Saintly Popes

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Thursday, 23 November 2017 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, and St. Columban, Abbot (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbots)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we continued with the discourse of the Maccabees rebellion in our first reading today, this time, we heard of how the representatives of the Greek Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes came to Modein, where the Maccabees family resided, and we heard how the family patriarch, Mattathias, firmly stood his ground and refused to obey the commands of the king, for them to abandon their faith in God and give sacrifices to the Greek gods.

As I mentioned in the previous days, the Jewish people were persecuted and were in a great danger because of their faith, which the Greek king wanted to eradicate, and it resulted in many sorrowful cases of those who were martyred, including yesterday’s story of a mother and her seven sons who refused to listen to the king’s commands and persuasions, and they were martyred one by one.

They would rather suffer for a while and then be worthy of God’s everlasting glory, rather than submitting to the king and enjoying a merely temporary respite of false happiness. That was why they resisted the pressure and the temptations to abandon their faith. All of those things however were not easily done. There were many during the time of the Maccabees who apostasised and abandoned their faith, in exchange of worldly safety and pleasures.

In the Gospel today, we heard about the lamentation that the Lord Jesus made about the city of Jerusalem, because He predicted what would happen to that city under the Roman rule just a few decades after Our Lord’s crucifixion. The city of Jerusalem would be destroyed in the year 70 A.D., by the Roman legions who were sent there to put down rebellion by Jewish zealots and hardliners who rose up against the Romans. The Temple of Jerusalem and the entire city were ransacked and toppled.

All of these, ultimately came about because those people believed not in the power of God, but in their own power, and trusted in worldly matters more than their faith in God. If many of the Jews at the time of the Maccabees surrendered to temptation and abandoned their faith in God, then during the time of Jesus, as Our Lord Himself mentioned, the people refused to believe in Him or listen to Him, and they rejected Him.

What is the lesson that all of us should take note of today? It is that we should expect if we remain faithful to the Lord and are active in living our faith as we should be, we may encounter difficulties and challenges from those who do not agree with our faith, just as what happened in the Scripture passages that we heard today.

Now we have to ask ourselves the question, are we willing to suffer and be persecuted for the sake of Our Lord, that for temporary suffering and pain, and yet, because of our faith, we merit the eternal glory and happiness with God? Or do we rather seek temporary respite and happiness, because we are accepted by the world through our rejection and abandonment of our faith?

Today, we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Clement I, one of the first Popes of the Church, as the successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the Bishop of Rome and therefore, as the most preeminent bishop and leader of the entire Church. Pope St. Clement I lived and reigned as Pope just a few decades after the crucifixion and resurrection of Our Lord. He was known to be the first of the Apostolic Fathers, whose writings were highly significant for our faith even though they were not included in the Bible.

Pope St. Clement I wrote extensively and several of his letters and works survived until this very day. He was a very important leader of the early Church, guiding it through the difficult years that alternate between toleration of the Christian faith by the Roman authorities and persecution by the same authorities. He helped to guide the Church through those difficult times, and remained firmly anchored in his faith.

To this very end, he persevered in faith, and remained resolute in standing up to the truth, even amidst difficult times. He of course had the choice to abandon his hard work and enjoy respite from the world, all the persecutions he had to face. Yet, he chose to be with God. This is an example which all of us as Christians should also follow as well. Let us all renew our faith and our commitment to God, in all the things we do.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless all of our endeavours. And may all of us draw ever closer to Him, that we will always endure whatever persecution and difficulty that we may encounter on our way to Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 23 November 2017 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, and St. Columban, Abbot (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbots)

Luke 19 : 41-44

At that time, when Jesus had come in sight of the city, He wept over it, and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Yet days will come upon you, when your enemies will surround you with barricades, and shut you in, and press on you from every side.”

“And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and not leave stone upon stone within you, for you did not recognise the time and the visitation of your God.”

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Thursday, 23 November 2017 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, and St. Columban, Abbot (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbots)

Psalm 49 : 1-2, 5-6, 14-15

The God of gods, YHVH has spoken; He summons the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. God has shone from Zion, perfect in beauty.

