redemption of mankind

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Thursday, 28 July 2016 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Lord speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, about He Who is like the potter working on the clay on his hands. In the same way therefore, the Lord also moulded and guided the people whom He had chosen as a potter moulded the pottery from an unappealing mass of clay into an amazing and beautiful piece of art.

In order to understand this, we should link what we know of a potter’s job with what we also heard at the Gospel today regarding the kingdom of heaven likened to a big fishing net thrown into the sea, where the good fish are gathered and kept, while the bad and unwanted fish are thrown back into the sea or are destroyed. And in this, a comparison was made in terms of gathering what is good and throwing away what is wicked and undesirable.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we make parallels between these parables and stories with our own life, then surely we will be able to spot many things that are in accordance with how we ourselves live our lives. If our lives as mentioned is compared to a potter’s vase, with the Lord our God as our potter and shaper, then indeed, we should follow His lead in His guidance for us in how we ought to live our lives.

Let us ask ourselves, that if we go out to find and buy a flower vase or a pot, will we not look for the finest and the best quality vase or pot, so that when we have them, we may be proud and may boast of the great quality and the beauty of the flower vase or pot? Then if we are clay in the sight of God, should He not then also want to make us to be the most beautiful and precious piece of pottery, one that is worthy of His glory?

But unfortunately, while God wants to make us all the beautiful reflection of His love and glory, it is we ourselves who resist such attempts by God. We resisted Him and rejected Him, spurned His love and sought other things to worship and love. Thus, we are like clay that refused to set and harden, and we accumulate filthy impurities in us, which makes us ugly and wicked, which is the taint of sin.

Let us ask ourselves, is this what we want for ourselves? Do we want ourselves to be that ugly and imperfect pottery at the end? Indeed, we as humans as we are, we have our imperfections, as well as our weaknesses. But the question is, do we embrace these imperfections, or do we rather turn ourselves to God’s loving embrace and seek His help to free us from all these wicked things? Shall we not endeavour to reject sin in all of its forms?

The lesson for us from today’s Gospel is important, because as Jesus told His disciples, the Angels will come at the end of time, and pick up the good wheat while throwing away all of the bad and evil weeds into the fire to be burnt. The Angels of God will come to us and when at that time, we are considered to be unworthy, then it is too late for us, and the fate of punishment and suffering will be upon us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us act from now on, and commit ourselves to change our ways, and devote ourselves to seek the Lord and walk in His ways from now on. Let us not lose our sight on the goal ahead, that is for us to be with the Lord, and devote ourselves, heart and soul to Him alone, that at the end of it all, each and every one of us will be good, worthy and beautiful in His sight, and be welcomed into His eternal glory. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 27 July 2016 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the readings from the Scripture tell us about turning away from our evil and wicked ways, and then seek the Lord with all of our hearts. From the first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard about the Lord Who promised His people that He would forgive them and welcome them back if they had a change of heart and were willing to leave behind their sinful ways and regret their past mistakes.

In this, we see God in His merciful love, which He is offering to all of us mankind. To the people of the kingdom of Judah, He had also offered the same mercy and forgiveness. Yet, as they refused to repent and continued in their sins, worshipping pagan gods and idols and brought profanation upon the holy altar of God. They refused to bend their knees and to obey the Lord, and for that, they suffered the consequences of their disobedience.

They have placed their bet in the world and in their own power, and they got what they had dealt with. But the Lord is always trying to give us a chance, and trying all the time to bring as many of us as possible back to His loving embrace. And that was why He gave us His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to bring to us the full revelation of truth about Him, His love and what we all should do to be saved.

And all of this is revealed in the Gospel today, as Jesus spoke of the parable of the treasure and the kingdom of God. In that parable, Jesus likened the kingdom of God with the treasure, which all of us should aspire for and should look for. The kingdom of God is likened to a pearl of great and unsurpassable quality, a pearl of such excellence and price that all who see it should hearken to it and get it.

And this is the problem which many of us have, brothers and sisters in Christ. It is often that we do not know what is the true treasure of our life. Instead, we end up looking for the wrong treasures in this life, either because of ignorance, or because of the temptations and persuasions we faced, from the community, from the norms of our world and all the other things that pushed us to seek all the worldly things instead of finding our way to the Lord.

