season of Lent

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Friday, 31 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Wisdom 2 : 1a, 12-22

Led by mistaken reasons they think, “Let us set a trap for the Righteous, for He annoys us and opposes our way of life; He reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing. He claims knowledge of God and calls Himself Son of the Lord. He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet Him is burdensome to us. He does not live like others and behaves strangely.”

“According to Him we have low standards, so He keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean. He emphasises the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as Father. Let us see the truth of what He says and find out what His end will be. If the Righteous is a Son of God, God will defend Him and deliver Him from His adversaries.”

“Let us humble and torture Him to prove His self-control and test His patience. When we have condemned Him to a shameful death, we may test His words.” This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice. They do not know the mysteries of God nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.

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Thursday, 30 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Book of Exodus, of the well known event when God was very angry against His people, the Israelites, because they have sinned against Him and disobeyed Him in the worst way possible. They carved for themselves a golden calf and chose this golden calf, the creation of the hands of man, to be their god and worshipped it.

Let us understand why God was very angry against the Israelites. Remember that God had just rescued all of His people from the hands of the Egyptians and the Pharaoh by His mighty deeds, the ten plagues that He had brought upon these people who enslaved His beloved ones. He did so many good things for them, opened the sea before them and allowed them to escape from the pursuit of their enemies and oppressors.

He fed them with manna, the bread from heaven and also with clear and sweet water, providing them with all that they needed. He made their enemies to run away in fear away from them, defeating all those who sought for the destruction of Israel. He also made a covenant with them at His holy mountain, through Moses His servant, who led all of Israel to the foot of the mountain to receive His laws and commandments.

But they were quick to disobey the Lord and be wayward. When Moses left them behind to go up the mountain and receive the Law of God, they quickly assumed that they had no God with them, and had it on themselves to make a golden calf to be god over them, following the customs of their neighbours. It is therefore no surprise that God was angry at them, because they have not appreciated the love with which God had cared for them, and betrayed Him for the pagan idols and gods.

How does all these relate to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? How are they relevant to us? All of us are sinners, brothers and sisters, and all of us have been disobedient to God in one way or another, and we have been enslaved to sin. Sin has corrupted us and crushed us under its power and influence. It was just like how the Israelites suffered under the tyranny of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.

But God loves each and every one of us, and He wants all of us to be saved and liberated from all those sins. And therefore, just as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt by the mighty hands of God, God also endeavoured to bring all of us, His beloved people, to freedom and liberation from our sins. And He had done that, by the sacrifice of His own Son, the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice, just as the Israelites ate the sacrifice of the Passover lambs on the night of their liberation from Egypt.

And thus, by the waters of our baptism, all of us who have received the Sacrament of Baptism have received the salvation from God, the liberation from our sins that we are all looking out for. And we have all been made the people of God, as the members of His Church. However, as a reminder to us, through the past example of the Israelites, if we are not careful, we may also fall into the same trap of sin as the Israelites had experienced.

That means, all of us must be vigilant and be careful lest we fall into the temptations and the obstacles which Satan and his allies had prepared before us. We have to be careful of the temptation of our human pride, thinking that it is by our own achievements and power that we have attained all the glories we have received. That is what the Israelites had done, thinking that they had no need for the Lord and instead made upon themselves and glorified the statues made of their own hands as their god.

We have to be vigilant against all the works and the temptations that the devil is placing on our path, that we do not fall into sin. Let us make use this time of Lent to reflect on our lives, and think carefully how we should proceed with our lives, judging well what we all should do, that we may turn away from our past sinfulness and embrace wholeheartedly God’s forgiveness and mercy.

God may indeed be angry at our sins and our disobedience, for He hates all forms of sin that is disobedience and wickedness in His sight. However, at the same time, He also loves each and every one of us, all those whom He had created with love, and to whom He had granted life and grace. He wants to forgive us our sins, but are we responding to His merciful love? Are we open to God’s mercy working its power in our hearts, bodies and minds?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all recommit ourselves to God and to His ways from now on if we have not done so. Let us all appreciate the love that God has for each one of us, and let us no longer disobey Him, but learn to put our complete trust in Him and help one another to remain true and faithful to our God. May God bless us all, and help us to draw closer to Him, especially during this penitential season of Lent. Amen.

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Thursday, 30 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 5 : 31-47

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews, “If I bore witness to Myself, My testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to Me, and I know that His testimony is true when He bears witness to Me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved.”

“John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John – the works which the Father entrusted to Me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness : The Father has sent Me. Thus He Who bears witness to Me is the Father Who sent Me. You have never heard His voice and have never seen His likeness; therefore, as long as you do not believe His messenger, His word is not in you.”

