Reflection of the Bible

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Friday, 20 January 2023 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Fabian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Sebastian, Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded that we have been called as the disciples and followers of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to help and be part of His mission and work, in leading more and more of the people of God back towards Him, just as He has called on those whom He called the Apostles, and entrusted to them specific missions and ministries, as well as to others whom had been tasked with the evangelisation of the true faith. Each and every one of us are part of this great ministry of the Church, as members of the same Body of Christ, the flock of God’s faithful and as partakers of the same Covenant that God has established anew for the sake of us all, His beloved ones. We are therefore reminded of what we are to do as part of this Covenant with God.

In our first reading today from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard from the author of that Epistle of the role which the Lord Jesus, Our Saviour has as the Mediator of the New Covenant between God and us. This follows after the past few days of readings in which the same author highlighted the role that Christ had in being our High Priest in offering Himself as the Paschal Lamb, the sacrificial Victim on our behalf for the forgiveness of our sins. It was through this offering of the perfect and most loving gift of the Lamb of God, slain and sacrificed for us, that each one of us have received pardon from our sins, and have received a new hope through the Lord Himself, and also having this New Covenant being established between us and God, our most loving Father and Creator.

In the past, Covenant was made by a formal pact between both parties, and sealed by the sacrifice and offering to a deity, and in this case, God Himself was one of the parties, in the example of the Covenant made between God and Abraham, the father of nations and the Israelites. The same Covenant was renewed between God and His people at Mount Sinai, as Moses acted as the intermediary between God and the people of Israel, placing sacrificial offerings offered to God and also the blood of the lamb being slain was sprinkled on the entire people as a mark of the sealing and confirmation of that Covenant. Then the same had also happened as the Lord Jesus became a Mediator of the New Covenant between God and His people.

That is because He acted as the same intermediary, as the Mediator between His heavenly Father, and all of the people of God, mankind in this world, past, present and future. We have been sundered and separated from God due to our disobedience and sins, and unfortunately because of that, we could not have returned to the Lord our God, as there is no place for us in His Presence as long as we have been tainted and corrupted by sin. Yet, by His ever enduring love and desire to be reconciled with us, He has provided us with the sure path to deliverance through none other than His Son, Who as our High Priest and Mediator, chose to offer Himself, His own Most Precious Body and Blood to be broken and poured out for us.

Thus, on the Altar of His Cross, Jesus our Lord has made anew the Covenant between God and mankind, and by His Most Precious Blood outpoured upon us, He has marked us all as those whom He had chosen and called to be saved. He gave us this grace and gift through baptism, and then which we affirm further through the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist, as we partake in those very Precious Body and Blood of the Lord. During each time we partake of the Most Holy Eucharist, we are reminded of this same Covenant that the Lord Himself has established and renewed for us by His suffering and death on the Cross. We are truly blessed that the Lord Himself has willingly took upon Himself to reach out to us in this way, and to show us His love in the most amazing and tangible way possible.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the Lord calling and appointing His Apostles, the chief twelve among all of His disciples and followers. They were meant to be the leaders of the Lord’s followers, and together with the other disciples and followers, they were to do the will of God, and carry out whatever mission that the Lord has entrusted to them. Later on, after the Lord has already risen from the dead and then ascended into Heaven, it was the Apostles, leading the other disciples and followers of God, that established the foundations of the Church and carried out extensive and intensive works of evangelisation throughout the world. That same work is still being carried out today to even more places and touching more peoples, as the Church had done for the past two millennia and more.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on these words from the Sacred Scriptures today, let us all ponder upon what it means for us to be in Covenant with God. A Covenant is a solemn and formal pact between two parties, and in this case it is between God Himself and each and every one of us. God has always shown us just how faithful He has been to us, in remembering us, caring for us, in His constant reminders for us, and in His care for us, that He reached out even the last and the lost and the least among us. Through Christ, He has shown us His ever enduring love, and fulfils His own words, that there is no greater love than for one to lay down one’s life for a friend, and He laid down His own life for us, suffering for us most grievously so that we may not perish, but have eternal life.

Hence, each and every one of us are expected to do our part in this Covenant as well. We are part of God’s same Church and flock, and we ought to carry out the missions and the many opportunities that God had granted to us in proclaiming His truth and love in this world. What are we going to do about it, brothers and sisters? Are we going to remain idle and refusing to embrace the missions and opportunities provided to us, or are we going to listen to His call and promptings, and finally commit ourselves to the path that He has shown us? Let us all consider carefully our choices and paths in life, and do whatever we can in order to live our lives more faithfully as the ones who call ourselves as Christians, as members of His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Today we commemorate the feast of Pope St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, two great saints and martyrs whose lives hopefully can strengthen and encourage us as well in how we live our lives with faith. Pope St. Fabian lived at the time of great difficulty and challenges for the Church, at the height of persecutions against Christians. Similarly, St. Sebastian was a Roman soldier who lived during the harshest time to be a Christian, under persecution by the Roman state and the Emperors. Yet, each one of them persevered in faith and remained faithful to God all the time. Pope St. Fabian led the Church patiently and faithfully throughout those difficult moments while St. Sebastian carried on his faith even in secret. Eventually both were persecuted, arrested and martyred for their faith, and especially for the case of St. Sebastian, in refusing to abandon his faith in God or worship the Emperor and the pagan gods. They faced suffering and death with great courage, knowing that God was by their side throughout.

May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us in our journey throughout life, and may He empower each one of us that we may always strive to live worthily in the path that He has shown us, and resist the temptations to sin and to do whatever is against His teachings and truth. May we be reminded by the examples of the saints and martyrs, in particular that of Pope St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, among many others. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all in our every good efforts, works and endeavours, all for His greater glory, and also for the salvation of many more souls. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 January 2023 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded yet again of the role that Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, has in being the High Priest of all mankind, in being our intermediary and mediator with the Father, our loving Creator and Master. Through Christ all of us have been shown the path of reconciliation and rejuvenation, in recovering our grace-filled existence where once we have been cast out into the darkness because of our disobedience and refusal to listen to God and to obey His will. God has loved us so much ever since the very beginning and He would not abandon us to the darkness and evil, and since the beginning, He has assured us of His faithfulness to the promises and the Covenant that He has established with us, and He sent us His Son to be our Saviour and to be the One to help us to return to His grace.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews about the actions of the Lord Jesus as the High Priest of all, in His offering of the most worthy sacrifice and offering of all for our sake. The author highlighted how the priests and high priests needed to offer sacrifices and offerings for the atonement of their sins first before they could offer the sacrifices on behalf of the people, and contrasting this with Jesus Christ, the one and true Eternal High Priest, by Whose sacrifice and offering every one of us, past, present and future, have received the sure guarantee of salvation and eternal life, should we embrace His most generous and wonderful love. Jesus our High Priest, the Sinless One, has willingly offered on our behalf, the perfect and most worthy offering that is sufficient to redeem all of us from the precipice of destruction and damnation.

