Satan

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Sunday, 17 November 2013 : 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord shall come as He had promised, and the hour of His coming is drawing very near indeed. And we do not know when this will exactly happen. It is only the Lord who knows the time of His second coming, when He will come to judge all creations, and indeed, to judge all of us, whether we will be found worthy or unworthy to be with Him in the glory of heaven.

That was what the prophet Malachi, the last of all the prophets of the Old Testament had proclaimed, that the Lord will come again, and His coming will be likened to a sun of justice, the light and brightness of which shall unveil all errors and evils, cast out all things dark into its proper place, that is in the darkness of hell, which will be condemned together with those rebels and wicked ones, at the end of time.

Yes, the Lord had indeed once come into this world of ours, God incarnate into our frail body of man, and the divine who assumed the mortality of our human flesh, in Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, and yet at the same time, also the Son of God, fully man and fully divine. This is the first coming of our Lord, who came to destroy the veil of darkness that had separated us for so long from our God. This veil is sin.

The Lord had come to pierce the veil of darkness, and place in all of us, each of us, the light that belongs to Him. This is so that we truly can belong to Him who is Light, as the children of the light, and not of the false light, that is Lucifer, the fallen lightbearer, the deceiver of mankind, and the evil one. In Jesus Christ who came into our world to be our Messiah, our Saviour, exists the fullness of God’s redemption and love.

Yes, the Lord has offered us full pardon and the complete extent of His love for us. All we need is to believe in Him, believe in His death and His resurrection, through whom He had made all these possible for us. Just as He had risen from the dead and elevated into the heavenly glory, assuming His place at the right hand of the Father, we too will be raised up, just as Jesus had promised us through His disciples.

But all of these do not come free and easy, my brothers and sisters, for we have to work and toil hard for it to come about. This is just as St. Paul had said in his letter to the Church in Thessaly, how they laboured and worked hard. They laboured not only for their own sustenance, that they will not bother and be a burden to the people whom they worked with, but they also laboured for the sake of the Gospel.

That is why we too must labour and work, not in any menial way, but what we need to do is that we need to live up the faith that we have in God and show that faith through actions and through love that we show in our actions. We have to show our love for God through our actions, by serving Him wholeheartedly, and by loving our fellow men, especially those who need most of our love and help.

In us, Jesus has dwelled and remained within us, if we have accepted Him as our Lord through the waters of baptism. The Holy Spirit from the Lord dwells within each of us the faithful ones, and we become the Temples of the Holy Spirit. We have been planted with the seeds of goodness, that is with faith, hope, and love, the three most important cardinal virtues. That is why we are expected to bear fruits of faith, the fruits of hope, and ultimately the fruits of love, through our actions that reflect our nature, which itself is a reflection of God.

Jesus Himself referred to His own Body as the Temple of God, as from the time of His coming onwards, and from the time when He had fulfilled the grand plan of salvation, that is dying on the cross at Calvary, the physical Temple of Jerusalem was no longer necessary. The Temple was first built by King Solomon and prepared by his father, King David, built of great beauty and adorned with great wealth and adornments worthy of the Almighty God, Lord and King of all kings.

That Temple was razed at the fall of the city of Jerusalem and the end of the kingdom of Judea to the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. The exiled people of Israel returned to their homeland after seventy years in Babylonian exile, and built the second Temple, which lasted until the time of King Herod the Great, the same King Herod who was mentioned in the birth of Christ, the one trying to kill Jesus.

King Herod rebuilt that Temple into a magnificent Temple that we refer to as the Temple of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. It took many years to build, and it was not to be completed until decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection. And only a few years after its completion, it would be destroyed by the Romans after a failed Jewish rebellion, which saw the expulsion of the Jews from their homeland. This was the fulfillment of what Jesus had said, that the Temple as it was would not stand and remain, and would be destroyed.

But Jesus also referred to His Body, that is the Temple, which is referred to in other similar Gospel passages, where the people taunted Him when Jesus said that He will tear down the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days. The physical Temple, as we can see, has given way to the real Temple, that is Jesus Christ Himself, God incarnate. This we can see when the veil of the Temple was torn apart when Jesus gave up His life, signalling the end of separation of God from mankind.

