Sunday Mass homily

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Sunday, 6 November 2022 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are called to remember the faith which we have in the Lord, in His love for us and in His guidance, love and compassion for each one for us, and ultimately, His glorious resurrection from the dead and triumph over sin and death, which is also promised to us. Through His own Resurrection from the dead, the Lord showed all of us that His path leads us to an eternity of life and existence with Him. That is what all of us as Christians believe and ought to have faith wholeheartedly in, as the Resurrection of the Lord is truly the most important and central tenet of our entire Christian faith. Without the Resurrection, then there will be no Christianity and the truth which we hold firm in belief in the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Second Book of Maccabees the tale of what happened during the intense persecution of the faithful people of God during the time of the Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes who commanded that all the people throughout his kingdom ought to abandon the customs of their ancestors and adapt the Greek ways and ideologies, their gods and idols. This led to intense persecution of the Jewish people who remained faithful to the Lord their God, the one true and only God. As we heard in the first reading passage, the whole entire family consisting of a mother and her seven sons were forced to abandon their faith in God and to commit sin against Him before the king himself, but each one of them courageously resisted the king’s efforts and chose to face suffering and death instead of disobeying the Lord.

The king offered them great riches and affluence, safety and good prospects should they decide to abandon the Lord and embrace the pagan faith of the king and the Greeks. That path would have been very tempting indeed, as the other path would lead to certain painful suffering and death. From the perspective of one who seek only to treasure what they have in the world and do not believe in the resurrection, to choose otherwise would have been folly, as that would have gained them nothing but the destruction of their lives and the end of their existence in a most humiliating and painful way no less. But that was because those people had no faith or trust in God. For those who trust in the Lord and believe in His Resurrection, the life and existence after death is even more important than this earthly life.

Earlier in the previous week, in one of the weekday readings from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Philippians, we have all been reminded by the Apostle that our ‘true’ citizenship is in Heaven, and that we should eagerly await the coming of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. St. Paul therefore reminded all of us that our earthly existence, as good or as bad as they may be, are merely temporary, and in the end, what comes after is truly what matters. We have just celebrated Allhallowtide earlier in the last week, in which we rejoice in the glory of all the saints, the holy men and women of God who have merited the glory of Heaven on All Saints’ Day, and also the holy souls in purgatory, the souls of all the faithful departed from this world, our beloved ones and countless others, on All Souls’ Day. On those days we remember those who have gone from this world to the afterlife.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord during His encounter and argument with the Sadducees, who opposed Him and questioned Him regarding the belief in the resurrection from the dead. For context, the Sadducees were one of the two very influential and powerful groups within the Jewish community, the other being the Pharisees. While the Pharisees were the intellectuals and those who were very particular in maintaining the strict observance of the Law of Moses, and was very deep into Jewish culture, customs and beliefs, in the spiritual belief in the resurrection from the dead and in Angels, the Sadducees stood at the other end of the spectrum, as they did not believe in resurrection from the dead, Angels or any other spiritual beings or matters.

The Sadducees were influential group of people composed of elders and all those who were likely very much secularised and back then, Hellenised, and influenced by philosophical thinking and ideas of the Greco-Roman world at that time. They likely saw the world as one that is purely material and they saw their existence in this world as the sole existence they had, and hence, nothing spiritual or whatever cannot be explained by the senses, or any belief in the life after death. The Sadducees made a reference to the case when according to the Law, when a woman’s husband died and they had no child, then one of the deceased husband’s brother by Law was compelled to take the widow as his own wife, and the first child born of that union was considered as the deceased man’s child.

Therefore the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection from the dead presented their case before the Lord, questioning Him of what would happen then in the case when all seven brothers passed away before they had any children with the woman, and whose husband the wife would be in the afterlife, she was legally married to all the seven brothers. It was then that the Lord rebuked the Sadducees for their narrow-minded attitude and lack of faith in God, and for their stubborn refusal to believe in the resurrection from the dead. The Lord told them that the way that they thought was essentially very worldly in nature, that they thought only of worldly matters like properties, inheritance, relationships and other things, which led them to question their faith and the truth about the resurrection in the first place.

Essentially, unless one understands our true nature and purpose in this world, then we are likely bound to fall into the temptations of worldly pleasures and desires. And if we understand and realise just how strong those temptations can be, then we will be more vigilant in resisting the allure of those temptations and evils. The Sadducees were too attached to their worldly desires, ambitions and ego, that they could not detach themselves from those things, and they could not even imagine what life would be without all those things. Hence, they doubted the Lord and refused to believe in Him, even though He has shown them His wisdom and truth, His power and wonders, through the many miracles that He has performed before all of the people, including the Sadducees themselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our existence in this world is to glorify God and to serve Him. We wander in this world precisely because of our disobedience against God as we would remember from the beginning of the Book of Genesis. But that is not something that is permanent, as our separation from God is due to sin, and God Who loves each and every one of us very dearly, has promised, reached out to us and extended to us His salvation through none other than Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God, Our Lord and Saviour. All these He had done for us so that we may not perish and be lost to Him forever, and that we can be reconciled with Him, once and for all, and be reunited with Him, to enjoy finally what He has always intended for us, to be the partakers in the most generous love and graceful blessings, in the everlasting life with Him.

That was why the Lord sent to us His only Begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Who endured the most painful sufferings, the most humiliating treatment and the worst of rejections and curses from the very ones He had come to save, so that through whatever He had experienced, He may save us all from everlasting death and damnation. He willingly bore upon Himself the burdens and punishments due to our sins, and He endured those pain and bitterness all because He loves us. And by His suffering and death, we are healed, and by offering Himself as the most worthy sacrifice and offering in atonement for our sins, Christ as our Eternal High Priest has opened for us the gates of Heaven and everlasting life. He has conquered sin and death, and then by His glorious Resurrection afterwards, He proved to us all, to all those who doubted Him, that there is indeed life and existence after death.

By His gift to us of His own Most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist, as we all partake in this Most Holy Communion, we have become parts of His own Body, the Church of God. And thus, we have also become sharers in His Passion, suffering and death. And through that, we have been made to pass through the gates of life and death, and just as the Lord Himself has risen gloriously from the dead, hence, we all too, shall rise with Him, on the last day. This is what we solemnly believe as Christians, as one of the core tenets of our faith. Sin has lead us into separation from God and death as our just punishment, but this is not permanent and everlasting, thanks to God Who has reached out to us and showed us His love. Of course, unfortunately, there are those who reject the Lord’s generous offer of mercy and love, to the very end. It is all these people who will face condemnation and an eternity of suffering in the end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday’s Scripture readings and discourse serve as reminders for us, on whether we have truly appreciated and understood our faith as we should have. How many of us truly believe in the resurrection ourselves? How many of us truly appreciate how important the Lord’s suffering, death and resurrection are to us? And we must not forget that although we may think that we believe in the resurrection, but our actions and deeds, our way of life may speak otherwise. What am I referring to? I am referring to the fact that many among us Christians spent a lot of time and effort, a lot of attention in trying to garner and preserve for ourselves worldly goods and things, spending a lot of effort and time in building up for ourselves a worldly treasure and wealth.

How many of us spent a lot of effort in trying to make ourselves look young, handsome or beautiful, or trying to make ourselves look better and more acceptable by the world? Many of us are often worried of aging and other things, and spent a lot of attention on these. And in doing so, we often neglect our responsibilities as Christians, especially those with regards to our care and love for one another. Some of us even hurt others, manipulate and exploit others just because we want to gain more for ourselves, and all these led to our selfish actions that are unbecoming of us as Christians, as those who profess to believe in God. The Lord has taught us and shown us how we should act and behave, and if we continue to do what we have done, how can we then call ourselves as true and genuine Christians?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord, that from now on, we should dedicate our effort and time to serve Him better, to live our lives more worthily, and trust in Him more, knowing that in Him alone lies our hope and the path to eternal joy and bliss. We have to grow more in our faith and trust in Him, so that we may put Him in the centre of our lives and existence. Let us all no longer be distracted by the many things that often keep us away from God’s love and grace. And may the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, that our faith and belief in Him will ever be stronger, and that we will be worthy of Him, and be reconciled and reunited with Him, in the glory of everlasting life. Amen.

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Sunday, 30 October 2022 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are presented with the great love and compassion that the Lord has for each and every one of us, without exception. This Sunday all of us are reminded that God’s love for us is truly generous, and He has always desired to be reconciled and reunited with us. Yet, it was often our own attitudes, stubbornness and wickedness in life which became serious barriers and obstacles preventing us from finding our way back towards the Lord and His salvation. That is why as we recall our readings today, we should spend this time to reflect on what we should do as Christians in embracing the love of God wholeheartedly.

