suffering of our Lord

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Sunday, 4 October 2015 : Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about a very clear message from the Holy Scriptures, at a very appropriate time as we as the Church are heading to a very important meeting between the bishops of the Church on the matter of the Family and Marriage, in the General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops scheduled to begin today.

It is a very clear reminder sent by the Lord to His servants in the Church, the cardinals and bishops assembled in Rome together with our Pope, that the institution of the holy matrimony or marriage, and the institution of the family are not to be tampered with or disturbed or changed in any way comprehensible. And the Church as the custodians and the Body of the faithful must preserve these institutions as far as they are able to, and support them with all of their might.

There must be no alteration or perversion to the sacred rules which had governed how the Church treat all holy marriages and union between man and woman as decreed by the Lord since the beginning of time, and which Jesus His Son had reaffirmed through His own words. Those who dare to try to alter the laws of God and the laws of the Church to suit the world and to suit their own selfish ends, will incur the wrath of God and the condemnation of hell.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is because firstly we have to realise that there have been increasingly ever greater attacks on not just our Faith and the Church, but on the very fabric and foundation that holds our faithful ones together, that is the institution of the family and by extension therefore, the institution of the holy matrimony or marriage.

Without marriage and solemn union between man and woman, there can be no family, and without family, there can be no Church, since it is through a functioning, proper and sanctified family, that new generations of the faithful can be born. These are the gifts of God, the gift of life which God has given to the union of man and woman which He had blessed.

And that is why the devil is trying to assault us all, and assault God’s Church, not only by promoting the culture of death, disrespecting life unborn and life of all people, treating unborn children as if they are not living, but he is going even further, and in trying to destroy the very foundations of our Christian communities, that is our families. Satan knows clearly that, if he can shake and weaken these foundations, he will be able to reap the fruits of his efforts, namely fallen souls which he will bring with him to hell.

This is the aim of the devil, who is always prowling about seeking souls to devour and destroy, in his hatred against God and His beloved ones, whom he would want to bring with him to his condemnation. And there are so many of his fellow fallen angels out there going about, planting the seeds of dissent and disobedience against God and His commandments, especially those relating to the sanctity of life, of holy matrimony, and of the family.

They masked their true intentions by persuading mankind to disobey the Lord in the name of free will and freedom to choose. This has been what we know as the pro-choice movement, where countless millions of life had been destroyed in the name of free choice, and then, now, even the world is trying very hard to make it the same for the institution of holy matrimony and the family, by giving alternatives, such as unnatural unions and adulterous relationships.

There are many those, even sadly within the Church who advocated accepting such perversions and such corruptions that mocked the sanctity of true marriage and true families built on the foundation of Faith. They advocated that those who have disobeyed the Lord and His laws by accepting and promoting the destruction of the families and of marriage, such as through divorce and remarriage should be given mercy and be allowed to return to the Church more easily, and be reallowed to receive the Holy Communion.

However, this is what I would call, advocating false mercy and in fact damnation to those who have sinned and disobeyed the Lord in these matters. Our world nowadays are obsessed with mercy and soft ways, and they prefer the soft application of justice and dislike punishments and harsh words, but these are simply ways for the devil to confuse us and to make us think that to sin against the Lord is acceptable, and that He will forgive us easily our sins.

But we forget the fact that just as much as God is loving and merciful, and just as much as He loves all of us, the most beloved ones of all His creations, He is also a wrathful and just God, who does not tolerate any forms of evil and sins in His presence. The devil is trying to lead us to think that God does not mind our sins, or that there is a way to be easily forgiven without repentance, or by simply fulfilling our faith obligations while continuing to live in sin.

No, that is not the way, brothers and sisters in Christ. God indeed does not hate or despise us as a person, and as someone whom He loves greatly and dearly, but He has also a great enmity against us because of our disobedience and sins. He has decreed it very clearly that He has created us man and woman, and He has created woman in the beginning from man, in order to make him complete, because she was taken from man.

This means that without the holy union between man and woman, a man is incomplete, and so is also a woman, who will also be incomplete, unless the two of them are united in the holy union blessed by God. God did not bless them to be united and then to dissolve the union later on. What Jesus had said to His disciples is true, and remains true to this day, that the holy union of matrimony is indissoluble, and no man should ever break what God had united.

God did not mince His words or being unclear or gave alternative explanations. He was truly very clear when He said the truth to His people. Moses only allowed the people of Israel to file for divorce and to break the unity of the holy union because of their stubbornness and constant bickering in disobedience against God and His laws.

These people refused to listen to God and to Moses, and they constantly wanted to follow their own ways. Therefore, in disgust and indignant moment, Moses did allow them to do such a wicked thing, but that meant that each of those who did so risk themselves in sinning against God. It was not because Moses has received God’s approval that the holiness of marriage can just be substituted with a deed of divorce.

But Jesus made it extremely clear that whoever has divorced his wife or husband when that union has been legally blessed and made one by the Lord, that is a valid Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, it is a sin against the Lord Himself. And worse still, if the person who had divorced then decide to remarry again by finding another partner, for whatever reason, it is an even greater sin against God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all use this opportunity to pray, pray hard and fervently for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be with the bishops and the cardinals, and all the participants of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that will begin today and last another two weeks. Let us pray that the devil will not be able to have his way in this holy gathering, and may all who seek the destruction of the true faith and the institution of the Family and the Holy Matrimony be condemned and be destroyed.