Yes, the tearing of that veil symbolises the beginning of a new era for all mankind, that is for all of us. The veil was once used to separate the Holy of holies where God resided in the Temple, and all the people. That veil represented the separation that was present between us and God, that is the barrier preventing us from approaching God. That barrier and veil was indeed sin, our sinfulness.

Jesus tore down that veil by His death, where He brought upon Himself, the punishments for the sins of the entire world. With that singular act, He had made us all worthy once again of God, and we would no longer be impeded on our way to the Lord our Creator and our God. And Jesus has given Himself to us, that from then on, we would live in Him and He in us. Through the Most Holy Eucharist, He had resolved to come and dwell within us, making us the new Temple of His Presence.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, we ought to prepare, that we ensure daily cleanliness and purity of this holy Temple, that is our body and soul, as God has resided in all of us who believe in Him. We cannot contemplate to sin or commit any evil acts that will corrupt this holy Temples of ours, incompatible with God. Remember that without God we are nothing, and antagonising God is the last thing we all should think of doing.

That said, as mentioned earlier, Jesus promised us the coming end of times, and the fulfillment of salvation. He promised that we will not suffer death but receive new and eternal life, if we all remain faithful to Him. He will be a beautiful light as the sun of justice to all who believe and to all who are righteous in their ways. But to those who are wicked and keep wickedness and evil in their ways, their acts, and their thoughts, they will suffer greatly.

We should not be worried for the coming of the kingdom of God, brethren, for worrying bring about no good. Indeed, worry only distracts us from the real work that we have to do. And worry in this case, that is about our fate and our salvation, only highlight the nature of our self-centredness and our selfishness. We tend to become idle in worry and therefore fail to do what is expected from us.

We ought to love, and to show that love in our daily actions and deeds. We cannot be lax, brethren, for the coming of our Lord is known to Him alone, and that is why we must be ever ready, and ever prepared for His coming. No better way to do this, than to profess our faith daily to Him through real action and real dedication of love, of our hope, to our brethren, especially those who desperately are in need of them.

May the Lord therefore, the great sun of justice, the great and true Light of the world, shine His light upon us, on the path that we are to take, that we may keep faithfully to the path that He had shown us. Hence, we will not fall or go astray from the truth, and seek instead the lies of the devil, in the pleasures of the world. May God continue to love us, watch over us, and guide us as we approach towards His great kingdom. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 12 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Wisdom 2 : 23 – Wisdom 3 : 9

Indeed God created man to be immortal in the likeness of His own nature, but the envy of the devil brought death to the world, and those who take his side shall experience death.

The souls of the just are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them. In the eyes of the unwise they appear to be dead. Their going is held as a disaster; it seems that they lose everything by departing from us, but they are in peace.

Though seemingly they have been punished, immortality was the soul of their hope. After slight affliction will come great blessings, for God has tried them and found them worthy to be with Him; after testing them as gold in the furnace, He has accepted them as a holocaust.

At the time of His coming they will shine like sparks that run in the stubble. They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will be their king forever. Those who trust in Him will penetrate the truth, those who are faithful will live with Him in love, for His grace and mercy are for His chosen ones.

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Friday, 8 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 16 : 1-8

At another time Jesus told His disciples, “There was a rich man, whose steward was reported to him for fraudulent service. He summoned the steward and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service, for it is about to be terminated.'”

“The steward thought to himself, ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me. I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do : I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be people who will welcome me into their homes.'”

“So he called his master’s debtors, one by one. He asked the first debtor, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The reply was, ‘A hundred jars of oil.’ The steward said, ‘Here is your bill. Sit down quickly and write fifty.'”

“To the second debtor he put the same question, ‘How much do you owe?’ The answer was, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ Then the steward said, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.'”

“The master commended his dishonest steward for his astuteness : for the people of this world are more astute, in dealing with their own kind, than are the people of light.”