Gather before Me, My faithful ones, who made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice. The heavens will proclaim His sentence, for God Himself is the Judge.

Yet, offer to God a sacrifice of thanks, and fulfil your vows to the Most High. Call on Me in time of calamity; I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.

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Thursday, 23 November 2017 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, and St. Columban, Abbot (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbots)

1 Maccabees 2 : 15-29

In the meantime, the king’s representatives, who were forcing the Jews to give up their religion came to Modein to organise a sacred gathering. While many Israelites went to them, Mattathias and his sons drew apart.

The representatives of the king addressed Mattathias, and said to him : “You are one of the leaders of this city, an important and well-known man, and your many children and relatives follow you. Come now, and be the first to fulfil the king’s order, as the men of Judah have already done, and the survivors in Jerusalem as well. You and your sons will be named friends of the king and the king will send you gold, silver and many other gifts.”

But Mattathias answered in a loud voice : “Even if all the nations included in the kingdom should abandon the religion of their ancestors and submit to the order of king Antiochus, I, my sons and my family will remain faithful to the Covenant of our ancestors. May God preserve us from abandoning the Law and its precepts. We will not obey the orders of the king nor turn aside from our religion either to the right or to the left.”

When he finished speaking these words, a Jew came forward, in the sight of everyone, to offer incense on the altar that was built in Modein, according to the king’s decree. When Mattathias saw him, he was fired with zeal. His heart was stirred; and giving vent to his righteous anger, he threw himself on the Jew and cut the man’s throat on the altar. At the same time, he killed the king’s representative who was forcing the people to offer sacrifice; and then tore down the altar. In doing this, he showed his zeal for the Law, as Phinehas had done with Zimri, son of Salu.

Mattathias then began to proclaim loudly in the city : “Everyone who is zealous for the Law and supports the Covenant, come out and follow me!” Immediately, he and his sons fled to the mountains and left behind all they had in the city. Many Jews who looked for justice and wanted to be faithful to the Law went into the desert.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard both the message of hope and also a warning from the Lord our God. We heard about how the Lord promised His people the salvation and liberation He would give them all, who have suffered from exile and troubles, as He revealed it to them through His prophet Isaiah in the last chapter of his book, as the portent and premonition of the future.

Through those reassuring and encouraging words, God wanted to remind His people that He would not abandon them to the darkness, no matter how bad the situation was. However, it does not mean that they could just continue to sin in the way that they have sinned, or to continue the wickedness they have committed in life, by selling themselves heart, mind and soul to the pagan gods and idols, to the fornications of the body and the soul.

God reminded us about this through what He said in the Gospel today, on the parable of the narrow door. He reminded His people that the door to the kingdom of God is a narrow one, and we should not take for granted that we are saved that we may do things as we like, or to think that God will overlook our trespasses and wrongdoing. For ultimately, while He is indeed a loving and merciful God, but He is also a just and jealous God, Who does not hold back His anger against the sins we committed.

That said, He hated the sins we committed and not we ourselves as human beings, His own creations. He loved us all as His children and His people, but when we err and when we refuse His love and mercy, how else could He be not angry with us? It is our own actions, our own stubbornness and all the rejections and refusals we have made against Him has been our undoing thus far.

And we should not think that we have all the time in the world to be doing what we wanted. Some people had that misconception, thinking that it was alright to do all they wanted in life, even sins and debauchery, fornication and corruption of the mind and soul, thinking that they could just ask the Lord for mercy at the last hours of their lives, and God would forgive them.

In the first place, God may call us back to Him at any time He wishes, for we do not control when we shall die, as it is under His authority alone. Our time may suddenly be up, and we do not know it. If we are astute and wise enough, then we can clearly see the dangers of delaying, of waiting and doing things that kept us away from getting closer to the salvation found in God alone.

