Scripture Reflections

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Thursday, 14 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are taught on the value and importance of forgiveness in our lives by none other than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who mentioned that we have to forgive and forgive, again and again. When Peter asked if he should forgive his brethren seven times and Jesus replied that he should do it seventy-seven times should not be literally taken as a seventy-seven times of forgiveness, but rather that our acts in all things must be filled with mercy and forgiveness, one that is genuine from our hearts.

The Lord Himself is the embodiment of the perfect mercy and love, forgiving His people who are also His children from their trespasses and rebelliousness, while chastising them for the kind of sinful and rebellious behaviour they had shown. But of course there is a limit that God has set to His mercy and kindness, especially if those to whom He had shown this mercy consistently and persistently refused to listen and to change for the better, then they are truly digging their own graves and lead themselves to destruction.

That was why our Lord sent prophets after prophets to help His people, to remind them and guide them on the right path, and this includes Ezekiel, whom God sent to His people in exile in Babylon, warning and reminding them of their continued sins and rebelliousness against God which would bring them to greater disaster and destruction in the end. God wanted to forgive them, but forgiveness must also be accepted with sincerity, or otherwise it will not work as intended.

The whole of mankind is indeed in exile, and had been since the days when Adam and Eve our ancestors first disobeyed the Lord, and therefore lost the certainty of inheritance of the divine glory and riches which had been our share as of when God created us. But God gave us nothing lesser than Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, as the concrete and ultimate symbol of forgiveness and hope for mankind, that through Him, all our wounds and our afflictions would be healed.

It is now up to us, whether we accept graciously the generous offer of mercy and repent, following the Lord once again into salvation and eternal glory in heaven. It is also our choice to stay apart from the Lord and His love, following our own human desires and fallibilities, and likely these will end us in destruction and endless cycles of hatred, violence and evil. It is up to us, for us to break free from this cycle and usher a new era of peace, love and harmony based on the Lord.

And today we celebrate the feast of a saint, whose life and examples would truly awaken us to this idea of mercy and forgiveness, as well as love for our fellow men, and this saint had just passed before us less than a century ago. He is St. Maximilian Kolbe, the saint of World War II and the saint of the Holocaust in NAZI Germany. He was one of the many martyrs of the faith, who together with others like St. Edith Stein or St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, died for her faith.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest who joined the religious life since his youth, and was particularly devoted to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, trying his best throughout his ministries to spread the devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, even establishing newspapers and publication dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. St. Maximilian Kolbe took part in numerous missionary works, and particularly he visited Japan many times, spreading the seeds of faith among the people there.

But eventually what made St. Maximilian Kolbe truly known to the world was his actions during the Second World War in which he was arrested and interned, and when several prisoners were found to have attempted escape from the prison at the infamous Auschwitz extermination camp, they were immediately sentenced to death. However, when one of the prisoners cried out in agony and sorrow over his family, St. Maximilian Kolbe immediately offered himself in exchange for the life of the Polish inmate.

St. Maximilian Kolbe endured two whole weeks of dehydration, complete isolation and total denial of food. But he remained cheerful and in fact encouraged the others who were also condemned to die, celebrating the Mass with joy and persevering amidst the shadow of death. And when the Germans decided to clear the room, they found St. Maximilian Kolbe to be still alive and proceeded to execute him. He met death with joy and without fear, and into the hands of the Lord he gave up his soul.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we all able to follow the examples of St. Maximilian Kolbe? He forgave his executors, brought life and hope to another man, whose family received him in renewed joy. St. Maximilian Kolbe and his actions truly showed the embodiment of the love and mercy of God. Remember, that if St. Maximilian Kolbe gave up his life in exchange for the life of a man chained in prison, then our Lord Jesus Christ gave up His life and suffer on the cross in exchange for the life of all men, that is all of us, chained by the chains of sin.

Let us all break free of the cycle of hatred, violence, evil and death. Let us all work together to seek peace and harmony among all peoples. And may Almighty God bless our endeavours, and may His love and mercy together with the examples and the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe help us to be better children of God, and always think first of the Lord and His infinite mercy. Amen.

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Wednesday, 13 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pontian, Pope and Martyr, and St. Hippolytus, Priest and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear of the saving power of God, and what He intended to do with mankind, with those who follow Him and walk in His way, as well as with those who rejected Him and sought the comforts and lies of Satan rather than the truth and love of God. He wants mankind to be saved and to be reunited to Himself, and that was why He sent us Jesus to be the One who is our hope and our salvation.

But Jesus also wants to let us know that there are always the proper way of doing things, that we have to adhere closely to the teachings of the Church and avoid any forms of heresy and behaviours that are against the way of the Lord. And in this He made evident the authority of the Church, as the Body of the assembly of the faithful in keeping the faith and obedience to the true faith in God.

