Reflection of the Bible

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Wednesday, 26 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded again today that as Christians all of us are always facing hardships, trials and struggles, challenges and difficulties amidst the lives and the journey that we embark on in this world. However, we must not easily lose hope an we must remain firm in our faith in the Lord, because it is in Him alone we can find the hope, strength and consolation, as well as the assurance of eternal life and true joy and glory. We must always strengthen our faith and trust in the Lord, wholeheartedly believing that He, our Lord and Saviour, the Bread of Life, has the power to help us and to raise us up with Him, and that He will always be with us, never abandoning us even in our darkest and most difficult moments.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the persecutions and hardships faced by the earliest Christian community and the Church, in how the faithful were persecuted, arrested and encountered a lot of opposition and challenges especially from the Jewish community and the leaders, namely the members of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council. One of the seven Deacons appointed by the Apostles to serve the Church had been put to death by the mob, as St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, spoke courageously in the defence of the Christian faith and truth, amidst all the falsehoods and false testimony of the people whom they had bribed and employed to accuse St. Stephen wrongly of crimes and misdeeds against the Lord and against God’s people. St. Stephen defended his faith courageously, but he was stoned to death by the crowd.

As we then heard from that same passage, we heard of the beginning of a time of persecution against Christians, which the Sanhedrin treated as a wayward sect and misguided people, led astray by the False Messiah, Whom they believed to be Jesus Christ, the Man Whom they had arrested, handed over to the Romans, and condemned to death because of His supposed blasphemous acts against the Jewish Law and traditions. This was in fact due to the stubbornness of many of the members of the Sanhedrin, who belonged to the group of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as well as the Sadducees, each of whom had gripes and issues in opposing the works and teachngs of the Lord. Each one of them had in truth been mistaken and misguided in their way of observing the Law of God and in their way of life, but they adamantly and stubbornly believed that their beliefs were the right ones.

Those misconceptions and prideful attitude was the reason why many of them hardened their hearts and minds, refusing to believe in the Lord and in His truth despite having witnessed, seen, heard and experienced many of His miracles and words of great Wisdom, unparalleled and unprecedented. Some of them even associated what the Lord had done with the work of the demons, and accused Him of colluding with the demons, or in blasphemy against God. All of those attitudes and misunderstandings, stubbornness and attachment to worldly glory, power and desire ultimately prevented many from among the ranks of the Sanhedrin from coming to believe in the Lord. As we then heard about Saul, the future St. Paul, who was a young Pharisee filled with great and fiery zeal, in persecuting, arresting and torturing the followers of the Lord, the same kind of attitude, prejudices and wickedness was shown in the actions of the young Saul.

Yet, despite all the hardships and challenges faced by the followers of the Lord, most of them remained firm in their faith and endured faithfully the sufferings that they had faced. The Lord has also kept them in His providence and protection, leading them through their difficult times and sending them encouragement and strength to persevere through those challenges. He Himself has foretold all these to His disciples and followers, warning all of them that if the world had opposed, persecuted and treated Him as such, then His disciples and followers must also be prepared that they would be treated in a similar way as well. But He assured them that He would give them guidance and strength, and through the Holy Spirit that He sent to His Church, despite the trials and challenges that His followers had to face, but the Church still thrived and grew rapidly throughout those early years. Not only that, but even Saul himself was converted, and called to become one of the Lord’s greatest servants, as St. Paul the Apostle later in his life.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the continuation of the discourse of the Bread of Life by the Lord Jesus to the assembled people, as He highlighted to them, how He is the Bread of Life Who has come down from Heaven, which was in truth a premonition and advanced revelation of what He would do for the sake of everyone, for the salvation of the whole world. As the Bread of Life, He would be broken down and given up for everyone to partake, much as how earlier on He had fed the multitudes of thousands of people who had no food with the multiplication of loaves. This time, He would feed them with His own Body, the Most Precious Body offered, broken and given to all of His people, and His own Most Precious Blood, also offered and outpoured for the salvation of the whole world, for all the people of God. He spoke to them revealing all of this truth, which the disciples likely would not have realised until everything had happened as the Lord Himself foretold it.

Through this sharing of His Most Precious Body and Blood, the Lord instituted the Eucharist to us, and bringing us together through His sacrifice, suffering and death on the Cross, and ultimately His Resurrection, into the Communion of the faithful, uniting all of us into His Body, the Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. That is why the Eucharist we receive, which we believe is truly the Real Presence of the Lord in His Most Precious Body and Blood, is called Holy Communion, and only those who have lived and shared faithfully the full teachings of our Christian faith can partake in this most sacred gift that the Lord has granted to all of us. Through this Communion, uniting all of us in the Church, both those in this world, all of us, and all those who had gone before us, the Lord has shown us that He has always been with us, and He never abandoned us at all, even in our darkest moments and challenging times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are reminded of this fact today, and as we continue progressing through this most holy and blessed season of Easter, let us all therefore do our part as the Christian faithful, the members of God’s own Body, the Church of God, to be evangelising and missionary disciples, righteous and good, faithful and just in all of our works, actions and deeds. Let us all be good role models and examples of our faith in our every words and actions, as well as in all of our interactions with one another. May the Risen Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue to bless and guide us all, and strengthen us so that we may persevere faithfully and continue to commit ourselves to His path, much as how our early Christian predecessors had done. May God be with His Church always, and bless its every works and good efforts. Amen.

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Tuesday, 25 April 2023 : Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this day all of us celebrate the great Feast of one of the Four Evangelists, namely St. Mark the Evangelist, one of the writers of the Four Holy Gospels. According to Apostolic tradition, St. Mark was one of the disciples of the Lord, counted among the Seventy Disciples that the Lord sent forth to perform His work and ministry among the people, preceding His own coming and works. St. Mark followed the Lord with the other disciples and likely experienced many of the things that the Apostles had experienced themselves, in encountering the Risen Lord and in journeying together with the Apostles in their early missionary works. St. Mark was of course most well-known for his efforts in compiling together the accounts and the details of the Lord’s ministry as told and revealed by the Apostles, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote his Gospel, directed in particular to the Gentiles.

