Reflection of the Bible

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Thursday, 4 October 2018 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day in what we heard from the Scriptures, we heard both the message of despair, suffering and sorrow, as well as the message of hope and encouragement from God. We heard from the tale of Job in our first reading today and from what the Lord Jesus told His disciples as He sent them all two by two, to go before Him and prepare the way for His missionary works.

Job was in despair and suffered because of his many afflictions, having endured many losses in his family and his possessions, and having his own body plagued by painful boils and scabs. And yet, he did not complain against the Lord or cursed Him, as what his wife had told him that he should do, but instead, blaming his own limited and weak human existence, and the weakness of his flesh for the troubles he faced.

That was the sorrow and anguish which Job showed in the first reading passage today, the feeling of pain and the endurance of tough challenges he had to go through. But despite all of that, he did not complain or falter in his faith in God, as he remained faithful to Him and believed wholeheartedly that despite all the challenges, and remained firm in his conviction, that God will have pity and mercy on him, and save him from his distress.

That is what we heard in the Scripture passage today, showing us that as God’s faithful followers and disciples, we will likely encounter difficulties and challenges in our path. And unless we remain firmly faithful to the Lord, then we may end up falling into temptation and then into sin. And when we are assailed as Job was assailed by Satan, in the many unfortunate incidents and sufferings he had to endure, it will be difficult for us to keep and maintain the faith.

Yet, that is the reality which the Lord Jesus in our Gospel passage today also presented to His disciples as He talked to them about what to expect as they were sent among the people of God. They were sent as if they were to be like sheep among wolves, to endure the challenges, rejection, persecution and all the difficulties facing those who remain faithful and committed to the Lord.

There would be those people and those communities who would refuse to believe in God and refuse to listen to the Apostles and the disciples preaching the truth to them. And in that case, the disciples ought to leave the place behind, and cast the dust off their feet, to show their indignation at just how stubborn the people of that place were, refusing to open their hearts and minds to allow God to speak to them.

But the Lord told His disciples that there would also be many of those who wanted to believe in the Lord and were open to welcome Him and His disciples into their midst. There were many opportunities for the disciples to grow the ranks and numbers of the faithful, and the Lord also promised that He would be with them, guiding their path and leading them to the way He would show them. He showed them His faithfulness and love, that just as Job was rewarded for his perseverance in faith, we too will share in the same perseverance and commitment in our faith.

Many of us are worried and are unwilling to commit ourselves to the Lord because we are so preoccupied with many things and temptations in life. We cannot let go of all these possessions, goods, fame, prestige, social status, relationships, and many other things that often become obstacle in our ability to live our lives fully attuned with God and His ways. This means that many of us Christians have not been living as we should have.

That is why today, we should reflect upon the examples shown by Job, and by the disciples of Christ, many of whom would give up a life of comfort and entrusting themselves completely to the Lord, their God. And one of the followers of Christ, whose feast we celebrate today, is a very good example and inspiration for us, namely St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan religious order.

St. Francis of Assisi was born as Francesco Bernardone, the son and heir of a rich cloth merchant, Pietro Bernardone, one of those who were among the powerful, wealthy and privileged members of the society at the time of the Middle Ages Italy. St. Francis of Assisi was born into a life of privilege, of joy and worldly pleasures, of enjoyment of all sorts of worldly goods and wonders, that led to the decadence and wicked actions of many of the people living at that time.

Naturally, St. Francis of Assisi’s father wanted his son to be successful as he was, and wanted him to inherit all of his possessions, business dealings and worldly achievements. And yet, God has a different plan for young Francesco Bernardone, when He called him in one occasion as he passed by a ruined parish church, calling on him to restore His Church. The young man thought of this as a literal calling to restore the ruined parish church, and took some of his father’s rich and precious clothes, sold them and used the money to fund the rebuilding of the church.

When Pietro, Francesco’s father found out of this, he was furious and demanded that he must account for his actions. Francesco Bernardone fled to the local bishop, and his father demanded that he return to him the money which he supposedly has stolen by the selling of his clothes and property. Francesco took off everything he had, including his clothes, signifying his readiness and commitment to leave behind all of his worldly attachments, to follow the Lord.

Eventually, he would go on to establish the congregation of like minded people, which would eventually be known under his patronymic as the Franciscans, leaving behind worldliness and living simply in a Christian brotherhood and community, and focusing on prayer, faith and loving service to others. They lived their lives preaching the Good News and the truth of God not just by words, but also through their actions and way of life.

St. Francis of Assisi suffered a lot of pain and sufferings throughout his ministry, and he was known to receive the five wounds of Christ on his own body, during a moment of vision, when the wounds caused him great pain for the rest of his life, what is to be known as the stigmata. Yet, he entrusted himself so completely to God, and lived the rest of his life in prayer, that until today, his examples, his piety and devotion to God continue to inspire countless people, many of whom followed in his footsteps.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow the Lord and abandon our worldly temptations and desires, just as St. Francis of Assisi had done. We do not have to do exactly as what he has done, but perhaps, we can begin by dismantling and abandoning our often unhealthy obsession over material wealth, desire for fame and glory, and many other things that often become our preoccupations in life.

