Sunday Mass homily

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Sunday, 19 March 2017 : Third Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we progress through the third Sunday of this season of Lent, today we are reminded of God’s love and grace, which He had given us all so generously to all of us His people from time to time, and through which He had granted us the grace of salvation by sending none other than His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, into this world, so that all who believe in Him may be saved and have eternal life through Him.

In today’s first reading, we heard about the rebelliousness of the people of Israel who grumbled and complained against God and His servant, Moses, complaining that they would suffer to death from hunger and thirst in the desert. They were angry against Moses and God for having brought them out of the land of Egypt, where they had suffered for over four hundred and fifty years in slavery, but in that instance, many of them wondered that if they had stayed in the land of Egypt, then they would at least have food to eat and water to drink.

They doubted God’s love and providence, even after they had seen how God had liberated them with His mighty power, bringing down the proud Pharaoh and the Egyptians, humbling them with His ten plagues over Egypt, and even after He had opened the Red Sea before them, allowing them to walk barefoot through the seabed, and crushed their enemies before them by allowing the sea to go back to its place as the Egyptian chariots passed through.

They doubted His love even after He had taken care of them for very long during their journey through the desert, even after He had fed them daily with the sweet manna, bread from Heaven itself, and also gave them large birds and fowls every evening to eat. He also gave them water even from the rocks, the clearest and finest quality water to drink in the middle of the desert, where nothing should have existed, not even water and food.

But they were not thankful to God, and instead, they grumbled and complained, and even wanted to kill Moses. They also raised even a golden idol, precisely a golden calf to be god over them when they were impatient waiting for Moses who went up the mountain of God at Horeb for forty days and forty nights. These are just among the many things which showed the disobedience of Israel throughout their time in the desert.

They have placed the desires of their flesh ahead of their faith in God. They placed the demands of their stomachs and bodies beyond their obligation and responsibility to worship the Lord and remaining true to Him in all things. They abandoned God just because they were not able to restrain the demands of their flesh, the desire to eat and drink, and of all other worldly things, which had tempted them to sin.

In this time of Lent, all of us are called by God to reevaluate our lives, our priorities and all of our actions. Let us all ask ourselves, what is it that we are living for in this world? Many of us have spent many hours working and indeed, toiling hard worrying about how we are to eat and drink everyday, and what we are going to do with our lives, with our wealth and possessions, worrying about our hard-earned wealth and even desiring more of what we already had.

This is what many of us mankind often do, and we are so preoccupied with our daily living that we are unable to see that in all of our pursuits for these things, we have lost the focus of our lives, and we are looking for the wrong things in life. What do I mean with this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that while we seek to build for ourselves worldly treasures, we often forget that all the things we now possess will not last forever.

Whatever we have now, can be gone in just a flash of a moment. We are concerned with the demands of our flesh and our bodies, much as the Israelites had done in the past, but we forgot that while we worry about this and that, in reality, we do not really need all of these. Many of the things we now enjoy in this world are illusions and diversions that keep us away from finding the true joy that can be found in God alone.

That is because, even though we worry about many things in life, all that we need in life have been taken care of by none other than the Lord our God Himself. He has provided us all that we need, the life we have, which is a gift from Him, and also all the other times that He had blessed us with all the good things in life, but which we did not notice to be the grace given to us from God.

Like the people of Israel, who have been blessed bountifully by God, many of us often do not realise that God had done so much for us. We often take God, His love and grace for us for granted, and when we are in trouble, we often complained that God has not been there for us, which is exactly as what the Israelites had done, and like what we often do as well. How often is it that we feel angry at God for not giving us what we want?

This is where we must realise that what we want is often not God truly willed for us. We have always sought for things of this world, for food, for sustenance, for money, for pleasures of the flesh and the body, for sexual gratification, for recognition among the people, for fame and renown, and for all other things which we often crave and desire for, but which cannot satisfy us.

For we all should know that all of these worldly things bring no lasting satisfaction because when we have a taste of these things, we will desire and crave for even more. Such is the extent of our human greed and desire. And that is why in the Gospel today, when Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman, He pointed out that she had had five husbands, and the current one that she had was not even her husband!

When we mankind are unable to restrain ourselves, and place our trust in the things of this world, in our wealth, in our money, in our appearances and bodily pleasures, that is when we start to slide into the quicksand of sin which pulls us steadily deeper and deeper until we are unable to escape, unless we make the conscious effort to stand up and say no to sin and to our weaknesses.

Jesus said that those who believe in Him will be able to draw living water from Him, for He is the Living Water, the source of all life and satisfaction, which refers also to the time when Israel was in the desert and God gave them all that they need. If only that they placed their complete trust in God, instead of grumbling and complaining because they could not get what they wanted, they would have been perfectly happy living in the grace of God.

Now let us all ask ourselves, is God at the centre of our lives? Is He the reason why we continue to do our work and our action in this life, from day after day? If God is not at the centre of all the things we say and do, we will soon realise that whatever we are doing are meaningless and mundane, and that is when we begin to lose faith in God and in our life. Do we want to be like those who are never able to be satisfied, constantly seeking something better for themselves, or do we rather want to be with God, and enjoy His grace and love?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this blessed time and season of Lent, all of us are called to repent from our sins and turn from our worldliness, from all the things that have kept us away from God and His love. We are called to let go of our human pride, from our desires, from our selfishness, all the things that have become serious obstacles on our path to God’s grace.

Let us reorientate our lives completely, so that Jesus our Lord is at the heart of our very being and existence. Through our penance and repentance, let us humbly seek forgiveness for all the times that we have been angry at Him, thinking that He had ignored us and our pleas. Let us all realise just how much He had loved us all, and through understanding of God’s love, let us show the same love to each other, through our almsgiving and kindness to those who are less fortunate than us.

Let us realise that because God lives in us, and because He is with us, we can do all things in He Who strengthens us, which is the words spoken by St. Paul in praise of God, the source of our life and our strength. May this time of Lent become the time for our redemption and for us to rejuvenate our faith in the Lord, that as we grow ever stronger in our faith, we may draw strength to persevere in this life and be ever righteous to the end. May God, the source of our life, the eternal Spring of Life, be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 12 March 2017 : Second Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together to celebrate the occasion of the Second Sunday of Lent, each and every one of us are reminded by the passages from the Scriptures today that we have been called as Christians, to follow the Lord and walk in His path, following the examples of our forefathers in faith, in the footsteps of Abraham the just, the examples of the prophets, as well as the Apostles and disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the examples we heard from the Scripture passages today, we have been given many examples of how God called His people, choosing them out of the world, calling them towards Himself, and in the process, transforming each and every one of them to be His servants, to be those who are worthy to be called the people of God, and indeed, to become His own children.

Let us begin from the example of Abraham, our father in faith. Out of the many people who have descended from Noah after the Great Flood, God called Abram, from the land of Ur in Babylonia and Mesopotamia. He was just a normal man, who had a wife and a family, living amongst his people in that area of Ur, a decently wealthy man with possessions of many animals and lands.

And most importantly, he did not have any child to continue his name or to inherit his wealth and possessions. At that time, all the other people would have looked down on Abram because he did not have a child. It was considered a curse and something bad not to have a child and to be barren, a shame and curse which surely also fell on Sara his wife. But Abram is faithful to God, and he believed in God when God called him and revealed to him what He had intended for him.