St. Mark would accompany the Apostles like St. Peter, St. Paul and others in their missionary work, according to the Acts of the Apostles and other Church and Apostolic tradition and histories. He assisted their ministry and evangelising work, and was eventually made a bishop, in becoming one of the successors of the Apostles. He went to Egypt, to the great city of Alexandria, and there he helped to establish a strong and flourishing Christian community, becoming the very first Bishop of Alexandria. He would become the first in the long line of the Bishops and eventually Patriarchs of Alexandria, one of the most senior leader throughout all Christendom. All of those faithful bishops and patriarchs traced their ministry and work back to St. Mark the Evangelist. This faithful servant of God dedicated himself and the rest of his life and work to glorify the Lord and becoming a most faithful and dedicated shepherd to his flock.

Through his efforts and works, the Church in Alexandria grew rapidly and wonderfully, already primed for that due to its large Jewish diaspora community and history of harmony and integration with the non-Jewish people or the Gentiles. From this, the Church’s efforts and works in reaching out to more and more of the people of God proliferated and grew rapidly, as many Christians, missionaries and others spread all throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, planting the seeds of the Christian faith in numerous areas and increasing the already rapidly growing rate of the early Christian Church and communities. Through the dedication showed by St. Mark and also the other disciples and missionaries, the Church continued to grow and to proliferate in its reach and size, and despite the many challenges, trials and persecutions it faced, it kept on growing, encouraged by the courage and the bravery of the Apostles and their successors, including St. Mark himself.

With regards to St. Mark, according to the Apostolic tradition, he was martyred during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero after many years of ministry and work for the greater glory of God. It was at about that same time, that the first of the very intense persecution by the Roman state and institutions were assembled against the Christian Church and all the faithful, directed by the Emperor Nero who blamed the Christians for many things, especially that of the Great Fire of Rome, which ironically, according to historical evidences, was in fact done by Nero himself. It was a time when many of the leaders of the Church endured great sufferings and martyrdom together with many among the Christian faithful, and this included St. Mark himself. Yet, despite that, the courage and dedication which St. Mark and the other dedicated servants of God had shown continued to inspire many even long after they had gone.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard in our Scripture passages today, from the Epistle of St. Peter and from the Gospel of St. Mark itself, we heard the calling and the reminder for all of us the Christian faithful of the duty, obligation and calling that we have as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord, such that in all that we say and do, in our every words, actions and deeds, we should always do what is right and just before the Lord, and be humble and obedient to the will of God. We should let the Lord lead and guide us in our path, and allow His Wisdom and the Holy Spirit to guide our steps, and to encourage and strengthen us so that we do not end up falling into the traps and downfall due to our sins and inability to resist the temptations to sin. All of us should our best to strive to be faithful and to obey the Lord’s will, to do His Law and commandments even amidst the trials and challenges that may face us in our journey of life as Christians.

As we ourselves have heard from the Gospel reading passage today, the Lord Himself has said that He will always be by His disciples and all those who are faithful to Him. He has given us all various gifts, talents and opportunities, and we ought to use all of these for the good of the Church and for the people of God. The choice is really up to us whether we want to follow the Lord and to be faithful to Him, or whether we choose to follow our own steps and path, in doing whatever catches our desires and whim. The question is, what is our Christian faith is to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Is it just about going to Church on Sundays and attend the Mass and that is all? And some of us did not even attend the Holy Mass at all, preferring to make excuses and find ways to skip our obligations as Christians when we were perfectly capable of doing what we have been asked to do.

If that is what had actually happened to us and our lives, then we really should be ashamed, brothers and sisters in Christ. And when I said ashamed, I really mean it, as we should really see again the way how the early Church fathers, the Apostles, and those courageous missionaries and servants of God, like St. Mark the Evangelist had lived their lives most virtuously, striving to do what the Lord their God has asked and commanded them to do. They gave so much for the Lord and for His people, dedicating time and effort, and even suffered and died, and even gave their lives for the sake of the Lord. How about us then? Have we endured suffering and trials for the sake of the Lord? Or do we rather flee and abandon the Lord whenever things are not favourable to us, and come seeking Him only when we have need of Him, or when we want Him to do something for us?

That is what we should spend some time reflecting on this day, as we rejoice together on this Feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist. Let us all follow in his footsteps and in the good examples and inspiration that he and the many other disciples of the Lord, the faithful missionaries, holy men and women of God have given us. May the Risen Lord, our God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue guiding and strengthening us, so that all of us may come ever closer to the Holy Presence of God, and become ever more worthy and righteous in our way of life. May God bless us all, our every good works and efforts, our every ministry and interactions so that we may truly become great and wonderful beacons of His light and truth. St. Mark the Evangelist, Holy Servant of God, devoted to the end, pray for us all sinners. Amen.

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Monday, 24 April 2023 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of our calling as Christians to be the disciples and followers of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen Messiah, and to proclaim His Resurrection, His truth and love to all the people of all the nations. We are also reminded that in doing our mission and calling, in our ministry and life as Christians, there may be hurdles, trials and obstacles facing us, and yet we have to stay strong and devout in faith, and we should not lose faith and hope because the Lord is and has always, and will always ever be with us, journeying with us by our side. All of us are reminded that we all should stay by the Lord and remain truly faithful to Him, and to trust always in His guidance and providence for us. We must believe in Him and follow Him, even if things in life go against us, and that is what we are being reminded this day.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the moment when St. Stephen, one of the first seven holy Deacons of the Church, appointed to assist in the works and mission of the Church, was confronted by those who opposed the Lord and His teachings, as they debated about the things which St. Stephen has been proclaiming and teaching to the people, regarding the truth and the Good News of the Lord, as well as His Resurrection from the dead. St. Stephen spoke with great wisdom, courage and strength despite all the challenges and the plotting against him. His opponents even bribed people to give false testimonies and accusations against St. Stephen, twisting the truth and the words that the Lord Himself has spoken, accusing St. Stephen for spreading the teachings of the Lord Jesus among the people.

Those people were trying hard to drive the sentiments of the assembly and the members of the Sanhedrin to go against St. Stephen, with efforts and attempts to discredit the servant of God and to persecute him. However, no matter whatever accusations and falsehoods they tried to blame on him, St. Stephen, empowered, strengthened and guided by the Holy Spirit, full of the Wisdom of God, broke through all of their arguments and wicked falsehoods, and he refuted all of their nonsense arguments and lies. As mentioned in the first reading passage today, St. Stephen’s face appeared before all the assembled people like as if the face of an Angel, a manifestation of the great strength, power and Wisdom that the Lord has bestowed upon Him through the Holy Spirit. As mentioned, this was one proof of how the Lord never abandoned His faithful ones in their hour of need.

