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Thursday, 6 June 2013 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Norbert, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Mark 12 : 28b-34

A teacher of the Law came up to Jesus and asked Him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answered, “The first is : ‘Hear Israel! The Lord, our God, is One Lord; and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ And after this comes a second commandment : ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these two.”

The teacher of the Law said to Him, “Well spoken, Master; You are right when You say that He is one, and there is no other besides Him. To love Him with all our heart, with all our understanding and with all our strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves is more important than any burnt offering or sacrifice.”

Jesus approved this answer and said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions.

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Saturday, 1 June 2013 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Justin, Martyr (Psalm)

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 11

The Law of the Lord is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of the Lord is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of the Lord are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, all of them just and right.

They are more precious than gold – pure gold of a jeweller; they are much sweeter than honey which drops from the honeycomb.

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Saturday, 1 June 2013 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Justin, Martyr (First Reading)

Sirach 51 : 17-27

With her help I made progress and I will glorify Him who gives me wisdom, for I decided to put it into practice and ardently seek what is good. I shall not regret it. My soul has struggled to possess her. I have been attentive to observe the Law, and after my faults I have stretched out my hands to heaven and lamented my ignorance of her.

My love of her increased and I found her in repentance. It was through her from the beginning that I learnt to possess my heart. She will not forsake me. With my whole being I sought her; that is why I won what is best. In return for this, the Lord has given me words to praise Him.

Come near, you who are without understanding and join her school. Why do you say you are deprived of all this and that your souls are thirsty? This is what I say : ‘Buy this without money; put your neck under her yoke and let your minds receive instruction; it is very near and within your reach. See for yourselves : my toil has been slight and I found deep rest.’

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Wednesday, 29 May 2013 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to follow Christ means to suffer with Him and to carry our own crosses alongside the cross He carried on the way to Calvary. To be with Christ means to drink the same cup of suffering that He has drunk, that all of us may be saved. This cup of suffering for Christ is so great that He actually, in His agony in the garden, wanted to avoid it, but because He was perfectly obedient to His Father that He accepted that cup.

That cup of suffering, my brothers and sisters, is linked with all of us, all of us who has ever sinned and rebelled against the love of God. That cup of suffering is none other than the combined weight of our sins and those sins committed by our forefathers and our ancestors since Adam and Eve, the first to sin in this world created by God. There had been many billions if not trillions of men living and lived since creation, and you can just imagine the weight of all their sins combined together.

Sin is what has caused the wounds of Christ, and the suffering that He suffered on the way to Calvary, and on the cross itself. Yes, the cross, the physical cross is heavy, but it is nothing compared to the spiritual weight of all our sins combined, as we are truly sinful and filthy creatures who have sinned for ages since the early days of creation.

Wars, violence, hatred, prejudice, malice, and many other things that man had done in this world, that caused evil and destruction, and hurting other people and creatures, and even to the extent of causing death, has made our sins to accumulate like a mountain, and this mountain is the mountain of sin that our Lord Jesus Christ carried on His way to Calvary.

Our pride and arrogance in particular had become our greatest obstacles in achieving salvation by accepting the salvation that God has offered through Christ, His Son, whose death and resurrection had redeemed all mankind, but the gift of salvation is only ours if we truly accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Pride and arrogance, in our own powers and abilities has prevented us from accepting the truth that is in Christ, preferring to trust men over God.

That is why men has sinned so much, because we trusted ourselves more than we had trusted God. We give in easily to our basic instincts, greed, lust, pride, and so much other evils that had been within us. It is so much easier to follow the world and the devil because it seems to be a much easier and a better way! Following the Lord is never easy, brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have to strive to carry our own crosses with the Lord every day, brethren, that we too share in the suffering of Christ, and through His death, we too are dead to our past lives, and reborn in a new life with Him through His glorious resurrection. This too was what happened at our own baptism, when we are welcomed into the Church of God, either as an infant or as an adult.

Remember our own baptism, brothers and sisters, when we are truly baptised like Christ had been in the Jordan, when we are sealed in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus, the Son of God, was baptised by John in the presence of the Father in His voice, and the dove which is the Holy Spirit. When we are baptised, we belong to Christ and will no longer be separated from Him, as long as we remain faithful to His commandments and the mission that He has entrusted to all of us.

