Scripture Reflections

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Monday, 26 May 2014 : 6th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Philip Neri, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, following the Lord means to have a profound and complete conversion of ourselves, in particular that of our hearts and minds, so that we reflect the will of God and be true children and servants of our God. The God-fearing woman from the first reading, who listened to the word of God through the Apostles and chose to give her all to God and commit herself to Him, is an example for all of us.

Through baptism she had been saved and granted great grace from God, and so we too have been saved through our baptism, and our faith. But this must be living, a living faith, as I have often mentioned. Yes, in continuation of yesterday’h catechesis, this faith must be a growing faith and inspired by the Holy Spirit. We must be fruitful, bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit with all of our actions.

Today we honour and celebrate a saint, whose life can be a great inspiration to all of us in following the Lord and in committing our lives in the service of God and our fellow men. St. Phillip Neri is this saint, a holy man and a dedicated servant of God who lived in Italy a few centuries ago, during the era of the Renaissance. St. Philip Neri took part in the great campaign and push to rediscover the passion and energy in the faith, and establish stronger faith in the people of God through his works.

St. Philip Neri worked hard for the sake of the faithful and the people of God, giving himself to a life of service, and he helped to build up a congregation of the faithful and secular peoples, to serve the Lord better, as well as to reform the Church which at that time was notorious for its worldly corruptions and wicked ways. St. Philip Neri was essential for the rejuvenation of the faith following the horrendous and disastrous so-called Protestant Reformation, which is a terrible heresy of the faith.

St. Philip Neri was utterly dedicated to his cause, and he tirelessly worked to refocus the people’s attention towards Christ, and to throw away the excesses of life which had characterised the faithful, the Church, and the society in general at that time, when material wealth and possessions became a symbol of status, privilege and discrimination between peoples, which should not have happened as we are all truly equal before the Lord.

We too have to follow in his footsteps, in keeping pure our hearts and minds, away from the corruptions of this world, that we would not walk in error or in the darkness, and risk falling into the trap the devil had set on our path. We always have to be ready and vigilant that we keep ourselves aware and alert against all these lies of the devil. Let us remain faithful to God.

Since our baptism, we have been marked and sealed with the Most Holy Name of the Holy Trinity, and we have been made children of God, and cleansed of our past injustices and past unworthiness, being made into children of the light. Our spirit therefore, had been strengthened, and is strong. But remember what Christ said at the Garden in Gethsemane just before, that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak? Yes, our flesh is weak, and our bodies and physical self are always tempted on daily basis by the devil, and we must be ever ready.

Let us all be profoundly changed in our ways of life, that in all things we may now be affirmed in the Lord and in His grace, that we may always be blessed and worthy, and when He comes again at the end of time, He may see us and find us truly worthy children of His, and reunite us with Himself. God bless us all, and be with us always. Amen.

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Saturday, 24 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of Mary Help of Christians and our Lady of Sheshan in China, World Day of Prayer for the Church in China (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great event and a great day of prayer and asking for supplication, that is for the suffering that our brethren in faith suffers even this very moment, as they had for the past decades, of the great persecution and hostility against the faith and the faithful in China. Today is the day of universal prayer, when we, as one Church of God, pray as one for the deliverance of our brethren who are daily persecuted just because they remain faithful and true to the fullness of the truth that God has revealed and kept within His Church.

Today we also commemorate, perhaps very appropriately, the feast of our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary in her aspect as the Help of Christians, as the hope for all mankind who are in the darkness of this world and under the dominion of Satan, for Mary, as the mother of Jesus our Lord and Saviour, is the vessel through whom the Lord worked His great graces and power, that led to our salvation in Jesus.

Today also we celebrate the feast of our Lady of Sheshan, who is the representation of Mary the Help of Christians, the patroness of the Basilica at Sheshan near Shanghai in China, which was famous both in China and around the world, and one of the lasting symbol of the perseverance of the faithful throughout the many decades of persecutions against the faith and the faithful ones of God.

Today’s celebration and prayerful devotion is a vivid and strong reminder to all of us, that in our world today, despite it being generally easier for us to live in the world, with all the amenities and goodness and improvements in the living quality and standards, especially for those who live in the developed countries, not everything is always good for us. Persecution against the faithful is real, even in this day, and we should never think that persecution is only a thing in the past or during the Roman times.