For the Church as we know it today is the exact same one as the one which Jesus had mentioned in the Gospel today. The Church refers not just to any buildings or hierarchy, but in fact the Church refers to all of us, who together we make the assembly of the faithful, as one united Body in Christ, that is the Church, and there will always be the Church.

It cannot be ignored, the fact that the Church had been the faithful custodians of the faith, keeping the flames of faith alive despite the various challenges and even persecutions that faced both the Church and the faithful. The Church kept the faith pure and true through various attempts by men to corrupt the purity of the faith, which resulted in many heresies and evils.

One thing we need to always remember is that, God knows those who are His own, and this is highlighted in the first reading today, when God mentioned to the prophet Ezekiel, how He instructed His angels to go through the Holy City and mark those faithful ones with the sign of the cross, that is the sign of our salvation and the sign of the promise of eternal and everlasting glory.

Our Church has had an effective way to deal with those who are not in line with the teachings of the faith. This is through constant and repeated help and assistance offered through the priests and the other servants of the Church, and if this is not successful, then the last resort was to cast the person out of the Church, on what is called excommunication, where the person was in a state of what is called anathema and in a state of sin.

This had been practiced by the Church since the beginning of times, and this was directly linked to what Jesus had said in today’s Gospel, that those who blatantly and constantly refused to listen to the Lord and to the words of His servants. Excommunication is truly a last resort measure, and truly it was not aimed to punish, but in fact more such that the one who erred may see the errors of his or her ways, and be repentant.

Today we celebrate the feast of two saints, namely that of Pope St. Pontian, successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome and head of the Church, and St. Hippolytus, a priest who once came into conflict with the leadership of the Church and was once elected to head a rival faction in the Church, as the first known antipope of the Church. One of the Popes whom St. Hippolytus had stood against was none other than Pope St. Pontian.

The rivalry between the Papal claimants and the attacks between both sides hurt the Church and the faithful much, dividing the faithful among the two camps. On top of all that, the persecutions against the faithful by the pagan Roman Empire and the Emperors continued unabated. Many died in martyrdom in the defense of their faith.

Both Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus were faithful servants of the Lord, and before their conflict and squabble, they had worked hard for the good of the people of God, leading them in their struggle for the faith and against the persecution of the world. Their hard work earned much good for the Church, but their squabbles and infightings also led to much pain for the Church.

They excommunicated each other and attacked each other, but yet, the Lord worked in His mysterious ways. In the intensifying persecution against the faithful by the Emperor Alexander Severus of Rome, both of these future saints were arrested and eventually was exiled together to the area of Pontus in what is today northern Turkey or southern Ukraine.

Both of them were reconciled to each other before their death, and the division of the Church over, they together became the symbols of the faith, through their martyrdom, and hence through their deaths in the defense of their faith. Hence, the Lord achieved His aim of bringing the people together, through tireless and ceaseless works of the servants of God and through the prayers of the saints, bringing back wayward children of Go back into the fold of the Church.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, we all ought to do our best, to lead one another to the Lord, bringing the love and warmth of the Lord to our brethren, especially those who are in darkness, and those who rejected the Lord and rejected His Church, or even caused divisions among the faithful and brought more people into darkness like themselves.

We have to do our part to help these brethren of ours, that they may be together with us be brought together into the loving embrace of our Lord, as one body in the Lord in His Church. May Almighty God be with us all and guide us fogether on our way. Amen.

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Tuesday, 12 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the Lord and His profession of faith and devotion to us, as He told us how a shepherd would go all out of his way, leaving those sheep which are secure with him, and find the one lost sheep until that sheep is found. Our Lord is the Good Shepherd, as He Himself had said, and therefore, we are His sheep, in the pasture that is this world, and He will devote Himself in the same way as the shepherd is devoted to his flock of sheep.

In the first reading today, Ezekiel, the prophet of Israel called when the people of God was exiled at Babylon, received a vision showing God in all of His majesty, who commissioned him to speak His words on His behalf to the people of God, and particularly those who had rebelled against God and walked in ways contrary to the way of the Lord.

Thus, both readings essentially talked about the same thing, that God is concerned with the fate of mankind, particularly those who are lost in the darkness of this world, which is caused by our sinfulness and disobedience to the will of God. God wants those sheep that are lost, to be able to find their way back to Him before it is too late, and thus He sent His servants, the prophets like Ezekiel and ultimately Himself through Jesus His Son.

God did not take our case and fate lightly, as He knows that there are only two end points for us all, that is either eternal goodness or eternal damnation. Satan and his supporters are ever active in our world, dragging mankind and all those who are not vigilant into the trap of sin and evil, much like how wolves drag and trap their unsuspecting preys, the lost sheep into harm’s way and death.

