redemption of mankind

by

Thursday, 21 May 2015 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 15 : 1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Keep me safe, o God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.”

I bless the Lord who counsels me; even at night my inmost self instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever. 

by

Wednesday, 20 May 2015 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how Jesus prayed to the Lord His Father, to keep safe all of His disciples, all that He had chosen and called out of the world. Those who keep themselves faithful in His ways will not be disappointed, and God who is ever faithful, will keep them in His love and grace. After all, He had endured none other than the cross of all the sins of all the world, just so that all who believed in Him may be saved.

God will keep all those who believe in Him and trust in Him safe. He will bless them and guide them to righteousness. But we ourselves must also put in the effort to keep ourselves true and faithful to our Lord. If we do not put in the effort, then we have to be wary that Satan and all of his allies will try to snatch us away from the salvation we have in the Lord, through the means of heresy and falsehoods that they will try to sow in our hearts.

The aim of the devil is to sunder us away from the love and grace of God, by ensnaring is with the temptations of the flesh and the world. That was why so many people even among the faithful became wayward in their faith. No longer faithful to their initial devotion to God, they began to pursue their own paths, listening to the words of their desires more than they listen to the word of God speaking in their hearts.

The concerns of the world clouded everything in their heart, covering their eyes and preventing them from seeing the truth. As a result, they began to preach falsehoods and lies just as the father of lies had done, that is Satan. The sole purpose of this is to further the cause and the aggrandisement of all those who have given in to their desires, seeking more glory and human praise, and indeed at the expense of those poor souls who have been misled and been fed all the lies of the devil.

We have so many heresies that at one point of time or another tried and almost managed to tear apart and destroy the whole Church of God and condemn all the faithful to the depredations of evil and the suffering of hell. Yet, the Church triumphed despite all the odds, just as the Lord Jesus Himself had told Peter, as He entrusted His Church to him, that not even the gates of hell would be able to withstand the power of the Church.

All those who anchor themselves securely in the power and protection of the Church will not be disappointed, and as long as they remain faithful, they shall never be shaken. Not even the devil has any power or control or dominion over us if we stick fast to God as our Protector. There will be challenges, difficulties and persecution indeed, but none of these can bring us any lasting harm. Indeed harm will only come our way if we decide to give in to the lies of the devil.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bernardine of Siena, a faithful and courageous priest who hailed from Siena in Italy. He was a Franciscan friar and preacher, who was widely known as the Apostle of Italy, for his great and hard works, committing himself to rejuvenate the faith in the region now known as Italy, which was then fractured and divided against each other, and they were embroiled in heresies and vices of life.

He preached against the wickedness of the world and men, who had enjoyed too much of the world’s pleasures and goodness. They have given in to their greed and forgotten about their true purpose in this world, that is to bring glory to God, and bring to fullness their lives, by devoting their lives in loving service to both God and men alike. Instead, they gave in to the temptations of the world and believed in the falsehoods of the false prophets and false teachings.

Through his works, many were converted and repented their sins to follow the path of the truth of God. And this is a reminder for us as well, that as members of God’s Church, we ought to take note what St. Bernardine of Siena had done, and follow in his footsteps. We have this duty and responsibility, which we ought to fulfill. Remember, that many people still lived in the darkness of sin, and await our active response to help them to get to the Light of God.

May Almighty God guide us in this life, so that in all the things we do, we may become light for all the peoples who still dwell in the darkness, and by anchoring ourselves strongly and trusting completely in God, we will be able to help one another to find our way to the Lord, and gain the salvation and eternal life which He had promised all who remain faithful to the end. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 19 May 2015 : 7th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the farewell address by St. Paul to the elders and the faithful of the Church in the city of Ephesus. In that address, St. Paul thanked the people for their continued devotion and faith to God, and he reassured them that, although he foretold that he would no longer see them anymore, for he was going to his martyrdom in the defence of his faith.

And in the Gospel today, similarly, we heard about Jesus who was about to embark on His Passion, the very reason why He came into the world. He prayed for all of His disciples, that God His Father will continue to bless them and take good care of them as He had always done to them. He was going to meet the sufferings which were intended for us, and took them up upon Himself, to suffer and die on the cross that we may be saved.