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Wednesday, 6 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear on the importance of being ready, being prepared at all times, and most importantly to plan before anything. How is this then relevant to our faith? It is everything! This is because we cannot be idle nor should we be ignorant and lazy in our faith, that we neglect to do what the Lord expects from all of us, from each one of us.

The commandments and the laws that God had given us mankind, are what. He wants from us, not to be mere relics and symbolisms, but in fact as living laws that we all obey and follow with every actions, with every words, and with every deeds we do. Indeed, with every breath we take, we ought to be obedient to God and His laws.

We cannot ignore these laws, and we cannot dismiss them, as they are our guide so that we will not lose our way in this world, and through the obstacles and difficulties that bar our path towards the Lord our God. The laws can be likened to the strategies that one should take, in dealing with the troubles and the enemies that lay themselves on our path.

Without a good plan, as Jesus said in His parable on the houses and the king’s war to the people, there can be no success or good outcome. Such reckless actions without planning will only bring about failure or even getting lost in the way, being without any guidance. Good planning will ensure that we truly know what we are to do, or expect what will come about in the future.

These laws and commandments God has given us, and revealed in its completeness in Christ, are the laws of love, which guide us on our expected behaviours. That we ought to love one another just as we love and care for ourselves, that we truly reflect the Lord as God’s beloved children. Yes, brethren, just as God is Love, so we too should be children of love, expressing through our own actions, words, and deeds, the acts of love, kindness, and compassion.

Jesus today urged all of us, as He urged His disciples and the people who followed Him, to be more proactive in our faith, that we take the responsibility to plan and prepare for our salvation in Him. That we do not take it easy and become complacent in this world. That we are prepared for any contingencies, and any kind of trouble that may come in our way.

Why so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because there are, as I mentioned, many obstacles and enemies that lay themselves on our path to God, and that this path will not be an easy path, but a path filled with sorrow and challenges. We who have been made righteous in God, through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, are not automatically out of danger. For as long as we remain in this world, we are always under threat from the evil one, Satan, the deceiver, and his forces of darkness.

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has broken Satan’s hold and dominion over all of us. Ever since our Lord bared all, suffered and died for the sake of us all, and redeemed us from our original sins, Satan no longer has any authority over us. Nevertheless, he is loath to allow all of us to be lost to God forever. That is why, just as He had tempted Jesus in the desert in a vain attempt to prevent his defeat at the hands of God, he will definitely also tempt all of us with all the things in his disposal.

This can be likened to how a house without preparation will end up in disrepair, and a king without preparation will likely to lose his war. We are the builders of that house, and we are like that king. We have to plan ahead and be prepared, so that we will not end up in the situations I had just mentioned. To achieve this, we precisely need to follow what the Lord Himself urged us to, that is to be obedient to His laws, that is to love!

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to love, and not just any love, but love tenderly. It is not easy to love, but it is indeed what we need to do, to prepare us and to ensure that we have a well-planned journey towards the Lord and the eternal reward and glory He has prepared for us all. Hence, brethren, let us then resolve from now on, that we will strive to love, first our God with all of our strengths, and then to love our neighbours, all our fellow brothers and sisters, children of the same God, also with all of our heart.

May the Lord guide us and continue to watch over us, as we progress through this path towards salvation. God be with us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brethren in Christ, the Lord loves us all, without exception. He gave us all many gifts and graces, and yet, many of us are not aware of this, or even reject these gifts He had given us, all for free. All that the Lord asks from us is in fact just that we should love Him back and dedicate ourselves and our hearts to Him alone. After all, He had given us so much, including this very life that sustains us in this world, that He does deserve our love.

However, the true fact is that many of us do not appreciate His love and kindness to us. We spurned His love and turned away from His mercy. We were not grateful at what He had done for our sake. He had given Himself up to be condemned to death, and suffer grievously in our place, as a punishment for all our sins. Yet in that suffering, He invited all of us to a great banquet, that is the banquet and feast of salvation.