Then in our Gospel Reading, we heard of the people who have been fed by the Lord in the well-known miracle of the feeding of the five thousand men and many thousands of others, who sought for the Lord and wanted to find out more from Him. The Lord told them how they sought Him for ulterior motives, as they were happy that they were fed and taken care of, and yet they have not yet had strong and genuine faith in them. This was because they sought for benefits and gains for themselves in their following and adherence to the Lord. But true faith requires total commitment and trust in the Lord, even amidst challenges and trials, oppression and tribulation, struggles and difficulties, just like how St. Stephen who faced such struggles and hardships and yet remained true to his commitment. Otherwise, we may find it really difficult to resist the temptations of sin in our daily living.

That is why we have to grow in faith and trust in the Lord, and we have to remain firmly rooted in Him. We have to endure the trials and tribulation, challenges and hardships that may come our way, or else, like how the disciples initially reacted upon seeing their Lord and Master being betrayed and arrested, they lost heart and abandoned Him, all fleeing to safeguard their own lives and to take care of their own well-being. Their faith back then were not strong enough and they were still driven by their own personal desires and wishes rather than true and genuine faith in the Lord, and hence, when persecutions came their way, their faith wavered and they chose to flee and abandon the Lord instead of persevering in faith. This is a reminder then that we should not waver in our faith, and continue to endure the challenges and trials, and help one another in doing so.

As we continue to progress through this season of Easter, let us all be good role models and live our lives faithfully each day, living as faithful Christians, as joyful Easter people, a people of the Resurrection, a people of faith and devotion to God. Let us all inspire our fellow brothers and sisters, particularly all those who are still struggling with their faith, and those enduring a lot of trials and challenges in being Christians in their respective communities and places. All of us can be sources of great inspiration for them and for one another just as the Apostles and the many other disciples of the Lord, the Church fathers and also the innumerable saints and martyrs, our holy predecessors had shown us. We should remain firm in our faith and put our trust in the Lord as they all had done.

Today, we have yet another saint, a holy man of God whose feast we celebrate and whose life can be yet another source of inspiration for us. St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen was a great priest and servant of God, known for his piety and holiness, as well as dedication in serving God and His people. He spent a lot of time caring for the people around him, even before becoming a priest, and later on, as member of the Capuchin Order, he spent even more effort and time in ministering to God’s people, and also to all those who have lapsed from their faith, and all those who have apostatised and abandoned their Christian faith for various heresies existing then. He faced many enemies and all those who openly threatened to kill him for his works and efforts, just as what St. Stephen had experienced, but St. Fidelis did not let this to deter him or to make him afraid. He kept on doing his works, until he was martyred in the midst of his ministry, faithful to the very end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore by the examples showed by the faithful servants of God, the many saints and martyrs who have gone before us, especially that of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen and St. Stephen. Let us all be inspired by their trust and faith in the Lord, and their humility and willingness to allow the Lord to lead them in the right path, as they carried out their ministry faithfully. Let us all be inspired and strengthened by them, be courageous and strong in our faith. May our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, be with us all and may He bless us all in our every good endeavours, efforts and works, always. Amen.

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Sunday, 23 April 2023 : Third Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we enter into the celebration of the Third Sunday of Easter, all of us are reminded yet again of the very reason why we celebrate joyfully during this time and season of Easter. We are reminded that particularly during this time of Easter, all of us should focus our attention on the Risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who has won for us such a great victory through His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, and then through His glorious Resurrection from the dead. Through all of that, Christ our Lord and Saviour has opened for us the pathway to eternal life, the road to eternal glory and true joy with Him. We are no longer separated and sundered from the love and compassion of God, and we have been brought closer once again to God.

In our first reading today, we heard the testimony of faith by St. Peter who proclaimed to all the people assembled in Jerusalem at that time, of the truth regarding Jesus Christ, the One Who had been crucified and put to death, just weeks prior to that time, and which according to the Apostles and the other eyewitnesses, had risen from the dead in glory, and appeared to them, showing them all the fulfilment of God’s promised salvation, and the triumph that He had shown us in our battle against sin and death. St. Peter told all of the people assembled of the Messiah that the Lord has promised His people, and how everything has been fulfilled through this same Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Crucified One. He and the other Apostles and disciples of the Lord went forth courageously, encouraged and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, proclaiming the Risen Lord to all.

Most importantly, this Messiah’s story did not end with His death. Indeed, many of those same people had witnessed how the Lord Jesus was condemned to death and was crucified by the Romans, with the support of the Jewish authorities, who gave Him off to the Romans in the first place. But, the Lord Jesus rose gloriously from the dead, and His Resurrection has proved to be the fulfilment of everything that God has promised to His people, to all of us. For through His Resurrection, the Lord has cast out and destroyed the chains and the dominion of sin and death over all of us, and He has made His sacrifice and death a most worthy offering to His heavenly Father, for the atonement and forgiveness of all of our multitude of sins. The Lord has become the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of the New and Everlasting Passover and Covenant that God has established with us.

This is what St. Peter himself also testified and spoke of in one of his Epistles, that is our second reading today. The Apostle spoke of how all of us have been saved through the Precious Blood of the Lamb, the Paschal Lamb, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and saved by the One Who has risen from the dead, and Who raises the dead with Him, to share in the eternal life and inheritance meant for all of us from the very beginning. Through this, all of us are reminded of just how important the Resurrection of the Lord is to our faith and belief in the Lord, for without the Resurrection, then Christ’s death on the Cross would have been meaningless. Without the Resurrection, then it would have been proven that no one could escape the power of death, and yet, the Lord’s glorious Resurrection overcame that. Without the Resurrection, the death of the Lord Jesus would just be the sad and tragic death of a Man condemned to death because of the jealousy and political intrigues within the Jewish community back then.

It was truly the Lord’s Resurrection that made it all possible for us to have hope once again, and to be lifted up out of our despair and the darkness surrounding us. This has happened as we heard in our Gospel passage today, when the Lord appeared to two of His disciples who were travelling on their way to the village of Emmaus, very shortly after the Lord’s Resurrection. Both of those two disciples had been distraught and demoralised by the persecution and the death of the Lord, and despite hearing the words of the women who went to the tomb of the Lord and telling them of the Resurrection, they still could not believe that the One in Whom they had placed their hopes in, would have been crushed and killed in such a way. It was there that the Risen Lord appeared to them, as He came by them on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The Lord discussed the passages of the Scriptures with them, particularly the part where it concerned the suffering and the hardships that the Messiah had to suffer, in referring to what had happened to Himself.

