Sunday Mass homily

by

Sunday, 2 June 2024 : Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we are all reminded that we all exist for God and all the things we do in this life, our every moments, our whole beings, our whole reason for living should indeed be for the Lord, to glorify and to praise Him ceaselessly, for all the great and wonderful things which He had done for us. Each and every one of us have been called to follow the path of the Law, to obey His Law and to do whatever is needed for us so that our lives may truly be holy and worthy of Him. However, at the same time, we are also reminded that we must practice our faith in the manner that is truly embodying our faith, and develop a genuine and loving relationship with God, through those actions and piety which we have carried out in our daily living, or else, we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers.

In our first reading this Sunday we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy in which Moses reminded the people of Israel, God’s first chosen people to observe the Sabbath day, which is the last or seventh day in the week. The Sabbath is a day of rest in which work and labour, activities that are not focused on the Lord are not allowed and when the people of God were encouraged to spend their time in prayer and devotion to God, firstly in connection with how the Lord Himself also rested on the seventh day when He created the Universe and the whole world. This day of Sabbath rest was also then meant to remind the people that they were truly God’s people and their livelihood, their activities and all their daily living should have God as the centre and focus of all things.

That was the intention and purpose why the Sabbath Law was enacted and imposed by the Lord on His people, the Israelites. As otherwise, it would have been very easy for the people to forget about God, to go on with their daily lives and activities, in their pursuits for glory and wealth, for worldly satisfactions and pleasures. All of these would have drawn the people ever further away from God and His salvation. Throughout time and history, again and again, people have been swayed by the many temptations of worldly glory, forgetting about God and His teachings, His path and truth that they ended up falling ever more and deeper into the path towards their ruin and destruction in sin. This is what the Lord wanted to prevent, and what He sought to avoid by instituting a day dedicated for everyone to keep holy and committed to Him, rather than to their various jobs and preoccupations.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Mark in which the Lord was confronted by the Pharisees who were criticising His disciples for having committed and carried out actions that were supposedly forbidden and outlawed during the Sabbath. Contextually, the Pharisees were those who were very particular about the way how the Law was to be observed and practiced, and they paid close attention to the Sabbath Law as well. To them, who advocated very literal and strict interpretation of the Law, absolutely no activity of all sorts could be done by anyone, not even when those activities were to be done out of necessity and for good and worthy purposes. And this was why they criticised the Lord and His disciples for their works and actions on the Sabbath.

The Pharisees upheld such beliefs and practices because, in opposition to the other dominant group, the Sadducees, representing those Jewish elites who had been exposed and supported Hellenic or Greek influences, the Pharisees wanted to preserve the Jewish ways and customs, practices and other beliefs very closely. However, in their obsession to do so, they became stubborn and selfish in their behaviours and ways, thinking that they alone were able to interpret the Law and their version of the Law and its observances alone could be followed, and anyone else who did not practice the Law in the manner that they had done, all of them had erred and ought to be condemned and criticised. The Lord pointed out to them therefore the folly of their ways and their arguments.

The Lord Jesus healed a paralysed man in the synagogue before those self-righteous and proud Pharisees, pointing out to them the folly of their idea that absolutely no actions could be done by anyone, not even those that brought about good deeds and glorification of God. The Lord wanted to remind all of us through this that the Sabbath was meant to help redirect us and our attention towards God, but was never meant to oppress and chain us with obligations and with restrictions that could even cause harm. For example, when those disciples were hungry, as they had been going from places to places to minister to the people of God, they indeed had to eat, and it was a necessity that they had to pluck the grains and feed themselves even on the Sabbath day.

This is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is imperative that we truly understand and appreciate why God had reached out to us, showing us the path for us to follow Him through His Law and commandments. Such laws and regulations were put in place to help us all, as God’s people to keep our lives centred and focused on God, but not to make our lives and existence difficult and tough. Otherwise, that led to what happened to those Pharisees who took the Law to the other extreme, by focusing so much on the details and the way the Law had to be applied, observed and practiced, that they forgot and overlooked the true intention and purpose of the Law of God, which is to lead mankind back towards God. Instead, through their overly strict application of the Law and their self-righteous and high-handed actions and manners, those Pharisees had done the opposite instead.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we have been reminded by the Lord to turn our attention and focus back towards Him, let us all hence be committed to Him and be truly genuine in following God in all of our words, actions and deeds, and not merely paying lip service to the Lord and yet our hearts and minds are not directed and focused on Him. Each and every one of us should always strive to grow ever stronger in our commitment and faith, and we should do our best so that we may ourselves be good inspirations and strength for one another, at all times. May the Lord continue to encourage and strengthen us all in faith, and may He bless us all in our every efforts, good works and endeavours, to obey Him genuinely and lovingly through His Law and commandments. Amen.

by

Thursday, 30 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, marking just like last Sunday’s Trinity Sunday, a very important and core tenet of our Christian faith and beliefs. All of us as Christians believe that the Holy Eucharist, which we celebrate at the Holy Mass or more appropriately, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is none other than the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Himself. This is the belief in the Doctrine of the Transubstantiation, one of the core tenets of the Christian faith, that God has given us all His own Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood for our salvation, through the New and Eternal Covenant He had established with us.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Exodus of the words of Moses, the leader of the Israelites during the time of their Exodus from Egypt and their journey towards the Promised Land of Canaan, who spoke to the Israelites regarding the great and most wonderful love which God has shown to His people in all that He had done for them, and this culminated with the Covenant which He established anew with all of His people at the holy mountain of God, Mount Sinai, where the people of Israel had journeyed towards. There at the holy mountain, through Moses, the Covenant between God and His people was sealed and established, by the sacrifice and the outpouring of the blood of a sacrificial lamb upon the altar.

This was in fact a prefigurement of what would happen much later on, mentioned in our second reading today from the Epistle to the Hebrews. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews often linked the Lord Jesus to the role of the High Priest for indeed, Christ is the one and only True, Eternal High Priest for all mankind. Why is this so? This is because by His Passion, His sufferings and His trials, His crucifixion and ultimately His death on the Cross, our Lord has willingly offered the perfect and only worthy offering to the Lord for our salvation and redemption. In the past, the sacrifice and the outpouring of the blood of the animals like lambs were used to represent the redemption and forgiveness of God for the sins of His people.

However, the blood of the lambs alone would not have been enough to redeem all of mankind for all their innumerable sins and faults, and that was why the sacrificial and sin offerings were repeatedly done again and again by the priests and the high priests who offered them for the sake of the people of God. But God had promised His salvation to all of His people, telling and reassuring them all that one day He would send His Saviour, Who would deliver them all from their sins, much as how He has once delivered them and freed them from the hands of the Pharaoh and the Egyptians, leading them to freedom and bringing them to the Promised Land where He settled them and made them to dwell in peace.

Again all of those were prefigurement of the salvation that is to come for all of us, the whole people, all the children of mankind. For through His Beloved Son, His only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Eternal High Priest, He showed us all the sure path to eternal life and salvation, because by His offering of the perfect and most worthy offering, which is worth all of the immense and unimaginably great extent of our many sins and wickedness, of all mankind that has, is and will ever exist, from the beginning to the end of time, He has redeemed all of us, once and for all through this supreme act of sacrifice and offering. And what is this perfect and most worthy offering, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is none other than His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, broken and outpoured upon us from the Altar of the Cross. Through His Precious Body and Blood, Christ has made with us all, a New and Eternal Covenant between us and God.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the account from the Gospel of St. Mark of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper, which happened just before the Lord was to begin His Passion, His suffering and death. He gave His disciples the bread that He has blessed, prayed over and broken up, sharing with them His own Most Holy and Precious Body, with the words, ‘Take this. It is My Body.’ And afterwards, He also shared the chalice or cup filled with the wine He has also blessed, and told them that that wine is His Blood, the Blood of the New Covenant.’ When the Lord said this to His disciples, He truly meant it as He said that the bread is His Body and the wine is His Blood.