How did He do that, brothers and sisters? He did that by being both our High Priest and also the sacrificial Lamb at the same time. As our High Priest, He offered on our behalf the perfect offering of Himself, of His own Most Precious Body and Blood as the perfect, unblemished and most sacred Lamb of God. While priests and High Priests offered the imperfect although unblemished offerings of lambs and other sacrifices, but the imperfection and limited nature of those offerings prevented them from achieving lasting and complete reconciliation between God and His beloved people. It was only through Christ and His most wonderful, generous and perfect offering that He has redeemed all of us from our fated destruction and annihilation due to our sins and wickedness.

Christ has become the bridge between us and God, as He called upon all of us to follow Him and to enter into His presence, embracing the Love of God that He has shown us in the flesh, tangible and approachable to us. He has given His all for us, embracing our humanity and emptying Himself from all glory and honour, choosing the condition of a criminal and a slave, so that by taking up upon Himself all of our sins, all the consequences and punishments due to those sins, and as the Lamb of God, He might purify us from our sins and faults, through the power of His own mercy and love, and through His most selfless and loving gift to all of us, and for such a great love indeed that He was willing to endure the greatest of pain and sufferings, humiliations and indignations for our sake.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the works which the Lord has done for the sake of His people during His ministry in this world. He has spent a lot of time and effort to reach out to everyone who had come to seek Him, seeking His healing and help, amidst their many troubles and difficulties. The Lord has shown His compassion and mercy, as He saw our sufferings and pains, and He wanted us all to be freed from all those things. It revealed to us the true intentions of our most loving Creator, for He created us out of pure love and the desire to share His ever overflowing love with us. Hence, He could not have allowed us to perish or to be separated forever from Him, and thus, He has given us so many opportunities to return to Him and to find our path back towards Him.

However, many of us tend to be defiant and stubborn in our attitude and way of life, constantly and repeatedly refusing to obey the Lord, shutting our minds and hearts against Him, and refusing to embrace the truth of God which He has brought into our midst through His Son. Although the Lord has shown us His most generous love, but we still often refused to believe in Him, and refused to embrace His mercy and love, although we have seen, witnessed, experienced all the wonderful love that God has lavished on us. The Lord has not stopped loving us even with all of that, and He has patiently reminded us, helped us and encouraged us to embrace His path, His love and His mercy, and He still offered Himself even to those who have hurt and betrayed Him, just as He gave Himself to be crucified even for the sake of all those who condemned Him to die.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us having been reminded of the great love of God shown through Christ, Who has most generously offered Himself for our sake, we are then reminded to offer our own love and devotion to Him. God has loved us most unconditionally and generously, and He has not held even from us His own beloved Son, Who has given Himself so thoroughly for us. Can we therefore love Him in the same way, and devote ourselves, our time and attention in the same manner as well? Can we do more in our lives so that we can truly consider ourselves as genuine and worthy Christians, as those whom God had called and made to be His own? We are all expected and reminded that as Christians, we have to be wholeheartedly faithful to God and entrust ourselves wholly to His providence and salvation.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to help us in our journey in faith and life so that hopefully we may all grow ever stronger in our faith and devotion to Him, and may He guide us and give us the courage and strength to persevere through the many challenges and trials that we may have to face in our journey as Christians, in each and every moments. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 January 2023 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures all of us are called to heed the love that God has given to us in the Person of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who is His most beloved and only begotten Son. Not only that, but we are reminded today that Christ is also our one and only True and Eternal High Priest, as the One Who interceded, made amends and reconnected us to the Lord, our most loving God and Father. By His coming into this world, He has bridged the once vast and immense gap that existed between God and us mankind, all because of our disobedience and sins against Him. And thanks to that, all of us now can look with great hope, to the Light of our Lord’s salvation and the promise of eternal life, which He has made to us and which He will fulfil, if we remain firm in our faith in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle spoke of the High Priesthood of Melchizedek, a rather mysterious figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis during the occasion when Abraham, the father of nations and the Israelites, offered a tenth of his materials to God. High Priest Melchizedek was described as the High Priest of the Most High God, or even as the High Priest and King of Salem, with some Biblical scholars relating this Salem with the historical Jerusalem. And as mentioned by the author of the Epistle of the Hebrews, who was not really discreet in making the connections between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ, Melchizedek was mentioned as One Who was without a father, mother or any genealogy, and the author also mentioned how Melchizedek was the figure of the Son of God.

Regardless of who Melchizedek really was, and what his nature and origin was, as truly many things were beyond even the knowledge and understanding of the prophets and the messengers of God, the writers of the Scriptures and even the Church fathers, what matters is that Melchizedek truly indeed was a prefigurement of the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, in what He would do for the sake of each and every one of us, in bringing the salvation of God into our midst. As the High Priest of God, Melchizedek interceded on behalf of Abraham and offered his offerings to the Lord, and in the same way, the Lord Jesus as our one and true Eternal High Priest also offered on our behalf a most perfect and worthy offering to the Lord, His Heavenly Father, the offering and sacrifice of His own Body and Blood, as the slain and sacrificed Paschal Lamb of God.

And that was exactly how the Lord Jesus had become the Mediator of the New Covenant which God has created and established with us mankind, that Christ has become our link and the means for us to be reconciled with God, by reaching out to us and being present in our midst, showing us God’s love manifested in His Person, and by showing us all that God truly wants us all to return to Him and find comfort, liberation and true joy through Him. We heard of how the Lord healed a man who had a paralysed hand, allowing him to make use of his hand again. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were present there frowned upon the actions of the Lord as it happened on the Sabbath, a day that was meant to be a day of rest according to God’s Law. On that day, people rested from work and should not be doing any work, and spend the time to be with God.