In all these readings, the narrations and what had happened, we knew and we heard how God does not abandon all those whom He loves dearly. As long as we remain faithful to Him and cling unto Him with utmost dedication and faith, then we have nothing to be worried about, for God will continue to care for us in His own way. The saints and martyrs all went to their martyrdom and death with joy and courage, not with fear and uncertainty, because they know that God is with them.

And that was the same attitude that St. Paul showed his fellow brethren in faith in Ephesus. He was not fearful and he showed the courage he had, facing death with certainty, knowing that doing so brings about the glory of God, and it was preordained that he should die in the way so as to bring about the salvation of even more souls and the salvation of the world.

Remember that Jesus said to His disciples how those who were worried about their lives in this world will lose it, because they were likely too self-centred and egoistic to think about anything else other than themselves. And those who do not mind to lose their lives for the sake of the Lord, will gain the everlasting life and the glory of heaven. This is what the Lord had promised all those who do His will and are faithful to His cause.

And it was by their dedication and fearless preaching of the Good News, their testimony and defence of the faith by action and true devotion that they have caused so many people to be converted to the true faith, including even those who have persecuted them. The blood of martyrs indeed became the seeds of Christians. Many people had come to believe and endure the same persecution because they have seen the martyrs and their faith in God, and how true was the truth which the martyrs taught them.

Brethren in Christ, it does not mean that we have to purposefully seek martyrdom in the Name of the Lord. Rather, it means that in all things, we should learn on how to trust in the Lord in all things. Too many times in our lives that we worry about ourselves, about our lives, and about what we are to do, or what we are to gain every single days of our life. But such things do not bring us to true peace and closure in life.

Let us all learn to put our faith and trust in God, for He is ever faithful and He will give us all that we ever need. Let us grow less in our ego and in our pride, and instead grow sharper and deeper in our humility and readiness to accept the Lord in our lives, surrendering all things to Him, and trusting Him in all the things we do in life. May God guide us on this path, so that we may remain ever faithful to Him. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 19 May 2015 : 7th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 17 : 1-11a

At that time, after Jesus had talked to His disciples, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come! Give glory to Your Son, that the Son may give glory to You. You have given Him power over all humanity, so that He may give eternal life to all those You entrusted to Him. For this is eternal life : to know You, the only True God, and the One You sent, Jesus Christ.”

“I have glorified You on earth and finished the work that You gave Me to do. Now, Father, give Me, in Your presence, the same glory I had with You before the world began. I have made Your Name known to those You gave Me from the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they kept Your word. And now they know that whatever You entrusted to Me, is indeed from You.”

“I have given them the teaching I received from You, and they received it, and know in truth that I came from You; and they believe that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those who belong to You, and whom You have given to Me. Indeed all I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine; and now they are My glory.”

“I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I come to You.”

by

Monday, 18 May 2015 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the gift of baptism and the Holy Spirit which was given to the people who had turned their hearts to the Lord and who had hearkened to the Lord’s calling. The Lord in the Gospel today also mentioned to His disciples how He would go away from their midst for a while during His Passion and death, and how the disciples would be scattered. And yet, at the same time, He also promised that He would overcome the world and all the plots and evils designed against Him.

And it is through the Holy Spirit that our Lord worked His wonders. He sent the Holy Spirit to all of us who believe in Him, so that with the Spirit dwelling in us, we may be encouraged and strengthened in our conviction and in our faith, that no matter the difficulties and challenges, we would find strength and conviction to persevere through the challenges and oppositions that we would likely encounter as part of our journey of faith.

As we embark on this last week of Easter, we are preparing for the great solemnity of the Pentecost Sunday, when the Lord finally sent His promised Advocate and Helper, the Holy Spirit to His disciples in the form of tongues of flames. Therefore, since today, we should have started our preparations to celebrate this great feast and this significant event in the history of our Church and our salvation in God.

The Lord Jesus was telling us to be careful and to be ever vigilant, that if we adhere to His ways and follow His commandments and teachings, it is often that we will come into clash with the ways accepted and common to this world. And as a result therefore, there will be a few or even many times when we may be ostracised, rejected, looked down upon and persecuted for our faith and for our faithful actions and ways.

Remember that Jesus had also said that if the world hates us all, then we must keep in mind that it had hated Jesus first. Therefore, indeed, it is often that we have to make a conscious choice and decision, on whether to follow and obey the Lord but at the expense of rejection and persecution by the world and its forces, even by our own friends and relatives, or should we succumb to those pressures and embrace the acceptable ways of this world but at the expense of our faith?