These days, being a faithful person is getting ever more difficult, especially because there are more and more oppositions against the faith and as mankind grew in their power and achievements, they also grew in pride, and loathed having to be ‘ordered’ around by someone whom they deem to be inexistent in their faulty and lacking sense of understanding. Mankind grew in their opposition and resistance to the love of God and His ways, preferring to follow their own ways.

That is precisely the condition of the Church besieged around the world, from the West and the developed world in general where the faith is under serious attacks from the so-called secularism and relativism, especially in terms of moral and scientific relativism, which undermined the teachings of the Church on the faith in the hearts and minds of many among the faithful, leading them to fall into corruption and trap of the evil one. Mankind misused the wisdom and intellect given to them to serve their own purposes, and this even lead to them doubting about God and thinking that He is not present, using their scientific discoveries to try and proof that in vain.

Then, there are also many oppositions and persecutions by those affected by the heresies of the faith, and by those whose eyes had been clouded by the devil and therefore unable to comprehend the truth of the Lord, which He had revealed through Jesus, and from Him, through the Church and its teachings. These persecutions occur throughout the world, and many of our brethren suffer from it. Daily, there are new persecutions everywhere in the world, that even new martyrs arise every single day.

And we come to the main point of importance for this day, that is the persecution of our brethren in faith in China, and to a lesser extent, the persecution of the faithful and mankind in general, in other Communist and authoritarian states, most notorious being the state of North Korea, which continuously and without regards to human rights and nature, punish and torture countless peoples for opposing their authorities and out of fear of losing their absolute control and power over the people.

Let me give a brief history and explanation of how the Church in China came into this sad and unfortunate state of affairs. The faith was brought to China by many missionaries of the faith centuries ago, who persevered through oppositions and persecutions. The faith grew very rapidly and soon millions of the faithful came forth in that country with the oldest civilisation in the world. They managed to reconcile their faith with their culture and all the differences between them.

As the Chinese monarchy and Empire crumbled and replaced by republican governments just over a century ago, and the people and the faith went through a difficult time, and wars and conflicts were commonplace in those turbulent years, culminating in a deadly and devastating war, between China and Japan that took the lives of millions. And yet, during those difficult times, the faith continued to grow rapidly.

But the devil certainly did not rest and he worked hard to undermine the successes that we had achieved. The Communists that first spread from Russia and then into China, brought great ruin and suffering for the faithful. They followed the godless, atheistic and anarchic teachings and ideologies of Karl Marx, or Marxism, who argued that religion is the opium of the masses that is the people, because to him religion gave people false hope. This shows how mistaken Karl Marx was and how ignorant he was in the faith, the one true and only faith.

Yet, people took the idea seriously, and as Marxist ideas propagate by rising along the line of class divide and class warfare, gaining the support of the poor supermajority, Communism became very popular and brought about great trouble for the faithful, in many parts of the world. And although persecution of this nature had ended with the inevitable fall of many Communist regimes around the world just around two decades ago, but in countries like China and North Korea, persecution continues right until today.

In China, the advent of the Communist power in there spelt trouble for the faithful and for the Church, when in 1949, the Communists won the power struggle for the ultimate power and control in China, and persecution had continued ever since in various ways and methods. For more than six decades, the faithful had been subjected to varying degrees of persecution, be it openly or subtly, and many martyr were born out of this great persecution.

The Communist and atheist government tried to control the Church by creating their own ‘official church’ which they controlled with absolute power and tyranny to partially give a facade that the government tolerated freedom of religion and faith, but in fact, until today, is greatly fearful and opposed to the Church and to the faith, rightly so because they built their authorities on the power of the devil, and with the faith, the devil shall fall, and so will those who depend on his power.

They forced the faithful to go through forced labour and intense concentration camps, through various tortures and punishments, and yet they failed miserably, as the faith will only grow ever stronger with persecutions, and they will not succeed. They acted in desperation for they fear of losing their power, but the Holy Spirit will certain not remain silent. As He had done before, He will come and then transform this world anew, and yes, transform China anew!

Brothers and sisters, let us all pray, and pray hard for the deliverance of our brethren in faith, who are persecuted and discriminated daily for their perseverance to remain faithful to the truth in the Lord. We are in this sense, very fortunate that we have such freedom to practice our faith, but again, we have to be ever vigilant, that we do not fall into the trap and temptations of Satan. Let us pray for the many missionaries who work in spreading the Good News, be it openly or clandestinely in the country of China and North Korea, and many other parts of the world that are still in darkness.