Back then, we must understand that the Pharisee and the teachers of the Law were those who were very particular about the way how the Law of God was obeyed and lived, that they paid a lot of attention on the details and rituals involved. They have also enforced a very strict interpretation of the Law on the people, especially on the matter of the Sabbath laws and customs. No one was supposed to do any work or action, even for doing what is good and right, according to the beliefs and rules imposed by those considered as elders and guides of the people. That was where the Lord rebuked them and showed them His anger and indignation at those who showed no compassion and love for their fellow brethren, and those who had made it difficult for many to be good and faithful disciples and followers of God, all because of the excessive burdens they had imposed on the observance of the Law.

The Lord wants us all to know that what the Sabbath was all about, was meant to help the people to return their focus and attention once again on the Lord, and away from the many temptations present all around us, all of which could distract us from our relationship with God. That was why the Sabbath was instituted at the first instance, and that is for God’s people to dedicate at least one day for the Lord and to focus their attention and efforts on Him, on that Sabbath day, and not to spend all of their time and attention on their many worldly desires, preoccupations, works and other distractions in life. All of these were the reason why the Lord gave the Sabbath to His people so that they might learn to appreciate all that He has given them, and grow ever closer in faith and love in Him, as they spent more time with Him on that sacred day.

Instead, what happened was that the day became a source of misery for some, and prevented good deeds from being carried out. Like in other occasions when the Lord performed His healing and miracles, the Lord criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their rigid and proud attitude, refusing to listen to the truth that God has delivered into their midst through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. They preferred to remain in their stubborn attitude and hence failed miserably in their duties and responsibilities as the custodians of the Law and of the faithful people of God. Contrast this stubbornness and disobedience, pride and ego with the humility and obedience of Christ the Son, the Son of God Who willingly obeyed His Father’s will and allowed Himself to be stripped of all glory and honour, to be condemned to death like a criminal and put to death in a most painful and humiliating way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are henceforth reminded to first of all be appreciative and thankful of everything that the Lord had done for our sake, in Him loving us most generously and patiently despite our repeated disobedience and constantly stubborn attitudes. Then, let us also be thankful for our High Priest, our Lord and Saviour Who has offered Himself as the perfect and worthy offering for the absolution of our innumerable sins. He did all of these so that we may not perish but live, and that we may be truly reconciled with God. Can we therefore commit ourselves from now on to follow the Lord and His ways, just as He Himself has shown us in His perfect obedience? Can we show our true and living faith by doing what God has taught and commanded us to do, through His Church and His servants?

May the Lord, our Saviour and High Priest continue to strengthen and guide us in our journey of faith throughout life. May He empower each and every one of us so that we may indeed live our lives ever more worthily with each and every passing moments. May He continue to bless us in our efforts and endeavours each day and at every moments, all for His greater glory. Amen.

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Tuesday, 17 January 2023 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony, Abbot (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words from the Sacred Scriptures, we are all presented with the reminder of the faithfulness which God has shown to each one of us by the Covenant that He has established and constantly renewed with all of us. God has always ever been faithful to all the promises and oaths, vows and words that He has spoken to us, fulfilling and completing them as He had done, in His own time, and He has always reached out to us with ever patient and enduring love that despite our many stubborn actions and attitudes, and refusal to listen to Him, God has always been ready to welcome us back and to forgive us our sins when we come to Him seeking His mercy.

In our first reading today, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard of the words of the author of the Epistle regarding the extent of the things that the Lord had done for us, even when He was not obliged to do so. He, the Almighty and All-Powerful Lord and Master of all Creation, is not bound to show His love for us all, or to be bound by any promises for us, and less still, to bind Himself in a Covenant with us, especially after we have disobeyed against Him and rebelled against Him, choosing to listen to the falsehoods of the devil instead of the path of God’s righteousness, virtues and justice. God has chosen to continue reaching out to us and patiently guiding us towards Himself despite all these, and established a Holy Covenant with us, binding Himself into this sacred vow, oath and arrangement, all because of His love for us.

God has always loved us all from the very beginning, and while He despised our sins and wickedness, what He hates was truly those sins and evils that we have committed, and not ourselves personally. After all, the very reason why He created this whole world and Universe is because of His love and He created us in His very own image, as He desired to share with us His overflowing love, to love us all most generously and sincerely, and to bring us all into His most Holy and loving Presence. We were never intended to suffer and to die, as we were created all good and perfect. We should have enjoyed an eternity of bliss and true happiness with God, if not for the failures of our ancestors and all of us in resisting and rejecting the temptations and allures of sin and evil. It was because of sin that we have been sundered and separated from God.

Yet, the Lord still persisted patiently and gave us opportunities, help and assistance, time and again so that we all may find our way to Him, to return to His path and to be reconciled with Him. He has always reached out to us, His lost sheep and scattered flock, that as our Good Shepherd, He went all the way, to the wilderness and to the peripheries, in searching out for us, finding us and returning us to the flock that He had gathered, all because He truly loved each and every one of us equally, and most dearly. It is through Christ Himself that we have seen, witnessed and experienced the Love of God firsthand, manifested and made real and tangible in our midst. And by Christ’s suffering, His Passion, His death on the Cross, He has shown us just how perfect and selfless God’s love for us has been, is, and will always ever be.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord courageously spoke out against the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who criticised Him and His disciples, because of the latters’ actions in picking up the grains of the wheat from the field when they were all very hungry. Back then, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were truly notorious for their particularly hardline and rigid attitude in preserving and observing the Law of God, and the many customs and practices of the Jewish people. They were very strict in imposing their no-tolerance adherence and observance of the Law of God, the numerous laws, regulations and rules pertaining to the Jewish customs and practices, especially the one regarding the Sabbath day, the day of rest stipulated in the Law.

However, in their misguided zeal and fanaticism, those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had overlooked the fact and forgotten that the Sabbath as it was originally revealed by God and intended by Him, was a day to remind all the faithful to turn back towards the Lord, and to take a break from their often overly possessive attachments to worldly matters and ambitions, their preoccupations and works, their desires and wants in life, among other things, which prevented them from loving God and serving Him as they should have done. The Sabbath was a day meant to help the people of God to return to Him after long periods of being distracted by worldly matters and all the troubles, problems and trials that they had in this world.

Unfortunately, those same Pharisees and teachers of the Law, were the very ones who made it difficult for many to come to embrace the Lord, because of their excessive focus and attention on themselves and their own attachments to pride, ego and ambition, to human praise and worldly glory among other things. They had made it difficult for many, especially those who in fact were in the greatest need for God’s mercy and forgiveness. Not only that, but the Pharisees and the teachers themselves forgot that they themselves were also in need of healing and God’s mercy, and by closing the gates of Heaven to many, that made their sins to multiply and became greater, not less. Their neglect of their role as stewards and guides for God’s people, to help them to return to the Lord, was their undoing.