Obviously, we should do the former and not the latter one. Jesus said, ‘Do not build for yourself a treasury that will not last, a treasury that thieves could steal and which moths and the elements could destroy. Rather, we all should build a treasury that lasts forevermore. This means that, rather than seeking for the acceptance of the world and risk losing our souls, which will bring us only temporary respite, human acceptance and praise that do not last, we should rather be concerned about the salvation of our souls.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together today in devotion to God, let us all be mindful of our actions and what we are doing in our respective lives. All of us have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Lord Himself dwells within us, therefore, we all have to make sure that we are worthy bearers of our Lord’s presence, as the Temples of His holy presence and His dwelling in this world.

If we do not do as what He had commanded us, then it will indeed be scandalous and besmirching to the Holy Name of our Lord. If we truly belong to Him and if we want to be counted among His faithful, then we ought to act like one and do as He had taught us to do. And by doing so, then we will also be able to spread the Good News further as the Apostles had once done. This is the commandment that the Lord had given us, and we ought to take it seriously.

No one will take us seriously or believe in what we preach if we ourselves do not practice and do what we preach about. It is only when we show what we preach both through words and actions then we will be able to convince others to follow us and walk in the same path that we had walked. This is the essence of being a Christian. Our faith is not just about ourselves and about our own salvation, but it must include care and genuine concern for each other.

Brethren, let us remember that we are called to love not just the Lord only, as although that is the most important thing of all, but we must also show the same kind of love to our fellow brethren, to our brothers and sisters. May Almighty God bless us all and awaken in us the strength and courage to carry out the Good News of the Lord to all peoples through words and actions. May God be with us all. Amen.

by

Sunday, 17 May 2015 : Seventh Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the last of the seven Sundays of Easter and the beginning of the last week of the Easter season. Next Sunday will be the Solemnity of the Pentecost, when we celebrate the great ending of the season of Easter, by recalling the birth of the Church through the sending and the descent of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and disciples of Christ.

And today we heard about how Jesus cares for all those who are under His care and protection. He prayed to His Father to bless and protect all those whom He had chosen and called, and to preserve them in His love so that they would not be lost, unless they themselves choose to be lost. This is to reflect the events that were about to happen at that time, when Judas, the faithless disciple betrayed Jesus and chose the greed of the world and money over faith to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us must understand that the fundamental part of our faith in God is to understand and comprehend the wholeness of the love of God. And this love is so great and so unconditional and selfless in nature, that for us all mankind who are used to the kind of selfish love and desires in the world, it is indeed difficult to understand the extent and nature of the love that God has for all of us.

But that is why our faith in God should be filled with the attempts by us to understand more about this love, which God had shown us, for God Himself is Love, and if we claim to know what love is, then we have to know what God has done for us. For we are all sinners and wicked in nature, through what we have done in our respective lives, be it in small or great things. And yet, God continues to love us and care for us, the love which He showed us by sending Jesus to our midst, that He may dwell among us, His beloved people and save us.

This celebration of Easter is truly a celebration of God’s love, which had been made real and concrete through Jesus, our Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God who had willingly given Himself up to be sacrificed on the cross for us. From the cross He had offered up His Body and shed His Blood, as the perfect sacrifice for the atonement of our sins, and by His Blood and His death therefore, we have been cleansed and made holy by the Lord Himself.

At the times past, after the Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt, the people of Israel made a covenant with the Lord their God through Moses, who offered animal sacrifices on the altar at the foot of God’s holy mountain, and the blood of the lambs and goats sacrificed were sprinkled onto the people, who then became part of God’s covenant and became partakers in His grace and blessings.

Remember then, when our Lord Jesus Christ spoke at the Last Supper, the moment when He uttered the prayers we heard in today’s Gospel? Yes, the moment when He gave the bread and wine He blessed and transformed into His own real Flesh and Blood? He said, this is My Body which is given up for you, and this is My Blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins and as the seal of the new Covenant which God made with us all through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Jews who cried out for His death, asking for the crucifixion of the Saviour before Pilate, the Roman governor, spoke of how they would bear the Blood of the One they had condemned to death upon themselves and their own children, without realising the importance of these words. And often, we ourselves also overlook the importance of these words for our salvation. For this shows how by the Blood of the Paschal Lamb, Christ, we have been sanctified and consecrated to the Lord.