In our first reading this Sunday taken from the Book of Wisdom, we heard the reminder from the author of this Book of Wisdom, of the great mercy and compassion which God has willingly showed all of us His beloved ones. This Book of Wisdom, although also known as the Wisdom of Solomon, was written during a much later time that Solomon’s reign, and was likely composed by several authors throughout the Jewish diaspora which was scattered after the destruction of both of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The authors of the Book of Wisdom therefore could draw upon the historical facts and examples from how God showed mercy and compassion on His people after they had all faced their just punishment, for their many sins and wickedness.

Back then, the people of God in both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah had not been obedient to God, rebelled against Him and followed their own paths rather than following what God had told them to do through His Law and commandments, and they also persecuted the many prophets, messengers and servants of God sent to them to remind them to return to the Lord. They refused to listen to the reminders from God’s servants and continued to live wickedly, worshipping pagan idols and gods, forsaking the Law and the commandments that their ancestors had kept. They spurned and rejected God’s love, and as a result, they had to face the just punishment, of having their kingdoms, cities and lands destroyed by their enemies, and them being brought into exile in far-off lands.

Yet, God has not forgotten or abandoned His people, although they had first forgotten and abandoned Him first. He did not treat them badly or hated them for what they had done, but He continued to care for them and loved them tenderly and generously as He had always done in the past. That is the proof of just how loving God has been towards us, and truly how ungrateful and unbecoming our attitudes had been, in how we and our ancestors and predecessors often behaved, in disobeying the words and commandments of the Lord. The Lord has always been patient in loving us, and yet, we have only treated Him with contempt and disdain. The Lord forgave His people when they turned back towards Him in regret and sorrow, and brought them all back to their homeland and reestablished them all there.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the classic story of the encounter between the Lord Jesus and Zaccheus the tax collector. In that occasion, just as the Lord was about to enter into Jericho, the man named Zaccheus, a notorious tax collector, wanted to come and see Jesus, and despite his physical challenges, being very short in stature, he climbed up a tree in order to see the Lord. The Lord knew that Zaccheus was looking out for Him, and called him down from the tree, and told him that He would want to come to his house for a meal with him there. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were there unsurprisingly criticised the Lord for this action, for having embraced a tax collector, and a notorious one at that, and even asked to have a meal at the latter’s house.

Back then, during the time of the Lord Jesus, we have to understand that tax collectors were often reviled and hated, simply because they were doing their work in collecting taxes both for the local rulers like king Herod and others, as well as ultimately the taxes for the Roman overlord of the whole region. At that time, the whole region of Judea, Samaria, Galilee and beyond were under the total dominion of the Roman Empire. Many among the people disliked themselves being ruled by the Romans and other local rulers appointed to rule over them, and the taxes which made people’s livelihood difficult did not help to endear those rulers to the people. Hence, by association, the tax collectors were also often hated because of the nature of their work.

They were often treated as collaborators and even traitors to the nation and the people. This was especially true for the case of how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law treated the tax collectors and all those others whom they often deemed to be unworthy of God and His salvation. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, those people who often took great pride in their knowledge, piety, practices and prestige in the community, and they always looked down on others who they deemed to be inferior to them. The tax collectors in particular were among the lowest in the hierarchy of the people of God in the sight of the Pharisees and the elders, as they were considered as scum and traitors, unworthy of God and His grace.

But they had forgotten that God loved all the people all the same, regardless of their status, background or stature in the eyes of men and the world. Even the worst of sinners are still capable of being saved, just as the Lord Himself had willingly extended His generous offer of mercy and forgiveness even to those who were most despicable and unfaithful in their ways. The Lord still looked kindly upon His beloved people even after they had betrayed Him, abandoned Him and rejected Him, and persecuted those who were sent to them in order to remind them. What matters therefore is not how righteous one is compared to the others, but rather, whether those who have sinned and disobeyed against God were willing to shed off their past existence and embrace God once again with love.

The Lord showed to all of the people, as well as all of us through His interactions with Zaccheus that no one is beyond God’s mercy and love. Zaccheus did not just welcome the Lord but he also publicly announced before everyone assembled, the Lord Himself, the other people, and the same Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were there criticising the Lord for welcoming and embracing him, that he would return all those whom he had once cheated and treated unjustly, not just equal but more than what they have been owed by him. He essentially made a public declaration of faith and repentance from his sins, and made a public commitment to be faithful to God, before all the people.

That is what the key of God’s mercy and compassion, forgiveness and grace is all about. God is always ever merciful and generous with His compassion, and He is always ready to welcome us back to His embrace. Even the worst of sinners and all those whom we might have deemed unworthy or undeserving of salvation and God’s grace, are in fact recipients of His love and mercy. We must not forget that even many among the greatest of the saints were once great sinners themselves, and some of them were murderers, idolaters, adulterers, and tax collectors among others. One of the Lord’s Twelve Apostles and one of the Four Evangelists, St. Matthew, was a tax collector like Zaccheus. St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the four great original Doctors of the Church, was a hedonist and a Manichaean unbeliever in his youth, and who also fathered a son out of wedlock.

There are still many other examples of great sinners and all those perhaps deemed unworthy and undeserving of the Lord who have turned over a new leaf and embraced God wholeheartedly, like Saul, the chief persecutor of early Christians, who encountered and was called by the Lord to be His disciple. He abandoned his past mistakes and wayward life as a misguided young Pharisee, and became one of the Lord’s greatest champion and defender, as St. Paul the Apostle, whose many Epistles are part of our New Testament today, showing his work and concern for many of the faithful throughout his ministry. St. Paul embarked on many missionary journeys and did many evangelising work for the good of those souls that had been lost from God, calling on all of them to repent their sins and return to the Lord, and also for those who did not know God to find out more about Him.

Through these examples of our holy predecessors, of the sinners turned saints, I hope all of us can realise better that the Church and the Body of Christian faithful are not made up of only saints who have been deemed righteous and worthy. Those Pharisees and teachers of the Law wanted salvation and God’s blessings and graces only for themselves, the ‘righteous’ ones, while others whom they did not agree with, were those who were unworthy of God’s salvation and grace. The Church is in fact more like a ‘hospital’ for sinners, as God’s mercy, love and compassion bring about healing for the souls of sinners, and where God called all of them to return to Him with repentance and through His forgiveness by which they are all made whole once again.

In our second reading today, we are reminded by St. Paul in his Epistle and letter to the Church and faithful in Thessalonica, that God is the One Who makes us worthy of Him, and not we who make ourselves worthy of Him instead. Our works and deeds, all reflect the nature of our disposition, our faith and our adherence to God and His ways, and not self-justificatory in nature or making us righteous by themselves. That is why it is important that all of us as Christians we must first of all be humble and put God at the centre of our whole life and existence. We should not let the temptations of pride, ego and worldly desires and ambitions to mislead us down the slippery path towards damnation.

We must not let our pride and ego, our hubris and ambition to make us into a self-enclosed and inward looking Church, where only the righteous and the elites have the right to be saved or to be in the presence of God. Let us not forget that each and every one of us are sinners ourselves, regardless of how serious our sins and mistakes may be. And God is always ever ready to welcome us back to His presence and heal us, and He is always patient with us. But it is we who have always shut the door before Him, ignored Him, and even made it difficult for others to follow Him and be forgiven by Him. That is how we end up falling deeper and deeper into our flawed and misguided ways, and unless we make the conscious efforts to return to the Lord with faith, we may end up getting more distant from Him, as we are full of our pride and ego instead of what should have been love for God and for our fellow brothers and sisters.

Let us all hence commit ourselves to a renewal in our faith and a change in our practices, much as our great and holy predecessors had committed themselves to change their ways, from their past wicked and sinful ways into new, faithful and committed way of life in God’s grace and presence. Each and every one of us should also heed the examples of our predecessors and strive our best to live our lives worthily of the Lord and also helping those around us who are struggling in their journey and life. We should not turn a blind eye to their plight, and we should not ignore them or worse still, acting the way many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done, in ostracising those whom we deem to be less worthy than we are. Remember, that they are our brothers and sisters and are equally beloved by God.

Each one of us as Christians ought to take care of our fellow brethren, and we should always do our best to reach out to others who are in need of guidance and help in our faith. Let us all do our part to be the faithful witnesses of Our Lord’s truth and resurrection, and be the wonderful beacons of God’s light in our world and community today. Let us make the Church of God a truly living, vibrant and missionary Church, one that is always ready to show God’s love, compassion and mercy to more and more people out there. May all of us as God’s people, as His Church, and as those who are called as Christians, be the genuine followers and disciples of God, in all of our lives and actions. May God be with us all and may He strengthen each one of us to be ever courageous and committed in our journey of faith through life. May all of us remain humble and concerned for our fellow brethren in faith, at all times, so that we may always work together to glorify God through our lives and actions. Amen.