The Lord Jesus hence reminded them and also all of us that the Law of God was meant to help us to find our way back to the Lord, and not to lay unnecessary burdens and hardships on us. The Law of God is love and is about God’s ever enduring and strong love for each one of us, so that He was willing to go through all those obstacles for us, on our behalf and to love us still even after we have disobeyed and refused to listen to Him so many times. Nonetheless, God continued to reach out to us, and through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, all of us have been gathered from being scattered all throughout the world, and through Him and His love, we have been saved from our predicament and fate of eternal damnation. And it is only right therefore that we also dedicate ourselves to the Lord in the same way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord has laid out His path and His graces upon us, and the choice is now ours whether we want to embrace Him and journey together with Him, or else, if we rather choose the comforts of the world and the temptations of glory and power. And we can also imitate and follow upon the good examples and works set by one famous saint and Church father, St. Anthony the Abbot, also known as the St. Anthony the Great, who was one of the earliest monastics of the Church, and living in the land rampant with bitter persecutions and hardships by the Roman authorities. St. Anthony devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Lord, spending his every living moments and breaths to glorify God by their work. He had to face a lot of struggles, but St. Anthony remained faithful and patient. He resisted the temptations of worldly glory and strived his best to lead a life of holy asceticism, focused solely on God, and gathered like minded people who followed his example, which was credited with the rise of the monastic practices in the Church.

For example, it was well known that the devil and other demons often came to torment St. Anthony, lifting him up and tempting him with all sorts of false and empty promises. He was under constant attacks from the evil one, and had to contend with the sufferings of this world as well as the pressures for us to conform and follow the ways of the world. Nonetheless, St. Anthony remained firm and strong in his faith, ministering to the needs of his community and other people who desired to seek the Lord and His forgiveness and grace, within his monastic communities as well as to the greater community, to his many visitors and contemporaries. Through his inspirational works, he has become our great model in how we should live our own lives, in being faithful and committed to God, and his writings inspired generations of good and holy priests, and holy people of God. The question is that, are we willing to spend the time and effort for us to change our ways for the better? The choice is ours alone.

May the Lord our most loving God and Creator continue to love us and care for us, and that may He continue to be patient with us, as we are progressing through our own respective lives. We should not take our faith, its many rules and precepts for granted anymore. That is why it is important that we have to grow to understand more about what our faith is all about, and how we should seek and strive to be humble before God, so that we may not be swallowed by our many worldly attachments and pride, and that we will always ever be patient in following God, and that we may always give Him thanks and praise for all the good things that He had done for us. May God bless us always, now and forevermore, in all the things we say and do. Amen.

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Monday, 16 January 2023 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the actions of the Lord, Our Saviour and King, our High Priest, in how He has offered Himself out of perfect love and compassion for us, so that each and every one of us may be forgiven from our many sins, and be reconciled fully with our most loving God, our Heavenly Father. And just as we have been redeemed from the darkness of sin, all of us as Christians, as those whom God has called and chosen from this world to be His disciples and followers, we are all expected to live our lives worthily of Him, by following Him and His examples, and by dedicating our lives and works, our efforts and more for His greater glory, in each and every moments available to us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was written and addressed firstly to the Christian converts hailing from the Jewish community, also known as the Jewish Christians, but also addressed in fact to the larger Jewish community as a whole. Hence, there was quite a few mention of themes and matters which pertained to the Jewish customs and laws, and which they would have been rather familiar with. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews wrote about the identity of the High Priest and why the Lord Jesus, the One known as the Messiah, or the Saviour, is the one true and Eternal High Priest for all mankind. By linking to this High Priesthood, and how God chose His High Priests back then from among the people, and what they did on behalf of the people, the author sought to explain and make clear what the Lord Jesus’ actions and all the events that happened back then, so that hopefully more among the Jewish people may come to believe in the Lord Jesus and accept Him as their Lord and Saviour.

Back then, High Priests offered the sacrifices on behalf of the whole people, and entered through the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God, to the Holy of Holies where the Holy Presence of God resides, in one special occasion each year, to intercede on behalf of the people of God. However, as contrasted to the other High Priests, who were sinners and needed to purify themselves and offer offerings and sacrifices for their own sins first before they offered the sacrifice on behalf of the people, the Lord Jesus, Who is without sin and perfect in all things, offered for us all His own Body and Blood, to be broken and shared by us, as our High Priest, for the absolution of our sins. Only Christ’s offering and sacrifice alone is worthy enough for us, that He did this once and for all, from His Cross at Calvary.

He became a Man like us, so that by His sharing in our humanity, He might show us the example of perfect obedience and faith, in entrusting Himself so completely to the Father’s will, and by uniting us all to Himself, He brought and led us to the purification from our many sins, by His offering of Himself, as the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, the only one worthy to erase all of our sins and all of our mistakes, an offering acceptable to God our most loving Father, made because of His great love for us, that He willingly chose to suffer and die for our sake. As highlighted as well in our Gospel passage today, that the Son of Man must suffer and die, and would be taken away from His beloved people, to die on the Cross, hence, everything happened so that we may be saved.

By His loving actions and care for us, Christ has shown us a new path in life, one that is leading away from the darkness of sin and evil surrounding us, towards the light of God’s grace and salvation, the true joy and happiness that we can only find in God alone. However, this has to be accompanied by our acceptance of the path that He has led us towards, and the acceptance and our embracing of the path of virtue and righteousness, by our faith in Him. God has also given us all the free will to choose the path that we are going to take in life, where we are going towards and what we are going to do with our lives. We can choose to embrace the path that God has shown us, and change our way of life, or to continue living our lives the way this world had taught us instead.

That is why the Lord’s brief parable in our Gospel passage today serves as an important reminder for us as Christians on what we should do in our lives going forward from now. In that parable, the Lord mentioned how no one would put a new wine into old wineskin, or a new cloth piece to patch an old cloth, or vice versa, as that would cause the wineskin or the cloth to tear because the two parts are incompatible with each other. By that parable, the Lord wanted to highlight that the way of the Lord and the way of the world are distinct and incompatible with each other, with the path of God’s virtues and righteousness being incompatible with the sinful ways and attitudes that many of us living in the worldly way of life have often exhibited. As Christians, in order for us to be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and completely, we must change our way of life and conform to what He has shown and taught us to do.