“You search in the Scriptures, thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to Me. But you refuse to come to Me, that you may live. I am not seeking human praise; but I have known that love of God is not within you, for I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not accept Me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. As long as you seek praise from one another, instead of seeking the glory which comes from the only God, how can you believe?”

“Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself, in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

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Thursday, 30 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 105 : 19-20, 21-22, 23

They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.

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Thursday, 30 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Exodus 32 : 7-14

Then YHVH said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a molten calf; they have bowed down before it and sacrificed to it and said : ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.'”

And YHVH said to Moses, “I see that these people are a stiff-necked people. Now just leave Me that My anger may blaze against them. I will destroy them, but of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses calmed the anger of YHVH, his God, and said, “Why, o YHVH, should Your anger burst against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with a mighty hand?”

“Let not the Egyptians say : ‘YHVH brought them out with evil intent, for He wanted to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth.’ Turn away from the heat of Your anger and do not bring disaster on Your people. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the promise You Yourself swore : I will multiply Your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land I spoke about I will give to them as an everlasting inheritance.”

YHVH then changed His mind and would not yet harm His people.

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Wednesday, 29 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we quickly approach the coming of the Holy Week and the end of the season of Lent, we are all reminded of the very purpose of our preparation and all of our penance in this time of Lent, and that is for us to remember that we are expecting the coming of the Lord and the fulfilment of His promise to all of us mankind, that He will rescue us from our troubles and difficulties, and from all the challenges and sufferings we have had to endure.

All of us have lived in the darkness, separated from the love and grace of God because of our sins. We have lost our way and became stranded in the darkness, and our future had become uncertain, and what seemed to be our fate was to face judgment for our sins, and be condemned for eternity in hell with Satan and all of his fellow demons and evil spirits.

But God would not let that to happen to us, as He created all of us out of His great love, and indeed, He loves each and every one of us. And that is why He had given us the greatest help of all, in Jesus Christ, the Saviour Whom He had promised to all of us His people, just as He had promised our ancestors through the prophets and messengers He had sent into the world.

Jesus is the ultimate personification of God’s love for us, as He is the Divine Word of God Himself, God Who is Love, Who had chosen to wrap Himself and His divinity in the human flesh, and taking up our very own human nature, so that all of us may share in His humanity, and as He raises Himself up on the cross, which we commemorate on this upcoming Good Friday, He brought up upon Himself all of our shortcomings, all of our sins and mistakes, all of our imperfections and defilements, and offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice to atone for all the combined monstrosity of our sins.

That is the essence of God’s great love for us, so great that He was willing to lay down His life for us, and suffer the great and mighty burden of the cross. The cross of Christ was not just a physical burden, as the wooden cross, while heavy, it was indeed still bearable by any man. But it was the spiritual burden of the combined weight of our sins that bore down on Christ and press down on His shoulders, and He endured all of that on the long journey from Jerusalem to Calvary.

And that is what we all need to remember every time we are contemplating and thinking of doing something that we know is wicked and inappropriate in accordance with the Lord and His ways. Every time we want to disobey God and turn against Him, even in the smallest of things, we have committed sin against Him, and we are adding to the burden that had been placed on our Lord.

Yet, the Lord took up His cross without complaints, and He persevered on, step after step, moving on towards His death at Calvary, with great and unquenchable love in His heart, knowing that all of us have been misguided by sin, and all of us are in need of redemption and liberation from those sins. This is what we need to know, brothers and sisters in Christ, the love which God has for us, and the mercy pouring forth freely from His most merciful and loving heart.

Nonetheless, whether this mercy has any effect on us depends entirely on our willing and conscious acceptance of His mercy. God freely and willingly gives us His mercy and forgiveness, and indeed, He wants us to be forgiven and to be freed from those sins that had corrupted us. However, if we ourselves are the ones who object to be forgiven and refuse the mercy He has shown us, and continue in our sinful ways, how can we then be forgiven?

That is why, in this season of Lent, all of us must devote ourselves to change our ways, to turn our back against those wicked and mistaken paths we have once taken in life, and commit ourselves to a new life blessed by God, by doing what is right and just in God’s presence, and also by helping all those who are struggling with their faith, all those who have turned away from God’s ways and continued to live in a state of sin.