May God be with us in all our dealings and in our lives, that He will transform us into beings of love, no longer be prideful nor arrogant, and placing the love for God above any other thing, enabling us to love God with all our hearts, our minds, and our souls, placing Him above every other things. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 19 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Psalm 103 : 1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; how varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Friday, 17 May 2013 : 7th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

The Lord has set His throne in heaven; He rules, He has power everywhere. Praise the Lord, all you His angels, you mighty ones who do His bidding.

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Thursday, 16 May 2013 : 7th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 15 : 1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Keep me safe, o God, for in You I take refuge. I say to the Lord, You are my God. O Lord, my inheritance and my cup, my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.

I bless the Lord who counsels me; even at night my inmost self instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; for with Him at my right hand, I will never be shaken.

My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices; my body too will rest assured. For You will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see decay in the land of the dead.

You will show me the path of life, in Your presence the fullness of joy, at Your right hand happiness forever.

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Tuesday, 7 May 2013 : 6th Week of Easter (Psalm)

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8

I thank You, o Lord, with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your Holy Temple, and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.

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Sunday, 5 May 2013 : 6th Sunday of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, peace of Christ be with all of you. For Christ is the true peace, and the true light of the world. There is no true peace without Christ in it, since Christ is the Prince of Peace and the bringer of salvation to all creation. For in Him lies the true peace that only God can give, the peace of knowing that we are saved, and will no longer be separated from He who created us, and peace of knowing that we will live with Him in bliss and true joy for eternity.

Peace is not something to be easily found in this world today. We do not even need to refer to the true peace that only Christ can offer, but even it is difficult to achieve worldly and temporal peace in this world. Look around you, and you can easily find in any kind of situation, in any society, violence and hatred running rampant throughout, showing that we still have much to go to achieve true and lasting peace.

For since evil has entered the hearts of men since the beginning of creation, peace has been shrouded by veil of violence and hatred, and love has dissipated from mankind. It is evil and our rebellion that has veiled our hearts and darkened it against the light of God’s love and peace. We who believe and keep our faith in God has received new love and peace through Christ, and if we keep His commandments of love, we will remain always in His love.

If we remain in the love of Christ, we will receive the reward that is due to us, that is the bliss of eternal life of true joy, happiness, and love in the heavenly Jerusalem, as we had heard in the second reading from the Book of Revelation. Heavenly Jerusalem is not just a city of joy and physical happiness, as it may indeed be very beautiful and magnificent, as St. John had described it in the Book, but in fact the even greater happiness that we will receive, if we remain in God’s love, is the pure, inexplicable happiness of our soul, a spiritual joy that nothing else can replace.

For if we do what is good in the eyes of God, and follow His commandments, to love Him greater than any other things, and to love Him unconditionally with all our minds, our hearts, and our souls, and if we also love and care for our fellow men, just as we love Him and just as we love ourselves, we would gain true peace and calmness in our hearts. This is a peace that only God can give, that will remain in our hearts, forever and ever.

With God, all things are possible, and nothing is impossible. He will renew us and our spirit, that we be reborn as people of peace, of justice, and of love. But, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, those of us that believe, and indeed have received the peace and love of the Lord, will still need to be active in our world. We cannot be idle while there is still violations to peace, justice, and love in this world.

Just as St. Francis of Assisi said in his famous prayer, let us be the bringer of peace, to bring peace when there is violence, and to bring love when hatred ruins the harmony of the people of God. Let us be the harbinger of peace wherever peace had been silenced, and let us bring love where love had been snuffed out from the hearts of men. Show this world that love and peace that is of the Lord, is still the norm and let us show the power of God, against the violence and hatred of Satan.

Peace is not impossible to achieve, and with God’s help, we will surely gain it. Not even Satan can keep us away from the Lord and His everlasting peace, if we remain faithful to Him. Let us from now on, commit ourselves to peace, and love, that we become the children of peace, the children of our One, true God, who is peace and love. Work for peace, love, and harmony in our world, that everyone can also enjoy the peace that our Lord has offered, that they too eventually will believe and listen to the Word of God through Christ.