That is why He sent on our way, so much help and assistance, that is the assistant shepherds which He gave us to be our shepherds and leaders to help us on our way to the Lord, to guard us and help us to evade the wolves. These were the prophets, and then followed by the disciples of Christ and their successors, our priests and bishops today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of a saint, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, a French noblewoman who lived during the late Renaissance era. She led a relatively normal life for the people of her age in that time, building up a family with her aristocrat husband, until she was widowed at the young age of twenty-eight with several of her children.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal then experienced a turn in her life, when she devoted herself to a life in devotion to God through charity and works, meeting up with saints and then established a congregation of women committed to the service of the poor, which she herself dutifully carried out for the sake of these lost ones of the children of God.

She was so devoted in her works, that despite all the opposition and challenges against her, even ridicule and obstacles would not allow her to give up her good works for God’s lost and weak children. It was indeed the same as how our Lord painstakingly worked hard to gather back all of His sheep, the lost ones, namely all of us, who had been sundered from Him ever since sin entered into the hearts of men.

We too have to follow her example, and the very example set up by our Lord, who as the Good Shepherd, did the ultimate act of love and devotion, by laying down His own life for His sheep, through the crucified Christ, that we all may live. It is important for us to realise how great is the love that God has for us, and therefore try our best to love Him back and seek Him with the best of our abilities.

Let us help one another on our way towards the Lord. Let us seek Him who is the Shepherd of all things living, and of all creations. He loves us all, and we should also all love Him back in the same way. Let us never be separated again from Him, and let us ask for the intercession of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, that our faith in the Lord will always be blessed by God. Amen.

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Monday, 11 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of a very relevant passage from the Holy Scriptures and the Gospels. We heard how a people in bondage and slavery is given a new hope, where the darkness and the chains that bound them were proven to be loose-able, and mankind gained a new hope in God.

In the first reading, we heard about the calling of Ezekiel by God in the land of exile, in Babylon where some of the people had been brought to when the king Nebuchadnezzar first invaded Judah and Jerusalem. He was called from among the group of exiled people of Judah, a people enslaved by war and conquest, and a people without hope under the chains of the Babylonians.

Yet, God made Ezekiel to be His servant and spokesperson to the people in exile and to the future generations, giving them new hope in life and assurance that God is on their side. In the Gospel today, Jesus explicitly mentioned when He spoke to Peter on the matter of paying taxes, that we are the children of God, and to those of us who are true children of God we are given special privileges as the children of our loving Father.

Jesus mentioned that the children of those who tax the people, namely the kings and rulers, need not pay the tax by common sense and rationale. That means those princes and the family members of the rulers do not need to pay the taxes because they belong to the group of those with power and wealth, and thus instead of paying taxes, they truly should be the ones who receive the taxes from the people.

In that sense, therefore, because we are children of the Most High God, Lord of all lords and King of all kings, Master of everything that exist in this Universe, we need not be bound or answer to any other powers and forces, except that of our Lord and Father of course. He is the only One whom we should be obedient to, and the only One whom we should listen to, and not any forces of this world, and definitely not Satan, the father of corruption and evil.

And yet why are we still bound by the laws of this world and obey the statutes of our countries and nations? Why are we then still bound to the earthly rules established by the rulers of this world, our leaders and rulers? It is the exact same reason as why Jesus mentioned in the Gospel, that in order not to incite outrage and opposition from the masses, the sons and relatives of kings and rulers also have to obey and pay their share of the taxes.

And thus, we all, as the children of God, do still have the need to obey the laws and statutes of this world. But we have to always remember that in doing so, we must always use our faith in God and our conscience as guidance. We must never obey those that come in direct opposition to the laws and statutes of the Lord. Obey and be faithful citizens, but we have to be children of God first before considering ourselves as children of this world.

God is our light and our guide in the darkness of this world. Indeed, there are many moments when we can easily fall into despair, such as when we are persecuted or hated because of something, especially if it is because of our faith. But as the Lord showed Ezekiel, that everything that are arrayed against us, they are all nothing compared to the infinite and great majesty and power of our God.

God had given us Jesus, His own Son to be our Saviour and Redeemer. He is the One whom we can trust and place ourselves to. There is no other option for us other than to follow the Lord whenever we lose our way in this world. We must seek the Lord and find Him, and even in greatest despair and sorrow, we must never lose hope because Christ is our hope and our light.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Clare, the founder of the Clarist religious order, also known as the Order of Poor Ladies, much inspired by the Franciscan order of St. Francis of Assisi, a contemporary of St. Clare, also known as St. Clare of Assisi. The religious order she founded became the female counterpart of the Franciscan tradition, and over the years they worked together to bring much goodness to the people of God.