Let us all turn towards God with a heart filled with love, and renew our faith in Him, as best as we are able to. May the Lord awaken in each one of us a new spirit of love, the courage and strength to love Him and serve Him despite the challenges and difficulties we may face and encounter on our way to Him. May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 October 2018 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God through the Scriptures, telling us first the story from the Book of Job, continuing the discourse on Job that we have had for the last few days. Job was a faithful servant of God who was tested and attacked by the devil, who took everything he possessed, and even had boils and ulcers on his skin, suffering grievously from all the assaults by the devil.

And yet, Job continued to be faithful to God and remained true to his faith in Him, knowing that if it was indeed God’s will that he should suffer, then it shall be done according to His will, and not what Job wanted. He mentioned in what we have as our first reading passage today, about the greatness of God and how His ways are far beyond our ways and His thoughts are beyond our thoughts and intelligences.

And in that spirit, Job entrusted himself completely to the will of God, putting himself at the mercy of what God wanted to do with his life. He humbled himself so much so as to make himself insignificant in the grander plan of God, and submitting himself so fully to the will of God. He was showing the attitude of being a true and committed servant of God, who entrusted himself to God completely.

This was what the Lord Jesus, Our Lord, God and Saviour showed us as well, in the Gospel passage we heard today. In that passage we heard about how the disciples whom the Lord called to follow Him wanted to go and settle their issues and businesses first, but the Lord told them that unless they put their heart and dedicate themselves completely to God’s cause, then they would not be able to follow Him with sincerity and commitment they ought to have.

The Lord also spoke that the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man had no place to even rest His head. This is then followed by the question from the disciples who wondered where He lived and stayed. The Lord’s answer was merely, “Come and see!” In reality, probably the Lord did not have any fixed place to stay, but moving about from place to place as He carried on doing His work and ministry.

The Lord wants each and every one of us to know that to be God’s followers, as Christians, we must free ourselves from the bonds and the chains of our worldly desires, pride, arrogance, and all sorts of things that can prevent us from finding our way to God. It is often that we are chained to our desires and worldly ambitions, that we forget what is our purpose in life, and therefore we end up distancing ourselves from God.

Many of us put so much importance of our earthly possessions, wealth and all sorts of temptations, of money, of pleasure, of glory and fame, and many others, that we cannot put ourselves completely to the service of God. We spent so much time, attention and effort in trying to assemble for ourselves all sorts of worldly possessions and goods, pleasures and pursuits of worldly glory, trying to accumulate and gain more of these to satisfy our desires.

However, do we realise that actually, it does not matter how much we have accumulated and how much effort we have spent trying to gain all these worldly things, but we will never truly be satisfied, as our human nature will end up causing us to desire and want for more and more. And as we continue to be distracted by these pursuits of pleasure and worldly happiness, we will end up getting more and more distant from God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to turn towards God with all of our hearts, minds, and indeed with our entire beings. We need to adopt the spirit of Job in all of our actions and in how we live our lives, reminding ourselves that to serve the Lord is to give ourselves so completely as Job had been, and as how many of our predecessors in faith have done, in giving themselves totally, even to the point of suffering martyrdom at the hands of those who oppose the Lord and His ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all from now on strive to seek the Lord and to love Him with a renewed zeal and effort, that in everything we say and do, we will always seek the glory of God. May the Lord continue to watch over us and guide us in our journey towards Him, and bless us all in our every endeavours. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 October 2018 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, who are the Angels that God had sent to be with each and every one of us, to protect and to guide, to show us the way forward in life, and to defend us in the constant spiritual battle in life against the forces of evil. The Guardian Angels are our close confidants, whom the Lord placed before us, because of His great love for us.

God loves us very much, and certainly He does not want us to be snatched away from Him by the devil and all of his allies, the fallen angels, demons and wicked spirits, all of whom are waiting actively for us to fall into sin and therefore, into their hands. They are always going about us, tempting us with the various temptations of the world, which are meant to pull us away from the path towards God.

The Guardian Angels sent to guard and protect us are the ones who are always at the forefront of the spiritual battles that occur daily between the forces of God and the forces of Satan, the voice of our Guardian Angel which reminds us to be faithful to the Lord, to be upright and righteous in all things, versus the voice of the tempters, Satan and his allies, trying to tempt us and seduce us into committing sin before God.

That is why we must truly thank our Guardian Angels, who ceaselessly and tirelessly keep watch by our side, watching for every moves made by the devil and all the evil spirits trying to strike at us. Unfortunately, more often than not, we allow ourselves to be attacked by the devil, to be swayed by his lies and falsehoods, by the temptations he presented to us, which led us to sin and therefore separation from God’s grace.

Nonetheless, the Lord never gives up on us, till the very last moment of our lives. Through our Guardian Angels, and by their intercessions, by the prayers of the Angels and saints, God is continuously at work trying to redeem us and to regain our souls from the clutches of the devil and all trying to drag us into eternal damnation together with them. That said, we need to cooperate by our acceptance of God’s extension of mercy, love and forgiveness in our lives.

Today, all of us as Christians are called to reflect on our own lives, on our actions and what we have done in life thus far. Have we been listening more to the advice of our Guardian Angels in taking actions that are in accordance with God’s will and with the teachings of the Church, or have we rather listened to the words of lies and temptation of the evil spirits and Satan?