Let us ask ourselves, what is the worth of all the money and possessions that we gathered? What is the worth of all the fame and the praise we heaped upon ourselves? All of these will not be of good use to us at the time when we leave this world behind to our judgment. Yes, we should know that we are not going to carry our wealth or all the human fame and praises with us. It is only our deeds and actions that will be our sole proof to be shown to God.

Thus, we should heed what our Lord Jesus said on another occasion, asking us not to put our trust or gather treasures for ourselves that can be destroyed by fire, or by water, or by rust or by moth and other worldly forces. Rather, build for ourselves the true treasures of the kingdom of heaven, the incomparable pearl of great quality, by doing what God has asked us to do, by obeying His laws and commandments, loving Him and our fellow brethren.

May God help us on our journey, and may He strengthen our faith that we may not stumble along the way and be tempted into sin again. But let us renew our commitment to live faithfully with our God, and strive to be ever faithful and be ever righteous in His presence. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 26 July 2016 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard about the lamentation about the kingdom of Judah, how that kingdom has been overrun and has been abandoned by the favour of God, awaiting its final days and downfall. It was far from what it was like during the glorious days of kings David and Solomon.

And all of that was caused by the disobedience of the people of God, who have grown to trust their wealth and power more than they trust in God. And as a result, they have also wandered off away from the path that God had set for them. They have disobeyed His precepts, tortured and rejected His prophets and messengers, and they have lived in debauchery and wicked life, led by many of their kings who were unfaithful.

And thus God has abandoned His people to their enemies, allowing them to tear at them and made them suffer, as the just punishment and consequences for their lack of faith in Him. But it does not mean that He entirely despised them or did not care for them, as we have to understand that what God despises is the sins that we have committed, the wicked things that tainted us all in the body, heart and soul.

God loves all of us His children. We are the most beloved and precious of His creations. Yet, it pained Him to see that His beloved children abandoned Him and chose rather to be with the false gods and idols which they deemed to be their gods instead of their only one and only true God. He loves us all in person, and He cares for each and every one of us, but it is the sins that we have committed which separated us from Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why in the Gospel passage today, we heard about the Lord Jesus Who spoke to His disciples about the parable of the wheat and the weed. The Lord is the sower, Who sowed good seeds in our hearts, as we are all the fertile lands and grounds upon which God had given His grace and blessings. But the devil sowed the seeds of division and confusion, hoping that these would strangle the faith inside of us and trap us with the snares of sin.

If we allow these seeds to grow and develop, then I am afraid that over time it will grow to ensnare us and make it difficult for us to be faithful and loyal disciple of our Lord and God. Temptations and falsehoods of the devil are plentiful, and these are the things that will help those wicked seeds to grow, while preventing the growth or suffocating the growth of the seeds of faith inside each and every one of us.

And thus, perhaps it is good for us to take note of the examples of the two great and venerable saints whose feast we are celebrating today. They are none other than the parents of the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, making them to be the grandparents of our Lord and Saviour. St. Joachim and St. Anne were the parents of Mary, the Mother of our Lord, and through their devout and good life as well as their good care of Mary, they have played a great part in the Lord’s plan of salvation.

Indeed, Mary had been conceived without sin, as the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, a centre tenet of our faith has told us, but it is equally important that she was brought up in a good family with a devout and faithful upbringing, which certainly St. Joachim and St. Anne had done for their daughter. This then highlights to us the importance of our own Christian families in the strengthening of the faith in each and every one of us.

Many of us do not realise it, but the family is a very important part of the Church, one of the strong pillars that helped to hold it all together. Without a stable and good family structure, and without a family that devote itself to the Lord and actively promote devotions and commitment towards God, then I am afraid that was the very reason why so many Christians had erred and been led into the falsehoods and the temptations of the devil.

Instead, as Christians, especially those of us in the families of Christ, each and every one of us, be it as a father, or as a mother, as a brother or a sister, as sons and daughters, all of us have a role to play in our Christian families. We are the foundations of the Church, as the saying goes that a family who prays together, stays together. If our families are run and kept as how Mary’s family was, and later on, as how the Holy Family was like, then surely there will be no problem.

The confusion and the wickedness spread by the devil can only grow when the situation and condition is ripe for such a growth, namely in situations where parental care is lacking, and where the Christian values that are supposed to be inculcated since young through the family are absent. Certainly, we do not want this to happen.

