sheep

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(Holy Thursday) Thursday, 28 March 2013 : Mass of the Lord’s Supper – Cena Domini, Holy Week (First Reading)

Exodus 12 : 1-8, 11-14

YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, “This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year. Speak to the community of Israel and say to them :

“On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a lamb for each house. If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbour, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and to what each one can eat.”

“You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs, and take some of the blood to put on the doorposts and on top of the doorframes of the houses where you eat.”

“That night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And this is how you will eat : with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily for it is a passover in honour of YHVH.”

“On that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, YHVH! The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.”

“This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honour of YHVH. It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.”

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Monday, 18 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor (Psalm)

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me, all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, as long as I live.

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Wednesday, 27 February 2013 : 2nd Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Today we again hear about the virtues of humility, and that humility is indeed not the symbol of humiliation, but rather, the symbol of internal strength and justification before God. We also listen today that as the ones who are faithful to the Lord and to His message, life will not be easy for many of us, as the world who hates Christ and His truth, the evil one who hates Him, will definitely also hate all of us, who believe in Him.

Then, through humility, we learn the value of service, to serve one another, following the example of Christ who led by example, the very example of His own life, that ended with His sacrifice on the cross, His ultimate service to all of us. He taught us that to be a leader, we have to render service to others, and ultimately to be responsible for the people entrusted to us. Such is Christ as the Good Shepherd showed His example to us, as a good shepherd lay down his life for his sheep. So too a leader must lay down his ego, and strive to work for the good of the people that he is the leader of.

It is always difficult to do good, to do charitable and loving acts in this world, as there will be many who will not be pleased at such acts, and there will be many who are against the Lord and His ways. But we have to persevere to do so, for the good of the people around us, and for the world itself, even if it hates us so.

Today, in his speech at his last General Audience with the public, our beloved Pope Benedict XVI has mentioned that although he will no longer be Pope, he will never abandon the Church, but rather he will continue in prayer and therefore, as we all should know, lead us in the spiritual battle against the evil one and his mischievous ways, through prayer. For indeed, a praying retired Pope is more powerful than even when he was still active as Pope and leader of our Church. Our Pope too, imitating Christ, in his great humility, has decided to step down, and therefore allow others who are more capable to continue the good works he had started for the good of everyone, especially that of the faithful in Christ.

Our Pope mentioned that although he stepped down from the cross that he has undertaken as our leader, he remains at the foot of the cross in prayer, to support the new Pope who will bear the cross of Christ, together with all the faithful. It is a symbol indeed of great humility, which we too can follow. Remember too, Christ who is divine, but yet lowered Himself such that He was willing to die on the shameful cross, only for the symbol of that shame to be transformed into the victorious cross. We, who are to bear our own crosses with the Lord, should therefore follow in our Lord’s footsteps, to carry our crosses in humility, in order for the burdens of our crosses to be transformed too, into the victorious cross.

But, we are not in this alone, for God walks with us, He who suffered through mockery, humiliation, and death for us. And remember too that all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ, walk together this path of faith, towards the Lord. The path will not be easy, and many challenges would await us, but if we stay faithful in Christ, and believe in one another, and most importantly help one another in our journey, and keep love at the centre of our being, we will prevail. The Lord too would not have prevailed, had He not, out of His infinite love for all of us, willing to continue, bearing the weight of all of our sins, through falling and rising, and through curses and lashes, towards Calvary, and from there towards salvation of all mankind.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us pray for ourselves, pray for one another, and also pray for our Pope, that together, despite all the sufferings and the obstacles laid in our path towards God, that we can stay together, help one another, and shoulder our crosses, that when the time comes, our burden and our shame will be transformed to that of the victorious cross of Christ, the symbol of salvation. Let us pray too that all of us will be able to embark on missions to reach out to others around us, to alleviate suffering from all, and to show love to all those whom we meet, even to those who hates us and wish for our destruction.

