spiritual warfare

by

Monday, 2 October 2017 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 90 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 10-11

You, who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to YHVH, “My Stronghold, my Refuge, my God in Whom I trust!”

He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and give you refuge under His wings.

You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrows that fly by day, nor the pestilence that stalks by night, and the plague that destroys at noonday.

No harm will come upon you; no disaster will draw near your home. For He will command His Angels to guard you in all your ways.

by

Monday, 2 October 2017 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Exodus 23 : 20-23

See, I am sending an Angel before you to keep you safe on the way and bring you to the place I have made ready. Be on your guard in his presence and listen to him; do not resist him for he will not pardon your wrongdoing, for My Name is in him.

If you listen to him and do what I say, I will be the enemy to your enemies and the opponent of your opponents. My Angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; all these I will destroy.

by

Friday, 29 September 2017 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Daniel 7 : 9-10, 13-14

I looked and saw the following : Some thrones were set in place and One of Great Age took His seat. His robe was white, as snow, His hair, white as washed wool. His throne was flames of fire with wheels of blazing fire. A river of fire sprang forth and flowed before Him. Thousands upon thousands served Him and a countless multitude stood before Him.

Those in the tribunal took their seats and opened the book. I continued watching the nocturnal vision : One like a Son of Man came on the clouds of heaven. He faced the One of Great Age and was brought into His presence. Dominion, honour and kingship were given Him, and all the peoples and nations of every language served Him. His dominion is eternal and shall never pass away; His kingdom will never be destroyed.

Alternative reading

Revelations 12 : 7-12a

War broke out in heaven, with Michael and his Angels battling with the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated, and lost their place in heaven. The great dragon, the ancient serpent, known as the devil, or Satan, seducer of the whole world, was thrown out. He was hurled down to earth, together with his angels.

Then, I heard a loud voice from heaven : Now has salvation come, with the power and the kingdom of our God, and the rule of His Anointed. For our brothers’ accuser has been cast out, who accused them night and day, before God. They conquered him, by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, for they gave up their lives, going to death.

Rejoice, therefore, o you heavens, and you who dwell in them.

by

Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God in the Sacred Scriptures which spoke to us about the faith which all of us have to have in the Lord as His people. This is shown in the first reading, taken from the Book of the prophet Habakkuk, when the prophet in his anguish cried out to the Lord, asking Him why He had not moved His hands in order to help the people who have suffered from the persecutions and troubles in the world.

This is a common form of doubt, which we mankind often uttered in our anguish, in our moments of difficulty and suffering, as we thought that God had turned a blind eye to our sufferings and therefore did not care about us. Worse still, some and indeed quite a few among us used this to justify for their reason of abandoning the faith in God, and thinking that God does not exist. This is all in fact, what happened when we mankind try to think of the Lord in terms of human understanding.

It is often that we do not realise just how much God takes part in our own lives in His own mysterious ways, taking care of us and fulfilling our needs. We often do not realise this because firstly, we are not able to understand the way that God does things. His divine ways are often mysterious and seemingly incomprehensible to us because our human intellect and thoughts do have a limit in our ability to understand heavenly ways.

There is a story which is quite well known and is often repeated as an example to show the love which God has for each and every one of us. It might as well be a true story or adapted from one. It was told that a man was walking along the seashore with God side by side, and as they walked along that seashore, both of them left behind their footprints in the sand. There were therefore two sets of footprints, one belonging to God and the other for the man.

And then, when times went rough for the man, when difficulties and challenges came his way, he noticed that on the sand there is only one set of footprints instead of two. Then the man complained and became angry at God, whom he accused to have abandoned him when he was in his time of greatest distress and trouble. The attitude of the man in this story is no different from what we have heard from the prophet Habakkuk, and certainly not different from what we have heard in the real life. 

But God simply calmly and slowly said to him with love and concern, that when the man was having a difficult time, there was only one set of footprints because that footprints belonged to the Lord Himself, Who was carrying the man on His shoulders, helping him to shoulder and carry his own burdens. The man did not know it, but God did His works and wonders, helping the man to persevere and carry on despite the difficulties.

Thus, let us all spend some time to reflect on this, brothers and sisters in Christ? God loves us all so much, that He has given us His own Son, out of His boundless love and His never-ending desire to see us saved from harm’s way, and be liberated from our bondage to sin and to its consequence that is death. He wants us all to enjoy forever the gifts of the eternal life in bliss which He and prepared for us, and not for us to suffer damnation in hell for eternity.

He has willingly carried that burden for us, the burden and the consequences of our sins, so that by taking upon Himself our sins, we who believe in Him and put our trust in Him may die together with Him to our sins and to our past wickedness, and therefore, share also in His glorious resurrection and victory against sin and death. Just as death has no power over Him, it is therefore not going to have any power over us either.

God wants us to be well and good, and He wants us all to be saved. And to that extent, He has given us all His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit to guide us and to show us the way to reach out to Him. The Spirit that has descended down upon us Christians who believe in the Lord lives in our hearts and minds, and from there, it inflames our hearts with the strong desire to love the Lord and to follows His laws and precepts.

And today, as we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, we also remember all of our own guardian Angels, whom God had sent and stationed at our sides, protecting us from the machinations of the evil one, and reminded us from time to time whenever we are going towards the wrong path. These guardian Angels are always on the front line of the spiritual warfare raging around us which is waged for the sake of our souls.

Therefore today, first of all, let us reflect on our own lives and think of our actions. Have we been faithful to God in the way that He wanted us to? And secondly, let us all think, how have God been so kind to us in His love even when we do not realise it? How can we thank Him for His limitless and never-ending love for us? And last of all, let us all ask our guardian Angels to pray for us and to watch over us at all times, that we will not falter and be snared by the traps of the devil who desires only our ruination.

