Sunday Mass sermon

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Sunday, 17 May 2020 : Sixth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday is the sixth Sunday in the Season of Easter, as we quickly approach the end of this blessed season and time, with the Solemnity of the Ascension coming up within the week, and the Solemnity of the Pentecost coming very soon as well. On this Sunday therefore our attention is brought to the promise of God’s Holy Spirit that He has made to His disciples and which we have therefore received through the same Apostles and disciples of the Lord, passed down through God’s Church.

In our first reading today taken from the Acts of the Apostles we heard of the work of St. Philip, one of the Twelve Apostles who went to the land and region of Samaria in between Judea and Galilee, and preached there about the truth and salvation in Jesus Christ, and many came to believe in the Lord. And as described, when the Apostles in Jerusalem heard about the conversions of the Samaritans, some of the Apostles, St. Peter and St. John went over there to pray over the newly converted Samaritans and laid their hands on them, giving them the same gift of the Holy Spirit they have received at Pentecost.

The same Holy Spirit has therefore been passed down from the hands of the Apostles to all the faithful people of God, and from the Apostles to their successors, the bishops and priests of the Church who then in turn pass down the same Holy Spirit to the faithful down the many generations since the early days of the Church to this very day. We have received the same Holy Spirit through our Sacrament of Baptism, when we were baptised like that of the Samaritans, in the Name of the Blessed Trinity of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, and then sealed by the Sacrament of Confirmation.

In our second reading today, from the Epistle of St. Peter, we heard of the Apostle exhorting the faithful to remain true to their faith in God, to keep the tenets of their faith and to be strong amidst the pressure to leave behind their faith and the temptation to abandon their God. The Apostle exhorted the faithful to be genuine in their faith, to be virtuous and righteous in their words, actions and deeds so that all those who slandered and oppressed them would be ashamed and humiliated by their own wickedness and evil.

St. Peter therefore called on all of us as Christians to be active in living up to our faith, to be faithful in all things and deeds that everyone who hear us, witness us and interact with us may know that we are Christians, that we belong to God and are His people, and that we are who we say we are, faithful and dedicated to do the will of God at all times. Otherwise, how can we then call ourselves as Christians? And if we do not sincerely practice our faith, we will end up scandalising it, as others will then then be able to point our faithlessness and lukewarm attitude.

The Lord Jesus put it plainly before all of us in our Gospel passage today, that if we truly love Him, we will keep His commandments and do the will of His Father, and that is to love God with all of our hearts, with all of our might and with all of our efforts and attention. If we truly love God, then we will also love our brothers and sisters, regardless of who they are and how close they are to us, and we will love them through all our actions, caring for them and showing them the same love and compassion that God has shown us all.

This is what is meant for us to be Christians, and to be faithful in our calling as God’s own beloved people. If we are not able to do this, or unwilling to do what the Lord has called us to do, then we cannot call ourselves as Christians. Unfortunately, this is what many among us who call ourselves as Christians are doing in our lives. We carry on our lives treating our Christian faith as merely a formality, just as a badge or name on paper only, and not living with sincere desire and love for God.

Many of us even had to drag ourselves to go to Mass every Sunday, and many more even attended Mass only on Easter and Christmas, and some did not even attend any Mass or faith activities at all! This is the sad state and reality about our faith, which had been happening in the past many years and decades. However, the good news is that in recent years, there had been a surge of hope as more and more Christians, especially the younger generation, began to take their faith much more seriously again. They began to attend the Holy Mass with regularity and genuine desire to know more of the Lord and to love Him.

More and more people are beginning to wake up from their slumber in their faith lives, as they began to take a more active and dedicated approach in their lives to follow the Lord. More and more people begin to seek for God, desire for His love and love Him again with greater sincerity of heart. This is what all of us must embrace too, brothers and sisters in Christ. God has called us to Himself, and He has shown us the path and He has also bestowed upon us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help and guide, to lead us down the path of truth and hope.

Are we willing to follow this path shown to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing to live our lives from now on with Christian sincerity and dedication? The choice is ours alone, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we can choose whether we want to continue to be lukewarm with our faith, to be unfaithful and treating our faith as no more than a nuisance and chore, or whether we want to embrace our faith with zeal and sincere commitment, to walk down the path that God has shown us?

In our current time and day, we are still enduring the painful effects of the various tragedies we have been encountering all these past few weeks and months, particularly the still dangerous threat of the coronavirus pandemic. As of today, over four million people had contracted the disease, and while over one and a half million had recovered, but almost three hundred thousand people had lost their lives, and millions more are still hospitalised and some among them fighting for their lives.

And many tens of millions of people if not more are threatened in their income and employment. Many had lost their precious work and many had to endure significant difficulties in searching for new job, while others had to work extra hard because they are in the frontline and healthcare efforts to combat this pandemic. Others had to endure significant pay cuts or suspension in their pay, and thus worry about how they will feed and take care of their loved ones.