And as we heard in that same Gospel passage, the Risen Lord encouraged and strengthened the spirit and the faith of the two disciples as they went on their journey with Him towards Emmaus, before finally revealing Himself to them at the breaking of the bread with them. That was what brought the two disciples to rush back immediately all the way to Jerusalem, to tell all the other disciples of what they had just witnessed about the Risen Lord appearing to them in the flesh. This amongst other evidence of the Resurrection, and the fact of how many of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord were willing to die and suffer for this truth, are more than enough proofs that the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, has truly risen from the dead, and did not remain in the tomb, in death. Despite the efforts by the members of the Sanhedrin to silence and hide the truth about the Lord’s Resurrection, even to the point of bribing the guards who were at the tomb of the Lord, they failed to contain the continuously and rapidly growing Christian faith and believers.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard from all the Scripture readings today, let us all be reminded that as Christians, that is as members of God’s Church and as those who belong to Him, as His beloved sons and daughters, we have the responsibility and duty to be good role models and inspiration to one another in our way of life and faith. It means that each and every one of us have to lead lives that are in accordance to our faith in the Lord and not to scandalise the Church and the Holy Name of Our Lord by our inappropriate and sinful actions, works and deeds. This is why, all of us are reminded that we all should be Christians in truth and reality, in all things and not just in name or for formality only. Unless we commit ourselves wholeheartedly and completely to the Lord, to His path and His Law and commandments, we may end up being easily distracted and tempted by the many temptations all around us.

This Sunday, as we have entered into the third week of the Easter season, let us all ask ourselves, whether we have truly made good use of the time we had these past two weeks during this joyful season of Easter, or whether we have squandered the time and opportunities presented to us. All of us are reminded that we are all the people whom the Lord had loved and redeemed from sin, and by our common baptism, all of us have been made partakers of the New and Eternal Covenant that He had sealed by His own Most Precious Blood. Therefore, all of us should follow in the examples of our holy predecessors, the Holy Apostles, the innumerable saints and martyrs, who have courageously stood up for their faith and proclaimed their dedication to the Lord, as they endured challenges and trials, one after another, in their ministry and lives. They proclaimed the Risen Lord, His love and truth to the world, through their every actions, words and deeds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be missionary and evangelising in our every words, actions and deeds as well, and let our every efforts bring more and more people closer towards the Lord, that all those who witness our works and actions, heard our words and experienced our interactions with them, may experience the truth and love of God through us. Let us all inspire our fellow brothers and sisters much as how the Apostles themselves had inspired us with their courage and dedication to God. May all of us continue to carry on living our lives with zeal, with commitment and devotion, and may each and every one of us be good role models and examples in our Christian faith and living. May the Risen Lord, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue to guide us all and give us the strength and courage to proclaim His truth and Resurrection to the world. Amen.

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Saturday, 22 April 2023 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to continue following the Lord, to be faithful to Him and His commandments, doing our best to serve Him and to walk in the path that He has shown us so that each and every one of us may come to His Holy Presence and be fully reconciled and reunited with Him. The Lord has sent His Holy Spirit to strengthen to guide us all within His Church, to help and lead us down the right path as He continued to lead us through the path of righteousness, helping and guiding us in our Christian living and existence to be the beacons of His light and truth, to be the bearers of His love and compassion into this world, and therefore, all of us as Christians should spend our time and effort in doing what the Lord has called on all of us to do. Each and every one of us should follow the good examples set by our holy predecessors, the saints and the followers of the Lord as we heard in our Sacred Scriptures.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the moment during the early Church when the Church began to grow rapidly, as more and more people became believers and followers of the Lord, as the Apostles and the other disciples went forth to proclaim the Good News of the Lord to more and more people. Back then, as the Acts of the Apostles themselves highlighted, the early Christian community existed in a state of loving grace, as they shared their blessings, graces and possessions with one another, and many of the early Christians lived in the community of believers, caring for one another. However, as we heard from our first reading passage today, there were indeed difficulties and challenges that the early Christians faced, particularly because of the friction and disagreements between those Christians who came from among the Jewish people and from among the Pharisees, and those Christian converts from the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people.

We heard of the disparity between the distribution of resources and support those who belonged to the Jewish Christians group and those who belonged to the Hellenists, likely the ones who came from Gentile background. This was in fact understandable as back then there was quite a bit of racial and religious superiority shown by the Jewish people, especially the Pharisees among them, who considered themselves better and more worthy as compared to the Gentiles. But such divisions and disparities should not have existed among the Christian community, as they have been made through their sacred baptism, as the adopted sons and daughters of God, all equal and same before the Holy Presence of God. Each and every one of them had been called to get rid from themselves whatever prejudices and bias that they used to have against each other, and to follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

The Apostles decided as we heard, to appoint seven men to become the first of the Deacons of the Church. This was in fact the moment when the office of Deacons came to be in the Church, which served to complement the role of the priestly ministry of the Apostles and their successors. If the Lord Himself has instituted the Sacred Priesthood at the Last Supper, entrusting the priestly ministry to His Apostles, thus the Deacons served to help and assist the Apostles and their successors in their work and ministry to the people of God. It was obvious that the Apostles and the other leaders of the Church could not be everywhere at once and they could not minister to all the faithful effectively without assistance. Hence, the office of the Deaconate was established as the holy office meant for those who answered God’s call to minister to the people, to care for their needs, both physical and spiritual, assisting the works of the Lord through His Church.

Those holy deacons dedicated themselves to the ministry to the people of God, and one of them, St. Stephen, was well-known due to his suffering and martyrdom at the hands of the opponents of the Lord and His Church, becoming the very first martyr or Protomartyr of the Church. The other deacons and other holy servants of God also faced great trials and challenges, but they lived their lives and carried out their missions with great dedication, becoming great role models and inspiration for many of the faithful, gaining for the Lord and His Church many people touched by their efforts and works, new converts and rejuvenated members of the Church which led to the even more rapid growth of the Church in the early years of its existence despite the increasingly intensified persecutions and challenges facing them from both the Jewish and the Roman authorities.