Therefore, let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord by strengthening our families, filled with faith, and devote ourselves anew. May God bless us all and keep us all in His grace, and may His blessings and graces be upon us always, now and forever. Amen.

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Monday, 25 July 2016 : Feast of St. James, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of one of the great Twelve Apostles, the chief disciples and servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today is the feast of St. James the Apostle, also known as St. James the Greater, the brother of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. They were featured in today’s Gospel as their mother came up to Jesus with them and asked Him to grant a great favour to her sons, that is to sit at the sides of the Lord in His triumph.

The attitude of the mother of the two Apostles, as well as the two Apostles themselves would serve to highlight the misunderstanding that the world often have with regards to power, influence, fame and all the things which we mankind often link together with greatness and success. But St. Paul in his letter to the faithful in Corinth reminded them all that the true treasure we have in us is in reality, the treasure of Christ, by sharing in His death and resurrection.

The people of this world by its nature are looking for good and happy things, putting their trust in accumulating and gathering more and more of what would satisfy their desires, all the temptation of power, of pleasure and debauchery, of fame and human praise, the glorification of the ego and the person above that of the suffering that others may endure due to our endless pursuits for those things.

But to be a disciple of Christ, we have to heed what the Lord Himself had said to St. James and St. John, that they would drink from the same cup of suffering and persecution that the Lord would drink, and they would share in the same persecution and opposition which He had endured from the world. To be a follower of Christ, it also means that we may be ridiculed and be rejected by the world, as our ways may then come into conflict with what the world considers as a norm.

Indeed, our Lord Himself showed by the examples He Himself had done. That by rejecting human pride and desire, He came into the world not to boast of His own power and majesty, but instead to serve and care with love a people whom He had claimed for Himself. He told His disciples, that while the way and the norm of this world is for the strong to oppress the weak with their power, it should not be so for those who follow Him.

And St. James took this advice to the heart and committed himself to the service of God with zeal and devotion. He ministered to the people of God and worked hard to establish the foundations of the early Church. He proclaimed the Gospel and the Good News to the world, telling the people about their Lord and Saviour, going even as far as the land of Hispania, now in Spain, to evangelise to the people there, where now a great Cathedral is standing for his honour, the renowned Cathedral of St. James of Compostela, Santiago de Compostela.

Lastly, as the fulfilment of what Christ our Lord Himself had told both St. James and St. John, indeed, St. James would share in the suffering of the Lord, by being imprisoned on the order of king Herod of Galilee. He was suffering in prison, and for the pride and greed of the wicked and unfaithful king, he was martyred, one of the first among the Twelve Apostles to suffer martyrdom for their faith in God.

And while his brother, St. John the Apostle and Evangelist was known to be the only one among the Twelve Apostles not to face martyrdom, but St. John also suffered greatly in his many years of life and service to the Church. St. John was imprisoned many times, and had to run for fear of his life many times, but remained faithful to the Lord to the end.

All of these showed us, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice in the glory of God’s holy saints and Apostles, that being a follower of Christ require commitment, hard work and perseverance. It will not be an easy path for us to follow if we choose to be faithful to God. If we think it has been easy so far, then we have to remember what Christ had said, that we ought to follow Him by taking up our own crosses in life and walk in His path.

Perhaps in many occasions we have allowed ourselves to let go of the many obligations of being Christians. Perhaps we have allowed ourselves to be swayed by the arguments and judgments of this world that led us into confusion and inability to discern and decide what it is like to be a Christian, that is to be truly faithful and to be committed to our calling to be one of God’s chosen ones.

Let us discern this and reflect on this matter as we celebrate the feast of the great Apostle St. James. Let us all follow in his footsteps and reinvigorate our effort to live ever more faithfully as those whom God had called and chosen. Let us all be fearful no more, but instead renew our faith in Him and be ever closer to Him and be faithful to all of His ways. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 July 2016 : 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Lord Who is calling us to His mercy and love. He calls us all into the tender care of His mercy, and showed clearly His desire to embrace all of us, welcoming us and wanting to forgive us from our sinfulness and from all of our wicked ways. But all of these will require from us, a strong commitment and hard work.