He never meant for the bread and wine to be merely symbolic or memorial representation of His Body and Blood and His Sacrifice on the Cross. He literally and truly meant that the disciples, and all of His Church, are truly consuming, partaking and having His own Precious Body and Blood, the Body and Blood of the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life, Who would soon suffer and endure the most bitter and painful sufferings for their sake, for all of us, so that by His willing sacrifice, He might provide for us the sure path to salvation and eternal life, breaking forever the chains of sin and death that had dominated over us from the beginning of time. This is also what He meant when earlier on during the discourse on the Bread of Life, the Lord also said that His Body is truly food and His Blood is truly drink, and all those who partake of the Bread of Life, of His Body and Blood, will never perish but have eternal life.

This is why from the very earliest beginnings and history of the Church, the Church fathers from the Apostles and their successors, throughout time and history and right down to this present moment have all preserved this core belief and tenet in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, that in each and every celebration of the Holy Mass, the bread and wine have indeed been turned by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, through the hands and prayers of His priests, to be the very essence and reality of His own Most Precious Body and His Most Precious Blood, although in appearance, they may still appear as bread and wine to our senses. Through our faith in Him, we believe that what we partake is none other than the Lord Himself.

But it is also important that we understand that each and every celebrations of the Holy Mass, unlike what some people outside and even within the Church had misunderstood and misrepresented, are not the repetitions of the sacrifice of the Lord at Calvary. Instead, every time the Holy Mass is celebrated, it is exactly the same Sacrifice that the Lord has offered and given to us at Calvary, at the moment of His Passion, His suffering and death on His Cross. What the Church fathers and the early Christians, and all of our predecessors in faith throughout time had partaken in the Holy Eucharist, is the same Precious Body and Precious Blood of the Lord just as what we have partaken and received, and all of us share in this Holy Communion, uniting all of us in this One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Body of Christ and Kingdom of God on earth.

The Lord has instituted the Holy Eucharist and also the Ministerial Priesthood at the Last Supper, to perpetuate this celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, so that by the power that He had granted to those whom He had chosen, and to their successors, the bishops and priests throughout time and history, right up to this day, at every celebration of the Holy Mass, the bread and wine have indeed been consecrated and transformed into the essence and reality of His own Body and Blood, which we believe as the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. When the Lord asked His disciples to ‘do this in the memory of Me’, some misunderstood that the celebration of the Eucharist is a mere symbol or memory, but the reality is that, each celebration is indeed meant to bring unto us the Sacrifice of the Lord at Calvary, and we all truly partake His Body and Blood, not merely having a symbol of His loving sacrifice.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we commemorate this great Solemnity of the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of Christ or Corpus Christi, let us all reflect on how much we truly believe in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. The sad and unfortunate reality in our Church today is that, many even within the Church had no longer believed in the Real Presence, and the belief in the doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Real Presence have been steadily slipping to an all-time low. Many of us treated the Lord and His Real Presence with indifference and lack of reverence and faith. We often treat the Eucharist as nothing more than bread and wine, and we lack the proper reverence and respect, honour and worship of the Lord’s Real Presence.

That partly explain why increasingly there are more and more lapses from among us in the Church, as we steadily and continuously losing people to the world, to the many temptations present around us, and many others do not believe in the Real Presence in the Lord either, especially those who have not believed in God, whenever they see us treating the Eucharist with indifference and lack of respect and proper adoration. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, remembering the New and Eternal Covenant that He Himself has made and sealed with us all by the breaking of His own Holy and Precious Body and the outpouring of His own Holy and Precious Blood, through His perfect and loving sacrifice on the Cross.

Let us all renew our devotion to the Lord, particularly in the way we treat the Holy Eucharist, Our Lord’s very own Most Precious Body and Blood, in how we honour and respect Him, and in ensuring that each and every one of us keep ourselves truly worthy to be the Temple of His Holy Presence, as we all partake His Holy and Precious Body and Blood into ourselves, into our very beings. Let us all strive to be truly holy and worthy to receive the Lord, our most loving God, Who has shared with us this most perfect and loving gift of His Body and Blood, so that as He had said, that we who partake in Him, will receive the assurance of eternal life and glory with Him, and will be raised with Him on the last day.

May the Lord, our God and Saviour, Who has given us all His Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist, continue to bless us all and guide us in our journey of faith throughout our lives. May He empower and strengthen each and every one of us so that in all the things that we do, so that by our worthy lives and by our proper respect and belief in the Real Presence of the Lord, more and more people may come to the Lord and be healed by Him, and seek Him as their Lord and Saviour, now and always. Amen.

by

Sunday, 26 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or also known as Trinity Sunday. On this Sunday we commemorate and focus our attention on this important tenet in our Christian faith, one that is truly Christian in nature, and one of the core tenets and beliefs of our faith in God. This is because unlike any other monotheistic beliefs, there is none other that beliefs in the Holy Trinity of One God in Three Divine Persons as we have believed in, the belief in the Triune God Who is One and only One, and yet manifesting Himself in Three Divine Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, distinct and yet indivisible and perfectly united to each other as One.

This is our Christian faith, our Trinitarian beliefs and our faith in the One Lord Who in His Person of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have each interacted with us, and shown us all His love and truth, His compassion and grace. But what is the Holy Trinity all about? Do we truly know and understand what it means for us to believe in the One Lord in Three Divine Persons? There are many people both within and outside the Church who misunderstood what the Holy Trinity is all about, and there are not few of those who think that we worship not one but three Gods. This is definitely false, and it does not help that there are quite a lot of falsehoods and inaccurate representations of the Holy Trinity that are believed by those outside the Church, misrepresentations of the Holy Trinity that perpetuated this misunderstandings, that even quite a number within the Church also followed and believed in.

What is the Holy Trinity? As mentioned, as Christians we believe in the One and only True God, Creator and Master of all the Universe, which has Three Divine Persons or Aspects just as we profess every time we say the Creed. The Nicene Creed begins with, ‘I believe in One God’, which states clearly this belief in the Oneness of God, and then continues with ‘The Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth’, and then ‘I believe in One Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages… consubstantial with the Father’ which highlights that there has always been only One Lord and God, and the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are all part of this One God, with Jesus Christ, the Son of God being ‘begotten’ and not ‘created’. The Son and the Holy Spirit are part of this Holy Trinity together with the Father, from before the beginning of time.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all co-equal and co-eternal, having existed before the beginning of time, for eternity. And unlike what some heresies and false teachings propagated, we all believe that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all equal to each other, and the Son and/or the Holy Spirit are not subordinated to any of the other members of the Holy Trinity. Then, at the same time, the Holy Trinity is incomplete without any of its members, and this highlights the fact mentioned earlier that the Three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity are both distinct and indivisible at the same time. Each and every members of the Holy Trinity are present at the moment of Creation and throughout all history. The Father willed the Creation and the Universe into being, through the Son, the Word of God, by His words, ‘Let there be…’, and the Holy Spirit being the Spirit of Creation and Life present in all of Creation, making all things coming to be.

At the moment of the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit was also present, with the Father’s will again making the impossible to be possible, that the Son of God, the Divine Word, became incarnate in the flesh, taking up our human form and existence, our nature to be the Son of Man, in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit that made it all happen, in the holy womb of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. The Holy Trinity has been mentioned in the many parts of the Scriptures, and throughout the history of the world, and at the supreme moment of our salvation when the Lord died on the Cross, the Holy Trinity is again present, as the Son of God, lay dying on His Cross, gave up His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, back to God the Father, with the words, ‘Father, into Your hands, I commend My Spirit.’ Truly, the Lord in His Most Holy Trinity, has been always present in our midst, all these time, just as through His Son, He has made Himself visible, approachable and tangible to us.

