Second Coming of Jesus Christ

by

Wednesday, 10 September 2014 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Gospel reading, of the content of the sermon of Jesus on a mount, also known as the Sermon on the Mount or the Beatitudes, a series of blessings for those who walk righteously in the way of the Lord and lived according to what God had asked them to, namely to bring peace and love where there is hatred and violence, and those who focused on the Lord rather than on the things of this world.

And in that also lie the curses and warnings for those who do not walk in the path of the Lord, who oppress others and those who practice wickedness in life, preferring the path of Satan and the pleasures of the world to the way of God, which for them seem to be a more difficult and less promising path, and yet that is the only path towards salvation.

St. Paul in the first reading today, in his letter addressed to the faithful and the Church in Corinth spoke about how the faithful should be maintaining whatever good things and virtues that they committed, and avoid any misfortunes, impurities and the darkness of the world that could be brought through certain actions.

No one knows the plan of the Lord and the will of God fully except the Lord Himself and to those whom He had revealed His will and plans to. And what we know of the end times when Jesus will come again in His glory, we know it from what He Himself had told the disciples, and the more detailed explanations as we heard it from the Book of the Revelations which was written by St. John the Evangelist as he received a vision of what was to come.

No one knew when and at what moment the Lord would come again. Remember that Jesus Himself mentioned that He will come again when people least expect it, like a thief entering into the house, no one knows when and how it will happen. Thus, He urged all of His disciples and all of us to be ever vigilant and to be always prepared for all eventualities.

Therefore, this was why St. Paul wrote in the way he did in his letter, as it was truly not known when the Lord would come again, and it was frequently assumed at that time, that the second coming of Jesus would be soon and immediate. Therefore, it was really not that St. Paul was opposed to marriage, or to the people walking and acting in the ways of the world, but he was truly concerned for the salvation of their souls.

All the priests and many other servants of God are also greatly concerned with the salvation of our souls, all of those who had been entrusted to them, like sheep entrusted to the care of their shepherds. But we ourselves should be concerned with our own salvation, the salvation of our souls. For if we do not do something, then when the time comes suddenly, we will be found wanting, and will not have any part in God’s kingdom, condemned for eternity.

How do we do this then? How do we live our lives so that we can ensure our safety and protection from the danger of eternal damnation? None other than by following the teachings of the Lord, some examples of which are what in the Beatitudes, the blessings which Jesus pronounced for those who had committed those good deeds.

And this is not impossible for us to do. And if we do them, we are truly going to be found as worthy when the Lord comes again, and He will bless us with His grace. But if we fail to do as He said, and instead if we follow the ways of this world and immerse ourselves in corruption, then His curse will be upon us, and in the end, only suffering will await us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the message of the Beatitudes, not just to be awed by them, but that we truly listen to that message, and then practice it in our lives. We should not worry if things are not perfect as we are bound to make mistakes, but what is important is that we should do better every time, and thus we should begin from now before it is too late.

Never wait, brethren, and be ready at all times. Do not wait until it is too late for us and we regret our mistakes. May Almighty God and Lord guide us in this life, that we may find our way to Him through what He had revealed to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

by

Thursday, 28 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 24 : 42-51

Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.

Imagine a capable servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time. Fortunate indeed is that servant, whom his master will find at work when he comes. Truly I say to you, his lord will entrust that one with everything he has.

Not so with the bad servant, who thinks, ‘My master is delayed.’ And he begins to ill-treat his fellow servants, while eating and drinking with drunkards. But his master will come on the day he does not know, and at the hour he least expects. He will dismiss that servant, and deal with him as with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

by

Tuesday, 26 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Thessalonians 2 : 1-3a, 14-17

Brothers and sisters, let us speak about the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and our gathering to meet Him. Do not be easily unsettled. Do not be alarmed by what a prophet says or by any report, or by some letter said to be ours, saying the day of the Lord is at hand. Do not let yourselves be deceived in any way.

To this end He called you through the Gospel we preach, for He willed you to share the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of that, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions that we taught you by word or by letter.

