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Thursday, 30 January 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the key takeouts from today’s readings is that, we must not be afraid! And we must not hide the blessings and graces that God had given us, often without us knowing or acknowledging them, and that we should show to all, the faith that we have in us, rather than be fearful, or reluctant, or hiding them because we are shy or ashamed of doing so.

The Lord has given each and every one of us the gift of faith, hope, and love, and like the parable that Jesus had told His disciples and the people, they cannot be hidden in us or they would be useless and meaningless, and they will wither and die. Instead, whatever had been given to us, we should make best use of them and showcase them for all, that all who sees us and what we do in the name of the Lord, may also believe and therefore be saved.

God had blessed us all who had chosen to be with Him. For all of us who had been baptised either as babies or as adults, we have been given the privilege to become the children, the sons and daughters of God, and God has become our loving Father. This is what King David contemplated on in today’s first reading as he prayed to the Lord, thanking Him for all the blessings and graces that He had received.

Each and every one of us have been given different blessings and good things, and all our talents, our abilities, and our skills are gifts entrusted by the Lord unto us. So it is natural that first, we should be thankful and recognise the great favour that God had entrusted us with. God entrusted these gifts to us for a certain purpose, that is to make this world a better place for each one of us.

Sadly, mankind has this tendency to rejoice and forget to give thanks, and to recognise what good had been given to us. We often forget in our celebration and happiness to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. We have to remember that without God and His grace, we are actually nothing. The Lord has given us so much that we cannot possibly exist without Him. To Him we owe our life and our every breath, all that we have and all the wealth we have.

And in the wealth of all these gifts and the wonders of His blessings, lie our mission, and our duty. We are the children of the Light, because the Lord who is Light is our Father and our Creator. As the children of the Light therefore, we too should emulate the light in our actions and in our respective lives. We cannot profess as children of the Light and yet act in the same way as children of darkness.

Much is expected from us who have been given a lot, and as Jesus said, that those who are unproductive will be pruned away. Yes, much like that of a fruit tree indeed. A fruit tree is planted to bear fruit and not just for ornamental purposes. If it produces many fruits and if it is also healthy and strong, then the farmer will put even more effort into that tree, to make it produce even more fruits.

Will we then become a fruit tree that is fruitful? Or will we become a fruit tree that is barren? A barren fruit tree has no use at all. It has no fruit that can be sold and make profit from, and therefore there is only something that the farmer would logically do, that is to cut off the tree. If we are like these barren trees, we would therefore also be cast out, and will have no part of God’s grace.

We all have been given a mission by our Lord, that is to spread the love of God among mankind. In each of us had been planted the seeds of faith and love, and if we do not utilise them, they will remain just that, as seeds, dormant and dead. But if we use whatever gifts God had given us, then we will be bountiful and produce much fruits, that is the fruits of love and happiness. The Lord who sees all will see our works and our products, and He will richly bless us.

Brethren, let us therefore from now on, follow the example shown by David, and by the teachings made clear through Jesus, that we will first of all be ever grateful for all the blessings God had given us, that we may have this life. And let us also show our thanks and love to the Lord, through concrete actions and dedication of love to our brethren around us.

Let us all bear fruits, fruits of faith, fruits of hope, and fruits of love. May the Lord who sees our robustness and productivity bless us forever. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Mass of our Lady)

Brethren, bear fruit and be bountiful in all our actions and graces. That is what the Lord wants from all of us, when He told us through His disciples, on the parable of the fig tree. We should not be barren and unproductive, as the fig tree that was barren.

Yes, we are the fig trees, and we have been given much ‘nutrients’ that is the love and the Spirit of the Lord, and this love within us has grown much, and then, comes what is expected from us, that we bear fruits from ourselves. The Lord can be likened to a farmer or a landlord, and this world, His field. We are then the seeds that the Lord had planted in this world, and in time, as we are nurtured in faith and love, we grow tall as a majestic plant, and in time, bear flowers and hence much fruits.

However, it does not mean that we can just remain idle. If we remain idle and do nothing, then we will never bear fruit. Although the Lord can be likened to the farmer of the field, we too are in a sense farmers of the field of the Lord, for we have to toil and labour for the sake of the plants that are ours, that they will grow healthy and bear bountiful products.

Plants can indeed grow without assistance, and even so, they can also bear fruit, but the results are usually not good, and the plant will likely look sick and weak. There are many threats to the healthy growth of a plant, especially for crop plants, such as weeds, diseases, lack of nutrients due to barren soil, heat and dryness, and many other factors. Equally so, there are many factors that help these plants to grow better, such as water, fertiliser, insecticides, and many others.

Therefore, by using these farming examples, just as Christ had done, let us take time to reflect on ourselves and on the actions we have taken in the past. When we look back at what we had done, especially in the past one week or so, have we noticed what we had done for the healthy growth of our faith? You may ask what is the relationship between the farming story and our own real lives, but they are indeed very clear, brethren.

For the plants indeed reflect ourselves and our own nature, the faith that is in us, the faith we have towards the One and True God. The plants cannot grow well or even die, if it is choked by weeds, or being competed out by the roots of those weeds, lacking nutrients for growth, and if the soil itself is lacking in the aforementioned nutrients. In human terms, this can be equated to the entanglement of sin, temptations of the world, and an environment without love.

In this world, brothers and sisters, it is getting more difficult for us, in order to ensure the healthy growth of our faith, that eventually it will bear fruits. This world offers us too much temptations at times, for many of us to be able to persevere, and we often give in to our desires. We become ensnared by the threads spun by the devil, and fell into state of sin. We also often live in environments not conducive for the development of healthy faith in God.

This is where, we need our fertilisers, insecticides, and basically everything fhat makes plants grow healthy, strong, and fruitful. Our fertiliser is our prayers, made in deep love, devotion, and faith in God our Lord. A good prayer life nurture our spiritual development, and we will also then be made ever closer to the Lord our God. Without prayer, we will not be able to get closer to God, and we will be more prone to the power of the devil and his temptations.

Therefore, brethren, let us begin from now on, to develop an ever more intimate relationship with God, especially by nurturing a healthy and deeply spiritual life, that our hearts will be ever filled with the love of God, thus helping us to grow strong in our faith, and ultimately to be fruitful, producing plenty of fruits. Yes, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are what we will richly produce from ourselves, in the love, hope, wisdom, and faith that pour out from the deepest depth of our hearts.

May the Lord who planted the seeds of faith and love in us continue to guide us, that we can nurture what is good inside us, that we can truly be fruitful, producing the richness of love, that we will be found worthy by the Lord our God when He comes again. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 May 2013 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the one who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the law of the Lord and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but cuts off the way of the wicked.