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Sunday, 23 October 2022 : Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us heard of the reminder that pride and ego, hubris and ambition have no place amongst us Christians and those things will only lead to our downfall and doom, if we allow those to control our lives and our actions. We have been shown and taught what it truly means to be Christians, in our daily living and actions, and if we take heed of what the Lord had reminded us, through the Scripture passages today, we should do our best to do His will, and to be humble and be focused on Him, and not to give in to the temptations of our human pride and desire, which had become the bane and the obstacle for so many of our fellow brothers and sisters, past and present.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Sirach, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking on how He listened to the prayers of the faithful and how He uplifted and strengthened the humble and the just, while at the same time, God condemns and crushes those who were proud and mighty, those who oppressed others and who did not live their lives in accordance with His ways. He judged unworthy those who were merciless and those who have treated their brethren with disdain and lack of respect, those who have acted with violence upon others and those who have exploited their fellow men. All these have no place in God’s Kingdom and Presence.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard the parable which the Lord Jesus mentioned regarding the tax collector and the Pharisee, in which both were praying at the same time at the House of God. We heard how the Pharisee looked down upon his fellow man, the tax collector, considering him as a sinner while praising his own self-righteousness and virtues, as was common at that time. Back then, the Pharisees were considered the elites of the Jewish society, very well-respected and even feared by the other members of the community for their knowledge, intellect, power and influence.

On the other hand, the tax collectors were often ostracised and prejudiced against for their work in collecting taxes for the rulers and for the Romans. They were seen as great sinners and greedy people unworthy of God and His salvation, and they were often shunned by the community, especially hated and rejected by the Pharisees and the elders, who saw them as abominations and traitors to the nation. As such, this prejudice was shown in the Lord’s parable, as He highlighted the folly of such prejudice and narrow-sighted and narrow-minded attitude. The tax collector, fully aware of his sins, was not even willing to look up, embarrassed and shamed by his sins, while the Pharisee, though a sinner himself, lauded his achievements and not only that, but also slandered others before God.

That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is how dangerous pride and ego is for us, as well as human desire and greed. The Pharisee in the parable fell to the trap of his own pride, thinking that he was better than the tax collector, and in doing so, he turned inwards, focusing on himself and his own achievements, which resulted in his prideful and self-congratulatory attitude, which led to him being focused so much on himself and so full of himself, that he failed to see that he himself was also a sinner like the tax collector requiring God’s mercy and redemption. Instead, he thought that everything he did made him worthy of God and that he was superior than others who did less than what he had done.

This is not what each one of us as Christians should be doing. As Christians, all of us have been shown and taught by the Lord, first and foremost to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all of our might, and not to love ourselves more than how we love God and others. As Christians we are called and in fact challenged to show our love to one another, to our fellow brothers and sisters, reminding ourselves that God has been so kind, loving, compassionate and merciful in reaching out to us and in showing us His providence and love. He has never given up on us even whenever we have always been rebellious and disobedient in our attitudes in life and despite how many times we have refused to listen to His servants.

But often times we shut the Lord out of our lives because we were too busy and preoccupied with the many things and matters we have in life, and we were often too full of pride and arrogance to admit that we can be mistaken, imperfect or wrong in our ways, and that we ourselves are in need of help and healing. We tend to lose sight on what truly matters, as we have not allowed the Lord to be the true centre and focus of our lives. Instead, we put our own ego and ambitions, our own pride and desires, our attachments for worldly things and goods on the pedestal, and we end up turning inwards and became like how the Pharisee in the Lord’s parable had behaved. That is not the path that a Christian like us should be following.

Instead, we have to realise first of all that we are sinners in need of God’s help and healing, and through God, all of us can gain the sure passage towards eternal life and glory. We have to trust in the Lord just as we remembered what St. Paul told St. Timothy in his Epistle to him today, in our second reading passage. St. Paul encouraged St. Timothy, reminding him of all that the Lord had done to him, that despite all the challenges and the trials that he had to endure, God has always been by his side, protecting him and providing for him, encouraging him and guiding him through the difficult and hard times. He had done what he had been called to do in evangelisation and proclaiming the Good News of God to people of various nations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we recall and internalise the message contained within the passages of the Sacred Scriptures which we heard this Sunday, all of us are reminded to focus ourselves on God and not on ourselves and our own vanity and desires. And that is part of why the Church commemorates and celebrates Mission Sunday today, reminding us all that each and every one of us as Christians, all of us are called to be missionary in our lives and attitudes, to be life-giving and to be faithful witnesses of the Lord and our Christian faith at every possible opportunities. Each and every one of us as part of the same Church of God, as part of this same one Body of Christ are expected and called to be evangelising and missionary disciples and followers of Christ.

Now, what does it mean for us to be missionary and to fulfil our missions, brothers and sisters in Christ? It does not mean that we have to go and embark on mission to far away parts of the world, preaching the Good News of the Gospels and the Christian faith. Yes, there were and are still many people who have committed their lives to be full-time missionaries, as priests and religious members of the various orders involved in the missionary works all around the world, operating the various ministries and missions that the Church has placed all around the world, but those are not the only ones who should be involved in the mission of the Church.

On the contrary, it is the responsibility and integral part of being Christians that we have to dedicate our time, effort and attention to be true and living witnesses of our Christian faith and beliefs in God, in our every day moments, in living our best to serve the Lord and to do His will, not for our own glory and fame, but for the greater glory of God. Each and every one of us who partakes in the Body of Christ and are part of this Holy Communion of all the faithful and the saints, all of us are sharing in the same mission that Our Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted to His Church and His disciples, and that is to proclaim the Good News He has revealed to the world and to go forth and baptise all the people of all the nations in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We do not have to do great and marvellous things. What matters is for us to do the best even in the smallest and simplest things we do, such that in all of those, we truly proclaim the Lord not only just by our words, but even more importantly, by our actions and deeds. If we truly embody our faith and beliefs in all of our actions, and do our best to uphold ourselves in virtue and justice, in obedience to God and righteousness, then naturally all those who see us, witness us, hear us and interact with us will come to know the Lord through us, and we may be surprised but our every actions do matter, and they can have great impact on the salvation of many souls.

And we are also reminded not to be elitist and self-righteous, as the example of the Pharisee in the parable of the Lord warned us. We must not let pride and our human greed and desire to be a serious hindrance and obstacle in our path towards God and His salvation. As long as we strive and do our best to resist those many temptations all around us, we will be able to remain faithful to the Lord, remembering as always that we are all sinners after all, all of whom the Lord had shown love, compassion and mercy on. The Lord has loved us all from the very beginning, and He does not mind even our rebellious and our stubbornness, but keep on reaching out to us. Therefore, we too should not be prejudiced against those who we may have deemed to be less than worthy than us. We should not forget that we ourselves have received great grace of God’s forgiveness, and if all even the greatest of sinners receive this love and mercy from God, why we cannot do the same as well?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore live our lives with genuine faith and dedication, and be good Christian missionaries in our every works and actions, so that we may genuinely proclaim the truth of God to the people of all the nations. We have to live our lives worthily and faithfully at all times, and be the beacons of Christ’s light in our world today. Let us all therefore dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord, and may the Lord continue to guide us and bless us in every moments, and in our every good efforts and endeavours, as this Mission Sunday ought to remind us of our calling and mission in life. May God strengthen and empower us to be ever worthy to be in His Presence, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 16 October 2022 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are all reminded of the need for us to trust in the Lord, our Strength and our Hope, our Protector and Guide, our Light and our Rock in this life. God is the source of all of our strength and inspiration, and through Him we shall gain knowledge and wisdom, righteousness and justice, and we shall be triumphant together with Him in the end, if we all trust in Him and continue to put ourselves in His hands. We should not allow fear to affect us or distract us in our journey of faith in this life, and we should learn to trust more in God and in His power, to lead us to victory in the constant battle for our souls and for our fate.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Exodus the story of how the Israelites were fighting against the Amalekites during the time of their Exodus out of Egypt and journey towards the Promised Land. The Amalekites were bitter enemies of the people of Israel, and they were constantly mentioned throughout the early part of the Old Testament as enemies of the people of God. In that occasion the Amalekites went on the offensive and struck at the Israelites first at Rephidim, and therefore Moses as the leader of the Israelites told the leaders to fight back against the Amalekites, while he himself stood atop a hill holding up the staff of judgment, to show the people of God that God was with them.