Therefore, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us renew our commitment to peace in this world, and to achieve everlasting peace both in this earth, this world, and also in the world that is to come. Let us renew our commitment to bring peace to all mankind, to let Satan has his hold over us no more, and let violence and hatred to no longer have any place in our hearts. Let God remain in our hearts, and let Him transform us into beings of light, that we will be like Him, who is peace, who is love, and who is perfect.

May God remain with us, at all times, within our hearts, and protect us, always. May all of us also remain in His love, forever and ever. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 April 2013 : 5th Sunday of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

God is love, this is the fundamental and the most basic nature of our Lord and God, my dear brothers and sisters. For love is the centre of being of our God, for His love is infinite, and in His infinite and boundless love, He willingly sacrificed Himself that all of us, unworthy and sinful mankind, may be saved from the eternal separation from Himself.

It may not be easy to see God in our daily lives today, since God is no longer walking among us, just as He did at the time of the disciples, to whom He appeared often after His resurrection. But do we then abandon God in the search of something more tangible, for something more real? That is why many of the faithful in Christ had lapsed in their faith in God, simply because they had been allured by the evil one and his myriad tools that he used to lure mankind away from God.

There are many means that the devil had used in his attempts to corrupt mankind, by offering many seemingly better alternatives to God, whom he tried to portray to many as being boring and inexistent. Instead, men loves his creations, that of worldly goods, wealth, affluence, and other false idols, solely aimed at the separation of men from God, and the ruination of Christ’ salvific mission in this world.

But Satan will never succeed, for God will ultimately triumph, and despite all the plots and the devices that Satan had used in his attempts to deceive mankind, God’s love and faith in us will be a key weapon in the fight against the devil and his fallen angels, who ceaselessly tried to divert us from the true path towards the Lord.

There are indeed many false gods and idols that our world offer us all today, my brothers and sisters, most obvious of which is money and material possessions, which many of us desire to the point of worshipping them instead of God, to whom only all honour and glory should go. Many of us are so embroiled and involved in our pursuit for success and wealth, that we forgot that the Lord is always with us. We enjoy the company of money and material goods more than we do for the Lord.

How many of us find it a great chore to just go and attend the Sunday Mass to worship our Lord? and how many of us then spend so much time in our career and our work, and in the attempt to secure more pay and more money? And even worse are those who employ underhanded and illegal means to secure these wealth and possessions, that is through corruption and nepotism, which had marred many of our high ranking politicians, businessmen, and many other people, and do not be mistaken that this happens only on the top, since corruption and all these vices also exist in the bottom rung of the society, with many of us seduced by the allure of money, and became obsessed in attaining more of it, that we forget the Lord and His love.

The Lord Himself had said, that we should not worry about our lives and what we are to have in our daily lives, since God Himself will provide all that we need, just like how He provided for the animals and other beings that He had created. For mankind, especially, there had been a blurring of distinctions between what we want, and what we truly need for our lives. Too often we seek something that we do not actually need, but out of our insatiable desire for things that we want to have.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us take a step back from our mindless pursuits of wealth, affluence, fame, and material possessions. Seek not what can bring us glory in this world, but seek for the true glory in heaven instead. How to do so? By loving one another as the Lord has loved us, just as He had commanded the apostles to do so. Love is the core tenet of our faith, since our very salvation is anchored on the great and infinite love that God has for us, that He wanted to endure death for our sake, that we may live.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive to love one another ever greater, and put love manifested in all our words, our thoughts, and our actions, that whenever we do something, or say something, or think of something, love will always form the core of our speech, our decisions, and our actions. Remember that God is love, and by doing so, we have already obeyed God’s will and commandments, allowing even others to see our actions and believe in the Lord, saving more people for Christ who died for them.

Let us pray, that we can be ever more loving and more compassionate in our society, helping those who are weakest and the least there, and reaching out to all in need, both physically and spiritually, that God’s love will be made manifest in this world, through us, and through our actions. May God bless all of us. Amen.