purification

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Saturday, 28 December 2013 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Jealousy and greed for power, as well as the fear of losing it, are just a few of the evil afflictions that affect mankind, and which many of us had succumbed to, many, many times. These evil afflictions affect us, because we have been made vulnerable to them, ever since our ancestors opened the way to sin through their disobedience to the Lord.

Today, as we continue into the Christmas season, and continue with the festivities and revelries, and all the joy and happiness that we have among us, all the gift exchanges and partying, we must not remember a great tragedy which we all remember on this day, that is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a great tragedy that is filled with sorrow and wickedness of mankind.

On this day, we remember the great and merciless slaughter of the innocent infants of Bethlehem, the city of David, where our Lord Jesus was born. King Herod the Great, the then Roman appointed King of Israel and Judea, was so fearful and jealous of the authority and power of the promised King of Israel, the true King of kings, Jesus the Messiah, that he resolved to kill this Messiah, before the kingdom that was his is usurped from him.

You can clearly see this king’s hubris, jealousy and arrogance, that even though he knew about the coming of the Messiah, he was unwilling to part with his own authority and power and give it to the coming King. He was foolish and short-sighted, one which certainly brought him down to the deepest depth of hell. You see what desperation, fear, and wickedness can bring to men.

Yes, they brought downfall to man, and they bring nothing but death and destruction. And it is often that the innocent ones are the ones to suffer, such as what happened in Bethlehem. One may ask why God did not intervene in the case of what has happened, but indeed, if we look at it again, God gave everyone a free will to follow what he thinks is best to be done. One can choose to follow the Lord and be righteous, or give in to their human vulnerabilities and embrace what is evil and wicked.

And those infants were innocent, and Herod massacred them in order to ensure the continuation of his own power and authority. He took the quick way out of problems, and did not regard even the sanctity of human lives. Those innocent infants also deserved to live. They therefore, were holy martyrs of the faith by the virtue of their innocence. They were the victims of humanity’s disdain for the sanctity of life.

Today we all remember these Holy Innocents, whose massacre is a reality amidst the joy and the festivities surrounding Christmas. And that is why we have to always remember that Christmas is about life. Yes, the sanctity of life, which is also often under attack in today’s society, especially by those championing for the culture of death.

That is right, on this day, on this era, thousands of even unborn infants or more are being killed on daily basis. You all know about the controversy, and the voices crying out for and against the practice of abortion. It is sad indeed, that even among us who believe in the Lord, the source of life, even some of us agree, or participate in the killing of the innocents, either by our actions or by our silence.

Hence, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate Christmas, never forget that we have to celebrate life, and we cannot forget about the massacre of the innocents that had happened, and what is happening even now. Life is sacred, brethren, as is it not Jesus who came into this world that we may have life eternal. We cannot profess to be Christians and yet treat life as something trivial. It is a gift from God to all of us.

May the Lord therefore continue to inflame in us, the love for Him, as well as the love for all of God’s creations, treating with honour everyone, even to the least of all, the poorest of all, and the weakest of all, to the smallest of infants. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 28 December 2013 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 John 1 : 5 – 1 John 2 : 2

We heard His message from Him and announce it to you : God is Light and there is no darkness in Him. If we say we are in fellowship with Him, while we walk in darkness, we lie instead of being in truth.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.

If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, His word is not in us. My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013 : Christmas Mass at Dawn, Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Titus 3 : 4-7

But God our Saviour revealed His eminent goodness and love for humankind and saved us, not because of good deeds we may have done but for the sake of His own mercy, to the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit poured over us through Christ Jesus our Saviour, so that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs in hope of eternal life.

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013 : Midnight Mass of the Nativity of the Lord (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Titus 2 : 11-14

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed hope – the glorious manifestation of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.

He gave Himself to us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people He wanted to be His own and dedicated to what is good.