Let us all strive to follow the Lord’s path from now on, turning ourselves wholeheartedly towards Him. Let us all sin no more and resist the temptations to sin, by shutting out all the distractions of the devil and all tempters ever present in our midst. Should they continue to assail us, let us ask for the protection by our own Guardian Angels, who will stand by our side defending us against the forces of evil.

Let us now pray together the prayer to our Guardian Angels, asking them for protection and guidance. Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to fight and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

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Monday, 1 October 2018 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the account of the suffering of Job, in which this Biblical Job was a very rich man who was also very devoted to God, as an exemplary and righteous servant. Although according to Biblical scholars and studies, it is likely that Job was a fictional character, but the examples shown by Job, his sufferings and how he dealt with the suffering and eventually overcome it, is an archetype and example for our own respective lives.

We may have lots of questions on why God let Job to be crushed by Satan’s power and manipulations, as what we heard from the conversations between Satan and God in the beginning of the Book of Job. But if we look deeper at the real intention of God through this story of the Bible, and by looking at the entirety of the Book of Job from the beginning towards the end, when Job was vindicated by God, and given double the blessings he once had, we can see that it was never God’s intention to make us to suffer.

Instead, God loves each and every one of us so greatly, that He was willing to do whatever He could in order to bring us to salvation and liberation from all of our troubles. It was through sin that suffering has entered into our lives and into our beings. And sin came from the disobedience against the will of God, which began from the rebellion of Satan, because of his pride and greed, desiring to be like God, and then, through temptations, coming to us mankind.

It was the misuse of the freedom which God has given us which led us to experience suffering, because we do not follow the path which God has shown us. Suffering is caused by the desires and the pride that is within us, which often prevent us from truly being able to experience and realise God’s love and goodness present within us, that caused us to act in ways which lead us into disharmony, infighting, bickering, unhappiness and even anger and hatred against one another.

That is also in fact, the source of the unhappiness which was present in what we heard in the Gospel passage today, when the disciples of the Lord were arguing among themselves who was the most important and the best among them. They bickered and disagreed with each other and became unhappy at one another because of their own personal desires and wishes to be acknowledged as the better one, the superior disciple.

That was why they were also unhappy that someone else besides the disciples of the Lord were preaching and healing the people in His Name. It was because of their pride and their desire, that ended up causing them to be self-centred, exclusive and showing all the unbecoming attitudes that the Lord had to quickly address, by pointing out to them, that unless they become like a little child in their attitude and faith, they would not have any place with Him.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus also known as St. Therese of Lisieux, who was remembered for her famous ‘Little Way’, which she promoted as the way to reach out to the Lord and His salvation. This ‘Little Way’ of St. Therese is exactly what will cure us from the troubles facing us and our world today, and is in harmony with what Job in his account did before the Lord, that is to humble himself and accept his own mortality and insignificance.

As mentioned, suffering came about because of our inability to let go of our human and worldly desires and emotions. Through temptations, we always seek to find more gains for ourselves, and to place ourselves and our desires before anything else. But this is in fact a distraction that prevents us from being able to find our way to the Lord, and has caused many of us to falter and fail in our journey of life.

Job remained faithful through his long period of suffering and pain, because he trusted the Lord completely and did not think of himself and his possessions and things to be greater than the love which God Himself had given him. He said in the midst of his suffering, ‘Naked I have come from my mother’s womb, and therefore naked too shall I return.’, a clear show of his great humility and commitment to love God with all of his heart.

St. Therese of Lisieux was remembered for his great piety and prayerful life, through which she persevered the many challenges and sickness that troubled her for much of her life. St. Therese of Lisieux placed God before everything else, committing her whole life entirely to God. Through her ‘Little Way’, she sought to do and obey God’s will, one little thing and part for a time, for the greater glory of God.

St. Therese of Lisieux made herself small and insignificant before the Lord, but knowing that the Lord will pay attention to even the very smallest and least significant of His followers and disciples. Are we able to make ourselves small and insignificant before the Lord as well? If we want to do so, then we should follow in the footsteps of Job and St. Therese of the Child Jesus in their faith and in how they lived their lives with complete love for God.

May the Lord help us that we may be able to live our lives filled with zeal and renewed dedication to Him. May He empower us all to be inspired by the faith which Job has shown to Him, despite the challenges and suffering He encountered in life. Let us all shun pride and greed in our hearts, and seek to turn to God from now on, with a new faith and commitment. May God bless us all, now and evermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 30 September 2018 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we listened to the word of God in the Scriptures speaking to us first about the calling which the Lord made to the seventy elders of Israel chosen from among the people during the time of the Exodus, in which He put in them their Holy Spirit, and they began to be inspired by the Spirit. But there were then two others who were also given the Spirit in the camp of the Israelites and were not among the seventy-two.

Joshua, the one who would eventually succeed Moses as the leader of Israel saw what happened to the two other people receiving the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and he wanted to stop them. But Moses forbid him from doing so, and in fact he was pleased at the fact that God sent His Holy Spirit to even more people, and wished that He would send the Holy Spirit to all of His people, and not just the elders chosen from among them.

In the Gospel passage today, we also listened to something that is almost the same in occurrence, when the disciples of the Lord Jesus wanted to stop some others who were not with their group, and yet spoke about the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, and preached in His Name, using His Name to heal people and perform miracles. The disciples did not like this and wanted to stop the work of these people, only to be rebuked by the Lord, just as Moses rebuked Joshua.