Let us all pray for the repentance and the turning of those who have sinned against the Lord by disregarding the holiness of life, the holiness of marriage and union between man and woman, and the holiness of the family, that they may be turned from a path of sin into the path towards redemption and salvation in God. May the Lord Almighty be with all of us, guide us and keep us in His grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 October 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the assurance of the Lord who will succour and help His people, all those who keep their faith in Him, despite even all of our wickedness and wrongdoings, all the mistakes that we had committed in this life. God has given us a new chance through Christ Jesus, His beloved Son.

In the readings today, God wants us to realise that despite all of our intellect, our wisdom and understanding, our strengths and power, there is nothing greater than the wisdom and the might of the Lord. The ancestors of the people of God, the Israelites during the time of the kings met their end because of their lack of faith, their inability to restrain their pride and greed, and they walked in the path of rebellion of Satan.

Satan was one of the greatest angels in heaven, and he was mighty and great beyond compare, but in his moments of greatness and being too obsessed with his power, he fell into wickedness, because he thought of himself as a being greater than even his own Creator and Master, that is God. He sought to have the equality with God, and even to surpass Him, in trying to usurp the throne of Heaven for himself.

But he failed to do so, and instead of rising up high, he was brought down to damnation. And when he failed, he tried to bring us down, the most beloved of God’s creations, by tempting us to disobey the Lord as well, playing with and manipulating our desires and the pride within us, by claiming that in our disobedience and in our turning inward towards our own desires, we will be able to achieve great things, such as gaining equality with God, or gaining pleasures and goodness for ourselves.

This is what we must challenge ourselves to resist, the temptation of pride and power, which had corrupted so many of those who went before us. For pride and power make us to look only at our own greatness and good things inside us, but it made us blind to the reality of our frailty and weakness. There had been so many people who fell into this trap, believing in their own greatness and power, boasting about them.

St. Paul put it very nicely in one of his letters, that if we are to boast or want to boast, let us not boast about ourselves, or bring praise upon ourselves. Instead, when we want to boast, we should boast only about the Lord our God, He who is the only One worthy of true praise and glorification. Remember that all of us are creations of our Lord and Creator, and thus, any greatness or glory we receive is truly not ours, but it belongs to the One who created us. We share in His glory and we are glad.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on our own lives. Have we been truly faithful to God, or have we been indulging in our own delusions of grandeur instead? It is in our human tendency to fall into praise for ourselves, into the fulfilment of our own selfish desires at the expense of others. There are therefore a lot of things that we need to do to resist those temptations and uphold the faith which we have in the Lord our God.

We have to learn to be humble, in being able to realise our shortcomings and inabilities, all the things that we are unable to do, and learn to trust in the Lord more, for it is truly in God that we can trust, and not in our own human power. For while the power of God is reliable and will never fail, but the power of men is just temporary and do not last, and they often fail us.

God will not disappoint us, and as long as we remain faithful to Him, we will always be blessed by His grace and love, and in the end, prosperity will never be far away from us, and our sufferings which we suffer now for being upright and just in the presence of God shall be repaid with the eternity of happiness and true joy in the presence of God. May God our Lord bless us and keep us in His grace always, and let us praise and bless His Name. Amen.

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Friday, 2 October 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Homily and Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, namely the angels which God had commissioned to be alongside each and every one of us mankind, as our guide, our protector and our intercessor before the Lord, the one who protected us from the depredation and attacks by the devil and his fellow fallen angels, the tempters.

It is in the aim of the devil to see our downfall into the temptations of the world, of the pleasures of the world and sin, just as he first tempted our very first ancestors, Adam and Eve in the Gardens of Eden. By that temptation, our first ancestors chose to listen to the words and sweet lies of the devil rather than to obey the Lord our God, and thus they were cast out of Eden because of their disobedience.

And yet God who loves us all, as He is our Father, and we are His children, has decided to continue to love us and to watch over us in this world. God sent His angels to watch over us and protect us, to keep us safe from the attacks by the devil and his angels, as all of them continue daily to attack us and hoping to drag us with them into the eternal fire and suffering of hell.

And our guardian angels are there to protect us from their attacks, and they are there to remind us whenever we stumble, by their words silently resounding deep within our hearts, competing with the words of the tempters and the devil, fighting over our souls, influencing us either to follow the Lord, in the case of our Guardian Angel, or to follow the path of sin, for the case of Satan and his tempters.

If we read the Scriptures today, we certainly should be able to see and notice how much God cares for all those who keep their faith in Him, and how God will keep them away from stumbling by sending His angels to help them. Thus, it is the same if we are faithful and continue to devote ourselves to Him. God will preserve us, protect us and keep us safe from the assaults of the evil one.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have we followed what our guardian angels had told us? Or did we rather prefer to listen to the devil and to his lies and untruths, as he had done the same to countless men and women who came before us? Shall we open wide the doors of our hearts, so that our guardian angel may come inside and reveal to us the love of God and the truth which He had conveyed through the angel?

Have we thanked our guardian angel for all that he had done for us? He never ceases to work hard in order to protect us from harm, just as our loving Father continuously show His concerns for us mankind, His children. Those who are righteous are surrounded by the angels of the Lord, who will keep us safe and protected from harm, and they guard our ways to keep us in the faith.