God bless us all, God bless His Holy Church, and God bless our Pope, Benedict XVI. Amen!

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Monday, 18 February 2013 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 25 : 31-46

When the Son of Man comes in His glory with all His angels, He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be brought before Him, and as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will He do with them, placing the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.

The king will say to those on His right, “Come, blessed of my Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me into your house. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to see Me.”

Then the good people will ask Him, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and give You food; thirsty, and give You something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome You; or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and go to see You?” The King will answer, “Truly I say to you : whenever you did this to these little ones who are my brothers and sisters, you did it to Me.”

Then He will say to those on His left, “Go, cursed people, out of My sight into the eternal fire; which has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome Me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.”

They, too, will ask, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, thirsty, naked, or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help You?” The King will answer them, “Truly I say to you : whatever you did not do for one of these little ones, you did not do it for Me.”

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Saturday, 9 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

God, is our shepherd, and He is the good shepherd who gave none other but Himself for the sake of His sheep, all of us here in this world, past, present, and the future. We do not entrust ourselves on simply any being, but the very Son of God Himself, whose Precious Blood redeemed us from our sins. Jesus as the good shepherd laid down His life for His sheep, and it is through His obedience of the Father’s will to die on the cross, that all of us today have hope of everlasting life. Without Christ and His Sacrifice, we cannot be so sure of our victory over sin and over evil. Christ, as our shepherd, bought us with nothing else other than His Blood, precious and priceless as it is.

The duties of a shepherd are many, and these include having to feed the flock, the sheep, and to guide them to avoid predators and seek good sources of water and food, for the multitudes of sheep in the flock. Therefore, Christ too, during His ministry in this world, was overcome with the great love He has for us, since above all, He as our shepherd truly loves His sheep, and not like those who are paid to take care of the sheep, Christ, as the good shepherd stood ready to give His life up for us, that all of us will have hope, that is of eternal life in God.

In our world today, there are many forms of temptations and easily, if we do not anchor ourselves strongly in faith in God, and in God’s divine love, we can be led astray by these temptations and succumb to worldly desires, rather than following the path the Lord wants for us. In that state, we are indeed likened to sheep wandering around without a shepherd, running around randomly, just following the current and the flow of the modern society, wherever it brings us to. No, we should strive to take up a stand, in order to stand up to our faith, and give testimonies of our faith in our good shepherd, that we, the sheep, love the Lord too, just as He loves us.

God is so selfless in giving Himself up to pay for our own rebellion against Him. We, who deserved death and eternal separation from Him, were not only given another chance, but were given also the very chance to be the part of creation into which the Lord was incarnated into, as Jesus, as a part of the great effort God has undertaken for the salvation of all mankind.

Despite our rebellious nature, just like the people of Israel, whom, if we read the Old Testament, were very difficult to satisfy and always caused troubles to our Lord by their worship of foreign gods and idols, the Lord was ever-ready to welcome them back if His beloved children are truly repentant, and willing to embrace Him again in love, and this, was sealed as a new Covenant, by the Sacrifice Christ made on the Cross, that justify all of us who believed in Him.

In our own lives, all of us can become shepherds too, to one another. There are many of our dear brothers and sisters, who are still lost and did not know their way, in the darkness of the world. They have yet to receive the light of the Lord, which will illuminate their path. Let us therefore, imitate the example of Christ as the good shepherd, who brought His sheep into good and fertile places, and ensured that they all have ample to eat.

Let us share with one another, the Word of God, our spiritual food, which when shared, we too share in the Lord’s ministry as a shepherd to our fellow brethren in Christ. Support one another in faith, and in love, and do not leave anybody behind in sorrow and hopelessness. Rather, help one another in our way towards Christ, that eventually, all of us, will be reunited with God, who is our Brother, our Good Shepherd, and our loving Father at the same time.

May God bless us all in our daily lives, and give us the courage to live according to our faith, and to share God’s love with all mankind. Amen.