purification of the soul

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Thursday, 13 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 11 : 47-54

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, “A curse is on you, for you build monuments to the prophets your ancestors killed. So you approve and agree with what your ancestors did. Is it not so? They got rid of the prophets, and you build monuments to them!”

“For that reason the Wisdom of God also said : I will send prophets and apostles and this people will kill and persecute some of them. But the present generation will have to answer for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will have to answer for them all.”

“A curse is on you, teachers of the Law, for you have taken the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you prevented others from entering.”

As Jesus left that place, the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to harass Him, asking Him endless questions, setting traps to catch Him in something He might say.

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Wednesday, 12 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 11 : 42-46

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “A curse is on you, Pharisees; to the Temple you give a tenth of all, including mint and rue and the other herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These ought to be practiced, without neglecting those.”

“A curse is on you, Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplace. A curse is on you, for you are like tombstones of the dead which can hardly be seen; people do not notice them, and make themselves unclean by stepping on them.”

Then a teacher of the Law spoke up and said, “Master, when You speak like this, You insult us, too.” And Jesus answered, “A curse is on you also, teachers of the Law. For you prepare unbearable burdens and load them on the people, while you yourselves do not move a finger to help them.”

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Tuesday, 11 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)
Luke 11 : 37-41

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him to have a meal with him. So He went and sat at table. The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not first wash His hands before dinner. But the Lord said to him, “So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil.”

“Fools! He Who made the outside, also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean.

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Monday, 5 September 2016 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Calcutta, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Corinthians 5 : 1-8

You have become news with a case of immorality, and such a case is not even found among pagans. Yes, one of you has taken as wife his own stepmother. And you feel proud! Should you not be in mourning instead and expel the one who did such a thing.

For my part, although I am physically absent, my spirit is with you and, as if present, I have already passed sentence on the man who committed such a sin. Let us meet together, you and my spirit, and in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with His power, you shall deliver him to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit be saved in the day of Judgment.

This is not the time to praise yourselves. Do you not know that a little yeast make the whole mass of dough rise? Throw out, then, the old yeast and be new dough. If Christ became our Passover, you should be unleavened bread. Let us celebrate, therefore, the Passover, no longer with old yeast, which is sin and perversity; let us have unleavened bread, that is purity and sincerity.

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Monday, 30 May 2016 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the parable of the vineyard tenants from our Lord Jesus Himself, Who taught it to His disciples and to the people, including the Pharisees who had been always in His way and who were trying at every opportunity to hinder Him and challenge Him and His authority during His missions and works among the people of God.

What Jesus told the people and the Pharisees were the direct rebuke of their own actions, particularly those of the Pharisees. What Jesus had implied in the parable, is the accurate representation of the situation that arose at that time, as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law rejected Jesus, the Son of God, Who was sent into the world, so that all who believe in Him may be saved.

The vineyard owner and master represents the Lord our God, as the vineyard itself is the world. Just as in the Book of Genesis, God had entrusted this world, its administration and care to men, so therefore, all of us have been entrusted with this world as its stewards and caretakers. But how we take care of this world, is reflected in that parable which Jesus told the people.

Some of the tenants entrusted with the care of the vineyard became greedy, and they refused to pay the fees and rents that they rightly should have paid. Instead, they persecuted the servants and the people sent by the vineyard master to remind them and to collect what were due from them. These represented how the people of God had refused to listen to the Lord and to the prophets and servants whom God had sent to them to remind them to turn from their wicked ways.

Instead, they adamantly continued to live in sin, and persecuted the prophets and the servants of God, rejecting them, casting them out of their cities and towns, made their work very difficult, and indeed, killed and massacred them without fear of consequences of their actions, and without the fear of God. And yet, as we heard in the parable, the vineyard owner still wanted to give them a chance and sent to them his only son.

This is the sending of Jesus, the only Son of God, into the world so that the sinful mankind may be saved. We know the famous phrase in the Gospel of St. John, speaking about how God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, so that all those who believe in Him will not perish, but receive eternal life and the glory of the kingdom of heaven which has been prepared for all the faithful.

