but in her preoccupation with her chores and work, it distracted her from truly welcoming the Lord and allowing His words of truth and love to enter her heart as her sister Mary had done. She has essentially placed her work and actions above her love for God.

This is why we should not allow all those distractions from keeping us away from God, and we must realise and be grateful that the Lord has been so loving and merciful towards us, all these while. He has given us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, to be the One Who would deliver us from the destruction due to our sins and evils, and redeemed us by the most loving sacrifice He had made on the Cross, as He offered Himself in atonement for our many and innumerable sins. Here we have ourselves seen God’s most wonderful mercy and love bared to us.

Today, we celebrate the feast of the great saint and mystic who had revealed to us this loving and merciful aspect of the Lord, the Divine Mercy of God, namely St. Faustina Kowalska, the original visionary of the Divine Mercy. St. Faustina Kowalska was a Polish nun who entered the convent at a young age and received for much of her life, visions of the Lord, the Divine Mercy, calling on her to propagate the devotion to the Divine Mercy of God, reminding the people of God about their sins, and how they ought to turn away from their sins and embrace God’s most generous mercy.

St. Faustina Kowalska saw the vision of the Divine Mercy, with rays of red and white light emanating from the Most Sacred Heart of the Lord, which is symbolic of the blood and water that had come out forth from the wound that the centurion lanced to check that the Lord had died on the Cross. By that Most Precious Blood, the Lord had redeemed and brought us to freedom from the tyranny of sin and death, and by His Divinity and Humanity mingled together in the person of Jesus Christ, He has become the Salvation of the whole entire world.

The devotion to the Divine Mercy gradually grew in popularity and now it has become one of the most popular devotions in the world. But what we must truly realise is that we must not leave it as merely a devotion alone, but it must be accompanied with a genuine conversion of the heart and soul, of our entire beings, that we reject sin and evil, Satan and all of his wicked lies and falsehoods that have kept us away from the Lord and His salvation for so long.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all entrust ourselves to the Lord and listen to Him, His calling for us to embrace His love and mercy, much like how the people of Nineveh, wicked as they were, decided to humble themselves before God and all men, abashing themselves for their wickedness and sorrowful over their sins. This is the same attitude that we should have as well, brothers and sisters, and we should turn ourselves towards our Lord, the Divine Mercy, and seek His mercy and forgiveness, that we may be healed, made whole and reconciled once again.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He strengthen each and every one of us to live ever more courageously in faith from now on, and walk virtuously in His path from now on. May God bless us always, and may He guide us in our journey of faith through life, with the intercession of the saints, especially St. Faustina Kowalska, our role model in faith. Amen.

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Monday, 4 October 2021 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Lord through the Sacred Scriptures in which we heard the story of both the prophet Jonah, his calling and mission to the city of Nineveh, as well as the story of the Good Samaritan from the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan. Through these readings all of us are called to realise what we have all been called to do as Christians, that is to bring forth God’s truth and love to this world, much as He had spoken through the prophet Jonah and what He had revealed to us directly through the story of the Good Samaritan.

In our first reading today, we heard the rather long account of how God called the prophet Jonah from the land of Israel, calling him to follow His task and mission of going to the great city of Nineveh, to proclaim God’s words to the people of that city, who were infamous for their wickedness and great power, as the capital of the mighty and powerful Assyrian Empire. The story of Jonah and his mission was dated by historians as having occurred in the eighth century before the birth of Christ, during the decades before the final fall of the northern kingdom of Israel to the hands of the same Assyrians.

At that time, the Assyrians were rapidly growing in power as the great Hegemon of the entire Middle East. They conquered many countries and did many horrible things through their conquests, destroying many places and displacing numerous peoples, all for their own benefits. They were haughty and sinful, and through the prophet Jonah, God wanted to remind them of their mortality and their insignificance before the power of God. In the end, what God really wanted was for them to repent from their sins, to humble themselves and turn away from their sins.

But Jonah refused to obey the Lord and instead attempted to flee far away from the Lord, first to Tarshish, and then perhaps hoping to take a ship travelling to a far away place where God could not reach him. It was then that God showed His might and reminded Jonah that he could not flee from Him no matter how hard he tried to, as a great storm came and almost sank the ship that he was in, and he finally gave in to the Lord, asking himself to be thrown into the sea, and thereafter, as the Lord sent a great fish or whale to rescue him from the sea, Jonah came on dry land and then went to the city of Nineveh as God intended.

Through the prophet Jonah, God revealed His will to the people of Nineveh, as He first told them that the great city would be utterly destroyed and ruined by God for their many sins and wicked attitudes. And surprisingly, the Assyrian King, the ruler of Nineveh and the entire city listened to the Lord and His words, and humbled themselves before Him such that they all wore sackcloths in deep mourning, hoping that the Lord would not carry out His sentence against them and spare them. The Lord saw their repentance, and then did not carry out what He had designed to do on them.