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Friday, 20 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Tuesday, 17 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we approach closer and closer to Christmas. It is just another week before we once again celebrate the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born in the city of David, in Bethlehem over two millenia ago. The coming of the Lord as the Messiah, or the Saviour of all had been foretold long before His birth, through the revelations made through the prophets and the numerous messengers sent by God to His people, to tell them of the great joy of that Good News.

God is faithful to His promises and sought their fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah, born of the family of David, as a fulfillment of His promise to Israel, to those who had remained faithful to Him. He promised David, that his descendant will rule forever in a kingdom that is without end, and the same He had promised to Abraham, that his descendants would be innumerable and great. And not least of all, God promised even our first ancestors, from the very beginning, that He would not abandon them to the works of the evil one.

Mankind had indeed erred ever since the beginning, when they first tasted the fruits of sin, in contempt of the love of God for them, trusting more in the sweet but poisonous words of Satan rather than the loving words of God. Adam and Eve were lured into the trap of the devil, who promised them knowledge, greatness, and glory, by disobeying God. Indeed, the Lord loved them and gave them all the blessings He had intended for them, but He also set specific rules for them, to keep them away from sinfulness and thus, destruction.

Mankind were created pure, without knowing even an ounce of sin and evil. Evil was unknown to them, and all creations were created good and perfect. Yet, you may indeed ask then, why did God even plant such a dangerous tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so that our ancestors might eat from them? Would it not be better for that tree to be not present at all?

Well, brethren, indeed, although all creations were created good and perfect, it was the devil himself who first ruined the order of the universe, through his own pride, jealousy, and vanity, desiring none other than the throne of God and to supersede God in his pride. Evil therefore was made to exist in the world, and that was why, God contained that evil and prevented our ancestors from knowing them, that they would not be corrupted as the devil had been.

After mankind fell to the temptations of the evil one, God could easily have obliterated them and destroyed them, for they have followed in the path of rebellion of Satan. Yet, He did not do so, and although He punished them for their disobedience, banishing them from the bliss and joy of Eden, to labour and work hard on barren earth, but deep inside, the Lord loved us still, and loved us deeply He did.

We have known good and evil, and therefore, we have the capacity for good or for evil. And that was exactly what mankind had done all these while. We had done much good, but also much evil. And evil and sin are the thongs that prevented us from reuniting ourselves with God, for God is good and perfect, and sin has no place before Him. As long as we remained sinful and rebellious, we cannot be with God.

That was why, for a long while, ever since the beginning, God had prepared a comprehensive plan of salvation. One that He first told our ancestors and the devil himself, as a premonition of what will happen. He chose those who were righteous and just, who disdained sin and rejected the sinful temptations of the devil, beginning with Noah, whom He called and rescued from among all mankind and their wickedness in the Ark, and then to Abraham and his descendants, the chosen ones of God.

And He chose David, a faithful servant, through whom the long planned salvation plan would continue, and although both his ancestors and descendants did not remain faithful to Him, sometimes even committing things very evil in the eyes of God, the Lord continued on, as He certainly knew what will eventually happen. And He revealed part by part His plan to the numerous prophets and messengers He had sent to His people, to call them to repent from their sinfulness.

And while some did heed His call, many continued to defy Him and turned deaf ears against His words delivered through the prophets. In fact, they persecuted and rejected these prophets and messengers, and even slaughtering them. Even John the Baptist, who prepared the way for the coming of Christ, they rejected, ridiculed, and eventually brought to death.

After a long while, in Jesus, the salvation itself finally arrived. God Himself incarnate into man, to be one of us. He did this for no other reason than that first He might reveal to His beloved children, of what He had intended for them, in all its fullness, and most importantly, to be a sacrificial victim, a worthy sin offering to take away from us, all the taints of sin that separated us from God. He became the way, and the only way between us and God our Father.

After hearing what the Lord had done and what He had planned, and what He had done through Jesus, as we all know from the Holy Scriptures, now it is our time to think, and to reflect on our own actions, and on the reality of our own sinfulness.

