Sunday Mass homily

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Sunday, 25 December 2022 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the glorious and joyful Christmas Day, the day we have been awaiting for throughout the previous season of Advent, and what we have been hopefully preparing for well, all these while. Today as we rejoice together with the whole entire Universal Church, we are all again reminded of what and why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. What is it that we are celebrating in Christmas, brother and sisters? It is the joyful celebration of the birth of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and hence is why we call it as Christmas in the first place. And why do we celebrate it then? It is because we rejoice at the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, through Whom all of us have seen the salvation and glory of God, made manifest through His Son.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the Lord’s proclamation of joy and salvation for His people Israel, in which God proclaimed to them that He would restore the glory of His people and erase from them the shame of their forebears. Back then, the people of God had been suffering humiliations and sufferings one after another as they encountered various hardships and challenges, all of which were caused by their lack of faith and trust in God. Their disobedience and wickedness led to them being punished for their wrongdoings. But God did not despise them, as He still cared for them and loved them despite their constant disobedience and lack of faith. He showed them His love by sending them His salvation in the person of Jesus Christ, His own only begotten Son.

It is this same Jesus Christ mentioned in the beginning of the Gospel of St. John at our Gospel passage today, which in the past used to be the Last Gospel read at the end of every celebration of the Holy Mass, except on certain occasions. This reading being read on the Christmas Day must have been strange for some as unlike the other Gospel readings of the Christmas Masses, this one does not specifically mention about Jesus Christ and the account on His birth. Yet, if we read on more carefully, this Gospel passage is in fact a very important one as it highlighted to us the very importance and significance of why we even celebrate Christmas in the first place. If Christmas has been about the birth of just any other man, or any other persons, then it would not have the same significance or meaning to us.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, if Christmas is about any other man, just a mere prophet or ordinary man, then His birth would have been just like any other men, with no special significance unless to those who knew Him well like His family and friends. On the other hand, it was what St. John the Apostle mentioned in his Gospel passage that indicated to us and also reminded us that, the One Whom we celebrate at this Christmas festivities and joy, is none other than God Himself, Incarnate in the flesh, entering into our world and existence as Man, the Divine Word Incarnate, the Word that was made Flesh, the Son of God and Son of Man. The One born over two millennia ago in Bethlehem in Judea is indeed the Saviour promised by God, and not just that, but God Himself has come to our midst to dwell among us and to be with us always.

He is no longer distant and intangible for us. He is no longer the God of the Old Testament that seems to be far and mighty beyond any of us human beings to approach. Instead, He showed us all that His love has made us to be the sharers of His most generous love and kindness, as He reached out to us and come to touch us and our lives, to bring us our of the darkness and into the light. God has always wanted us to be reconciled to Him, and to forgive us our sins when we desire to commit ourselves to the path of righteousness and be forgiven from our many faults. Yet, it is often that we do not have enough faith in Him, and we end up continuing to disobey Him, and walking down the path of sin, that lead us more often than not to our downfall.

God has taken up our human existence and our human nature, by the Incarnation of the Divine Word, His own Word that has proclaimed the creation of the whole world because through this act of perfect love and self-giving, God may reunite us all to Himself. God has reached our to us by sending His own Son to help lead us to Himself, and to gather us all as our Shepherd, so that all of us the lost sheep of the Lord’s flock may be gathered all once again, and become God’s flock once more, reunited and reconciled with Him. He also sent us His herald, St. John the Baptist, to be the one to prepare His way for Him, that more and more people may come to be saved. This task has then on be passed through to the Church, and hence, the Church today still has the obligation to care for those who have been lost from God, to follow in the example of Christ our Lord, by Whose love we have been saved and seen the salvation of God.

In coming into this world, the Lord has done what others may think to be irrational and impossible. Even many of the people of God at the time of the Lord’s coming refused to believe in Him and this truth, and some accused Him of blasphemy when He revealed later on before them, how He was truly the Son of God and Son of Man both. It might seem irrational because throughout history, mankind had always aspired to be great and to be like God, with dictators and those who sought glory and power desiring others to honour, respect and even worship them. And many people sought to become like God, to be invincible and mighty, and to be free from their limitations, without avail, throughout the history of the world, from desiring to live longer and to extend their lives, to gain more power and might, and to become indeed like God, which they all could not do.

There is then only one God and One Who willingly embraced us and willingly humbled and lowered Himself, that He was made sharer of our human existence, that God Himself might come and dwell with us, and to be by our side. Again these might have seemed impossible for some, and as mentioned, some did doubt the Lord and refused to believe in Him. Yet, because God is Almighty and All-Powerful, surely something like that is within God’s power to do? We simply think that just because God is great and Almighty that He will definitely not want to lower and humble Himself in this manner, and yet, that was exactly what God had chosen to do, and all of that was because of His continued and persistent love for each one of us. He did all of these for our sake, and that is what Christmas is all about and why we rejoice because of that.

God made Himself small and vulnerable as a Child, and as a Man like us so that through Him, and His sharing of our human nature and existence, He may bring unto us the perfection of love and obedience as our loving Shepherd and Guide, showing us what it truly means to be a disciple and follower of the Lord. Christ could have come as a conquering King and Mighty One, just as many believed or thought that He would have, but He chose to come to us in this way, because He wants to be the Mediator between us and our Heavenly Father, God in Heaven, becoming the Bridge through His Cross, suffering, death and resurrection, that bring us back to the Father, and reestablish the Covenant between Him and us, which had once been broken by our disobedience and sins. He became Man so that by uniting our human nature to Himself, we may see and receive the fullness of redemption and glory, together with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we enter into this glorious and joyful season of Christmas, are we willing and ready to commit ourselves anew to the Lord, Our God and Saviour? We are reminded this Christmas of the great Love of God made Man, and because He has made Himself approachable and His most generous love tangible and within our reach, all of us no longer wallow and suffer in the darkness and sin. We are reminded that God is and has always been with us, no matter whenever it is, and regardless of the highs and lows in our lives. The love of God personified and manifested in Christ is what we are celebrating this time and season of Christmas, and it is what we all need to focus and put emphasis on during this time of grace.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important that this Christmas should be a reminder to all of us in living our lives that we may seek to become better Christians, and that we do not just be like nominal Christians, having faith in name only. How we celebrate Christmas is one of the way that this is reflected and shown. We can see just how easily we access the mostly secularised and hedonistic Christmas celebrations all around us are, and how even many among us Christians, we celebrate Christmas in the same way, with great excesses in pleasures, merrymaking and rejoicing, but one that is empty because Christ is not at the centre of all of our rejoicing and celebrations. Christ has often been forgotten and ignored at the celebration of His own birthday, and that is truly something that is sad at Christmas every year.

Many of us spent our Christmas busy in trying to outdo one another in celebrating our Christmas with parties and gift-exchanges, trying to have more of the celebratory moods and the feasting, focused primarily on indulging ourselves on the various goods and worldly excesses of the usual Christmas festivities. Many of us treat Christmas as a time of holiday and rejoicing, to gather back with our families and friends, and exchange various stories and experiences over good food and drink. Yet, again, we often ignored the Lord and did not leave Him any place in our hearts and minds, and leaving Him out of our Christmas rejoicing and merrymaking. It is not wrong to celebrate Christmas with great feasting and merrymaking, but we must not let those to distract us from the true meaning and purpose of Christmas.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore make good use of this time of Christmas to share the love of God which He has shown us to all of our fellow brethren, in becoming one like us and in dwelling with us, Incarnate in the flesh, by reaching out with love to all the people we meet and encounter, even to acquaintances and strangers. It is not a time to love ourselves and to immerse ourselves in our self-indulgence and excessive merrymaking. Instead, it should be a time for us to be more generous in the giving and sharing of our love and joy with others, especially with all those who are less fortunate and not capable of celebrating Christmas in the manner that we do. We should do our best to show others around us what Christmas truly means, and share whatever extra blessings and graces we have received, with those who have less or even none at all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this Christmas season, let us all continue to make good use of the time and opportunity in order to deepen our relationship with God, and to immerse ourselves in the celebration of God’s love and compassion, to return our focus and attention, and all of our Christmas celebrations and joy on Christ as the reason why we rejoice throughout this glorious and most joyful season. Let us draw ever closer to the Lord and His love, and let us all be ever more exemplary in how we live our lives from now on, and also in how we share the love of God with one another. May God bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Wishing all of us a most blessed and wonderful Christmas season for all of us and our loved ones. Amen.

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Sunday, 25 December 2022 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Mass at Dawn (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this morning of the Christmas Day, as we gather together to rejoice in the memory of the glorious coming and appearance of Our Lord and Saviour in the flesh, we are all reminded to give thanks to God for everything that He had done for us, all the love, generosity and kindness that He has shown us. He has shown us His great love, manifested and made real in Jesus Christ, His Son, Who was born from His mother Mary, ever Virgin, and came into our midst as the Emmanuel, God Who is with us, His beloved people. God did not abandon us to the darkness and destruction, but He opened for us the path of His eternal light and salvation by the incarnation of His Son in the flesh, that through Him He might save us all from the certainty of death and eternal damnation.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah the words of the Lord proclaiming His salvation to His people, calling upon all of them to return to Him and to be faithful once again to Him, as He Who loves His people will always be with them, and they shall once again be great and blessed as God has always intended. Back then, the fortunes of God’s people, the Israelites have been at a very low point because they had faced a lot of opposition, and the entire northern half of the nation of the Israelites, named the northern kingdom of Israel, had been crushed and destroyed by the Assyrians, who went to destroy their nation and as well as exiling many of the people away from their ancestral homeland to distant lands, all because of their sins and wickedness. They had been humbled and humiliated, because earlier on their pride and ego had led to their rebellion against God, and their wickedness in refusing to listen to His words and commandments.