The most tangible proof of the Holy Trinity itself is the words of the Lord, Who said that ‘I and the Father are One.’ and in another occasion with, ‘May they all be one, just as We are One.’, referring to the Oneness and the Unity of the Holy Trinity in the One God, and the relationship between the Father and the Son, and then also the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus in more than one occasion send upon the disciples, with the words, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ And the Lord Himself told the disciples and all of His Church as we heard in our Gospel passage, the Great Commission that He has entrusted to each and every one of us, that is to go forth to all the peoples and all the nations so that everyone from all the nations may receive the Good News of God, believe in Him and be baptised in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. All these are the reasons why although throughout time and history, there were those who denied the Holy Trinity, and yet the belief in the Triune God remains strong to this very day.

Now, after we have discussed the nature of the Holy Trinity and our belief in the Triune God, we also need to ask ourselves, why the Lord then created us all? In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy in which Moses spoke to the people of Israel during the time of the Exodus about their great privilege to have been called and chosen as the holy people of God, as the ones whom God had first made to be His own people, to be loved and cared for by Him. Why did God then create all of us if He is already perfect and all good? First of all, we must understand that the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is united by the perfect bond of love, which overflows from the Holy Trinity to all of us. God is Love, and He is so full of love that He wants to share this love with each and every one of us. We were created so that we may share in God’s love.

That was why we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy, of Moses reminding the people of just how much God had loved them, taken care of them and provided for them despite of their many disobedience and rebellious attitudes. God is so full of love that He has done all that were necessary to bring them out of their slavery and bondage in Egypt, and providing them with the means to survive the long journey in the desert, protecting them all from harm and from their enemies. And while they were also chastised and punished by the Lord for their disobedience and rebellion, but God did so with the intention to help His people to find their way back towards Him, and for them all to realise that their attitudes and actions were causing them to be sundered and separated from His wonderful love, grace and kindness.

In our second reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Rome in which he spoke of how every one of them have become and have indeed been made to be the children of God, as through His Spirit and by His Son sharing in our human nature and existence, all of us have received this adoption, by becoming members and parts of the Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that just as Christ Our Lord called God the Father as His Heavenly Father, thus we are all also able to call the Lord our God as our Father as well. This is what all of us have received from the Lord Himself, showing us just how loving and compassionate He is, and how fortunate all of us indeed are, to have been beloved in such a way.

What we all now need to do as Christians is that we need to first of all remember this core tenet of our faith in the Most Holy Trinity, our Lord and God, Creator and Master of all the Universe, Who is One, but having Three Divine Persons in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We have to appreciate and understand the significance of this Trinitarian Doctrine so that we may help many others both within and outside the Church to know what it is that we all as Christians truly believe in the Lord, in one God Who manifested Himself in the Three Divine Persons, co-equal and co-eternal, distinct and yet indivisible from one another. We must also give thanks to Him Who has loved us so much that this overflowing love from the perfect bond in the Holy Trinity has been outpoured on us from the very beginning.

Then, reflecting upon the unity within the Most Holy Trinity, let us also remember our own community of believers as Christians, who are all members of the same Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. If Our Lord Himself is perfectly united in the indivisible bond of love in the Most Holy Trinity, then we ourselves cannot and should not be divided against each other. Unfortunately and sadly, such divisions are quite common both in the past and present, as there were various schisms and heresies that led to the splintering of the unity of the Body of Christ, the One Church of God. This is why on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we must renew our faith in the Lord and strive to advance and champion unity among all the believers in Christ, our Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore as Christians, as those who believe in the One Lord in Three Divine Persons, the Most Holy Trinity and Triune God, continue to live our lives most worthily, so that by our most exemplary lives, we may truly be the bearers of Our Lord’s truth and Good News, and be the worthy bearers of His love and compassion, His ways and examples into this world. O Most Holy God, forever worthy of praise, honour and worship, Our Lord and God in the Most Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us all sinners and be with Your Church, so that in all that we do and in our every good efforts and endeavours, may You continue to bless and guide us all in our path, in serving You at all times. Amen.

by

Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we celebrate this most joyful occasion of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday, we recall the fullness of joy and great celebrations that we have done in the past glorious and most joyful fifty days of Easter since that of Easter Vigil. Pentecost celebrates the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit from God upon His Church, to all the disciples and followers of Christ. On that day, the Lord fulfilled His promises to His disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit, Whom He called as the Helper or the Advocate, to lead and guide the path of the Church and all the faithful, strengthening them in their journey of faith, empowering them to be courageous and to be able to persevere despite the trials and challenges that they may have to face.

This important day and celebration is a reminder for all of us that through the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit to all of us, we have received once again the grace of God that had been separated from us due to our sins and wickedness, and through the Holy Spirit, God had shown that He is always ever present with His Church and faithful ones, having guided us all throughout these past two millennia of history, from the very beginning of the Church and up to this very day, through all the challenges and trials facing the Church and all the Christian faithful. The Holy Spirit had guided the Church fathers and leaders in walking down the path of the Lord, that while at times the Church and many among the faithful had fallen into the wrong paths, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, eventually the Church is moving ahead again in the right path.

Many people often wrongly associate Pentecost with the so-called ‘Birthday of the Church’ and it does not help that in some places, popular practices related to this birthday celebration of the Church are commonplace. The Church according to the Church fathers and Apostolic tradition, as written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church was ‘born’ and established from the side of the Lord, from the outpouring of the Blood and water that came from the Lord’s Body, lay broken and crushed on Good Friday, at the end of His Passion, His suffering and death. Through His earlier institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood at the Last Supper, and through His completion of the perfect offering and sacrifice of the New and Eternal Passover, the New and Eternal Covenant, Christ has formed the Church that is His Body, uniting all of the believers with Himself.

What the Pentecost is more accurately associated with is the moment when the Church is ‘revealed’ to the world, with an analogy and comparison similar to that of Christmas and Epiphany. While Christmas marks the moment when the Lord Jesus, Our Saviour was born into this world, it is at Epiphany that He is revealed and manifested to the whole world through the representation of the Three Magi or the Three Wise Men. Thus, the Church that is born on Good Friday and the Paschal Triduum, was also revealed to the whole world at the moment of the Pentecost, at the time when there was a very major shift in the attitude of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, who began to actively proclaim the Word of God and His Good News to everyone when previously they had been hiding in fear.

This was what we have heard in our first reading today, detailing to us what happened on the day of the first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon all the Apostles and disciples who were hiding in fear from the Jewish authorities who had threatened everyone that taught in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and who had put in place efforts to silence the disciples of the Lord. They were fearful because the Lord was no longer physically with them, having ascended into Heaven just ten days earlier, but with the arrival and descent of the Holy Spirit, and as they were inflamed and strengthened by the fire of the Holy Spirit, their hearts were encouraged and they received the strength, the wisdom and the power to go forth and to proclaim the Good News of God with great fervour and courage as we have heard.

And through their efforts, many people who were then gathered in Jerusalem for the Festival of Pentecost, coming from the different regions and countries of the world, many of whom were Jews who were living in the diaspora, came to hear of the Lord Jesus, as many of them might not have heard or known about Him before. Those people came to be touched by the message of God’s truth and His Good News that the Apostles told them in their various languages, the gift which the Holy Spirit had brought to them, and about three thousand people accepted the Lord on that day, becoming the earliest members of the Church of God together with those Apostles and disciples of the Lord. The rapid growth of the Church from that day of Pentecost and the changing attitude of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, empowered by the Holy Spirit made the Church no longer hidden but instead revealed to the whole world, which is what Pentecost is all about.

In our second reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle, either to the Church in Corinth or Galatia, of the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit which God had imparted to all of us who have received this most wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of the Church. The Holy Spirit has many gifts, and these, traditionally seven, are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, all of which are the things which God had bestowed on us all through His Spirit, alongside with various blessings, talents and abilities that allow us to carry out whatever it is that He had entrusted to us all to do with our lives. Each and every one of us have been given and equipped with these various gifts and opportunities so that we may truly live our lives worthily and in accordance to what the Lord has shown and taught us, so that by our exemplary lives, we may indeed be good role models and inspirations for others to follow, and that we may lead others to God’s truth and salvation.

