prophets

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Monday, 11 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Isaiah 65 : 17-21

I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again. Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.

I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more. You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.

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Saturday, 9 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Frances of Rome, Religious (First Reading)

Hosea 6 : 1-6

Come, let us return to YHVH. He who shattered us to pieces, will heal us as well; He has struck us down, but He will bind up our wounds. Two days later He will bring us back to life; on the third day, He will raise us up, and we shall live in His presence.

Let us strive to know YHVH. His coming is as certain as the dawn; His judgment will burst forth like the light; He will come to us as showers come, like spring rain that waters the earth.

O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? O Judah, how shall I deal with you? This love of yours is like morning mist, like morning dew that quickly disappears. This is why I smote you through the prophets, and have slain you by the words of My mouth.

For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.

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Friday, 8 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (First Reading)

Hosea 14 : 2-10

Return to your God YHVH, o Israel! Your sins have caused your downfall. Return to YHVH with humble words. Say to Him, “Oh You who show compassion to the fatherless forgive our debt, be appeased. Instead the bulls and sacrifices, accept the praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us : no longer shall we look for horses nor ever again shall we say ‘our gods’ to the work of our hands.”

I will heal their wavering and love them with all My heart, for My anger has turned from them. I shall be like dew to Israel, like the lily will he blossom. Like a cedar he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow and spread.

His splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance, like a Lebanon cedar. They will dwell in My shade again, they will flourish like the grain, they will blossom like a vine, and their fame will be like Lebanon wine.

What would Ephraim do with idols, when it is I who hear and make him prosper? I am like an ever-green cypress tree; all your fruitfulness comes from Me. Who is wise enough to grasp all this? Who is discerning and will understand? Straight are the ways of YHVH : the just walk in them, but the sinners stumble.

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Thursday, 7 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs (First Reading)

Jeremiah 7 : 23-28

One thing I did command them : Listen to My voice and I will be your God and you will be My people. Walk in the way I command you and all will be well with you. But they did not listen and paid no attention; they followed the bad habits of their stubborn heart and turned away from Me.

From the time I brought their forebearers out of Egypt until this day, I have continually sent them My servants, the prophets, but this stiff-necked people did not listen. They paid no attention and were worse than their forebearers.

You may say all these things to them but they will not listen; you will call them but they will not answer. This is a nation that did not obey YHVH and refused to be disciplined; truth has perished and is no longer heard from their lips.

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Wednesday, 6 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

God our Father, had given the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel through Moses. These laws were meant to be the guidelines of how the people of God should live. The prophets too came over the centuries, during and after the times of the kingdom of Israel, to preach and explain about the Law, and at the same time proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, who will set all things right and save the world.

That Messiah is Christ, who came into the world, the divine Word of God, becoming a humble man, born through the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. He came indeed not to destroy or displace the Law of God. Rather, He came to fulfill it, to purify it, to make sure that indeed the Law is for man so that they can orientate themselves and love God and their fellow brethren, in what Christ has taught the disciples, that is the two main Commandments of Love, that is to love God with all our being, and to love our fellow men as much as we love ourselves.

Such is the perfection of the Law that God had first given to the people of Israel, and then Christ had spread throughout the world as the Universal Law of love. In obeying and living out this Law, it is how we please the Lord, who will see us as worthy of Him. No more excessive laws and rites that we must follow, such as the 613 laws of the Jewish Law, which evolved from the laws that God has told Moses while he was on the Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.

It may seem that the commandments of love are easy to be done. After all there are only two of them is it not? No! In fact, these two are the hardest ones to be one. Because, it is never easy to love God and our fellow mankind. To truly love God is to spend our time for Him, to listen to Him, through our constant prayers, and to do His will, which is of course, linked to loving mankind, as when we do good deeds to our brethren, we show our sincere love for God. Love for God cannot be just with words and all prayers. These devotions and prayers are indeed important, but without a concrete action to live our faith, and our love, we are nothing but empty husks without love.

God wants to embrace all of us, no matter how broken we are, and how sinful we are. Better for us to be ugly and broken outside, but with the love of God inside us, waiting to break free, rather than being beautiful outside, and empty and dark inside. Lucifer the lightbringer too were once very beautiful and amazing, but inside, he has a dark pride, the pride that brought down many, angels and man alike, into the rebellion against God.