Yes, brethren, we have received the word of God and His revelations, as part of our faith, and we have indeed accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. But have we truly lived in the way that Christ had taught us? Have we all remained faithful to His laws and commandments of love? Just as it was in the past, our world and our surroundings presented to us many tempting challenges and offers, those that many of us and those before us had taken up.

We professed our faith in God, and yet many of our actions still did not reflect this faith we have in Him. We are no better than those Pharisees and the chief priests who outwardly professed their faith and yet had no love for the Lord in them.

As we approach ever closer to the celebration of Christmas, let us all renew and strengthen our love for God, that we will be able to commit fully to the Lord and walk faithfully in His path. Let us all renew our faith in Him and profess it through not just our words, but also our actions. Let us all be courageous to proclaim our faith in God, that we truly believe in our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the long awaited Messiah.

May this Advent season be a fruitful one for all of us, that we make best use of the time to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christ’s coming into this world. Let us all prepare ourselves, that we rid ourselves of sin and wickedness, that we all be pure and ready to welcome our Saviour, that when He comes again, we will be found worthy for the eternal joy and rewards He had promised us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 15 December 2013 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Gaudete Sunday)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is Gaudete Sunday, or Joyful Sunday, where ‘Gaude’ or ‘Joy’ is the spirit of the day. We celebrate today, even as we anticipate the coming of Christ in this Advent season, the joy of the coming of Christ Himself. That is why, if you see the priests and the colour used today in the liturgy is rose, to signify this joy, the joy of the coming of the Messiah.

And today’s readings rightly reflect this nature of joy. That all creation ought to rejoice at the coming of Christ into the world. The world was in darkness and yet light has come into it, and made everything illuminated once again in the light of God. Jesus came and during His ministry in this world, He performed many miracles, healing the sick, touching the lepers, curing them, and making the lame walk, making the blind see once again.

You can just imagine the joy that these people experience, as their afflictions were removed by the power of God. For many of us, who are well endowed with excellent health and good life, it may not be easy for us to imagine the joy that these people experienced. Yet, let us take some time to think, to reflect, and to appreciate what we have around us, all of which are the gifts and graces of God.

We have beautiful environment around us, the wondrous mountains and valleys, rivers, lakes, and seas, the beauty of flowers and plants, the shining glory of the sun, the marvel of the moon and stars at night, and many other wonders of God’s creations in this world. We can enjoy all these, because we have normal and healthy vision, good eyes with which we can see all of these wonders and marvel at them.

Yet, what if our sight was taken from us? What if we could no longer see? The light that we see around us will be no more, and everything will be dark, truly dark. Imagine the suffering of those who had been born blind. They do not know what is light, because they never see light. They have known only darkness all their lives, and they do not know what are mountains, flowers, moon, stars, and others, because what they knew of them, is only what has been told to them, but they cannot directly know what they actually look like.

When Jesus opened their eyes, and light for the first time poured into them, imagine the joy experienced by those whose sight were restored. They could see again, and could marvel at God’s creations around them, seeing things they have never seen before. God did not leave them in darkness, and neither did He leave those who suffer in their suffering. Through Christ they were renewed and given new life of glory in Him.

How is this then relevant to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Precisely because we too are people afflicted, with illness. We may think that we are free from any afflictions, illnesses and defects, because externally and scientifically we are clean from any physical defects, but in fact all of us has a defect in us. A very serious and dangerous defect indeed. A defect that if we do not correct it, will drag us into eternal suffering, one that is without end.

Yes, I think all of you somehow have gotten what I am trying to say. We are all afflicted with sin, the evil of sin. Ever since mankind rebelled and disobeyed the will and the laws of the Lord, we have ever been imperfect, tainted with the defect of sin within each one of us. Sin has afflicted us, and we are ill with it. The Lord came to heal all, including all of us. And the greatest of His healing came about when He took up His final mission, lifted up on the cross with all of our sins that He bore upon Himself.