Why did the disciples of the Lord did what they have done, and why did Joshua want to stop the two people from receiving God’s Holy Spirit? That was likely because of their inner pride and the desires within their hearts. Even though the disciples had followed the Lord and even though Joshua was likely quite a righteous man, considering that only he and another one of God’s follower survived the forty years of Exodus, but ultimately, all of them were still mortal human beings.

And that means, all of them are still subject to the same frailties and weaknesses that we encounter through our humanity. This is what the Lord said when He told His disciples who were sleeping when they were supposed to accompany Him and keep watch during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘While the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak.’ Temptations and allures of worldly pleasures are always by our side.

This is what St. James also wrote about in the second reading passage we have today, taken from his Epistle. He wrote about all those who have lived in riches and pleasures of life, and cheated others from their money, treated others badly and showing no regards for the needs of the hungry, the poor, the weak and the oppressed. This is truly mankind’s wicked side, which all of us unfortunately have. For even the poor and the hungry can oppress those who are even less fortunate from them, and not just the rich and the well-endowed.

In the Gospel passage today, the Lord also mentioned something that seemed to be quite radical. He mentioned that should a part of our body cause us to sin, for example, our hands, which caused us to steal things and therefore made us to sin, then we must chop whichever part that is off. He even mentioned how we should pluck our eyes off whenever we have our eyes to blame in causing us to sin, when we look upon someone and lusts over that person.

But is that what the Lord truly meant and is that what the Lord wants us to do with our own lives? This is where we cannot take the Scripture passage literally and at the surface level, but we must understand the key message, purpose and intention of the Lord, the context in which He made such a strong-worded remark and comment on the behaviour of the people. The key message is that, each and every one of us mankind must turn away from sin, and we must know the urgency for such an action, for otherwise, what awaits us, is nothing else but eternal suffering in hell.

We know just how much God loves us all, that He gave us none other than the perfect gift of His own Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have received a new hope of salvation and liberation from our sins, and from all the things and obstacles that have prevented us from truly being able to find our way towards the Lord. And this is where we need to listen to Him with an open mind and with an attentive heart.

What the Lord meant with what He said, is that we need to firmly reject sin, in all of its forms, and even the desire and intention to sin, before we commit it in the first place. In another occasion, the Lord also said to His disciples, that even when someone is angry with his or her brother or sister, before he or she took any action to hurt or to strike at the brother or sister, he or she has already committed sin in the heart.

Likewise, should someone look upon another person with lust and desire, then the person had committed adultery and therefore sin in his or her heart, even before that person actually committing any form of real or bodily adulterous action with the person mentioned. Sin is indeed so dangerous that even its allures and temptations can bring us down to damnation, and unless we actively reject sin, before we even commit something sinful, we are in great danger of falling into deeper and deeper sin.

Yet at the same time, we also have to realise that while we are all sinners, but God has also given us the means and the ability to break free from those sins that have plagued and troubled us all these while. God does not actually ask us to do what He said to the people, cutting off our hands, legs, or plucking out our eyes, tongues and all that. The hands, the eyes, the tongue and all these by themselves are without blame.

For the hands, the eyes, the tongue, the legs, all of our limbs and organs cannot function by itself without the working of the brain, that is our mind, and the mind in truth cannot function without the command and the will that comes from the heart and the soul. But how can we take out our heart and soul and still live? Surely we cannot do so, for our heart and soul are integral parts of our life. Sin corrupts these very depths of our inner being, and that is why, when sin entered us, it corrupted us from the inside out.

The Lord spoke of this, when He criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their obsession with the maintenance of a clean and pure exterior, and yet, failed to look and discern at the state of our interior cleanliness and purity. That is why, it is important that we understand what the Lord intended when He spoke of cutting off the hands, the eyes, the legs and all sorts of extreme and graphic language He was using. What He truly wanted to say is that, we must immediately and urgently cut off our ties to sin, starting from the depths of our hearts, minds and souls.

How do we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is where the Lord has given us many opportunities and avenues to help ourselves in our journey towards His salvation and grace. First of all, we should repent from our sinful ways and recognise just how weak we are in our battle against sin, and we should make use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation available for us, by the means of frequent and genuine confessions, made regularly with the desire for us to change our lives.

And then, we should also deepen our spirituality and prayer life, by spending more quality time with Our God. Many of us did not spend good, quality time with God, and when we do so, we are often tempted and distracted by the many things and concerns we have in life. That shows clearly in our attitudes in the Mass, when many of us cannot wait but to end the Mass quickly and go back to our daily businesses and works.

That is why many of us have not spent time to be with God and to open ourselves to Him, heart to heart, that we may come to know what His will is truly for each and every one of us. Instead, we were so busy with ourselves, that we ended up getting more and more distant from Him, and we ended up falling deeper and deeper into the traps and temptations that the devil has placed before us.

Then lastly, our hands, our feet, our eyes, our tongue, and all of our limbs and organs have their particular purpose and uses. They can indeed be used for something vile and wicked, but at the same time, they can also be used for good things and for the good works of God. Now, we need to ask ourselves, if we have made good use of our body, our talents and gifts for the good of our fellow men, showing true Christian love and charity in all of our words, deeds and actions?