Now, what are we going to do then? How do we live our lives as Christians and indeed, genuine Christians during these difficult and dark moments? It is by showing genuine love for our fellow brothers and sisters, to share hope and encouragement with one another, rather than to act selfishly or to stoke hatred for certain groups of people or individuals. We have heard and read of quite a few sad story of how the current crises led to increase in incidents of racism and attacks against certain group of people, certain acts of ostracising and unfair treatments and judgments of our fellow men, among others.

We have also heard how people acted irresponsibly and selfishly, hoarding essential goods and materials, just so that they could save themselves and get what they wanted, but with disregard for the need of others. And it is the sad truth that not few Christians were among those who have committed all these irresponsible, unjust, and indeed, most un-Christian behaviour. And this is therefore a reminder for each and every one of us that we must not adopt this kind of attitude ourselves.

Rather than spreading hatred, injustice and bitterness, we are called and indeed challenged to spread love, justice and compassion instead. When our hearts and minds are tempted to be selfish in our actions, to be angry at other people and to fear for our safety and our livelihood, to despise and to be filled with despair, let us all remember that God is always there for us, by our side, as our Hope and our Strength, as our Anchor in this most uncertain and darkest moment of our lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us bring with us this Hope we have in God, the trust we have in His love and providence, and let us share it with everyone around us. Let us be the beacons of God’s light and hope, brightening the lives of others around us, helping our brothers and sisters to overcome their fears and despair. Let us all be true Christians at all times and bear rich fruits of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. May the Lord be with us always and bless our every good endeavours. Amen.

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Sunday, 10 May 2020 : Fifth Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the Fifth Sunday in the season of Easter, all of us are called as Christians to turn our focus on Christ, our Lord and Saviour, to put our faith and trust fully in Him as our Master and to entrust ourselves in His providence, for the love and mercy He has shown each and every one of us. The Lord has shown us His ultimate proof of love and commitment, through the gift of His Son to be our Saviour. By His suffering, crucifixion and death, Jesus has delivered us all from the certainty of death and destruction.

Everything has been revealed to us through Christ and His disciples, as He Himself revealed it all before His Apostles and disciples throughout His ministry, and therefore from them, the truth has been passed on through the Church and the faithful for countless generations and finally the same truth has also been handed down to us, as the faith we all now believe in. We all believe in the same faith that the Apostles themselves believed, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah or the Saviour Whom God has sent into the world, and that He is also the Divine Son of God, incarnate in the flesh as the Son of Man.

But as we can see, the disciples themselves were not able to fully comprehend at first all that they have heard and witnessed from the Lord and His actions, and as shown by St. Philip the Apostle, many among the disciples did not yet fully comprehend and appreciate the fact that the One Who had been with them all the while, was none other than One of the Holy Trinity Himself, God incarnate in the flesh. That was why St. Philip, who was in fact one of the most intelligent and educated among the Apostles asked the Lord to ‘show them the Father’, to the Lord’s dismay.

St. Thomas, ever the doubter and the last to believe, also showed his lack of faith, even saying things like ‘we do not know even where You are going’, as a clear sign that he did not really have a strong faith in his heart, and he was not committed to the Lord. And we also should remember how the same Apostles also abandoned the Lord in fear when He was arrested, even after all of them had just promised Him in the Last Supper of their faith and fidelity, with St. Peter even saying that he would readily give his life for Him.

Yet, this was before they were given the help from the Advocate, as the Lord promised His disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Who would give them wisdom, courage and strength, as well as the guidance in what they ought to do in carrying out His commandments and His will. The Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and the disciples on the day of the Pentecost, fifty days after the Resurrection of the Lord and ten days after He had ascended into Heaven.

With the gift and help of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and the disciples carried out and fulfilled what the Lord Himself had told them, that they would do works even far greater than what He had done in His brief earthly ministry. He has commanded all of them with His Great Commission to go forth to the nations and baptise them all in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, before He ascended to Heaven, that while He ascended and they could not see Him anymore, but He would always still be with them, and He would guide them to do whatever He has commanded them to do.

The Lord helped and strengthened them, and they began the foundation of the Church, with more than three thousand people being baptised on the Pentecost alone, and many more came to believe in the Lord through whatever the Apostles had done, in their courageous preaching and testimony of faith, in the miracles they have done in the Name of the Lord, among many others. And as the community of Christians across Judea, Jerusalem and other places grew, so did the Church and its supporting structures.

That was why in our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the institution of the Holy Order of the Diaconate, as the Apostles appointed seven holy and devout men to be the first Seven Holy Deacons of the Church. And the most renowned among them was St. Stephen, who would later on became the very first martyr of the Church, as described in detail in the same Acts of the Apostles. St. Stephen defended his faith vigorously and with devotion when he was faced with bitter opposition and false accusation by the enemies of the Church, and died a martyr.