But even so, even if we have been faithful, we still have to be vigilant and be careful against the assaults of Satan and his allies, who constantly seeking our downfall and destruction. God does not want us to fall, and He helps us with His angels, but ultimately the choice rests on us, in our own free will to choose either to follow God or to follow the devil.

Let us therefore, on this feast day of the Holy Guardian Angels, strive to become ever better followers of our Lord, and be more faithful to Him in all actions, words and deeds. Let us not take the gift of our guardian angels for granted, but work closely together with the guardian angels, to keep our path straight and to keep us on the way to salvation.

May Almighty God who sent His angels to protect the weak and the downtrodden, to lift them out of harm’s way, keep us safe and protected from the wickedness of the evil one. May He bless us in all of our endeavours and dealings, that everything we say and do will continue to be worthy for the Lord and we may be gathered together in the most Holy Presence of our Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 1 October 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of one of the greatest saints of the Church, a holy and devoted woman whose name still inspires many of the faithful even unto this very day. She is St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as St. Therese Lisieux, a great religious and a great saint, Doctor of the Church for her many writings and contributions to the Faith, and she was made the Patroness of Christian missions throughout the world.

Who was St. Therese Lisieux? She was born from a family of devout Catholics, and Blessed Louis Martin and Blessed Marie-Azelie Guerin were her parents, who themselves are now on the path to sainthood due to their own personal piety and great examples of faith. It was in such a pious environment that St. Therese Lisieux was raised up in faith, and she became a good daughter of the Lord, and naturally, she felt the call to serve God early in her life.

St. Therese Lisieux inherited the great piety and faith of her parents, both of whom wanted to serve the people of God and the Church in a greater way, by joining congregations and reaching out to the less fortunate, but they were barred and prevented from doing so by the numerous challenges and circumstances of that time. Instead, it was through St. Therese Lisieux that their wishes were fulfilled.

She was often sickly in her youth, and she had lost her mother at a young age because of cancer. But this did not dim her desire to serve the Lord in greater capacities, and after one of her older sisters decided to join religious life, she too wanted to do the same, but was prevented from doing so due to her very young age. Nevertheless, she continued to devote herself strongly to the Lord.

And she overcame her problems and challenges at one time in her life, when she became resolved to serve the Lord and join the religious life as one of the Carmelites. Eventually she managed to get her request to join the Carmelites early, and from then on, she devoted everything to the Lord and to His people. And throughout her life from then on, she became a great source of inspiration to many people, through her works and writings, through her prayers and devotions.

She discovered the ‘little way’ which would be famously attributed to her, as the way to reach out to the Lord. In this way, she focused on the frailty and how small human beings are as compared to the greatness of God, and therefore, rather than trying to reach up high and to stumble because we are unable to perform great things that we are unable to do, then she advocated us all to follow the way of simplicity and humility, of complete surrender to the will of God.

St. Therese Lisieux in her many contributions to the Church and to the faithful people of God had brought about much goodness and brought salvation closer to many countless people and souls. This example that she has showed all of us, we should take heed of, and then we should try our best to emulate her as best as we can, so that we too can take part in the effort to bring all people and all souls closer to God’s salvation.

And this is aptly recalled in the Gospel today, where the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, who argued about who should be considered as the greater or the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus made it very clear that the path of the Lord is not that of pride and of hubris and boasting, but instead, those who lowered himself and kept his humility before the Lord would receive greatness in the presence of God.

This is exactly just as what St. Therese Lisieux proposed in her ‘little way’, that is, if we want to be greater servant of our Lord and receive greater blessing and grace from the Lord, then we should lower and humble ourselves, and not to become attached to worldly things and desires. The greater is our humility, the more we are able to realise what God wants to do with our lives, and the more we can recognise what we can contribute and do for the sake of the salvation of souls.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, by heeding the examples of St. Therese Lisieux, the Little Flower of Carmel, let us all devote ourselves ever more to the Lord our God, and let us all dedicate ourselves ever more to help all those around us who need our help, especially those who have lost their way and do not know the way to go to reach out to God and His salvation.

May Almighty God be with us always, and help us to be more like St. Therese Lisieux, in piety, devotion and deeds, so that in all the things we say and do, we may bring greater glory to God, and help mankind and more souls to attain the salvation of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 September 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings urge us to put aside all sorts of uncertainties, doubts, and undue attachments to worldly goods and pleasurable things in life, all of which are holding us back against being saved and receiving the eternal life and glory as promised by the Lord our God.

The first reading today is an account of the servant of God and prophet Nehemiah, who was a steward and servant in the house of the Emperor of Persia, living in the great and unimaginable luxury of the Imperial Palace of the vast and mighty Persian Empire. At the heart of the Empire, therefore, Nehemiah must have enjoyed such a wonderful and enjoyable life, even as a steward and servant to the Emperor.

However, God called on him to help the reconstruction and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its Temple, and for him to travel there to oversee the works involved in the restoration of the people of God and the land they dwelled in. If we look at it, certainly what God asked of him was something very difficult and demanding, and it required Nehemiah to leave behind all the good things that he had enjoyed in life, and venture to the uncertainty of the land of Judah.

Ever after the kingdom of Israel and Judah had been destroyed by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, the land which was once very prosperous and renowned under the kings David and Solomon was no longer an important place to be, and it was rather a backwater by the time of Nehemiah, and going to such a land for an extended period of time must surely be a difficult thing to do for Nehemiah, and yet, he begged the Emperor to be allowed to go, for the Lord had made him the tool to help the rebuilding of the land and to bring the people of God back to the glorious days they had missed.