As we then heard the well-known parable of the Good Samaritans from our Gospel passage today, all of us are reminded of a similar story of how a man who had been beset by robbers had been left to die in the wilderness by the roadside, only for a priest and a Levite to walk past by him, ignoring him and doing nothing to save him at all. This is a significant representation, as not only that it was reminiscent of what Jonah did, in refusing to do something to save people in need, for his case, the people of Nineveh, while he could do so, but it also showed us that all of us are called to learn what true love actually means.

The priest and the Levite were those who were deeply and greatly revered in the community of God’s people then, and yet, they did nothing at all to help, and not even sparing a glance or effort to aid the dying man. Instead, it fell to a Samaritan, a man belonging to a race that had often been hated and rejected by the descendants of the Israelites, who reached out in compassion and love to save the man, who was most likely from among the Israelites, most bitter enemies and rivals of the Samaritans.

And not only that, but as we all heard, the Good Samaritan not only took very good care of the man and brought him to a proper lodging, but he even took the extra mile of providing for his needs and showing genuine care and concern, hoping for his full recovery and sponsorship of his treatment. Through this story of the Good Samaritan in our Gospel passage today, the Lord wanted all of His disciples and therefore, all of us to know what it truly means to be His followers and disciples, to love generously and with great compassion for those who are in need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us as Christians are called to action, to follow the Lord and trust in Him as He called on us to do His will, to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to His cause, humbling ourselves before Him and trusting in Him. We should learn from the case of the prophet Jonah and the story of the Good Samaritan, how all of us have been called by God and been given the opportunities to do what is good in this world. Yet, many times we have rejected His call and find many excuses not to follow Him, just as Jonah, the priest and the Levite had done.

Today, all of us should look upon the great examples set by a most famous saint of the Church, whose life and holiness, whose labours and efforts are still remembered even to this very day. St. Francis of Assisi, the renowned founder of the Order of Friars Minor, better known as the Franciscans and its later many offshoots, was a great saint who dedicated much of his life in service to God and to his fellow men. St. Francis of Assisi is a great role model for all of us to follow, in how we should be willing to reach out to our brethren in need, and to do God’s will.

St. Francis of Assisi was born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, the son of a very rich and prosperous silk merchant in Assisi in what is today northern Italy, one Pietro di Bernardone, who would later on called his son Francesco upon his love for France, which eventually became his more famous name of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis in his youth was exposed to the life of the rich, the indulging of worldly pleasures and excesses, and was brought up by his father with the hope that he would be the one to continue his family’s business and legacy.

However, the young St. Francis gradually came to detest the life of excesses and wastefulness he experienced, and began to seek for true satisfaction and happiness. After a stint in the military and being struck by a disease, he would come to seek spiritual closeness to God, going for pilgrimage to Rome and even joined the poor in begging for alms. Then, he received a spiritual vision and experience from God as he passed by the ruined church of San Damiano, in which as he passed by the dilapidated church, he heard the Lord’s voice calling him, to rebuild His Church.

The young St. Francis took it that the Lord was calling him to restore the dilapidated church, and he went to take some of his father’s fine silk, selling them and using them to help the rebuilding the church. However, the priest in charge refused to accept his ill-gotten money from stealing, and the angry St. Francis threw the coins he earned on the floor. Actually, what the Lord wanted him to do, as He called St. Francis was for him to follow the Lord and to do what he could to restore the Church of God, the Universal Church and the people of God.

When St. Francis tried to hide from the wrath of his father, he hid from him for a month in a cave before eventually seeking the help of the local bishop. And when his merchant father came to seek him and demanded that he return the properties that he had stolen from him, St. Francis decided to remove from himself all pieces of clothings and there laid naked before all. The bishop covered the naked St. Francis with his cope, and from then on, St. Francis abandoned his birthright and his past life, in exchange for a new life committed to God. Ever since then, St. Francis dedicated himself wholly to God.

St. Francis of Assisi then laboured to gather others who shared his vision to rebuild and reform the Church, eventually establishing what is to be known as the Order of Friars Minor, of a religious order committed not only to prayer but also ministry to the people of God, as friars who lived in the midst of the world and in a community at the same time, where they shared their property with one another in a community of brotherhood, in poverty and in joy of serving God. Many people would come to join the Franciscans, and the Pope himself also approved of this foundation.

St. Francis himself would come to receive the holy wounds of the Lord, also known as the ‘stigmata’, which appeared on his hands and side, as well as his feet, which according to tradition happened as a Seraphim came to him and showed him the spiritual vision of God. He endured the physical pain of the stigmata each day henceforth, while living a life truly dedicated and committed to God, serving the Lord humbly and with love to the very last moments of his life, when he eventually went to the glory of Heaven, carried by the Angels of God in his sleep of death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of God and remembered the examples and the life showed by St. Francis of Assisi, let us all discern carefully in what way that we can follow the Lord and His calling more faithfully, listening to His words and urgings in our lives, and entrust ourselves to Him, inspired by what St. Francis of Assisi had done in his own life. May the Lord help us and strengthen us all, and may He continue to guide us in our journey of faith through life. May God bless us all in our every efforts and endeavours, in the footsteps of our holy predecessors, St. Francis of Assisi and many others. Amen.