But Jesus Himself foretold His own rejection by many people who still yet refused to change their ways or to listen to the words of truth as brought and preached by the Lord Himself. They rejected Him and persecuted Him, and they mocked His message and teachings, accusing Him with false accusations, and as we know, last of all, they arrested Him, handed Him over to the Romans to be crucified to His death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should heed this parable of Jesus our Lord, for the last part showed us all a warning if our actions are like those evil tenants who refused to obey the promise and agreement which they had made with the master of the vineyard. It means that if our actions show that we are unrepentant like they were, and if we acted with wickedness unworthy of being called God’s children, then as the parable said, that in the end, the master will come, that is our Lord will come again at the end of time, to judge all of us.

And if we do not do His will and are found wanting in our faith, then there is nothing for us save for damnation and eternal suffering in hellfire, away from hope, from the love that our God has shown us. God loves us all, and He even gave everything for us in order to save us from our fate, but we prove to be the stubborn ones, refusing to listen to Him and preferring to follow our own desires.

Let us all from now on change our ways. If we have been stubborn and unrepentant, proud and filled with ego, let us all humble ourselves and reflect on how wicked and sinful we have been, and let us also realise just how much God loves all of us. Let this be a moment of profound change for each one of us, sin no more and become worthy of our Lord! Amen.

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Sunday, 6 December 2015 : Second Sunday of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 3 : 1-6

At that time, it was the fifteenth year of the rule of the Emperor Tiberius : Pontius Pilatus was governor of Judea; Herod ruled over Galilee, his brother Philip ruled over the country of Iturea and Trachonitis; and Lysanias ruled over Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were the High Priests at that time, when the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert.

John proclaimed a baptism for repentant people to obtain forgiveness of sins, and he went through the whole country bordering the Jordan River. It was just as is written in the Book of the prophet Isaiah : Listen to this voice crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His path straight! The valleys will be filled and the mountains and hills made low. Everything crooked will be made straight and the rough paths smooth; and every human being will see the salvation of God!’

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Saturday, 31 October 2015 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

Romans 11 : 1-2a, 11-12, 25-29

And so I ask : Has God rejected His people? Of course not. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. No, God has not rejected the people He knew beforehand.

Again I ask : Did they stumble so as to fall? Of course not. Their stumbling allowed salvation to come to the pagan nations and this, in turn, will stir up the jealousy of Israel. If Israel’s shortcoming made the world rich, if the pagan nations grew rich with what they lost, what will happen when Israel is restored?

I want you to understand the mysterious decree of God, lest you be too confident : a part of Israel will remain hardened until the majority of pagans have entered. Then the whole of Israel will be saved, as Scripture says : From Zion will come the Liberator Who will purify the descendants of Jacob from all sin. And this is the covenant I will make with them : I will take away from them their sins.

Regarding the Gospel, the Jews are opponents, but it is for your benefit. Regarding election, they are beloved because of their ancestors; because the call of God and His gifts cannot be nullified.

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Sunday, 16 August 2015 : Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green



Ephesians 5 : 15-20

Pay attention to how you behave. Do not live as the unwise do, but as responsible persons. Try to make good use of the present time, because these days are evil. So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Do not get drunk : wine leads to levity; but be filled with the Holy Spirit. Gather together to pray with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and celebrate the Lord in your heart, giving thanks to God the Father in the Name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, always and for everything.

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Tuesday, 4 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 14 : 22-36

At that time, immediately Jesus obliged His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowd away. And having sent the people away, He went up the mountain by Himself to pray. At nightfall, He was there alone.

Meanwhile, the boat was very far from land, dangerously rocked by the waves, for the wind was against it. At daybreak, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When they saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, thinking that it was a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But at once Jesus said to them, “Courage! Do not be afraid. It is Me!”

Peter answered, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You walking on the water.” Jesus said to him, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water to go to Jesus. But seeing the strong wind, he was afraid and began to sink; and he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and took hold of him, saying, “Man of little faith, why did you doubt?”