May our Lord, together with His blessed mother Mary, the help of all Christians, protect and help all those who suffer for His sake, and those who keep alive faithfully their faith and devotion to Him. May they all be safe and be blessed day after day, and may we also be inspired by their perseverance and dedication to Your Most Holy Name. Lord, bless China and her people, and may Your Name be known throughout that country, that the whole people may know You and turn to You as their Lord and Saviour. Amen!

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Friday, 23 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, continuing from yesterday’s catechesis on love and forgiveness, today’s readings continue to touch on this love that the Lord had shown us, and which we need to replicate in our lives. Love and forgiveness are easy to be mentioned and said, but indeed are difficult to carry out and implement in our lives.

The Lord Himself taught His disciples to love and how to do so. He did not just say it, but He also meant it and showed them by example. We too therefore should follow the same example as shown by the Holy Scriptures, which proved to us God and His love. Our faith must always be vibrant and living, and we have to show love in our lives to be truly faithful to God.

Yes, as I have also mentioned in the earlier catechesis this week, linked to the same issue which we read today in the first reading, on whether the Gentiles or the non-Jews must follow the laws of Moses and the entirety of the humongous Jewish restrictions, customs and rules or not to be saved, it is imperative that we see out of this, that the heart of salvation in God lies in love.

The heart of the Lord’s laws and commandments, which He had revealed to Moses is love, that is first to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and with all of our strengths, and then secondly, to love others, our fellow men, be it our parents, our families, our relatives or our friends, or acquaintances, or even strangers whom we do not know, with all of our heart and dedication as well.

We cannot ignore this basic and central tenet of our faith. If we do not love, it is just the same as that our faith is dead and useless. And if our faith is dead, then we will have no part in the Lord’s salvation. What is important is for us to ensure the worthiness and purity of our hearts, and not just of appearance and for others to see our faith superficially. If we do merely just that, that is the latter, then we are no better than the Pharisees and the elders of Israel who were only concerned about their external piety and observations.

Jesus came to straighten the message God had given to the people through Moses, which had been twisted and corrupted through centuries of faithlessness and confusion of the faithful, as they grew more and more corrupted by the world and all the temptations of the devil that were present in this world, which resulted in the excessively rigorous and strict rules and regulations that form the law of Israel at the time of Jesus, and which the Pharisees and the elders strictly reinforced.

Reinforcing a very strict and rigorous laws and regulations as the Pharisees had done is not necessarily bad, but when that very likely results in the people forgetting the true intention of the Law and even became worse than that, by committing sins due to their ignorance, this is bad, and Jesus came to change all of that. He revealed the complete truth about all things that God had planned for mankind, and He showed that all through His own love.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we progress through life, we must remember this always, that in all things, we must exhibit and show love in all our actions and deeds. We must be faithful and having a living faith founded on strong foundation of love, and we must be inclusive, seeking others and helping one another on our way towards salvation in God and His offer of everlasting life.

May God Almighty continue to sow the seeds of love within us and allow them to grow that love may prosper in mankind, and that all of us will be brought ever closer to the salvation in God. God be with us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 22 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Rita of Cascia, Religious (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the love of God is eternal, and it is non-discriminatory, for God loves all, without looking at whether we are this or that certain race or upbringing or background. He knows all of the things inside our hearts and minds, and He knows all of us perfectly, and thus to those whom He know that we are obedient and true to His will, He will grant us His love and grace.

The Apostles in the first reading, revealed to the people, how the Lord loved all without differentiating between them, and how He loved the Gentiles as much as He had loved the Jews, so long as they believe in the Lord, and trust in His ways. The Lord blesses all who put their trust in Him and walk in His ways. He shows His favour to all of them.

Brethren, this is why it is essential for us to listen to God’s will and be with Him in all our dealings and actions in the future. We must adhere to the commandments and precepts of the Lord that we may always remain in the favour of God. Focus on the obedience of our hearts and minds more than the obedience of our bodies. This is because as I mentioned yesterday, the purity of the heart matters much more than mere purity of the exterior.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Rita of Cascia, a holy, pious and fervent religious who was also a wife and a mother, who decided to join the consecrated life to God after the death of her husband and her sons. St. Rita of Cascia is truly an example to all peoples through her actions, as although she had a very wicked and immoral man as a husband, and enduring the torture and abuse that her husband heaped on her, she managed to convert him through her exemplary actions and deeds, which brought about a conversion in her husband into a much better man.