The Holy Spirit gave St. Stephen great wisdom and courage that stunned even his most ardent and stubborn enemies, as they could probably not believe the courage that this deacon had shown when he was alone facing all of those who were crying out for his death. And the same happened to the other Apostles as well, as they carried out their missions with great joy and dedication, suffering and dying in martyrdom in distant lands in various occasions. The only Apostle to die of old age, St. John the Apostle himself endured many trials, sufferings and prisons all throughout his years of ministry.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are called to remember the great courage of the Apostles, as well as that of St. Stephen and the many other saints and martyrs of the Church. Many of them were simple, regular people, and many among the Apostles were poor people, uneducated and unknown, ordinary and as we have discussed earlier, had lots of fear and doubt, and unable to commit themselves. But they turned to the Lord, put their faith in Him and chose to follow Him wholeheartedly even though at first they were unsure, doubtful and afraid.

In turn, the Lord strengthened them, gave them great wisdom and courage, helping them to persevere through the challenges each of them had to face. When we heard all the amazing stories of faith and the dedication of the many martyrs of the Church, they all showed courage and fearlessness even in the midst of suffering and death, and many among them still did what they could to do the will of God and show their faith to convince others to also believe in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of these were possible because they all trusted God and put Him at the centre of their lives and existence, trusting Him to guide their lives and their path, and they had therefore that genuine faith which all of us Christians should also have in our own lives. However, the sad truth and reality is that so many of us have been lukewarm in our faith, and many of us have treated the Lord as One Who is distant and to be sidelined. We only remember God when we are in great need, and when we do not need Him, we leave Him behind and continue with our own worldly concerns and works.

We have become too preoccupied with many worldly and materialistic concerns and thoughts, and we have no time or attention to be spared for the Lord as we should have. When we need Him is the only time we actually remember Him, and we demand Him to quickly come and intervene for our sake and benefit, and when we do not get what we want, we often become angry with God and abandon Him ever the more. This is not what we should be doing, brothers and sisters in Christ.

On this day, we are all thus called to remember the examples of the early Christians, as well as the many holy saints and martyrs who had given their all to the Lord, who have put their trust in God and dedicated themselves to God. We are called to see how the Apostles and those whom the Lord had called to be His followers, had been transformed from a people filled with fear and uncertainties, with doubts and infidelities, with sin and darkness in them, into people who are truly belonging to the Light of Christ, virtuous and exemplary in their piety and courage.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that God can transform each and every one of us in the same manner, and indeed, we are called to walk in the same path that the Apostles and the saints and martyrs of the Lord had walked on, and we are called to continue the mission which He has entrusted to us all, His beloved people and Church. He has sent us all to go forth to the people of all the nations, to proclaim His truth and salvation to everyone, that more and more may come to believe in Him and have eternal life.

Let us all pray to the Lord today, that He will continue to guide us and strengthen us with the Holy Spirit, that with His wisdom and encouragement, we will be drawn ever closer to His presence and that we will be able to dedicate ourselves to do whatever we can in our capacity and respective areas of responsibilities, in our communities and in our families and among our friends, to be the bearers of the Good News of God and the witnesses of His truth and resurrection by our own good examples and faithful life.

Let us all be the beacons of light and hope for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ especially during these few weeks and months when there are so many people out there who are troubled and without hope, who are in difficulties and who have encountered even personal tragedies and troubles. Let us bear God’s light and hope to them and share our hope, faitu and joy with one another, that we will endure these together with God. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 May 2020 : Fourth Sunday of Easter, Vocation Sunday, Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the fourth Sunday in the season of Easter we are approximately halfway through the season of Easter, and on this day we also celebrate the Good Shepherd Sunday or Vocation Sunday as today’s Gospel is solely dedicated to the reading of the Good Shepherd from the Gospel of St. John. The Lord Himself is our Good Shepherd, the One Who has guided us all, the flock of the Lord, into the path that He has prepared for us.

And it is also a celebration of the Vocation Sunday because the Lord has also called some among us to follow Him to be shepherds in His image, to be shepherds like the Good Shepherd Himself. The shepherds are our priests, our bishops and all those who are called to serve the Lord to reach out to the people out there who need guidance, help and assistance. They are called to follow the examples of the Good Shepherd Himself in giving themselves to the people, the flock of the Lord.

That is why on this day traditionally priests, especially in the Diocese of Rome, are ordained to the priesthood. It is indeed symbolic of how all priests and therefore bishops are by extension, the shepherds of the Lord’s flock, given the responsibilities to take care of all these souls and all who may be struggling through their lives. That is why on this day, on Vocation Sunday, we pray firstly for our priests, for all of our bishops and all those who have given themselves through sacred ordination to be shepherds of the faithful, that God may strengthen and inspire them to be more like Himself, the Good Shepherd.