We should heed God’s warning that all those who are found to be unworthy of Him shall suffer in the darkness and in nothingness for all eternity. Shall we want such a fate to be ours? Shall we want for such an eternity of regret and pain to be ours? We who are still breathing, living and walking on this world have that ability, that choice to make a difference with our lives, and indeed, the ability to change our fate, but only through a real and thorough transformation of our entire being, from a being of darkness to be a being of the light.

We, like the Israelites of old, live in moments of exile from God. Truly, all mankind have been sundered from God by the very sins which we have committed in this earthly life, and by the disobedience shown by our ancestors. We were destined to perish and to be condemned, but God had another plan for us. His love for us is so great that it is impossible for Him to let us perish in darkness and sin, unless it is we ourselves who want such a fate.

Through Christ He has opened a path to our redemption, by calling all of us back to Him, to regret our sinfulness and embark on our path towards repentance and thus forgiveness. This path is not an easy one for us to take, for it requires commitment and dedication from us, that we may find our way to Him and not be lost because of us being distracted by all the temptations and other things that are obstacles in our path towards Him.

And He has also sent us holy people, those whom He had chosen from among us sinners, all those who have left behind their sinfulness and devoted themselves to the way of the Lord, obeying His laws and walking in the light, that is the saints. And probably, all of us can learn much from the holy saint whose feast we are celebrating today, that is of Pope St. Pius X, the holy Pope of the Eucharist.

Pope St. Pius X, one of the Popes of our recent memory, having lived and worked approximately a century or so from our own time, was born into a poor family living in the northern region of Italy, in the area known as Mantua, as Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto. He was born into a poor family of many children, and yet his parents placed great importance in his education and good upbringing.

He grew up with good upbringing in the faith, excelling in his studies and then also growing deeper in his desire to serve the Lord through the priesthood. Eventually his family’s support and permission, he became a priest and began to minister to the people of his rural and poor area, caring for them and showing them the way to God’s love.

It was told that he was very angry for some people after they did not show proper reverence in his parish church during the Holy Mass, but at the same time he helped these wayward people to find their way through patience and also through hard work. It was exactly as what St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews that is our second reading today mentioned, as the love of God our Father is a tough love as what Pope St. Pius X exhibited to his parishioners.

Even when eventually he was appointed as the Bishop of Mantua and as the Patriarch of Venice, he continued to be humble, remembering his roots, and continued that same commitment he had for the poor, the sick and the least among his flock. And as Pope St. Pius X, the leader of the Universal Church, he helped to reform the faith and the Church.

He was particularly renowned for his efforts to return the sense of the sacred in the celebration of the Holy Mass by promoting the use of Gregorian Chants in the Mass. He also advocated for the reception of the Eucharist starting at a younger age, in order to bring the Lord closer to His people at even younger age that they may grow to love the Lord all the more ever more devoutly.

In all these, we saw the examples of a great saint whose life has been filled with good deeds, but we too are capable of the same deeds as well, for all saints were themselves sinners like us, but what matters is that they decided to change their way of life and follow the ways of God. We too can emulate the examples of Pope St. Pius X and be devoted to the Lord as he had devoted himself.

May we grow to love our loving God all the more as we continue to live our earthly existence day after day. May we not fear God for His ways of disciplining us but instead grow to understand that He cares for us and He wants us to be freed from our bondage to sin and eventually be reunited with Him in perfect love. May God bless us and our endeavours, henceforth, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 22-30

At that time, Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?” And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.”

“When once the Master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets!’ But He will reply, ‘I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, all you workers of evil.'”

“You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 12 : 5-7, 11-13

Do not forget the comforting words that Wisdom addresses to you as children : My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you and do not be discouraged when He punishes you. For the Lord corrects those He loves and chastises everyone He accepts as a son.

What you endure is in order to correct you. God treats you like sons and what son is not corrected by his father? All correction is painful at the moment, rather than pleasant; later it brings the fruit of peace, that is, holiness to those who have been trained by it.