Healing us from our sinful afflictions is the greatest joy that we can ever enjoy, and this is what Christ came into our world for, His divine mission, to fulfill the long-planned salvation that God had prepared for all of us. That is also the true message of Christmas, that is the joy in the coming of the One, who took it upon Himself to be born as one of us, and to eventually be the One who brought true joy, through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

Today is Gaudete Sunday, as we rejoice in the joy of the expectation of the coming of Jesus our Lord. This is why even though in this Advent season, where we are in a state of subdued celebration, in a preparation period before Christmas, this Sunday, the colour used is rose instead of the usual purple or violet, to signify this joy of Christmas, the joy in Christ that we celebrate.

What is this joy of Christmas that I had mentioned? This is not the joy of the secular Christmas celebrations that we have outside, in our malls and shopping centres. The joy of Christmas is not about the parties and revelries that accompany it. The joy of Christmas is not about the feast and the meal that we usually have on Christmas, with our family members. The joy of Christmas is not about buying new clothes and exchanging gifts. Neither does Christmas mean Christmas trees and Santa Claus for sure!

The joyous occasions and events that I had mentioned above are part of our celebrations, our human way to show our gladness and happiness for the true joy of Christmas. And yes, that true joy of Christmas, is about Christ. It is all about Christ and none other. The Lord who came into this world as a baby, and the same Lord who would give His own life for us, to heal us, and bring us into eternal glory, is the true joy of Christmas.

Therefore brothers and sisters, as we approach even closer to Christmas, to the celebration of the coming of our Lord, have we made Christ to be truly at the centre of our celebrations? Have we made Him as the focus of our joy this Christmas? If we have done so, then well done. It means that we have gotten what it means to celebrate the joy of Christmas, and it means that the true joy of all joy, will be ours. God bless us all with a wonderful Christmas joy. Amen!

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Monday, 9 November 2013 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a great feast for the Church, and for all of us. Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was declared by Pope Pius IX over one and a half century ago, after our Lady showed herself to St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in France.

She revealed to St. Bernadette, the truth about her Immaculate Conception, that is, Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus, was born without sin, pure and immaculate, because as the mother of our Lord, it is only fitting that His mother, just as He is, free from all kinds of defilement of sin.

The Church and the tradition of the faith had for long held a view somewhat similar to the concept of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, even since the early Church, but the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St. Bernadette in Lourdes confirmed the teachings of the Church, and that was how we come to have this Solemnity, the great feast in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the mother of our God.

All of these, brothers and sisters, were part of the grand plan of salvation God had planned from the very early beginning. Ever since mankind fell into sin, the Lord had planned it all, even to the smallest of details, on how He is going to save us all. He knew everything even long before the things actually happened, simply because, He is God.

Then one may ask, how come then God did not try to stop Adam and Eve from disobeying Him by eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? He is God right? Certainly that is within His ability? If He knows everything, then He should have known that His most beloved creations would disobey Him because of the trickery of the devil, right? Then why did He not act for the sake of our ancestors?

Yes, these are the natural questions that will undoubtedly come to our minds as we read this passage. Certainly if God had prevented them from disobeying Him, then we will all live in paradise today right? After all mankind had been created and given the world as their dominion, and the beautiful Garden of Eden to live in. But sadly no, that is not how things are supposed to be.

God can easily impose His power and make things according to what we had thought, but most importantly, God gave mankind free will, and it is that free will that God has bestowed on us, the freedom to choose, whether to do something in line with God’s laws and ordinances, or to do things against the Lord and His laws.

And mankind chose to disobey the Lord and listen to the temptations of devil. They were then still innocent, pure without any trace of sin, for sin was unknown to mankind when they were created. But they made the wrong choice, out of their curiosity, and suffered the consequences. Sin entered into the world of men.