As long as Moses raised his hands and staff, the Israelites were winning and drove the Amalekites back, and when he lowered his hands, the Amalekites fought back. Thus Aaron and Hur supported Moses’ hands, and in the end the Israelites triumphed greatly over the Amalekites. God was with His people that day, and through His providence, the Israelites won a great and mighty victory against their enemies. Historically, the Amalekites having lived in the region longer and been more suited to the land, would have had great advantages against the people of God, but yet they were defeated because God was not on their side.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to the people and to His disciples using a parable regarding an evil judge who was very proud and stubborn, and yet, that same judge was coerced and persuaded to address the demands of an old woman who persistently dogged and demanded the evil judge to pursue her case and fight for her. As highlighted by the Lord, He used this example to show how if even that kind of evil and wicked person, full of ego, pride and selfishness, could be moved to act for another given enough persistence from the other party, then all the more that the Lord Who loves us very dearly will listen to us, care for us and provide for our needs.

Through these comparisons, the Lord wanted us all to know that first of all, in case we are still not aware of it yet, there are always battle and conflict raging all around us, all the time, for our souls. What is this battle all about? It is the battle and warfare constantly fought between those who seek our salvation, namely the Lord, His Angels and saints, with those who seek our downfall and destruction, namely Satan, the great enemy, also known as the devil, and his fellow numerous evil and wicker spirits, the fallen angels of God, and all those who have rebelled against the Lord, and are now looking for ways to bring about our downfall as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, against these mighty enemies and forces, we cannot face them alone on our own. We cannot win against them without the guidance and strength from God. But with God, our victory and triumph will be certain, for no matter how mighty those evil and wicked spirits might be, ultimately all of them were nothing compared to God, Who is also their Creator, Lord and Master. Without God, we will end up being easy prey for those evil spirits and demons, all of whom will then come to snatch us from the path towards salvation and grace in God. Like the Amalekites, they would have won against us if not for God and His Angels ever standing by our side protecting us.

If we stand by God, and remain faithful and true to Him, we shall be triumphant as how the Israelites beat the Amalekites and crushed their forces. But too often we carry on our battles alone and not trusting enough in God, as we prefer to do things our own way, and this more often than not led us to the path towards damnation and our downfall. By ourselves, we are nothing and without God, we can do nothing. All of our achievements and glory, our power and might all are possible in fact because we have been given the talents, abilities, opportunities and more by God.

St. Paul in his Epistle to St. Timothy, part of which is our second reading today, spoke of how we have been presented with the Scriptures, the Word of God and the Wisdom of God as passed down to us through Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit that He has promised to us, and which came down upon the Apostles and the Church at Pentecost. Through these gifts from the Lord, each and every one of us have in fact been given the means to do the will of God, to fight and resist against those who have desired to see our destruction and downfall. The Lord has always been with us and He has always provided us with what we need.

Unfortunately, the greatest issue here is that, many of us often did not have faith in God. Many of us did not have that firm trust in the Lord which led to us seeking for source of consolation and support from various alternative sources but not from the Lord Himself. We are also often too proud to admit that we are in need of help or assistance. The Lord has always reached out to us with love, and yet we often ignored Him and refused to embrace Him and His love. This is unfortunately the reason why so many people ended up remaining in the state of sin and failing to return to the Lord, all because they depended on themselves and their strength only, and did not trust in the Lord to help them.

We often do not realise that all we need is to ask, and the Lord will answer us. If only that we have more trust and faith in Him, everything will be possible for us. That is why this Sunday as we listened to these readings from the Scriptures, we are reminded to have more faith and trust in the Lord, and no longer be ignorant of the threat of the various temptations, persuasions, and all the forces of the devil and the evil spirits arrayed against us. We have to trust in the Lord to guide us in our path in life, and we have to allow Him to show us the path going forward, following Him to wherever He will lead us to. We must open our hearts and minds to listen to the Lord from now on.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore call upon the Lord with faith, calling on our beloved Lord, Master, Creator and Father to be with us, to help us and strengthen us in our journey of life, and to give us the necessary strength and perseverance to endure the various challenges in life that we may have to face especially as disciples and followers of the Lord. And let us also do our very best in our various capacities and in the different opportunities provided to us to do God’s will, to serve Him faithfully through our actions, words and deeds. All of us are reminded to be active in the living of our faith and to entrust ourselves to God’s providence and love.

May the Lord be with us always and may He empower each one of us to be able to live wholeheartedly and sincerely in His Presence, following His Law and commandments at all times. May God bless us all and may He guide us all into everlasting life, and give us the inheritance that He has promised us His faithful ones. Amen.

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Sunday, 9 October 2022 : Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to heed the messages which the Lord through His Church wants us all to listen to and understand as we are reminded to entrust ourselves to Him and to have faith in Him, the One and only One Who is our Hope and Redemption. Through the Lord alone we can find the path to eternal life and freedom from suffering and sin, and that is what the Lord wants us all to know through our reading passages this Sunday, as we heard of the miraculous healing of people suffering from leprosy.

In our first reading today, taken from the Second Book of Kings of Israel and Judah, we heard of the story of Naaman the Syrian, the great general and champion of the King of Aram, the northern neighbour and enemy of the Israelites, who unfortunately suffered from leprosy, which was then a dreaded disease that was considered unclean and the sufferer often shunned by the community due to its hideous appearance and not only that, but the leprosy itself also gradually spread and eventually could lead to death unless it was treated. Some types of leprosy also had no cure at all, and thus its sufferer had to endure a lifetime of suffering and rejection by the community.

The King of Aram sought the help of the King of Israel back then, as he heard how the prophet Elisha in Israel was well-known for his miracles and powers, and how he had healed people who came to him, and thus, it was hoped that Naaman himself could also be healed from his leprosy condition. Naaman travelled all the way to Israel and sought for Elisha, and prior to what we heard in today’s first reading, when the prophet Elisha told him to immerse himself in the River Jordan seven times, Naaman initially refused to do so in pride, but eventually was convinced by his servant to obey the instructions of Elisha, and that brought him to be healed from his leprosy.

Naaman was very grateful for the healing, and he offered to give generously to Elisha, who refused it, saying that he only did as was asked of him by God, and instead therefore, Naaman promised to carry the soil from the land where he was healed, in order to built an Altar to God, committing himself therefore to worship the one and only true God, the God of Israel. It is here that we must take note that there is an irony there considering how the prophet Elisha himself was considered rather as a pariah in Israel, and if we read on the earlier passage before today’s part, we can see the reluctance on the side of the King of Israel and his officials in helping Naaman to find the prophet Elisha.

The prophet Elisha had been labouring for years, continuing the good works started by his predecessor Elijah, calling on the people of the northern kingdom of Israel to return to God and abandon their sinful and wicked ways, without much success, and there we ourselves heard how it was a Syrian, an Aramaean, the great general of the kingdom that was a bitter rival of the Israelites who actually submitted himself to the Lord and His prophet, and glorified the Lord, promising to honour Him and building an Altar to Him, thanking God for all that had been done to him, when the very people of God in Israel refused to do so, for such a long time.

We heard something similar in our Gospel passage this Sunday as well, when we heard of the Lord Jesus being approached by ten lepers during His journey through Samaria and Galilee, coincidentally the very same place where the prophet Elisha was ministering to, in the northern kingdom of Israel. The ten lepers asked the Lord to heal them of their leprosy, and the Lord instructed the ten men to go and show themselves to the priest, much as how Elisha instructed Naaman to immerse himself seven times in the River Jordan. The ten men went as they were commanded, and as they did so, they were healed from their leprosy, and as we heard, when they realised this, they all were exuberant and joyful, and went on their way except for one of them, a Samaritan, who went back and seek the Lord to thank Him.

Like Naaman the Syrian, the Samaritan man was also considered as a foreigner by the Jewish people, the descendants of the people of God, the Israelites. The Samaritans were often ostracised and being prejudiced against, and they were deemed as godless pagans and people who were unworthy of God, His grace and salvation. They were often shunned and rejected by the Jewish people, and it was considered taboo and unclean for someone of Jewish descent to speak to the Samaritans, as what the Gospels themselves told us in other occasions as well. Yet, as the Lord showed us, only the Samaritan man returned to give thanks to God while the other people did not make the same effort to show their gratitude to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are henceforth reminded of several important things that we need to take note of. Firstly, the leprosy itself, which was and is still a disease that can spread from person to person, and which ostracised the people who suffered from it from the community. Now, sin is sometimes referred to as the leprosy of the soul and just as leprosy, it can spread and afflict more and more parts of our being. And sin is even more dangerous than leprosy because while leprosy only afflicts our physical bodies and will not harm our souls, minds and hearts and our whole beings, sin afflicts and corrupts everything, and sin can lead us to everlasting death, from which there can be no escape.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because sin leads us to disobedience against God and it can draw us further and further away from His path, and we may end up falling more and more towards eternal damnation in hell, separated and cast away from God, all because of our own conscious and deliberate rejection of God and His ways, and because the allure and the power of sin can be so great and difficult for us to free ourselves from, unless we make the conscious effort to seek the Lord out to help us, just as Naaman and the ten lepers sought for help from Elisha and the Lord Jesus respectively. And we must know that only God alone can forgive us from our sins, and He alone can heal us from this most terrible affliction.