Otherwise we would be wondering why God chose such a man, who was without a child and merely just a man, not choosing the kings and the mighty ones among those who lived during the time of Abram. This is because God saw what is inside the heart and not by appearances, and He saw in Abram, something that is different from all the others. And that thing which differentiated him from others is faith.

God called Abram and he listened to that call. He followed the Lord, leaving everything behind and went on with his wife, Lot, his cousin and his belongings to the land of Canaan, far away from his ancestral land of Ur. He could have ignored the calling of the Lord, as it is much easier for him to remain in the land of his ancestors, and with what he had at that time, surely he had more than enough in order to make himself a comfortable life.

Instead, he travelled the perilous road on the journey towards the land which God promised to him and to his descendants, taking into account the difficulty of travel at that time, when travel was not as efficient and easy as it is today. He followed the Lord’s commands wherever He wanted him to go, and he remained faithful to Him. It was only in one occasion that he faltered, when he was impatient of getting a child for himself, and tried a shortcut by having a child with his slave Hagar. But God chastised Abram for his lack of faith, and reassured him that He would fulfil His promise.

Abram was rewarded for his faith with the gift of the promised child, Isaac, through whom Abram would become the father of many nations, from a man who was considered barren most of his life, to become the ancestor of many people, of kings and lords, and even of the Lord and Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, born the Son of Abraham through His mother Mary. And as a sign of the fulfilment of that covenant, Abram received a new name, that is Abraham.

Let us then link this to our baptism, the moment when each and every one of us received our faith and become part of the Church, either as an infant or as an adult. Each of us received the baptism of water that cleansed us from the taints and corruptions of our original sins, and were received into the Church of God, becoming God’s own children, His own sons and daughters. And we also receive a new name, in honour of the holy saints and martyrs of God.

The saints and martyrs were themselves just like us, brothers and sisters in Christ. They were sinners just as we are. However, they have been called and chosen by God, and they answered God’s call much in the same way as Abram had done, and were transformed by that faith he had in God. God transformed His servants from the creatures of sin and darkness, into the creatures of the light.

In that process, we may have to leave behind the comfort of the life we know of, just as Abram had once done, leaving behind the comfort of his past life, all certainties and goodness in life, and instead following the Lord to the unknown future he was being led into. This is what we also heard in the Gospel today, the account on the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In that account, we heard how the glory of our Lord Jesus was revealed to the world through His disciples on Mount Tabor, when He was shown in the fullness of His Divine glory and majesty, before His disciples. The glory of God was revealed in all of its fullness, and Moses and Elijah appeared and talked to Jesus on that mountain. This is the first message that we can learn from this Gospel passage, that just as Christ has been transfigured in His glory, all of us therefore will also be transformed by the Lord when we answer His call and obey Him, and we shall share in the glory of all of His saints.

But then we should also take note of what happened next. It contains an equally important message and reminder for us all. As the glory of God was so great, the disciples were awed by what they had seen, and St. Peter suggested to Jesus that they all ought to remain there up on the mountain, and three tents should be established each for Him, and for Elijah and Moses.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? At that time, as Jesus continued through His earthly ministry, He knew that He would eventually be betrayed by one of His own disciples, and handed Him to the hands of His enemies, to all those who cried out for His death. And He knew just how much He had to suffer as He went through all of that, and yet despite all these, He obeyed the will of His Father completely and perfectly.

He knew that if He were to descend that mountain, He would go on to Jerusalem, and from there to His Passion and suffering, and death on the cross. To remain on that mountain in His glory is something that He could have done. After all, He did not have to go and suffer for the sake of all mankind, for they have disobeyed Him and became wayward through sin. He is God, and He could just destroy all those who have sinned against Him by His will alone.

But that was not what He had decided to do, brothers and sisters in Christ. He was so filled with love for the sake of each and every one of us that He was willing to empty Himself and humble Himself, emptying Himself from all the glory of His divinity and embark on the path of His Passion, that is the path of the cross. And although mankind had disobeyed Him and sinned, He showed an example for all, through love and perfect obedience, following the will of His Father. And through Him, all have been saved.

That is what God had done for us, obedient even unto death so that He may undo from us the damages caused by our disobedience, our sins. And He has called each one of us, all of His beloved children scattered throughout the world, that we may come to believe in Him, that we may follow Him, abandon our past ways of sin and wickedness, embracing the righteousness and justice found in God alone.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard the passages and words from the Scriptures today, each of us as Christians must know that all of us have been called from the world. We have been called by God to follow Him, to embark on a great journey with Him, to go into the unknown, to the destination which only the Lord alone knows. And we need that faith to go forth and embark on this journey, putting our complete trust in God as Abram had once done.

All of us have been called to follow in the footsteps of the saints and martyrs, those who have dared to venture forth and go to the places that God had called them to go to, remaining faithful and true to Him to the very end, even when the whole world itself was against them. Jesus Himself showed by example, stepping down from His glory at Mount Tabor and descending with His disciples, who were following Him to His Passion and death at Jerusalem, the complete fulfilment of His mission in this world, that is our salvation.

And how do we then respond, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by taking up our crosses and follow the Lord Jesus, not in terms of physical crosses, but to be true and faithful to the teachings of our Lord, and to stand up for our faith in Him, being true and faithful witnesses to Him and to His truth by our actions, by our words and by our deeds. This means for us to practice love, compassion, grace and mercy in all that we say and do.

Through all that we have faithfully said and done in accordance with the will of God, obeying the Lord as Jesus had once done Himself, all of us will be transformed from the creatures of darkness and sin that were once all of us, into beings of light and righteousness, worthy to be called sons and daughters of God. We all will share in all the glory and the inheritance God had promised Abraham and more, and we will revel in the eternal glory of His saints and holy Angels.

Therefore, in this time of Lent, let us begin if we have not begun, to be charitable and loving to others, especially to those who are in need, not just in terms of material goods, but even more importantly in terms of spiritual needs and the need to be loved and cared. There are many people out there who are in need of our love. Let our Lenten season be meaningful and fruitful, by our actions, through which not only that we restrain our desires and temptations, but also by doing more in what we can do to help others, to love others, and to give ourselves for the sake of all those who need us, just as Jesus Himself had done.

May the Lord be with us in this season of Lent, and may He help us in our journey of faith, so that each and every one of us whom He had called, may listen to His call, and do something that we walk in His path ever more faithfully, putting our complete trust in Him, so that in the end, we may merit to share in the glory which God had prepared for all those who are faithful and true to Him. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 5 March 2017 : First Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the occasion of the First Sunday of Lent, when we heard the customary readings from the Scripture about the fall of mankind, our first ancestors Adam and Eve, and also the reading from the Holy Gospels on the temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was tempted by the devil during His forty days of fasting and preparation in the desert after He was baptised and before He began His earthly ministry.

In today’s readings, we heard about how frail we mankind are, beginning since the time of our very first ancestors, whom God had created out of love and placed in the Gardens of Eden. We were not intended for a life of suffering and pain, and we were not intended to suffer death at the end of our lives. Indeed, everything was created good and perfect then, and mankind were supposed to live out their days in perfect bliss and harmony with God forevermore.

God has blessed us mankind with many things, and He has put us in charge over all the things that He has created in this world. And yet, as we have heard, seen and witnessed, they were not satisfied with what they had received. That is why we fell prey easily to the temptations of Satan, our great enemy who despised us and wanted to see us destroyed and crushed because of our own folly.