Because we are so rebellious, especially you all should know about the long story of the Israelites since their delivery from Egypt all the way to the time of Jesus, especially in the Book of Kings, how they even slaughter the prophets of the Lord, disobeyed His commandments, and spurned His love. This is why God set those rules as the Law to ensure that the people, tempted as they are, and weak as they are, and vulnerable as they are to sin and evil, through the Law, they can be safeguarded.

Nevertheless, by the time of Jesus, people had lost so much of the ideas and the original intentions of the Law that they ended up being ‘enslaved’ by the very Law that God has given them to safeguard them, through the Pharisees and their strict observation of the rules and the laws. It is through Christ that mankind was once again awakened to the true meaning of the Law, that is a Law of love that is to bring mankind closer to God, and to lead in the reconciliation with God, from the rebellion of our forefathers.

None but Christ Himself, the Messiah, and the Son of God, implemented what He preached, that is to give Himself in greatest form of love to all of us, that is His Sacrifice on the Cross. Through that love He had given us, we now have hope of life in Him, and to be reunited with God, as Christ became our bridge to return back towards the Lord.

We don’t have to give our life as the proof and sign of our love to God, but what matters is, in whatever things we do, even little ones, let us always remember to thank God, either in happiness or sorrow, in good times or bad, and to share the love God has planted in us to our neighbours, that the love will not just stay there, but blossom to let the love of God manifest in others, and therefore the world.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us begin by doing small acts of love in our daily lives, acts of love that can brighten both our days and those around us, especially those who sorrow, and those who have lost hope. Bring to them the warmth of love and hope that is from God, and kindle in them a new fire of God’s love. Let us imitate the example of Christ who had loved us so much so as to give Himself up for our sake, that just as He was glorified on His Resurrection, we too can share in that glory, in the fullness of God’s love and compassion. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 5 : 17-19

Do not think that I have come to annul the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to annul them but to fulfill them. I tell you this : as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or dot in the Law will change until all is fulfilled.

So then, whoever breaks the least important of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys them, and teaches others to do the same, will be great in the kingdom of heaven.

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Tuesday, 5 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Daniel 3 : 25, 34-43

Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud : “Do not abandon us forever, do not reject Your covenant for Your Name’s sake. Do not withdraw Your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, Your friend, of Isaac, Your servant, of Israel, Your holy one, to whom You promised to multiply their race as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore of the sea.”

“Lord, see, we have become the least among the nations in all the world, and we are humiliated because of our sins. At this time, we no longer have a king, or prophet, or leader. We cannot offer You holocausts, sacrifices, offerings, or incense. We have no place to present to You the first-fruits of our crops, and so obtain Your favour.”

“But at least when we present ourselves with a contrite soul and humbled spirit may we then be acceptable to You, more than by offerings of rams and calves as holocausts, and of thousands of fat lambs. May this sacrifice of ours today obtain for us Your favour for we know that those who trust in You shall never be disappointed.”

“And now, we serve You with our whole heart, we fear You and we seek Your face. Do not leave us in our humiliation, but treat us according to Your kindness and Your great mercy. Free us in keeping with Your wonders, and give us the glory of Your Name, Lord.”

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Monday, 4 March 2013 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Casimir, Prince of Poland and Lithuania (Scripture Reflection)

God shows us today that His love and His care is universal and extends not to just a single person or a single people. He healed Naaman from his leprosy through Elisha the prophet, and He also succour the widow of Zarephath in Sidon through the prophet Elijah, who helped her after her miserable life due to her husband’s passing. It is through their faith in God’s deliverance and power that, even though with some reservations and doubts they had, but ultimately their obedience to God’s will through the prophets that caused the outpouring of divine love to them, who were not of Israel, God’s chosen people.

Many of us today think that we are special, and that we have special talents that others do not, and many of us with these advantages think that we should be honoured and praised because of such abilities that we have. Many of us also look down on those who apparently have no such abilities and talents like what we have, and shun them, and even sometimes bully and persecute them to an extent. But today, God teaches you that even the great are not perfect, and more often than not, it is the meek and humble that will receive God’s love and blessing, and will be found righteous than the powerful.