St. Rita of Cascia had quite a difficult life, as she lived through a period in Italy when feuds were very common among leading aristocratic families in different city-states of Italy. The feuds claimed the life of her husband, and while her husband’s family desired for revenge and they encouraged her sons to take revenge for their father, but St. Rita of Cascia tried in vain to persuade them not to do so.

She prayed to God to take her sons away rather than seeing them commit a mortal sin in their revenge and risk falling into hell. Her prayers were answered by the Lord who took them away when they died of dysentry just a year after that. In that, they were taken away to God’s presence and did not commit a sin that would have resulted in them falling into hell.

St. Rita of Cascia devoted herself to God after all that, and in her love, she united and reconciled the feuding families that had been involved in the death of her husband and many others in the city where she lived. She lived as a religious nun faithfully until the end of her life on earth. She received in a vision, the mystical and spiritual wound of Christ, the stigmata of our Lord Jesus Christ, on her forehead, at the site where the Lord wore His crown of thorns during His Passion.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Rita of Cascia showed us, that we have to love, and propagate that love, and also promote forgiveness of others, especially those who had hurt us and caused troubles for us. We too should ask for forgiveness from others whom we have hurt and caused troubles for. We must not discriminate between peoples, but love all equally, for we are all children of the same God.

Let us now therefore pray, and with the intercession of St. Rita of Cascia that we may be genuinely transformed into beings of love, who follow the Lord in all His ways, seeking to love and to forgive, that we may ever bring goodness into this world. May God be with us and keep us in His grace, always. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings emphasizes on unity, that is the unity of our faith with the Lord, and in keeping a true, orthodox and living faith. Jesus our Lord symbolised this with the likeness and parallel of the vine and its branches. Jesus spoke in this way so that His message can get through to the people, who were mostly farmers and shepherds in that time.

Jesus liked to speak in parables because He used them to help bring across His teachings, and yet some people still did not get it. Jesus as the vine is the source of all life and all things, and we are the branches. All the creations of God are the branches. If we imagine the relationship as that of a plant, God is the Creator of all, and He is like the root.

Yes, God is the root of all things, and just as a plant cannot live and survive without their roots, we cannot survive without God either, for He is the source of our lives. Remember that we were made from dust, from the earth. God breathed life into us, and His Spirit came into us and we received life and therefore we are now counted among the living.

God did these things together as One, the Holy Trinity. The Father created and willed all things into creation, and the Holy Spirit is the source of all life. But without the Son, who is the Word of God, creation would not have taken place. If we remember in the Book of Genesis, God spoke His words and things came to be. As such, it is through the Son, who is Word, that is Christ, that we were all created by the Lord.

Therefore, Christ is the vine through which the Father channels His works, power and authority to us. In this also we can see an important tenet of our faith. We believe that the Father sent the Holy Spirit through His Son, Jesus Christ, just as He said that the Father will send, through Him, the Helper or the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit to His disciples and therefore to all mankind.

Without this connection to the vine, that is Christ, we are not connected to the Father and therefore do not receive the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. If we are separated from the Lord, we will not be able to survive, and we will eventually perish. He is the One from whom all blessings and graces flow from. We have to keep this connection to the Lord at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to make sure that we keep the unity in the Church, both in love and purpose. All that we do should ultimately be aligned with that of the Lord and His precepts. We should see the example shown in the first reading to be our guide in all things. The disciples in Antioch argued on the need to follow and adhere to the complex set of laws instituted by Moses and which was greatly expanded on by the elders of Israel over many generations.

The Jews who believed in Christ, or the Jewish Christians kept all the observations of the Law as they had done before they believed in Christ. They added to their faith, the belief in Christ as the Lord and Saviour, and therefore, in a way it can be understood why they link salvation of mankind with the Law and precepts of Moses that they had kept and observed so well.

But among the Christians, in the growing faith, there are increasingly more and more those who were not of Jewish origins who followed the Lord and changed their ways to that of the Way of God. There are those who were of Greek and Roman origins, or the Gentiles, according to the Jews, who became the believers of Christ. They genuinely sought the Lord and sought to listen to God’s will, which He had revealed through Jesus, and from Him, to them through the Apostles.

The Jewish laws, if you are not familiar with it, consists of numerous rules and regulations, that apparently total about six hundred and thirteen commandments and rules, which covered very meticulously many aspects of Jewish culture and way of life. These were very distinct and different from the cultures and the habits possessed by the Romans and the Greeks.