Why so? That is because He offered His own flesh and blood, that is His Most Precious Body and Blood, His own Essence, to us, that all who receive them worthily and believe in Him, will receive the reward of life eternal in heaven. This is the reality of our faith. Yes, the centrepiece of our faith, that the Lord crucified, the Lamb of sacrifice, offered His own flesh and blood, just as the immaculate lambs were sacrificed at the first Jewish Passover, marking them from death.

And just as the blood of the lambs marked the house of the people of Israel, to distinguish them from their Egyptian slave masters, and therefore the angel of death passed over them, so had Jesus, the Lamb of God, with His Blood, marked all of us who believe, that death will not have dominion nor authority over us. We have been marked that we belong to God and God alone.

Even so, even many among us who had been marked, likened to the guests invited by the master of the house to his banquet, still go astray from our path, and erred. We were still easily swayed by the forces of this world, belonging to the evil one, the devil, that is the forces of darkness. And just like the guests, who made excuses not to come to the event, we too like to make excuses to God, numerous excuses to excuse us from coming closer to God and His love.

Indeed, it is often that this world and the world of material offer us so much and in a way so enticing, that it is hard for us to gaze away from them. This is what happened exactly, as the Lord showed it through the reluctant and unfaithful guests, who preferred their own personal matter and preoccupied with their own dealings, to break the promise they had made in God, and to ignore His calling.

That is also what happened, when the voice of God speaking softly in our hearts was drowned by the noise of this world, by the noise of our surroundings. We cannot focus on the Lord simply because the world around us is too attractive, and too distractive, that we often end up busying ourselves with this world’s dealings rather than spending time with our Lord who loves us.

That is why, the Lord highlighted the type of people He wants, that is, those who are humble and loving, and those who truly seek the Lord, those who truly have God in their hearts. That is what is expected from us all, brethren! We must find time for our Lord, and open our hearts to Him. Do not neglect our Lord by turning away from Him or ignoring Him. Do not be like those ungrateful guests who turned away the invitation of the Lord.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, from now on, let us resolve to be closer to God, to be open to His love, and to open the doors of our hearts and ears to His words and wisdom. We can do this by devoting ourselves to Him in prayer. Pray hard and pray devoutly, and talk to God often, and at the same time, allowing Him to speak within our heart. May the Lord our God then grant us His blessing, that all of us will remain always and ever in His love. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, opposition is against us, against the servants of the Lord our God, against the good works dedicated to the service of God and His people, and finally, against the Lord Himself.

Today the Lord highlighted a historical fact, on how the people of God, the chosen people of Israel, rejected the Lord, His love and kindness, and cast away those whom God had sent to them. They did not just send them away but many of them were even slaughtered in cold blood.

The people whom the Lord had chosen and made as His own has rebelled and turned away from Him. Naturally, the Lord would have been angry and should have destroyed them all from the face of the earth. However, He is loving and merciful just as He is just and angry against the sins mankind have committed. He wants His people to be saved, and not to fall for the sins they have done.

The Lord Himself was rejected when He came to be with His people, and to liberate them from the yoke of the evil one. He did not leave His people to the power of the evil one, but they spurned His love. He was condemned for sins that He did not commit and was condemned to a humiliating death on the cross. Nevertheless, you all know what the Lord did.

He took up all those sins that were placed upon Him, and took them into Himself unto death. All these He had done for us, so that we do not have to suffer the consequences of the sins we had committed. For the consequences of sins are suffering and death, and the Lord who loves us dearly, does not want us to suffer those fates. That is why He offered Himself through Jesus His Son, to be the sacrificial victim to liberate us from our fate of destruction and death.

He laid down His own life that we shall live, that we shall not die an eternal death and suffer eternal suffering in hell. Nobody can separate us from Him, just as St. Paul had said in the first reading today, in his letter to the Church in Rome, the Empire’s capital. St. Paul asserted Christ’s eternal and undying love for all of us, that He is willing to suffer all the grievous sufferings actually intended for us as our deserved punishments for our sins.