They remained firmly faithful and dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord, just as the Gospel passage today reminded us all that none of us can survive or do our part well without entrusting ourselves to the Lord. We are reminded through what we heard in our Gospel passage today that the Church of God has survived and endured through so many challenges and trials because the Lord has always been there for us, guiding us through His Presence and the Holy Spirit. As the disciples of the Lord panicked and feared amidst the great winds and waves that battered against their boat in the storm, the Lord appeared to them walking on the water, and reassured and calmed them down, reminding all of them that He was there, and that they had nothing to be worried or fearful about. He calmed the storm and the wind down, and led the disciples to where they were about to go.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the boat represents the Church of God and the disciples are those who lead the Church. The Lord was with His Church and guided all of His faithful ones to the right path, and helped His Church and those who trusted in Him to walk the path of righteousness, enduring the trials and challenges facing them, and not allowing the Church to be swallowed and destroyed by the forces of all those who opposed the Lord and His faithful ones. God has promised us His providence, love and guidance, and each and every one of us are called to walk faithfully in His path, and we should do our best to do our part in the mission and works of the Church, to proclaim the Lord in all things, and to do what we can so that we may be great role models and sources of inspiration for one another in how we live our lives, that many more people may come to believe in God through us.

May the Risen Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He empower each and every one of us so that we may continue to strive and persevere through the many challenges and trials that we may have to endure as faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. May God be with us always and may He bless our every efforts and endeavours, our every good works for the greater glory of His Name. May all of us have a most blessed and wonderful Easter season, have a most fruitful time in our obedience to the Lord. Amen.

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Friday, 21 April 2023 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Anselm, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the love and compassion, the kindness and all of the things which our Lord and Saviour has always shown us, in being present with us and for us, in our every journeys and paths, in all the roads that we are travelling through within our respective lives. God has always been ever present in all of that, and He will not abandon us no matter what. Everything that the Church and the Christian brothers and sisters had done, all have been guided and protected by the Lord. God will not abandon all those who put their trust and faith in Him. His love and kindness have always been shown to us, and none of us will be left without help, in our hour and time of need. For if we depend solely only on our own power, we will likely face defeat and failure, but with God’s help, everything is possible.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the time when the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council was pondering on what to do with the Apostles who had courageously opposed them and refused to follow their orders not to proclaim and teach in the Name of the Risen Christ, with many of the members of the Sanhedrin were desiring to destroy those Apostles, angry and inflamed as they were with the Apostles who defied them and spoke with great Wisdom and courage, in resisting the pressures and coercions levied against them. But with the rising tension and passionate anger, one figure came forth seeking calm and rationale argument, namely the highly respected Gamaliel, a renowned and highly respected teacher of the faith, an elder Pharisee of great reputation. This Gamaliel told the Sanhedrin members to listen to reason and wisdom, and not persecute the Apostles.

The reasons presented by Gamaliel were very compelling, as he brought up the recent so-called False Messiahs, all those who have claimed to be the Messiah or the Saviour sent by God, and how their following and works quickly disappeared and were scattered after their leaders were put to death. Thus, following the same logic and example, Gamaliel convinced the other members of the Sanhedrin to let the Lord’s disciples be, as if their Lord and Master had indeed been a False Messiah like the others before Him, His movement and the works of His disciples would have quickly disappeared and they would be quickly scattered. On the other hand, as what was actually the case, if their Lord and Master was truly the true Messiah, the Saviour of the world, then no matter what efforts or persecutions the Sanhedrin would carry out against them, the works of the Lord would continue and triumph in the end.

That is why, all of us are called and reminded to put our trust and faith in the Lord, remembering that He has always been by our side, guiding us and providing for us, protecting and helping us even in ways that we may not realise at first. The Lord has always been with His Church and His disciples, and as we also then heard from our Gospel passage today, He has provided for us all that we need by His love and compassion towards us. In that Gospel passage we heard of the time when the Lord Jesus performed His well-known miracle of the feeding of the five thousand men and more people, by the multiplication of the five loaves and two fishes that He was offered with. This great miracle showed to all of us that God really cared very much about us, and He truly loved all of us, providing for us not just spiritually but also physically, as a wholesome guidance and providence to us.

The Lord showed pity on all those people who were following Him, as they were hungry without sustenance and food, and had been following Him for many days, as they listened to Him teaching and preaching to them. It was in the countryside and wilderness, and there was no food readily and easily available for them to buy and eat. Hence, the Lord told His disciples to provide for all of them food to eat, which when the lack of food was told to Him, He gathered the five loaves of bread and two fishes presented to Him, and miraculously multiplied them before everyone, as the bread and fishes did not run out despite the huge number of people assembled, at least five thousand men and many thousands more of the women and their children. The Lord showed all of these to His people and those disciples to show them that He has always been with them and that He would not abandon them in their time of need.

This is why each and every one of us are called today to renew our faith and trust in the Lord, remembering His love and providence towards us, which will not change and which will always be by our side. All of us are reminded that as Christians, we have all been chosen by the Lord and called to follow Him, and each and every one of us should dedicate ourselves, our time and effort, our whole entire being to the Lord. Let us all turn towards the Lord with love and devotion, with faith and commitment, as we commit ourselves to walk down His path and to proclaim His truth and commandments, His Law and providence to all the people, to all of mankind. Let us all dedicate ourselves to the Lord with renewed vigour and zeal this Easter, and follow Him, as vigorously as the Apostles themselves had done. And today, we have yet another good role model and example to follow.

St. Anselm, whose feast day we celebrate today, also known as St. Anselm of Canterbury was a great and dedicated servant of God, who committed himself to the ministry and the calling that he had been entrusted with. The Lord has called him to be His servant, becoming eventually a monk and abbot, and then after years of faithful work and ministry, he was appointed a bishop and was sent to minister the faithful as shepherd, which during his time of leadership and ministry, had become a great centre of learning and many were touched by his dedication and efforts. St. Anselm eventually was sent to England, to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, as the leader of all the faithful in all of England. He faced great trials and challenges throughout his ministry, and even went through exile during his work, having to endure persecution and rejection from his enemies. Yet he continued to dedicate himself and kept on going in his works and ministry regardless, entrusting himself to the Lord wholeheartedly.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, can we be inspired by the courage and the hard work shown by all those holy predecessors of ours, in all the trust and faith in the Lord which they had shown us through their lives. Let us all be courageous and committed as they had done in their own lives. Let us all commit ourselves to the Lord and do our best to follow Him in all of our lives, doing whatever we can even in the smallest things, to proclaim and glorify Him by our exemplary lives. May God, our Risen Lord and Saviour be with us always and may He empower each one of us to live ever more faithfully in His Holy Presence, now, always and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 20 April 2023 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded that as Christians, each and every one of us are bearers of the truth of God, in everything that He Himself has revealed to us, through His Church and the holy Spirit. All of us as Christians believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, the Messiah sent by God into this world to save all of us, and that He is the Son of God, the Divine Word incarnate in the flesh, giving us all His own life, so that by doing so, He restored us all to a new life and existence, one that is once again attuned and connected to God, by His triumph and victory over sin and death. That is what we celebrate and are most joyful in during this blessed and glorious season of Easter, a time of celebration and rejoicing indeed.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the confrontation between the members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council and the Apostles. The Sanhedrin, composed of the most powerful and influential members of the Jewish community, including the chief priests, elders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, many of whom were against the teachings and works of the Lord, had been persecuting the Lord’s disciples ever after the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of the Lord. They had always been jealous and fearful of the popularity and influence of the Lord, and they closely guarded the special influence and privileges they had built up for themselves among the Jewish people, and that was also the reason why they arrested the Lord Jesus and handed Him over to the Romans to be crucified, in order to protect themselves and these privileges.