The people of God had often rebelled and disobeyed against the Lord, refusing to listen to His words and reminders, persecuting and rejecting the prophets and messengers sent to them to remind them. They hardened their hearts to His words, and as such, they had to face the consequences of their wickedness and evils, and thus faced those great humiliations and punishments due to their sins. But it did not mean that God despised them, as the truth is that, God despised the sins that they have committed and not the people themselves. It was their persistence to remain in the state of sin, and their many sins which had led them to be punished and to face the consequences of their sins. But God never gave up on them, and He has always reached out to them again and again, nudging them to return to Him and to be reconciled with Him.

That is exactly the hope and encouragement that God hoped to show His people, by sending His Son into this world to be in the midst of His people, calling on them to return from their wayward way of life and embracing His way of righteousness and grace once again. God has shown His most generous love to us by reaching out to us and showing us the path and hope out of the eternal darkness and from the chasm and precipice of eternal damnation, because He wants us all to be liberated and free from our bondage to our desires, pride, ego and sins. As the second reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Titus highlighted to us, that God sent us the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to mark upon us the works of His mercy and love, to redeem us and draw us out of the darkness and into the light, to renew us and to strengthen us once again in His love.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account od the birth of the Lord Jesus according to St. Luke, as the Holy Child was born in a small stable just outside Bethlehem, a Child born as predicted and prophesied by the prophets, from the Virgin. And the Lord announced the Good News to all the people through His Angels, who all sang in great joy, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo!’, ‘Glory to God in the Highest!’ to the shepherds who witnessed all of that in the wilderness of Bethlehem in Judea. God announced the joy of His coming to the world, as truly, the salvation long awaited by His people and by all those who sought Him has finally come into this world, in the form of the Child born on the manger in Bethlehem, that day, over two millennia ago, which we now celebrate as Christmas.

God made Himself small and vulnerable as a Child, and as a Man like us so that through Him, and His sharing of our human nature and existence, He may bring unto us the perfection of love and obedience as our loving Shepherd and Guide, showing us what it truly means to be a disciple and follower of the Lord. Christ could have come as a conquering King and Mighty One, just as many believed or thought that He would have, but He chose to come to us in this way, because He wants to be the Mediator between us and our Heavenly Father, God in Heaven, becoming the Bridge through His Cross, suffering, death and resurrection, that bring us back to the Father, and reestablish the Covenant between Him and us, which had once been broken by our disobedience and sins. He became Man so that by uniting our human nature to Himself, we may see and receive the fullness of redemption and glory, together with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we enter into this glorious and joyful season of Christmas, are we willing and ready to commit ourselves anew to the Lord, Our God and Saviour? We are reminded this Christmas of the great Love of God made Man, and because He has made Himself approachable and His most generous love tangible and within our reach, all of us no longer wallow and suffer in the darkness and sin. We are reminded that God is and has always been with us, no matter whenever it is, and regardless of the highs and lows in our lives. The love of God personified and manifested in Christ is what we are celebrating this time and season of Christmas, and it is what we all need to focus and put emphasis on during this time of grace.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important that this Christmas should be a reminder to all of us in living our lives that we may seek to become better Christians, and that we do not just be like nominal Christians, having faith in name only. How we celebrate Christmas is one of the way that this is reflected and shown. We can see just how easily we access the mostly secularised and hedonistic Christmas celebrations all around us are, and how even many among us Christians, we celebrate Christmas in the same way, with great excesses in pleasures, merrymaking and rejoicing, but one that is empty because Christ is not at the centre of all of our rejoicing and celebrations. Christ has often been forgotten and ignored at the celebration of His own birthday, and that is truly something that is sad at Christmas every year.

Many of us spent our Christmas busy in trying to outdo one another in celebrating our Christmas with parties and gift-exchanges, trying to have more of the celebratory moods and the feasting, focused primarily on indulging ourselves on the various goods and worldly excesses of the usual Christmas festivities. Many of us treat Christmas as a time of holiday and rejoicing, to gather back with our families and friends, and exchange various stories and experiences over good food and drink. Yet, again, we often ignored the Lord and did not leave Him any place in our hearts and minds, and leaving Him out of our Christmas rejoicing and merrymaking. It is not wrong to celebrate Christmas with great feasting and merrymaking, but we must not let those to distract us from the true meaning and purpose of Christmas.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore make good use of this time of Christmas to share the love of God which He has shown us to all of our fellow brethren, to all the people we meet and encounter, even to acquaintances and strangers. It is not a time to love ourselves and to immerse ourselves in our self-indulgence and excessive merrymaking. Instead, it should be a time for us to be more generous in the giving and sharing of our love and joy with others, especially with all those who are less fortunate and not capable of celebrating Christmas in the manner that we do. We should do our best to show others around us what Christmas truly means, and share whatever extra blessings and graces we have received, with those who have less or even none at all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this Christmas season, let us all continue to make good use of the time and opportunity in order to deepen our relationship with God, and to immerse ourselves in the celebration of God’s love and compassion, to return our focus and attention, and all of our Christmas celebrations and joy on Christ as the reason why we rejoice throughout this glorious and most joyful season. Let us draw ever closer to the Lord and His love, and let us all be ever more exemplary in how we live our lives from now on, and also in how we share the love of God with one another. May God bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Wishing all of us a most blessed and wonderful Christmas season for all of us and our loved ones. Amen.

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Sunday, 25 December 2022 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Midnight Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this night we celebrate greatly in the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, marking the glorious occasion of the birthday of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. On this night, after the whole entire month of the season of Advent, that we spent preparing ourselves to welcome the Lord, we finally have arrived at this moment when we rejoice wholeheartedly in great rejoicing and festivities, as we enter into this season and time of joy. Tonight, we truly sing from our hearts and minds, with the Angels of God and the innumerable saints, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo!’, glory to God in the highest, praising Him for all that He has done for us, as He entered this world, becoming a Child for us, born and revealing to us the fullness of His love and ever enduring kindness.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah about the proclamation of the coming of the salvation from God, as Light has come from God to the people who have lived in the darkness, to illuminate their lives and their paths, restoring unto them their hope and strength. That prophecy also mentioned the time of liberation and freedom, as the light and salvation of God was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Holy Child born in Bethlehem in Judea, the city of David just as the prophets had spoken about for a long time. That prophecy is a direct reference to the Saviour Whom God would send into the world, and He has indeed come in the person of Jesus Christ, the Holy Child born of His mother Mary, the Virgin who has given birth to a Son, that is none other than God Himself, Incarnate in the flesh, Emmanuel, God Who is with His people.

That is why we heard the very peculiar titles that the prophet Isaiah mentioned regarding this Holy One born to save all the people of God. His titles are ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ Truly peculiar and interesting is it not? On a hindsight, people back then at the time of the prophet Isaiah and even at the time of the Lord’s birth would not have realised that it is none other than God Himself, willingly coming down to be with us, to dwell in our midst, although the hints and predictions had been aplenty. It was because until the Lord Himself revealed it all, they would not have realised the truth, and they would not have known the truth. But all of us today who have heard and received the fullness of truth, truly know Who it is that came that day more than two millennia ago, the birthday of Our Lord and Saviour.

After all, how can He not be the Divine Word Incarnate, if we heard the prophet himself saying about this One and this Child as Mighty God and Everlasting Father? How can the prophet referred to any man alive or coming in the future as God, if it is truly not God Himself coming to our midst in the flesh? He is the one and only Father and Creator of all, and this same One Who has created us all out of His perfect love, is the One born on Christmas, and Whom we are celebrating today and this entire glorious and joyful season of Christmas, remembering how His love for us led to Him coming to us in order to save us from impending destruction and damnation. He wants us all to be reconciled to Him, and because of all of that love, and the desire to save us, He has come into our midst, humbling Himself as a small, little Child.

God made Himself small and vulnerable as a Child, and as a Man like us so that through Him, and His sharing of our human nature and existence, He may bring unto us the perfection of love and obedience, showing us what it truly means to be a disciple and follower of the Lord. Christ could have come as a conquering King and Mighty One, just as many believed or thought that He would have, but He chose to come to us in this way, because He wants to be the Mediator between us and our Heavenly Father, God in Heaven, becoming the Bridge through His Cross, suffering, death and resurrection, that bring us back to the Father, and reestablish the Covenant between Him and us, which had once been broken by our disobedience and sins. He became Man so that by uniting our human nature to Himself, we may see and receive the fullness of redemption and glory, together with Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the birth of Our Lord according to St. Luke, which I am sure we are all familiar about, telling us how St. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem in Judea according to the census order of the Roman Emperor Augustus. That became the fulfilment of the prophecies of the prophets, as by Divine plan and will, the Saviour would indeed be born in the city of David, and through St. Joseph and his legal marriage to Mary, the Mother of God, Jesus Christ was born the Son and Heir of David, in the city of Bethlehem that day, more than two millennia ago. But what we also should take note is how, when the heavily pregnant Mary and St. Joseph came to Bethlehem, all the inns and accommodations there were full, and there was no place for them at all, so that they had to settle for a stable outside of the town, a place not even fit for human dwelling.