It is that through His one and only ultimate sacrifice on the cross, that the Lord saves us all from the valley of death and brings us closer to the heavenly rewards that we have been blessed with through Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, as is noted in the Gospel today, despite all the love and kindness that the Lord has poured on us, there are still those who do not follow Him and even despise Him, just as they had despised the prophets and messengers sent before the Lord.

It is easy for us to dismiss them as being others, as being not all of us. Yet, we should indeed look first into ourselves, whether we have ourselves been righteous or wicked in our actions, and whether we have been ignorant or obedient to follow the Lord and His commandments. If we have done any of these, then we too have taken part in the suffering of the Lord.

Remember, that every single wounds on the Body of Christ is the sins that we have committed, with every words of evil that came out of our mouth, and with every actions of our limbs and bodies that do not reflect love or bring pain and suffering to others. Hence, brethren, let us, from today onwards, reflect on our own actions, and learn from what we have done, that we will cast from us, any actions that contribute towards the suffering of Christ in His Passion.

May our loving and merciful God continue to nurture in us His wonderful love, that we will grow to be ever more faithful and loving children of God, saved by Jesus His Son, and rejecting Satan and all of his advances. God guide us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today it is revealed to us, how it is that it is not easy for us or anyone to enter into the Kingdom of God, and what the Lord has done to help us, that we can indeed enter His Kingdom. Many of us though, remain ignorant on the love of God, and what He has done for us, and many of us too, remained in our debauched way of life.

Yet, many of us at the same time also remain unaware that in our actions, we do not do things that will ensure our salvation in God. We remain idle, and even worse, we did things abhorring and abominable in the eyes of the Lord and even in the eyes of mankind. We like to deal with the things of the flesh, temptations of this world, and the offerings of the evil one rather than obeying the Lord and doing what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

This is because it is not easy to follow the Lord and do as He commanded us. His desire for us is to love one another, and care for one another, just as we ought to love Him, with all our heart, with all our attention, and with all our dedication. We have to give Him the full attention and the complete dedication of our hearts. We cannot be half-hearted in this, as the Lord Himself said, that we cannot serve two Masters.

We cannot serve both the Lord, as well as Satan. Satan, the deceiver and the great enemy, has dominion and power over this world, ever since sin and evil entered into us. Ever since we have sinned against the Lord and disobeyed Him, we have entered into the dominion and fall under the power of the evil one. He is what is to many of us, our true master, because the things at we do reflect not the actions of the children of the one, true God, but instead as the actions of the children of Satan.

Brethren, why is the Lord so critical of those people who asked Him about the nature of salvation? Whether there are few or many that will be saved? That is because, they knew that the path is not going to be easy, and yet they did nothing about it, and continued on their daily life schedules. Often they neglected to do what the Lord had asked them to do, because they were too busy going about their routines.

Yes, as we all now know, that to sin is not just for us to do evil things or things that are considered evil. That is sin all right, but sin is also about failing to do what is right, what is good, and what is expected of us, to the point that we fail to appreciate the nature of goodness and love itself. We tend to become self-absorbed in our lives, and prefer to stay in our own comfort zones. We tend to detest going the extra mile to do what is good.

This is what the Lord wants to change from us, that we no longer give in to our pride and our human vanity, and instead open ourselves and our hearts in particular, ever more to the love and compassion of the Lord our God. In opening of ourselves, we do not only rid ourselves of the sense of self-preservation and vanity, as well as getting rid of the pride within us, but we also open ourselves at the same time, to loving our brethren, our brothers and sisters in the same Lord.

Let us therefore, brothers and sisters, step outside our comfort zone. Be daring to open up ourselves, and cast away the veil of pride and sin that had enclosed our hearts for long enough. We shall not allow them to interfere in our lives any longer. Let us also decisively reject Satan, casting him out of our lives, and rejecting all of his lies and false offers. Reject the father of lies and accept the Father of truth. Reject the father of hatred and accept the Father of love.