St. Clare was born into a rich and privileged background, and she was destined to be married off to another rich man and heir of other Italian noblemen and wealthy peoples, and yet, God had another plan for St. Clare. St. Clare was very devoted and faithful to God since when she was still very young, and she was adamantly opposed to any plans to marry her off to a rich suitor. She ended up running away from home and sought refuge with St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Clare then devoted herself fully in prayer and to the works related to her religious order, and together with her sisters in service to God, they served the people who are poor and weak, those who are marginalised and bring them new hope in life. She was also well known for her defense of her convent, when an invading force by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was about to ransack the place.

With the monstrance containing the Holy Eucharist inside lifted high above her head, she repelled the invaders, who were scattered in great fear by a blinding light that came out from the Real Presence in the Eucharist. This is a sign of God’s devotion to mankind, to release them from their bonds, just as He released St. Clare from her bonds in her family, Ezekiel and the exiles of Israel from their Babylonian exile and slavery, and eventually all of mankind from the slavery of sin through the loving sacrifice of Jesus, His Son.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the life and works of St. Clare, we all should from now on put our complete trust in God. We should no longer doubt Him but believe in Him completely, that in Him we have our hope, and our only hope against the forces of darkness and evil arrayed against us, seeking to bind us with the chains of sin, in order to drag us with them into hell.

Therefore, let us all put our trust in God, and strengthen our faith in Him. Let us all no longer fear Satan and his darkness, for God is with us, and He will always be with us, and His light will dispel the darkness of our sins. What we need to do now is to truly repent, change our ways and follow Him. God be with us all. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Feast of St. Lawrence, Martyr (Double II Classis) – Sunday, 10 August 2014 : Homily and Scripture Reflections

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how we must cast away from our bodies and our hearts all things that are evil and filled with wickedness. We must make a conscious effort to get rid from ourselves all evil and wicked desires of the flesh, in order for us to be able to fully understand and appreciate what we need to do so that we may attain salvation and eternal life in God.

In the Gospel, Jesus reminded us this fact by first saying that there will be plenty of obstacles, both from the inside of us and from the outside, namely from those who refused to receive God and His ways, and those who collaborated with Satan to undermine mankind like us, that we may be damned and destroyed together with him. Jesus warned us, and St. Paul warned the faithful in Corinth to keep themselves pure and holy in all actions and things to avoid damnation.

Jesus showed this not just by mere words but also through direct action, showing it by casting out those merchants and defilers that had made impure the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Yes, as mentioned, the House of God and House of prayer had been made into a house of impurities, of money and illicit transactions, all designed to bring more wealth and profits to those merchants who cheated the people of God from their possessions.

Those merchants were truly wicked in their actions, using the opportunity presented by the people who were sincerely devoted to God to steal their money from them by inflating the prices of the sacrificial animal victims and through money exchange services, and while the people became poorer, the merchants became richer and richer. The priests and the Pharisees did nothing and in fact supported these merchants because part of the income ended up in their pockets, ensuring their cooperation in sin.

Those merchants and wicked priests of the Lord are truly the representation of the wickedness and evils that exist in us, in many different and various forms, but in which all of them have the same effect, that is the corruption of the House of God, the Temple in which the Holy Spirit resides. Yes, we all should know that all of us are the Temples of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are the Temple in which God resides.

God resides in us and He is in us when we have been accepted into His Church, and through the waters of baptism He purified the interiors of this Temple, making it into a suitable throne and place of residence for Him within us. But this does not guarantee us salvation, as faith alone without works is insufficient and meaningless without good works to ensure our salvation. We can still sin and do bad things in contrary to our baptismal promises.

Satan is never quiet, brothers and sisters in Christ, and he will always be at work to convert us to his cause, to spread his lies to us that we believe in him and his lies rather than the truth that is in the Lord. Even those priests of the Lord and the Pharisees who supposedly knew about the Lord, were the ones who in fact gave themselves in completely to the hands of Satan.

If we are lax in our devotion and in our faith, as well as in how we live our lives, then our bodies which are the Temples of the Holy Spirit will be defiled, and a House of God and House of prayer will no longer be as what they should be. Brothers and sisters, this must not happen, and we should heed both the warnings of our Lord and St. Paul His servant, renewing our pledge that we should live our lives in accordance to the ways of the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all work together and do our best to strengthen our faith within us, and the way is by strengthening our spiritual defenses, firstly through prayers, namely by having a good and healthy prayer life, and then through love and charity, by serving the people of God with sincere and genuine love and dedication.

May Almighty God help us on our endeavours, and continue to watch over us day by day, as we continue in our daily spiritual battle against the forces of Satan and the darkness in this world. Let us trust always in the light and the love of our God. Amen.