Satan was once known as Lucifer, a great and mighty Archangel of God, who was told to be the greatest and most brilliant of all the Angels of God, but he became proud and filled with greed and desire, thinking of going beyond what was his due, and claimed to be greater than God His Creator, desiring nothing less than the throne of Heaven itself, and led many Angels in rebellion against God. He was defeated and cast down out of Heaven, and became what we know as Satan, the devil, the evil one.

So much had he resented his downfall and defeat, that he resolved to bring ruin upon those whom God had loved most of all the things He had created, that is us all mankind. He played upon our human desires and vulnerabilities, and tempted us with the same vices that he himself had. He tempted us with the knowledge of good and evil, lying that by eating the fruits of the forbidden tree, we will gain power and knowledge much like that of God’s, and therefore became like God Himself.

It is in our disobedience and in our inability to restrain ourselves that we have sinned, not just Adam and Eve with their original sins, but also down throughout time and ages, when mankind frequently and constantly acted waywardly and committed wickedness before God and men alike. We have fallen into sin, which corrupted our hearts and minds and defiled our bodies and souls, preventing us from attaining true grace in God.

It is therefore in this holy season of Lent, the forty days of preparation we have before the celebration of Easter that we are all called to reflect on the state of our sinfulness and wickedness. We have been called to conversion by God, a conversion from our past sinfulness and waywardness, so that we may turn our back against all the disgraceful and selfish acts we had done, which had brought about our separation from God.

What we heard in the Gospel today, on the temptations of the devil upon Jesus our Lord in the desert is a clear reminder for each one of us as we proceed through this season of Lent. Among what we have heard in the temptations, it is a reminder for us to keep our guard up against the sin of gluttony, the sin of greed and desire, and finally the sin of pride.

First of all, Jesus was tempted by the devil who tried to manipulate His hunger and desire for food. He has fasted for a whole forty days and nights without any food or drink, and certainly then, as human as He was, He must have been really hungry. Just imagine for ourselves, that if we just skip one meal in a day, it would have been intolerable for us, not less still missing the meal for the entire day, and even more so for forty days and nights.

And that was what brought down many of the Israelites as they journeyed through the desert. They complained against Moses and against God, because they were hungry and then became angry against Moses and God for having led them out of Egypt, as they would rather live in slavery and had their bellies filled with food, the food of the Egyptians, rather than living in freedom and obeying the will of God their Lord and Master.

Let us all reflect on this, brothers and sisters in Christ. Is it not the same with us? Is it not like just what we mankind often do in our world, both past and present? Many of us are unable to resist the temptations of our flesh, the pangs of hunger and desire of our stomachs. Many of us live lavishly and eat food and drink as if there is no tomorrow. We feast and party among ourselves, while there are many people in this world who cannot even make ends meet, and who hunger for food and are starving to death.

Many of us worry about what we are to eat and drink daily, and we worry about our well-being, but how many of us realise just how much we have been blessed by God day after day? And yet, we are not satisfied and always desire for more things for ourselves. Jesus rebuked Satan and castigated him, saying that food is not all that we need in order to live, but really to obey the Word of God and to listen to His will.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters? It means that we must not allow ourselves to be controlled by the whim of our desire. This is linked to the sin of greed and desire I mentioned earlier on. Gluttony is a result of our desire, and so is lust and greed. We must overcome the temptations of our flesh, and learn to control ourselves. Jesus was tempted by Satan in his third temptation, with the offer of the whole kingdom and wealth of the whole earth, if only that He would worship him as a god.

But Jesus rebuked him once again, saying that God alone is worthy of worship, and He alone is God. It is our desire that had led us astray from God, and instead of obeying the will of God, we end up listening to the will of our own flesh, the will of our own desires, which lead us into committing acts that are abhorrent and wicked in the sight of God and mankind alike.

After all, that is what happened when we mankind fight against each other over prestige, over honour, over wealth and possessions, even over food and basic necessities of life. Wars had been fought and conflicts had raged over something as trivial as human pride and ego, over human desire for more wealth and commodities. The greed and desire of mankind had indeed led to the rich, mighty and powerful to oppress those who are poorer and weak.
But let us not be mistaken, brothers and sisters in Christ. For God is not against the rich and the powerful just because they are so. Do we realise that even the poor often oppress others who are poor like them, just because they have more power, more strength and advantage against those who are weaker from them? Indeed, in this season of Lent, we are all called to restrain our human desires, our greed, the desire of lust, for forbidden pleasures of the flesh, and also to be charitable.

Those who have been given more need to share their blessings with those who have less. And this is what God had commanded His people to do. In this season of Lent, besides fasting and abstinence, through which we restrain ourselves and our desires, we are also asked to do the works of mercy as our penance, loving our brethren and give generously through almsgiving, helping those who have little or even nothing to support themselves and their families.

And finally, it is a moment for us to resist the sin of pride, the most dangerous of it all. As I have mentioned at the beginning of this discourse, it is pride that had brought down even the mighty Angel Lucifer, whose pride overcome him and made him to desire the power and glory of God for himself. Pride and ego is indeed the source of all vices. For it is the ‘I’, the ego we have in us, that led us to selfishness, to desire and to all other things, among which had led our ancestors to sin against God.

When we are so focused on ourselves, and when we are so full of ego and arrogance, it is when we end up selfishly thinking about ourselves, desiring more and more for ourselves, even if these would mean that others may not get a share in what we desire, and if these lead others to suffer just so that we may enjoy what we want.

Satan himself tempted Jesus to jump from the top of the Temple, alleging that the Angels would not let Him to hit the ground and would lift Him up. It is a great temptation for Jesus to show Himself and His might to others, as God and Master of all. But Jesus did not succumb to the temptation of pride, just as He did not succumb to desire, greed, gluttony and others. He rebuked Satan and cast him away from His presence.

All of these are important lessons for us to take note of during this season of Lent. It is an example for us all to follow, that during this penitential season, and indeed from now on, even beyond the end of this season of Lent, that we ought to throw away our ego, far far away from us. We must not be arrogant, be egoistic and selfish, but instead, we must be humble in all of our ways.

Let us all pray to the Lord, that He will give us the grace to be humble, especially as we progress through this season of Lent. Let us pray that He will open our hearts to His love, that we may love generously and share our blessings generously and kindly upon others, giving alms and help to those who need it, and restrain our desires, our selfishness, and instead learn to be selfless and loving to all our fellow brethren. Let us indeed follow the examples of Christ, our Lord, Who was humble and obedient to the will of His Father, and Whose obedience had brought about our salvation, reversing the sin of the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

May the Lord help us all as we progress through this season of Lent, that we may grow ever closer to Him, and grow ever more righteous, just and worthy of Him through all that we have said and done in our lives. May God bless us all and our families, and may He strengthen in us our faith and our desire to love Him above all else, and love His people, our brethren just as we love Him. God be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 February 2017 : Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us heard the words of the Scriptures telling us about the need for all of us to have our priorities in life right, that we do not get distracted by the many temptations of life, and that we will be able to discover the true peace and harmony in God. The readings today give us the assurance that God loves all of us His people, and He will not abandon us in our time of need.

In those readings, we are presented with the realities of our world today, that we mankind are often distracted by our many worldly concerns, the concern of our needs and wants, the concerns of our desires, and we often get troubled and focused on our human and worldly concerns, worrying about ourselves and trying to preserve and care for our own needs.

In all these, we have forgotten that above all these things, we have been given the great gift beyond all of the other gifts from God, namely our very own lives. God had graced us with life-giving spirit, and we have received this life we have thanks to Him Who granted them to all of us. God had also provided each and every one with what they need in life, and no one has any need to have any wants or desires, for God had given each and every one enough for themselves.