How is this so? Let us all look at the Scripture readings of today one by one, and then we will understand why I mentioned that God is merciful, and yet He is calling us to make the effort to embrace His mercy and love, or else we shall perish. In the first reading today, we heard the story from the Book of Genesis where Abraham had a conversation regarding the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the fate of the people who lived in them, both the righteous and the wicked alike.

In order to understand this, we have to understand what had transpired at that time, the events and occasions that led up to that conversation between God and Abraham. The people living in the land where Abraham was still believed in the pagan gods and worshipped the idols, and they did not know of the Lord Who is their God and Creator. But the people living in the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were committing even more wicked things which were abhorrent in God’s sight.

And they did not repent from their sins, but committed even more horrendous and abominable sins such as prostitution, irregular and unnatural sexual and extramarital relationships, and many other deeds of debauchery and wickedness which were unwelcome and disgusting in the sight and presence of God. And hence God wanted to wipe Sodom and Gomorrah, together with all who live in them, out of the face of the earth.

But Abraham, knowing that his cousin Lot, whom he knew and counted as belonging among the righteous, stayed in the city of Sodom with his family and all of his possessions, he asked God for mercy and for Him to stay from His anger, for the sake of the righteous and just ones who were living amidst all the wickedness and the darkness of the people.

And although God promised Abraham that He would not destroy the cities for the sake of fifty, or forty-four, or forty, or thirty, or twenty or ten righteous ones who lived in them, but in reality, if we asked, why then God still destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, then the answer lies in the fact that not even ten people could be found to be righteous and just in those cities.

And we know how difficult it is to walk in the path of God, when the aftermath of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah told us about what happened to the wife of Lot. While Lot and his family was being rescued by the Angel sent by God, she stopped and turned his eyes to look back towards the city. We may not be sure why she did so, but it was likely that she herself had been lured info the temptation of the life as it was in those cities, and she was reluctant to leave them behind.

And we should ask ourselves whether we are guilty of the same as well. In many occasions, I am sure, it is difficult for us to turn our back to the pleasures and the good things which this world is offering us. It is not easy for us to resist the temptation and the pull, all the offerings and the sweet lies through which the devil and all of his forces are marshalling against us in trying to lure us away from God’s salvation.

And here, it is where all of us have been revealed what we should do in the case that we face such temptations and troubles. We are indeed weak, and our flesh are weak. Our flesh and the connection these have with the world weaken our resolve and our ability to live faithfully in the presence of God. But what seems to be difficult and impossible for us will truly become possible if only that we know how to put our trust in the Lord our God.

In the second reading, St. Paul in his letter and epistle to the faithful in the Roman city of Colossae, he spoke to them regarding baptism in the Lord, and how through that baptism, all of the faithful had been made to be sharers in the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And by sharing His death, all of us have also died to our past lives, to our past sinfulness and disobedience, and a new life has been granted to us.

Yes, a new life graced and blessed by God. It is a new life where we share in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord has conquered sin and death, and through His glorious resurrection from the dead, He had broken the chains that held us down and kept us imprisoned and enslaved to the darkness of this world. But the sad reality is that, even though all these had been done for our sake by the Lord, but many people still refused to believe in Him.

In the Gospel, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and Jesus told them how they should pray, in the way that is now well known as the Lord’s Prayer, the Pater Noster or our Father, for indeed, that prayer is the perfect prayer taught to us by Jesus, a prayer of perfect harmony and surrender to God, a prayer of thanksgiving and glorification of God, a prayer of petition and desire for forgiveness and conversion of the heart.

The core of the problem with us all is that many of us do not know how to pray, and instead of genuine prayer, that is communication between us and God, we become demanding and wanting, thinking that God is a solution to all of our problems. Indeed, if we misread the intention of today’s Gospel, we may think that we just need to ask and God will provide us with all that we want. But that is not what God wants us to know.

Rather, God wants us to put our trust in Him, and leave behind our old ways, where we put our trust in our human desires and wants, in our attachments to the world and the material goods of the world that do not fully satisfy our true needs. He wants us to look for Him, to search for Him, to grab at Him and reach out to Him, by opening up our hearts and reaching out to Him, that He may find us and we may find Him.

For many of us, our spiritual and real relationship with the Lord our God has been distant or even nonexistent. We do call ourselves Christians, but do we mean what we said? Do we mean it when we say that we believe in God? If we do believe in Him, then why do our actions and words prove to be otherwise? Are we trying to bring scandal upon our Lord’s holy Name?