But we must also not forget to pray for vocations to the priesthood itself, as without new vocations to the priesthood, of the courageous and faithful men who want to give their lives in the service of God, then we will not have these courageous and faithful priests or even bishops in the end. That is why it is very important that on this day we also spend some time to pray for the vocation to priesthood that there will be bountiful harvest of vocations, that there will be many more holy priests, bishops and servants of God in the many more years to come.

Of course then we must also pray for all those who are discerning their calling to priesthood, for God has indeed called those whom He deems to be worthy and whom He has chosen from among the peoples and the nations. There are many people who are still not sure whether they want to pursue that calling to the sacred priesthood, while some others are still facing challenges and opposition from their families, relatives and from the communities, as well as facing many temptations that keep them away from their vocations in life.

Indeed, it is not easy for those who have been called by God to the sacred priesthood and to consider the life dedicated and consecrated to God. Often they will have to abandon the many comforts and achievements, the glories and the good things in life, in order to serve the Lord and His people with all their strength and might. There will be plenty of challenges for them all and many will be tempted to give up on their vocations, just as how we have heard sad stories even among the priests who had given up their calling and priesthood ministry.

And we also know of how some small minority of priests, very small minority in fact, had ended up in very high publicity for all sorts of wrong reasons, as they betrayed the responsibilities and also the trust and opportunities given to them. These were those priests who have been convicted and also suspected of improper behaviours and conduct, of various kinds of misconducts that are improper and have been strongly condemned by the Church. These were false shepherds who have not walked in the path of the Good Shepherd, but instead, allowed themselves to be tempted by the sins of this world.

Nonetheless, although the vast majority of the priests and bishops had been faithful and perhaps even more than just faithful, but also fully dedicated to the mission entrusted to them and their respective calling, they had certainly been affected by those who have been deviant and misguided, aberrant and irresponsible in the exercise of their ministry and in creating various scandals of the Church and the faith that affected the credibility and reputation of our most sacred priesthood and holy orders.

That is why today, all of us have to focus our attention and give our prayers for the benefit of all of our priests and bishops, our seminarians studying in various seminaries and preparation courses, as well as all the men called by God and are discerning the call to priesthood, all of them in their various stages of their vocation journey. And even more importantly, they also need our support, the support of the whole Church community. It is sad to note how in the reality of our Church life today, gossips and attacks against the priests are quite common in our community, and also various actions which showed our lack of appreciation and support for the important roles that our men in holy orders are doing.

As long as we hinder vocations within our own community, and even more so within our own families and relatives, we are not doing what we should be doing as Christians. I am sure that many among us will say that we must support vocations to priesthood and even participate actively in the prayers for vocations and other efforts, and yet, it was a sad reality when some of the same people wanted only others to be embracing their calling to the priesthood, and when one of their own family members want to follow this path, they oppose these with much hostility and bitterness.

This is therefore a reminder that we all need to unite our efforts together with sincere and genuine faith, and not with empty words and meaningless actions. In fact, although indeed we put a lot of focus today on the vocation to the holy orders and the sacred priesthood, that the priests and bishops carry on the same mission that has been entrusted to them from the time of the Apostles, but we must also not forget that all of us as Christians, by our common baptism, have also received the same mission and also partake in the same effort and work of the Church.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we cannot say and think that just because the priests, bishops and all in holy orders and priesthood had been charged and entrusted with those important works as shepherds then all the rest of us can then just slack and enjoy ourselves and our lives. All of us are also called to different vocations in life, and vocation does not just mean the vocation to priesthood, but rather it means the calling for each and every one of us to live our lives in the manner as Christian-like as possible in our own various occupations and sectors of life.

That is why while some had been called to the priesthood, many others had been called instead to a married life and existence, and to give glory to God and to be shining beacons of the light and truth of God in our world today. If each and every one of us play our part and do what we can to support one another, then definitely the paths that our priests and all those in holy orders had to go through will be significantly easier, since they will then be travelling through them and enduring them together with all the whole Church rather than by themselves.

And I have also mentioned how several ‘bad seeds’ among the clergy had caused great scandal and damage to the Church. But let us not then forget that if any one of the laity or indeed any members of the Church were to commit sin or lead a sinful life, then it will be scandalous and cause damage to the Church and the faithful as bad as the scandals and damages caused by those errant and unfaithful members of the clergy.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us therefore on this Vocation or Good Shepherd Sunday pray for one another, first of all of course for all of our priests and all in the holy orders, but then also pray for ourselves and for each other that we may truly be able to find meaning in our respective vocations in life, and for those among us who are still discerning the path to our vocations, may the Lord help us and guide us to our true vocations, whatever they may be, and allow us to give our best to fulfil our vocations as best as we are able to do so.