As such, if they were to be asked to follow the way of the Jews, it would indeed bring them great troubles and difficulties, having to adjust to the incredibly different way of life, and not to point out that some of the Jewish customs were abhorred and looked down upon by the Greek-Roman civilisation at that time, especially regarding circumcision.

Hence, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why the Apostles took the fateful decision that is both wise and prudent, that what is important, as Jesus had often mentioned, is not the purity of the exterior, which most of the Jewish laws are dealing on, but instead on the purity of our interior, that is our heart and soul, which is the essence and the heart of the Law, often forgotten by those who were so set on fulfilling the laws and the rigorous enforcement of its regulations, that they forgot the true meaning of the Law.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Christopher Magallanes and his companions, who were martyrs of the faith. He was a priest in Mexico, who was very involved in missionary and evangelising work among the people, and working hard to minister to the people of God and evangelise the Good News to many native and indigenous populations, in many areas of the country. He was also a holy and dedicated parish priest.

St. Christopher Magallanes preached against rebellion and armed insurgency against the military government and dictatorship at the time, as Mexico in the early years of the twentieth century was in great turmoil and conflict between the government and its people, resulting in numerous rebellions and uprisings. However, the government mistakenly accused St. Christopher Magallanes and some other priests and people of God of inciting and supporting the rebellion.

As a result, St. Christopher Magallanes was martyred with his companions, and they together represented the beginning of difficult times for the Church in Mexico, as anti-clergy and anti-Church opinions and attitudes in the government expanded to reach a boiling point. They were raised to the altar and now venerated as saints for their preaching of the truth of God and dedication to that truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all have to follow in their examples, as they put their trust in God and draw their strength from Him, just like branches that are attached firmly to the stem and to the roots. They also did not discriminate between peoples, and as St. Christopher Magallanes had done, he persevered to bring the Good News and the word of God to the indigenous peoples of Mexico yet untouched by the light of Christ.

Therefore, let us all pray, that we may ever be strong in faith and never be separated from Christ, and may our actions, words and deeds are all according to the Lord and His way, and let us never divide or judge, but instead helping each other to reach closer to God, supporting one another as equal children of God, same before the eyes of the Lord. Amen.

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Tuesday, 20 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how the Apostles continued to carry on the mission they had been entrusted with, and brought the Word of God to many peoples, bringing them closer and closer to the salvation in God. The Apostles and their disciples went to spread the Good News to many people, some of whom accepted them and the message they brought to them, while some were reluctant and doubtful while others rejected them outright.

That what the Apostles were doing, and in their hard toils, they managed to convert many to the faith and in the process. The Apostles went around to many places, around the Eastern Mediterranean seaboard, facing tough challenges in order to evangelise the people. They spread the Good News about the Lord and Christ who has died for us and was risen in glory, and whose peace and love, He wanted to share with all the nations.

Not all the people were receptive to this revelation though, because many would prefer to remain in the darkness of ignorance and sin, die to various reasons, mainly because they cannot part with the goodness and all the pleasures that this world can offer, although by indulging in these they risk corruption with sin and hence damnation.

In this world, it is increasingly becoming more and more commercialised and materialistic, to the point that many pursue their career and work, that they can gain more prosperity and more financial strength, or simply more money. This world offers so much good things to us, that we end up being bought over, and our attitudes and lifestyles change.

We have not been able to keep our faith strong because of all these temptations, which are ever present and keep us separated from the Lord and His love. This world is ever moving towards the tendency to drift away from God and indulge in oneself, that is in pleasures of the flesh and goodness of the world. Gluttony, desire and greed are common problems and weaknesses that mankind has.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bernardine of Siena, a humble and holy man, who was a priest and a Franciscan missionary, who was well known as the Apostle of Italy during his time, because of his hard works and dedication to eliminate evil and vices in the society that prevented mankind from seeking and be reunited with God.

St. Bernardine of Siena was well-known for his preaching and evangelisation works. He worked hard to spread the Gospel and explain the message of the Good News to the people of God, and calling on them to repent for their sins and unworthy behaviour. He was persuasive and yet rich of love and mercy, and his sermons and exhortations never failed to inspire the people and made many convert to the true faith and keep their lives free from sin.