Let us all show by our examples, by our loving actions and deeds, by our compassion and patience, by our virtues, justice and righteousness, that we belong to the Lord, and show our brethren the path for them to reach out to the Lord, their loving God. May this time of Lent be the time for reconciliation and mercy, that all of us may draw ever closer to God, to His love, and be worthy of His mercy and compassion. May God be with us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 29 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
John 5 : 17-30

At that time, Jesus replied to the Jews, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” And the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made Himself equal with God, calling God His own Father.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by Himself, but only what He sees the Father do. And whatever He does, the Son also does. The Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He does; and He will show Him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed.”

“As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom He wills. In the same way the Father judges no one, for He has entrusted all judgment to the Son, and He wants all to honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever ignores the Son, ignores as well the Father Who sent Him.”

“Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me, has eternal life; and there is no judgment for him, because he has passed from death to life. Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, on hearing it, will live. For the Father has life in Himself, and He has given to the Son also to have life in Himself. And He has empowered Him as well to carry out Judgment, for He is Son of Man.”

“Do not be surprised at this : the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear My voice and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. I can do nothing of Myself, and I need to hear Another One to judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me.”

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Wednesday, 29 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 144 : 8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18

Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

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Wednesday, 29 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 49 : 8-15

This is what YHVH says : “At a favourable time I have answered you, on the day of salvation I have been your help; I have formed you and made you to be My covenant with the people. You will restore the land, and allot its abandoned farms. You will say to the captives : Come out; and to those in darkness : Show yourselves.”

“They will feed along the road; they will find pasture on barren hills. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the scorching wind or the sun beat upon them; for He Who has mercy on them will guide them and lead them to springs of water. I will turn all My mountains into roads and raise up My highways. See, they come from afar, some from the north and west, others from the land of Sinim.”

Sing, o heavens and rejoice, o earth; break forth into song, o mountains : for YHVH has comforted His people and taken pity on those who are afflicted. But Zion said : “YHVH has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you.

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Tuesday, 28 March 2017 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the healing which our Lord Jesus gave to the man who had been paralysed and who was unable to move for many years, no less than thirty-eight years according to the Gospel. In the first reading, from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard about the vision which the prophet Ezekiel received on the great Temple of God in heaven, and how water streamed out of the Temple of God, giving life to all that the water passed through.

He saw how water flowed out of the great Temple of God, a great stream of water without end, which gives life and healing to all the fruits and trees that grew on the side of the stream. We know water is an essential part of life, without which we cannot survive and live. And in the Gospel today, water has an additional purpose, that is for healing, through the pool of Bethzatha, where the sick all assembled hoping to receive healing by touching the water that had been touched by the Angel of God.

No one helped out the paralytic man who had been lying there for thirty-eight years, looking for healing, because everyone else had always managed to go before him into the water and got healed instead of him. They ignored him and sought for their own healing and well-being first. That was why he continued to be there, and yet he never lost hope and waited for the time when he would receive healing and be rid of his ailment.

All those people who laid at the pool of Bethzatha, with ailments, sicknesses and diseases, all hoping to receive healing through the pool’s water, are in fact representative of all of us, brothers and sisters. Through sin, all of us have been defiled, corrupted and made sick in our souls, in our hearts, minds and also our bodies. We have been made unworthy to be in the presence of our loving God, as we are wicked and sinful.

And thus in our hearts, we have that longing to be healed and to be made whole, and we hope in the salvation found in our God alone. And indeed, as we see in the Gospel passage today, the Lord Who loves each and every one of us wants us all to be healed, and He showed His mercy and love, exemplified by what He had done to the paralytic man.

Yet, did we all notice that He sought immediately the one who had waited there for the longest among all others? The one who had had none to help him get to the water? This is the attitude which our Lord is calling all of us Christians to emulate and follow. We are called to look after our fellow brethren, especially those who are abandoned, ignored and unloved, all those who have no one to help them, the greatest of all sinners.

God is looking for the conversion of all sinners, that everyone who have sinned may find it in their heart to look for forgiveness and grace, by their sincere repentance and desire to be forgiven. He does not want anyone to be left out just because there is no one to help them. We are the ones who have been empowered and given the opportunities to help these brethren of ours who are in need. Just as God has forgiven us our sins, He will forgive them too, if they wish to repent from their sinful ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on our lives and how we have lived through these lives we have. Have we ignored our fellow brethren and all those whom we could have helped on their journey towards the Lord? Shall we use this time of Lent to rededicate ourselves to help all those whom we have neglected and ignored? Shall we put our entire strength and effort to help all those who are in need of our love and attention?

May the Lord strengthen us all in our faith, and empower us all to be helpers and assistance to all those who are in need, that through our work together, we may be able to seek the Lord Who wants each and every one of us to be reunited and reconciled with Him, healed from all of our afflictions and sicknesses because of our sins. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.