In the Gospel today, we heard how Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, and to leave behind all the things they had, all the joys of the world, all their possessions, and even their relatives and their own families. He told them not to worry about many things and attachments to this world if they are willing to follow Him. This is meant to let us mankind know, that we who are often too busy worrying abut ourselves, that we can really put our trust in the Lord our God.

Many of us are too concerned about ourselves so that we are not able to truly focus on the Lord. Remember that in another parable Jesus had said about how the wicked servant used trickery to gain advantage of the situation and to safeguard himself after he was fired by his master because of his corrupt ways? That is because we cannot be master to both God and money, and thus we cannot follow both the Lord and our own desires.

If we want to be true disciples of the Lord, then we have to learn to let go of our wants, our desires, and stop our ego and pride from growing in our hearts. Let our minds not be filled with the corrupt notions of desire and greed, and let us be filled instead with the selfless love which our Lord had shown us through Jesus Christ. And Jesus had told us all, that if we want to follow Him, then we ought to take up our cross and follow Him.

What Jesus said to His disciples also did not mean that we have to literally leave our families, our possessions and everything behind as we go forth to follow Him. What He meant for us is that we all have to learn to detach ourselves from our too-easily attached attachments to things such as business, possessions, relationships that may not bring about and may not lead us to the righteousness required for God’s salvation to be ours.

It is essential that all of us take heed of what Jesus had told His disciples, which we heard today, so that we may grow less and less worried and attached to our desires and then we will be better able to follow the Lord our God with all of our heart’s strength and with all of our might. If we follow the Lord, then we all ought to be true to His words, and walk faithfully along His path.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Jerome, a great saint and Doctor of the Church, whose examples that I hope all of us can follow. St. Jerome was once a wayward man in his youth, who gave himself to debauchery and wicked was of the world, much as his contemporary, another great saint, St. Augustine of Hippo who was once also a great sinner.

St. Jerome eventually repented and left behind his life of sin, and he was truly very repentant and sorry for all the wicked things he had done, and which he atoned by many good deeds, helping to build up the foundation of the Church and spreading the Good News of the Gospel, most notably by his most renowned achievement, that is of the writing of the Latin version of the Bible, a translation from the original Greek version called the Septuagint. The Latin Bible written by St. Jerome is also known today as the Vulgate Bible.

Thus, we see how St. Jerome also left his past sinfulness and wickedness behind when he decided to dedicate himself and commit himself to the Lord. And we saw what a transformation that was, and how that transformation benefitted countless people through many generations. And we too can do the same with our own lives. If we can leave behind sin and wickedness in our lives, and resolve to never again commit sin and vile things in our words and actions, then the path forward for us is clear.

May Almighty God be with us all, guide us on our path, and help us in our transformation from a people living in darkness, into the children of the Light, whose lights are reflection of the Light of the Lord our Father, and through our light, may more and more people come closer to God’s salvation. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 September 2015 : Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a very great feast in the honour of principally the Prince of all the heavenly hosts, St. Michael the Archangel, chief of all the angels of God, defender of the faith and defender of all God’s children from Satan and his angels.

And we also celebrate the other two great Archangels mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, St. Gabriel the Archangel, the bearer of the Good News of God to Mary in Nazareth, announcing the coming of the Saviour into the world, and St. Raphael the Archangel, the one who appeared to Tobit the Israelite in his exile in Assyria, who helped both him by healing his eyesight, and by healing Sara, his daughter-in-law from the depredation of Asmodeus the devil.

The three of the great Archangels all represent who the angels are. In case we do not know, God created His angels as the stewards of all creation, as the extension of His will, His obedient servants who went forth from place to place to bring God’s goodness to all creation, especially to all of us mankind, the most special of all of God’s created ones.

They worked constantly to help all of us in the defence against Satan and all of his forces, who continually assail us from all directions, aiming at bringing about our downfall and our damnation in hell together with them. Satan was himself once a great angel of God, the greatest and most brilliant among all of them, but in his brilliance, greatness and might, he was lost in self-praise, self-aggrandisement, desire and vanity.

It was his pride that brought about his downfall, and pride is indeed the greatest and the most dangerous form of sin. From pride comes jealousy, desire, greed, hatred, anger, wrath and all other forms of sins, for it is the ego, the pride for the self that brought about all the other negative emotions and feelings, which led to much evil, sorrow and wickedness.

And thus Lucifer, the name Satan was known with before his downfall, in his great pride aspired to ascend even higher and greater, to supplant even God Himself and sit upon the throne of heaven. And we can see this in one of the Book of the Psalms, where there remained a portion of his boast, that he would place himself above the stars of heaven, the angels, and take place the throne of God.

But instead of being elevated and glorified, he was brought low, and cast down, and he was condemned together with the numerous angels who followed him into his rebellion. This was told in the Book of the Revelation or Apocalypse according to St. John. That book is a window to the future events, but at the same time also contained explanation of what happened in the past.

The great red dragon who brought down a third of the stars in heaven was Lucifer, or now known as Satan, who brought down approximately a third of the angels of heaven together with him in rebellion against God, and these became what we know now as the fallen angels. And Michael stood against the dragon, and warred with it, and the dragon was defeated. This was what happened, when St. Michael the Archangel took up the banner of the faithful angels and led them to victory against Satan and his allies.