St. Bernardine of Siena was particularly known for his attack on the excesses of life, where he encouraged the people to cast down and throw away those excesses into a bonfire. In that way, he encouraged the people to turn their back to the excesses and the corruptions promoted by the world, which are not different in form, even in this modern day. Yes, to turn their back on these excesses and impurities and seek the Lord with all of their heart.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, following the example and heeding the call of St. Bernardine of Siena, let us all resolve in changing our ways, that we no longer seek what is vain and corrupting, namely the pleasures of the flesh and the decadent and opulent lifestyle as promoted by the world. Especially for us who live in prosperous and developed countries, it is easy for us to fall into the temptation of possession and material wealth.

Instead, let us resolve to seek the Lord with all of our might, and commit ourselves completely and entirely to Him. How do we do that, brethren? We should be charitable in all of our actions, that in all things, we bring good to others and dedicate ourselves to make better the life of others. Shall we do this, and follow the Lord and St. Bernardine of Siena in their way? Let us cast away the old life of vice and excesses, and embrace the new life based on love.

May God be with us and guide us on our way, and may He bless us ever more with His love, and therefore grant us His light to light our path. Amen.

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Monday, 19 May 2014 : 5th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, to all of us had been revealed the truth, that is there is one God, and that God who is all-powerful and mighty, had come into the world, in the person of Jesus Christ, who walked on this earth, and who performed great miracles from the power of His glory. And in His Name, through the Apostles, whom He had entrusted with power and authority, great healings and miracles happened

He is the one and true God, the only God to exist and the creator of all things and all universe. But not all the peoples knew about Him, and there were indeed those who believed in things other than the truth, such as what the different peoples and different cultures believed. For example, the ancient Greek mythology with their gods and creatures which the Greeks and the Romans believed.

They believed in those gods, which represented each the different elements of nature, such as Zeus or Jupiter with lightning, Apollo and Helios with the sun, Poseidon or Neptune with the sea and the waves, and Hades or Pluto with the realm of the dead. These were powerful and the then little understood aspects and phenomena of nature which the people of the past were awed with.

They worshipped these aspects and phenomena as gods and powerful divine beings because they failed to understand that these were mere creations. The Aztecs and their sun-worship and the other traditions and nations with their various traditions including those mentioned earlier were in awe of these phenomena and often sought to placate ‘the anger of the gods’ by offering them sacrifices and worship, and in some cases, even human sacrifices.

God created all of us, but many did not realise this basic fact, and hence in their ignorance, mankind tried to do different things that stood contrary to the truth that is in God. And that was why He resolved to reveal Himself to mankind, beginning with Abraham, and through His descendants, whom He chose to be His first chosen people.

He revealed His love to them, and gave them His laws and precepts to be followed. Yet, they did not remain completely faithful, and they erred on numerous occasions. As a result, God sent numerous messengers in the prophets to remind these people of their need to obey the Lord and to turn back to His ways.

But yet they continued to refuse to listen to His words, and when He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ to be the One who would finally liberate the entire people of God from the world of darkness, they rejected Him and refused yet again to believe in His teachings and in what He had done. And that was what also happened to the two disciples, Paul and Barnabas, when they went to proclaim the Lord to the Gentiles in the Greek-speaking areas of the Roman Empire.

Because those people had long believed in the supreme power of natural phenomena that they worshipped as the gods, they naturally saw the miracles of Paul and Barnabas as the manifestation of these gods, and that was why they worshipped the two disciples, much to their dismay. That is what is meant by, even though the two disciples taught the people about the Lord, but they failed to understand and failed to open their hearts to accept the Lord into them.

Hence, brethren, this also applies to us who live in this world today. Let us not harden our hearts against the Lord, and let us not close our hearts to Him. Let God enter into our hearts and make ourselves anew. Allow God to speak to us and help us to understand His truth. Do not be indignant as those Gentiles and also the Jews had been. Allow the Lord to do His wonderful works in us. God bless us. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 May 2014 : Fifth Sunday of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, trust in the Lord and do not turn against Him, even when we are in difficulties, doubt or uncertainties. Our Lord and God is faithful and loving to us, and He desired that all of us be reunited to Him in all perfection. At the centre of our faith lies our dedication and commitment to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through whose sacrifice on the cross, we had been made whole and worthy of the Lord once again.

Today we continue to celebrate the joy of Easter, that joy of new life brought by Jesus and His resurrection from the dead, the joy that overcomes all despair and distress, and a new light that all of us who lived in darkness may see and believe. Ever since Christ died and was risen from the dead, He had brought forth a new era for the world, that is where His Church is present in this world and continuing to do the good works and missions that Christ had initiated.