If we have not done all these or any of these, then perhaps it is now time for us to take action before it is too late for us. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that all of us are mortal, and our existence and time in this world is truly limited. If we do not make good use of the time and opportunity given to us in this world, and instead continue to live in sin, then I am afraid that when the time comes for us to give an account before God, we will not be ready to defend ourselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us from now on turn towards the Lord with a renewed zeal and spirit, committing ourselves ever more to a life filled with prayer and devotion, with genuine love for God and with compassion towards our brothers and sisters, our neighbours and all those who are in need of our help. There are still many things that we can do in life, and let us all strive to make use of the gifts and blessings given to us, for the greater glory of God. Amen.

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Saturday, 29 September 2018 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the great Feast day of the three Holy Archangels of God, St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael. They are the ones who are God’s chief Angelic servants, as mentioned by St. Raphael himself, that he is one of the seven Holy Archangels that are always in presence of God. Each one of them are tasked with particular areas in which God entrusted to their care His creations, especially us mankind.

St. Michael the Archangel is the Archangel tasked with the leadership of the heavenly host of Angels, as the Prince of the Heavenly Host, the armies of Angels, in the constant spiritual warfare that rages around us for the sake of our souls. St. Michael has always stood at the forefront of this great battle ever since the time of the War in Heaven as shown through the Revelations of St. John.

St. John saw a vision of the great War in Heaven, of the time when Satan, then known by the name Lucifer, most brilliant and mightiest among all the Angels of God, fell into his pride and greed, and rebelled against God seeking to take over the reign over Heaven and all creation. In that process, one third of all the Angels followed Satan’s lead and also rebelled against God. But one Angel rallied the other Angels in the battle, and it was told that it was St. Michael the Archangel who was the one to lead the Angels into battle against Satan and his forces.

The name Michael means, ‘Who is like God’, and this is a perfect rebuke of Satan’s prideful rebellion against God. Satan rebelled because in his pride, he thought that he could be like God, and he could take over God’s role, overcome by pride in his perfection and brilliance. But St. Michael showed Satan his proper place, by defeating him and his fellow rebel angels, and by the power of God, casting them out from heaven.

St. Michael also appeared to Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, just after he took over the leadership over the people of God and leading them into the land promised to them and their ancestors. Through St. Michael, God reassured Joshua and the Israelites, that He would be with them throughout their journey and struggle to gain the land promised to them. God Himself would fight alongside His people and they would gain what was promised to them, should they remain faithful to Him.

Meanwhile, St. Gabriel the Archangel was sent to Mary, the Most Blessed Mother of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, in the small village of Nazareth. He was sent to her to announce to her the Good News of God, the final fulfilment and completion of God’s long awaited plan to save His people, by the sending of His own Son, the Divine Word of God, into this world, which would be fulfilled through Mary. Mary was to become the Mother of the Messiah, and therefore, become the Mother of God.

St. Gabriel himself revealed this wonderful news to Mary, and at first while Mary was amazed at what she had just heard from the Archangel, she obeyed the will of God and allowed herself to be part of the great plan of salvation God had revealed through St. Gabriel. And it was also likely St. Gabriel who revealed a similar message of hope to the father of St. John the Baptist, Zechariah, in the Temple, about the upcoming birth of St. John the Baptist, Herald of the Messiah.

The name of Gabriel means, the Strength or Might of God. This is a reminder that with God at our side, we should not need fear anything or any foes, and hope should arise anew in our hearts, knowing that God will provide for us and that He will never abandon those who have been faithful to Him. That was why He sent St. Gabriel the Archangel to announce the Good News of His salvation, the message of hope, to renew the people’s trust in God’s strength and might, by which He will save them all.

Lastly, the third of the three great Archangels, St. Raphael was mentioned in the Book of Tobit, which was the account of the journey of Tobit, an Israelite who went into exile with his countrymen during the years after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Book recorded the account of Tobit’s suffering and anguish, when he faced rejection even from his own countrymen and then suffering from blindness.

God sent His Archangel, St. Raphael in order to heal Tobit, as well as another person, Sara, daughter of Tobit’s relative, who was also hounded by the demon Asmodeus. She was also in great distress and almost wanted to take her own life because of what the demon had done to her, killing all the men who had taken her as wife. But she prayed to the Lord, asking Him to listen to her plight, just at the same time as Tobit also prayed to God, asking for His help and mercy.

St. Raphael was sent to bring about healing and liberation to each one of them, and God showed His wonderful love and mercy through His Archangel, whose name means, the Healing of God. Sara was freed from the demon Asmodeus, and was married to Tobias, Tobit’s son, who accompanied the disguised Archangel during his journey. And Tobit was also healed from his blindness as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have seen from the great blessings we have received, the inspirations we have gained from each of the three great Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, whose feasts we celebrate this day, let us all remind ourselves that God is always with us, and we can always trust in His healing, love and mercy, for indeed, Who is like Our God, though Mighty and All Powerful, but filled with so great love and compassion for us all, His children.