But we mankind are not easy to be satisfied and pleased, as since the very beginning, we have been tempted by many things, and Satan himself took advantage of this fact. God had created us all mankind with all the things that we need, and we have been placed in the blessed Eden to enjoy forever the rich blessings of God, but we were not content. Instead, we desired for more.

And that was what led Eve to be bought over by the temptations and the sweet lies of Satan, who lied to her telling her that if she would just eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, she then would become like God, by knowing what is good and evil. She and her husband Adam succumbed to the temptation, and we know of what happened after that. Not only that they have not received what they wanted, but they have been deprived of their original blessings because of their disobedience.

Throughout the Scriptures and in our daily lives, we witnessed to the many times when humanity, the people of God erred in their ways. We witnessed how a person would fight with another person debating and disputing over material wealth, over food, over money, over all sorts of worldly goods. We see just how wicked we mankind can be, in our desire to seek for more things for ourselves.

And this would never end, if we ourselves do not restrain our desires. We have seen in many occasions how mankind will always demand for more, seeking for more, wanting for more. That is also how corporate and business world usually operates, by seeking profit and revenue over anything else. And when a certain profit, revenue and good thing are attained, then it is natural for the demand for even more profits to appear.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we live in a world that is saturated with materialism, and often unbridled capitalism and mercantilism. It is a world also filled with selfishness, individualism and also human greed. That is why we see so many people being exploited by those who are in power, by those who are with influence and wealth. That is why we see so much injustice in our world today.

We see so many people being deprived from their daily needs, just so that the necessary resources could be given over to the mighty and the influential, to serve their own purposes. We live in a world today where in the hearts of many people, God had no place at all. Many of the people have abandoned God, seeking instead the pursuit of money, of material possessions, and other forms of worldly satisfaction.

This is where all of us as Christians have been challenged by the Lord Jesus, Who calls all of us to be His witnesses before the world, to be those who would carry on His message and truth, and to be examples for many others to follow through our own actions, words and deeds. We as Christians are supposed to be the role models for others, be exemplary in how we carry out our daily lives, that others may come to realise their mistakes and come to repentance.

First of all, as Christians, we are challenged to put God at the centre of our lives. God must be at the most prominent part of our lives, and in fact everything we say and do, must have their origins in God. What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that all of us must be obedient to God, and we must be filled with righteousness and justice in accordance with God’s ways.

We should not proclaim ourselves as Christians if we do not act in the same manner as a Christian should have done. Otherwise, we will create a scandal for our faith, for the Church and for the Lord, and it is a great sin before God and men alike. Many called themselves Christians, and yet they were greedy, filled with jealousy, anger, wrath, arrogance, selfishness and all other things that are unbecoming of our Christian identity.

Secondly, all of us are called to put our trust in the Lord, which means giving our complete and full trust to Him, knowing that He will take good care of us and bless us with everything that we need. We may think that this can be easily done, but often we are mistaken about this. It is actually not easy for us to put our trust in God, when we mankind often doubted the Lord, doubting and refusing to believe in His love and grace.

Many of us failed to see God’s love and faithfulness because we are too busy worrying about ourselves, about various things that we should really not be worried about. All these stemmed once again from what we have just discussed earlier on, about our inability to restrain our human desires and greed, which led to our fall into sins and darkness. As Christians, we are all called to overcome our worries and fears, and learn to put God ahead of everything else.

Lastly, all of us as Christians are challenged to take action, and to look beyond ourselves and our needs and wants. We must not be overcome and be distracted by our desires, by the temptations of this world. We must be selfless and think about others before ourselves. That is what is being a true Christian is like, that is to be more like Christ. Remember that Jesus Himself had placed Himself completely in the hands of His Father, and obeyed Him completely, and through that, all of us have been saved.

We must be those who would stand up and speak up against injustice and wickedness, against all sorts and forms of evil, and all the greed and desires of man. As Christians we must be daring and be willing to commit ourselves wholeheartedly for the betterment of our brethren, especially to all those who are downtrodden, who have been abandoned and without hope. We have to be a light of hope for others, reflecting the Lord Who is the true Light of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today let us all pray together, that each and every one of us will be strengthened in our faith, so that in all the things we say and do, we will always proclaim the glory of God, and place God at the centre of our lives, and in the centre of everything we have. Let us not allow our selfishness and the obstacles that Satan placed in our path to prevent us from doing what we ought to be doing as Christians, that is to give ourselves out of complete love for one another, just as our Lord Himself had done.

May the Lord help us all to overcome the weaknesses of our flesh, and help us to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. May He empower us all to become His children, that we may prove to all others who see us, that we are Christians, as people who believe in the Lord, not just in name only, but also through real and true commitment. Let us all be examples for others to follow, that many more people may be saved, and let us be champions against injustice and wickedness in this world. May the Lord be with us all, and bless us all forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 19 February 2017 : Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on this Sunday, the holy day of the Lord, all of us are called by God to be holy. Indeed, we have all been called to be holy just as the Lord Himself is holy, and this means that our every words, actions and deeds must reflect that holiness and sanctity that must be present inside each one of us. This is what the Lord wants from us, brothers and sisters in Christ.

To be holy however, does not mean for us to boast about our piety and our devotion to God. That is the way of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, which our Lord Jesus Himself had denounced and rebuked before His disciples and the people. Being holy does not equate us saying prayers aloud in public, or reciting prayers after prayers, or by carrying with us holy relics and items to be seen by others. All these are external signs of faith and without genuine holiness inside us, they mean nothing for us.

Indeed, what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done were not real and true holiness, as they did so in order to advance their own worldly achievements, fame and glory, rather than being truly holy in the sight of God and men. Instead, as we read through the Scripture passages we have heard today, we can understand better how we ought to be holy and devout to God.

While the Pharisees and the elders, the teachers of the Law shunned the poor, the sinners like prostitutes and the tax collectors, and while they heaped burdens upon burdens on others, rejecting those who they deemed to be unworthy of them, the Lord said that all of us must embrace our brethren in need, our neighbours and all those who have not been loved and abandoned by the society.

This is true holiness, that we show our holiness through action, where we show our understanding of what it truly means to be holy and good in the sight of God. True holiness is love, mercy and compassion, to show compassion and love even on our enemies and those who despise and hate us. To be holy is to be able to forgive others their trespasses against us, and to have compassion on those who are suffering and those who have been sundered from the love of God through sin.

This is the essence of what Jesus our Lord told His disciples and also all of us in the Gospel today, that as Christians called to a holy life, we all ought to love tenderly and sincerely, showing unconditional love to all the people, without the need and want for return and reciprocation. That kind of love which requires reciprocation and returns is not true love, but a transaction of a worldly type, like that of money.

We do business and transactions expecting that each party would honour each other’s pledge to give according to what had been agreed. But love cannot be given in this manner, as if we put condition to our love, the love which we give, then it is no longer genuine love, but instead twisted and changed by our desires and human greed. This is not true love, and it will not lead us into true holiness.

Rather, let us all look at the examples of the holy saints and servants of God, all of whom had practiced the actions of true holiness in their own lives. Throngs of saints showed mercy, compassion and care for the poor and the needy, both those who were materially poor, and even more importantly, to those who were spiritually poor and in need of help.