Hence, we are reminded that in this time of the Ordinary Time and season of the year, we must never be idle in life and we cannot be ignorant of our calling and mission, in doing the will of God and in living our lives faithfully as best as we are able to. If we continue to ignore our calling and not living our lives the way that the Lord has shown us, then we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers, as our faith is dead, meaningless and empty, and will not avail us on the Day of Judgment. In fact, those who have not yet believed in God, and yet did what is good and righteous in the eyes of the Lord, may be closer to salvation than we are. That is why we are reminded that as the followers and disciples of the Lord, we must adopt a new way of life, as represented by the parable of the wineskin and the cloth. New wine has to be accompanied with new wineskin, and hence, our faith in the Lord must also be accompanied with a new way of life based on that faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore remind ourselves and one another to live our lives ever more faithfully in each and every possible opportunities. Let us all commit ourselves anew each day and at every moments to make good use of our talents and abilities so that we may truly be good and faithful people of God, who reflect the goodness and the virtues of our Lord, and that by our actions, works, deeds, words and interactions, more and more may come to know God and His truth and love through us, and come to believe in Him as well, because they witness in us and our lives, the great examples of what it means to be a holy people of God, loved and blessed by Him, and what it means for us to be called to holiness and a new life in accordance with God’s will.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He, our Eternal High Priest, continue to guide us all, reminding us of all the things that He had done for us, the love He has shown us from His Cross, and His continued guidance and ever enduring love and patience that He has always shown us. Let us all draw ever closer to Him, and do whatever we can to serve Him faithfully and glorify Him by our lives, at each and every possible opportunities. May God bless us always, and bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, and inspire us to do more good things in our lives in this world. Amen.

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Sunday, 15 January 2023 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, as we have progressed from the season of Christmas into this time and season of the Ordinary Time. As we recall the words that we have just heard from our Scripture passages today, we are reminded that all of us are Christians because we believe in the salvation that Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of all the whole world had brought upon us into our midst. He, the Divine Word of God Who has willingly embraced our humanity and descended down into our midst, to be with us as Emmanuel, God Who is with us, and He has shown us the Love of God manifested in the flesh, approachable and reachable by each one of us. This Sunday we are reminded of our faith in Him and then also what each one of us as Christians ought to do with our lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke to Isaiah regarding the servant of God that God would send to His people in order to proclaim to them His salvation, gathering them from the nations, calling them back to His loving embrace once again. This can be interpreted as referring to the prophet Isaiah himself, whom God had sent into the people of Judah to help remind them to walk down the right path, turning away from their sinful past. But, this was also in fact a premonition and prediction of the coming of the One Whom God had proclaimed to His people throughout history, a promise renewed yet again and again through His many prophets, of the Messiah or Saviour Who will be the Shepherd and Guide of all of God’s beloved people.

The prophet Isaiah often spoke about the coming of the Messiah, and made many prophecies regarding Him as recorded throughout the Book of Isaiah, and hence, this would be yet another one of God’s renewed promises that He would send into the midst of His people the Deliverer, the Saviour of all, Who as the one and true Good Shepherd, would reassemble the body of the faithful people of God, gathering all the lost sheep of the Lord and bringing them all once again into the most loving embrace of God’s love. Through Christ, each and every one of us have been brought closer to the Lord, our Heavenly Father, as He offered on our behalf the perfect offering of love, the offering of Himself as the Lamb of God, the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice, as well as being the High Priest Himself, and all these were highlighted in our Scripture passages today to remind us of this fact and truth.

As we heard in our Gospel passage today, St. John the Baptist proclaimed before his own disciples how the one Jesus of Nazareth Who had come to him at the River Jordan, and asked to be baptised was indeed the Messiah, the One Whom everyone had been long waiting for. St. John the Baptist also said that, there was the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, the One Whom St. John the Baptist had been labouring and working to prepare the coming for. He spoke also of what happened when the Lord Jesus was baptised, of how the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a Dove coming down from Heaven, and the Father’s voice being heard, proclaiming that Jesus is truly His Son, the Son of God manifested in this world, as the proof of God’s ever enduring Love for each and every one of us.

And as mentioned earlier, what St. John the Baptist spoke of, as the Herald of the Messiah, was in fact also a foreshadowing and premonition of what the Lord Jesus would do for our sake, as the Lamb of God Who would be sacrificed on the Altar of His Cross, with His Most Precious Body broken and His Most Precious Blood spilt and poured down upon us, for the atonement of all of our sins, and for our redemption. The Lord Jesus would gather us all to His heavenly Father’s presence, by giving Himself, bearing upon His own shoulders the whole burden, punishments and consequences due for our many and innumerable sins. He manifested therefore God’s most generous and selfless Love, by His own actions, as He reached out to all of us, even to the most marginalised and those ostracised and rejected by the society, and calling on us to turn away from our sins, and once again embracing God’s Love and grace to the fullest.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to these words of the Scriptures reminding us of the salvation which the Lord has brought into our midst through Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, we are all therefore presented with the need for us all to focus our lives and efforts to follow the Lord, Our Saviour and King, our Good Shepherd and Guide, Who has shown us the way to the Father, to eternal life and true joy through Him. As Christians we cannot be idle or ignorant of what we are all expected to do in our respective lives, in the many opportunities and moments that the Lord has presented and provided to us. Each and every one of us have been blessed and granted various unique gifts and talents, so that we may make good use of them to do good and to follow in the footsteps and examples of Christ Himself, in how He has reached out to us and loved even the least amongst us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we progress through this Ordinary Time and season, we are constantly being reminded again and again, that we cannot be ‘ordinary’ in our living and we should not let the time and moments pass us by just like that, without us doing anything of merit and worthy of the Lord. Instead this ordinary here ought to refer to the fact that this is the time for us to settle down and get to work, that is for us to do what the Lord has told us to do, to do our responsibilities and parts, in proclaiming the truth and love of God in the midst of our various communities, and in being exemplary and good role models in how we live our lives so that everyone who witness our works and actions, heard our words and interactions, witnessed our lives and more may truly believe in God through us, because our lives and actions have become beacons of God’s Light and source of the same truth that Christ has brought into this world.