It is not that God despises those who have power, those who have talents, abilities, and fortunes. It is rather that He despises those who misuse those power, and those who thought highly of themselves and oppress the less fortunate because they have these. Like the people of Israel, the chosen people of God, who often thought highly of themselves because they were chosen by God, but they were then at the time of the prophets drunk with power, possession, and worldly temptations, leaving God behind, and worshiped the false gods of their Canaanite neighbours.

A humble offer from Naaman to seek the prophet of Israel, the King of Israel had spurned. He even tore his robes and accused the Syrians of attempting to spy in the disguise of search for the prophet. Such is the haughtiness and pride of the king of Israel and Israel at that time, that even those who came in humility and gifts they had rejected, although they came truly to glorify the God of Israel, our God.

In their humility and obedience, Naaman and the widow obeyed the will of God through the prophets. Despite some grumbling in the beginning, Naaman washed himself seven times in the Jordan and was healed; then the widow fed Elijah the prophet with the bread made from the flour she was to use to prepare the last meal for herself and her son. Through these acts of faith they are blessed and experienced the love of God.

Naaman who was the commander of the Aramean King’s armies, lowered himself before God and his prophet and his obedience, while the king of Israel haughtily and proudly think of himself and his power, and in the time of King Ahab of Israel, during which period Elijah lived, not only the king was proud, but he even brought the people of the northern kingdom to sin against God ever more by sacrificing to foreign gods and killing God’s prophets.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Casimir, who was the crown prince of the united Kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania in the late 15th century. He never succeeded the throne to which he was the crown prince of, because he died early in life, but in his relatively short life, he had achieved much, and was noted for his great piety and love for God, and was committed to chastity in life and always was humble, especially noted was his great humility before God, and also before those who are his subjects.

He was like the modern day Naaman, but even more so because the piousness he had in his life, that made him today a patron saint of the youth. He is not of the first chosen people of God, but yet God had made him righteous, and now a saint, he intercedes for us in heaven, all because of his love, his faith, and his obedience to God.

Let us pray therefore brothers and sisters, that in our lives, and indeed in our daily lives, we can always dull the edge of our pride and our vanity, and sharpen the edge of our humility, and increase our dedication and love for God and our fellow men, our neighbours, and even those who did bad things to us, and those who hates us. Humble ourselves before God, asking for His mercy, and allowing Him to work His wonders through us, that all those whom we meet in our lives, will be able to experience God, His love, His kindness, and His grace, through us and our actions.

St. Casimir, pray for us all, pray for our youth that they will grow ever stronger in faith and love to God just as you once did. All the Holy Saints and prophets of God, Elijah and Elisha, pray for us. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 February 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

We heard today, the well-known story of Lazarus the poor and the rich man. One who suffered in this life and received his reward in the afterlife, while the rich man who enjoyed in this world, suffers  grievously in hell. Do not be confused though. God does not hate the rich, and neither that He hates those who have more. It does not mean that if you are poor then you are guaranteed entry into the kingdom of heaven.

No, indeed, what matters is the state of the soul, and how are we aligned with God in our hearts. Wealth and property can be a hindrance in our path to God, but they can also be an asset that helps us in our path. What matters is how we use them, and to whom we depend on. We have a choice, either to place our trust in the eternal and undying Lord our God, and in His love, or to place our trust in mortal man and temporal wealth.

Wealth though useful, as indeed, we cannot live in this world today without money at all. Money makes the world spinning, and it allows many things to be done. But, as we have seen in many people today, many are ensnared and trapped in the futile thirst for wealth, possessions, affluence, and wanting for more of each of them, that they plough forward thinking only on the best way to get these, and immerse themselves so fully in their career and work, so that they can earn all these. Such is the kind of damage to our soul and our being, that materialism and commercialism in our world has brought us.

Just as in the first reading, in what the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah, that these men who placed their trust in mortal and temporary things will be cursed and rejected just like the rich man. You can party all you want all day, and have a very enjoyable life in this world, but in too many cases, because of such pleasure, enjoyment, and fulfillment, we became blind to those around us, we became blind to the condition of the world outside our comfort zone, and we ignore the cry of the poor and the less fortunate for help.