Many of the holy saints of God worked hard to bring the Word of God to those who have been led astray by the temptations of the devil and this world. Some went forth to faraway lands such as St. Francis Xavier and the many other brave and courageous missionaries who went to spread the word of God’s salvation to many people who are still living in the darkness and ignorance of the Lord. And many followed them not because they were outwardly holy and pious, but rather because they showed through their dedication and through their actions, that they were servants of God, and His holiness shone through them.

And we know of those holy men who by their actions and work among the people had inspired many others to follow in their footsteps, the likes of St. John Mary Vianney and St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina. Many other holy saints like them showed true holiness to others and are venerated by many through the ages, until even this very day as many of us well know just how popular these saints are, because of their humility, and because of their total submission to the will of God.

This is what we, as the people of God, as Christians who believe in the Lord, should be like, that we follow in the footsteps of the saints who had been deemed holy and worthy by the Church, by the virtues of their life, their faith and dedication, that they are worthy of becoming the source of inspiration and light to brighten the path we ourselves are to take on our way to the Lord, that we may find our path to the Lord.

Why is this so important? That is because as St. Paul pointed out in the second reading we have today, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, we are all the Temples of the Holy Presence of God, as God Himself had made us all to be His dwellings on earth. Not only just that He had come into this world, as one among us, through Jesus Christ, but through that act also, He had given us His own real Flesh and Blood to eat, and all of us who have shared in this ultimate gifts of our Lord, have received Him in our very own beings.

And therefore, it is only appropriate that if the Lord Himself resides within us, and really present in us, then we should make ourselves as holy and pure as possible, distancing ourselves from all sorts of sins and wicked actions and deeds. If we do our best to make our places of worships, our churches and cathedrals to be immaculate and worthy, then why should we not do the same with our own bodies, our own hearts, minds, and indeed our whole beings? For we are also the Temple and House of God’s residence.

I like to compare ourselves as windows and mirrors, and a good mirror ought to let the light to pass through and show the beauty of that light. In our churches and cathedrals, we often have stained glass decorations on the walls, with images of the saints and other biblical figures, and indeed, that is what saints are truly like. They are like stained glasses that are beautifully decorated, and when light shines through them, they showed their great beauty because of that light.

It means that the light of God is reflected in the life and works of the saints of God, all of whose obedience, humility and all the myriads of forms of their devotion to God had become examples for us to follow. They are like beautiful stained glass untainted by dust, dirt, grease or grime. Then how about ourselves, brethren? Are we like them, or are we more like stained glass that have long been left without maintenance, filled with dirt and all other things that have made us ugly and hideous in the sight of others?

That is the nature of our sin, brothers and sisters in Christ. Sin has made us to be twisted, corrupted and bereft of the true beauty of our beings, that is holiness in God. We must reject our past ways of sin and wickedness, and follow in the footsteps of the holy saints and all those who have been faithful in their life. Let us all begin by showing love for those who are around us, to those whom we meet along the way. Let us show mercy and forgiveness for those who have hurt us, and let us from now on lead a righteous and faithful life without sin.

May the Lord help us all to be holy in all of our deeds, that eventually we will be great and glorious like the holy saints and all those whom God had called and made worthy. May He bless us all and show His light, that our lives may be filled with His light, and through us, the light of God will lead many others to salvation and grace. God bless us all and be with us all always. Amen.

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Sunday, 12 February 2017 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, we heard the messages from the Sacred Scriptures telling us about the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. Many of us boast in our abilities, our intellect and our greatness, but in all of these, what we all know and are capable of, are nothing compared to the greatness and the glory of God.

It is often that we mankind try to be better than God, by not listening to Him, by not obeying His laws and ways, and by trying to come out with ways to make things convenient for themselves, but at the cost of disobedience and sinning before God. We often trust in our own judgement and in our own wisdom, but all these are incapable of bringing us true satisfaction.

For there are really many things that are beyond our grasp, and beyond our ability to comprehend them. And this is why it is so important for us to have our faith in God, for the Lord has revealed to us His truth through none other than Jesus our Lord, Who came into this world to bring light, His light into it, and dispel the darkness that clouded our minds and our visions of the way ahead.

We need to open ourselves to receive God’s truth and wisdom, and we must not be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, whom Jesus criticised in the Gospel today, as those who knew the Law, and yet although they knew it and remembered it, but they did not do as what the Law intended for them to do. They did not practice what they supposed to practice, and instead putting trust in their own human intellect and wisdom.

Why is this so? That is because they had become proud and arrogant as they were entrusted with the leadership of the people and with the guardianship of the laws of God. They oppress the people with many laws, rules and regulations, which they themselves did not understand and appreciate, as they enforced these with the intention of making themselves praised and honoured before others, when all others saw just how faithful and devout they were in fulfilling the laws.

Yet, they had no God in their hearts. God is not the priority in their lives, as they filled it rather with their own purposes and desires. They have not been faithful, and misled others, and in some occasions they even made it difficult for others to find their way towards the Lord, as they condemned those whom they deemed to be sinners and unworthy of God’s saving grace.

But Jesus rebuked all of them and showed just how wrong they were. They were not able to fulfil what God had entrusted to them, that is to help guide the people of God on the way to righteousness. Instead, they made these people to endure the laws like a chore, and not truly understanding what is it that they uphold and are expected to do under the Law.

Jesus revealed to them the truth, by teaching them what the laws of God truly means. He taught them all that the Law of God must be understood in its whole purpose, rather than just in individual terms. The laws of God are not individual and separate laws that just ought to be obeyed as they are, but one must learn why is it that they must be obeyed, so that these laws will benefit us.

Take for example, the law on murder, where Jesus explained that, even though the Law prescribed punishment for those who had committed murder, but murder itself is caused often by a pre-planned intention, in which the person committing murder has already contemplated doing harm to another person’s life, or plotting to kill that person for various reasons.

And that was why Jesus said that even if someone gets angry at another, he or she already commits a sin, as anger as we know can easily lead to greater anger, and then into discord, and eventually violence, that as we know can cause death if it goes unabated and uncontrolled. And sin is against love, for love is the true essence of God’s laws.

God loves each and every one of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. But, it is too often that we are caught up in our various distractions that we do not realise just how much God cares for us. He gave us His Law, because He loved us all, and through Jesus, He explained it all to us, what is it that we need to do in order to be truly faithful to Him. The Law of God is a guide that helps each and every one of us to live an ever more faithful and righteous life.

Let us all throw away all the obstacles and clear all the things that hinder us from being able to love God, by humbling ourselves and opening ourselves to accept God’s mercy, love and grace. Let us no longer put our trust in our own human power, intellect and abilities, but instead, learn to trust in God’s providence and do our best in order to obey Him through our actions, that we love instead of hate, give hope instead of despair, console others instead of mockery, and by being true to our calling to love Him and our brethren.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today and from now henceforth draw closer to our God, giving ourselves wholeheartedly to Him, loving Him with all of our deeds and works, caring for those in need and pouring our love for the needy and for all those who have not had love in them. It is indeed easier to be said than done, but we will persevere if we can just help one another, support each other in our efforts to be more like Him in all of our ways.

May the Lord help us, brethren, that all of us will learn to obey Him and understand that love is the primary reason why God created us, showed us His laws and commandments, so that each and every one of us will gradually be more righteous, just and worthy to be in God’s presence, and therefore worthy to receive His promise of eternal life. May God bless us all, and forgive us all our sins. Amen.