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Sunday, 10 August 2014 : 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, is our faith in God truly genuine and strong? And is our faith in the Lord solid and growing? Or is it that we doubt God and His love just because in our lives He may seem to not be around whenever we say that we need Him? Do we doubt God because we are not able to feel His presence around us when we are in dire trouble?

These questions are meant for us to ask ourselves and for us to do a self-introspection, on our faith, and what our faith truly meant for us. The story of Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a heavy storm that threatened to sink the ship where the disciples were on is a classic story of how mankind are often faced with persecution and difficulties in life, and yet God will definitely not abandon us. He has given us none other than Jesus to rescue us and to strengthen our faith.

Indeed, in the first reading today we also heard how God appeared to Elijah the prophet, when he was fleeing from the persecution of the king of Israel, Ahab in the middle of the desert. He found God, or YHVH, not in the midst of great and mighty phenomena of earthquakes, fires or windstorm, but in the gentleness and sweetness of a breeze of gentle wind.

God did not abandon mankind when we are in great troubles or difficulties, and instead, He showed His loving and caring persona, as He had shown to Elijah. As much as He is mighty and great, He is also thoroughly concerned with us, as what He had shown to Elijah and in that, showed the love He had for mankind who still lived in the darkness. That is the message that God wanted to make clear with the people, that He cared for them.

And in the Gospel, we heard how the ship where the disciples were in was rocked by heavy winds and strong winds, to the point that it almost sank and be destroyed. This is in fact a perfect representation of our own lives that are filled with challenges and difficulties from all corners and sources. Life is never easy, and especially if we choose to walk the path of the Lord, things will be stormy and difficult for us.

That is why, first we must have a strong anchor of faith, and this anchor must be established on none other than the strong foundation of faith we have in our Lord and God. Otherwise, we and our lives, which are represented by the ship, will be blown here and there, and torn asunder by the waves, showing how our lives will be ruined and our purpose in life corrupted by the lack of a strong and living faith.

In all this, God is around, and He is there for us. But often that we do not believe that He is there for us. That is perfectly represented as well, when Jesus appeared on the waters and the disciples were gripped with fear, thinking that He was a ghost, utterly filled with disbelief and doubt that Jesus could be there, and right there for them and to help them.

It is much too often that we are filled to the brim with despair, fear and concerns for ourselves, that first we failed to notice the love that God has for us, thinking that we had been abandoned, and we also often fail to notice the difficulties and challenges that our brothers and sisters around us are facing, for we are too preoccupied with our own selves. Then that is also why we often cry out to God why our lives are unfair, while we actually failed to realise the truth.

We need to be able to discern and learn to get rid of the distractions and lies that prevented us from seeing the Lord at work in our lives, and that was what was shown in the first reading today. Elijah was able to see that God is not in things in mighty and great beyond our reach, just as He was not in the windstorm, fire or earthquakes, but instead in the gentle breeze showing His care and love for us.

If we are able to pierce through the layers of bias, prejudice, fear, desire, and other things that prevented us from truly understanding God’s love, we will then be able to feel the real and holy Presence of our Lord with us. We will then realise that our Lord and God is there for us, and He is always with us especially when we are in difficulties and challenging times. He never left our side. It is we who had voluntarily left Him behind for other things, and for Satan.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to admit that our faith is often weak and shaky, and the foundation of our faith is not strong, and when challenges and difficulties come our way, we often act like Peter, who doubted the Lord and His providence and ended up sinking when he walked on the water. Our faith can often be challenged and be negatively affected by the fears and concerns that we have in our hearts.

That is why we have to learn to trust in our Lord, and know that He is there for us when we need Him. He gives us many chances and opportunities, as well as help along the way in various means. What is important that, if we are in trouble, He is there for us, giving us help, and often we do not realise this fact. When Peter wavered in his faith and was sinking, what did Jesus do? Precisely, He stretched out His hands immediately to help Peter out and pull him out to safety.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use the opportunities given to us in order to reflect and come to a greater realisation that we have been blessed with a loving and caring God who is utterly concerned about our fate and about every single thing that we do in this life of ours. Let us all be no longer ignorant of God’s love, and instead let us make the conscious effort to strengthen our faith.

This boat that is our life will always be rocked by strong waves and winds, that represent the temptations of sin and evil, and all the forces that the devil has assembled in order to bring us and drag us into hell and suffering with him. Shall we follow him into destruction? No, we should not. We should not let this good-for-nothing fallen angel and wrecker of lives and souls from messing with our destiny. We have to reject him, rebuke him and cast him out of our lives in perfect totality.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be courageous in our lives that our faith may be ever more solid and strong, and be able to resist the temptations of the evil one at any turns in our lives. May Almighty God continue to love us, bless us, and grant us with His grace and abundant blessings. Amen.