In today’s first reading we read how the Apostles and the other disciples of Christ faced a problem with the distribution of goods among the faithful, for we have to be mindful that the earliest Christian communities lived in perfect harmony with one another, and as the Scriptures mentioned, they shared their goods and happiness with one another in the community.

The Apostles were the extensions of the Lord’s power and authority in this world, and there were twelve of them in number. If a parallel is to be made to the status of the Church in today’s time, they are the most senior ranking prelates and officials of the Holy Mother Church, with Peter as their leader and the head of the entire Christian communities, as Christ’s vicar in the world.

And just as today’s leaders of the Church, and the Pope, the Apostles had many responsibilities, and arguably even more responsibilities and works than what the Church leaders today have, in addition to the persecution and open opposition against the faith by the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities, which made things even more difficult for the Church at the time of the Apostles.

Therefore, what we witness today in the readings, is God loving us so much, that He inspired His Apostles to take a course of action that will expand greatly the works and acts of charity and love among His people, by appointing a new class of leaders that were meant for service to the people of God and a service that is based on the foundations of faith and love. They are the deacons, not much different from the deacons that we have today.

The deacons were meant to help with the distribution of goods to the faithful and to serve them with love, as mentioned earlier on, and originally there were seven of them. They were men filled with the Holy Spirit, and we know well of one of them, St. Stephen, the first martyr of the faith, who defended the Lord so eloquently and passionately, that all those who had not hardened their hearts would have listened and believed.

They together with the Apostles, showed to the world the love of God, which was made manifest through Jesus Christ, and it is He whom the Apostles and the disciples were proclaiming about, spreading His Good News to many peoples of many nations, saving many souls in the process, and passing down that Good News through the generations, that more souls might be saved, and indeed their good works are still continuing today, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

Nevertheless, it is indeed sad today, how vocations to the priesthood had declined precipituously, not least because of the moral and spiritual decline in the world, and in a world increasingly beset with materialism and ego-centric mentalities. It is increasingly difficult to find those with the heart and dedication to serve the Lord as the Apostles and the deacons had done. Less and less young men are joining the seminaries simply because this world offers us too much goodness for us to ignore.

Hence, brethren, let us today pray, for more vocations among the faithful, that we may see a resurgence in the number of those who accept the calling of the Lord, that more will join the holy works of grace the Apostles and the deacons had done. May the Lord bless His people and strengthen the faith in them. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not harden our hearts against the Lord and do not close the doors of our hearts against the Lord who constantly tries to seek to enter our hearts and speak to us, and do not close our ears and senses against the Lord who seeks to communicate with us, that we may not just listen to Him, but also allow ourselves to be transformed by Him into beings capable of love and goodness.

Do not be persistent in our ignorance and lack of understanding, that we do not end up like the elites among the Jews who feared that their authority and power would be undermined by Christ and hence persisted in their rejection of Jesus. Let us also not be hard at heart and mind, thinking that we know it all or have the knowledge to be able to know everything, as these are common mistakes that men tends to make and therefore bring them into the pits of damnation.

Many of the problems today lie in the arrogance and pride of mankind, who thinks that we can understand everything by ourselves and explain everything around us with the limitation of our minds and our intellect. Rather than using the gifts God had granted them with humility and passion to do things that are good and favourable in the eyes of God, we use them for various wrong and wicked reasons.

Many people today left the faith of their fathers, who had kept the faith truthfully for ages, just because they doubted the Lord and His truth, and rather than trusting in the Lord and His clear and unmistakeable revelations, mankind prefer to depend on their flawed senses and imperfect wisdom. They prefer to trust in their observations and understandings of the world, which result in their lack of faith.

Those who refuse to see the truth did so because they think that God does not exist. After all, according to them, they cannot prove using human means that He exists. It seems so because using physical means known to man, we cannot see God, we cannot listen to God’s sound, nor can we physically and directly touch Him. But why does the Faith persists so strongly then? Those people mentioned said that we are ignorant and superstitious, where in fact, they are referring to themselves when they said so.

There is one way through which mankind had been able to experience God directly and without any impediment. And that is none other than Jesus Christ, who is God, and who is Son, but who has assumed flesh and become Man, to be one of us. Those who saw Jesus, who met Jesus, who listened to Jesus and His words, and those who touched Him and had been touched by Him therefore had been in contact with the Lord Himself.