As we heard in the first reading today, the Sanhedrin was very much against the Apostles and their works, and ordered them all to stop teaching and preaching in the Name of the Lord Jesus. In fact, quite a few among the members of the Sanhedrin wanted to kill the Apostles if not for the timely intervention of Gamaliel, a respected member of the Sanhedrin and a renowned teacher of the Law himself, who according to Christian traditions, was a secret convert to the Christian faith. In the end, the assembly of the Sanhedrin agreed to scourge the Apostles and to let them go with the stern warning against any attempts to proselytise and proclaim the Risen Lord. This was met with great indignation and refusal by the Apostles, who chose to remain firm in their faith and resisted the attempts of those who sought to pressure them into giving up their efforts and works in proclaiming the Risen Lord.

They had witnessed the Risen Lord Himself, and received the direct commandment and mission to proclaim His truth and Good News among the nations, and hence, it was inconceivable for them to disregard the Lord’s direct commandment and mission in saving themselves and preventing them from getting into trouble, by obeying the commands of the worldly Sanhedrin, who was mostly concerned more about their own worldly attachments and matters rather than to follow the Lord. After all, the Lord had spent a lot of time and effort, showing and proclaiming Himself and His good works to them, only to be repeatedly rebuffed and rejected because many of them could not resist the temptations of sin and evil, the temptations of worldly glory, fame, ambition and their own ego and pride. Thus, the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord continued to do what the Lord had commanded them to do despite the oppositions they encountered.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel about the testimony of faith by St. John the Baptist who spoke to his disciples and followers about what he himself has received from the Lord, who sent him into this world in order to prepare the way for coming of His Son, the long awaited Messiah. St. John the Baptist, like the Lord’s own disciples after him, had also spoken about the Lord, and yet, many of those same people who persecuted the Lord also refused to believe in him, despite the many signs and the wisdom that these faithful servants of God had shown. St. John the Baptist spoke courageously nonetheless, dedicating himself to the ministry that he has been entrusted with by the Lord, and he did not hesitate even to go against those corrupt Pharisees, teachers of the Law and elders when they questioned and doubted his works, calling them all ‘brood of vipers’.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, it is clear that each and every one of us as Christians, as faithful and dedicated servants of the Lord, would often have to face prejudice, resistance and stubborn opposition to our works and ministry. Yet, we are reminded to be firm in our faith and conviction, and not to give up our efforts and works amidst all these challenges. We have believed in the same Lord and in the same truth that the disciples of the Lord had suffered and even given their lives in defending, as they carried out the missions entrusted to them with great fidelity and commitment. Can we do the same as well in our lives, brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we also commit ourselves, our time, effort and attention to glorify the Lord and to proclaim His truth and Resurrection in our world today?

The best way for us to proclaim the Lord and His truth is by our own actions and deeds. If we ourselves have not done and acted in the way that we believe in, or if we have only had superficial faith only, then naturally we cannot expect anyone else to believe in the Lord as well. In fact, if our actions and deeds, our works and words, our interactions and dealings show only wickedness and disobedience against God, that is essentially going to cause scandal for our faith, and instead of bringing the people closer to the Lord, we are going to cause many people to distance themselves from the Lord and His Church. Is that what we have been called to do, brothers and sisters? Certainly not. And this is why we really need to do some self-introspection in our lives and look deeply into our own way of life and actions. We need to see if our lives have been lived in the way that we should do as Christians, or whether we have allowed worldly temptations, attachments, desires and pride to get in our way and mislead us down the wrong path.

May the Risen Lord, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ continue to guide each and every one of us, and may He empower us all to live ever more faithfully and worthily in His presence. May He continue to bless us and love us in all things, and bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours for His greater glory, at all times. May He bless our Easter joy and observance, and help us to have a truly blessed and fruitful Easter season. Amen.

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Wednesday, 19 April 2023 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded to be courageous in living our lives as Christians, to proclaim the Risen Lord as the Hope, Light and Salvation of the whole entire world. Without Christ, all of us would have perished and we would have to suffer the consequences and the punishments for our many sins. But thanks to His kindness, generosity and compassion, and through the ever-enduring Mercy that He has shown us, the Risen Lord has shown us His great love manifested in the Person of His Son, through Whom we have received the fullness of God’s Love, as He reached out to us, desiring to be fully and completely reconciled with us. Although we have indeed sinned against the Lord and disobeyed Him, but God’s love for us surpasses even the disgust He had against our sins and wickedness.

That is why through our Scripture passages today, all of us are reminded of how God’s love that transcends all things allowed us to come close once again to His embrace and loving Presence. Once we have been cast out of the Light as we have chosen darkness and sin but God has shown us His mercy and love through His Son, as He opened the gates of Heaven by His death and Resurrection, reconnecting and reconciling us by the breaking of His own Most Precious Body and by the outpouring of His own Most Precious Blood. That is what the Lord Himself has foretold to His disciples as well as to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who sympathised with the Lord and would eventually become one of His disciples. As we heard in our Gospel passage today, the Lord told Nicodemus that God so loved the world that He sent us all His own beloved Son, so that all who believe in Him will not perish, and have eternal life.

In another part of this conversation of the Lord Jesus with Nicodemus, He also mentioned how He would be raised up high just like that of the bronze serpent made by Moses, when great plague of fiery serpents struck the Israelites for their sins and disobedience against God. And the Lord Jesus willingly embraced His Cross, punished for our many transgressions and sins against God and our fellow brothers and sisters, to be nailed on that Cross and raised as a Sign for everyone, to all the faithful people of God, that the Salvation of God has indeed come through His Son, the Suffering and Crucified Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has not hold all these back from us, and He did all that He could in order to gather us all and save us. He has endured the greatest trials and hardships, persecutions and oppressions, humiliations and troubles all so that He might redeem and liberate us all from our fated destruction because of our sins.