Let us ask the glorious Archangels to be our guide and intercessor, to pray for us and to protect us from the dangers of evil, from the forces of Satan and all those seeking our downfall. May they continue to watch over us and be our guardians and sources of hope, reminding us of our need to love the Lord, to be true to Him and to be ever faithful through all of our deeds and actions in life. Holy Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, Archangels of God Most High, pray for us all. Amen.

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Friday, 28 September 2018 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslas, Martyr and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth, telling us one after another, about the fact that there is time for just everything and anything we do, and this is a very good reminder to each and every one of us that we live not on our own time and terms. In reality, we live in accordance to God’s plan and time, and it is His will that shall be done, and not ours.

This is also related to what we heard in the Gospel passage today, which mentioned the time when the Lord Jesus asked His disciples about the truth of His identity. He asked them who they think that He was, and they mentioned at first all sorts of identities that the people at the time would have thought Who Jesus was, be it a prophet or a servant of God brought back from the dead.

St. Peter then managed to give Him the truth, that He is indeed the Son of the Living God, God’s own Messiah and Saviour, Whom He sent into the world for the salvation of all mankind. However, in the same Gospel passage, immediately after the Lord received St. Peter’s answer, He also told them not to tell anyone about the truth just yet, and revealed to them what must have been uncomfortable truth, that He, as the Messiah, would have to suffer rejection and persecution, and die before He would rise in glory.

Yet, that was what the disciples had to know, that they were not following in the wake of the glorious conquest of the Messiah King, unlike what the Jewish people at the time widely believed, that the Messiah would be the One Who would redeem them and liberate them from the tyranny and the power of the Romans and all of their foreign oppressors, and Who would restore unto them the glory and the majesty of the kingdom of David.

The truth and reality is such that, the Messiah would be a humble and suffering Messiah, Who would be the One persecuted and killed, that by His sufferings, He might gather to Himself all the sufferings intended for us, and because of that, redeem us all from the fate of eternal damnation and destruction. This happened through the crucifixion and later on, the resurrection in glory of the Lord.

Nonetheless, the suffering was truly a great one, so much so that the Lord Himself in His humanity was seriously tempted to give up, as when He prayed at the Garden of Gethsemane in great anguish and sorrow. But Christ obeyed the Father’s will perfectly and completely, saying that ‘Not My will be done, but let it be Your will that is done’, entrusting Himself to the work of salvation of the cross, despite the pain and suffering that action would bring Him.

In this example, we saw how Jesus showed us the perfect selflessness of God’s servant, putting everything to the will of God, His Father. It was all according to His will and not His own selfish desires, affirming what we have heard in the Book of Ecclesiastes today, all according to God’s plan and not our own plan. His desires and will, and not our desires and will that will be done.

Unfortunately, many of us still lived in the manner unlike what the Lord Himself had shown us. We are so busy pursuing our many desires and worldly concerns, that we end up in the state of worry and fear, uncertainty and also unhappiness, and even anger because we have not gotten what we wanted, or that things do not go according to how we wanted it to be. We put ourselves and our wants even before our obedience and obligations to God.

We worry and we spend so much time trying to gather for ourselves many things of this world, be it glory, fame, influence, wealth, material possessions, and many others. The concerns we have for all these things often fill up our minds and cause us to lose the focus which we really should have for the Lord. And it is when we are distracted that we are most vulnerable to the works of Satan, who is always trying to bring about our downfall, through sin.

This is why, we must actively restrain ourselves, in all the matters of the world, and strive that we should not fall into temptation and sin. And we need to take proactive efforts in order to overcome the pressures, coercions and temptations to sin. Otherwise, we will easily falter in this important journey that is our own lives. And that is why we should follow the examples which our holy predecessors had shown.

Today we celebrate the feast of the holy martyrs, St. Wenceslas of Bohemia and the holy martyrs of Japan, St. Lawrence or Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions in martyrdom. St. Wenceslas was one of the earliest Christian rulers of the land known as Bohemia, the present day Czech Republic, over a thousand years ago. He was remembered for being a righteous and just ruler, who ruled the people with fairness and supported the Christian faith.

However, he encountered much opposition from the nobles and the powerful lords in his lands, who resisted the efforts that St. Wenceslas has done in reforming the governance of the country as well as resenting the popularity which St. Wenceslas enjoyed among the people. St. Wenceslas pushed on with the reforms and good works regardless, and in the end, he had to suffer the effect of rejection, when those same nobles plotted with his brother to murder him.

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence Ruiz is the first native saint of the Philippines, who was falsely accused of murder and hence, had to seek refuge away from his own homeland, and ended up in Japan at the time when Christians and missionaries were persecuted for their faith by the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled over the country then. St. Lawrence Ruiz was among the many Christians who were arrested and tortured to force them to abandon their Christian faith.

But St. Lawrence Ruiz refused to abandon the Lord and his faith in Him, and therefore, with many others of the faithful, he was martyred and as a result, gained entry to the glory of God in heaven. His great courage and commitment to God, his righteousness and devotion, together with the justice and goodness shown by St. Wenceslas should be inspirations for us to follow, in how we as Christians live up our faith in our daily lives.

Now, are we willing and ready then to take up our cross and follow Our Lord? The Lord is calling on us to be faithful to Him, and often, this will require from us dedication and necessary sacrifices, in order for us to be able to follow Him wholeheartedly. And it often requires us to get rid of our own personal pride and human desires in order for us to be able to walk in the path of Christ. That is why we must follow the perfect obedience and humility that Our Lord Himself showed to the will of His Father.