And thus was how St. Michael the Archangel became the Prince of all the heavenly hosts of angels. St. Michael was not the greatest or the mightiest of the angels as Lucifer was, but he was chosen because apparently, when God assembled the angels before Him, St. Michael would tremble in his knees before the Lord’s presence, and He noticed that, and thus, his name was Michael, the one who trembles.

And yet, this trembling is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of total surrender and trust in the Lord, for he knows that the Lord is Almighty and great beyond compare, and as mighty as he is, he is nothing as compared to the Lord. And in his heart lies complete loyalty and trust in God, his Lord and Master. And thus, in his great humility and sense of responsibility, and in his faith, God made him to be the commander of all the angels.

From here we can see the virtue of St. Michael the Archangel, that it was not pride and ego that brought us to true greatness, but humility, that we are humble enough to admit our shortcomings and weaknesses, and seek help from those who are more capable and greater than us. St. Michael the Archangel leads the angels of God in defending us from the constant assaults of the devil, who led his own forces of the fallen angels in a constant struggle for our souls.

That is why our guardian angels are always with us and protecting us, that we will be able to guard ourselves against the fallen angels that prey upon us, the tempters who attempt to turn us away from the path of righteousness and from obedience to God, just as Satan, the first and the chief tempter, tempted our ancestors Adam and Eve, and convinced them to sin against God.

Then, as mentioned, St. Gabriel the Archangel is the other great Archangel who came to Mary on that night in Nazareth, a small town and a poor village, and he came to a simple woman, unassuming and without status, to proclaim to her and thus to all creation, of the fulfilment of the long awaited promise of salvation by the Lord, which would be made complete and perfect through Mary.

Yes, God had promised mankind since the very first moment they fell into sin, that while Satan would continue to harass them and harm them and their descendants, that is all of us, but one day deliverance would come through the Woman, and this woman is Mary, whose Son is our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world, the One who liberated us all from sin and from the tyranny of Satan.

Thus through St. Gabriel the Archangel, Satan received the announcement and proclamation of his impending ultimate and final defeat at the hands of God. That no matter whatever he is trying to do, ultimately, God shall triumph in the end, and he and his fellow fallen angels have no place in the world that is to come. That is another work of the angels of God, that besides fighting to protect us and help us from the attacks of the devil, they also deliver God’s will and messages of hope to us.

And lastly, St. Raphael the Archangel came to help Tobit and Sara when they both prayed to God for help and healing, and God heard them, sending St. Raphael the Archangel to bring about their healing. Tobit was blinded by bird droppings after he had gone out to help the unjustly punished among his people and chastised by his own relatives, friends and even his wife, while Sara had had seven husbands and every single one of them died by the works of Asmodeus the demon, servant of Satan, and she was wrongly and unjustly accused by those around her.

Through St. Raphael the Archangel and his works, he banished and crushed Asmodeus and freed Sara from the bonds of the demon by the will of God, and helped to unite her with Tobias, the son of Tobit. And then, he brought healing to the eyesight of Tobit, that he might be able to see again, and the situations which was once very dire and filled with despair, had been turned into one of joy and filled with hope once again.

Thus, the angels of God bring hope and healing to us, the hope of the Lord and the healing touch of our Lord Jesus upon us, that hope may dawn in our hearts and the love of God may fill up our heart, dispelling all forms of doubt and despair. This is important in the field of the constant daily spiritual battle for our souls, as hope gives strength to us and to the angels fighting for us, so that together we may drive away the forces of evil assailing us.

Therefore, today, let us all pray together, to the Holy Archangels of God, princes and lords of the angels and servants of God. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle and strengthen us against the attacks of Satan, the faithless servant, and cast him down from his throne, bring him low and crush him. St. Gabriel the Archangel, bring God’s Good News and messages of hope to us, that by listening to the hope which we have in the Lord, we may continue to struggle on to righteousness and justice.

St. Raphael the Archangel, help bring us God’s consolation and healing, that our troubled and wounded hearts and souls may rejoice and be renewed, that a new hope may blossom inside us, that no despair or darkness sent by Satan and his agents may deter us from our path towards salvation in God. May the Lord through His great and holy Archangels continue to protect us always. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 28 September 2015 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the Lord our God who proclaimed His salvation to the nations, to all of His people who had long been oppressed and under slavery, that by His own mighty power, He would deliver us all from our slavery, that is the slavery to sin and death. He had promised this to all of us, and fulfilled it perfectly through His Son, Jesus Christ.

As what He had said to the prophet Zechariah, which we witnessed in our first reading today, God was indeed angry against all of us His people, and He despised all of our sins and wickedness. That was why He cast all of us out of His grace and blessings through our ancestors, Adam and Eve, who was cast out of the bliss of the Gardens of Eden, and had no choice but to endure and to suffer the bitter sufferings in the world.

But it did not mean that the Lord did not care about us or that He was plotting our destruction. Certainly, it is within His power to completely obliterate us out of creation and the world had He followed only His justice. It was truly just indeed for us all to suffer destruction and death as a consequence for our sins, and we truly deserved to fall into hell for eternity, which had been prepared for Satan and his angels.