Let us all change ourselves and our ways from now on, if we have not been faithful and be thankful of God and all that He had done for us. All that He had done, He had done for our sake alone. Let us all imitate our Lord in all of our ways, so that in everything we do, we will always do them with love and compassion, showing care, concern and mercy for our fellow brethren, and devote ourselves wholly to the Lord our God. Amen.

by

Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 17 : 5-10

At that time, the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!’ And it will obey you.”

“Who among you would say to your servant, coming in from the fields after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Go ahead and have your dinner?’ No, you tell him, ‘Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterwards.'”

“Do you thank this servant for doing what you told him to do? I do not think so. And therefore, when you have done all that you have been told to do, you should say, ‘We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.'”

by

Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Timothy 1 : 6-8, 13-14

For this reason I invite you to fan into a flame the gift of God you received through the laying on of my hands. For God did not confer on us a spirit of bashfulness, but of strength, love and good judgment. Do not be ashamed of testifying to our Lord, nor of seeing me in chains. On the contrary, do your share in labouring for the Gospel with the strength of God.

Follow the pattern of the sound doctrine which you have heard from me, concerning faith and love in Christ Jesus. Keep this precious deposit with the help of the Holy Spirit Who lives within us.

by

Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged Me, and they put Me to the test.

by

Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Habakkuk 1 : 2-3 and Habakkuk 2 : 2-4

YHVH, how long will I cry for help while You pay no attention to me? I denounce the oppression and You do not save. Why do You make me see injustice? Are You pleased to look on tyranny? All I see is outrage, violence and quarrels.

Then YHVH answered me and said, “Write down the vision, inscribe it on tables so it can be easily read, since this is a vision for an appointed time; it will not fail but will be fulfilled in due time. If it delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be deferred.”

“Look : I do not look with favour on the one who gives way; the upright, on the other hand, will live by his faithfulness.”

by

Thursday, 29 September 2016 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast of the Holy Archangels, of which there are seven in the holy presence of God, the greatest of all of God’s Angels, the servants whom He sent into the world to carry out His will and be His agents to relate to us all His beloved creation, mankind, who had fallen on our way and were lost to Him.

And among these seven Archangels, three of them were named in the Sacred Scriptures. Michael, the Prince and leader of the Heavenly Host, the leader of the armies of Heaven was one of them, who appeared to Joshua when he was about to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. He was sent to Joshua to bring God’s assurance to the people that He was with them and He would guide their path.

And we also heard Michael as the leader of the Heavenly hosts who resisted Satan and his rebel angels, he who was once Lucifer, the greatest and brightest of the Angels created by God, but by whose pride, ambition and haughtiness had fallen into disgrace and rebellion against God. It was told that Michael was chosen by God to lead His faithful Angels against the forces of darkness and end Satan’s hubris of taking over the Throne of Heaven.

The name of Michael meant ‘Who is like God?’ and that very name is a rebuke towards Lucifer, Satan, who in his pride thought that he could rival God in terms of power and majesty while he was a mere creation, as mighty and great as he was. It was told that he trembled in the presence of God, awed by the greatness and the majesty of God. And thus, it was how Michael was chosen to lead the entire host of Heaven, not because of pride and greatness, but because of his devotion and commitment to God.

Meanwhile, the Archangel Gabriel was the bearer of the Good News to Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, proclaiming to her that the Messiah and Saviour of the world would come through her, and she would become the Mother of the Saviour, and as He is the Son of God, she would therefore be also the Mother of God, a privilege accorded to no one else among us mankind.

It was told that the Archangel Gabriel was a great warrior of God among His Angels, and He came to bear news of war and bad tidings of conflict and destruction. But rightly, when the Archangel appeared to Mary, what seemed to us to be good tidings and joyful news, to the devil and all of his forces, that news came like a death knell and a pronouncement of ultimate judgment, for they know that their time was up.

And last of all, the Archangel Raphael was the one who appeared to the distressed Tobit and his son, Tobias, both of whom had troubles in their lives. Tobit and his family was an exile in the land of the Assyrians, and troubles often came for him and his family. And one day he was blinded because bird’s droppings entered into his eyes. Meanwhile, Tobias went to help his father by visiting his relative and found that Sara, the daughter of his father’s relative, was beset by a demon, Asmodeus.

That was when God sent His Archangel Raphael, the healer of the body and the soul, bringing about God and His healing to His beloved people. Archangel Raphael disguised himself as a young man who advised Tobias on how he could help both Sara and his father, Tobit. And eventually, the Archangel chased away the demon that troubled Sara and brought healing upon Tobit, bringing on him the blessing of God for his many years of faithful life and service.

Through these examples and stories we have heard, on how God sent His Angels and Archangels to assist mankind, as He wants us all to find our way to His salvation and therefore not be lost to damnation. The forces of the devil, and the devil himself are always out there constantly trying to lure us into the darkness, tempting us and pressurising us to follow their desires instead of obeying God.

On our side, what is it that we can do, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is our responsibility therefore to live our lives in accordance with God’s ways and listen to the advice and guidance given to us by the Holy Angels and the Archangels of God. We are always locked in this constant spiritual warfare and battles over our souls, where the Lord sends us His Angels and Archangels to guide us and to protect us from the harm intended upon us by the devil.

It is our part therefore to lead a faithful life, filled with true devotion and commitment to the Lord, sin no more, and follow wholeheartedly the whole Christian teachings which had been revealed to us through His Church. May the Lord help us in this endeavour, and may He and His holy Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and the other holy Archangels serving at His presence watch over us always. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 September 2016 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 1 : 47-51

At that time, when Jesus saw Nathanael coming, He said of him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” Nathanael asked Him, “How do You know me?” And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree, and I saw you.”

Nathanael answered, “Master, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that. Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”