Meanwhile, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, all of which are manifestations of the works and the gifts of the Holy Spirit which God had granted to us. All of us are called and expected to do what God had called us to do, and to make good use of the gifts and the opportunities that have been revealed and passed to us all. Like the parable of the talents that the Lord had used in teaching His disciples, all of us as God’s stewards, disciples and servants are expected to make good use of the various things and blessings which God had given to us, so that we may indeed bear rich fruits of the Holy Spirit in our various communities, and be the exemplary role models and the shining beacons of God’s light and truth in our world today.

Lastly, in our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus giving the Holy Spirit to the disciples, reminding them of what they were supposed to do as His disciples and followers. This gift of the Holy Spirit which the Lord had mentioned and explained on several occasions would eventually came to the fullness and completion with the coming of the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, the Church of God, giving them the guidance, strength and the peace in their hearts and minds to carry out to the best of their abilities everything which God had entrusted to them to do. Through the Holy Spirit, God had sent forth His disciples and followers to carry out the most important mission which He entrusted to them, His Great Commission, that is to proclaim His Good News and truth, His salvation and love to all the nations, and to make disciples of every people of every nations, baptising them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

As we all reflect upon the messages of God’s truth and love as contained within the Sacred Scriptures and what we have discussed regarding the Holy Spirit and how God has empowered us all with the strength and the new life and opportunities to do His will through the Holy Spirit, let us all therefore allow Him to guide us all and turn away from all sorts of wickedness and evils that had caused us to not be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. As one united Church of God, revealed to all on this great Solemnity of Pentecost, let us all continue to carry on the missions entrusted to us, to be ever full of the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to guide us in our respective vocations and missions in life, that through us and our faithful living and testimony, our every actions and deeds, we may always be fruitful in all things.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of all the faithful and strengthen us with the warmth of God’s most wonderful love. Come and renew the whole world and all of us mankind, and enkindle in us the great passionate fires of Your love. Come Holy Spirit, come and be with us all, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. Amen.

by

Sunday, 19 May 2024 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this evening as we all gather together on this Great Vigil of the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday at the very end of the glorious season of Easter, we recall the fullness of joy and great celebrations that we have done in the past glorious and most joyful fifty days of Easter since that of Easter Vigil. This celebration of the Pentecost Vigil is truly ancient and has a lot of parallel and similarities to that of Easter Vigil which marks the beginning of the Easter season, as historically, Pentecost ranks as one of the greatest Feasts and Solemnities of the Church in its whole entire liturgical year, second only after Easter itself. While Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday itself marks the commemoration of the glorious and triumphant victory that the Risen Christ, Our Lord had won over evil, sin and death through His Resurrection, Pentecost celebrates the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit from God upon His Church, to all the disciples and followers of Christ.

This celebration of the Vigil of the Pentecost Sunday or Pentecost Vigil is truly steeped in history and tradition, as just like that of Easter Vigil, there are multiple Old Testament readings that are to be read, historically seven just like that of the Easter Vigil. While the readings of the Easter Vigil focused on the history of salvation and how God had finally fulfilled and accomplished everything that He had promised to His people through His prophets, sending His Saviour into this world, the readings of the Pentecost Vigil that we have heard today in their various forms and richness highlighted the role that the Holy Spirit played in the Church, in our lives as Christians and how God had guided us all through the same Holy Spirit. Not only that but just like Easter Vigil when usually the catechumens are baptised and received into the Church, during this Pentecost Vigil, traditionally may also involve initiation of catechumens into the Church.

This important day and celebration is a reminder for all of us that through the coming and descent of the Holy Spirit to all of us, we have received once again the grace of God that had been separated from us due to our sins and wickedness, and through the Holy Spirit, God had shown that He is always ever present with His Church and faithful ones, having guided us all throughout these past two millennia of history, from the very beginning of the Church and up to this very day, through all the challenges and trials facing the Church and all the Christian faithful. The Holy Spirit had guided the Church fathers and leaders in walking down the path of the Lord, that while at times the Church and many among the faithful had fallen into the wrong paths, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, eventually the Church is moving ahead again in the right path.

Many people often wrongly associate Pentecost with the so-called ‘Birthday of the Church’ and it does not help that in some places, popular practices related to this birthday celebration of the Church are commonplace. The Church according to the Church fathers and Apostolic tradition, as written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church was ‘born’ and established from the side of the Lord, from the outpouring of the Blood and water that came from the Lord’s Body, lay broken and crushed on Good Friday, at the end of His Passion, His suffering and death. Through His earlier institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Ministerial Priesthood at the Last Supper, and through His completion of the perfect offering and sacrifice of the New and Eternal Passover, the New and Eternal Covenant, Christ has formed the Church that is His Body, uniting all of the believers with Himself.

What the Pentecost is more accurately associated with is the moment when the Church is ‘revealed’ to the world, with an analogy and comparison similar to that of Christmas and Epiphany. While Christmas marks the moment when the Lord Jesus, Our Saviour was born into this world, it is at Epiphany that He is revealed and manifested to the whole world through the representation of the Three Magi or the Three Wise Men. Thus, the Church that is born on Good Friday and the Paschal Triduum, was also revealed to the whole world at the moment of the Pentecost, at the time when there was a very major shift in the attitude of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, who began to actively proclaim the Word of God and His Good News to everyone when previously they had been hiding in fear.

In our Scripture readings this Pentecost Vigil, from the Book of Genesis we heard of the story of the Tower of Babel and how mankind in their hubris and pride tried to build a tower that was so high that it could reach up to Heaven itself, or so they thought. God saw all their wicked plans and ambitions, their pride and evils and confused their languages and speeches. Prior to this moment, everyone was able to understand each other languages and speeches, but after the rebellion of the Tower of Babel, mankind was scattered all over the world, unable to comprehend one another. This was because of the withdrawal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which was contrasted with the gift of tongues which the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord received on the day of Pentecost, when they speak in tongues and everyone were able to comprehend what the disciples of the Lord were speaking about.

Meanwhile, from another reading from the Old Testament, taken from the Book of Exodus, we heard of the moment when the Lord made His Covenant with His people, the Israelites, at the holy Mountain of God at Sinai. We heard how at that place Moses, who lead the people of Israel gathered all the elders and all the people, and told them of what the Lord wanted to make with them, to establish a Covenant with them anew just as He had done with their ancestors. It was at that moment which the Lord made known His Presence through loud sounds and fire, just as what happened on the day of Pentecost, when the tongues of flames of the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord’s disciples hidden in the upper room, together with the loud sound just like that at Mount Sinai.

Not only that, but it was during this moment at Mount Sinai when the Israelites themselves also rebelled against God, by making a golden calf idol and worshipping it, which resulted in them being punished, with three thousand people being condemned and killed for their rebellion. This is contrasted to what we heard from the account of the events of the Pentecost, as the works of the Lord’s disciples proclaiming God’s Good News and salvation touched the hearts and minds of so many people that three thousand people chose to be baptised and become part of the Church of God, as a clear parallel and antithesis of what happened back at Mount Sinai, again just like the Tower of Babel story, showing how the Lord through His Holy Spirit had restored to the world and to us mankind the order and sanctity that had been lost through our rebellion against God and sin.

In another Old Testament reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we then heard of the story of the valley filled with vast number of dry bones, which represented the rebellion of mankind and their sins, particularly the Israelites, whom by the time of the prophet Ezekiel had committed a great number of sins and mistakes, and had suffered the consequences of those sins and faults. Sin lead to destruction and death, and that was what the vision of the valley of dry bones showed to the prophet Ezekiel and all of us. But through the Spirit of God, referring to the Holy Spirit, which in the Nicene Creed we refer to as the Lord, the Giver of Life, proceeding from the Father and Son to us all, just as at the moment of Creation, when God created all things from nothingness, God restored life to all those dry bones and Ezekiel saw a huge nation of all the peoples assembled, referring to the restoration of God’s people into the state of grace before their downfall into sin.