Then this Sunday, we are also reminded to be thankful to God for all that He had done for us, just as how Naaman and the Samaritan man thanked the Lord for all that had been done to them. Often times, we do not even remember God and ignored Him all throughout and remembering Him only when we have the need for Him. That is what many of us often did, that we only remember the Lord when we want Him to do something for us, to help us and to grant us our petitions and wishes, and otherwise, in good times, we ignore Him and forget about Him. The Lord has done so many things for us, giving us life, providing for us, protecting from harm’s path and helping us when we fall astray. Yet, we often ignore all these or did not realise them because we are often too preoccupied with ourselves and our many attachments in life. And God is also often not a priority in our lives.

We have to remember all that God has so lovingly done upon us, and St. Paul in his Epistle to St. Timothy in our second reading today had made clear how through Christ, all of us have been brought to freedom, liberated from the tyranny and chains of sin and evil, and through Him and His willingness to bear the burdens of our sins upon His Cross, we have been made sharers of His death, in dying to our past life of sinfulness and evil, and thereafter, sharing in His glorious Resurrection by which He had conquered death. All of us have received this assurance of eternal life and glory through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who has come upon us and bestowed on us such great joy and hope.

That is why today we are all reminded to be vigilant against sin and to come and seek the Lord with renewed vigour so that each and every one of us may draw ever closer to God. And not only that, but each one of us as members of the Church should also help one another, caring for each other without prejudice and bias, just as what the readings have reminded us earlier today. The Samaritans and Naaman were both belonging to the group of those whom the people of God in the past often looked down upon and were biased upon, and yet, ironically, it was them who gave thanks to God and remembered to show their gratitude to Him.

This is why each one of us must not have that pride and ego or self-righteous attitude in us, which can often end up in being elitists and in trying to exclude others whom we think and consider to be less worthy than we are. Brothers and sisters in Christ, each one of us are sinners, and it is by the grace of God that we have been made worthy, and we should not make any judgment on others, especially when we do so with the intention to glorify ourselves and to discredit others whom we disagree or dislike, because of our preexisting biases or prejudices. Instead, we should help one another and inspire each other in our way of life, so that we may help to bring ourselves ever closer to God in all the things we say and do.

Let us all as members of God’s Church, as fellow Christians, do our very best to do God’s will and to seek His forgiveness and mercy for our many sins. Let us all draw ever closer to Him, by spending more time with Him through prayer, and by dedicating our efforts and attention to Him. May the Lord continue to guide us and bless us in all things so that we may always ever be close to Him and so that our entire existence may be filled with God’s grace and blessings, and we too may be inspiration and hope for one another in our journey together towards God. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 October 2022 : Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are reminded to be ever faithful and committed to God, in our daily living, even if we are beset by various troubles and trials, challenges and obstacles. We should not be afraid or be deterred by the opposition and the hardships which we may encounter in our journey of faith through life. We must remain resolute in our faith and dedication to God, believing wholeheartedly in His path and not be easily swayed and tempted by all the traps and the other things that the devil and his wicked allies and forces had placed before us all. We must hold on to that faith which we should have in God.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Habakkuk in which the Lord spoke and interacted with Habakkuk, a prophet who was active in the land of Judah during its final years, and whose life and ministry revolved around the sufferings and oppressions endured by the followers of the Lord at the land where the people refused to believe in God, where the prophets were persecuted. And not only that, Habakkuk was also referring to the sufferings of the people themselves, who at that time were brought under the dominion of the Babylonians and their king, Nebuchadnezzar.

The prophet Habakkuk pleaded before God for His intervention and help, saying that he and the people have suffered, and were in need of God and His help. But God reassured Habakkuk and also the people, by saying that, whatever He would reveal through Habakkuk himself, everything would come in due time, just as whatever He had spoken through His earlier prophets like Amos and Isaiah, among others. Everything will happen as God wills it, and eventually, all those who remain faithful in God will be redeemed and will enjoy the fullness of His grace and love. God will not forget or abandon those who seek Him, even if they themselves had abandoned or forgotten about Him before.

In our Psalm today, we heard the exhortation for us all, God’s beloved people to rejoice in Him, in His faithfulness and love. We are all reminded to focus our attention to Him, to serve and glorify Him, and to praise and worship Him at all times. We are also reminded not to be like those who rebelled against God as at Massah and Meribah. At Massah and Meribah, the very ungrateful Israelites rebelled against God and complained against Him, because they refused to obey Him and follow Him, and complaining that they were deprived of what they wanted to have, when God had taken care of them day after day, month after month, and year after year, feeding them all and guiding them to the Promised Land.

We are all reminded through these that often times, we are ourselves our own greatest opponent and obstacle, especially in our pride, ego and desires. It is our pride and ego which prevented us from seeing how faulty our lives can be, and led us to stubbornness and rebellious attitudes, as we often did not want to admit that we could have been wrong in our ways. We ended up refusing God’s ever generous offer of love and mercy, hardening our hearts against Him as what the Israelites had done in the past, at Massah and Meribah and during the time of the prophets like Habakkuk. Their refusal to abandon their pride and ego led to their downfall.

While their attachments to their desires, to the many pleasures and allures of this world misled them down the wrong path, as they preoccupied themselves with the pursuit of power, knowledge, glory, wealth, affluence and fame, status and many others. They gave themselves to the worship of false idols and false gods to satisfy their own desires and wants, and refused to follow the Law and precepts that God had set before all of them. This is what has happened to us as well, and will continue to happen to us if we are not vigilant in living our lives in our present day world. If we allow ourselves to be swayed by the many concerns and attachments, ambitions and desires we have, we will likely end up being lost from God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples when they asked of Him to increase their faith. The Lord reminded them all that if they truly had genuine faith, even no matter how small it may seem to be, everything will be possible. Again, the Lord was actually reminding all of His disciples that they should not treat faith as a tool for their own self-benefit and ambition. For at that time, the disciples had followed the Lord for various reasons, and likely many of them were also spurred by the desires they had for power, influence and glory, as is common for any groups and movements, just as the history of the world and our Church have shown us.

As the Lord told His disciples that after everything that the servants had done, they were after all just servants of the Master. Any glory they have done and any great things they had performed, all these were due to the Master and not themselves. The Lord reminded His disciples and all of us through this parable, that all of us as the servants and followers of God ultimately live our lives at the command and charge of the Lord, and everything we say and do, all of our achievements and greatness are ultimately not due to ourselves, but due to God, attributed to Him and should have been offered to Him, rather than to make ourselves bloated with pride and ego.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, pride and ego are often obstacles and barriers that kept us away from God. Due to those, we often enclose ourselves in our own cocoon, in our own comfort zones, seeking to attain our own personal comfort and satisfaction rather than to do the will of God. The Lord reminded His disciples to be wary of these temptations that they do not seek for glory and acclaim in life, and whenever they do His will, they should do it because they want to do it for the glory of God and for the good of their fellow brothers and sisters, and not for their own selfish desires and ambitions instead. St. Paul his Epistle to St. Timothy, in our second reading today, also echoed the same thought, that we ought to follow the Lord and His ways, and not to give in to worldly ways and desires.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard all of these, we are now then called to reflect on our lives and discern carefully how each and every one of us should proceed forward in our respective lives. The Lord has called on all of us to follow Him and we should answer His call with faith and commitment. We should do whatever we can in life, even in the smallest and seemingly least significant things so that our lives, our every actions, our words and interactions with one another bear within them the light and truth of God, His hope, His love and His way. Through us, the Lord can touch so many more other people in this world, and this is our calling as Christians, to do God’s will and to live our lives faithfully in the way that He has shown and taught us to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Church and in our respective involvements, in our Church ministries and organisations, there should be no quarrel, infighting and power-playing that unfortunately often happen because we as fellow Christians, instead of dedicating our works and efforts to serve the Lord and focusing our attention on Him, we focus our attention on ourselves instead, and seeking to satisfy our own personal ambitions and desires. That is why we end up having so many issues and conflicts, factionalism and infighting even among the members of the Church and its various communities and bodies.

Not only that, but even outside the Church, and within our own respective circles of friends and families, we should be the ones to bear forth the goodness of God’s love and truth rather than being the source of division or suffering for others. Too often we have heard how people were being scandalised and turned off by the actions of Christians who did not live their lives as how Christians should, and instead they lived their lives in the manner of the world, and often even worse than how non-Christians behave themselves. This is why, each and every one of us, whenever and wherever we are, we have to do our best to live our lives righteously and worthily in the manner that God has shown us.