It is often that we are afraid to seek the Lord, even when we need His help. It is because we often have that misconception that our Lord is an angry and fearsome God, Who is to be feared and He will not tolerate any misdeeds. As a result, we are scared to approach Him when we have done something wrong, and indeed, through our sins, we have done Him wrong.

But we cannot be like that. We cannot be so fixated on our fears that we draw away from the Lord and be scared to approach Him. We cannot be hesitant either, or we will not be able to place our focus and our trust on the Lord, and then we shall lose our way and be distracted into false ways and risk damnation and downfall into the depths of hell.

We have understand that God loves us all, and by no means that He will reject us without reason. We have no reason to fear Him or to go away from Him just because we are afraid of His anger. God will forgive us but do we ourselves want to be forgiven? Or are we the ones who are actually the greatest barriers of our own salvation? Often times we do not realise that we are the ones who are most responsible in making it difficult for us to embrace God and His salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, our loving God and Father. Let us all not be fearful but instead be willing to change our ways for the better, changing from our disobedience to our renewed obedience to the Law of God. Let us all be faithful disciples and followers of our Lord from now on, and no longer live in sin, but from now on living with zeal and faith for our Lord.

May God forgive us our sins, and may we ourselves open our hearts and ask Him to be forgiven for our faults and trespasses. May all of us come to the realisation that without real and genuine effort at conversion and changing our ways, we cannot come closer to God and reach the throne of His infinite mercy and love. Let us not be like Lot’s wife who wavered and turned back at the moment of her salvation, but let us be courageous and step forth into the path that God had prepared for us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 July 2016 : 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this : Father, may Your Name be held holy, may Your kingdom come; give us each day the kind of bread we need, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive all who do us wrong; and do not bring us to the test.”

Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is travelling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.’ Maybe your friend will answer from inside, ‘Do not bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I cannot get up and give you anything.'”

“But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need. And so I say to you, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.'”

“If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if you child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

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Saturday, 23 July 2016 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words from the Holy Scriptures regarding the way of those who were full of empty words and gestures, who have no love for the Lord in their hearts. These people spoke loudly and proclaimed loudly that they belonged to God but in reality, they did not love Him but themselves. They did not do what the Lord wanted of them, and instead incited scandal for His holy Name because of their actions.

In the Gospel today, we heard Jesus our Lord Who told His disciples a parable, about how the enemy sowed weeds among a field of wheat such that weeds grew alongside the wheat and became entangled with them. If they were to remove the weeds at that moment, then the wheat would also be removed with them and they would die. Instead, the master asked his workers to remove them only after all of them had grown fully that they might be separated without killing the wheat.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that our God is very patient indeed, and He is always trying to help us and give us new opportunities and chances. But this does not mean that we should go and try out His patience, or wait until the time has run out for us. God is the master of the harvest, while the harvest is all of us living in the field, that is the world.

Then what are the weeds? The weeds are wickedness and vile things which we commit in this life, things that are not wanted by God, just as farmers do not want weeds to destroy their crops. The wheat are good and pious deeds, all the things which are done in accordance to the Law and to the will of God. Just as they are intertwined, thus all of us have good and bad deeds in us. Goodness and justice came from God, while our vile and wicked deeds came from Satan.

Now, if we have God in us, living deep in our hearts, whatever we do and all of our actions will be noticeably influenced by the presence of God in us. If our heart is evil, wicked and rotten, then there will be wickedness and evil in our actions, deeds and words as well. It is important that we keep ourselves pure and blameless, in our hearts by rejecting the lures of sin and by deepening our relationship with God.

Indeed, temptations will be abound, and there will be many challenges as we proceed on with this life, as we will be pulled in many directions and tempted to abandon this path which we have embarked on and get onto an easier and slacker path. We abandon our journey towards the Lord for the simple reprieve and to safeguard our own desires and purposes.

This is just as how in another parable, the parable of the sower, Jesus mentioned that only the seeds that fell on the rich soil were able to grow bountifully and successfully, while the other seeds were eaten up by the birds of the air, or scorched by the sun, or choked by the growing thistles and bushes around them. In this, we see how the ‘weeds’ that is those evils and wickedness in our heart can affect us adversely if we do not do anything about them. The concerns, worries that we have, as well as the tempting alternatives presented by the world have made us to be tainted and corrupted, unworthy of the Lord.