May the Lord, through the intercession of His holy saints, St. Wenceslas, St. Lawrence Ruiz and his many companions, martyrs of the faith, awaken in us the love which we ought to have for Him, so that in everything we say and do, we will always strive to do our best to love God and to glorify Him. May God be with us all, and may He bless us all and our endeavours and good works. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 September 2018 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scriptures mentioning to us about the meaninglessness of life as we know it. In the Book of Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth, we heard this word of wisdom, speaking to us about how all of the things we do, our achievements and glories in life, are truly like rivers that can never fill up the sea, no matter how much water from them flowing into the latter.

Therefore, similarly, no matter how much we have achieved in this life, but first of all, none of them will truly be able to satisfy us from the desiring more achievement and worldly glory and fame. When we have achieved something and received satisfaction, it is part of our nature to want to achieve even more and to desire for more pleasures and satisfactions, and as a result, we will end up craving and desiring for more.

That is why we mankind are so often preoccupied by so many things in life, that end up in us spending so much time in trying to gain more of these worldly desires and objects of our cravings, be it wealth, or fame, or prestige, or human praise, glory and influence. But in the end of the day, let us ask ourselves, how will it benefit us, should we gain and hoard for ourselves, so much of this wealth, prestige, glory and fame? Will all those things last forever?

And then, the reality is that none of these things will be with us forever. The Lord Jesus mentioned this in another occasion in the Gospels with the parable of a rich man, who proudly and greedily gathered much wealth for himself, and gathered many grains in his barns, and he was indeed boastful about that fact. However, the Lord reminded that as man, all of us are mortal beings whose life and earthly existences are limited.

Nothing will last forever for us, and in the end of the day, our legacy is not in what we have achieved and in what we have gathered in life, for those things are impermanent and have limited timespans. Instead, our true legacy will be how we impact one another, and how we have touched those whom we have encountered in our respective lives. And even when we are forgotten and not remembered, it is the legacy of our Christian faith that remains down through the generations.

That is why, from now on, each and every one of us as Christians must have a thorough conversion of attitude, action and outlook in life. We can no longer be complacent or passive in how we lived our lives, or worse, if we have not even acted in accordance with our faith, as shown by what we have just discussed earlier. If our lives have been marked by our preoccupation with worldly desires and temptations, then perhaps, it is time for us to reevaluate our lives.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, a renowned holy priest and holy man of God, whose life is truly exemplary and should become inspiration for each and every one of us. St. Vincent de Paul was remembered especially for his great works of charity, his personal humility and great dedication and faith in God, which inspired many others to follow in his footsteps.

St. Vincent de Paul endured slavery during the early years of his life, when he was taken captive by pirates on his journey. He was passed on from master to master, until his last master and his family were so impressed by the great faith he had, and the exemplary virtues he exhibited, that they all converted to the faith and St. Vincent de Paul regained his freedom. St. Vincent de Paul continued his works of charity, and helped the poor and the weak, remembering his own ordeals and challenges in slavery.

He showed us an example of what Christian discipleship and life is all about, through his commitment to the Lord, his pious devotion to a life of prayer and his many charitable works among the poor, the sick and the oppressed. We see for ourselves how St. Vincent de Paul showed such an exemplary actions and faith that it touched the life of his former master and converted him. We should also do the same with our own lives.

May the Lord strengthen our faith, and may He empower us all to live according to our faith, in all of our actions, words and deeds, so that we may be truly worthy as disciples of the loving God. Let us ask St. Vincent de Paul fo his intercession and prayers for our sake, that we may find the strength to live ever more devoutly and with greater courage day after day. May the Lord bless us all and our works, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 26 September 2018 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cosmas and St. Damian, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God from the Scriptures, in which we heard from our Gospel passage today, of the moment when the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples to go before Him to the many towns and villages He Himself was about to go, in order to prepare His way before His coming, by preaching to the people about the truth of His salvation.

He told them all not to bring with them any spare money, provisions, or even tunic and clothings. Literally He told them to go forth into their missionary journey with the bare minimum of what they had on them, their own bodies and the least of all conveniences available to them. And why did He do so? That is because He wanted them all not to depend on all of their earthly goods and assistances.

The disciples should not put their trust in their own strength, or in their worldly resources and abilities. Instead, they should trust wholeheartedly in God, putting themselves and entrusting themselves in His care and love. They must draw upon the strength and the grace of God, which He has given to each and every one of us in our own way. In that manner then, they will truly be able to do their work and calling with the right intention in mind.

Otherwise, if they depended on their own strength and abilities, their own resources and their own efforts, then they will have vested interests in the conduct of their daily missionary works. They will then be biased in their works, depending on whether what they invested in the work give positive returns in the end. That means, our human instinct of desiring reward and affirmation will kick in, and should what we have given does not give us the return we want, then we will not be willing to give more.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why the Lord sent them out with the barest minimum in everything so that they may put their complete trust in God in everything, from everything good or bad that might have happened to them, in everything they encountered in life, and throughout their mission, that God alone is the centre, the focus, the purpose and the destination of their whole effort, their works and their ministry.