And this is what the Holy Spirit has done to us, as we recall this great gift from God, the gift of the Holy Spirit that He has given to His Church, to fill us all with His love and wisdom, to restore unto us the life, grace and unity with God which we have lost through our rebelliousness and sins. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome in our second reading passage today spoke about the Holy Spirit that we have received, which gave us a foretaste of things that is to come. This means that through the gift of the Holy Spirit, all of us have received the gift of new life and existence which happened and is possible because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, guiding and strengthening us in each and every moments of our existence.

The Holy Spirit has shown us the path towards the Lord, and as the Lord Jesus Himself made it clear to us through our Gospel passage today, that the Presence of the Holy Spirit in us is like that of a life-giving water and spring welling up in us, filling us with God’s grace and love, empowering and strengthening us in the manner how the Lord’s disciples and followers have been guided and strengthened by the same Holy Spirit throughout all the things that they had done, in proclaiming the Lord’s Good News and salvation to the people of all the nations. They have joyfully borne the responsibilities and the commitments to be the bearers of God’s truth, and by the wisdom imparted to them through the Spirit of God, they therefore bore rich fruits of the Holy Spirit and resulted in many great conversions and many souls embracing God’s saving grace.

As we all reflect upon the messages of God’s truth and love as contained within the Sacred Scriptures and what we have discussed regarding the Holy Spirit and how God has empowered us all with the strength and the new life and opportunities to do His will through the Holy Spirit, let us all therefore allow Him to guide us all and turn away from all sorts of wickedness and evils that had caused us to not be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. As one united Church of God, revealed to all on this great Solemnity of Pentecost, let us all continue to carry on the missions entrusted to us, to be ever full of the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit to guide us in our respective vocations and missions in life, that through us and our faithful living and testimony, our every actions and deeds, we may always be fruitful in all things.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of all the faithful and strengthen us with the warmth of God’s most wonderful love. Come and renew the whole world and all of us mankind, and enkindle in us the great passionate fires of Your love. Come Holy Spirit, come and be with us all, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. Amen.

by

Sunday, 12 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which is celebrated on the fortieth day in the season of Easter. Sometimes this celebration is moved to the Sunday after which is the Seventh Sunday of Easter. This important feast marks the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Son of God and Son of Man, Who had risen triumphantly from the dead, ascended in glory into Heaven. Through His Ascension, He returned triumphantly and gloriously to where He had come from, the Throne of God as the only begotten Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, and to prepare a place for all of us, His disciples and followers in the world that is to come.

If the Resurrection proved that the Lord had conquered death itself, and broken the chains of sin and evil which had dominated us from the beginning of time, from the moment of our downfall, then the Ascension proved that the Lord truly had come down from Heaven itself, and He rose gloriously by His own power, to show that He is indeed the same Almighty God and Creator of all, one in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through His Incarnation, the Lord has shown us all His love and His Presence, manifested and made approachable to us in the flesh, and reminding us that we mankind are indeed made in the image of God. And He has also reassured all of His disciples and followers that He would still be with them even though He has ascended into Heaven and can no longer be physically present with them in the form they are familiar with.

In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, that is what we heard from the accounts of the moment when the Lord ascended into Heaven. As mentioned, He reassured all His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be with them, guiding and strengthening them throughout their journey and ministry. The Holy Spirit would indeed come upon all the Apostles and disciples of the Lord at the Pentecost, ten days later, on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection at Easter, which we will celebrate soon as the Pentecost Sunday. Through the guidance, wisdom and strength provided to them through the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s disciples and followers were strengthened and encouraged to go and continue their works and missions in answering God’s call and in fulfilling what they had been entrusted to do, in proclaiming the truth and Good News of God to the nations.

This is the main purpose and mission which the Lord had entrusted to all of us the members of His Body, the Church of God, all the faithful and holy people who have received the truth and light of His salvation and grace. And since He has revealed to us all these, therefore each and every one of us are also entrusted with the same mission which the Lord had placed upon His Church, also known as the Great Commission, that is to make Him known to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation in all the whole world, to lead the world and all mankind to return back towards God and be reconciled with Him. Then this will lead to the whole world to acknowledge that Christ is truly the Lord and Master of all, and receive baptism in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Then in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard of the words of St. Paul the Apostle to the faithful reminding them all to remain united as one Body of Christ and one united community of believers, encouraged and strengthened by the same Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit Whom God had sent into this world, to dwell in His Church and among all of His faithful ones. The Apostle reminded all of them of the mission which the Lord had entrusted to each and every one of them through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, by Whom God had guided and led His Church to continue the good works and missions which He Himself had begun in this world. He has bestowed upon His Church and the faithful many gifts and blessings, the many opportunities and chances for them all to proclaim the Gospel to all.

That was why St. Paul the Apostle also reminded all of the faithful in Ephesus and beyond, that each and every one of them have received those various and diverse gifts, blessings and talents, and everyone have their own calling and mission in life, in doing their part to contribute to the overall great and wonderful works of the Church. Some are meant to be preachers, while others are called to show their contributions in other ways, in their own daily living and actions, while others teach and help others to understand better the meaning of the Christian faith, and many more diverse calling and ministries are present in the Church. This applies to all of us even to this day, just as we all have been given diverse blessings, talents and opportunities in the Church, and in our world today, to which we are all called to minister as God’s disciples and followers.

In the Gospel passage, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus speaking to the disciples, proclaiming His guidance and providence to all of them, reassuring them that as long as they continue to proclaim His truth and Good News, while they might indeed encounter hardships and difficulties, challenges and tribulations, but they shall be protected and guarded, and the Lord would always be by their side, suffering and enduring all those things with them, and through His Holy Spirit, the Church and all the faithful servants of God will continue to be strengthened and empowered even through their greatest moments of hardships and their deepest trials. The Lord would guide and bless them so that they might indeed continue to live their lives worthily of Him, and to continue to proclaim His truth and Good News to all the people of all the nations.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore realise well that we are all called to continue the good works that the Lord had begun with His Apostles and our holy predecessors. There are indeed still many opportunities and chances presented to us in our world today, with its unique challenges and difficulties, and with many are still lost to the Lord, or having forgotten His love and truth, in their pursuit of worldly glory, ambition and pleasures. It is up to us then to make good use of the blessings, talents and opportunities that God has given to us so that we may continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another, at all times. Through our lives and examples, we may indeed be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, proclaiming His Good News to all the people around us and beyond.

May the Risen Lord Who had ascended in glory into Heaven, as He takes up His Throne, continue to be with us all His Church, and continue to guide and strengthen us all in our path. May He continue to empower each and every one of us with the strength and courage to see things through and to persevere despite the many challenges and trials that we may have to encounter and endure in our respective paths in life and in our respective vocations and ministries. May He continue to bless and guide us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory and for the good and salvation of all mankind. Amen.

by

Sunday, 12 May 2024 : Seventh Sunday of Easter, World Social Communications Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the Seventh Sunday of Easter, the second last Sunday in this glorious and joyful season and time of Easter. On this Sunday, which in some places the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated, we commemorate the occasion of the World Communications Sunday or the World Social Communications Sunday, as we give thanks to the Lord firstly for having revealed to us His great salvation and grace that He had brought upon us through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Risen One, and we also give thanks to all those who have laboured hard and courageously for the Lord’s sake in proclaiming His truth and Good News to the whole world, especially those who dedicate themselves in the field of communication of the Christian faith.

It is important for us all as Christians to know well about communication as it is how the Lord Himself has revealed to us His truth and love. From the very beginning of time, the Lord has always presented Himself and His love for us through either Him directly speaking to us, His people or through His servants like Moses and the prophets, who then passed on the message and words of the Lord to whom they were sent to. He has always communicated His will and His desire for His people through these means, and the people themselves have also communicated with Him through His representatives like the priests and the prophets, throughout history. It was through all these that the people came to know what the Lord wanted the to do, although often times they did not follow the Lord wholeheartedly and preferred to walk down their own, rebellious paths.