And unlike the blood of lambs and goats of the old days and times, this Blood is none other than the Most Precious Blood of our Lord and Saviour, and together with His Most Precious Body, we all have shared in them and become partakers in God’s new Covenant and therefore, receive the fullness of His blessings and grace. And all of us Christians that belong to the one and only Church of God, have been part of this new Covenant and sanctification that Christ mentioned, since the day of our baptism.

Regardless whether we were baptised as infants or as fully conscious adults, on the day of our baptism, we have cast aside our old life and our worldliness, and either by our conviction or by the conviction of our parents and godparents, we have made the decision to reject Satan and all of his evil and wicked lies, and vow to preserve the faith, the true faith and understanding of the Lord and His ways which have been passed down to us through the Church.

And by the waters of baptism, we are reborn anew, that is to be born again in the Lord. We have shared in the death of Christ, and we leave behind our sickened and corrupted old past, and then were raised again into a new life, sharing in our Lord’s resurrection. This is the essence of Easter and why we celebrate it with so much joy, because indeed it is inseparable from our own history of being saved in the Lord.

And then we also receive the Holy Spirit and its power and encouragement through the Sacrament of Confirmation, when our faith in the Lord is affirmed and strengthened. And we share in the Most Holy Eucharist, by receiving our Lord’s own Body and Blood, and thus become full participants and sharers in God’s Covenant that He has sealed with His own Blood and His own sacrifice on the cross.

We have all been consecrated and sanctified for the Lord, and He has chosen us all, to be loved by Him and to receive the fullness of His grace and love. As I have mentioned earlier, the Lord Himself is love, and by His love, the perfect and selfless love, He has willed for us all to repent and to change from our sinful ways, into new lives blessed by Him. And this is what had happened to us all.

But then, this then should remind us of what we need to do from now on. Christ is our Teacher, our Lord and our High Priest, and by the baptism we received, we have shared the same mission, the priestly, kingly and godly nature of our Lord. Therefore, we have a mission before all of us, that Christ Himself had entrusted to His Apostles and disciples, and therefore to all of us.

We have to carry the message of our Lord’s salvation to the nations, preaching His love and the care which He has shown us, to all the peoples, that they too may realise how great is the love that God has for them, just as He had shown us. God loves everyone, and it will indeed be very troubling if we have people who failed to be saved and rescued if it is within our power and ability to help them.

Let us therefore remember that we have been marked and chosen by our Lord to be saved, and we have been sanctified and prepared by Him, for a mission to continue His good works in this world, that is to save as many souls as possible from the darkness and sin, and from the depredations of Satan and all of his forces. Let us renew our commitments and efforts to help each other in reaching out towards salvation, and let us not be apathetic to the cries of our brethren who long to see and listen to the word of God. May God be with us all and with all of our endeavours. Amen.

by

Saturday, 16 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings told us about how Apollos, the faithful servant of God and preacher of the faith told the truth about Christ to many people of many nations among the Gentiles or the non-Jews, and how many were converted because of his works.

But he himself was not perfect, as he did not have the full revelation of truth which only the Holy Spirit could give, and he received it once he was baptised in the Spirit by the Apostles, and the fullness of the truth of God was revealed to him through the means of fellow disciples who explained the truth to him in greater detail.

And in the Gospel Jesus spoke about how He taught in parables and stories, veiling from the people the fullness of the truth, and while they understood the meaning of the stories, but the real meaning behind all of them were not revealed until the time when the Lord deemed it right to reveal them so. And a very important truth He revealed that day, that all of us should ask when we need something, and because we want to know the truth, then we all should ask about the truth.

That means, as we live this life and live our faith, we cannot be passive or complacent or lazy. Otherwise, our faith will be empty and meaningless, and then, it is easy for Satan, the evil one, to plant all of his seeds of lies and discord within us. And this is how so many people fell into heresy and sin against God, because they did not know the truth or lacking the knowledge of the truth, and yet they took matter into their own hands and in their pride, they ended up subverting and changing the truth to serve their own purposes.

We are all prone to this, and it is easy for us to the many temptations to deviate from the truth. Sometimes, we are too proud to admit that we do not know about something, and therefore, we remain in our error and in the state of lacking knowledge. And sometimes we are too proud to ask because we do not want to lower ourselves and thus lose our prestige and ego.