It was there that the Saviour of the world was born, not in palace made with the finest stones and adorned with gold, but amongst animals and shepherds, and Whose coming was announced to those same shepherds, with the bright Star of Bethlehem resting upon His birthplace, guiding the Three Magi or Wise Men to Him. The Lord loves each one of us so much that He became One like us, making Himself tangible and approachable by us, embracing our humble human existence and life, so that by His appearance and coming into our midst, He may show us the light of His hope and salvation, as something that is within our reach and something that we can approach without fear, reminding us of the great and ever enduring love that He has always had for us. God has never left us alone, and He has always desired that we find our way back to Him, calling us to return through His Son.

Yet, many of us have yet to acknowledge that call, and just as Mary and St. Joseph had difficulty finding any place in Bethlehem, how about us? Have we welcomed the Lord into our hearts and minds when He comes to us? Or have we been like those innkeepers and other accommodation places in Bethlehem that turned the Lord, His mother and foster father away, just because there was no place in them? Let us all look into our lives and our way of believing in God all these while, and especially also in how we are going to celebrate Christmas, not just today but for the entire season, and even beyond that. Are we so full of worldly things and preoccupations that we have no place at all for the Lord in our hearts and minds? And is the Lord even the focus and the reason why we celebrate Christmas?

Too often we can see all around us that Christmas celebrations have been centred not on Christ but on other things, and we see how people seek pleasures, joyful celebrations, merrymaking, parties and all kinds of activities that made them filled with revelry and joy, and yet, Christ was noticeably absent from all of the celebrations. That is unfortunately what happened in how Christmas is celebrated all around the world. Not only that but even among us Christians, have we been truly celebrating Christmas because we understand its significance and importance to us, or have we celebrated Christmas because we seek all of its festivities and joy, for our own selfish desires and wants? Have we celebrated Christmas not remembering Christ and all that He has done for us, because of His love for us?

Let us all therefore rediscover the true meaning of Christmas and do our best to return the Lord to the very focus and heart of all of our celebrations if we have not yet done so. If we have allowed our many temptations and distractions, worldly glamour and secularised Christmas focus to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas, let us now then return to the Lord once again and make Christmas once against about Christ. Christmas is also a time when we should imitate and follow in the loving example of Our Lord, in how He has loved all of us so dearly, that we too may love our fellow brothers and sisters, loving all those whom we encounter in life, our families and relatives, our friends and acquaintances, and even all those stranger we meet in our daily lives. It is also a time for us to share our joy and love, especially with those who are not as fortunate as us, in not being able to celebrate Christmas the way we could, and those who are bereft of hope and joy this season.

May all of us have a great and most blessed Christmas season, and may each one of us grow ever stronger in our faith and love for God, remembering all the love which He has shown us. Let us all reach out to one another and remind ourselves not to be distracted by worldly excesses, but instead, be inspired by God’s great love for us through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, that we too may be filled with His love and grace, and be the bearers of the true spirit and meaning of Christmas. May all of us be the beacons of God’s light, hope and truth in the world today, in whatever we do, and may God bless us all in our every good works and endeavours, now and always. Blessed Christmas everyone! Amen.

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Saturday, 24 December 2022 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Eve (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after a whole month of the season of Advent, tonight we have finally reached this day that we have been awaiting for so long, and that is the moment when we rejoice greatly at the celebration of the Lord’s birth, His Nativity and entry into this world. This night, we mark the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, and truly we can sing and praise the Lord in great joy, welcoming Him as He comes into our midst, and as we remember all the love which He has poured upon us. And as we enter into this most joyful Christmas season, we are called to remember why we rejoice in the first place. It is the coming of Christ, the Saviour which we are most happy about, as His coming fulfilled all the many promises and assurances of salvation, as He had made to us from the beginning of time.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the words of assurance from God to His people Israel, to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah as He delivered it to those who have been downtrodden and troubled, all those who have suffered difficulties, hardships and destruction, humiliation at the hands of their enemies. Back then, the fortunes of God’s people, the Israelites have been at a very low point because they had faced a lot of opposition, and the entire northern half of the nation of the Israelites, named the northern kingdom of Israel, had been crushed and destroyed by the Assyrians, whose king led the forces to destroy Samaria, the capital of that kingdom, as well as exiling many of the people away from their ancestral homeland to distant lands, all because of their sins and wickedness.

The people of God had often rebelled and disobeyed against the Lord, refusing to listen to His words and reminders, persecuting and rejecting the prophets and messengers sent to them to remind them. They hardened their hearts to His words, and as such, they had to face the consequences of their wickedness and evils, and thus faced those great humiliations and punishments due to their sins. But it did not mean that God despised them, as the truth is that, God despised the sins that they have committed and not the people themselves. It was their persistence to remain in the state of sin, and their many sins which had led them to be punished and to face the consequences of their sins. But God never gave up on them, and He has always reached out to them again and again, nudging them to return to Him and to be reconciled with Him.

Hence, the Lord reminded His people in our first reading today that if only they repented from their sins, turned away from their wicked ways and came back to Him, that they would be glorious and blessed once again, and God would gladly bestow upon them what their ancestors had once enjoyed, the grace and favour, the glory and might among all the nations of the Earth. If only that they would listen to Him and embraced His ways once again, then they would be glorious and mighty again, as a people blessed by God, and as a nation united in the same Lord and King. The Lord has always been faithful to the Covenant that He has made with His people, and He has given them in the end, the ultimate form of His love, with the coming and appearing of Christ, His Son in our world.

In our second reading today, St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles spoke courageously before the people regarding God’s salvation which He had extended to all of His people through time and time again, reaching out to them and fulfilling His promises to them, just as He raised up first Saul and then David to be King over His people, Israel, and then, just as He had promised David, in making his reign and the dominion of his house secure, He would fulfil all these through the coming of Jesus Christ, born of the House of David, as the long awaited Messiah or Saviour, having been born and entered into our history, so that by His coming into this world all of us can see all of the goodness of God and the love which He has always consistently showed us, right from the beginning.

The account of the birth of Jesus in our Gospel from St. Matthew also further highlighted this, as we heard of all the generations right from Adam to Jesus, through Abraham and David, the ancestors of the Saviour of all. The birth and coming of Jesus Christ into this world is therefore marking that pivotal moment when God finally made evident and perfect all that He has put into place from the very beginning. God has always loved us, and even when our first ancestors disobeyed Him and refused to follow His path, He did not will them to annihilation and destruction although He could have perfectly done so. He exiled them from the Gardens of Eden as a consequence of their sins, but He also promised them all the coming of His deliverance, through the Saviour He would send unto them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice today in this great Solemnity of the Lord’s Nativity, celebrating His birth and coming into this world, let us all keep in mind of what He has done for us, and what we ourselves should be doing with our lives knowing of everything that He has given us out of love. The Lord has showed His love and taught us to do the same, so that everyone should be the bearers of His love and truth, doing His will and walking henceforth in His Presence, erasing the past humiliations due to our sins and wickedness. God has always showed us the path of righteousness, and through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, He showed us the perfect example of love, obedience and faith, essentially how all of us should act and behave as Christians.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important that this Christmas should be a reminder to all of us in living our lives that we may seek to become better Christians, and that we do not just be like nominal Christians, having faith in name only. How we celebrate Christmas is one of the way that this is reflected. We can see just how pervasive and ubiquitous the secular and worldly Christmas celebrations all around us are, and how even many among us Christians, we celebrate Christmas in the same way, with great excesses in pleasures, merrymaking and rejoicing, but one that is empty because Christ is not at the centre of all of our rejoicing and celebrations. Christ has often been forgotten and ignored at the celebration of His own birthday, and that is truly something that is sad at Christmas every year.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore make good use of this time of Christmas to share the love of God which He has shown us to all of our fellow brethren, to all the people we meet and encounter, even to acquaintances and strangers. It is not a time to love ourselves and to immerse ourselves in our self-indulgence and excessive merrymaking. Instead, it should be a time for us to be more generous in the giving and sharing of our love and joy with others, especially with all those who are less fortunate and not capable of celebrating Christmas in the manner that we do. We should do our best to show others around us what Christmas truly means, and share whatever extra blessings and graces we have received, with those who have less or even none at all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this Christmas season, let us all continue to make good use of the time and opportunity in order to deepen our relationship with God, and to immerse ourselves in the celebration of God’s love and compassion, to centre ourselves and focus on Christ as the reason why we rejoice throughout this glorious and most joyful season. Let us draw ever closer to the Lord and His love, and let us all be ever more exemplary in how we live our lives from now on, and also in how we share the love of God with one another. May God bless us in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always, forevermore. Wishing all of us a most blessed and wonderful Christmas season for all of us and our loved ones. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 December 2022 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the fourth and the last of the Sundays of the Advent season, reminding us all that Christmas is coming very soon and Advent is already ending. It seems that it was just yesterday that Advent started, is it not? But that is the reality, that time passes on, and sometimes really quickly before we realise that much time has actually passed. A good question to ask ourselves now is, how has our Advent journey been so far? Has it been meaningful and fruitful for us? Has it been good in preparing ourselves for the upcoming celebration of the Nativity or the birth of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ? Or have we instead been preparing ourselves for Christmas in the wrong way?