It was the love He has for us, the endless and boundless love that had prevented Him from casting us out completely, and He was willing to give us another chance. This is a privilege that He did not give even Satan, once Lucifer, who was condemned once and for all for his rebellion against God, and cast down out of heaven to the earth. It is a privilege that we have received to be able to atone for our sins and be forgiven.

And the Lord Himself proclaimed His salvation that would come where the faithful and devoted ones would receive succour and rescue from the darkness and the suffering of this world, and this was perfectly fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah, none other than the Word of God Himself, made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord. By His crucifixion, the death He suffered on the cross, He had made us all whole once again, and by His resurrection from death, He brought us all a new hope.

But, He also reminded all of us through His disciples that those who believe in Him and follow Him will also suffer as He had suffered, and the world would reject them just as it had first rejected Jesus. This is because the world is the dominion of the fallen angel, our great enemy, Satan, who had seduced the entire race of mankind into sin and disobedience against God. Certainly he would not want us to be lost to him and be saved.

That is why, today we celebrate the memory, life and death of great followers of our Lord, who had endeavoured and worked hard to spread the Good News of the Gospel, and gave their lives in the service of God in holy martyrdom. St. Wenceslaus, martyr of the faith in Bohemia, now known as the Czech Republic, and St. Lawrence Ruiz, also known as St. Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint and his companions, the holy martyrs of Japan.

All of them suffered the rejection of the world and the persecution and torture by those who opposed the Lord and His ways. St. Wenceslaus was the ruler of Bohemia, whose rule was particularly remembered as one that was filled with justice and righteousness, and St. Wenceslaus was very committed to his role as the leader of his people, serving them as best as he could.

St. Wenceslaus however encountered great opposition by the nobles and the rich landed members of the Bohemian society, some of whom were still pagans and unbelievers, and most importantly, they all were united in their opposition to the ways and rulership. They wanted to satisfy their own wants and wishes, and they wanted to maintain the privileges and good things they had.

Therefore, they plotted against St. Wenceslaus, and eventually managed to murder him with the help of the brother of St. Wenceslaus, who benefitted by becoming his successor as the ruler of Bohemia. However, the sin of murdering such a holy servant of God was truly great, and it was not until that brother repented and atoned for his sins that he was truly welcomed back once again into the Church of God.

Meanwhile, St. Lawrence Ruiz was a Filipino who escaped to Japan during the time about more than four hundred years ago, when he was wrongly accused of the murder of a local magistrate. He boarded a ship destined for Japan, and then over there, he joined the thriving local Christian community, which at that time was tolerated and in some places, the local lords even converted to the true faith in God.

But, good times did not last long, as the mood of the government of Japan at the time changed, and under the new Tokugawa shogunate, the Christians were no longer tolerated and instead, they were persecuted and forced to choose between denying the Lord and recanting their faith, or to die a most gruesome and painful death should they choose to remain faithful in the Lord.

St. Lawrence Ruiz and many other Christians refused to deny their Lord and Master, and they refused to abandon their faith, even under the torture and the certainty of painful death. They held their faith with great pride, and they went to their martyrdom with great faith, that the Lord who is ever loving and ever faithful to those who believe in Him, will grant them everlasting glory and life with Him.

Indeed, the example of these saints we have just heard should become an inspiration to all of us as well. The way that they have lived their lives and the way that they have stood up for their faith and for God should be examples for us all to follow as well. We have to live righteously and follow the way of the Lord as He had taught us and revealed to us through His Church, obey all of His commandments and be true disciples and true shining beacons of the Faith.

Let us all reflect on this, and try our best to implement all these in our own lives. God loves us, and He wants to save us and forgive us all of our sins and trespasses, but our sins continue to come in the way between us and Him, and the only way forward is for us to repent and change our ways, sin no more and trust in Him and follow Him with all of our might. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 September 2015 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy day, we heard the readings from the Holy Scriptures about the importance of maintaining one’s purity and obedience to the Law of God, doing good and avoiding all sorts of wickedness and sin. And then it is also important that we help one another in the mission that God had given to us, that is to evangelise to the peoples of the nations, and bring to many the revelation of truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is important that we heed what we heard in the first reading today from the Book of Numbers, where Moses chided Joshua fro protesting against two men who received the Holy Spirit of God even when they were not gathered among the other elders. And the way he spoke to Joshua made it clear to us that we should not see each other as rivals and enemies in our effort to spread the words of the Gospel to the nations.

Indeed, what the Lord is trying to warn us, as He once again repeated the same effort with His disciples, when they tried to stop someone else from healing and curing the sick, and casting out demons using the Name of Jesus, is that we should not give in to our own selfishness and the desire to preserve ourselves or to aggrandise ourselves over that of others, which is unfortunately our human nature.

It is in our tendency to fall into the trap of our own vanity and pride, thinking that we are better than others, and we have that tendency to defend our own actions and deeds, trying to explain the reason why what we have done were justifiable even though they were truly wrong and mistaken. And we all know that it is not easy for us to admit that we have been mistaken or made an error. No one would readily admit that he or she is wrong, before someone pointed it out to them plainly.

And how is it relevant to what we have heard in the Scripture readings today? That is because Joshua as well as the disciples of Jesus were affected by what we know as jealousy, by the desire to not be outshone by others, and therefore, they despised the fact that someone else got what they also desired, but did not get. This is the heart and the root of jealousy, when someone covets what another has, so that they may have it for themselves.