May the Lord our most loving God and Master continue to watch over each and every one of us, and may He strengthen us all with the courage and resolve to follow Him and to walk ever always in His path and presence, resisting the many temptations present all around us that we do not end up falling into the traps that the evil ones had intentionally set before us to bring about our downfall. Let us all seek the Lord ever more fervently and spend more of our time and effort to do His will, and to glorify Him by our lives, now and always. May God bless our every good works and endeavours, for His greater glory. Amen.

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Sunday, 25 September 2022 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we heard from the words of the Scriptures reminding us all to be always vigilant that we do not end up falling into worldly temptations and excesses, and that we will strive to do what is right and just in the sight of the Lord and mankind alike. We have to be exemplary in all of our actions in life so that we will not end up falling deeper and deeper into the wrong path and then end up with an eternity of regret, as we may find out too late that we are at the wrong side of the afterlife, not with God and His glory, but on the other side, separated from Him and having to endure an eternity of despair and suffering.

In our first reading today, we heard from the prophet Amos, a prophet whom God had sent from the land of Judah to the land of the northern kingdom of Israel during its last days. The prophet Amos called on the people of the northern kingdom to repent from their sins as almost all of their kings and leaders refused to follow the Lord’s path and led the people deeper and deeper into sin, persecuting and killing the prophets who were sent to them to remind them. The prophet Amos himself suffered persecution and rejection from the king of Israel and from the people who continued to live in their debauchery and wickedness, rejecting the Lord’s path and continuing to marvel at their wicked ways.

That was exactly what the prophet Amos warned about in our first reading today, that all those who feasted and celebrated without heed for the Lord’s ways and without listening to God’s calls made to them repeatedly, would therefore face their just punishment and consequences in the end. This would presage the coming of the end of the northern kingdom of Israel, which despite the efforts of the people of that kingdom and their king, was eventually overcome and swallowed by the mighty forces of the Assyrians, who came and destroyed Samaria, their capital and also their other cities, and then uprooted many of the people into exile in distant lands.

All that the prophet Amos spoke of would come true, and despite the constant reminders from him and the many other earlier prophets, the people of the northern kingdom refused to heed them, and hence they were to suffer the consequences of their own actions. Those in the southern kingdom of Judah would also face the same fate as their kingdom and cities were destroyed by the Babylonians, and the people brought off into exile in Babylon and elsewhere. All these again happened, as the people continued to ignore the Lord’s repeated calls on them to return and be reconciled with Him.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the well-known story of Lazarus and the rich man from the Lord Himself, as He told His disciples what happened to Lazarus, a poor man who had nothing, and lived his life as a beggar in front of the house of a rich man. Lazarus had nothing with him and barely had anything to eat, that he had to wait even for the mere scraps of what fell down from the rich man’s table. And that poor man Lazarus died in a most terrible way, with no one to remember him and no one to mourn him, passing away by the rich man’s house doors, forgotten and neglected, and not even treated as how human beings should have been treated.

The rich man on the other hand had always had a good life, full of parties and celebrations, and he had nothing lacking at all. We heard then he also died and ended up in hellfire while Lazarus, the poor man ended up in Heaven with Abraham, the father of the Israelites. We saw the contrast of what happened to the rich man versus what Lazarus experienced, both in life and in the afterlife. Lazarus had to suffer in life, rejected and cast aside, but he had his reprieve and enjoy the everlasting bliss with God and his forefathers, with Abraham and the saints, while the rich man who had enjoyed a lot during his life, was cast down into an eternity of suffering and despair.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we recall this story again, let us all be clear first of all that God does not condemn the rich nor the riches and possessions that we have in this world, as some of us may think in that way after listening to this story of Lazarus and the rich man. Rather, what the Lord is warning us against, is the attachment that we can easily have for those worldly things like money, other forms of material possessions, and even things like fame and glory, human praise and adulation, influence and status among other things. Those things are not necessarily evil, as people can use money and their material goods to help others who are in need, but the tendency is that, if we allow our attachment and desires for those goods to mislead us in life, then we may end up going down the wrong path in life.

And it is also a kind reminder for us that we have been given a lot of opportunities and time throughout life for us to discern on this and consider the path to follow, and of whatever course of action that is necessary for us, that we may live our lives worthily for the Lord. Not only that, but we are also yet reminded that it is not just by what we have done that we can be judged, as yes, if we commit something against the Lord’s commandments and will, committing sin against Him, then it will be held against us, but we are also judged by what is known as the sin of omission. That was what the rich man was in particular, was to be blamed for, and why he also ended up in hellfire. He was in the right place and opportunity to help Lazarus and maybe others around him who are suffering, and yet, he chose to ignore them all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, each one of us are called to live a holy and godly life as what St. Paul told St. Timothy in his Epistle to him, part of which is our second reading passage today. We are all called to live our lives worthily of the Lord, and to do what has been commanded by God, till the day of the Lord’s coming, the Final Judgment, when certainly we do not want to end up on the wrong side of the Judgment. We certainly do not want our wickedness and as well as our failures to act and to do the will of God to lead us to condemnation in the eternity of suffering and despair, as what the rich man in the story had experienced. We have been given the choice and the knowledge of the consequences of each of our actions and our failures to act all the same, and we should heed these carefully.

That is why this Sunday, as we reflect upon the words of the Lord contained in the Sacred Scriptures, let us all discern carefully our path in life so that we will not end up in the wrong path in life, and ending up in an eternity of regret and damnation out of which there is no more hope of escaping. Hell is real, brothers and sisters in Christ, and it is this reminder of the existence of hell that should keep us on our toes, and being vigilant all the time that we do not end up in that situation. And we also should understand better what hell is all about. Hell is not so much a place than a state of mind and our souls. Hell has often been portrayed as a place that is very hot and full of fire, but in truth, the suffering of the souls in hell, which is eternal, is due to that knowledge and despair that come about because of one’s conscious decision to reject God, His grace, mercy and love.

Yes, that means, the souls of the condemned and the unworthy in hell are those who have consciously and consistently rejected God’s ever generous offer of love and mercy. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that God’s mercy and love for us are so great that He has been willing to send us His own Begotten and Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour. He offered us His love in the most tangible form, in the flesh and Person of our Lord Jesus Himself. He has borne our sufferings and consequences for our sins through His Holy Cross, shedding His Precious Blood and breaking His Precious Body for our sake. Through His ultimate expression of love, He gave us all the sure path to eternal life.

Hence, it is not God Who has rejected us, as He has always looked upon us with His loving and merciful eyes. It is we who have been given opportunities, reminders one after another, for us to return to Him and to be reconciled with Him, and embrace His grace and love once again. But we often ignored Him and disregarded Him, and like the people of Israel and Judah of old, and like the people living at the time of the Lord Jesus, who have hardened their hearts and minds against God and His truth. The same can easily happen to us as well if we allow ourselves to be swayed by the devil and all of his tempting false promises and lies, to follow the path of worldliness and evil.

Therefore, let us all from now on strive to be faithful to God in all things, and make good use of every opportunities that God has granted us, so that we may always be ever more worthy disciples of the Lord in each and every opportunities in life. Let us all do our best to love God and to show our love for our fellow brothers and sisters, abandoning what is wicked and evil, and crushing our pride and ego. Let us all embrace God with renewed faith, hope and love so that in everything that we say and do, we will always do what is right and worthy for God, and that each one of us may become good inspirations and role models for one another. May God be with us always, and may He strengthen us in our faith, now and always, evermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 September 2022 : Twenty-Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we heard from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures, reminders for us all to be astute in our actions and dealings, keeping in mind that everything we say and do, everything we commit in action and in our every interactions, all of these are things that we will be held accountable for. Each and every one of us have to account for the good things we do as well as for the evil and wicked things we committed. Not only that, but we will also be held accountable even for those things that we fail to do, whatever we did not do whenever we have the opportunities or the capacity to do it. And as Christians, all of us are challenged to live our lives worthily in the manner that our faith can be inspiration for others all around us.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Amos, we heard the Lord speaking through Amos to His people regarding the wickedness committed by some among the people, in tricking and manipulating others for their own personal gains and advantages. He spoke to them regarding just how wicked those who sought profits by cheating on their customers and those who patronised their businesses, by overcharging them for their goods and services, simply because they knew well how to do that, using the means of this world to gain advantages for themselves, building themselves up more material possessions and wealth built upon the sufferings and losses from others.