We do not have to look far, and we just have to open our eyes and see everything all around us. Except in places where Christians cannot worship in the open or where Christian influences and festivities are banned or not allowed, virtually everywhere else in the world, Christmas celebrations and festivities have been all around us for weeks or even months as of now. Yet, in most of all those festivities, celebrations and merrymaking, something and someone is indeed inconspicuously missing from all the celebrations. Ironically, this One Who is missing is exactly the One for Whom the celebrations we have at Christmas had been intended to, and Christmas is indeed about Christ first and foremost. It marks the moment when the Lord Jesus, Son of God, was born into this world, revealing God’s perfect and enduring love, manifested and personified, becoming tangible and approachable by us.

And yes, that is exactly what we should be focusing on this Sunday, brothers and sisters in Christ, rather than the many distractions that the secular Christmas pageantries and festivities have presented to us. This Sunday, just as in the previous Sundays of Advent, we focus on a particular theme or aspect of this Advent season, beginning with Hope at the first Sunday when we reminded ourselves of the Hope we have in the coming of Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the Hope out of the darkness and despair reigning all around us. And then we have Peace at the second Sunday, where we focus ourselves on the upcoming Peace that God Himself will bring in the end, in His role as the Prince of Peace, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Who will rule over all of His people, reuniting all of them in peace, harmony and love. Then, on the third Sunday of Advent last week, also known as Gaudete Sunday we have focused on the aspect of Joy, where we rejoice in the coming of the true Joy of Christmas, that is Christ Himself.

And lastly this Sunday, we focus on the theme and aspect of Love, the Love of God made Man, personified and manifested in Jesus Christ, Our Lord. This theme of Love is arguably the most important of all, as it is the enduring and ever-present Love that God has for each and every one of us is the very reason why we still have Hope in Him, and why we can look forward to His reign of Peace, and for the Joy of His everlasting kingdom and our eternity of true happiness and bliss with Him. Without the Love of God, none of these would and will have been possible. If God had not loved us, upon our rebellion and disobedience against Him, in refusing to follow His Law and commandments, and in choosing to listen to Satan and his lies instead, we could have easily been crushed and annihilated by God, by the mere whim of His Almighty will alone.

We could have been condemned to an eternity of suffering in hell, sharing the fate of the devil and all of the wicked spirits, the fallen angels and demons, and we could have endured all those punishments and sufferings because of our lack of faith in Him, our stubborn attitude and refusal to believe in Him. Yet, despite all of our delinquencies and stubbornness, God is Himself equally persistent in loving us and caring for us, still reaching out to us and trying to help us, because ultimately, He had created us out of His overflowing and perfect love, that He willingly shares with each and every one of us. Although we may have scorned and rejected His love, He never ceased to love us all, most patiently, and sending unto us reminders and helpers, like what we heard in our first reading of the encounter between the prophet Isaiah and King Ahaz of Judah.

At that occasion, the prophet Isaiah came bearing God’s words to King Ahaz, the ruler of Judah, the southern half of the kingdoms established over the people of Israel. And back then, the northern half of the kingdom, the kingdom of Israel centred in Samaria had just been destroyed and crushed by the Assyrians, who came and conquered Samaria, defeated the Israelites, and uprooted many of them to be exiled to far-off and distant lands, replacing them with foreigners from other parts of the world. Only the kingdom of Judah therefore remained among those people of God back then. The northern kingdom fell because of the constant wickedness of its people and how most of its kings and people continued to worship pagan idols and gods, persecuting the prophets and messengers that God had sent to them.

And although the southern kingdom of Judah was comparatively better, with several good and faithful kings, there had also been a lot of wickedness committed by the people of Judah, in not listening to God and His reminders, and in similarly persecuting the prophets and messengers sent to remind them to keep the faith. King Ahaz himself was one of the kings deemed by the historians and writers of the Old Testament records as an evil king, one who disobeyed the Lord and brought the people into sinful ways. When God sent Isaiah to Ahaz as we heard in our first reading today, we heard how the King of Judah refused to ask for a sign from God as Isaiah told him, and as a result, Isaiah told the king that God Himself will, in due time, show the greatest of all signs to His people, the sign of the Emmanuel, of the Virgin who would bear a Child.

Some of us may think that King Ahaz was being humble in not asking for a sign from God, but the truth is, it is more likely that he did so out of his lack of faith in God, and also he did not believe much in the signs and wonders that God had done for His people through His many prophets in the ages past. Not only that, but sometimes true humility also entails obedience, as by not doing what God had asked him to do also has the implication of pride, as the king might have thought that he had no need of God’s signs, protection and providence, and that he could do everything all by himself, despite the rising issues and troubles facing the kingdom of Judah back then, surrounded on all sides by its many enemies, and threatened by the rising might of Assyria which had just destroyed the kingdom of Israel to the north of Judah.

Hence, God proclaimed through Isaiah what He would do nonetheless, to show us all, the whole world, of His love for each one of us, that He sends unto us, His Love manifested through His Son, the Divine Word of God Incarnate. He became Emmanuel, ‘God is with us’, that He came to dwell amongst us, in our midst, in the flesh. He made Himself tangible, approachable and touchable by us, giving us this perfect manifestation of this Love, which is reiterated again in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel of St. Matthew, where again, the fact that God Himself has come to dwell among His people, Emmanuel, God Who is with His people, showed His great love by willingly coming down to us to be with us, loving us all most dearly and wonderfully with His ever generous love.

This same love is the love that Christ showed us all, when He picked up His Cross and walked that path of suffering, the Via Dolorosa, from Jerusalem where He was scourged and condemned to death, to Golgotha or Calvary where He was nailed to His Cross and made to suffer a most painful and humiliating death for us. He became for us the perfect offering of Love, the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God sacrificed and crushed for all of us, and Himself as our Eternal High Priest offering this perfect sacrifice of love, most unblemished and perfect in all things, for the complete atonement of our innumerable sins, and for the redemption of all mankind. To all those who share in His Most Precious Body and Blood, in the Eucharist, worthily, He has given us the assurance of eternal life and joy, as we have received the Love of God Himself into our midst, and into ourselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we reflect upon this theme and aspect of Love, let us all therefore keep reminding ourselves of the Love which God has for each and every one of us, and the Love which made all things possible for us, that Hope, Peace and Joy can come our way once again, because the Love of God had been made incarnate in the flesh and born of the Virgin, Mary His mother, and which we celebrate most joyfully as Christmas. Therefore, if our Christmas preparations and celebrations have been mostly or even entirely secular and worldly in nature, perhaps it is not yet too late for us to change our direction and focus. Christmas is still a full week away from today, and there are a lot of things that we can do in this one week to prepare ourselves so that we can celebrate Christmas most worthily and meaningfully.

First of all, let us all as Christians be filled with God’s love, and show that same love in our lives and actions just as He has taught us to do. His Law and commandments are essentially about us loving God first and foremost before all else, and then loving one another just in the same way as well. We have to love our fellow brothers and sisters more, and grow ever more in our love for God and our faith and trust in Him as well, with every celebrations of Christmas. This time and season of Advent is a really good time to remind us to reconnect ourselves with God especially if we have allowed our busy schedules and life activities to distract and make ourselves becoming more and more distant from God. We also cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by so much festivities and merrymaking that we forget to remember that even in our midst, there are people who are still suffering, and unable to rejoice or celebrate due to various reasons.