When Joshua saw the two men getting the glory and power of the Holy Spirit, deep down in his heart, he too desired such blessing and grace from God. Similarly, the disciples of Jesus also had in their hearts the desire for the power to heal the sick, and as they have it, they do not want anyone else to share in what they thought as their own prerogatives to give.

But Jesus reminded them, that all of these human frailties and human emotions were detrimental in their path to salvation, just as Moses chastised Joshua with words in similar meaning and purpose. That was why Jesus spoke about cutting one’s own hands if the hands had brought them to sin, and cutting off one’s eye out if these eyes had brought them to sin.

What Jesus meant is not that we literally have to do what He had mentioned. He did not mean that we should really literally cut off our hands and feet, or our eyes and our tongue, should any of these lead us into sin. He spoke figuratively, to show the people the true meaning which He tried to convey to them through parables. What He truly meant is that we have to really make the effort to carve out that part of ourselves which had hindered us on the path towards salvation.

And what are these parts that He was referring to? It is our ego, our pride, our desire, our selfishness, all those that had made us to be blind to our own faults, our own vulnerabilities, and to others’ needs and thoughts, and all these made us to look solely into ourselves, and trying to satisfy ourselves and our needs, becoming selfish and unloving in our actions and attitudes towards others.

It is all these that had brought about so much misery in the world through time and history. If we look back at history, then we certainly should realise how often it was that wars and conflicts were fought over the ambition and pride of men, when one or more people desire to have more of something, be it gold, wealth, land, praise, fame and many other worldly forms of pleasure and recognition.

We should realise how often it was too for oppression and injustice, for pain, suffering and sorrow to be born from the selfishness of men, where the rich and those who have more refused to share what they had and refused to help those who had little or none. And then, even greater misery were born out of the jealousy and the desire of those who have less to possess more, if need by force from those who have more.

This is the great obstacle that barred our path towards salvation in God. That is why Jesus said to His disciples, that unless we mankind die to ourselves and carry up our cross, then we would not have any part with Him, and we would not receive the everlasting grace of our Lord. It is important to take note that what Jesus meant was that we must first die to our pride, our ego, and our selfish desires, crush these and carve these out of our hearts and minds.

This was what Jesus meant when he said in the Gospel today when He said of cutting off the parts thar brought us to sin. What He meant is that we have to carve out those selfish things and thoughts from deep inside us, that the hindrance and obstacle to our salvation may be removed. Our limbs and our flesh did not bring us to sin, for all these are controlled by none other than our heart and our mind, the desires in them which lead us to either do good or to commit evil.

Yes, in fact, our limbs and body can be used for doing good things beneficial for others who are around us. If we cut them off hastily without understanding, then we would lose the potential that they have in bringing good things upon others. What we have to cut out is indeed instead all the dark things that lie inside our hearts, namely selfishness, pride and greed.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today shall we all reflect deep into ourselves and think of our own actions, words and deeds, all the things we have said and done in the past, remembering whether we have done what is right and just, helping others who are in need, helping and loving those who were unloved and lonely, or whether we have dwelled in our pride and arrogance, and in our reluctance to do anything for the benefit of others.

Let us all grow smaller and weaker in our pride and selfish attitudes, and grow more in our loving attitude and care upon one another. May the Lord help us and guide us on our way, so that we may know the way to seek Him is through humility and commitment to love, loving both the Lord and our brethren around us, and not to put ourselves above them.

Let us cast out our ego and pride, and with humility, let us approach the Lord, and love Him with all our might. Let us be charitable and loving in all our actions, helping especially those who are poor, sick and dying, those rejected by the society, that through us and our works, we may bring each other closer to God our Father. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cosmas and St. Damian, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of two saints who were renowned servants of God and martyrs of the faith. They are St. Cosmas and St. Damian, both of whom lived during the time of great persecution of the Church under the Roman Emperors, where the faithful had to hide and they could not openly declare and practice their faith, or else they would face almost certain suffering and death at the hands of the authorities.

St. Cosmas and St. Damian themselves were told to be twin brothers who worked as physicians and doctors in the Asian region of the Roman Empire, in what is today Syria. They travelled around healing the sick and the wounded, those who were down with illness and troubles, and they did these free of charge, especially helping the poor and the downtrodden who had none to help them.

Eventually however, during the climate of persecution of Christians at the time, they went about their work under constant threat of danger. And they were arrested by the authorities after they were found out to be Christians. Under the pain of suffering, torture and death, they were forced to abandon their faith in the Lord, but they refused to do so, and therefore they were martyred in the defence of their faith.

This is related again to how Jesus spoke of the betrayal that men would hand Him, the betrayal that was very despicable and evil, because they have betrayed the very One who had given His all in order to help them to get out of the pit and trouble that they were in. The actions and life of St. Cosmas and St. Damian truly reflected what Christ Himself had encountered in His life, and the same too could be expected from us.

Just like St. Cosmas and St. Damian who went about the many cities, towns and villages as physicians and doctors, healing countless people who suffered from various diseases and illnesses free of charge, then our Lord Jesus also went about healing and curing people from their sickness, and more importantly, lifting up people who have fallen into the darkness, that is into the sickness of sin, into the new light He brought them.

Yes, Jesus Himself told the people, and all those who criticised Him such as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, that He came not to seek the righteous and the just, who have already been saved, but those who have fallen along the way and need help. These were the ones who truly needed the help of our Lord, and it was to them that He came. Of course He still at the same time, loves all those who have been saved as well.