May the Lord, our Good Shepherd, continue to be with His Church and with all of us His people, that we may truly be more united in purpose, that in everything we do, we may contribute meaningfully and positively to the works and efforts of the Church and to God’s greater glory. May God bless us all and our many good endeavours and works, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 April 2020 : Third Sunday of Easter (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the third in the season of Easter, as we enter deeper into the glorious season of Easter, we are brought to focus our attention once again on Christ, our Risen Lord and Saviour. From our first reading passage today, we heard of the testimony of the faith by St. Peter the Apostle, who proclaimed courageously about the Lord Jesus before the assembled people in Jerusalem on the celebration of Pentecost. Then we heard of the same St. Peter reminding us in the Epistle he wrote, part of which is our second reading today, of God’s love and all He had done to save us. And lastly, from the Gospel we heard of the story of the encounter between the Resurrected Christ with two of His disciples who were on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus.

In our first reading today we heard St. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking before the many people gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of the Pentecost that takes place fifty days after the Passover. There were many people from various origins and places, many of them Jews who had been scattered across the world, and many among them had been in Jerusalem earlier for the Passover and had witnessed all that happened in the Passion, suffering and the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.

They have all seen how this great Man and Teacher of the faith came to Jerusalem, welcomed by many of the people, some of whom were definitely also there before St. Peter as he spoke about this same Jesus. St. Peter spoke of how the Lord had been betrayed and handed over to be killed by the Romans, given the burden of the Cross and the massive suffering He had to endure, that He suffered before many people who saw His Passion and how He suffered and died on the Cross. Many saw Him dead there on the Cross at Calvary.

But St. Peter and the other Apostles stood up and proclaimed their faith in the Resurrected Christ, the same Christ Who had died on the Cross did not remain dead and in the tomb, but He had risen from the dead and showed Himself to the Apostles themselves and to some other people. There were in fact quite a few people who had witnessed the Risen Lord appearing in the flesh before all of them. And this included the two disciples who were on their way to Emmaus as described earlier.

As the two disciples had shown us, many of these people may have witnessed or heard about the resurrection of the Lord, and yet in their hearts and minds, they were still filled with doubts, fears and uncertainties. They could not bring it to bear to believe that the Lord had overcome their greatest enemy, that is death. Death has always been something that everyone who have lived feared, from the very beginning since death is the end of our life and worldly existence as we know it.

Many of us have also feared death because it means separation from all that we have known and loved, and we certainly do not like this at all. Yet, at the same time, we are all resigned to having death as our fate, as we know that death is a certainty to all of us, and people from time to time die even at the most unexpected time and circumstances, even those who were healthy, young and in the prime of their years. Many tried to extend their lives and to keep themselves living and young, but every single efforts had failed and none of us could stop death even if we really wanted to.

That is why so many were skeptical that the Lord had indeed risen from the dead, and this, coupled with the efforts from the Sanhedrin to hide the facts by spreading the alternative story that the disciples had stolen the Body of Jesus from His tomb made it truly challenging for many at the time to believe in the Resurrection fully, and even many of those who had witnessed the Risen Lord or heard about Him had their doubts and had not yet fully believed in this truth.

This was where then the Holy Spirit of God came upon the Apostles on Pentecost and gave them all the courage and the strength to believe and to proclaim with great zeal and dedication, the truth of the Resurrection and the Lord’s salvation which had come through the suffering and the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, which had been extended to all the people and everyone, the forgiveness of our many sins and faults, and the promise of reconciliation and new life.

The Lord had saved us all through His death, but many of us remained in the fear of death because we do not yet have that fullness of faith in Him. We still look at other, alternative sources of comfort in our world rather than putting our trust in God. And this is why today all of us are being reminded that in God is our sure salvation and hope, and if we put our trust in Him, we shall never be disappointed. God will be with His faithful ones, and He will provide for all those who trust in Him.

In our second reading, this is what St. Peter had also written on, reminding the faithful that God, our loving Father has given us such a wonderful gift and Saviour in His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that He has brought us a new hope and a new life by the suffering and death of Christ, the Paschal Lamb, Lamb of God Who had sacrificed Himself and put forth His own Precious Body and poured His own Precious Blood for our sake. By His Blood we have been cleansed and absolved of our sins.

In our world today we are filled with plenty of darkness all around us, and many had fallen into hard times, losing hope and despairing amidst all the various challenges that they had to endure, for they feared all the uncertainties that are to come, all the possibilities of losing employments and sources of income as our whole world is now battling the harsh effects of this current pandemic and its associated complications, and of course, many feared the death that can just come and claim us at any time, as many had succumbed to this disease, and many more are still suffering from it.