Let us all be the bearer of God’s Love, as well as His Hope, Peace and Joy to our communities, to our families and circles of friends and even to all those strangers and all whom we encounter each day throughout life, so that through us, more and more people may come to experience God’s love, of Christ’s love having been made manifested in our midst. May the Lord, our most loving God and Father, continue to shower us with His love and kindness at all times. May He show us the path of love and justice, for us to follow, and encourage and strengthen us along the journey that we may continue to persevere faithfully in walking the path of righteousness and love that we should be walking on as Christians. May God bless us all and be with us all, now and always, evermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 December 2022 : Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose (Gaudete Sunday) or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday marks the Third Sunday in the season of Advent, which is also known as the Gaudete Sunday. This comes from the Introit or the opening Antiphon of this Sunday’s Mass, ‘Gaudete in Domino semper…’ or ‘Rejoice in the Lord always…’ which reminds us of the Aspect of Joy that we focus on in this Sunday’s celebration of the season of Advent. Thus far, from the first Sunday, we have focused on the Aspect of Hope and then Peace on the second Sunday, and now the Aspect of Joy before the last Aspect of Love next Sunday. Thus, this Sunday we focus our attention on the joy that we have in us in anticipating and expecting the coming of the truly joyous celebration and occasion in Christmas that is coming really soon now. We rejoice because of the great joy and happiness in the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Correspondingly, we can see that there are unique features of this Sunday which are not seen for the rest of the Advent season, much like that of Laetare Sunday in the season of Lent, as this Sunday we take some kind of short break from the more sombre and penitential nature and mood of this Advent season. Today we look upon the joy that is coming up in Christmas season, in the joy that our Lord Jesus has brought into our midst with His coming into this world. This joy is something that we look forward to, and expect with jubilation in our hearts, and yet, at the same time, still with solemn and some penitential nature due to our current Advent season as a reminder that while we rejoice, we also must temper down our rejoicing and most importantly, remain focused on the true reason for our joy, and not be overcome and overwhelmed by excesses of merrymaking and festivities that we forget why we celebrate in the first place.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah of God speaking to His people reminding all of them not to be fearful or afraid anymore, and that God will give them rest and new strength, freedom from their hardships and troubles, and they will return once again to Zion, singing and rejoicing because God is with them and that their days of trials and struggles are over. Back then, the people of God living in the kingdom of Judah where the prophet Isaiah ministered and worked as God’s prophet had suffered a lot of indignation and other forms of hardships at the hands of their enemies, and they had faced a lot of trials and difficulties, and such words from the Lord certainly must have brought about relief and great joy to everyone who listened to those words of God’s consolation and reassurance.

Because of their sins, the people of God had been scattered and humiliated, and parts of the people had been crushed, conquered and exiled by their enemies, such as much of the ten of the twelve tribes of Israel living in the northern kingdom of Israel, which had succumbed to the Assyrians merely few decades prior to the coming of these words of the Lord through Isaiah. At a time of great trials and challenges for God’s people, therefore, this reassurance truly must have been like a great light piercing the darkness of despair, doubt and suffering among the people of God. At that time, God intervened on their behalf, crushing and defeating the massive army of the Assyrian king sent to Judah and Jerusalem to conquer them. God protected His people and led them all to triumph against their enemies, and the retreat of the Assyrians in shame must have been truly joyful for the people who were there, witnessing God’s providence and presence among them.

But that is not just what the Lord would do for His people, as it was just merely one of the many occasions in which God cared for His beloved ones, protecting and guiding them throughout their journey. He would send them all, and all of the children of mankind, just as He has promised, His own only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. By the incarnation of this Son of God, the Divine Word Incarnate, God has come among His people in the flesh, tangible and approachable, as the conquering and great Light that pierced through the darkness of this world, and which brought a new Hope into our midst, the Hope for the Resurrection and eternal life, of eternal bliss and true joy that we shall receive and enjoy forevermore in the Holy Presence of God.

That is what we heard in our second and Gospel reading passages today, as St. James detailed upon us all in his Epistle the reminder for all of us the faithful, that God is coming again in glory, at the time of His choosing, and we ought to look up to Him and be hopeful, as well as being patient, awaiting for His coming and return to our midst, while being reassured of His ever continued presence and love for us. In the meantime, we are all therefore expected to be righteous, holy and just, just as our Lord, loving God and Father is also righteous, all holy and just. Our Gospel passage today reminds us that the Lord Himself has come into this world, to fulfil all the promises that He has made to us, to redeem us, to heal us from our sickness, maladies, and most importantly, the bondage and shackles of sin and death that have kept us apart from Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, once again, as we focus our attention this Sunday on the more joyful aspect of our Advent observance, let us all first and foremost remind ourselves of why we celebrate and rejoice at all in this time of Advent and Christmas. We ought to keep in mind that the true joy of Christmas is not referring to all the celebrations, festivities, merrymaking and all the things that we commonly associated as the joyful celebration and nature of Christmas. Instead, it is the reason why Christmas exists in the first place that is the reason why we celebrate and rejoice, and that is, the coming of our great Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the One Whom God had sent into our midst, that through Him we may have redemption and liberation from our impending destruction because of our many sins, wickedness and evils.

Let us reflect on this and ask ourselves if our focus and emphasis during this preparatory time of Advent has been correct, or whether we have been swayed and distracted by the many temptations present all around us, of worldly excesses and attachments, the desires for pleasures, comforts and worldly satisfaction and joys. We do not have to go far but look all around us to see just how secular our Christmas celebrations have often become. In many places, Christmas has become no more than just another holiday and another celebration, where everyone cannot wait to show off and indulge in the most lavish and extravagant celebrations and merrymaking possible. People put so much emphasis on the festivities that they tend to forget what the festivities and celebrations are all for, that is Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, for His love and His act in our redemption, for Him for Whom Christmas is named after.

That is why, brothers and sisters, as Christians, we should lead by our own good examples by making sure that we do not give in to the temptation of worldly pleasures and excesses, and keep reminding ourselves of the true joy that we uphold and focus on in our Christmas celebrations, even as we now prepare for all the festivities and merrymaking. Christ should be at the centre of it all, and we should make sure that every part of our communities, our families and all with whom we partake the Christmas celebrations, we have to place Christ, the Joy of Christmas, right at the centre and as the focus of everything, or else, our Christmas celebrations will in fact become empty and meaningless. Christmas is not a celebration about ourselves and our ego or greed, but is instead a celebration of our joy at the love of God made Man, through Whom He has brought us the assurance of eternal joy and life.

Lastly, let us also not forget that there are some among our brethren who are not truly able to celebrate Christmas with joy, like those whose Christian faith had to be kept secret because of persecutions and all the hardships that even quite a number of our fellow Christians still face all around the world. And there are also those who do not have the means to celebrate because of their various hardships and challenges in life. There are those who cannot even make ends meet each day and less still the ability to celebrate. In whatever way we can do, let us help them either spiritually or in material, through our prayers and charity, and also by sharing the joy that we have, so that through us, our less fortunate brethren may also experience the Joy of Christ in Christmas.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Creator, Who has given us Jesus Christ, His Son, born on Christmas Day, as our Light and Hope, continue to strengthen us and guide us in our journey so that by our faith and dedication to Him, through a worthy celebration of Christmas and our preparation this Advent, we may draw ever closer to Him and to His saving grace. May God bless us all in our every good endeavours, our efforts, actions and works, and bless our Advent preparations and observances. May all of us have a truly blessed and fruitful Advent. Amen.

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Sunday, 4 December 2022 : Second Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the Second Sunday of the season of Advent. We gather together this Sunday to prepare ourselves for the coming of the joyous celebrations of Christmas as we should have done throughout this past week of the Advent time. This Sunday marks the time when we have to reflect on whether we have indeed understood the true importance and significance of Christmas, and whether we are able to deepen our connection and relationship with God, through our spiritual preparations and willingness to open our hearts and minds to welcome the Lord into them. Through the passages of the Sacred Scriptures we have just heard, we are reminded to return our focus on the Lord this Advent and Christmas, and to rededicate ourselves to Him and to His cause.

This Sunday, as with all the Sundays of Advent, we focus on one particular Aspect of Advent, and that is Peace for this Sunday. Peace is an important aspect of our Advent and later on Christmas celebrations, as we remind ourselves that Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Whose Nativity or birth we commemorate in Christmas, is the Prince of Peace. The Lord’s coming will usher in the new age of peace, harmony and cooperation, and there will be no more discord between everyone. However, it does not mean that the Lord’s coming immediately will lead to cessation of all conflicts, wars and destructions caused by our actions in this world. Instead, what is promised and guaranteed is that, when the Lord comes again at the end of time, He shall bring unto us everlasting peace, as He will free us from the bondage of sin, evil and death for all eternity.

As we heard from our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the prophecy of Isaiah regarding the coming of the Messiah or the Saviour of God, Who has been prophesied to belong to the line and house of David, as Isaiah spoke of the Shoot that would rise from the stump and Root of Jesse. Jesse was David’s father, and hence one the ancestors of the Lord, as the Lord Jesus was born into the House of David as his Heir, just as the prophecy of Isaiah had mentioned. Through His foster-father St. Joseph, the Lord Jesus is the direct Heir and the One Who will sit on the Throne of David, as the King over all of His people. Back then, the people of God awaited the coming of the Messiah or Saviour, Who was told to be the Son and Heir of David, not realising that a Baby born in Bethlehem that time, was indeed the long awaited Saviour.

That is because they expected their Saviour to be a mighty conquering King, sent by the Lord to end their misery and to gather all of them into a liberation campaign against their oppressors and rulers, reestablishing the glorious kingdom of the days of David and Solomon. They did not realise that while it is God’s intention to lead all of His beloved and faithful ones to eternal glory and peace, that will yet happen in the future and not at the time of His first coming into this world. That Child born in the poor stable in the outskirts of Bethlehem, rejected by all the innkeepers and others, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is therefore God’s instrument through Whom He would restore the link between Him and mankind, long sundered by our disobedience and sins, our wickedness and evils.

Through Christ, His own begotten Son, born into this world, Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, God willingly revealed Himself and the fullness of His love to all of us, restoring the true meaning and purpose of His Law and commandments, and restoring the Covenant which had been forsaken and neglected between Him and His people. Christ is the One mentioned by the prophet Isaiah as the One Who will be the Judge of all the peoples of all the nations, and He would indeed be a Sign to all of them, raised up high for all to see. No one back at the time of the prophet Isaiah all the way to the time of the Lord Jesus Himself could have foreseen what this actually meant, until the moment when the Lord took up His Cross, with all the sufferings and pains, the punishments due to all of us, and chose to be raised on that Cross, to be the salvation for the whole entire world.

Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation of all the peoples and the nations have been revealed and brought as assurance to us, because He willingly assumed the role as the Mediator of a New and Everlasting Covenant between us and God. He is the Eternal High Priest Who offered nothing less than His own Most Precious Body and Blood, as the Lamb of God, the Paschal Lamb slaughtered and sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross, to be the worthy offering and sacrifice for the atonement of all of our sins. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, just as we reflect on the Aspect of Peace of Advent in this Sunday, we are reminded that through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, we have been made as the sharers of a new and everlasting Peace between us and God.

Through the outpouring of His Most Precious Blood and through the shedding of His Most Precious Body, Christ Our Lord has become the fulfilment of all that the Lord has promised His people, just as St. Paul briefly mentioned it in our second reading today in his Epistle to the Romans. Through Christ, Whose birth we rejoice in and commemorate in Christmas, we see the power of God liberating all of us from the bondage and dominion of sin, evil and death, as by His incarnation and assumption of our humanity and existence, and by dying on the Cross, He shared with all of us the death to our past existence and sinful lives, and by His glorious Resurrection, He proved to us that death does not have the final say over us, and that there is life and existence beyond death, which we shall share with Him on the end of times, the last days, forevermore.

By His most generous offering of love on the Cross, the Lord Jesus our Saviour truly had brought His Peace upon us, the Peace that God has promised His people, the peace of knowing that we have been reconciled with God, and that we shall enjoy the bounty and blessings of eternal life and true joy with Him, at the end of our journey, if we are truly faithful to Him. While that peace is yet incomplete at the moment, due to sin still being present all around us in our world past, present and future, but we have to hold on to that faith, believing that at the time of His choosing, He shall come again in glory as promised, and will bring unto us the perfect and everlasting Peace, that will last and endure forever, when evil will finally be utterly defeated and crushed, and no more tears, sorrow or suffering will remain in the world to come.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we then need to do now is to make good use of this season of Advent to prepare ourselves that we may worthily celebrate the upcoming joy of Christmas. Each and every one of us are reminded that it is often our preoccupations with worldly desires and glory, and the temptations all around us which often distracted us and misled us in the journey towards the Lord. In our Gospel passage today, we heard St. John the Baptist calling on all the people to return towards the Lord with faith, embracing His compassion and mercy, and to be changed in the heart and mind as they received baptism of water from him, as a sign of commitment to follow the path of the Lord. Many came to St. John the Baptist seeking to be baptised and showing their sincerity in embracing God’s love and mercy.

But there were also those who doubted him and refused to believe in him, like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who came to St. John the Baptist and questioned him on the authority and the legitimacy of his actions, essentially questioning and doubting the works and wisdom of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, Who guided St. John the Baptist to do what he had done, in preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. It was therefore of those same people that St. John the Baptist rebuked with very strong words like ‘brood of vipers’ and telling them off for their pride and ego, by which they closed their hearts and minds against God’s truth, and misleading the people of God under their care by their own vanity, greed and desire for worldly power and glory. This same reminder is also directed at all of us, brothers and sisters, that we do not end up walking down the same path as they had done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us make good use of this time and season of Advent therefore to prepare ourselves well for the celebration of the birth of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Let us all remember how our Prince of Peace had brought God’s Peace into our midst, returning the peace between us and God, and leading us on the way towards His everlasting peace, joy and glory. As we prepare ourselves to celebrate Our Lord’s coming into this world, let us not forget that we do not just remember His past arrival into this world, two millennia ago, but in fact we also rejoice because of His eventual coming in glory, that we all await, when He shall judge all the living and the dead, and bring all those whom He deems to be worthy, into His eternal kingdom of true bliss and happiness in His presence.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour and King, continue to guide us and strengthen us in faith, particularly during this time and season of Advent, so that each and every one of us may indeed make good use of this time and opportunity to reaffirm our faith in Him and to prepare ourselves well in all aspects so that we may indeed make best use of the upcoming time and season of Christmas, and celebrate it most properly and worthily, becoming inspiration for all of our fellow brothers and sisters, by our lives’ examples and good works. May God bless us all in our every good works, efforts and deeds, and may He bless us in our every endeavours for the greater glory of His Name. Let us bring God’s Peace into the midst of our communities and families, and may Peace reign forevermore in our Christian family. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 November 2022 : First Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday the Church marks the beginning of both the new liturgical year cycle as well as the season of Advent. This season of Advent marks the time of preparation and spiritual discernment for all of us as we are getting ourselves ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour at Christmas. Thus this season of Advent is meant to be a time of recollection and realignment in our lives that we may truly be ready and worthy to celebrate Christmas, not the worldly ways of how Christmas is celebrated but rather the true Christmas, the celebration of the birth or Nativity of Our Lord Jesus, as we welcome Him into our midst, to dwell among us and be with us, God made manifest and tangible. Through Him we have seen the love that God has for each and every one of us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke through Isaiah, His prophet to the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, speaking of what will happen at the end of time, when God will raise Jerusalem and His people to the highest of the highest, where He shall rule over them forever, and the people from every nations and every ends of the Earth will come flocking to Him, referring to how God will rule not just over Israel or Judah, but also over the whole world, over all of mankind. Through His prophecy made via Isaiah, we all heard how the Lord reassured His people, and hence us all, that He will be with us, and will raise us up on the last day, when He will judge all the living and the dead, from all time, and those who are worthy will be brought into His everlasting kingdom while those who are found unworthy will be cast out into eternal damnation.

Contextually, this message was presented by the Lord to His people at a rather low time in the psyche and experience of the people of God then, the descendants of Israel and Abraham. That was because at that time, the northern kingdom of Israel had just recently fallen to the conquering forces of the Assyrians, who had destroyed the kingdom and its capital city of Samaria, and brought many of the people of the northern kingdom into exile, scattering them off in distant lands away from their ancestral homeland. Not only that, but the Assyrian king Sennacherib even almost destroyed Jerusalem as well if not for God’s mighty intervention. All of that happened because of their constant disobedience and rebellion against God, and they had to face the consequences for their lack of faith and their betrayal against God. But the Lord still reached out to His people and wanted them all to be reunited with Him, and hence, He gave them this reassurance through His prophets like Isaiah and many others.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and all the people assembled that the Son of Man will come again at the end of time, at the moment when no one will expect and when many will be caught being lax and unaware of the fact that they have to account for their lives and existence before God, and answer for their failures to follow Him and obey His Law and commandments. St. Paul speaks of the same thing in his Epistle and letter to the Church and the faithful in Rome in our second reading today, as he reminded the faithful there to remember their obligations and missions as Christians, and not to be lax or complacent in how they live their lives. They were reminded to uphold their faith in God most faithfully, and to do their best to live righteously as Christian believers, behaving and doing things in the manner that they had been shown and taught to do by the Lord and through His Church.

After hearing from the Scripture passages today, we are all reminded that on this First Sunday of Advent, we focus one of the aspects of Advent in the anticipation of the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, that is Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. This Sunday therefore we are focusing on the Theme of Hope, the Hope that we have in Christ, our Lord, Whose birth we commemorate this coming Christmas season. Throughout the Scripture readings we heard this Sunday, we can clearly see this Hope being presented, as the Hope for the people of God Who were expecting the coming of God’s Saviour and liberation, just as He has proclaimed and promised to them, throughout time, again and again, from prophets to prophets, and messengers to messengers. It is this Hope that the people were holding onto firmly even as they suffered throughout all those years, humiliated and enduring hardships.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore at the very beginning of this season of Advent reflect carefully on our way of observing it and how we are preparing ourselves for the coming of the joyful season of Christmas. Let us ask by asking ourselves, what is it that we await for in Christmas? And what is it that we rejoice for in Christmas? We may not realise it but the ways that many of us and this world are using in preparing to celebrate and celebrating Christmas are not reflecting and showing what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. In whatever we see all around us these few weeks and in the next upcoming few weeks, what we see is all about excessive secularisation of Christmas, and all about glamour and merrymaking, but one that is lacking the true reason why we ought to rejoice in the first place.

We rejoice because of the Hope we have received and been reassured of by the Lord Himself, the Hope of salvation, eternal life and liberation from the chains and bondage of sin and death. Yet, in many of our celebrations, we place excessive emphasis on the many secular practices, customs and observances of Christmas, where the birthday Boy Himself was often sidelined, put aside and ignored, and instead we spent a lot of time and are spending a lot more time on the festivities, glamorous displays, of Santa Claus, Father Christmas, all the reindeers, glitters and snow, and all those things that should be merely accessory and accompanying the joy we have in the Hope in Christ we gained through Christmas. Yet, those things have often occupied the centre stage, and the Lord is often forgotten, ignored and laid aside on the festivities that bear His very own Name, Christmas.