At that time, the people of God had lapsed away from the path that the Lord showed them, and they were following their own paths and ways in life, refusing to listen to the prophets and messengers whom God had sent to them in order to remind them and help them to turn away from their sinful paths. They persecuted the prophets and rejected them, including that of Amos himself, whom the Israelites and their king ridiculed and the latter told Amos to go back to the land of Judah and not to prophesy anymore in the land of Israel, because Amos always brought them the harsh premonitions and warnings from the Lord, telling them how they would all suffer because of their sins and rejection of God.

But they would then have to account for all of their many sins, having been constantly reminded by the Lord and told to change their ways, and yet they still persisted in their wrong path. The Lord said to Amos and therefore to His people how the wicked would not prosper in the end and would perish, because by their wickedness they would be judged unworthy by God, and will be cast into the eternal darkness and suffering. The Lord has already warned them all many times, but they still hardened their hearts and minds against Him. In the end, because of their rebelliousness and refusal to listen to God, they have only themselves to blame for their predicament and fate.

Those people knew well the ways of the world, and they had wisdom and intellect, knowledge and understanding not only that of the Law but also the prophets and the messengers of God. Yet, they did not do as what they have been told to do, and chose to follow the ways of the world and what was wicked in the eyes of God and man alike. And this is linked well to what we heard in our Gospel passage regarding the parable of the dishonest steward. In that parable we heard the Lord speaking with a story of a dishonest steward who was dismissed from service by his master because of his dishonesty, and who therefore went to do things to ensure his survival by discreetly and unlawfully forgiving the debtors of his master, hoping to gain favour with them after he was dismissed.

And we heard the Lord saying that the master praised the servant for his astuteness and ability to use whatever was in his disposal to help himself, and then afterwards, the Lord also said that this was an example of how those who have immersed themselves in the ways of the world, would always be predisposed and tended to follow the ways of the world, and if one had been dishonest or flawed in their judgment and actions, then they would tend to continue being dishonest and evil in their actions, unless they make the conscious effort to resist the temptations and pressure to do so. And the Lord Himself also said that if we have been dishonest in small things, then who will entrust us with great things, then this is a reminder for us that if we walk in the path of disobedience and sin, then we will have no part in God’s grace and glory.

In our second reading today, in St. Paul’s Epistle to St. Timothy, the Apostle wrote of how everyone are called to be good, to obey God’s will and to live worthily of God, and to discard from themselves the traces of anger, dissension and other things that often prevented us from finding our way towards God. That is an exhortation and reminder from St. Paul for each and every one of us to turn away from worldliness and reject the excesses of worldly desires and greed, as well as resisting the temptations of our pride and ego, which often can become our downfall unless we put our conscious effort and commitment to the Lord wholeheartedly, rejecting the efforts and works of Satan and his allies in trying to subvert us to the wrong path.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the words of the Scriptures today and as we discern and reflect on their meaning and messages, each one of us are reminded that as the Lord Himself said, that we cannot serve both God and Money. Either we will love one more than the other and despise the other one, or vice versa. And that is why we have to moderate our actions and discern carefully our path in life, so that we may not end up rejecting the Lord and living our lives in sin as many of our predecessors had done. If we are not careful then we may end up going down that slippery path out of which escape may be quite difficult. And not only that, but our actions will be held accountable on us if they caused scandal for the Church and our faith, and made others to fall into sin as well.

That is why each and every one of us are reminded this Sunday to live our lives from now on with genuine faith in God if we have not done so yet, and to be truly committed to Him and not just merely paying lip service to Him. Unless we truly believe in the Lord through our every words, actions and deeds, and unless we embody our faith in our every living moments, in our every interactions with one another, then we are no more than hypocrites and those whose lukewarm faith are not what is expected of us as Christians, and worse still, as I just mentioned, may even bring about scandal to the Lord’s Holy Name and His Church. Do we want to gather for ourselves the favour of the world at the expense of our souls? Or do we rather seek the Lord and His salvation despite having to endure suffering and rejection in this world?

Let us always keep in mind, brothers and sisters in Christ, that whatever we gather, gain and accumulate in this world do not and will not last forever. They can be tempting and alluring to gain for ourselves, but at what cost? Do we want to gain the world and its joys, only to lose our souls, that we enjoy a temporary period of joy only to suffer an eternity of regret and damnation in hell? We are all reminded to make our choice and stand today, and not to delay any longer. For the more we allow the temptations of the world, the allure of desires and evils to distract us from the path towards salvation, the deeper we will end up being dragged into the wrong path, and in the end, we may find ourselves being unable to escape.

Let us now therefore discern carefully our path forward in life, and do whatever we can in our everyday living that even in the smallest things we do, we will always glorify the Lord by our lives and be good examples and inspirations for one another. Let us all draw ever closer to God and continue to be faithful to Him, and not be swayed by worldly temptations or any pressures and coercion to move away from Him. May God be with us always, and may He strengthen each and every one of us, that we may always live ever more worthily in His presence, at all times, and be good role models and inspirations for one another. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 September 2022 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are presented with clear message from the Sacred Scriptures of the power of God’s compassion, mercy and love. Each and every one of us have been shown the proof of God’s ever enduring love and patience with us throughout history, and through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, all of us are reminded just how fortunate we are and how thankful we should have been, because we have this most loving and patient God by our side, Who still loves us even when He chastised and punished us for our sins, like that of a loving father cares for his children as indeed, He is our Father.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus we heard from the story of the moment when the Israelites rebelled against the Lord just shortly after they had been freed from the tyranny and enslavement by the Egyptians and their Pharaoh in Egypt. The Lord had shown His great might and wonders, His miraculous deeds and powers, delivering His people Israel from the land of Egypt by sending Ten Great Plagues on the Egyptians and forced them and their Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. The Lord opened the sea itself for the people of Israel to walk through and crushed the army and chariots of the Egyptians sent to chase after them.

Despite all these signs and wonders, some among the Israelites failed to have faith in the Lord, and many were swayed by those faithless ones to turn towards wickedness, as they built up for themselves a golden calf idol, no doubt modelled after the pagan deities they witnessed in the land of Egypt and elsewhere, treating that golden calf idol as the one who had liberated them and delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. They acted on their own volition, in a foolish manner, despite the Lord having spoken on several occasions through Moses that they were not to have any other gods beside Him, and how He, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the one and only True God.

Ironically, this happened at that moment when the Lord was granting His Ten Commandments and Law to His people through Moses, and the very First commandment stated that, ‘I am the Lord your God, and you are not to have any other gods, or to have any graven images before you.’ The Lord was reminding the people again of their obligation to Him since He has established a new Covenant with them, and brought them to that place, the holy mountain, Mount Sinai to make that Covenant, which He had just established not long before the moment when the Israelites rebelled against the Lord. Unfortunately, they slid down into that rebellion, and disobeyed the Lord in the worst way possible.

God was just and right in His justification to punish the people who had rebelled against Him, in betraying Him for the pagan idol, the golden calf. He could indeed have crushed and destroyed all of them who have betrayed and abandoned Him, at the mere whim of His will, but that would not be according to what He wanted. While God is good and just, and does not tolerate any sin, but at the same time He is also full of love and compassion towards us, His beloved children and people, those whom He loved from the very beginning and created as the pinnacle of His creation in this world and universe.

If God wanted to crush and destroy us, He could have done that immediately right after we have sinned against Him first in the days of our very first ancestors, Adam and Eve, when they first disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But God, although He punished mankind to wander and suffer in the world as a consequence for their sins, at the same time, He also prepared the path for the eventual redemption of all of the same people, to whom He promised the coming of His deliverance, which all came true through Jesus Christ, the Saviour born into the world, God Himself incarnate in the flesh.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples and to the people using several parables to explain the love that God has for each and every one of us, and how fortunate we are to have been beloved in such a manner by our loving Father and Creator. Through the parable of the lost sheep and the lost silver coin, the Lord Himself highlighted just how precious all of us who have been lost to our loving God and Father, that just as a shepherd would do all he could to go, find and gather his lost sheep, or for someone to go and find the lost silver coin, hence the Lord would go all out to find us all and to return us back to Himself.

And that was exactly what He had done as He reached out to us through Jesus Christ, His own beloved and begotten Son, Who came into this world in the flesh, to show us all the ever-enduring and ever-wonderful love that God has always had for us. Through Christ, God’s love had been made real, tangible and manifest, and we can see His love in Christ, Who did not just show how dear and beloved we are through these parables, but He also showed this love through His most loving sacrifice on the Cross, as a very tangible and real manifestation of His love. It is a love so great that as He Himself said that there is no love greater than for one to give his or her life for a friend.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is just how great God’s love for each one of us is. He has always generously loved us all, and desired for all of us to come back to Him with repentance and sincere desire to be reunited with Him. Just as highlighted in another parable that the Lord mentioned in our Gospel today, the well-known parable of the prodigal son, we can hear how the Lord is represented to us all in the person of the father in the parable, who had two sons, one of whom, the elder one, was more responsible and dutiful, obeying his father and remaining close to him, representing those who have always kept their faith in God.