What are we to do, then, as Christians? It is our calling as Christians and also our missions to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters, even those who are strangers around us, those who are suffering and are in need, that we help them and care for them and their needs. There are many people out there who have been deprived of hope and are in despair, living in darkness and also in sin. It is now then our turn to follow the examples of St. Peter and the Apostles, to bring God’s truth and hope to the world.

Let us all bring hope and strength, faith and trust in God in the hearts and minds of our fellow brethren, just as the Lord Himself strengthened the faith of His two disciples on their way to the town of Emmaus. Those two disciples had been wavering in faith, unsure and reluctant to believe that the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead. The Lord appeared to them and reassured them, and strengthened, they became courageous witnesses of the Lord’s resurrection, reenergised and full of zeal.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote our energy and effort to be the faithful bearers of God’s light and truth, to bring the joy of Easter and the strength and hope to our brethren in distress. May the Lord help us and guide us in our journey and in our efforts, that we may truly be successful in bringing the hope and joy in the Risen Christ to all the whole world, in our own respective communities and to all peoples. May God bless us all and our many endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 19 April 2020 : Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the Second Sunday in the season of Easter we celebrate what is known as the Divine Mercy Sunday as instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in the Jubilee Year of 2000 AD. This Divine Mercy Sunday was instituted according to the visions of St. Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun who saw the vision of the Lord in His aspect of the Divine Mercy a few times and wrote about her experiences, which took a few decades before they were officially approved and accepted by the Church.

In those visions of the Divine Mercy, St. Faustina Kowalska saw the Lord appearing to her and showing her His infinite and great mercy, His love and compassion for all of us mankind. The Divine Mercy of God manifested to her in His divinity, pouring forth from His heart two bright rays of red and white shining forth showing the outpouring of the love of God to us mankind, His divinity and humanity mingled into one, and by His Most Precious Blood we have received, we have been healed from our sins.

The Lord called for this devotion to this Divine Mercy to be made popular and spread among His people, dedicating the second Sunday in the season of Easter to be the Divine Mercy Sunday, as a kind reminder that this joyful and wonderful Easter season is a time for us to appreciate just how fortunate we have been that the Lord had gone through the worst of sufferings and humiliations that He bore in His Passion and death, that through Him and His Resurrection, we now receive the assurance of life eternal.

The Divine Mercy devotion calls on us all mankind to focus our attention once again on the Lord, to ask Him for His mercy on us and the whole world through His wondrous saving work, in the shedding of His Body and Blood, as a perfect offering for the redemption of our sins. That is why the Divine Mercy devotion has in particular become very popular and widespread as the world and many people seek healing from the Lord for their many ailments, the sickness of sin and the corruption of evil in our lives.

Through the Divine Mercy of God, all of us are brought to remember that Christ our Lord is our Eternal High Priest Who has offered Himself for the atonement for our sins, as we recall this whenever we recite the Divine Mercy chaplet and prayers with the words, ‘Eternal Father, I offer You, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world,’ and the other one ‘For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and the whole world.’

Through all of these, and linking with what we have just heard in our Scripture passages today, we will realise that we have to have faith in the Lord and believe that through Him there is a hope for us and for our salvation. That is why we heard of the story of the doubt which St. Thomas the Apostle had in our Gospel today, when he, usually the most doubtful and cynical of the Apostles, refused to believe that the Lord had risen from the dead, and wanted tangible proof before he was to believe that the Lord had indeed been resurrected.

It was only when the Lord Himself had appeared before him and the other disciples that St. Thomas came to believe in the Lord and in His Resurrection. St. Thomas from then on became a firm believer, and since then he laboured hard for the sake of God and His people, ministering to the various communities and proclaiming the truth of the Gospel to many others, founding the community of Christians in the southern parts of India, known as St. Thomas Christians who endured for many centuries and beyond after until this very day. St. Thomas himself was martyred in the defence of his faith in God.

What we have heard thus far is a reminder for each and every one of us to have more faith in God, to believe in His ever generous and wonderful mercy. God has always been merciful to us, loving and ready to forgive us, and He extends this rich offer of mercy without any hesitation at all. But it is us mankind who have hesitated, took our time, being stubborn and resisted the efforts of the Lord Who has tried to be reconciled with us. We are like St. Thomas who doubted the Lord, who refused to believe fully and unconditionally, or worse still, like many of the Pharisees who hardened their hearts and minds, refusing to believe in God’s truth.

Many of us carry on living in the state of sin, living our lives as we have lived them so far, indulging in all sorts of evils and wickedness. But we must realise that sin is truly dangerous and unless we get rid of ourselves these sins and wickedness, we are in great danger of falling into eternal damnation because of those sins. This is because death and hell are the consequences for our sins, and unless we repent from them and are forgiven and reconciled with God, we may end up in an eternity of regret and despair.