The Apostles and the many disciples of Jesus Christ who saw and witnessed all these therefore became the ones who proclaimed the truth about God and His love, and what further proof from God is necessary other than for Him to voluntarily suffer and die in place of us, on the cross, to bear the countless sins and punishments due for us? And what greater proof is necessary, other than His resurrection that brought about life and the promise of salvation to all who believe in Him?

It is sad indeed how mankind had fallen into gross indecency and ingratitude by refusing the great love, care and mercy that God had showered us with, and instead chose to persist in our rebelliousness. We cannot allow this to continue, brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, Christ died for us, and He died for us so that we may live. That is the truth, and that is our faith.

So, on this occasion, I hope and pray that our faith may be strengthened and may our souls be affirmed in the Lord, that we will not easily stumble or be persuaded to turn against the One who loves us very much that He gave Himself for our sake. And let us also pray and act such that those who refuse to believe in God and His truth, and those who adamantly closed their hearts and minds to God may see the light of truth and believe.

God be with all of His people, and may all be blessed! Amen.

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Friday, 16 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Do not worry, brothers and sisters, and that is the key message of today’s readings. And why? This is because our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God is firmly on our side, and He will not abandon us, especially not to the forces of evil. He will safeguard us, protect us, shield us, and empower us, that we all will be safe at the end of our lives, and death will not be able to claim us, and nor will Satan have any power over us.

Brethren, God had prepared the places for us, which He made known to us through Jesus, He revealed to us that so long as we believe in Him and remain on the path which He had shown us, we will be safe. And what is this way? Jesus, and none other. Remember when Christ said that He is the way the truth and the life? That is because only through Jesus we can reach out to the Father, as He is the bridge between us and the Lord.

Mankind had long been sundered from the Lord due to their rebelliousness and sin, which prevented them from ever being able to reach out to the Lord. If you recall the story of Lazarus the poor and the rich man, told by Jesus, then you will realise that when the rich man died, he begged Abraham and Lazarus to come over to hell to ease his sufferings there, but as mentioned, there exists an immense and uncrossable chasm that exists between the two, that prevented either side from going to the other side.

The same chasm therefore, also exists between us and God, and this chasm is the consequence of our sins. God did not intend for mankind to suffer all these and to bear all the punishments intended for us, for He created us in all perfection, on that day when the first of our ancestors were still pure and unblemished, when they still walked without guilt in the garden of Eden with God.

It was because of the sins of Adam the first man, and his partner and wife, Eve, the first woman, that mankind were sundered away from the Lord and His love. We were cast out of the life in bliss and eternal happiness that God had prepared for us, away from the eternal companionship with God that He had intended for us and for our ancestors.

But, as I have often mentioned, God did not give up on us. That was why He was willing even to send a part of Himself, the Word who is Son, to assume flesh and be one of us, and finally to bring all mankind back to God through His death and glorious resurrection. That is God’s love for us, and He dedicated Himself completely for our sake.

The suffering of Jesus is due to our sins, and He volunteered to take upon our sins and all of their weight, and bear them dutifully as He walked on that path to Calvary, obeying the Father in all that He did. He was lifted up between the heavens and the earth, and on the cross, He offered His life and perfect obedience in exchange for our salvation and the remission of our sins, for those who believe in Him.

In doing so, Christ became the bridge that closes the gap between the Lord and us, but the chasm continue to remain there. For as long as we sin and continue to commit things that are displeasing to God, we will not be able to cross that chasm and reach the Lord. Jesus is the only way through whom we may reach out to the Father.

Yet, it is not just as simple as that, because for us to go to the Lord through Jesus, we must follow Him in all of His ways. We cannot be half-hearted in following Jesus, or as we cross that chasm, we will falter and fall into chasm, and thus into sin and damnation. If we allow even a single laxity in our faith in Jesus our Saviour, we allow sin to make its way back into is and corrupt us once again, separating ourselves once more from the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray fervently and sincerely, that in all the things we do, we will always follow the Lord with all of our heart, without  turning left or right, and without being influenced by the various temptations and pleasures which Satan had placed on our path. Be courageous to say no to him and ignore all the offers that he made, no matter how attractive they are. Do not let him distract us and make us fall on our way to the Lord.

May the Lord strengthen our faith, that He may make our faith in Jesus stronger, that we will cling closely unto Him and put in Him all of our trust. Let us never again be separated from God, and let us continue to walk faithfully with Him towards the Lord our loving God. Amen.