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Saturday, 9 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Jesus reminded us in the Gospel that we all ought to have faith in us, and not just any faith but genuine faith that is truly real, solid and concrete, and not just a lip service or superficial faith. And Jesus also told us that what matters is whether we have that faith, no matter how small or insignificant it is compared to others, but what matters is how we use that faith and grow that faith that we may become stronger and more devoted to God.

It is important that our faith must be cultivated and strengthened, through the active implementation of the Lord’s teachings that we had received through the Church of God. This is linked to the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the sower, where even a small seed if grown strong and healthy will eventually become a large and towering tree with plenty of branches with solid roots that will stand against any storms and strong and healthy lives that will impress all who see it.

Thus, our faith too must be like that, strong as a solid rock, immoveable despite all the attempts of the evil one to undermine our faith, and it must also be visible for all to see, not in order to satisfy our human ego and desires, but rather to bring even more people closer to God through faith and through love. In this manner, we can become a role model for many through our words, deeds and actions.

And today we celebrate a saint whose life and actions represented just all that, a true example for others who see her. This saint is St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, a name which the saint took when she entered religious profession, and she was also well known as St. Edith Stein, a German Jew convert to the faith who endured great sufferings as part of the genocide against the Jews by Adolf Hitler during the holocaust, and who was eventually martyred for her faith.

St. Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family, keeping the old Jewish faith in a strongly religious environment. However, although St. Edith Stein admired her mother’s great piety, she herself became an unbeliever in her adolescent and early adult years, pursuing higher studies and intellectual pursuits to eventually become a philosopher and educator.

However, after learning the truth about the Lord in the faith, and after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, St. Edith Stein went through a complete transformation and change in her self, and she chose to follow the Lord and be baptised into the Church. Thereafter, St. Edith Stein continued teaching, but focusing more on teaching the faith and producing many great writings and works on the faith.

St. Edith Stein openly and vocally condemned and opposed the increasingly violent and intolerant treatment of the Jews by the rising NAZI party under Adolf Hitler in Germany, and she spoke openly against the vile treatments they had received, having been born as the descendant of Jacob herself. She entered the convent and took up the religious habit, taking up the name of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, enduring one difficulty after another having to escape persecution by the NAZIs before eventually arrested and put to death with many other faithful ones in a gas chamber.

Thus died a great martyr of the faith who stood up courageously for her faith, and whose faith was indeed both strong and evident for all to see. Her faith was strong and despite difficulties and challenges, she continued to persevere for the sake of God and for the sake of His people. Her courage to stand up for her faith, and her devotion until the end exemplified the kind of faith that we also need to have, a robust and living faith, not hidden but shared for the benefit of all.

May St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross pray for us, that our faith too may be strong and alive, that we will be able to follow her example in being faithful to the Lord. May Almighty God also bless us and keep us always in His love and grace. Amen.

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Friday, 8 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of St. Dominic, or also known by his full name of St. Dominic de Guzman, the famous founder of the Dominican order, named after him, known officially as the Order of Preachers or O.P.. The Dominican order had been renowned as a religious order that was often at the forefront of evangelisation and the spreading of the Good News, in perfect accordance to their names as the Order of Preachers.

St. Dominic himself was born in Medieval Spain, a time of much changes and difficulties, and he was a truly devoted and faithful son of the Lord, who eventually joined a holy order and devoted himself fully to God and His people. St. Dominic became a beacon of light to many of those who remain in the darkness, as had been foretold even since before his birth.

His mother, Joan of Aza, received a vision which showed a dog that carried a lit torch that spread light brightly throughout a darkened place, and little that she knew, that this vision would become a reality in her son, St. Dominic de Guzman, who through his actions, and the actions of his compatriots and successors, became a great source of light for those who still dwelled in the darkness of the world.

St. Dominic is an example to all of us, and we all should be inspired by his actions and deeds. We too should follow his footsteps in bringing many more people, our brethren closer to the Lord, just as St. Dominic himself had done before. And that was exactly what the Lord wants from us, to be wholly and completely transformed in our lives that we may glorify and proclaim Him in our actions and deeds.

In the Gospel today, Jesus told His disciples that if they want to follow Him, they need to carry their crosses and follow Him. And that is the reality of life, in which we have to face difficulties in life, if we are to follow the Lord and adhere to His will. It will be different if we choose to conform to the ways of the world, where we will be welcomed by the forces of this world and face less persecution and opposition, but at what cost? Nothing less than the fate and salvation of our very souls.

God had mentioned it clearly at the passage we heard today taken from the Book of the prophet Nahum, who wrote how God would restore those who had been faithful to Him and bless them with greatness, but for those who did not obey Him and walked the path of evil, He would cast out from His path and into the greatest darkness, into an eternal suffering that is without end.