Hence, brethren, from now on, let us break free from our slavery under Satan, casting away his yoke, and rebuke the pleasures of this world that he offered all of us. No doubt that he will not be pleased, and will use all the powers in his possession to return us to himself. This is why our journey will not be easy, as oppositions will be rampant, and this world itself, as the dominion of the fallen one, shall be against us, the children of God.

Be not afraid though, because the Lord our God will surely send His help upon us. He will not abandon His children to be the slaves of His rebel angel. What is important then, is for us, to keep strong our defenses, namely our spiritual defenses, through constant and devout dedication to the Lord our God in prayer. When we pray, make sure our prayers are meaningful and dedicated to the Lord our God.

Do not let selfishness and pride come between us and the Lord. Indeed, let us be meek and humble before God, asking Him for forgiveness for our sins, and give ourselves in complete surrender before Him, that He will take us away from the dominion of Satan, into eternal life of glory with Him in heaven. God be with us all, forever and ever. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Luke 12 : 49-53

I have come to bring fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what anguish I feel until it is over!

Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house five will be divided : three against two, and two against three.

They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

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Wednesday, 23 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John of Capestrano, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Once again, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded, just as in yesterday’s reading, the importance of being ever-ready, and preparedness in our lives, that when the Lord comes again unexpected, we will not be caught unprepared and unworthy. Sin is in particular something that we must always beware of, in our daily lives, that we be ever vigilant, against any commitment of sin that corrupts us and brings us away from the salvation in God.

All of us, brethren, had in fact been entrusted with much responsibilities by our Lord and God, and we had been made as stewards over God’s creations. Remember that when the Lord created mankind, He had commanded all creations to be within our sphere of responsibility. We are effectively made the stewards of this world, the caretaker of God’s creatures.

Yet as we all know, many of us are not always faithful to the Lord and His ways. Although we had been made stewards, the Lord is still our Master, and we have to follow Him and His ways, and not go our own way. That is essentially what many of us have done. We have cast away the words of the Lord and prefer to trust in our own human judgments and wisdom, rather than trusting in God.

Then, some of us also did not become good stewards of God’s creation, and we neglect our duties that we ought to do. We prefer to care and worry about ourselves, instead of giving ourselves to love and care for those entrusted to us. And remember that the more we had been given with, the more too will be expected from us. That is why, our possessions, our love, and our material goods can become both a great source of blessing and grace, as well as to be a vicious trap that blocks our path to the Lord our God.

We are often too happy with ourselves, with our comfortable life, that we end up forgetting about what we ought to do in our lives. It is completely not wrong for us to enjoy our lives and to gather or gain worldly things and possessions. It is, as I need to reiterate once again, the way that we use those gifts and graces the Lord had granted us, and our attitude towards others, which determine whether we are righteous or not.

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. John of Capestrano, a priest who lived in the early Renaissance Italy, who was once a secular noble and governor of the land. He relinquished his position and wealth after he received a calling, and together with the future St. Bernardine of Siena, he studied to become a priest, a monk, and a preacher, eventually joining the Franciscans.

St. John of Capestrano went on to preach in many different parts of Europe and Christendom as a whole, and his charisma is such that he always drew massive crowds, into tens of thousands and even over a hundred thousand people in some occasions, turning many back into the path of the Lord, and affirming many in the way of the Lord. In doing that, he had brought countless souls back on the path towards salvation in God.

St. John of Capestrano worked hard for the sake of the Lord even until his old age, preaching and urging the people to rise up and defend the true faith in God against any form of heresies and diabolical onslaught of the devil forces, especially in the pagan Ottoman Empire forces, which rose to prominence and power. He worked hard until he caught illness of the bubonic plague and died, ever still faithful and devoted towards the mission he had as the servant of God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the examples of St. John of Capestrano, and also the examples of many other saints, who had worked hard for the glory of God, let us all then also follow in his footsteps, to be truly dutiful and faithful in our mission in this world, that is to be faithful, obedient, and loving servants and stewards of the Lord our God, as the steward over all creation.