Lift up, then, your drooping hands, and strengthen your trembling knees; make level the ways for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but healed.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 116 : 1, 2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

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Sunday, 21 August 2016 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Pius X, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 66 : 18-21

Now I am going to gather the nations of every tongue, and they will witness My glory, for I will perform a wonderful thing among them. Then I will send some of their survivors to the nations – Tarshish, Put, Lud, Moscheck, Rosh, Tubal, and Javan – to the distant islands where no one has ever heard of Me or seen My glory. They will proclaim My glory among the nations.

They will bring your kindred from all the nations as an offering to YHVH on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, on camels to My holy mountain in Jerusalem, says YHVH, just as the Israelites bring oblations in clean vessels to the house of YHVH. Then I will choose priests and Levites even from them, says YHVH.

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Thursday, 31 December 2015 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are asked to reflect on the joy which we have and with which we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in this Christmas season. Each of us should reflect on today’s Scripture readings in order to understand in greater depth how significant this celebration of Christmas is for all of us.

This reading used to be read at the end of every Mass as what is known as the Last Gospel, for the very purpose that, the whole Mass itself, the entire celebration of our Faith and the whole purpose of the Church, and the very fact why we rejoice in this Christmas and have a hope in God and the eternal life which He promised us, is because of what had been written and revealed in that passage from the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John.

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour was not created by God, and neither should He be counted to be among the created ones of God. Even though He is fully and completely Man, but He was not created by God, as He is different. He has existed before everything was made, and indeed, He existed before the world and before the beginning of time, for He is God, and He was God, and He will be always God.

He is the Word of God, the Word of Creation, the one and inseparable aspect of the Lord, which in our understanding, exists as one and only God, but with Three distinct Godheads or Aspects, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all of Whom are united in perfect love and harmony, such that although they are distinct from each other, but they cannot be separated from each other without diminishing the fullness of God’s greatness and glory.

The Word of God has made Himself into Flesh, the Flesh of Man. He was the Word that was with God, Who is God, and through Whom God created this world, all of creation, all of us mankind and everything that ever was, is, and will ever be. And it is the same Word, Who had come into this world, assuming the flesh of Man, and through the intermediary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, He was born into this world, an event we celebrate as Christmas.

This is very important as, before He came into this world, He is intangible, untouchable and distant, but God Who loves us all greatly and tenderly, desired for all of us to be reunited with Him and to be with Him in the union of perfect love, and therefore, through Jesus, He made Himself tangible, touchable, and now we can see in Him, the fullness of His love, and indeed, of our own future of happiness and eternal life together with Him.

Through Jesus our Lord, we have seen the very personification of God’s love and mercy. He has provided us this act of ultimate mercy, giving us the new and perfect opportunity to be reconciled with God. He has done everything for our sake, that all of us may be rescued from the abyss of darkness and damnation in hell. Shall we not therefore give our love and devotion to Him as well then?

Let us today reflect on the examples of the faithful servant of God, whose feast we are celebrating today, namely Pope St. Silvester I, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Universal Church who lived and reigned as Pope during a time of great change in the Church and in the world. Pope St. Silvester I was among the first Popes to have led the Church after the official toleration of the Faith by the Edict of Milan in the year 313 AD, and he led the Church through a time of great renewal.

Pope St. Silvester I led the Church through a time of great building of many churches and basilicas, and many people flocked to the Church as never before. Many professed the faith and became believers, and Pope St. Silvester I and his good leadership and role model in faith helped ensure more and more souls being saved through the good works God had done through His Church.

As we all embark on this last day of the old year and as we rejoice in welcoming the beginning of the new year tomorrow, let us all also follow in the examples of Pope St. Silvester I and the other holy saints of God, so that we may usher in the beginning of a new year to be filled with the fullness of God’s love and our faith in Him. This is the time for us to make our new year’s resolution, that is to abandon our old ways of sin and wickedness, and embrace fully the ways of the Lord.

May Almighty God bless us all, and may He bless our coming new year, so that His blessings may fill that year with much grace, and all of us may look up to the coming of the new year of hope, and be ever more faithful and be more devoted to our Lord and God. God be with us all. Amen.