God is merciful and loving, but only to those who repent their ways of evil and abandon their sinfulness will receive grace and eternal rest from the Lord and be saved in eternal grace. He does not desire our destruction or for us to perish as a consequence of our sins, but He gave us a freedom of choice, of whether we want to reject Satan and together then reject sin or whether we embrace sin in our actions, submitting to the temptations of Satan.

What St. Dominic did was that by preaching courageously and strongly against any forms of debauchery and corruptions of sin, he brought many people away from their sinful ways and into the kingdom of God. Many people remained in the darkness because they did not have the opportunity to hear, to see and to feel the light, which St. Dominic and his order of preachers, the Dominicans rectified by bringing the word of God and His truth closer to mankind, especially those who are in darkness.

We too have our parts to play, brothers and sisters, and that is to also bring the word of God to those around us who had fallen along the way on their way towards God and His salvation. And also to those who had yet to listen and know the truth about God, let us all bring His light unto them. This is done not just by words alone, but also through actions and deeds, that in all the things we do, we should do it according to God and His ways, and show that we truly belong to the Lord, and not to Satan and his evil forces instead.

May Almighty God therefore guide us on our ways, that we may be the bearers of the light and the truth, so that in all the things we do and we say, we may truly proclaim the Lord as our Lord and God, and rebuke Satan and his lies, designed to deter us and prevent us from ever reaching our loving God. Let us also ask for the intercession of St. Dominic, that we may be faithful and courageous in showing our faith to others just as he had once been faithful. God be with us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Xystus II/Pope St. Sixtus II, Pope and Companions, Martyrs and St. Cajetan, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear how the Lord renewed His covenant with His people, a covenant that was once broken through the disobedience of the people of God, now made anew and renewed through the offering and sacrifice of none other than the very Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom the Lord had sent into the world, so that the world may have hope again.

Yes, a hope that was once dashed, first when men first fell into sin, through the disobedience of our great ancestors, Adam and Eve, the first among mankind. Their disobedience brought men into sin, and as a result, they were cast out from the glory and joys of heaven into a world of suffering, trials and tribulations. And then, while God extended His hands to welcome them back, they refused many, many times, and in their wickedness, they suffered further.

And when He chose for Himself a people from His faithful servant Abraham, the people He had chosen and then delivered from the hands of their enemies broke their promises and devotions, even as early as when the Lord had just given them the set of Laws to be followed and to be obeyed. The people showed wickedness and acted as they liked, following their own desires rather than the way the Lord wanted them to follow.

They worshipped pagan gods, rejected God’s love, trampled on His laws, complained against His kindness, and acted all sorts of wickedness that were abhorred by God. They killed, murdered, blasphemed, fornicated themselves and sold themselves and their souls to the devil. And hence, they were scattered and crushed under the weight of their sins, suffering the consequences of their rebelliousness.

But our Lord is not such a heartless God, and in fact, so great was His mercy and love that He was willing to give mankind yet another hope and another chance. And Jesus is the One through whom God made this mercy and love evident for all to see, and in fact not just to be seen, but also to be followed. In the first reading today from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, God mentioned that He was going to make a new covenant with His people, and He did indeed.

And this covenant, unlike the previous covenants, is everlasting and will not end. Yes, it is a new and eternal covenant, which God had sealed with nothing else and nothing more precious than the offering of His own Body, and by the shedding and outpouring of His own Blood. Yes, this is the ultimate sacrifice which our Lord Jesus Christ went through during His Passion, and as He died on the cross at Calvary.

Satan definitely did not remain silent or inactive throughout all of these, as he did his best to undermine the Lord’s efforts to bring salvation to mankind by various means and yet without success. Satan tried to play and build up on men’s fears and uncertainties to carry out his devious plots and plans, and that was how he used Peter’s doubts and fears to strike at the Lord Jesus and attempted to stop His work of salvation.

But Jesus was not deterred by Satan’s works, and He rebuked this devil and cast him out of His presence. And this gave us all an example to follow, that in our lives we ought to be courageous and steadfast as well in our faith, that we would not be easily persuaded by the temptations of the evil one, and that we may faithfully walk in the way of the Lord, following the new covenant He had established with us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of two saints of the Church, the first of which is the Pope of the early Church, Pope St. Xystus II or Pope St. Sixtus II and St. Cajetan, a priest of the late Renaissance age Italy. Both of them were truly great and faithful servants of the Lord, who worked hard to advance the cause of the Lord in this world.

Pope St. Sixtus II lived during the reign of the Roman Emperor Valerian, who launched a particularly vicious opposition and persecution campaign against Christians in the Empire, and as part of that persecution, countless thousands of the faithful ones were captured and tortured, before they were martyred in the defense of their faith.