The question is, are we willing and able to commit ourselves to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, if we have not done so yet, in our daily living and in our every interactions and works? Are we able to commit ourselves to a life of virtue and Christian values, as we have been called and reminded to do, by the Church and by the Lord Himself? These are things that we should really spend time to ponder upon, while also reflecting and discerning on what we can do better going forward in our respective lives as Christians, all those whom God had called and chosen, and have chosen in our own ways, to respond to His call. Let us not let our faith be an empty and dead one, but let us seek to be always ever courageous in how we live our faith through our actions, words, deeds, interactions and more that we may inspire even more people to follow our path as well.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to guide us in our lives, and help us to persevere through the many challenges and trials that we may have to face and endure in life. May He strengthen and empower us all in our everyday moments, so that we may always be firm in our faith and that we may resist the temptations to disobey and sin against Him. May God bless our every actions, our every works and efforts, our every good endeavours, all for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 14 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the love that God has shown to each and every one of us, by which He has brought us ever closer to Him and His love, touching us all with His compassionate mercy, care and love, so that by His power and grace, He may strengthen us and heal us from our troubles and from our sickness and predicaments due to our sins. Sin has long dominated us and made us all to cower in fear, subjugated by its power and allure, and because of sin we have been sundered from God, from His grace and love, and cast away from His Holy Presence to wander off in this world in atonement for our sins.

But the Lord never forget about us, and He has always loved us still, despite our sins and disobedience against Him. He has always thought about us and wanted us all to be reconciled to Him, that we all may find our way back to Him. He has given us all His most wonderful and perfect gift, the perfect manifestation of His own love and compassion towards us, in the Word of God made flesh, Incarnate and tangible before us. And all these happened through Jesus Christ, the Divine Word Incarnate and Son of God, through Whom the salvation that God has long promised us all His people, has come to fruition at last. The Lord Jesus came forth bearing the fulfilment of God’s promise and the proof of God’s ever enduring love into our very midst.

As the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in our first reading today highlighted to us, the coming to the Son of God, the Divine Word in the flesh, was intended for our salvation, in Him redeeming us and leading us out of the darkness and into the eternal glory and true joy promised to all of us who are faithful to Him, and who have embraced and accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour. In Jesus Christ lies the only Hope and the only Light path out of the darkness of our sinful and wicked existence, and by His love and grace, His kindness and mercy, all of us have witnessed and experienced God’s love made manifest, and through Him, healing and rejuvenation had come into our midst. All of us have been made sharers of His grace, kindness and love, that by all those, we may be saved.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the Lord Who went to call a tax collector named Levi, who immediately decided to leave everything behind, his work and career, his place and all of his properties to follow the Lord as one of His disciples. The Lord also went to Levi’s house to meet and have dinner with Levi’s fellow tax collectors, and this action was immediately met with quite a harsh disapproval and disgust by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were there following the Lord and observing His actions. Those people contended that the tax collectors were sinners who were unworthy of the Lord and His love, and probably they also thought that those tax collectors were beyond any hope or redemption.

At the same time, many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law held rather elitist view of themselves and their community, as they were the intellectual elites who were most knowledgeable about the Law and the teachings of the prophets. Hence, to them, they were the ones who were most worthy of the Lord’s grace and salvation. They saw many others, especially tax collectors, prostitutes and those afflicted with diseases as those who were less worthy and even undeserving of God’s grace and salvation. As such, in their attitudes and works, they tend to keep people away from the Lord and shun all those for whom in fact salvation and grace of God were needed the most, that is those who have committed great sins before God and mankind alike.

Not only that, but they have also then forgotten that they themselves were also sinners in need of forgiveness and healing, and the more they indulged in their self-righteous attitudes, the further they actually went away from God and His salvation. As long as they kept themselves stubbornly in rejecting God and His truth, then they remained far from God and His salvation, while the tax collectors, the prostitutes and all those whom they looked down upon, were actually drawing much nearer to God and His salvation, through their desire to repent and turn away from their sins, and through their commitment to love the Lord once again with all of their hearts and minds, instead of focusing so much on their pride and ego like those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

Levi for example would go on to become a great Apostle of the Lord, and also one of the Four Evangelists as St. Matthew. He would go on to do great things and deeds, and would be instrumental in helping to establish the foundations and the structures of the Church in many places, calling upon many more people to return to the Lord in the manner that he himself had been called. His examples showed us all that no sinner is too great beyond God’s redemption and forgiveness, and our Church is truly a hospital for sinners, where sinners like us are transformed by God’s grace into His great and faithful followers, from being the followers of darkness into the children of the Light. God’s grace and love has been generously shown to us through His Son, and everything that He has done for our salvation.

Now, the question for us is, are we willing and able to follow the examples of St. Matthew, who as Levi the tax collector, chose to follow the Lord and turn his back against sin? Are we willing and able to follow the footsteps of St. Matthew and many other of our holy predecessors in embracing God and all the love that He has shown us through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ? Or do we rather live like many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who often refused to see the truth or to believe because they trusted more in their own flawed judgment and intellect, as well as refusing to listen to the wisdom of God due to their pride? Are we going to follow their examples, brothers and sisters? The choice is ours to make, for us to make the right decision in continuing this journey we have in life.

Let us all therefore turn towards the Lord once again, embracing the light of His hope and His love, and do our best to open ourselves and welcome Him as He comes into our midst, healing us and strengthening us with His blessings and love. And let us also sin no more, and commit ourselves to a new life and existence in God that is truly worthy of our identity as Christians, that is as God’s own beloved people and children. May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, so that in everything we say and do, we will always be ever faithful to Him, and that we will always strive to glorify Him in each and every moments by our lives, always. Amen.

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Friday, 13 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the faith that we have in God, the faith that we have in His providence and might, in His truth and love, and then what each one of us should do in proclaiming that same truth and faith amongst all the people we encounter in our various respective communities. All of us have the need to believe in God and His truth, and to listen to Him and His words, and do not harden our hearts and minds against Him unlike what many of our predecessors had done in the past, which were highlighted by our Scripture passages today.

In our first reading today, as we heard from the Epistle of the Hebrews, the author of this Epistle who directed his writings to the Jewish Christian converts and also to the greater Jewish community, wanted to get them all to heed the Lord’s words and call to them to conversion, and to embrace the truth that God Himself had brought into this world, all through the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all. The author was making references to the past transgressions, disobedience and stubbornness of the people of God in the past, who constantly rebelled against the Lord and refused to believe in Him and His prophets, even after repeated reminders and messages calling on them to turn away from their sins.