We do not need to give all our wealth and possessions to the poor. We do not need to sell our homes and live like a poor ourselves, denying ourselves any property. For what is important is that, to listen. Just as Abraham said to the rich man in hell, that there is a need to listen, to listen to the teachings of God through the Law and the prophets, and listen to the word of God, which today we read and listened to in the readings. But to listen is also to sharpen our minds and our senses, to open our eyes and ears to see and hear the plight of the less fortunate around us.

That beyond all those ceaseless partying, happy life, and all, there is a way to achieve true happiness. Because, happiness that is built on these materials, possessions, and all mortal things will eventually be swept away, and although it is real happiness, but it is not true happiness. What is true happiness is to follow what God has constantly taught us through Christ, to follow His commandments of love.

To love our neighbour as we love ourselves, and to love God Himself with all our strength, and with all our being. In doing so, we will gain true satisfaction, and with the knowledge that God loves what we are doing, if we do so, we can be rest assured that we will not suffer the same way the rich man did. For the rich man had many opportunities in life to help Lazarus in life, who always present at his gate, and therefore must be well known to the rich man. Yet, instead of giving him help, the rich man lifted no finger to help and abandoned him to his death.

Indeed, again we heard about the sin of omission, that is, failing to do what we are supposed to do, and failing to do what is good, when we are able to. To sin is not by just doing what is bad and evil in the eyes of God, but we also have committed sin, if we are fully capable of doing good, and have the power and capacity to lessen the sufferings of others by sharing what good we have, but have chosen to ignore, and do not use what we have, the opportunity that we have. Such is the sin of omission, that the rich man had done, in addition to whatever bad things he might have done in his life, that made him deserve hell.

For in hell, the sufferings that the rich man suffered is in fact not physical fires and torment, as what many would have thought and portrayed as the burning hells. Instead, what is hell? Hell is the ultimate separation between God and man, where man has no hope of eternal life, but eternal death and separation from God who is everything. For God encompass everything and loves all of His creation, that it is incomprehensible to be left out of His love and presence.

Hell is when we have totally rejected God, and have turned our back entirely from Him, and shunned His divine and infinite love. The suffering of the rich man is the suffering of the soul, the internal fire, a fire that is the absence of the love and presence of God, that burns the person so greatly that they suffer. Imagine a world where you cannot reach out to God, and where you have no hope of escaping, and imagine the place where it is too late for you to ask the Lord for forgiveness, because we ourselves have rejected Him. That is the true hell.

We have the privilege today to listen to the Word of God through the Scripture, just as the rich man had the opportunity to listen to the Moses through the Law, and the prophets. Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is now up to us to choose, whether we want to listen to the Word of God, and begin to change our ways and our life, that we may live in charity and love, or to reject the Word and continue to revel in our own pleasurable life, that is not true happiness.

Let us pray for one another that all of us will grow ever more in faith, hope, and love. That all of us can do in our own ways, charitable acts and acts of love, to help those less fortunate around us, and not limited to just that, but also to comfort the sorrowful and to accompany the lonely, and many others things that we indeed can do, and we have the potential to do. Let us pray for our Church, that it can continue to do its numerous act of charity, which all of us can also participate in, for the good of our brethren throughout the world, suffering from hunger, injustice, prejudice, and even persecution. May God bless us all, always. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 February 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

The Lord, Jesus Christ, who was transfigured on the mountain, as we heard in the Gospel today, we know to be both fully human and fully divine. He is fully human, having been incarnate into flesh through the Blessed Virgin Mary and the power of the Holy Spirit, and also being fully divine, as He is the Word of God, through whom all things were created by God the Father. Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent, by the Father to us, so that all of us can be saved, and can have hope to return to God who loves us, and not be lost to Satan and death.

Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus on the mountain, because they represented the two aspect of the Old Testament, that Jesus had come to fulfill, and perfect through His new covenant, as told in the New Testament. Elijah represents the prophets, whom had come through the centuries before the coming of Christ, to proclaim His coming, and the prophecies that through Jesus were fulfilled, and all telling of the coming salvation of the people of God from the tyranny of sin, and the end of the separation that had separated God from mankind.