May we all therefore be strengthened in our faith, and become ever more dedicated to the Lord our God, and through the intercession of St. John of Capestrano, we are made closer to our Lord and God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 14 October 2013 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyr)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord Jesus is our promised salvation, the One whom the prophets had been proclaiming about. He is the descendant of David, the One to inherit for eternity the kingdom that had been given to His forefather, to be the king of not just Israel, but over all the world, and indeed, as the Lord Creator of all, as the King of all creations.

He is also the descendant of Adam, the first man, and as a new Man, the Son of Man, becoming the new Adam, the first One to rise from the dead and into glory. Just as Adam had fallen into temptations of Satan, the evil one, with his wife, Eve, then Christ had broken hold of evil over mankind, the descendants of Adam, by being the faithful One, the One who held on true to His faith and love in God, even unto death.

Yes, for through Jesus, the new Adam, mankind had been liberated, ransomed with the price of the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Himself. That is the price He had paid for the sake of our salvation and liberation from slavery of sin under Satan. That ultimate sacrifice He had done at Calvary, to die on the cross for the sake of all mankind, is the sign of Jonah that He had promised to show the people, who so stubbornly demanded Him to show a miraculous sign.

Yes, brethren, demanding Jesus to show them a sign, while what they have experienced while they were with Him, especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who had always tailed Jesus wherever He went, and tried Him with questions and traps they had laid for Him. They have seen what Jesus had done, and had heard His teachings, and yet they did not believe, or rather, refused to believe in Him or in what wonders He had done.

The sign of Jonah is the reinforcement of what had happened to Jonah, when he tried to escape from his prophetic responsibility, to bring the judgment of God to the city of Nineveh. His escape ship was struck with a vicious storm, and he had to throw himself into the sea so that the ship would not sink. God sent a big fish, a whale, to swallow and protect Jonah in its belly for three days. That is what had happened to Jonah, and precisely what Jesus had shown the people of God.

Jesus Christ Himself was taken away from the world, that after His death, He went down into hell, not as a condemned one, but instead as a triumphant and conquering One, as One who liberates those who had been imprisoned unjustly by the evil one, delivering them from the darkness of the hell and this world into the light of heavenly glory. For three days, He was hidden from the world, just like Jonah who was in the belly of the fish for three days.

And just as Jonah who had been freed from the belly of the fish and went on to continue his ministry to Nineveh and its people, and after realising the benevolence and merciful nature of God, understanding that the people of Nineveh was not punished because they were repentant and regretful of their past sinful ways, so did Jesus bring about salvation and forgiveness for all those who had shunned their sinfulness and embraced Him as their Lord and Saviour.

This is the fundamental core of our faith, one that we have to keep uphold strongly throughout our life. We must never forget that our Lord had died for us and given up His life so that we may live and not suffer death eternal in hell, for He had freed us from bondage to Satan and bring us into new life of holiness and true joy.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Callistus I, also known as St. Callixtus I, one of the first Popes and therefore one of the early leaders of the Universal Church. Pope St. Callistus I faced many difficult experiences in his life, and even more so during his ministry as the successor of St. Peter, as the leader of the Universal Church. There were oppositions and persecutions from the pagan Romans and their Emperors, and life was truly difficult. There were also oppositions from within the Church, with rival factions and disagreements threatening to split the Church apart, especially over treatment of lapsed Christians and forgiveness given unto them when they decided to return to the Church.

Yet, Pope St. Callistus I persevered through these tribulations, and led the people of God through those difficult times, enduring oppositions after oppositions, and led the people of God back to God, reconciling themselves with one another. Pope St. Callistus dedicated himself to the cause of Christ even unto his death, his martyrdom in the defense of his faith. In that, he had upheld the faith that he had in Christ, in the One who had Himself persevered through numerous trials and oppositions, and death so that all of us may be saved.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us then commit ourselves ever more devotedly to the Lord our God who had given His all for our sake, that we will not abandon Him, and truly believe wholeheartedly in His Passion, in the suffering and death He had endured for the sake of us all. And may Pope St. Callistus I pray for us and intercede for our sake before the Lord Jesus, our loving God and Father of all. God bless us all. Amen.