That is what each and every one of us have been reminded of, as we heard of the Lord’s words to Nicodemus today. He proclaimed the salvation of God that has finally appeared and come into our midst, through the Passion, death and Resurrection of God’s own beloved Son, sacrificed and offered for our own benefit, as the perfect and worthy sacrifice, the Paschal Lamb slain on our behalf, and by Whose Precious Blood all of us have been washed clean, through our baptism. However, this does not mean that we can do whatever we want, as sin and the temptations to sin are still common all around us, and if we are not careful, we may end up falling deeper and deeper into the trap of sin, into which many of our predecessors had often fallen into, as they lapsed again and again into sin. We can even look on our own actions in life, and see just how frequent we have been disobeying God all these while.

That is why we should make use of the opportunities provided to us so that we may not lose sight and focus on our true emphasis and attention on the Lord, our Saviour and God. We should always do what we can to realign our focus and attention on the Lord and do not let ourselves be distracted by the many worldly temptations and pressures present all around us, all of which may lead us astray in our journey towards the Lord, our loving God and Father. Unless we make the effort to resist those temptations and pressures, we may easily be swayed to follow the whims of worldly desires and attachments that we have, and end up walking down the wrong path in life. We have to realise that without God and His guidance, we will easily lose sight on what is truly important in our lives, and it is easy for us to do things that are contrary to God’s will.

That was exactly the things that the members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council were doing against God’s works and the works of His disciples. Many of them often resisted the Lord and criticised Him for many of His miracles and works, persecuting Him and His disciples. They were also the same ones who have arrested the Lord and condemned Him to death, handing Him to the Romans to be crucified. They refused to believe in the truth and all the words of Wisdom that the Lord Himself has shown them, patiently and consistently, as the Lord had always done, in reaching out even to those who have resisted and rejected Him. From His Cross, the Lord prayed for the sake of those who persecuted and condemned Him to death, and He did die for all of them as well. No one is truly beyond God’s forgiveness and mercy, and He has always been generous in giving us His love and mercy.

However, it requires us all to embrace God’s mercy and love for us to gain the full benefit of His kindness and mercy. God gave us His compassion and forgiveness freely, but unless we accept His mercy and love, we will not be reconciled with Him. Without God’s forgiveness and grace, none of us can attain salvation and eternal life on our own, for it is by God’s grace and guidance alone that we can live our lives truly worthily of Him, and become closer to Him. Unless we open our hearts and minds to the Lord and allow Him to guide us in our path forward, the likelihood of us coming close to the Lord becomes truly minuscule, as our stubbornness and arrogance often got in our way of walking towards God’s love and grace, as what had happened to the Pharisees and the other members of the Sanhedrin.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence renew our faith in God, and let us all be the committed and loving disciples of the Lord once again. Let us all turn towards Him and focus our attention on Him, our Risen Lord and Saviour. May the Risen Lord continue to bless and guide us in our journey of faith, and may He continue to be generous in His mercy and love, and help us to humble ourselves and to put our trust in Him so that all of us may truly follow Him wholeheartedly, and allow Him to lead our path in life. May He bless our Easter observances and joyful actions, and guide us always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 18 April 2023 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of what it means for us to be Christians, that is as faithful disciples and followers of Our Lord and Saviour, living our lives in the path and ways that He has shown and revealed to us. The Lord Himself has revealed His teachings and truth, through His Church and His disciples and their successors, our bishops and priests, who have handed down to us what the Lord Himself has given to His Apostles and disciples. That is why each and every one of us are called to turn once again towards Him and His truth, distancing ourselves from sin and wickedness, and from all the things which have often separated us from the love of God, all the temptations and forces which have kept us from embracing God’s most generous love and compassion, all these while.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles about the life of the early Christian community, which members were filled with love and compassion for one another, as they shared their goods and properties, their blessings with those who have less with them so that none among them lived in want or in misery. In their way of life, those early Christians highlighted what it truly means to be followers and disciples of Christ, in their obedience to God’s will and adherence to His commandments and Law. They loved the Lord and placed Him at the centre of their community and their lives, and they also loved one another and cared for the needs of those around them, instead of selfishly seeking only to satisfy themselves. They are our role models and examples in how we should live our own lives in this world, and all of us should indeed make good use of the time and opportunities presented to us so that we may also live our lives worthily of the Lord.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the passage from the Gospel of St. John in which we listened to the story of the time when Nicodemus the Pharisee came to meet Jesus at night time, and discussed about many things, including the identity of the Lord and what He has come into this world for. In that passage we heard how the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus that everything which He had revealed to the latter was in fact the revelation of the Spirit, and in order for one to truly be able to believe in what He has spoken, then he or she would have to allow the Spirit to perform His works within them, transforming and guiding them to the path of truth. Without this openness and willingness to let the Lord and His Spirit to guide us in our path and way of life, unfortunately, we will likely end up walking down the wrong path in life and fall into sin.

That is why, all of us are reminded that we should be inspired by the examples of the Holy Apostles, the disciples of the Lord, and those early Christians, all of whom have given themselves to the service of God. All of us are called to show our faith in our way of life and in our every actions and deeds, so that we ourselves may become good source of inspiration for each other, and that we may help to lead more and more people to the Lord, as good and faithful Christians, dedicated and committed missionaries. That is why all of us are reminded of this, when we heard these Scripture passages today, so that we may truly live our lives genuinely as Christians and not just merely in formality only. It is easy for us to fall to the trap of doing what we are expected to do, but lacking in the true appreciation and understanding of what being Christians is truly all about.

As we continue to progress through this season of Easter, all of us should spend some time at least to reflect on what Easter truly means for us. Easter is a time of celebration and rejoicing because we have seen the light of the Risen Lord, all that He had done for our sake, in lifting us all up from the depth of the darkness of sin, into the light of God’s salvation and grace. Through Easter, all of us have been shown the promise of God’s providence and faithfulness, in ensuring that we have the sure path to eternal life through Him. The Resurrection of the Lord proved to us that not even death can separate us from the love of God. As long as we continue to place our trust in the Lord and do whatever we can to be faithful to the Lord’s commandments and path, we shall be assured of an everlasting happiness and joy with Him.