Thus, let us all today reflect on this, on how we all should really open up ourselves to the Lord. All of us must be proactive in our faith, that if we know that we lack something that God’s grace can give, then we must really throw far, far away our ego and pride, and open ourselves to receive God’s grace and blessings, that is the truth which He wants to show us but we are often unable to grasp because of that same ego.

Let us all learn to be more humble in all things, especially before the Lord our God, and let us realise that firstly we are all sinners and then we are also lacking in the knowledge of the truth necessary to liberate us from the depredations of evil and sin. We often presume to know many things while the truth is that we know none. Let us ask the Lord to allow us to know more about how wicked we were, and indeed, how wicked we are now in our ways, and how we can change for the better.

May Almighty God bless us all, forgive us our sins and empower us with strength, courage and humility, so that we may grow ever deeper in our faith and stronger in our humility, realising our sinful ways and be truly converted to the Lord our God and walk humbly always in His ways. Amen.

by

Friday, 15 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about joy, that is the true joy we are to find in the Lord, knowing that He is with us and that He cares for us very greatly and deeply. And it is this knowledge which can sustain us to go on in living this life filled with faith, amid the ever increasing challenges of the world. We know that the Lord is with us and never abandoning us even at the darkest moments, and this is why we can persevere with our faith.

In the first reading, we read how St. Paul encountered great difficulty during his works at the region of Achaia in Greece. He was opposed by a group of stubborn and unrepentant Jews who refused to believe in God and on top of that, they were also jealous of the influence that St. Paul had among the populace, who even converted many of the Gentiles or the non-Jews to the one true faith in God.

But despite the opposition and the persecution he faced, he remained resolute in his mission and in the convictions to carry out the works which he had been entrusted with. St. Paul and all the other Apostles were guided and protected in their missions by the Lord, who we witnessed today in the Acts of the Apostles as having been protected, albeit indirectly, by the Roman governor of Achaia, who refused to judge and condemn him for the supposed faults that he had been accused with by the Jews.

Indeed, at the end, the Apostles and the disciples of Christ faced rejection and martyrdom at the hands of those who were opposed to the Lord and His ways, but this is because by the very act of such brave death and fearless devotion to God, they proclaimed by the shedding of their blood and by their suffering, a true faith that endured even the challenges and the temptations of the world.

Remember, brethren, that despite the intense persecutions of the Church and the faithful, the Church continued to grow and prosper, and many people continued to heed the call of the Lord’s word, as the saying goes, that the blood of the holy martyrs is the seed of Christians. This is to show us that, the courage of all the holy disciples of our Lord have brought us all to salvation. For if they had been afraid to preach the truth of Christ, then none of us would have heard of it and thus have a chance for salvation.

Just yesterday, we celebrated the great solemnity of the Ascension when we commemorate the great ascension of Jesus our Lord into the glory of heaven. And before He went to heaven, He placed a charge and commandment to all of His disciples, which remain true even unto this day. This is so that all of them would go forth into the world and boldly preach the Gospel and the Good News of salvation to all the peoples, so that everyone from every corners of the world may hear them and be saved.

Therefore, we are all truly called to continue the missionary and evangelising works of the holy Apostles and disciples of our Lord who had predeceased us, and yet their works remained clearly represented by what we have today in the Church of God. If we have received God’s salvation through the Church and the words which had been passed down to us, then we ought to also pass on the same faith to all those who have yet to hear them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our commitment and devotion to the Lord. Let us all not be distracted and deterred by the challenges and the problems that will face us if we are to walk faithfully in the way of our Lord. Instead, let us think about the fate of our brethren around us if we had not lift a finger and put in the effort to help them escape the depredations of the evil one and darkness.

May Almighty God bless us and strengthen us in our faith, so that we may be ever more devoted to Him, and may He awaken in us the sense of care and love for our fellow brethren, so that we may follow suit in the footsteps of the holy Apostles in guiding each other to the Lord, through devoted actions and deeds rooted in the true faith. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

by

Friday, 15 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 20-23a

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. A woman in childbirth is in distress because her time is at hand. But after the child is born, she no longer remembers her suffering because of such great joy : a human being is born into the world.”

“You feel sorrowful now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice; and no one will take your joy from you. When that day comes you will not ask Me anything.”

by

Friday, 15 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 46 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.

He brings peoples under our dominion and puts nations under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us – the pride of Jacob whom He loves!

God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!