The author of the Epistle also likely referred to the attitudes of some among the Jewish community who had consistently and constantly resisted the Lord, His truth and His works, just as one of those examples being highlighted in our Gospel passage today. Essentially, many of the Jewish elders and influential members of the Sanhedrin or the Jewish High Council refused to believe in the Lord Jesus, and frowned or even outrightly opposed His actions and works, all because they saw Him as a Rival and even a threat to their own influence and power, and in their pride and ego, they continued to close their hearts up against God and His truth, even when His Wisdom and His miraculous deeds had been shown before their very own eyes in multiple occasions.

Such as what happened in our Gospel passage today, where we heard the account of the Lord Jesus healing a paralytic man brought unto His midst through the roof because the room where He was teaching in was so packed with people. The Lord willed to heal the paralysed man, and told Him that His sins had also been forgiven. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who happened to be present there in that occasion immediately took offence at the Lord’s proclamation, and said imperiously that only God could forgive sins, and that what the Lord had done was no less than a blasphemy against God. Yet, they failed to realise first of all that Christ Himself is the One Whom God had promised to be the Saviour of all mankind, and to Him would indeed be granted the authority over all things, even over that of sins.

Through Christ, Whose actions, works, miracles and wonders had shown the proof of His glorious coming, the truth about Himself and Who He really was, God wants to reveal to us the depth of His most amazing and wonderful love, which persists despite our most terrible and wicked rebellion against Him. Through Christ, God has willingly gathered all of us from the distant corners and edges of the world, leading us back to the grace of God and healing us all from our sickness that is sin, just as He had healed the paralytic man his condition. It is He alone Who can indeed rescue us from the tyranny of sin and death, lifting us up from the darkness that surrounded us and bringing us into His eternal light and grace. And yet, there are still many indeed who refused to believe in His love and kindness, despite having witnessed and heard about them.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because of the excess of human pride, ego and greed, all of which had become great obstacles in our journey back towards God. The pride and ego of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and many of the members of the Sanhedrin had become serious obstacles in the path of their drive towards salvation in God. Those people thought that they were better and superior to others all around them, and would not take the truth of the Lord as the reality that they needed to embrace. Instead, they continued to depend on the flawed and mistaken ideas they upheld, thinking that the messages and words that the Lord Jesus brought into their midst were false and even blasphemous in nature.

Today all of us are reminded not to follow this same path, and instead to follow the Lord wholeheartedly once again, not be swayed by the temptations of worldly power, fame, pride, glory and many other things that had often dragged so many of our predecessors into the path of sin and darkness. We are reminded that we have to be humble in accepting that our ways and thoughts can often be mistaken and flawed, and in God alone we can find the truth and Wisdom which will liberate us from the falsehoods of evil and sin. That is why we are called to reflect upon those passages of the Scriptures and whatever we have just reflected upon earlier so that we may not end up falling into the wrong path of disobedience, stubbornness and rebellion against God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us ought to look upon the good examples and inspirations set by St. Hilary, one of the great Church fathers, also known as St. Hilary of Poitiers, whose love and devotion to God, zeal and faith by which he had lived his life and ministry, can be great source of inspiration for all of us in how we live our own Christian living and faith. St. Hilary of Poitiers was the Bishop of Poitiers who was renowned for his great dedication to his flock and for his opposition to the heretics and all those who had perverted and misused the truth of God for their own selfish purposes. He was particularly energetic and passionate in opposing the then greatly influential Arian beliefs that distorted the truth about Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Saviour of all.

St. Hilary spent a lot of time and effort in reaching out to his flock and opposing those who sought to divide the Church and snatch the faithful from the hands of the Lord’s shepherds, having to endure persecutions and even exile for his courageous struggles for the truth, for the Lord and for the Lord’s beloved flock. He wrote extensively on many aspects of the faith, against the heretical teachings and ideas, which eventually made him proclaimed as one of the great Doctors of the Church for his immense contributions, long after he has passed on from this world. The faith and dedication which St. Hilary has shown us should serve as a good example for us to follow, so that each and every one of us may also follow him in his devotion and efforts in serving and glorifying God, in our own respective lives and actions.

May the Lord continue to guide us through our own journey in life, so that we may draw ever closer to Him, and such that we may ever always be more faithful to Him, and be ever more humble in accepting and receiving Him into our hearts and minds, and being stubborn and hardened in hearts no more. May all of us continue to walk down the path of righteousness and truth, and continue to persevere in faith regardless of the challenges and trials we may have to face for the Lord’s sake. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 12 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should obey the Lord and His commandments and Law, and not harden our hearts and minds against Him as many of us and our ancestors and predecessors had done. Many of us and our predecessors had been stubborn in living our lives the way we wanted it, even against the Law and commandments of God, living in the state of sin. And this is where we are reminded and called again to turn towards the Lord full of faith and love for Him, and obedience to His words and will so that each and every one of us may always be firmly attached to His path, and will always grow ever closer to Him as we continue to proceed through life.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which the author of the Epistle spoke of the actions of the people in the past who were stubborn in their refusal to listen to God, and in challenging and disobeying Him, referring especially to the actions of the Israelites during their journey from the slavery in Egypt at the time of the Exodus. The rebellion and the wickedness that the people had committed against God brought His anger against them, and as a result of those stubborn actions, the people of Israel had to wander off in the desert for a whole period of forty years, as the just and righteous consequence of their many sins and their refusal to listen and obey the Lord despite many reminders and help from the Lord, and despite everything that God had done in delivering them out of their predicament and enslavement in Egypt.

Through all of that, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews who wrote his Epistle directed to the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites and the people to which the Lord Jesus and many of His early disciples belonged to, wanted them all to take heed of the actions of their ancestors and predecessors who have constantly refused to believe in God. And this can be compared to the then contemporary actions of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the elders and those who belonged to the group of the Sadducees, many of the chief priests and members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council, many of whom were opposed to the Lord and His teachings and works. The hard-hearted and stubborn attitudes of those people could indeed be compared to the stubbornness of the Israelites of the time of the Exodus.

Hence, that is why all of us are also reminded by the same author of the Epistle to the Hebrews that we must not harden our hearts and minds against the Lord, and not to indulge ourselves in the path of sin and rebellion against Him. All of us should learn to listen to the Lord and not to do things the way we wanted it, just as our Gospel passage today also highlighted to us. In that passage, we heard of the Lord healing a leper who came to Him begging Him to heal him from his leprosy, from his shame and predicament. The Lord healed the leper and made him healthy again, while telling him that he should not speak of anything regarding his healing and all that happened to anyone, but just showing himself to the priests in accordance to the Law of God.