Now let us all ask ourselves sincerely in the heart. Do we want to be weeds or do we rather be considered as wheat? At the end of time, will we be considered as weeds or rather as wheat? When the Angels come to bring us to the judgment of the Lord, will He cast us out of His presence because of our disobedience and wickedness, or will He welcome us all due to our righteousness and faith?

The choice is ours alone, brothers and sisters in Christ. It is up to us to choose how we would live our lives, and how we would act in this life. Do we do things that are in accordance of the way taught to us by the Lord? Or do we rather do things for our own desires and convenience? This is an important matter for us to take note of and to reflect, lest we be dragged in deeper and deeper into damnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all see the examples of St. Bridget of Sweden, the saint whose feast we celebrate today. St. Bridget of Sweden was a renowned holy woman who devoted herself to God and to the service of the people around her, and she helped the establishment of several religious orders which foundation were accredited to her.

St. Bridget of Sweden served the poor and the weak in her society, and she engaged in many acts of charity and love for her fellow brethren, while teaching them all about the Lord their God. She would gone on to Rome in a pilgrimage, desiring to help even more people, and as she stayed in Rome afterwards, she was a prominent figure in the reform of the Church and in the strengthening of the faith and spirituality of the Church.

St. Bridget received many visions of the Lord throughout her life, and as her devotion to Him was strengthened because of what she had seen, she came to receive even more visions through which Jesus our Lord revealed to her the love which He had for His people, even though in their sinfulness and wicked life, they have rejected Him and spurned His love.

Through St. Bridget and the many other holy saints, holy men and women who have walked among us throughout the ages, God wants to call us and welcome us back into His embrace, and yet many of us openly and actively refused His call. But all these require hard work and perseverance. We have to be strong and we have to resist that pull of sin and that pull of evil and wickedness which are trying to steer us away from the salvation in God.

Let us all work together, brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us all work together to help each other in finding our way to the Lord. Let us devote ourselves anew to Him and hesitate no longer in walking in His path, even though the odds may be stacked up against us, and even though challenges are abundant on our path, we should not give up, for giving up means that we may fall into eternal damnation and suffering.

May God be our guide, and may He help us in our journey towards Him. May we all endeavour to purify ourselves from all the taints of sin, that we may be freed from the entanglement of the weeds of evil and sin, and therefore be brought worthy to the holy presence of our Lord and God. May the Lord bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Friday, 22 July 2016 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate together the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, one of the closest and most faithful follower of Jesus Christ our Lord. St. Mary Magdalene was one of the holy and devoted women who followed at the side of Jesus even through His way of suffering towards His crucifixion at Calvary together with Mary, His mother.

St. Mary Magdalene was told to be a sinful woman before she followed Jesus and became His disciple. It was told in various traditions, that she was the woman from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, and she was indeed a prostitute and thus a great sinner, selling herself out to the pleasures of the flesh and of the world. But after she had been healed from her afflictions, she had a great turnaround in life and became a devout follower of God.

In St. Mary Magdalene we saw the great transformation of a sinner who became one of the greatest disciple of our Lord, who was undoubtedly important in the early years of the Church, supporting the works of the Apostles in bringing the word of the Lord to the people, in the evangelisation of the Jews and Gentiles alike, and in the establishment of the Church.

In all these we saw how God called not those who are already healthy, but instead, He looked for those who were weak, rejected by others, those who were cast out because they were considered as sinners and unworthy, and by His grace and mercy, in conjunction with their desire to be forgiven and their sincere repentance, God made them worthy once again, and He calls them His sons and daughters.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is that spirit of longing and desiring for our Lord as exhibited perfectly in the Book of Wisdom that all of us should have as well. It is the problem we often face because we do not have that longing for the Lord, that desire to be with our God, the love of our heart. Yes, we actually we have that innate longing for the Lord, but all that have been buried underneath the concerns, worries, temptations and pleasures of the world.

We have become disoriented and lost our way, and when we are lost, it is easy for the devil to seek for us and to grab us, dragging us into the quagmire of sin. It is when we begin to sin and fall into further and further disobedience against God, a vicious cycle that will eventually lead up to our downfall if we are not careful with our actions. And indeed, unless we commit ourselves to a total transformation of ourselves as what happened to St. Mary Magdalene and other holy saints, I fear that the path forward for us is narrow.