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Sunday, 5 February 2017 : Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day from the Sacred Scriptures all of us received a challenge from the Lord our God. He issued us all the challenge to be true Christians, that is to be His true followers, as all those who truly practice what He had taught us all through His Church, that we become those who live out our faith and not just merely reciting our Creed and pretend to believe, but yet in our hearts there is no place for God.

In the Gospel today, we heard the famous parable and teaching of Jesus, which is often known as the parable of the salt and the light, when Jesus explained using the example of salt and light, to urge all of His followers to be salt of the earth and to be light of the world. In our world today, so filled with good things, with convenience and pleasantries, we may often not realise just how significant these two things were for the people of that time.

Why is this so? In our world today, salt is ever present and are readily available, as the technique to make it easily and cheaply had been mastered by men, and we used it with abandon on our food, that we often do not realise the significance of salt. In the similar way, the prevalence of electricity and lightbulbs, and all other iridescent human-made light sources, light had been something that we often take for granted as something that is always available.

Salt and light are two very important commodities of Jesus’ time, at a time when refrigeration are not readily available and when electricity have yet to be discovered for more than a millennia. It was a world that constantly needed to deal with rotten foods as well as darkened nights without light. That was where salt and light came into the lives of those people, as the two things that made their lives much better.

For salt is used in preservation of foods just as much as they give good flavour to the food. With salt, food that used to be tasteless and easily spoil can be kept for longer and also tastes better. It has made mankind’s life much easier and indeed in some cases, could have become a lifesaver when there was no food at all in the middle of the desert. Thus in this context, the importance of salt as highlighted by Jesus in His parable cannot be underestimated.

And then how about light? Light was important because darkness exists when there was no light, when the sun was down and when the moon and the stars were not bright enough to sufficiently illuminate the dark paths and places. It was not like today when we live in a world saturated by light everywhere. As some of our brethren in some parts of the world are still experiencing to this very day, light was indeed very precious.

Many had to rely on candlelight for anything that they want to do after dark, and as we know candles can be a great fire hazard at the time when houses were made from wooden or any other easily flammable materials. To have light at that time would be a great privilege, but also could be a great danger. Candles were also expensive, and they needed to be replaced every time they were burnt out. That was why many poor people had to contend with living in the darkness for much of the half of the day during night.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, have we seen the significance of why Jesus our Lord used the example of salt and light in bringing about His points to the people? He used these two examples, calling all of the people to become salt of the earth and light of the world because these are among the things that people truly value at that time. And therefore what He taught them would be more easily accepted and understood.

Now, let us delve into what He had said in that parable, that when salt had lost its saltiness, it became useless. Indeed, as mentioned, salt is used because of its flavourful properties and preservative abilities, which is due to its saltiness. If somehow these properties are gone, then they are no more useful than grains of sand. No one will use salt that is no longer salty.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This saltiness refers to our faith. Our faith must be living and real, and cannot be dead and dysfunctional. Faith cannot be just merely on paper alone, that we say that we are one of the faithful, and yet, in our actions we do things that are contrary to our faith and to the teachings of our Lord. This is our saltiness, the saltiness of our faith. Without faith, we are pretty much dead, and without good works, our faith is equally dead.

Then we should ask ourselves, whether we have this flavour of our faith ready inside us? If we have not had this saltiness inside us, then maybe it is time that we should renew our ‘saltiness’, that is by renewing our faith. Have we been obedient to God and have we done what He had asked us to do? To love our brethren and to show care and compassion for the weak, for the oppressed and for the unloved ones? This is what we exactly need to do, so that we may have that ‘salt’ of faith in us.

In the same manner, we must be light of the world as Christ had mentioned. We must be light in the sense that light penetrates the grip of darkness on our eyes, allowing eyes that once could not see because of the dark conditions to be able to see because of the light. And as light, we are guides for those who are still in the darkness, so that through our actions, we may inspire others to also follow in our footsteps, believing in God and therefore attain salvation together in us.

This is related to what we have just discussed about the ‘saltiness’ of our faith, in that, we must do good deeds and good works in accordance with what we believe in God, and then, as we do these, we must not be afraid, but must be forthcoming and be courageous in doing them, giving the example for many others to follow. This is what Jesus meant by the words He said, that a light ought not to be hidden, but instead should be put on a lampstand for all to see its light.

It means that our faith must be exemplary and good, and be visible for all to see. It does not mean that we must boast of our faith, but rather, we must not be afraid to lead others to follow the Lord as we ourselves had done, by leading them with good examples and teaching them with courage and zeal on how to become a good disciple and follower of our God. We must be good role models for one another, and help each other in keeping ourselves worthy and pure before God.

We should remember what the prophet Isaiah had mentioned in his Book, our first reading today, that we should share our food with the poor, bring to our house the homeless, caring for all those who are unloved and rejected. This is our mission as Christians, which unfortunately many of us have not been able to do because of our various excuses in life. We have always used fear, doubt, as well as laziness, pride and other irresponsible reasons to make excuses so as not to do what God had commanded us to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on this Sunday’s readings from the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore sincerely and fervently pray to the Lord, that He may give us the strength to renew our faith, that we may awaken in us the desire to care and love for one another, to stand up for our faith when the need arises, and therefore, give new ‘flavour’ and ‘saltiness’ to our faith, and then, be examples to one another, as light of the world, guiding many others on their way to God.

May the Lord bless us all and all of our good works. May He protect us and strengthen us, that we may continue to persevere and do what He had asked us to do, so that in the end of it all, we may receive the crown of eternal glory, having been found worthy by Him, Who sees in us the worth of the ‘salt’ of our faith and the unquenchable and strong light of faith and love present in each and every one of us who call themselves as Christians, God’s own beloved people. Amen.

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Sunday, 29 January 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in the Scripture readings, all of us heard about the descriptions of who are considered as true Christians, as those who are not Christians just in name or in the official records only, but also Christians in their hearts and souls, and all who see these people, will truly know and recognise their Christian faith, not because they show off any records or cards stating that they belong to the Christian faith, but because of their own actions and deeds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are called to reflect on the words of our Lord Jesus in the Beatitudes which He taught to the disciples and to the people who heard His teachings on the mountain, as we also heard it in our Gospel passage today. The Eight Beatitudes are the eight good virtues which all of us should have in our own lives, as Jesus had gone through each of them, which are then expected from us Christians. Let me now go through each of them from the beginning to the end.

We have to be poor in spirit, which does not refer to material poverty, or being poor because we have no money or worldly possessions in order to sustain ourselves. This is a misconception that many people often have with regards to the term ‘poor in spirit’. Jesus was not supporting those who were materially poor against the rich, and neither did He condemn the rich just because they were rich or had more material possessions than others.

Rather, it means that we must recognise our spiritual poverty, understanding that we are all sinners before God, delinquent and rebel, having been cast away from His presence because of our disobedience and sinfulness. It is the recognition and awareness of one’s own sins and weaknesses which is something that we do not commonly see among ourselves. We are often too proud and feeling too self-righteous to be able to see our own faults and therefore we are incapable of taking the steps to rectify this situation.

The kingdom of God truly therefore belong to those who are humble and willing to be forgiven, those who are able to open themselves to receive the loving grace of God. Which then comes to the next Beatitude, about those who mourn. This mourning is often associated with those who are sad and sorrowful because they lose something or someone precious, such as when someone they love passed away. But even more importantly, someone who is poor in spirit will also be sorrowful.