In our first reading today, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the moment when the Apostles were gathering and discerning about the matter of the twelfth member of their number. This was highlighted as the Lord originally had chosen twelve among His disciples and followers to be His principal disciples, the Twelve, later to be known as the Twelve Apostles. However, as we know, one of those twelve, namely Judas Iscariot, betrayed the Lord and then took his own life out of guilt and regret shortly afterwards. As such, St. Peter, who led all of the Apostles and the Church convened the meeting and the gathering mentioned the need for the Church to discern and select from among themselves to be one of the Apostles to fill up the vacancy created by the betrayal and death of Judas Iscariot.

And we heard how the Apostles gathered and prayed together with the other disciples, invoking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them, and they put their choice between as certain Joseph Barsabbas or Justus, and one named Matthias. Both were worthy and good men, who had been longtime disciples of the Lord, and who had also witnessed everything that the Twelve had witnessed. Eventually, Matthias was selected to be the one to fill up the vacancy and became the twelfth and newest member of the Twelve Apostles, continuing the mission which the Lord entrusted to His Church and Apostles, and henceforth was known as Matthias the Apostle. Then, in accordance to what we have been discussing in today’s theme on communication, the Apostles did not decide based on their own human whim and understanding, but they communicated to the Lord through their prayers and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As St. John the Apostle wrote in his Epistle in our second reading passage today, the Holy Spirit has further revealed, explained and shared to us the love of God manifested to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. By the manifestation of His Son, the Lord has made His love and truth manifested and approachable to us in the flesh, and through the Apostles, the Church had witnessed and experienced this same love and truth, which the same Church and the disciples and followers of the Lord, therefore shared with everyone all throughout the whole world. Through the Holy Spirit, every members of the same Body of Christ, the Church, shared in the same grace, experiences and love which He has revealed and shown to all of us through everything that He had done for our sake, especially in how He suffered and died for our salvation.

Then, through the Holy Spirit, by which the holy people of God, that is all of us, have received the various gifts, namely that of wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord, all of which we have been given so that we may grow to love the Lord our God more and more, and commit ourselves ever more worthily and courageously to His cause. We have been taught and shown how to love God with all of our might and strength, to love Him genuinely from the depth of our hearts, and to commit ourselves thoroughly to Him, as well as to show that same love to one another, in our every moments in life, in our every actions, words and deeds. The love of God is what made us Christians to be unique and different from all those who have not yet embraced the Lord our God and believed in Him.

This is where we are all called to be good communicators yet again, not just through prayer and discernment as what the Apostles had done in our first reading in communicating with God in their decision to choose the twelfth Apostle, but also through our own actions and deeds in life. Sometimes a person does not have to communicate with words at all to convey what he or she wants to convey, and in fact, as we all should know that our actions and behaviour in life often may have conveyed greater things and have more impact than mere words to others present around us. There had been many moments in history when many people were scandalised and put off by the actions of many corrupt and wicked people who considered themselves as Christians, even those high in the position of power and responsibilities in the Church, and yet they did not act or behave in the manner as Christians should behave.

This is why it is very important for us to be very careful in how we act, and we ought to make sure that our every words, actions and deeds should always be centred and focused on the Lord, as it is very easy for us to be tempted otherwise to follow the many temptations and desires of this world, of our ambition and vanities, that we end up falling deeper and deeper into the wrong paths in life, and be corrupted ever more by sin. As Christians, it is important that we must always lead lives that are full of God’s grace and love, and we must always keep in mind that we are all also missionaries and bearers of God’s truth and love in our respective communities and groups, in our families and circle of friends, and even to strangers we encounter in our daily living.

That is why just as we have heard ourselves from the Lord Jesus in our Gospel passage today, Who prayed to His heavenly Father asking for Him to guide His disciples and followers in His path, that we must always be firmly rooted in the Lord, and develop a strong and living relationship with Him, at all times. The Lord Jesus Himself always frequently prayed to His Father at different places and times, sometimes privately and sometimes before His disciples, teaching them all how to pray and to follow the Lord. This is because unless one is firmly attached and centred upon the Lord, it is easy for him or her to be swayed by the many worldly temptations and pressures, and fall away from the path of virtue and righteousness, and be separated from the truth and grace of God.

We ourselves have to make the conscious effort to communicate with God, to be closely attuned with Him, by spending quality time to discern His will and to find out what it is that He wants us to do, just as the Lord had taught His disciples, and which they did at all times. If we do not even spend the slightest bit of time to be with the Lord, then how can we truly know what is His will for us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Many people have fallen away from their faith in God and lost trust in Him because they allowed themselves to be distracted from Him so that they barely spent any time with Him at all, and hence, they did not truly know Him or recognise His Presence in their lives as they should have done.

Then, at the same time, as I have discussed earlier on, as Christians each and every one of us must also be genuine in our actions and in our way of life so that by our examples of life, full of love towards the Lord and towards one another, we may truly indeed communicate well the truth of God and His love to the world, to everyone around us, just as the Lord has told us to do. We have been entrusted with the important mission to proclaim the Good News of God’s salvation to all the people of all the nations, but we cannot do this unless we ourselves have been in constant communication and being well-attuned to God’s will, and also in being truly and genuinely faithful in our actions and way of life as well.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all continue to do our best in living our lives ever more faithfully as Christians, in all things and at all times so that by our good and exemplary way of life, we may truly be effective evangelisers and worthy missionaries of our Christian faith at all times. May the Risen Lord continue to guide and bless each and every one of us in our efforts, that we may continue to be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, leading more and more people towards their salvation in God, that we may be saved altogether, and worship and praise God together as His one, united and holy people. Amen.

by

Thursday, 9 May 2024 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which is celebrated on the fortieth day in the season of Easter. Sometimes this celebration is moved to the Sunday after which is the Seventh Sunday of Easter. This important feast marks the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Son of God and Son of Man, Who had risen triumphantly from the dead, ascended in glory into Heaven. Through His Ascension, He returned triumphantly and gloriously to where He had come from, the Throne of God as the only begotten Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate, and to prepare a place for all of us, His disciples and followers in the world that is to come.

If the Resurrection proved that the Lord had conquered death itself, and broken the chains of sin and evil which had dominated us from the beginning of time, from the moment of our downfall, then the Ascension proved that the Lord truly had come down from Heaven itself, and He rose gloriously by His own power, to show that He is indeed the same Almighty God and Creator of all, one in unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through His Incarnation, the Lord has shown us all His love and His Presence, manifested and made approachable to us in the flesh, and reminding us that we mankind are indeed made in the image of God. And He has also reassured all of His disciples and followers that He would still be with them even though He has ascended into Heaven and can no longer be physically present with them in the form they are familiar with.

In our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, that is what we heard from the accounts of the moment when the Lord ascended into Heaven. As mentioned, He reassured all His disciples that the Holy Spirit would be with them, guiding and strengthening them throughout their journey and ministry. The Holy Spirit would indeed come upon all the Apostles and disciples of the Lord at the Pentecost, ten days later, on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection at Easter, which we will celebrate soon as the Pentecost Sunday. Through the guidance, wisdom and strength provided to them through the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s disciples and followers were strengthened and encouraged to go and continue their works and missions in answering God’s call and in fulfilling what they had been entrusted to do, in proclaiming the truth and Good News of God to the nations.