Moses represents the Law, which was given by God Himself at Mount Horeb, the holy mountain, to Moses during his 40 days stay there. This Law includes the Ten Commandments of love, and the other laws of the people of Israel. Christ had come to perfect this Law by explaining the Law, and based them on the very nature of God Himself, which is love. That the Law is made out of God’s love for mankind, and that mankind must not blindly subject themselves to the Law, but rather understand them and carry them out in love for the good of their fellow men.

In today’s transfiguration story, it is indeed noteworthy how, we humans prefer things that are good, and we always hope that things will stay our way, and we like to stay within our comfort zone, that is the sphere that keeps us from the harms and dangers of the outside world. Such was why Peter suggested to Jesus, that they stay there in Christ’s glory, and not come down from the mountain. To come down from the mountain for Jesus, as mentioned that He spoke about that mission to both Elijah and Moses, was to be death for Him, as He would die on the cross, but would rise again on the third day.

He chose to come down, and the Lord too told the disciples to obey Him, through the voice in the cloud, not to be tempted to stay on in glory, but to descend and continue the mission. In this case, Christ lowered Himself such from His glory revealed at the Transfiguration, and in perfect humility and obedience to God, laid down His life for all His sheep, the children of God, for their salvation. It is Christ’s obedience that allow God to exercise the greatest work of all, that is the salvation of all mankind, and the salvation of the world.

Similarly, Abram, who is later to be known as Abraham, was rewarded by God with the promise that his descendants will be numerous as the stars and will receive the Promised Land, all because of Abram’s great faith, obedience, and love to God. Later on, we are told that such is his great faith and obedience, he was willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, the son of the promise, to obey the Lord’s will. The Lord saw his faith, and rewards him greatly.

If Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son, how much more would the Lord therefore then do for our sake? That is to give His own Son, which is part of Him in the Holy Trinity, to be a man and then die so that we can live?

We too, today therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, should imitate Abram/Abraham and Christ, who do not just stay in their comfort zone, and rather do their best to fulfill the mission entrusted to them by God, no matter how difficult it was. Jesus had to face suffering and death, and Abram had to later to face the fact that the beloved son he was given to by the Lord, he had to sacrifice to the Lord. We do not face such difficult challenges, but we too have our own challenges in accepting and fulfilling the missions God has entrusted us with.

Too many times that we have failed to fulfill these missions simply because, we are content with our comfort zone, with whatever abundance we already have in this world, and in our own circles, either in our own family, with our own friends, or in our own career and workplace, and in the achievements and glory that we have achieved and made. We have to make sure that we step out of this comfort zone, as we ourselves are not Christians and not baptised just to be idle in our faith.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that we have to be proactive and do good for the sake of our brethren. Many people have need for our help and actions, and just as Coadjutor Archbishop William Goh mentioned in his recent ordination speech, our Church cannot be just a ‘maintenance church’, but rather must be a vibrant and powerful Church, that exerts its influence and love into this world.

Just like Abram, who was greatly rewarded by God out of his love and obedience to God, shall we then also obey God’s will, that is to help others around us, spread the Gospel and the Good News of our Lord, especially to those who seek for it, and to give the love of God that flows through us, to all mankind, that everyone too can become the children of God, and just like Abram, to be rewarded eventually with grace from God, which for us, is the promise of life eternal with Him in heavenly glory.

For no glory can come without hard work, and no glory exists without its sufferings and humility. The glorious Christ humbled Himself that all of us have hope through Him, by offering His own Body as the bridge between us and God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us be transfigured, and transformed just like Christ was, but not the way Christ was, rather, let us shed our old, passive, and idle path, our idle and dormant faith. Instead, let us boldly step forward into this world, bringing into it, the message of the Good News of our God, and to serve all peoples humbly with sincerity and love, both love for our fellow men, and for our Father who loves us. May God bless us today in all our works, in all our actions, and in all our dealings, that in all things that we do, we will always bring life and love to others, and to glorify God’s Name at all times. Forever and ever. Amen.