Why is this so? That is because if we are aware of our sins, and just how terrible those sins are, we will be sorrowful indeed, knowing that God surely would punish us for all the heinous and wicked deeds we have done. It is the regret that accompanies one’s actions, knowing regret for one’s sins which many people of our time are unable to do. Many of us are ignorant of our own sins, and how bad they are for our own souls.

This world is filled with sin and darkness, and many of us are trapped in the darkness. We fill ourselves with acts of hatred, jealousy, greed and all other things unbecoming of ourselves as those who call themselves as Christians. We cause harm, pain and sufferings upon others just so that we can gain things for ourselves, that we will benefit on top of others’ inconvenience and sufferings. This will happen when each person only cares about themselves and not about others.

This is where we need to be gentle, to be loving and caring, not to be quick to anger but be calm and be compassionate. We must have that desire to love one another, and to shown concern and care for our brethren, especially when we see someone being treated unjustly, being bullied and having their rights taken away from them. It is un-Christian for us to ignore the plight of our brethren, of those who have need for help, but having no one listen to them.

We are all called to be those who are ready to help these brethren of ours, helping them and comforting them, showing them mercy and love. That is why God blesses all those who have pity and mercy in their hearts, all those who are incapable of sitting still while they see someone being mistreated, bullied and persecuted against. It does not just mean that we should do our best to overcome our sins, but we must also help one another through our actions.

It is only when we have the right intention, the right attitude and the right understanding of things that we will be able to proceed on in a Christian manner. And indeed, a Christian person is a man of peace, who seeks the betterment of his or her brethren. A peaceful person inspires one another to rule out conflict in dealing with matters. They would try their best to bring harmony and peace in all situations. It is when love should trump over hate, where justice should trump over injustice.

Ultimately, let us all ask ourselves, are we able to do what the Lord had instructed us all to do? We do not have to worry or fear, because in the second reading today, in the Epistle which St. Paul wrote to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth in Greece, he said that God chose the ordinary and the common people, not those who are considered strong and mighty in the sight of the world, but all of us with our weaknesses and with our faults, have been chosen by God.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that by calling us all, God wants each and every one of us to be changed, transformed by our actions, which should be filled with love, with mercy, with kindness, compassion and grace. We should be following in the examples of our good predecessors, the holy saints who have led a life of virtue, a true Christian life which we all ought to follow as well.

That also means that as Christians we must not participate in acts that are un-Christian in nature. We should not sow division when we are able to unite instead. We should not bring about harm and injury to our brethren when we are able to bring peace and harmony, and also love and mercy. We must not act unjustly on our brethren, but instead we should uphold justice and honesty in all of our dealings.

Indeed, all of these will not be easily done, as often things are easily said but difficult to be made a reality. But that is precisely what Jesus Himself had told His disciples and all of His followers. That there will be opposition, persecution and challenges from many sources, but those who persevere through, will receive great rewards in the end.

Yes, temptations and persuasions to do otherwise will be great, but this is where we can help one another to pull through those difficult moments, and show one another with good examples of our own actions. Let the eight Beatitudes be our guide, in our conduct and in our actions, so that all those who see us will immediately recognise God being present in us and our works, and therefore many more people will come to understand God and His ways, and be saved together with us all.

May the Lord bless us all and our works, and may He awaken in each and every one of us the desire to live a true and blessed Christian life. May all of us be ever righteous, just and honest in our every dealings, and be caring and loving, merciful and kind towards one another, fellow brothers and sisters in our Lord. May God be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 January 2017 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, as we go through the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, it is appropriate for us to reflect firstly on what we heard in the second reading, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, where he rebuked the Christians there for their divisiveness. At that time, the Church and the faithful there were divided bitterly among themselves as they were not able to agree on exactly who to believe in.

In order to understand this, we should understand the very nature of our Christian faith. Our faith is a faith by proclamation and witness. We received our faith and the teachings of those faith from those who have themselves received it from their teachers. Thus we believe because of witness, and because of the faith of those who have themselves received the same teachings.

But then, the question is that, how do we then make sure that the teachings are genuine, accurate and true? After all, as we have already seen, that even in the earliest days of the Church, there had been divisions and also conflict amongst the faithful because of the different ways the faith and its teachings were interpreted amongst the faithful, with both St. Paul and Apollos being charismatic and great preachers. Certainly they would gain plenty of following among the people.

Both of them might have indeed taught the exact same set of teachings, and although as told in the other part of the Acts of the Apostles, that Apollos had some mistakes in his teachings as he was not fully versed in the fullness of the Church’s teachings, unlike St. Paul, who have received the Holy Spirit and coordinated with St. Peter and the other Apostles, but as soon as some other disciples of the Lord pointed out his errors, he quickly rectified the mistake.

Rather, most likely the problem came about because of how we the hearers of the Good News interpret the message, and each of us make a different interpretation among ourselves. It is our human nature that we often like what we like to hear, such as parts that suit our objectives and needs, while at the same time we filter out the messages and parts that we do not like or do not favour us.

That is why the divisions came about in the Church and amongst the faithful, precisely because each and every person interpret the faith in the way that they like, and not in the way that it should be interpreted and understood. And then we may have the question of how then can we receive the faith that we now have in the correct and accurate manner?

This is where the Church comes in, brothers and sisters, the importance of the Church as an institution, not just in terms of the Church hierarchy and leadership that maintain control over the teachings and the traditions of our faith, but more importantly because it, being the collective Body of Christ on earth, as the union of all those who believe in God and call themselves as Christians, is the very important safeguard against those who would corrupt, misrepresent and misinterpret the faith and its teachings.

Without such a safeguard, then it is difficult to maintain the integrity and the truth of the faith as how it should be. The Church is the safe-keeper of the truth which our Lord Jesus Christ had proclaimed to the world, which then were passed down through His Apostles, and from them to their successors, and from their successors to their successors’ successors. And thus it was through the Church, through our bishops and priests, the successors of the Apostles that we have received this faith.

All the divisions of the Church since the beginnings of the Church, even from the days of the Apostles to the present day are caused by the disobedience, pride, greed and the rebelliousness we mankind, the people of God had done, which because of the refusal of men to obey the teachings of the Church, they had gone wayward, interpreting the Scriptures as they wished and in their own limited understanding, which resulted in the splintering of the body of the faithful into many pieces.

At the same time, we also have to acknowledge that the Church itself also is not entirely out of blame. The Church is human just as much as it is Divine. It may be instituted by the Lord, and authority have been given to it and its stewards, the Apostles and their successors, but after all, it was still feeble and sinful men and women who had been part of this Church, led it, and sometimes brought it into erroneous ways.

It was because of the corruption within the Church, the immorality of its leaders and even the Popes themselves were wicked in their actions, which resulted in the desire of certain people to reform the Church. There had been many occasions, harking earlier to the earliest days of the Church that the Church had not always been faithful to the truth, but was misled by false and heretical ways, and yet, almost every time, God called holy and committed men and women to correct the wrong ways, and those who refused to return to the true faith were expelled from the Church. Many did eventually return and repent their sins.

Indeed, we have to take note that as what happened five centuries ago, when the ‘Reformation’ rocked the entire Church and brought great harm to many of the faithful, there were many good intentioned reformers who wanted to see the Church purged from its corruption and worldliness, as then the Church had been too absorbed into worldly and secular ways to the point that it was hardly a dependable and reliable source of spiritual guidance to the people.