This is the main purpose and mission which the Lord had entrusted to all of us the members of His Body, the Church of God, all the faithful and holy people who have received the truth and light of His salvation and grace. And since He has revealed to us all these, therefore each and every one of us are also entrusted with the same mission which the Lord had placed upon His Church, also known as the Great Commission, that is to make Him known to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation in all the whole world, to lead the world and all mankind to return back towards God and be reconciled with Him. Then this will lead to the whole world to acknowledge that Christ is truly the Lord and Master of all, and receive baptism in the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Then in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard of the words of St. Paul the Apostle to the faithful reminding them all to remain united as one Body of Christ and one united community of believers, encouraged and strengthened by the same Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit Whom God had sent into this world, to dwell in His Church and among all of His faithful ones. The Apostle reminded all of them of the mission which the Lord had entrusted to each and every one of them through the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, by Whom God had guided and led His Church to continue the good works and missions which He Himself had begun in this world. He has bestowed upon His Church and the faithful many gifts and blessings, the many opportunities and chances for them all to proclaim the Gospel to all.

That was why St. Paul the Apostle also reminded all of the faithful in Ephesus and beyond, that each and every one of them have received those various and diverse gifts, blessings and talents, and everyone have their own calling and mission in life, in doing their part to contribute to the overall great and wonderful works of the Church. Some are meant to be preachers, while others are called to show their contributions in other ways, in their own daily living and actions, while others teach and help others to understand better the meaning of the Christian faith, and many more diverse calling and ministries are present in the Church. This applies to all of us even to this day, just as we all have been given diverse blessings, talents and opportunities in the Church, and in our world today, to which we are all called to minister as God’s disciples and followers.

In the Gospel passage, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus speaking to the disciples, proclaiming His guidance and providence to all of them, reassuring them that as long as they continue to proclaim His truth and Good News, while they might indeed encounter hardships and difficulties, challenges and tribulations, but they shall be protected and guarded, and the Lord would always be by their side, suffering and enduring all those things with them, and through His Holy Spirit, the Church and all the faithful servants of God will continue to be strengthened and empowered even through their greatest moments of hardships and their deepest trials. The Lord would guide and bless them so that they might indeed continue to live their lives worthily of Him, and to continue to proclaim His truth and Good News to all the people of all the nations.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore realise well that we are all called to continue the good works that the Lord had begun with His Apostles and our holy predecessors. There are indeed still many opportunities and chances presented to us in our world today, with its unique challenges and difficulties, and with many are still lost to the Lord, or having forgotten His love and truth, in their pursuit of worldly glory, ambition and pleasures. It is up to us then to make good use of the blessings, talents and opportunities that God has given to us so that we may continue to be good role models and inspirations for one another, at all times. Through our lives and examples, we may indeed be the shining beacons of God’s light and truth, proclaiming His Good News to all the people around us and beyond.

May the Risen Lord Who had ascended in glory into Heaven, as He takes up His Throne, continue to be with us all His Church, and continue to guide and strengthen us all in our path. May He continue to empower each and every one of us with the strength and courage to see things through and to persevere despite the many challenges and trials that we may have to encounter and endure in our respective paths in life and in our respective vocations and ministries. May He continue to bless and guide us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, all for His greater glory and for the good and salvation of all mankind. Amen.

by

Sunday, 5 May 2024 : Sixth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, the Sixth Sunday of Easter, all of us are reminded yet again of why we celebrate most joyfully during this time and season of Easter, that is because the Lord has shown His love, kindness and compassion towards each and every one of us, and manifested that perfect and most wonderful love in His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, through Whom He has shown us all His ever enduring love and compassion, as He constantly reached out to us with great patience and ever-enduring care, seeking to reunite us with His loving Father and our Creator. God has indeed been so generous with His love and compassion that we should always be grateful and be reminded of His ever present love in our midst.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Acts of the Apostles of the experiences of St. Peter the Apostle, who went to the town and region of Joppa which was by the Mediterranean coast, where he encountered a Roman centurion named Cornelius who was well respected by the local community and his family, in which prior to that he experienced a vision from the Lord Who showed him all sorts of food and animals which the Jewish laws and customs had considered to be unclean, and how the Lord told St. Peter to eat of those, which initially he refused to do because those were unclean according to the old Jewish customs and laws. The Lord told St. Peter that whatever He had deemed to be clean, should not be deemed as unclean.

This was in fact a premonition of what St. Peter would soon encounter in his journey in Joppa as he encountered Cornelius and his family, and saw the great faith which they had in the Lord, the honour they showed to the Lord and His Apostles, and how they were willing to embrace God and His truth. However, at that time, the common perception among the Jewish people, especially those among the Pharisees was that the non-Jewish people, also known and called collectively as Gentiles, consisting of mainly the Romans and the Greeks, the Egyptians and other people of the region, all of them were commonly seen and considered as pagans and unworthy of God, and as recorded in the Gospels, this went to the extent that associating or going to the house or residence of a Gentile would render one unclean according to the Jewish laws and customs.

However, the Lord revealed that His grace and love, His mercy and compassion are extended towards everyone, and all the Gentiles have also been called and led into God’s love, as He sent to them the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that He has sent to all of His Apostles and disciples. This was the testimony which St. Peter himself presented to the whole assembly of the faithful as they discerned and debated on what they ought to do regarding the believers who came from among the non-Jewish origins. We heard how the Holy Spirit descended upon the converts from among the Gentiles, as they received the same gifts that the Apostles had received, and hence, we heard how St. Peter baptised all those among the Gentiles who had been called by God and embraced Him as their Lord and Saviour.

In our second reading this Sunday, we heard of the words of the Apostle St. John in his Epistle directed to all the faithful people of God reminding them all of the truth of God’s loving nature, and how He loves every one of His beloved children and people, and manifesting this great and most generous love for us in His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour, the perfect example and manifestation of His eternal and ever-present love for each and every one of us. It is the same love which He has shown us all most generously, and which the Lord Himself said that God truly loved the world and all of us so much that He has given us all His only begotten Son, Jesus Himself, to be the bearer of God’s love and salvation for all of those who are truly precious to Him.

The love of God has been manifested in the flesh, and became tangible, approachable and reachable to us all. While once God was transcendent and far beyond our ability to comprehend Him and His love, but through His Son, all of us have received the assurance of His ever enduring love for us, and we have received from Him the perfect gift of His love and commitment to everything which He has promised to us since the very beginning of time. By the actions which the Lord Jesus had done, in His ministry and works in our midst, in His revelation of God’s truth and love, in explaining the Law and commandments that God had bestowed on us, out of His ever constant and enduring love, and ultimately, by His own perfect and most loving sacrifice on the Cross, each and every one of us have received through Christ the assurance of life eternal.

Then, in our Gospel this Sunday, we heard from the Gospel of St. John in which the Lord spoke to His disciples about His commandments to them, the Law of God which He has brought and revealed to them in all of its truth, in its intention and purpose, that is to teach us how to love God and one another just as He has first loved all of us. God has loved us all from the very beginning and it was love that led Him to create all of us, so that we may share in the fullness of His love and grace, to enjoy forever the favour and true bliss in our existence with Him. Unfortunately, this has been denied to us because of our disobedience against God and our refusal to believe in Him, and through this disobedience, sin has corrupted our hearts and minds, turning us away from the love of God and making us to fall ever further and deeper into the wrong paths in life.

That is why God in His infinite and most wonderful love for each one of us has always been so patient in reaching out to us in each and every moments, sending His servants and messengers at all times, trying to reach out to us and call us all out of the darkness and into the light. He does not want any one of us to be lost to Him, and He wants us all to be reconciled to Him, and find our way to Him, by showing us all the path of His love and redemption, and giving us all His Law and commandments, which were meant to help and lead us in our path in life so that we may do what is necessary that we may draw ever closer to Him and His salvation. Through His Law and commandments, the Lord wants to teach us all how to love Him and to love one another, that they may rediscover the joy of living in His Presence and the desire to be reunited with Him.

However, by the time of the Lord’s life and ministry in this world, many people had forgotten or ignored the truth and failed to realise the true significance and purpose of the Law and commandments which God had bestowed on them. Throughout the many centuries since the Law was first revealed to the people of God, it had undergone extensive modification and changes, as the elders and the people attempted to adjust the Law according to their own customs, preferences and ways, and by the time of the Lord Jesus’ ministry, a movement to impose a very strict and rigid, excessive and overbearing implementation of the Law and commandments of God came to rise with the group known as the Pharisees, who together with the teachers of the Law imposed this to the rest of the community of the people of God.