However, in our world today, there are truly a lot of distractions and things that can become serious obstacles and challenges for us in our path, and there are plenty of temptations and false sources of joy and pleasures which can lead us astray from the path of the Lord. That is why we are always constantly reminded to be vigilant and to be strong amidst all of these distractions and challenges, so that we do not easily falter in our journey of faith and life. All of us have to strengthen our relationship with God, and deepen our understanding of our Christian faith and truth, so that we can resist the temptations and the things that the devil and all of those seeking our destruction may send our way. We must always have the faith that God is always by our side, and that with Him, there is indeed plenty of hope and redemption.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our part as Christians, as we continue to carry on living our lives in this world, and let us be good role models and examples in all things so that through our works, actions and deeds, we may inspire many more people to come to believe in the Lord. Let us all strive to be the good disciples and followers of our Lord, doing our best to proclaim the truth of God, the glory of Our Lord and Saviour in our every actions and words. Let all of our lives, in in the smallest and simplest things, be the shining beacons of Christ’s Light and Hope, illuminating all those who are still living in the darkness, and are still lacking hope and strength. Let our actions and interactions with our fellow brothers and sisters in need help us to show them the path to the true hope and eternal joy in the Lord.

May the Risen Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us in our journey of life, that we may resist the many temptations and pressures all around us. May the Lord be with us and may He empower each one of us to be prepared and ever ready to do His will, and may continue to inflame us with His Holy Spirit, to allow us to walk with faith in the Lord. May God bless us always in all things, in our every good works and deeds, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 17 April 2023 : 2nd Week of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of God’s great providence and love to all of us, His beloved people. He has sent His Son into this world, Our Risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to be the One to redeem all of us from our fallen state of sin, and to raise us up with Him into a new life and existence, filled with grace and blessings of God. Each and every one of us have been called by God to follow Him and to commit ourselves to His path, entrusting ourselves and our lives to Him. We should also allow His Spirit to come to us and transform our lives, changing our outlook and way of life for the better, to be more in alignment with the Lord and His commandments and Law, to do what He has taught and commanded all of us to do in our own lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the time after St. Peter and St. John had been released from the custody and questioning by the Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council, which sought to restrain and prevent them from preaching or teaching anything in the Name of the Lord Jesus. But despite the threats, pressures and coercions, none of those could deter the Apostles from teaching the people and delivering to them the truth of God. This is the same spirit and encouragement that they shared with the other disciples of the Lord, and we heard how they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, praying fervently together to God with one voice, seeking His guidance, providence and protection against the forces of the evil ones and those who persecuted them. They asked the Lord to remember all of those who have been faithful to Him, so that they will be guarded against those with malicious and evil intent on them.

The Apostles and the disciples through their prayers reminded us all of the love that God has always shown His people throughout time and history, how He has always stood by those who were faithful and committed to Him. The Lord remembered His faithful ones despite the constant trials and challenges that they have always faced, reaching out to them and providing for them throughout their journey, and He did not let them to falter and fail. The very fact that His Church and works had endured all these while despite efforts and concerted attempts by many throughout history to destroy the Church and to prevent the success of the works of the Lord, in the end, the Church still prevailed and endured the past two millennia even when governments, regimes, kingdoms and peoples rose and fall, and even as many of those who oppressed the Church faltered and failed, and some of them still even became disciples of the Lord and believers themselves.

That is why, as we listened to our Gospel passage today, we are reminded yet again by the Lord Himself that each and every one of us must allow ourselves to be guided by Him and by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of courage and counsel, as we continue living our lives in this world. Unless we allow ourselves to be guided by the Lord and His counsel, we may end up failing miserably and terribly, as we cannot solely just depend on worldly things to get us to what we want and desire to happen, and in doing the will of God. Instead, we have to spend a lot of our time and effort in discerning what God wants us to do with our lives, through everything that He has provided and given to us, the many gifts, graces and blessings that He has bestowed upon us. The Lord has granted us the opportunities and the abilities to do what we can to proclaim Him, His truth, love and compassion to everyone.

That is what our mission is as Christians, as the members of God’s Church. Each and every one of us in truth share the responsibility and mission to go forth and proclaim the Gospels and the Good News of God, and it is not just the responsibility and the duty of the ordained ministers, the priests and all the others to do the will of God. In fact, each and every one of us, the members of the laity, are integral and important parts of the Church, without which the Church cannot truly function and do what it has been called to do. The ordained ministers cannot do the works of the Lord without support from the laity, and vice versa. But what is important is that we ought to know that each one of us have been given unique and powerful gifts, graces and opportunities to do what the Lord wants us to do. However, more often than not we are ignorant of this and we do not realise what each one of us are supposed to do as part of our ministry as Christians.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now as we are reminded of this need for us to follow the Lord and to entrust ourselves to His guidance and help, let us all therefore discern carefully so that in our daily living, each and every one of us may spend the precious time and energy to do what is right and just, appropriate and worthy for all of us as Christians. Each and every one of us are the parts of the same Body of Christ, the Church of God, and every one of us should have the unity of purpose and work, and we should really do our best to be exemplary and worthy in all things, and not to be just faithful merely in name only. Unless we do our part and strive to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, how can we then be faithful and dedicated disciples of the Lord, in everything that we have done and in our every actions and interactions with others all around us?

Let us all truly be inspirational and good role models for our fellow Christian brothers and sisters, and even also for many others who witness our works and interact with us. Let our path and actions be guided by the Holy Spirit and by the Wisdom of God, as we open ourselves wholly to the Lord, allowing Him to lead and guide us down the right path. Let us all strengthen our devotion and commitment to glorify the Lord in each and every moments presented to us, and let us help one another in our journey of faith, particularly during this blessed time and season of Easter, when we should remind ourselves of our true Easter joy in seeing and receiving the fullness of God’s grace and love through the Passion, death and Resurrection of His only begotten Son, Our Risen Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, our Light, Hope and Source of inspiration and strength.

May the Risen Lord, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, continue to be with us and help us in our journey of faith, so that we may continue to be strong and courageous in our ministry in the Church, in whatever it is that we have been called into, in our perseverance in living our faith with zeal and in loving one another with genuine love and compassion. Let us all be the shining beacons of the Resurrected Christ and His Light, that many more people may come to believe in Him and His salvation through us and our exemplary living. May the Risen Lord bless us always, and may He bless our Easter season and celebrations, bless our loved ones always. Amen.