It is God alone Who is capable of healing us from our sins, making us good and whole again. No one else has the power to forgive our sins, and that is why we need to have this forgiveness and healing by the Divine Mercy of God. In this Sunday, we are all called to focus our attention on the Divine Mercy, His loving face and countenance directed towards us, His ever present care and compassion towards our fallen state and our wretched situation. This is why we need to focus our attention to the Lord and embrace His mercy.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all called to be the disciples of the Lord in all things, to be His followers and to bring forth His mercy, His light and love to all the people of God. We are all called to share this faith which we have, to embrace this love and mercy and show them in the same manner to our brethren out there who are still living in the darkness, to those who are still ignorant of the truth of God, those who have yet to know of God’s infinite love and mercy.

The Lord wants us all to bring forth this light of hope, the hope for the Divine Mercy to our fellow brethren, just as how St. Faustina Kowalska tried for many years to bring forth the attention to the devotion to the Divine Mercy according to the visions that she had received. And this is important especially in our troubled and darkened times, during this particularly difficult year when the whole world is facing so many challenges, from the pandemic that occupied the minds of most people and made many suffer, to the other forms of natural disasters and also political instabilities suffered by several communities.

During this time, many people do not know where they ought to turn to for help, and many people has lost their path. They sought consolation in other things, either to distract themselves from the sorrow, or to find temporary happiness or pleasures, which would not last. This is why we should be the witnesses of Christ our Lord, the Divine Mercy in our communities and in our families, among every brothers and sisters whom we encounter in our daily lives and whom we interact with, and even with the strangers and other people we encounter as well.

Let us all, through our words and actions bring forth the exemplary Christian faith and life that shine brightly as beacons for others to follow, to inspire others and to guide many in their path of life, that they may find true consolation, happiness, joy and peace in God, the Divine Mercy, Who is ever ready to forgive us and to be reconciled with us, and Who is always ever filled with love, in each and every moments of our lives. May God continue to guide us all in life, and may He grant us the courage and strength to be ever more faithful, now and always. O Divine Mercy, we trust in You. Amen.

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Sunday, 12 April 2020 : Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we finally enter into the glorious season of Easter after all the preparations we have gone through during the season of Lent, the forty days of penitential and sorrowful preparation of our minds, hearts and souls to welcome the Lord, to be with Him and to glorify Him this Easter. On this Sunday we celebrate the great moment of our Lord’s resurrection, when He rose gloriously from the tomb, showing us all that death and therefore sin has no more power and hold over us.

As we enter into this great season of Easter, we are all called to get rid of ourselves all sorts of earthly worries and concerns, and yearn for the things that are above and beyond, which God has promised to us. In our second reading today, this is exactly what St. Paul wrote to the Church and the faithful in Colossae, as he exhorted all of them to seek heavenly things through Christ and set their sights on these, as we have shared in His death and will also share in His glorious resurrection.

It is this very important core tenet of our faith that St. Peter spoke about in his words to the family of the Roman centurion Cornelius, who desired to know the truth of the Lord Jesus, the Risen Lord and Saviour. St. Peter spoke with the zeal of faith and with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit revealing before them all the Risen Lord, Who had suffered and died, and yet rose in glory and brought the same hope of salvation and liberation to all of us mankind who are still ensnared and enslaved by the power of sin.

That is why today we are all called to focus our attention on the Risen Lord, and to put our complete faith and trust in Him. We should no longer be fearful or be filled with despair, as it is exactly the devil’s plan that he made us to fear and to be filled with despair and uncertainty that we end up being unable to comprehend, realise and appreciate God’s wonderful mercy and love towards us. He wants us to be irrational and to fall deeper into our sinful ways, and therefore fail to achieve redemption from God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, at the Evening Mass of the Easter Sunday today we also heard the account of the Lord with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, a village near Jerusalem. Those two disciples went to Emmaus debating and being unsure of what to make of the events they had just witnessed in Jerusalem, with their Lord and Master Jesus having been condemned to death by the chief priests and the elders, and was crucified to death. But they have also heard about the Resurrection and they were still not sure and could not believe of such a thing.

The Lord appeared before them but they did not recognise Him for they still did not have faith in the Resurrection and they still had their doubts, and the Lord walked with them, revealing and teaching to them His truth. He encouraged them and gave them strength by explaining to them the truth of the Scriptures, telling them all that everything has happened as how the prophets had revealed it in the years past, and that Jesus indeed was the Saviour that they all had waited for, and they must have faith in Him.

Subsequently, when those two disciples eventually recognised Jesus they became courageous witnesses of the Lord’s Resurrection, telling everyone passionately about how they had seen the Risen Lord, and how He had not died but risen from the dead, and they made everyone who heard them convinced that the Lord had indeed triumphed and conquered death. That was what St. Peter had also done in our first reading as we discussed it earlier on.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, more importantly for us all as we enter into this season of Easter, all of us must be ready to accept what the Lord had called us to do, and that is to follow Him and to trust in Him, and to carry out the mission which He has entrusted to us, to go forth into the world and to proclaim the salvation of God, by being witnesses of His Resurrection like what St. Peter the Apostle and what the two disciples whom the Lord met on the way to Emmaus had done.