Therefore, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas appropriately and worthily, let us all reflect on what Christmas is truly all about, and think of how we can do better in making our Christmas celebration a truly genuine and worthy one, which reflects the true meaning, importance and significance of this event. Let us all focus on that great Hope we have seen in Christ, the Light of God and His salvation that has appeared in the midst of our darkened world filled with sin and evil. That way we will realise that whatever we plan for Christmas, if we have been following the customs and habits of the world, are really excessive and unnecessary. We have to remember that we celebrate Christmas because we are grateful, full of joy and happiness because of what our Lord and Saviour had done for us, in restoring Hope to each and every one of us.

Let us also keep in mind that there are those brothers and sisters of ours who cannot celebrate Christmas the way we often celebrate it. There are Christians all around the world who are still being persecuted, and who endure daily sufferings just because of their faith in God. There are places where Christians have to be very careful or lest they may be persecuted, or even lose their lives if they are found out to be believers of Christ. This was just like how it was during the early days of the Church, and how it was also during the many times throughout history when the Church and faithful Christians endured a lot of trials, challenges and many martyrdoms happened. But they all remained firm in their faith in God because of the Hope which they have seen in Christ, their Lord and Saviour.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all restore the true dignity and meaning of Christmas by restoring our focus on the true reason for Christmas, that is Christ Himself. Let us all focus our attention on Him and embody the true spirit and joy of Christmas in ourselves, in how we act and in how we prepare ourselves during this season of Advent. Let us all bear the Hope of Christ, His light and truth in our every words, actions and deeds, and be the beacons of His light and hope to the nations, especially to those who have been bereft and denied of hope and courage, of comfort and strength. But we can be their encouragement and strength, brothers and sisters, and if we can, through our actions and support, in whatever way we can do to bring the Light and Hope of Christ to our suffering brethren, then we truly have understood the true meaning and significance of Christmas, and are ready to celebrate it worthily.

May all of us progress through this season of Advent with the right spirit and motivation, and do our best to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas in all of our preparations and expectations. Let us remind each other of the Light and Hope that we have received from Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, and bear that Light and Hope in our own lives, that we may inspire many others to find their way to the Lord and to His salvation. May God bless us always and may He grant us the strength and the courage to do our best in glorifying Him ever always by our lives. Amen.

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Sunday, 20 November 2022 : Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday which is the last Sunday in our current liturgical year, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, also known as the Solemnity of the Kingship of Jesus Christ. On this Sunday we commemorate our Lord Jesus not just as our Saviour but also as our King. This does not mean that we owe no obedience or loyalty to any earthly powers, nations or rulers. Instead, we must realise that the ultimate source of all power and authority in this world is the Lord, our one and true King and Master, and all the nations, all the rulers of this world are truly under our Lord’s dominion. That is why we are still supposed to obey the laws of the land and our respective countries, as good Christians are supposed to be, as far as they do not directly contradict the Law and commandments of God.

Our Lord is King, not just in spiritual manner but also in real and tangible manner. He is truly the King of all Kings, the Lord of lords and Master of all, and yet, unfortunately, many among us still behave as if the Lord is nobody, and that He has no place in our hearts and in our lives. We act as if the Lord is One Who is far and distant, and we remember Him only when we have need of Him. How many of us remember the Lord only when we have something that we hope He can solve for us, or when we want Him to answer our prayers. And it is not uncommon that we become angry at God when He does not seem to answer our prayers, and even if He does answer our prayers, we are often then quick to forget about Him once again and return to our daily preoccupations, with the Lord sidelined again until the next we have need of Him. Is that how we treat our King, brothers and sisters? Let us hence ponder through our Scripture passages this Sunday to understand our King better.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the story of the time when King David of Israel was accepted as King by the whole nation of the Israelites, having reunited the whole tribes of Israel under his rule and dominion. David was God’s chosen King over His people, and he had to struggle for a number of years against the supporters of his predecessor King Saul, and his son Ishbosheth or Eshbaal, in a civil war that eventually ended up with David being victorious and triumphant, and was finally welcomed to be King over all of Israel. That moment marked the beginning of the glorious time of the United Kingdom of Israel, of the great kingdom of David and his son, Solomon, which many later generations would look up to as a time of great glory and nostalgia, as the days when God’s rule over His people through His righteous servants David and Solomon were at its best.

Those were the days when the people of God still obeyed God faithfully and when their kings still followed the Lord wholeheartedly. When the prophet Samuel agreed to choose and anoint a king over the Israelites because of their demands, he did tell them that they had no need for a king, because the Lord Himself was already their Lord and King, and yet the people insisted. The prophet warned the people that the kings eventually would make their lives difficult, and like the other rulers and kings of the world, they might end up being tyrannical and wicked, and might lead the people of God down the path to ruin if they did not remain faithful to God or did not exercise faithfully what the Lord had entrusted them to do as the rulers, shepherds and guides for His people, and instead following their own selfish desires for glory and power in this world.

Indeed, that happened even with David himself, the model and most righteous among the Kings of Israel at times when he sinned against God as he desired power and glory at times, and when he forgot his place as the Lord’s vicar and guide in this world. When he desired a woman, Bathsheba who was already married to another man, Uriah, David sinned against God by plotting Uriah’s death and taking up Bathsheba to be his own wife. The same happened when he desired to conduct a census of the Israelites, which was done in a moment of pride in desiring to know the vastness of his power and worldly dominion. Then Solomon, David’s son, while mostly faithful and just throughout his reign, was led into sin as well at the end of his reign when he allowed his many pagan wives and concubines to mislead him and the kingdom into the path of sin and rebellion against God, which eventually led to the division of the united kingdom into two halves of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Nonetheless, their authority and power did come from God, and God was indeed the true King of the Israelites, that when the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were eventually crushed and destroyed by their enemies, the Lord still ruled and reigned over all of His people. He told them all that just as He has promised David that his house and kingdom will last forever, then He would send a Messiah or Saviour to His people, to be born of the House of David, to be the Son and Heir of David. That was the Messiah long awaited by the people of God and the One proclaimed by the many prophets and messengers of God. The people believed that this Messiah would then lead them to victory and freedom from their oppressors and foreign rulers, and would reestablish the kingdom of His ancestors, David and Solomon, of the glorious past days of the united kingdom.

Little did they know that, the Lord Himself would actually come into their midst to be wit them, to dwell among them in the flesh, and to be born as the Son and Heir of David, born of the Virgin, Mary, His mother just as the prophets had prophesied about. This King was born into the world, the Son of God and Son of Man, born as the Divine Word Incarnate, having two natures of Divine and Man, united in perfect love in the person of Jesus Christ, Whose Kingship we are commemorating today, acknowledging Him truly as the King of Kings, the Lord and Master of all, just as He has revealed Himself to be the Saviour of the whole world, and the one true King Who has come to claim all of His people and to gather them all to be His own one flock, with Him as the Shepherd, the Shepherd Who loves all of His flock and cares for them.

That was where then, as we heard in our Gospel passage today, that this same Saviour and King chose to willingly suffer and die for the sake of His beloved flock and people, as He willingly took upon Himself the most heavy burdens of our sins and the punishments and consequences due for those sins and wickedness we have committed. He took upon Himself the heavy burden of the Cross so that by His suffering and then death, He might offer on our behalf, as our Eternal High Priest and King, the most worthy sacrifice that will be the source of our salvation and redemption. He offers on our behalf, this perfect offering of love, that gathering us all as our King, He may lead us all towards righteousness and eternal life through Him, and His most loving sacrifice on the Cross.

For that, as we heard in our Gospel passage today and as we all know, the Lord Jesus our King suffered most terribly at the hands of those who persecuted and hated Him. He was mocked and ridiculed by the Romans as the King of the Jews, and it was for this reason that the chief priests and the Sanhedrin persecuted and condemned him through the Romans to death, for back then, it was a capital offence for someone under the Roman dominion and rule to claim kingship and to be a king. Yet, at the same time, ironically, it was by this action that even those same chief priests and all those who persecuted the Lord said that the Lord Jesus was indeed a King. And at that occasion, the Lord also said to Pontius Pilate, that He is indeed a King, and His kingdom is not of this world.

It means that the Lord’s kingship and rule is not bound like any other kingdoms and rulers of this world. His kingship is a Universal Kingship, one that is outside any limits of time, space and place. He rules over all the whole Creation, of all Universe, of all time and beyond time. And this is our King, our Lord and true Master, Whom we celebrate today, and we ought to be blessed and thankful for the Lord has loved us so dearly and wonderfully. He is the One Whom St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians in our second reading today spoke of as the Image of the Unseen God. Through Him, we have seen the manifestation of God, Who has become tangible and approachable by us, and we have therefore seen, witnessed and experienced the presence of our King, our Lord and Master.