As they got into the boat, the wind dropped. Then those in the boat bowed down before Jesus, saying, “Truly, You are the Son of God!”

They came ashore at Gennesareth. The local people recognised Jesus and spread the news throughout the region. So they brought all the sick to Him, begging Him to let them touch just the hem of His cloak. All who touched it became perfectly well.

Alternative reading

Matthew 15 : 1-2, 10-14

At that time, some Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. And they said to Him, “Why do Your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders? In fact, they do not wash their hands before eating.”

Jesus then called the people near Him, and said to them, “Listen and understand : What enters into the mouth does not make a person unclean. What defiles a person is what comes out of his mouth.” After a while the disciples gathered around Jesus and said, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended by what You said?”

Jesus answered, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted. Pay no attention to them! They are blind leading the blind. When a blind person leads another, the two will fall into a pit.”

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(Special – Singapore) Saturday, 14 February 2015 : Solemnity of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, my brethren in faith throughout the Archdiocese of Singapore, today we celebrate this special occasion on Mass on the fourteenth day of February of this year, as the celebration of the Anniversary of that day when the mother church of this See, that is the direct heir of the See of Malacca and the progenitor of the Church in much of Asia and beyond, was consecrated and blessed more than a hundred years ago.

In the year of our Lord, 1897, then Bishop of Malacca, Bishop Edouard Gasnier, M.E.P., consecrated the Cathedral building, which had been built and completed just over half a century earlier in 1846. This great building and house of the Lord has been built as the heart and the beginning of the great missionary work in the small island of Singapore, which had just been founded by the British after hundreds of years of isolation and being a backwater and relatively forgotten island.

In this Cathedral, we have the proof of God’s continuing guidance to the works of His faithful servants in the Church, spreading His Good News to all the corners of the earth. The salvation of God is offered to all who wants to listen to His word, and all those who receive the word and believe, they are all saved. And the work of God continues even to this day, with many of His servants, all of us included, continuing to give praise to God and carry out His works daily amongst our brethren in this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do you know why the Cathedral of this Archdiocese of Singapore was named the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd? That was because when it was first built, one of those who had great role in the establishment of that church was St. Laurent Imbert, a missionary priest who went on to become the Apostolic Vicar to Korea, supervising the missionary work in that fertile land where many people still lived in ignorance of the Lord.

St. Laurent Imbert faithfully carried out his mission, and despite the fierce and harsh opposition from the pagan Korean government, he did not fear and continued to do his best to minister to the people of God. And when the persecution by the government reached a new high, and the government offered the liberation of those they have counted for death, if the bishop was to surrender himself, St. Laurent Imbert voluntarily surrendered himself and was martyred for his faith.

In one of his last letters before his martyrdom, he explained the reason behind his decision, that is of the Good Shepherd, imitating what our Lord had done Himself. The Good Shepherd lay down His life for His sheep. And indeed our Lord and God had laid down His life for our sake, that all of us, His sheep may be freed from the certainty of death caused by our sinfulness.

In the memory of St. Laurent Imbert and our Lord’s own sacrifice as our Good Shepherd therefore we dedicate today’s celebration, just as this Cathedral was dedicated to the Lord over a hundred years ago. And what is the relevance of this celebration to all of us? That is because the readings today on the feast of dedication of a Cathedral also reminds us all that we are the Temple of God, the place where God Himself resides.

Many of us seem to forget that all of us who believe in the Lord and who keep faith in Him, having received His Most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist, have essentially the Lord Himself dwelling in us, in body and flesh, and in spirit and love. Thus, we have to remember always that we belong to God and He is in us. We must shun all forms of sin and wickedness and walk only in His path, as St. Laurent Imbert and all the other faithful saints and martyrs of God had.

May this joyous occasion and celebration be a time for us to reawaken the love and dedication we have for the Lord, and may all of us be able to shun evil and sin, and gain into ourselves the justification and grace which God had promised all those who are faithful to Him, our loving God and our Good Shepherd. God bless us all. Amen.