And He also suffered rejection, ridicule, curses, and even the lashes and the wounds inflicted upon His flesh, before He was dragged to carry the burden of the cross and be crucified on the hill of Calvary. He suffered on that day and died, so that all of us who shared in His death by our baptism, may also share in His glorious resurrection through the same baptism in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, it is a reminder for us that all of us also need to carry our own crosses if we are faithful to the Lord. Difficult times will be upon us and there will be rejection and temptations to leave behind this difficult path, for a shortcut of pleasure and enjoyment of worldly goods and accepting the wicked ways of this world. But then, we truly should ask ourselves, whether we want to have our souls to fall deep into the sickness of sin.

Let us all reflect on all these, and inspire ourselves to walk in the path of St. Cosmas and St. Damian. Let us all not be afraid to help each other and to love one another with the same love that the two saints and our Lord Himself had shown, the true and genuine love that brings about a new hope and life in all those who had been afflicted by the sickness, and particularly the sickness of sin, the disease of our soul.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has laboured out of love for us, so that we may be healed and be restored to full grace and be forgiven from all of our sins. Now, shall we also do the same and help those whom we know as still living in darkness and are still lost and do not know the way to go for them to seek the Lord their God. Let us all help each other, and extend a helping hand, modelling after the examples of St. Cosmas and St. Damian.

May Almighty God be with us all always, and may He plant in us a heart filled with love and grace, that we may be found worthy of the life and the glory He had prepared for us all. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 25 September 2015 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, continuing from yesterday’s discourse on the Temple of Jerusalem, its rebuilding and how it is related to the death of Jesus Christ and His salvation of all mankind through that death, then today, again this fact is emphasised to us in a way that all of us really should take it to the heart how God saved us all through His love.

It is this love that brought the Lord to be willing to come down to us and dwell among us, assuming our own flesh and form, as a Man, so that through this act, by becoming an example to all mankind, He offered a sacrifice beyond anything comparable, and by that sacrifice, He brought about the purification and absolution for our sins, all of us who believe in Him and thus worthy to receive His everlasting forgiveness.

He has come through Jesus in order to save us all, with His mighty power and deeds, just like when He once saved the people of Israel, His chosen ones, from the oppression and slavery of the Pharaohs of Egypt, and then when they suffered again under the yoke of the Assyrians and the Babylonians, enslaved and under great pressure, He came yet again to liberate them and help them to return to good standing with Him.

But the greatest enemy is not the Pharaoh of Egypt, or the Assyrian or Babylonian kings and their mighty forces. For these were truly nothing compared to the true enemy, that is sin, death and the devil. For it was the devil who brought sin into the world, by first his own vanity and pride, as Lucifer, the greatest and most brilliant among the angels of God, but fell into his own pride. And as he fell, he brought many angels along with him, and then also our ancestors along with him.

He tempted them with good and sweet words, saying that by disobeying God and doing what God had forbidden them to do, then they would enjoy much goodness and could become even like the Lord Himself. He was playing with our desire and our vulnerabilities, to be tempted by material goods and promises of pleasure and happiness, such that we were willing to trade our obedience to the Lord for such temptations.

Thus it was also how many of us fell along the way, as we witness ourselves when we read the Scriptures. We should have noticed how often it was that the people of God disobeyed the Lord, because they complained and grumbled about many things, about how they did not have enough of what they wanted, either to be happy or to fill up their stomachs. And all these were there even though God had done so much for them.

It is in fact should have been just for the Lord to just destroy us and leave us behind, for many of us were truly obstinate and adamant on following our own paths of sin, and refused to walk in the path of righteousness or to repent from our sins. And as a result, we suffer death, that is the punishment and consequence for sin, as because of our sins, we are not worthy of the Master of Life, that is our Lord.

Yet, He came to save us, and He wanted to show us all, that if we want to follow Him and gain favour with Him, then all of us ought to abandon our old ways of sin and worldliness. And just as He suffered grievously for our sins and faults, bearing them upon Himself, this showed how the world, Satan and all of his allies rejected Jesus and His salvation, because they preferred to live and stay in the darkness rather than coming into the light.

Therefore, this fact, combined with the fact that Satan does not wish us all to be saved, because it was his intention that we all should fall together with him and join him in condemnation, should have awakened us to the reality that life lived out of faith for God will not be easy. If we seek eternal life and grace in God, then the path ahead of us will be filled with challenges and obstacles.

Truly, there is another option given to us, none other by Satan himself, who offers us all a shortcut, which seems to be easier and less troublesome. But do not be deceived, brothers and sisters, for the path of the devil may seem to be easier, but all these are an illusion that prevents us from seeing that this will end with even greater suffering and destruction without hope of getting out, that is hell, an eternity of separation between us and God.

Let us all be courageous and be more devoted in our faith, so that we may stay focused on our goal that is to reach out to the Lord our God and to be reunited with Him. Let us all change our ways, our sinful and selfish ways, so that we may practice more of the love which God had taught us, in our own words, actions and deeds, that we all truly become worthy of being called the children of God.

May Almighty God be with us all and bless us always, and may He guide us on our way, that whatever suffering and difficulties we encounter, we may unite them to the suffering of Jesus, and by dying together with Him to our past and our sinfulness, we may share in His eternal glory. Amen.