May Christ Jesus our Lord who has loved us, may God our Father, who in His mercy gives us everlasting comfort and true hope, strengthen you. May He encourage your hearts and make you steadfast in every good work and word.

by

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

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 16 : 24-28

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If you want to follow Me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. For whoever chooses to save his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life for My sake will find it. What will one gain by winning the whole world if he destroys his soul? There is nothing you can give to get back your soul.”

“Know that the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with the holy angels, and He will reward each one according to his deeds. Truly, I tell you, there are some here who will not die, before they see the Son of Man coming as King.”

by

Monday, 21 July 2014 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 12 : 38-42

Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” Jesus answered them, “An evil and unfaithful people want a sign, but no sign will be given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.”

“At the judgment, the people of Nineveh will rise with this generation and condemn it, because they reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah, and here there is greater than Jonah. At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here there is greater than Solomon.”

by

Saturday, 7 June 2014 : 7th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all the faithful followers and disciples of Christ, who have been called by Him to be His servants and His messengers through many nations, and to proclaim His truths to them. But we have to also be ready of the challenges and obstacles that will be on our path to the Lord. St. Paul and the other Apostles all endured sufferings and persecutions throughout their respective ministries, and all except St. John the Evangelist, the disciple whom the Lord loved, met their end in martyrdom.

Of course this did not diminish the role of St. John the Evangelist in any way. Rather, it highlighted the role he played to be the one through whom God revealed His plans for the future, and the end of times, as written in the Book of Revelations or the Book of Apocalypse, the last book in our Scriptures. This book was written by St. John the Evangelist based on what he witnessed in the visions he received while he was exiled on the island of Patmos in Greece.

Indeed, what Jesus said in the Gospel today was not wrong, for indeed, St. John the Evangelist would live to witness the coming of Christ, the Second Coming, which we also await today. But this Second Coming of Christ which John witnessed was not the actual coming of Christ, but the vision that he received, and thus he was the first to witness the perfect fulfillment of Jesus’ Messianic mission, and the complete fulfillment of the prophecies of the prophets of old.

Yet, brethren, again if we look at the Book of Revelations and its contents, there is indeed a bleak and dark future that awaits us. It again brings us to the reality, on how Satan, our former master and dominator, and the enemy of all the faithful desires to carry out his final plan to bring about the downfall of mankind, to drag them together with him into the fate awaiting him and his fellow fallen angels, and to taste power and dominion again, even if for a while.

The world is darkening, and we all know it. Mankind grow ever more engrossed in sin and wickedness, which brought about even greater darkness. The forces of this world has already started moving against us, and we will face even greater challenges from now on. We know that the position of our Church in defending its truth and positions on the central tenets of the faith and life is getting more and more difficult, with opposition and attacks that are piled up against us. This is the work of the devil to destroy us, but we must persevere.

What is important, brothers and sisters in Christ, is that we must pray. We have to pray constantly and fervently, with heart, mind and soul focused on the Lord. In doing that, we keep ourselves strongly anchored in the Lord, and we will not be easily swayed by the forces and attacks of the devil designed to make us falter on the way towards salvation. We need to have a good and healthy prayer life, that we keep constant communication with the Lord our God.

Why so? That is because through prayer we allow ourselves to listen to God and find out what is His will and plan for us. Prayer is a two-way communication between us and God, and we should always keep it that way. For prayers that are made to be like litany of requests are meaningless and in fact harmful for us, as it feeds our pride and negative emotions, through which the devil may attack us. The Lord loves us and He knows what we need, and hence, there is absolutely no need for us to demand from Him anything. Rather, let us instead spend precious and meaningful time with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us from today onwards change our way of life, that we become more profoundly and strongly anchored to God, so that in all of our dealings, in our words, deeds and actions, we may truly reflect on our true nature, that is as the children of God. Let us increase our charity and life-giving actions, helping one another to reach the Lord our God.

May God continue to watch our steps, strengthen us in our faith, and affirm us in His everlasting love. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 7 June 2014 : 7th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 21 : 20-25

Peter looked back and saw that the disciple Jesus loved was following as well, the one who had reclined close to Jesus at the supper, and had asked Him, “Lord, who is to betray You?” On seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I come, does that concern you? Follow Me!”