And thus, God has laid for us the expectation which He made for all of us as parts and members of His Church, to be God-centric and full of faith in Him as we go about doing our works and contributions as His servants and witnesses in faith. Unfortunately, the reality is that many of us have not been true to this expectation which the Lord has given us, especially because of our attachments to the world and all of its temptations.

That is why, all of us in the Church, especially in the different Church ministries and segments ended up being embroiled in politicking and internal rivalries, because we have forgotten what it means for us to serve the Lord through His Church and as members of His Church. We make use of the Church and its ministries as springboard to our own success and self-serving goals, to be more affluent and gain more influence in the community.

But that is not what we should be doing as servants and followers of God. Instead, we should resist the temptations of our pride and human desires, for all sorts of worldly satisfaction of power, of wealth, of glory and fame. We should realise that our sole and main objective is not our personal satisfaction or achievement, but rather, the glorification of God and the advancement of His work of salvation among us.

And in doing so, we must realise that the journey will not be all smooth and good for us, as there is bound to be rejection and challenges we will encounter along the way. What the Lord said to His disciples at that time was a premonition of what they would encounter, in the various persecutions that they would endure for the sake of the Lord and His people. Many martyrs of the faith were made when the world struck back against the good and faithful workers of the Lord.

Today, we celebrate the feast of two holy martyrs, St. Cosmas and St. Damian. St. Cosmas and St. Damian were renowned physicians who took care of the maladies and sicknesses of both the flesh and the spirit, through their expertise in medicine and in the matter of the faith. Many people came to them seeking for help, and many of these were cured when the two saints touched them and worked on them.

But they had to endure horrible persecution of the faithful and the Church by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. They were arrested and tortured, and yet they remained faithful despite the offers to free and reward them should they willingly want to abandon their faith. St. Cosmas and St. Damian remained faithful unto death in martyrdom, and by their examples in faith and charity, they have become our inspiration in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves to the Lord as St. Cosmas and St. Damian, as well as the many other holy men and women had done before us. May the Lord guide us in our journey of life, that we will be ever more faithful to Him, and draw ever closer to Him, each and every days of our life, enduring whatever persecution and challenges that may come our way. Amen.

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Tuesday, 25 September 2018 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to remember our duty as Christians, to do God’s will in our lives and to follow what the Lord has commanded us to do, to be righteous and just in all of our deeds, that all of us be examples in faith for one another, and not to act as how those wicked and evil people had acted, in their selfishness and greed, in their arrogance and prejudice against their own fellow men.

Many of us have been lukewarm in our faith, and in how we lived our respective lives. As a result, we have not been able to and we should not regard ourselves as genuine followers and disciples of the Lord, until the moment when we are able to overcome our natural selfishness, greed and pride, all the ambitions and arrogance in our hearts and minds, which are often significant obstacles in our journey towards the Lord and His salvation.

This was not of course, how we were created. God created us man, in His own image, and intended to live in perfect harmony and love with Him, and with one another. He wanted us to be like Himself, existing in perfect love and harmony between the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, the love which was so perfect that there is nothing like it exist in this world. But He wanted to share with us this love, and that was why, He created us.

Unfortunately, greed and pride entered into our hearts and minds, when we were tempted by the sweet lies and falsehoods of the evil one, who appeared to our first ancestors and tricked them to disobey God, by pulling the strings on their desire for knowledge, for greatness and for equality with God. They were swayed by those lies and as a result, they fell into temptation and sin, by disobeying God’s words.

Ever since, we have lived under the bondage and tyranny of sin and evil. We have been conditioned in this world, to follow the urge of our own desires, the pressures of our pride and the allures of worldly pleasures and goodness, which distract us from our true destination and focus in life, that is God. But, as Christians, now we are challenged to go beyond all these temptations and obstacles, and strive to be who we are supposed to be, that is, God’s beloved and righteous children.

And in order to do this, we have to realise that there are probably a lot of things that we have to do in our lives, in order to live up to the expectations of our faith. We have to overcome those natural tendencies of greed, of pride, of desires for worldly temptations and goods, and for prestige, fame, glory, as well as many other things that often distract us from God. How should we then move forward from now on?

This is where we should rediscover the depth of our faith, and commit ourselves to a renewed vigour in our relationship with God. For too many of us, faith is empty and meaningless, and we do not have a genuine relationship with God. Nay, in fact, we are so busy and were so preoccupied with our myriads of worldly businesses and works, in the various temptations we face daily, that we forget what we, as Christians, have to do.

That is why we became selfish, proud, arrogant and unloving. We became jealous at the achievements that were made by others around us, and wanted nothing but our own self-glorification and satisfaction. This is what we must avoid, that as Christians, we must instead get rid of the pride in our hearts, and resist the temptation of our desires and the allures of the pleasures of the flesh.

Let us deepen our relationship with God, through deep and genuine prayer, by spending quality time with Him, that we may know what is His will for us, and what He wants each and every one of us to do in our respective lives. We are called to be true servants of God, and we should do this, by living our lives filled with God’s love, and showing that same love to one another.

Let us follow the path which God has shown us, the path of humility and obedience, and turn ourselves, our heart, mind, body and soul, indeed, our entire being, to the Lord and serve Him from now on, wholeheartedly, and be worthy of Him and His eternal glory, which He will give all those who are truly faithful to Him. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.