Pope St. Sixtus and other priests, deacons and many servants of the Lord were also captured and tortured for their faith, but they did not fret or be fearful. Instead, they faced suffering and death with gladness and joy, knowing that the Lord is waiting for them at the end of their suffering in order to give them the crown of everlasting glory and the reward of eternal life and salvation.

Meanwhile, St. Cajetan was an Italian priest who had a more normal life of sorts, but he had also experienced difficulties and challenges when he lost his father at a very young age of two. Nevertheless, he studied hard and eventually became a respectable priest and servant of God, well endowed with great intellect and hardworking attitude, which served him truly well during his service to the Church and God’s people.

St. Cajetan did numerous good works for the people of God, especially for those who were poor, sick and weak. He worked hard for them, and he also helped found several religious communities to bring the work of God even closer to mankind. In this, St. Cajetan showed us that, we should not fear or be worried to become a servant of the Lord, but rather we have to be courageous and defend our faith with our entire might.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, and ask the Lord to continue to guide us and bless us in this life. May Almighty God keep us forever in His love. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 August 2014 : Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a significant and very important feast day in our Church, that is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Today we celebrate the occasion when Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour was glorified on Mount Tabor, when He revealed His glory and the true nature of divinity to His disciples, the one and only time He did so before His death and resurrection.

To the disciples who witnessed it, Peter, James and John, this was truly a moment of brief showcase and foretaste of the glory of God that is to come through Jesus Christ. Yet at that time, they have yet to be able to understand what it means by the Transfiguration, and the significance of the events and the actions which Jesus took with the two great prophets of God.

The two prophets and leaders of God’s people, Moses and Elijah are the preeminent ones among many others, in that they were the chief amongst all others whom God had sent into the world in their respective missions. To Moses, whom God had appointed as the leader and guide for His people Israel, He had imparted the very Laws that He had established with mankind, the Ten Commandments and the accompanying laws and statutes as encoded in the Law of Moses.

Thus, Moses represented the Law, which God had given to mankind to guide them and govern them in their attitudes and behaviour, that they may conform more closely to the way of the Lord. Meanwhile, the prophet Elijah, whom God appointed to prophesy to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel was the greatest among the prophets, and representing the prophesies of God, which promised the people the coming of the salvation in the Messiah.

And why did both of them appear to Jesus at the Mount Tabor on the Transfiguration? That is because Jesus is the perfect fulfillment and completion of the Law and the prophecies of the prophets. He was the fulfillment of all that God had revealed to men as well as all the things unrevealed and hidden from men, perfecting and unveiling the true full meaning of the Law, and the fulfillment of the long awaited prophecies by the prophets of old.

Therefore, the two great servants of God made their appearance in what is likely to be a very significant and symbolic meaning in the history of God’s plan for the salvation of mankind, but it is most likely that they also came to give strength and support for Jesus as He embarked on the final part of His mission on this world, that is towards His suffering and death on the cross in Jerusalem, the Holy city of God.

They were there to affirm Jesus in His mission, to encourage Him and give Him support, as surely all of heaven, all the angels and the holy men and women who had departed the world at the time were all in full awareness of the supreme importance of this singular mission that Jesus Christ was about to undertake for the sake of salvation of all mankind.

Yet, indeed, the Feast of the Transfiguration also reminds all of us of an important fact, that life is not all happy and good, and neither will it be all smooth and easy. And we are bound to have to face up to the challenges in life and the difficulties that are to be part of our lives. We are like the disciples on that mountain. When Peter said to Jesus, for them to build three tents for Himself and the two great servants of God, it showed reluctance to leave all things that are good.

But God made it plain to the disciples, and showing in His majesty, He made them listen to the will of His Son, who told them to come down with Him from the mountain where He showed His glory and majesty. From then on, He walked down that mountain towards the valley of His death, the suffering and rejection in Jerusalem. But the Lord did not fear, and therefore neither should we.

This Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord therefore does not just show us the true nature of our Lord, Saviour and God, Jesus Christ, whom the prophet Daniel in the first reading had described in his vision of the things that was to come and be fulfilled in Jesus. But, as mentioned, this Feast of the Transfiguration also reminds all of us that we too should also walk the same path as Christ, and not to be afraid of facing the difficulties and challenges awaiting us if we walk the path towards God.

May our Lord continue to shine on our path, that we may continue to follow Him, taking up our own crosses, and to suffer the persecution and rejection of this world as He had once done, so that eventually in the end we will receive the crown of everlasting honour and glory, the deserved reward we should receive as part of our heavenly inheritance.

May Almighty God, Transfigured and Revealed in His glory and majesty be aith us, protect us and remain with us forever. Amen.