Because of this the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, “He will not die,” but, “Suppose I want him to remain until I come.”

It is this disciple who testifies about the things he has written here, and we know that his testimony is true. But Jesus did many other things; if all were written down, I think the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

by

Monday, 13 January 2014 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we begin with the catechesis on the story of the prophet Samuel, one of the great prophet of the Old Testament, who was presented to the Lord by his parents, as the gratitude for the fulfillment of God’s love to a barren woman, Hannah, the mother of Samuel. From him would come the first two kings of Israel, namely Saul and David, the great king.

There were actually lots of similarities between the case of Samuel with that of the life of Jesus. Samuel was born from a woman who had not been able to conceive while the other wife of her husband conceived many children. Meanwhile John the Baptist, the herald of the coming of the Messiah, was born after his parents had not been able to conceive a child for many years, and were born only when they were already very old.

Samuel marked the transition period between the judges of Israel and the kings of Israel, while John the Baptist marked the period just before the coming of the Lord, the Messiah, to be the king among His people. Jesus Christ was also the descendant of David, the long awaited and prophesied descendant who would inherit the kingdom given to David the king, and rule it for eternity.

Samuel came to a people who had often forgotten about the Lord their God who saved them from suffering in slavery, and who liberated them with great might. They followed the wicked ways of their neighbours and the people who lived around them, worshipping their idols and false gods, and following their wicked customs inappropriate for the people of God.

Samuel came and made correct the attitude of the people, calling them to repent and follow the will and the laws of God, that they would once again become God’s righteous people. The same happened to John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way for the coming of Christ the Lord. John came to a people who outwardly might seem to be devout and law-abiding, but inside, they have no God or the love for God inside them.

Samuel and John came with the same purpose, that is to open the way for the Lord into the hearts of His people, that the people who had forgotten God’s love could once again enter the heart of His people. They called the people to repent from their sinful ways and once again turned their hearts towards God. Once they have done their duties, they stepped aside for the new era of glory, that is the new king to be the head of all the people, first in Saul and then David, and for John, the coming of the One True King Himself, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Let us then focus on Jesus, who came and called His first disciples in today’s Gospel. He called them, poor fishermen at the lake of Galilee. They were called, that they would no longer to fish for fishes to sell, but instead fish out for mankind, to be the fishers of men, especially those who have been lost to God, that they all may once again be reunited with their loving God through Jesus His Son.

These were to be His Apostles, the chosen ones among His first disciples, who followed Him and listened to His teachings, and to whom He revealed the greater part of the mystery of God and the plan of salvation that God had prepared in Jesus. Then, they were sent off to help with the ministry of Jesus as He went around proclaiming the Good News and the kingdom of God, performing healing and miracles as they went.

After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus to assume His position of power in heaven, they were sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and since then they and their successors went around the world, proclaiming the faith and the truth that is in Jesus, Son of God and Saviour of the world. Even until today, the Church which Christ Himself had established in this world continue to speak out for Him and proclaim His words to all.

Why are all these so important, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because our Lord will come again as He had promised, that at the end of time, He will once again descend from heaven, this time as a mighty and conquering King, who will rule over all those who remain faithful to Him, while those who reject Him will be cast away into eternal damnation and suffering.

The prophets Samuel and John the Baptist, as well as the Apostles and disciples of Christ essentially all did the same thing, that is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, the Good News and hope in the Messiah and Lord, who will come and save His people. From time to time, the Lord had continued to reveal and repeat His message and promise to us, and His servants in this world continue to proclaim that message and promise to all.

We too, brethren, have a part to play in all these. We too are called to be witnesses of God’s Good News and revelation of truth, that we who believe in Him, may also proclaim His truth to all, to everyone around us, within our own families, within our circle of friends, and within our society. We are also called to be the servant of God and spread His words to all.

Therefore, let us all do our best, to be part of God’s mission, which He had entrusted to us. We all have our part to do in this, just as John the Baptist, Samuel, the Holy Apostles and other saints of God had done their respective parts. May we therefore do our best to bring the Light of God’s salvation and the fruits of God’s word to all mankind, and to bring mankind closer to God, as fishers of men, just as the Apostles were once called. Amen.