The man did not listen to the Lord and spoke to everyone regarding what had happened to him, and this caused a very great problem for the Lord, Who then had to hide away and stay out of the towns. And why is that the case, brothers and sisters? That is because likely the Lord healed the leper by touching him, and this was something that the Law of God forbade, as lepers were considered as unclean and should not be approached, less still touched and contacted. The Lord has willingly reached out to the man and acceded to his requests to be healed and made whole again, and had his stain of leprosy removed from him. Yet, the man could not do what the Lord had asked of him, and chose to do what he wanted to do instead of what the Lord had asked and told him to do, with a negative consequence as we have heard.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence reflect on these words of the Scriptures and all that we have heard and discussed. Let us all reflect upon our own lives and actions, and think of how each and every one of us can be better disciples and followers of the Lord. Unfortunately, many of us have often chosen to obey the words of the devil, the tempting words and lies of the devil instead of listening to the truth, the will and the Law of God, and we often succumb to the temptations of our flesh, of the world, and chose to turn away from the Lord, shutting ourselves from His words and reminders just as those people in the past had done. We all have heard and were reminded of the consequences of their disobedience, and such consequences will be ours as well if we continue down this path of disobedience.

Hence, let us all change our way of life, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue carrying on living our lives each day. Let us all return wholeheartedly to the path that the Lord has shown us, and strive to love Him to the best of our abilities. Let us all do whatever we can to glorify the Lord through our every actions and deeds, in our every words and interactions. Let us all turn once again towards God with love and obedience, as well as with the desire to follow Him and to obey His Law and commandments once again. Each and every one of us as Christians are called and expected to do whatever we can to proclaim the Lord and His truth, His love and will in our world today, and the best way to do so is by living our lives in the most Christian and obedient ways, as much as possible.

May the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, and may He empower each and every one of us to live ever more worthily each day, following His Law and commandments. May He strengthen and encourage us in our faith, and help us to grow ever stronger in our love and devotion for Him, and may God bless all of us in our every efforts and endeavours, in our every good works and deeds, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 January 2023 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each and every one of us as Christians are reminded yet again of the salvation and healing, redemption and reconciliation that all of us have received through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. All of us have received the assurance of eternal life and glory from the Lord, Who has sent us His Son to be our Saviour, delivering us from the precipice of destruction and annihilation. Because of Him, we now have hope once again, delivered from the path to eternal darkness, freed from the bondage to sin, evil and death. Christ’s light has triumphed and overcome the whole world, and overcome the dominion of the evil one, and all those who had kept us under the tyranny of sin and death.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard the author of the Epistle regarding how all of us have shared in the same nature as Our Lord Jesus, all thanks to Him, Who is the Son of God, willingly taking up our human nature and existence, becoming Incarnate in the flesh as the Son of Man, coming down into our midst to gather us all into His loving embrace as our Good Shepherd, and reconcile us with His loving Father, our Master and Creator. Through Christ, all of us have received the assurance of eternal life by His suffering and death on the Cross, as well as by His glorious Resurrection, through which Christ has united us all to Himself and made us all to pass through into the new life and blessed existence, that is no longer of sin, but of the light of His grace.

How did Christ do this to us? He did so by sharing in our humanity, by becoming Man like us, so that He can be the New Adam, leading us all towards God through His obedience and love for God, and breaking us free from the bondage of sin because of the disobedience of the first Adam, and Eve, our first ancestors, through which we have entered into the state of sin and separated from God in the first place. He led us all as our High Priest and as the perfect role model for us to follow, so that by His offering of Himself, His own Most Precious Body and Blood on the Cross, by His suffering and death, all of us may receive the pardon and absolution from all of the unimaginable extent of our innumerable sins and faults, and be reconciled fully with the Lord, our most loving Father and Creator.

That is what the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews had mentioned to the faithful, reminding them all that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who has come into the world, has brought into our midst the love of God, the compassionate mercy of the Father manifested in the flesh, becoming tangible and approachable by all of us. The Lord has revealed His most gracious love and kindness, just as we have also heard in our Gospel passage today, where we heard of the Lord Jesus and His ministry among the people of God, healing those who were sick and dying, and also those who were possessed and were troubled by evil spirits, healing the mother-in-law of His disciple and Apostle, St. Peter, among many other deeds that He had done. He went out still, to reach out to more of the people of God, in fulfilling the missions entrusted to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we heard these readings from the Scriptures today, all of us are reminded that first of all, our lives as Christians ought to be focused and centred on our Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and King, Who has come into our midst to deliver us from the sure destruction because of those sins and faults that we have committed. All of us have received the promise of salvation and eternal life from the Lord Himself, Who has reached out to us with His great and most gracious love, caring for us and gathering us all from being scattered all throughout the world, so that we may all be one people, of the one flock that He has assembled, His Church, the Body of Christ. By uniting all of us to Himself, He, as the Head of the Church, has made us all partakers and sharers of the eternal glory and joy that is promised for all those who are faithful to Him and all who belong to Him.

Through Him, all of us have received the healing and encouragement, strength and the power of God’s most gracious love and kindness, which we have now experienced and enjoyed. Now, all of us therefore are called as Christians to be ever more faithful to God and to obey His commandments and Law in the way that Christ, the Son of Man, the New Adam, our role model, has shown us. Each one of us have been called during this period and time to continue doing whatever we can in fulfilling our roles and obligations as those who follow the Lord, in doing what we can to proclaim God’s truth and love in the midst of our communities, among all the peoples, that more and more may also come to believe in God through us. This is our calling and responsibility as Christians, and one that we should embrace wholeheartedly.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter and progress through this first part of the Ordinary Time of the year, before we head into the season of Lent in over a month or so, let us all make good use of this time and opportunity that God has given us to do whatever we can in glorifying Him and in following Him wholeheartedly, so that this season and time will not be ‘ordinary’ in any sense. Instead, we have to make it truly ‘extraordinary’ by doing all that we can to glorify the Lord by our lives, our every actions, words and deeds. We should make sure that our examples may inspire others all around us to follow the Lord and to believe in Him as well, just in the manner that the Lord Himself and His saints have inspired us all to follow them in the path of righteousness and truth.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen each one of us in faith. May He empower all of us that we may always walk ever more confidently in the path that He has shown us and led us. May God bless our every works and deeds, all the endeavours and actions that we carry out in each and every moments of our lives. Wishing all of us a most blessed and fruitful Ordinary Time and season, each and every days of our lives, always. Amen.