On the other hand, the prodigal younger son, who wanted to take his share of inheritance and then went off to a far-off land, squandering his money and possessions in the process, represent all those who have become wayward and become lost from the Lord, and that is essentially all of us, just as how all of us have sinned and fallen into sin, been tempted and fell into disobedience against God, much as how the people of Israel had disobeyed the Lord, betrayed and abandoned Him for an idol made from gold by human hands, the golden calf idol. The Lord reminded the people through this story of the prodigal son, how He still loved us all nonetheless, despite our sins and wickedness, our disobedience and evils.

However, as we recall again the story of the prodigal son, we have to remind ourselves an important fact that is often missed out by those who listened to this story, and even among those who are familiar with this story. The prodigal son, by his own volition and willpower, chose to commit himself to return to his father, swallowing his pride and ego, humbling himself and admitting his own weaknesses, mistakes and faults. He must have had such great struggle within himself, especially when he realised that he had the choice to remain in that far-off place as a beggar, or to retun to his father, though in shame. He had decided to take his portion of the inheritance, and yet, he squandered it all off. For those who are concerned about their image and ‘face’, it must be tough to decide to return to his father.

Yet, that was what the prodigal son committed to do, and he returned to his father with great and sincere contrition, repentance and the desire to right the wrongs he had done and committed. That is the attitude that all of us sinners have to take heed of and adopt as well. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because one of the greatest and most common reason why people failed to return to the Lord and remained in the state of sin is because they were too proud and could not let go of their pride and ego, and they chose to hide away from the Lord, keeping themselves distant from God, the only One Who can help them and free them from the bondage and slavery to those sins and evils.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing and able to follow the path of the prodigal son, in turning away from his pride and ego, from his attachments to sin and to learn humility and obedience once again, in repenting from his sins, faults and mistakes, and in admitting them before his own father? The Lord has provided the channel for us to do so through His Church through the Sacraments, particularly that of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And this serves as a good reminder for us, to ask ourselves, when was the last time we went for the Sacrament of Reconciliation? When was the last time we went to confess our sins to a priest?

We are also called to be more attuned to the state of our souls, and how sinful we are. We are reminded that God’s mercy, love and compassion are boundless, but we need to come to Him and make the commitment to leave behind that wretched state, our sinful existence. The Lord has provided us with means and ways to come back to Him, and it is now then up to us to embrace His loving mercy and compassion, as He is always ever ready to welcome us back to Himself, like how the father in the parable of the prodigal son welcomed back his prodigal son with open arms, and restored him to a state of grace and honour, forgiving him fully of his mistakes and faults.

Let us all therefore do our part, brothers and sisters, to entrust ourselves more to the Lord in our daily living. Let us abandon all sorts of wicked and unworthy attitudes which had always become stumbling blocks in our path and journey towards the Lord. Let us all abandon all the idols present all around us, not just those idols of false gods, but even more importantly, the idols of our pride and ego, the idols of our greed, attachments to the world, of jealousy and wrath, and of worldly desires, among many others. Let us return to our most loving God and Father with a heart full of love for Him and genuine contrition for our many sins, and with the hope that God’s love will cleanse us from all those sins and wickedness.

May the Lord, our loving God and Creator, be with us always, and may He continue to strengthen and encourage us all to persevere through the many trials and challenges of life. May He continue to bless our every endeavours and good deeds, all for His greater glory. Let us all Christians glorify the Lord and proclaim His truth and Good News among all the peoples, through our own worthy lives, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 4 September 2022 : Twenty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us are reminded and called to recognise the nature of the shortness, fickleness and impermanence of life, as each one of us know and should be aware that our lives whether they be short or long, but in the timescales and span of this world history, it is but a tiny drop amidst the great ocean of time. All of us must be aware that we exist but for just a moment, and yet, in that relatively short existence, each one of us can do so many great and wonderful things should we allow the Lord to lead and guide our path in life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the author of the Book of Wisdom speaking of how the wisdom and truth of God are far beyond the ability of man to fully comprehend, even with their greatest abilities, intellect or wisdom. No one can truly understand the Lord unless they entrust themselves to Him, and allow Him to lead and guide them in their journey, allowing His Holy Spirit to enter into us and dwell within us, inspiring us with His love and truth, and allowing us to understand better the true way of the Lord, as it is only by opening ourselves, our hearts and minds to the Lord that we can know Him more and therefore serve Him better in our lives.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and the people on the matter of following Him and how He also mentioned the parable of a man who wanted to build a house and a king who wanted to wage a war with another kingdom. Through what we heard in that Gospel passage today, we can clearly see that the Lord told all of us how each and every actions we take, all of them should be well thought of and carefully discerned, so that we may take the correct course of actions and not be hasty in making decisions which may end up causing us to take the wrong decisions and doing the wrong things that lead us into troubles.

The Lord highlighted how following Him will mean that we have to endure sufferings and trials at times, and we have to face rejection and opposition, and hence, carrying our crosses just in the same way that the Lord Himself had to carry His Cross and suffer for the sake of all of us. Just as our Lord Himself has been rejected, oppressed and persecuted, many of us may also therefore face the same persecution and oppression by the world and by all those who disagree with the Lord and His ways, and by all those who refused and still refuse to believe in Him. Such is the reality for us being Christians, as we have to dare to be different from the world, to stand by our faith and the path of the Lord against the often corrupt and immoral ways of this world.

In our second reading today, St. Paul in his Epistle to Philemon highlighted how he was returning one called Onesimus to him and the other faithful, and mentioning himself as a prisoner for Christ, and this Onesimus was like a godson to St. Paul. Through this seemingly short passage and message from St. Paul, again we can see the reality of our faith, that we may often face trials and struggles, persecutions and hardships just as St. Paul himself had endured, being in prison and treated badly by many for so many years of his ministry as a great missionary of the Christian faith. And yet, at the same time we can also see the great dedication which this Apostle has shown us as well.

In this, brothers and sisters in Christ, after hearing the words of the Scriptures, we are presented with a clear message and reminder from the Lord, that we have to trust in Him in guiding us throughout our lives in following the right path. We should not depend only on our own human strength, judgment and abilities, or else, very soon we will realise that we face such seemingly insurmountable odds and challenges, and we then quickly tend to withdraw from the trials and choose instead to conform to what is acceptable by the world and by everyone, and essentially therefore abandoning our faith and bringing scandal both to the Lord and to His Church.

Instead, the Lord has called on all of us to carry our crosses in life together with Him. Let us remember how Christ our Lord has suffered for us, and how He willingly endured all of that so that we may be saved and may receive new hope and life, freed from the shackles and bonds of sin and evil. We must remember that while we may carry heavy burdens that is our crosses in life, the difficulties in our Christian journey, our crosses that we carry, but the Lord has done it all earlier on, and He did so for the sake of every single one of us. We have to also realise that our lives in this world, as I mentioned earlier, are short, and we should do whatever we can in this life, to glorify God through them.

The Lord as mentioned also did not leave us alone. He is carrying His Cross with us, suffering with us and strengthening us along the way. He has given to us His Holy Spirit through His Apostles and His Church that the Holy Spirit may show us the way and the wisdom of God. This means that as Christians we should truly entrust ourselves to the Lord, entrusting ourselves in His wisdom and guidance so that in all the things we say and do we will always do what is right and worthy as those called as God’s beloved people and children, namely Christians. We are called and expected to glorify God by our lives and to proclaim Him through everything we say and do, at all times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now that the Lord has shown us what the path forward for us look like, all of us are reminded to be like the man and the king in the parable mentioned in the Gospel passage today. Knowing what is expected of us and what hardships and trials we may have to endure based on the examples of the past and the history of the Church, we should discern well and carefully on what course of action and path that we want to take. We should resist the temptations to abandon the Lord’s path and to conform to the world and its corruptions. Instead, we should strive to remain ever more faithful in God and allow the Lord to continue to guide our lives and our actions.

Let us all renew our faith and commitment in God, brothers and sisters in Christ, that our every words, actions and deeds may be true testimony of our faith. May all of us always put ourselves in the hands of the Lord, recalling how He has always ever patiently guided us and showed us the way forward. May all of us be motivated and inspired to allow God to lead us down the path of virtue and righteousness, that through Him we may perform ever more wonderful deeds, and be filled with virtuous examples through which many more people may come to believe in the Lord as well, through our faithful testimony of our faith by our lives and actions. May God bless us always in all things, and in all of our good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.