And yet, while the intentions of those reformers were probably good, but their methods of going about trying to achieve their goals were very wrong. They took it upon themselves to sunder the unity of the Church, and by declaring that the Scriptures alone was their authority, each and every person soon took it upon themselves to interpret what the Scriptures meant for them, and therefore, what they believed in. Some chose what they liked to believe and others threw away all those that they refused to believe in. This created confusion, and a ripe ground for the devil to sow further division and discord.

Let us all look back at the Church fathers, the collective body of the saints and martyrs who had once led the Church in its earliest days. They have carefully preserved the teachings of Christ and His Good News just exactly as how He passed it down to His Apostles and to them. Those who damaged the unity of the Church did so because they misunderstood the faith, and they ignored the Church’s ways because they were too focused on its faults then, and refused to maintain the truth which it had kept and preserved throughout time, up to this very day.

It was also then misinformation, socio-political issues and other misunderstandings that prevented the reunion of the faithful people of God into His Church. There were many false informations, lies and other falsehoods which became entangled with political issues, social issues, and even issues of pride, human greed and stubbornness, which kept the gap and the chasm between the divided members of the Church wide and even growing ever wider.

This is where then it is important that as Christians, those who belong to God’s Church, and as a member of the holy and venerable Body of Christ, which had guarded the Apostolic Tradition of our faith, and the fullness of the teachings of Christ, led by the Apostle St. Peter and his successors, our Popes, that we must remember what is our faith truly about, which I have mentioned at the very beginning of this discourse, that is about being witnesses of Christ.

That is why each and every one of us have the calling and the mission from God, to be witnesses of the faith, showing through our deeds and actions that we truly belong to God, that is by loving one another and showing care and concern for our less fortunate brethren around us. And it is important that we stick closely to the Church and its teachings, as Jesus Himself had said in another occasion in the Gospels, that He is the true Vine, and all who have no part in Him and have separated themselves from Him will have no life in them.

Therefore, similarly, if we do not adhere closely to the Church and separates ourselves from it, then that is why divisions came about, and we are bringing upon ourselves and others not the grace of salvation but the sins of error and condemnation by God. As Christians, we must work to overcome the divisions and the misunderstandings, all the obstacles that had prevented many of those who believe in God, and yet outside the Church from returning to the Holy Mother Church.

In this week of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us all Christians pray fervently together, that everyone who believe in God will no longer be separated, that everyone will be just as what Jesus our Lord wants them to be, to be one and united just as He and the Father is one. This is the prayer which Jesus Himself prayed on the night before He was to suffer and die, and prayer that He had asked the Father to bestow on His Church.

Therefore, those who foment divisions and spread lies and misinformations about the faith, not adhering to the teachings of the Church as passed down unto us from the Apostles are against the wishes of the Lord. Yet, sadly it is the reality of our world today that there are many both outside and inside the Church who are against unity. Rather, it is important that we overcome those misinformations, and therefore, it is important that each and every one of us, members of the Church, know fully what our faith is about.

After all, if we ourselves are unaware of what our faith is about, how can we then convince others to reunite and reconcile themselves with the Church? There have been good signs, as there have been quite a few of those who have decided to repent and return to the embrace of the Mother Church, after they had studied the teachings of the Church fathers, read their writings and works, and found in them the same faith as what our Church, the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church have today, even almost two millennia away from the days of those holy saints.

Let us all therefore pray together, brethren, that the unity of the Church will be restored, and each and every one of us as Christians will know the fullness of the truth of God and the wholeness of His teachings, which He had passed on to His Apostles, and which the Church had preserved and kept for many ages. Let us all be agents of true unity in the Church, not by compromising our faith, but instead by being witnesses of the truth of God and knowing His truth.

We are all called to be shepherds and guides to all those who have fallen on their way towards the Lord. It is imperative then, even up to this present day and era, that we work to our best capabilities, in order to make many more people see the truth found in the Church. Let us all do our best, and pray that God will help us in all of our endeavours. May God be with His Church and with His people, bless all of their works, and bring all of His faithful one together as one flock, one people. Amen.

by

Sunday, 15 January 2017 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy day of the Lord, all of us are gathered together to hear about the Lord our God, His love for us, and His resolve to gather us all who have been estranged from Him and from His love, that all of us may find salvation in Him and through Him. For it is the love of God which had been made manifest through Jesus Christ, His Son, which had become the source of our salvation and grace.

Since the days of the prophet Isaiah, in our first reading today, God had promised His people His upcoming salvation, when He would gather them back into His embrace, and reunite them with Himself, after they had been scattered among the nations because of their sins. This has to be understood in the context of the era, as during the time of the prophet Isaiah, the long sundered northern kingdom of Israel had finally been destroyed by the Assyrians, and many of the northern ten tribes of the Israelites were forced to go into exile in the foreign lands.

It was the rebellion and disobedience of the people of God that led to such a fate, as they worshipped the pagan gods and idols, turning away from the Lord their God. They committed all forms of wicked acts and sins, fornicating themselves in adultery and in acts unworthy of those whom God had chosen to be His own people, to be His own children. They made others and their own descendants to sin against God.

The people of the kingdom of Judah, the southern kingdom, would themselves be brought into exile by the Babylonians, as they were also disobedient, refusing to turn away from sin, and even though God had sent prophets after prophets, messengers after messengers, they refused to believe in His message, and rejected His offer of mercy and forgiveness. They and their kings continued to trust on themselves and in the comforts of worldliness.

Through this we can see that, those who do not put their trust in God, and prefer instead to walk on their own will be scattered, and they will lose their way. They will not be able to stand against the forces of this world. And the only result out of sin and disobedience will be sorrow, pain and suffering, for it is only in God that we shall find true and everlasting peace, as well as rest and succour from all of our worldly troubles.

But ultimately, we have to remember the simple fact that while we are often unfaithful, wayward and defiant in our ways, God is always faithful to us, to the covenant which He had made with our forefathers, and which He had renewed with them many times, and last of all, which He renewed with all of us through none other than Jesus Christ, His only Son. For Jesus is the Mediator of the New and everlasting Covenant, through which God wants to make all of us as the recipients of His love and grace.

God is always willing and ready to forgive us, but are we willing to be forgiven by God? Rather, are we willing to approach Him and to ask Him for His generous mercy? Or are we instead too proud and arrogant, to think that we have been mistaken and are in need of forgiveness? If God has allowed Himself to become Man and to suffer for our sake, so that He may forgive us our sins and heal us from our afflictions, then should we not make the effort to allow His grace and forgiveness to enter our lives and transform us?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all as Christians be role model for all of our brethren. We should be the ones to show others the way to the Lord, through our humble supplication and submission before God, through our devotion and commitment to Him and to His ways. We should show others how we ought to follow the Lord, and obey His laws, by practicing them through our own actions and deeds.

After all, no one will believe in us if we ask them to believe in God, and yet in our actions we are no different from all those who have disobeyed the Lord and abandoned Him those years ago, the people of Israel and Judah. We must lead by example, and show to each other the living proof of the love of Christ our Lord. We are the bearers of His love, and the witnesses of His truth, so it is imperative that each and every one of us must walk the talk, as Christians, to commit ourselves to acts of love fitting for those who call themselves children of our Lord, Whose great love for us enabled Him to forgive us our many sins.

May the Lord continue to love us and bless us, and may He, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be the Light of our lives, showing us the way forward, that we will always remain in the path towards righteousness and justice. May He bless us and keep us all in His grace, that we will be found ever worthy and good when He comes again as He has promised, and He will then bless us with the gift of everlasting life and glory in His presence. Amen.