God punished mankind and the devil for their disobedience and the rebellion against His will, but He did not leave men empty-handed. For He loves all of His creations, from the smallest to the largest, and from the lowliest of all creations, to us, the most beloved ones that He created, the ones He created in His own image.

That is why He gave to us hope, by saying to our ancestors, that despite the difficulties that they and their descendants, including us, have to suffer, as a consequence for our disobedience, and despite that the devil will continue to hound us and try to trap us into damnation, note the words : “the snake will clutch at your children’s heels”, God gave us a hope.

That the woman will crush the head of the serpent, and in that sentence, lie the secret of God’s ultimate plan for salvation. That woman, as you all should be able to guess, is Mary. And in another passage it is said that the woman will bear the child, and the child will be named Emmanuel, which means God-is-with-us. And yes, that Emmanuel is indeed Jesus, because Jesus who is God and with God, has descended through Mary to be with us, as Man like us, and hence, God-is-with-us.

Through Mary, the salvation of the world was born, and through her, the final defeat was dealt on Satan and his plans to doom mankind into damnation in hell with him. For Satan was jealous of the power of God, and aspired to sit in His place, but he was defeated and cast down, and he planned his revenge on mankind, God’s most beloved creation, but God did not just let Satan have his ways, out of His love for all of us.

Mary, the woman, became the conduit, the vessel, through whom God made salvation possible for mankind. It was Mary’s complete trust and obedience in God that made all these possible. Her answer to the Archangel Gabriel showed her perfect faith in God and the purity of her heart, soul, and being. “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me as God wills it.”, such an answer indeed.

And because she was to bear the Lord Himself in her, in flesh, it is not right for Mary herself to be tainted with sin as we are. This is because you all know the intimate bonds present between mothers and their child. Indeed, it is truly flesh from the mother’s flesh to the flesh of the infant’s flesh. Therefore, if Jesus who is Lord incarnate as Man is without sin, His mother too must be free from any kind of sin, no matter how small or insignificant the sin is.

That is why today we celebrate this solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lord made it since the very beginning according to the plan of salvation, that Mary was made special, set apart from any other human, that is without the taint of sin. Is it possible for God? Certainly. The Lord definitely has the power to do so, as after all, He is indeed God. He made Elizabeth to conceive a child in her old age, John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, the Messiah.

What is important today, brothers and sisters in Christ, is that while we rejoice and celebrate the conception of this wonderful woman, through whom the world would later get its salvation from, we too should reflect on our own sinfulness, reflecting on the unworthiness that kept us separated from the Lord. And let us remember that our sins have been redeemed by the sacrifice of the Son of this wonderful woman, yes, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross as the Lamb of sacrifice, taking away our sins and replacing them with grace and blessings.

Hence, as we go deeper into the season of Advent, preparing for the celebration of the birth of our Lord at Christmas, let us seek to be prepared for the coming of Jesus. Remember that He promised that He will come again at the time of His choosing, to judge the living and the dead, all of us included, and He will pick those whom He considered worthy, that is those who had turned away from their sinfulness and look up towards God and strive to reach out to His grace.

Let us all make best use of this Advent season, and let this blessed season be an opportunity for us to be closer than ever to our Lord Jesus, through His mother Mary, the pure and immaculately conceived woman, the promised salvation of our God. Mary, Mother of God, holy and pure, immaculate as snow, pray for us, and intercede for us before your Son. Amen.

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Monday, 9 November 2013 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us in love to be His adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness which He granted us in His Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

By a decree of Him who disposes all things according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.

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Saturday, 7 December 2013 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Matthew 9 : 35 – Matthew 10 : 1, 6-8

Jesus went around all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and He cured every sickness and disease. When he saw the crowds, he was moved with pity, for they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are only few. Ask the Master of the harvest to send workers to gather His harvest.”

Then He called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

Jesus said to them, “Go to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and proclaim this message : the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. You received this as a gift, so give it as a gift.”