We have to realise that God loves us all, and He truly loves all of us very dearly, even the greatest of sinners. But there can be no salvation and forgiveness for our sins if we ourselves refuse to be forgiven. After all, how can we be forgiven if we continue to live in sin and do not cease our wicked and vile behaviour? How can we expect God to forgive us if we remain stubbornly attached to the rebelliousness of our forefathers?

Therefore, as we celebrate this feast of the holy saint, St. Mary Magdalene, there are two key takeaways that we must take note of. First of all, no sinners are beyond redemption, unless they themselves have rejected the Lord and refused His mercy. But even so, secondly, it is also important for us to take note that God’s mercy and forgiveness is not something that will be easily attained, and indeed these require commitment and often sacrifice.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us all heed the examples of the holy saints and all those who have gone before us. Let us all understand that God is looking for us sinners, and He is willing to forgive us and let us enjoy His love once more, but all these would require great effort on our side, that we shed off all the things and corruptions which prevented us from being able to obey Him and walk in His ways.

Let us all be renewed and let us all rediscover that joy we have for the Lord, be happy and rejoice for His loving mercy and tender care, and let us draw ever closer to His presence, mindfully remembering our sins and wickedness that had separated us from Him, and do our best to serve our penance, that we may be worthy of His forgiveness and find our way to His everlasting inheritance and joy. St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 July 2016 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the readings from the Holy Scriptures regarding the lack of faith and the lack of attentiveness amongst the people of God who refused to believe in Him even though He has in many occasions shown His majesty, glory and truth. God had done so many good things for them, and yet they betrayed Him for the pagan idols and for the pleasures of this world.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? Why is it such that the people of God were so stubborn in their refusal to believe, even though they have seen, heard and witnessed all that God had done and performed in this world? And we may also ask why is it that God held Himself back, and not revealed His truth frankly and plainly for all the world to see? Surely if He was to show His great power among the people, then they would believe in Him and follow Him?

But then where will this lead us? We mankind are creatures who are easily tempted and lured by the wonders and goodness of this world. If Jesus was to declare Himself openly and truthfully for all to see, certainly He would have a much easier time, without the need to hide from all of His enemies, and yet, that would lead to the faithful believing in God because of their awe, and not because of the true desire to love and serve the Lord.

What Jesus wanted to teach us all and His disciples is that true faith requires a deeper understanding of God, His actions and His love for us, all of which should transcend the awe and preoccupation with appearances only. We should not be limiting ourselves to look at the exteriors, but instead deepen our own understanding and commitment to the Lord by deepening our relationship with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we are all called to be ever more devoted to God in all the things which we say and do. We are all called to commit ourselves by our dedication to the truth of the Lord, and not being afraid to stand up for our faith whenever it is called for. For many would be swayed by the persecutions and the challenges of the world, and many more would also be swayed by the temptations to turn away from the path of God and into the path towards damnation.

In this matter therefore, let us all look at the example of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, the holy saint of God whose devotion has allowed him to become an example for us all in the matter of faith. St. Lawrence of Brindisi was a Capuchin friar who was renowned for his devotion to God, and in his evangelisations, through which he was an integral part of the Counter-Reformation effort against the heresy of Protestantism, which saw many people repenting their heresy and returning to the Holy Mother Church through his efforts.

He went about to do many other works and commitments, leading the army of the faithful against the forces of the heathen and pagan Turks, successfully reclaiming territories of Christendom from the forces of evil. He devoted himself to the very end of his earthly life, and he was then even still remembered through his many writings and works through which he continued to inspire many other people through the generations on how to remain truly faithful to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow in his footsteps, and also in the footsteps of the many other holy saints, holy men and women of God. Let us glorify God and declare our commitment to Him through our actions which bring joy to the world and to all those whom we have touched and healed with the truth and the word of God. May God help us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 July 2016 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 13 : 10-17

At that time, the disciples of Jesus came to Him and said, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has, will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has. That is why I speak to them in parables, because they look and do not see; they hear, but they do not listen or understand.”

“In them the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled : However much you hear, you do not understand; however much you see, you do not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back, and I would heal them.”

“But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you that many prophets and upright people have longed to see the things you see, but they did not see them, and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear them.”