However, this led to the marginalisation of the ones whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law deemed and considered as being less than worthy of God’s salvation and love. They deemed all those who did not belong to their group and those who did not follow the Law of God as strictly and as particularly as they had done as being less than worthy, and they openly prejudiced and being judgmental against all those whom they deemed as unclean, sinners and cursed by God, such as the prostitutes and tax collectors, and all those who had been afflicted by diseases and ailments. This is however not what the Lord had desired from His Law and commandments, and it was not how He intended this same Law and commandments to be practiced and used by the people whom He has loved so much. He did not discriminate against anyone, and loves everyone equally.

Thus, He showed us this most perfect love through His own Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the One through Whom the salvation of the whole world had been presented to us. He revealed His love for us through His most selfless and wonderful sacrifice, as He endured all the beatings, the sufferings and pains, bearing all the whole burden of our sins and wickedness, all the punishments and consequences meant for us and our rebelliousness, and loving us truly very much, despite our own lack of faith and love towards Him, He showed us all by His own perfect example what true love is all about. True love is when one is willing to lay down everything, for the love of God and mankind alike just as Christ our Lord had done for us, to love truly from the heart and to show true care and compassion towards our fellow brothers and sisters.

Now, are we all willing to learn this path and way of love that the Lord Himself has shown us, and which He has entrusted to us through His Law and commandments, which the Church had faithfully preserved and taught to us? Let us all as Christians always be full of God’s love and commit ourselves ever more to the Law and commandments which He had taught and shown us, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, and by our way of life, we will show everyone we encounter and meet in life, how we should truly live our lives so that we may truly be worthy of Our loving God, our Lord and Creator. May God be with us always, and be with His Church, and may He continue to show us His ever generous love, just as we too share His love with one another, now and always. Amen.

by

Sunday, 28 April 2024 : Fifth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we all celebrate the occasion of the Fifth Sunday of Easter, and as we continue to mark with great joy our Easter commemoration and festivities, we are all reminded to continue to place our focus and emphasis in life upon none other than Our Lord Himself, in all His truth and love, and in everything which He Himself has revealed and given to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. On this Sunday all of us are reminded that if we truly call ourselves as Christians then we really have to centre our whole lives and existence, our every actions, words and deeds upon the Lord, so that in everything that we say and do, we will always be the good role models and inspirations for one another, helping many more people to come ever closer to God and His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard of the moment when Saul, the former enemy of the Lord and His Church, began to do his work and ministry among the people of God in Jerusalem after he was converted through his dramatic encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus earlier on. Saul had embraced the Lord wholeheartedly and turned away completely from his previously erroneous path, actions and way of life, no longer a persecutor of Christians, of God’s followers and people, but instead, becoming a great role model and champion for the same Christians instead, in proclaiming the truth of the Risen Lord, His teachings, His resurrection and His ways to everyone, to the surprise and astonishment of the Jewish authorities and the early Christian community alike.

St. Paul was called by the Lord to be His disciple and follower, and to be the one who would bear the truth of God to the non-Jewish people, the Gentiles. St. Paul, who was a Jew, was also born and spent his youth in Tarsus, in the area of the diaspora away from the lands of the Jews in Judea and Galilee, where he had lots of experiences and encounters early on with the Gentiles like the Greeks, Romans and other local populations living in the region. His experiences and expertise, his mission and vocation therefore is reasonably centred around the outreach towards all those people, opening the path of God’s salvation to more and more people, reminding everyone that the Lord loves all of His children, all those whom He had created, regardless of their race, background and origin, and thus, he began his ministry in proclaiming the truth of God to all the people of all the nations.

And it is this great missionary zeal and efforts which St. Paul carried out throughout his ministry, all that was how the Church kept on growing rapidly and from strength to strength despite the challenges and trials that they were constantly facing, simply because they were with the Lord, and the Lord guided and strengthened them all through all those difficult moments and struggles, the hands He guided St. Paul and the other disciples with. As long as the Lord was with His people, with His disciples and missionaries, the Church will overcome all things, even the greatest trials and challenges, just as He Himself had said, that not even the gates of hell will be able to hold against His Church which He has established in this world upon the foundation of the Apostles, and is the visible union of all of His faithful ones.

This is what St. John the Apostle also reminded all the faithful people of God in his Epistle, part of which is mentioned in our second reading passage today, where St. John told the faithful to continue living their lives in accordance to the commandments and the Law of God, obeying whatever it is that the Lord Himself has revealed to us through His Church and through the Holy Spirit, ever guiding us in our lives and actions, in each and every moments of our lives. All of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, those whom He has called and chosen, all of us must embody within us the true faith in Christ and everything that we have been taught and shown so that in all things and at every moment, we will always continue to do our best to glorify the Lord by our lives.

If we truly believe in the Lord and consider ourselves as Christians, then we will certainly do our utmost in order to live in accordance with the path and ways that God has shown us. Each and every one of us are reminded that in everything we say and do, we should always be filled with God’s love and grace, full of love firstly for the Lord our God Himself, and then surely for one another, for our fellow brothers and sisters, in how we interact with one another, with those whom we encounter in our daily lives. We have to be truly committed and full of compassion for our fellow men, in whatever we say and do, that by our examples, God’s love may touch more and more of those who have not yet known or realised His ever generous love, compassion and mercy.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus teaching His disciples using a parable, the Parable of the True Vine, in order to tell all of them to remain firmly attached to Him and His truth, and not to separate themselves from Him, or to follow their own path and desires. The Lord revealed Himself as the True Vine, the One through Whom all truth, all life shall come from, using the terms that were familiar to the people of the time, as vineyards were common in the lands of the Israelites, and the people, including the disciples themselves, would have recognised what is meant by the Lord’s parable. This is because if the grapes are not attached to the vine, then they would not only not grow, but they would perish and die. This is therefore an important message and reminder by the Lord to His Church, to all of us that we must always be firmly centred and attached to Him, in all of our faith and lives.

If we allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and pleasures, fame and ambition, we may end up falling away, further away from the true path of Christ. All the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, the early Church fathers and missionaries have remained firmly true in this path, in the missions and journey that they had undertaken in proclaiming the truth and salvation of God to the nations. There were however many others who have gone astray, who have embraced worldly ambitions and temptations, leading many into the false paths and evils, the path of heresy and disobedience against God. That was how many heresies sprung up in the early Church, leading to divisions in the Body of Christ, the Church of God, breaking the unity of the Church and leading to many people falling into the path of sin and darkness.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that we must always adhere closely to the fullness of the teachings of the Lord as preserved and taught by His Church, and not to give in to the temptations to embark on our own ideals and interpretations that may lead us down the path of error and even heresy, as what many of our predecessors had done. We have to remember that as parts and members of the same Church of God, the Body of Christ, all of us are united in Our Lord and Saviour, and we ought to believe in Him and His truth wholeheartedly. Otherwise, if we allow ourselves to be swayed by those temptations and wicked desires all around us, then we may end up falling ever deeper into the path of sin and evil, and from there, we may find it hard to get out and return to the path towards the Lord and His salvation. We must remember that separated from the Lord, we can do nothing and there is absolutely no hope for any one of us.

Instead, let us all continue to embrace the Lord and remind ourselves to stay faithful to His Law and commandments, doing our very best to live our lives in accordance with His ways. Let us all continue to bear rich fruits of grace and righteousness, of virtue and love, of Christ’s light and truth, by our every good works and deeds, and by everything that we do, in our every endeavours and efforts, to glorify the Lord by our lives. May the Risen Lord continue to bless us all and may He continue to guide and strengthen us in our path in life, in whatever we do for the sake of His glory, and for all that He has called us to do in our respective lives, to be His worthy and good missionaries, all throughout our lives, now and forevermore. Amen.