He has also gathered us all to be one people and one flock, with Him as our King and the Head of this Church which He has established over in this world, to be a visible presence of the kingdom He has brought unto us, the kingdom of God manifested in this world as the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And as members of this same Church of God, each and every one of us are indeed invited to examine ourselves and our actions, our dealing and our way of life, whether we have truly appreciated and obeyed the Lord as our King, or whether we have ignored Him, abandoned Him and rejected Him for other things in life which we find more important and desirable than to listen and be obedient to our King’s commands, His Law and will. This Sunday as we celebrate this Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, this is what each one of us as Christians are called and expected to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves today to our King anew, renewing our pledge to serve Him, to follow and obey Him wholeheartedly from now on and honour and worship Him as our Lord and King, and enthrone Him in our hearts, in our homes and in our workplaces, in everywhere we are, as our true King and Master, even as we obediently continue to be good and law abiding citizens of this world, and of whichever states we belong to. Let us all be true followers and servants of our King, He Who truly cares for and loves us His people, and Who has given Himself so completely to us, that we may have life through Him, and that we may be reconciled and reunited with Him, in the glory of Heaven and His everlasting kingdom.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the whole Universe, Our Lord and Master, be with us always, and may He remain with us by our side, strengthening and encouraging us that we may always persevere and be strong in faith no matter whatever challenges and trials may come our way. May the Lord bless us all in all of our good efforts, hard work and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 November 2022 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we heard the words of the Lord through the passages of the Sacred Scriptures telling us that there are plenty for all of us as Christians to do and prepare, for the coming of the end of days or the last days will be swift and unexpected by anyone, and we certainly do not want to end up being judged on the wrong side, with those who have been deemed unworthy and due to be damned for eternity. This Sunday we heard these reminders just as we approach the end of this current liturgical year, and just as the flow of time continues on, we are reminded of the eventual end of our earthly existence, as we are all going to have to account for our earthly experiences, actions and all that we say and do before the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard of the prophet Malachi speaking the words of the Lord to the people of God, regarding of the coming of the Messiah and also the coming of the end times, the time of judgment. In that short passage, the message for us all is very clear, that those who live righteously and in accordance with God’s will shall be blessed and be found worthy of God and His eternal dominion, to live and exist with Him in eternal happiness and bliss, while all those who live wickedly and refused to obey God’s will shall face the just punishment and consequences due to their wickedness and evil actions, and will be judged as unworthy and cast out into eternal darkness and damnation, all just for their lack of faith and wickedness.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Luke the words of the Lord to His disciples, followers and all the people, before the Temple of God in Jerusalem, proclaiming the coming of the time of strife and evil for all the people of God, as they all will endure the hardships, challenges, trials and many would have to suffer many losses and even losses of life and deaths, to be endured in the midst of the persecutions and destructions that would come for the faithful people of God. At a glance, the Lord was speaking of the time of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem and the fall of that city to the Romans, which would happen just less than forty years after the Lord has spoken about all those things.

In the years leading to that event, caused by the rebellion of fanatical Jews against the Romans, the faithful Christians, the people of God also suffered because of repressions from the Jewish authorities and also from the local governors and the Roman overlords alike. There were great tumults and revolts, destructions and sufferings, which culminated in the great Jewish Revolt, which led to the deaths of many thousands upon thousands of people, from both sides in the conflict, and ultimately, the fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of that city and the Temple of God itself, and the Jewish people scattered away from their homeland. Amidst all those strife and destruction, it was indeed easy for anyone to claim that the time of the end of the world, the coming of the final judgment was imminent.

What the Lord made known to His disciples and followers was that, in the end of time, at a time that He alone knows, He will come again to judge all the people, all the living and the dead, from the past, the present, and also the future, of all time. No one can foresee or know when the exact timing of this moment that the Lord has spoken of. And He also rightly warned against all those false prophets and all the false messengers and preachers who would try to subvert the message of God’s truth for their own selfish ideas and desires, as the history of the Church and mankind had shown us in these past two millennia. There had been many occasions where people claimed that the calamities and events happening in the world heralded the end of times and the Last Judgment, and some of them even claimed to be the Messiah returned in glory, all of whom proved to be false.

Hence, what we are reminded this Sunday is that, while we have to be vigilant and ever ready for the Lord’s coming, we also should not easily give in to those who promote false ideas and teachings contrary to the truth that the Lord alone has taught to us and revealed to us through His Church, and which had been preserved by the Church with the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the past two millennia as the deposit of our Christian faith and truth. That is why we have to live our lives worthily of the Lord and do whatever we can to obey the Lord and His commandments, a sentiment that is echoed by what we heard in our second reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and area of Thessalonica.

St. Paul spoke of how all of those who preached the word of God and the leaders of the Church all laboured tirelessly for the sake of God and His people, and doing whatever they could to serve the needs of the people, in doing what they could to do the will of God and to glorify Him by their every actions. He told the people that it is what is expected of all Christians to do, to be active in doing their part in whatever ministry, vocation or calling that each one of them had been called into, and all of them should do whatever they can to do what the Lord had commanded them all to do, and not be idle in their lives. That is because being idle is not what our calling as Christians is all about, and we cannot be ignorant of what the Lord Himself has taught and revealed to us, in how we should commit ourselves to the Lord and His Law and commandments.

What is God’s Law? As the Lord Himself had told us, that in essence the whole entirety of the Law can be summarised in two main commandments, that is first of all of our obligation and mission to love the Lord our God, as the only God with all of our strength and might, with all of our abilities and focus, our whole effort and attention, and then at the same time, we should also love our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow mankind, in whatever way we can and in whatever capacity we are in. And yes, it is our Christian calling to love, loving God and loving our brethren, be it our family members, our parents, our siblings and our children, and also our extended family and relatives, or our friends and acquaintances, and even strangers and even more so, those who hated us and persecuted us.

We do not have to look far for example, brothers and sisters in Christ. The Lord Jesus Himself, our Saviour, has shown us the perfect example, of how He reached out to us with most generous and enduring love, despite our lack of interest in Him, and despite our stubbornness and constant rebellions against Him, and also despite our easily succumbing nature, as we fell again and again into temptations and chose sin over obedience to God. He loves us all nonetheless, and reached out even to the worst of sinners, journeying with them and caring for them, calling on them to embrace God’s love and mercy, to sin no more and follow Him. He healed their sickness and wounds, and cast out evil spirits and demons from them. He patiently showed His love even to those who persecuted Him.

He endured the worst and most painful sufferings for our sake, enduring bitter rejections and persecutions, humiliations and torture, having His flesh torn from His Precious Body and Precious Blood spilled over as He endured each wound with patience, and took His Cross upon His shoulder with love, love for each and every one of us. And yes, that includes even those who have persecuted and condemned Him to death, those Pharisees, teachers of the Law, elders and chief priests who were opposed to Him and persecuted Him and His disciples. From His Cross, the Lord Himself prayed on their behalf before the Father, asking Him to forgive them their sins and not to hold what they did against them. Truly I am sure we can see just how beloved we are by God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if God has loved us all so much, that He willingly do all that for us, even to die for our sake, that we may be saved and spared our fate of destruction and damnation, then should we not be stubborn anymore and should emulate His love in our own actions and way of life as well. We should learn to fill ourselves up with more of God’s love, embracing Him with devotion and love, thanking Him for His patience and ever generous love, and also His compassion and mercy in forgiving us our sins. We should also love one another, and learn to forgive one another our mistakes and faults to each other, just as the Lord has forgiven us even the greatest of our sins if we sincerely seek to repent and be forgiven from them. Can we do this, brothers and sisters? Certainly we can. The question is whether we want to do it or not.

Now, on this thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time and the second last Sunday of this current liturgical year, we also commemorate the World Day of the Poor as instituted a few years ago by our currently reigning Pope, Pope Francis. On this day, we are reminded of the poor in our midst, and we are called as Christians to remember our call to love and charity, that each one of us may be more generous in loving those who are poor, caring for them and reaching out for those who have no means to provide for themselves. And not only that, being poor in fact is not just being poor in material wealth and possessions only, as there are also other kinds of poverty that we may not be aware of, and yet are also important for us as Christians to reach out to these people suffering from other forms of poverty.

What am I referring to? The poverty for love and care, as there are those who have adequate or even plenty of material possessions, and yet are lacking in love and care. There are those who are ostracised and rejected for various reasons, and it is to all these that we are called to reach out to as well. There are even those who are poor, because they have no love in them, or have little in the means of empathy, care and compassion for others. As Christians, it is our calling and mission, that each one of us, in our respective areas and capacities, show God’s love embodied in our actions, words and deeds, and through our interactions, so that we may hopefully touch the heart and reveal God’s truth and love to those who are still poor in faith, and love for God and their fellow brethren.

Let us all therefore remember to do our best, in whatever we say and do, to reach out to our less fortunate brethren, those who are poor, be it in material, or love or faith or whatever it is that they are poor in. Let us share with them and help them in whatever way we can. Let us journey together with them and show them that they are truly part of our communities, especially those who are also members of our Church. It is indeed often sad to see how many Christians were so aloof and ignorant of the plight of their fellow Christians. Some of them were even those who manipulated and gained from the sufferings of others, and their fellow brothers and sisters. This is not what we should be doing as Christians, and as those whom God had called and chosen from this world to be His own children, people and flock.

Let us all discern how we can be better Christians, to be more committed and loving disciples of our Lord, so that in all the things we say and do, we may continue to show more of our Lord’s love, and be ever more generous in reaching out to the less fortunate around us, be more selfless in our way of life and turning away from sin and all the temptations to sin. May the Lord continue to guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He empower us all to be good and true disciples, faithful and committed witnesses to His truth and love at all times. Let us help one another, especially the poor among us, to come ever closer to God. Amen.