It is also very important that all of us take this seriously and embark on what we have been called to do, especially because we know just how dark and dire the situation had been this year, and how many of us had had a particularly difficult year this time round. We have definitely been preoccupied much by the current pandemic and many other troubles all around us, all the economic instabilities, socio-economic problems and other challenges and difficulties we may be encountering.

However, we must not give in to fear, and we must still strive and do our best because we ought to have faith in God. As we celebrate His Resurrection and triumph over sin and death today, we have to bring forth this joy and optimism, faith and trust in the Lord’s providence with us in our own lives and within our own communities. That is why all of us have to be the bearers of God’s hope and light within our own communities, that we bring this Easter joy to all those who are despairing and in darkness.

Are we able to commit ourselves to this great work of evangelisation and also to witness to our faith through our actions towards our fellow brothers and sisters? Let us bring hope to this world when there is despair and hopelessness, and let us bring love and kindness when there is hatred and animosity among us. Let us show compassion towards those who are suffering, caring for those who are in need of love and attention. Let us brighten the days of those who have lost their way and hope amidst these dark and terrible times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all truly be filled with Easter joy and commit ourselves to be better Christians in all things. Let us live through this season of Easter and do our very best to make it truly a most meaningful time, growing in faith and become ever deeper in our own devotion towards God. May the Risen Lord Jesus bless us with the strength and courage to live our faith as good and most faithful Christians. Amen.

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Sunday, 5 April 2020 : Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers ands sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we begin the observation of the Holy Week, the holiest and pinnacle of the liturgical celebrations of the entire year, as we enter into the most solemn and important moments in the history of the salvation of mankind and the world. On this day we enter and experience together this very moment when the Lord finally put into place everything that He has promised to us, His people, heading to Jerusalem where He knew that the moments His Passion, suffering and death would come.

On this Palm Sunday, we heard two very discordant accounts from the time of the Lord’s triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, as well as from the time when He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, arrested, put on trial, handed over to the Romans, condemned to death and was crucified as a criminal. This represents a very distinct extremes between the glory and triumphant nature of the entrance procession into Jerusalem and the humiliating and painful nature of the crucifixion of the Lord at Calvary. And all these happened within just the span of a few days.

In our Gospel today read just before the Procession with the blessed palms, we heard of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of the prophet Zechariah, speaking of the coming of the King on a donkey into His city. The people welcomed the Lord and sang praises, putting their garments and clothes on the ground for the Lord and His donkey to pass through on, and waving palm branches and leaves, a welcome truly fit for a great King.

The crowds sang ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ loudly, referring to the descent of the Lord Jesus from the much revered King David of Israel, the glorious kingdom and time of his kingship of old. The Lord Jesus had His descent as the Heir of David, through St. Joseph, His foster-father and also legal father, and therefore, Jesus is the One Whom God had promised to David that through Him, the kingdom and house of David would be glorious and strong forever. The Lord came to Jerusalem, the city of the King to claim His place as the one true King of Israel.

Certainly at that time, some people must have thought that Jesus would restore the old kingdom of Israel, defeat and drive out the Romans who were the overlords of Judea, and reign in a new era of glorious kingdom like that of the old kingdom of David and Solomon. Some of the people had tried to make Jesus as their King on several occasions, riding on the popular sentiment and the Lord’s immense following and popularity, only for the Lord to rebuff them by withdrawing every time they attempted to do so.

But as we then proceed into our first reading taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the prophecy of the Suffering Servant, of Whom the prophet Isaiah spoke about as One Who would bear the suffering and the punishments for our sins and faults. This is the revelation of the true purpose and mission of the Messiah’s coming, that His Kingship is achieved through not the glory of the world but through the glory of the Cross. He would have to suffer as part of God’s plan to save us mankind.

And this is what St. Paul spoke about in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Philippi, in our second reading today, as he spoke of the Christ, the Son of God Who humbled Himself completely and entirely, emptying Himself of His divinity and wonders, and willingly took up the Cross of suffering, filled with the mighty burdens and punishments due for our many and innumerable sins. He bore all of these on His own shoulders, and endured all of the pain, bitterness, rejections and ridicules because of His great and enduring love for each and every one of us.

God has loved us all so much that He was willing to do all these for our sake, and He endured all the humiliations as described throughout our Passion reading today, detailing how He was treated, ridiculed, condemned by His enemies and all those who sought to denounce and sentence Him to death. He was handed to the Romans, and rejected by the whole people who chose a criminal instead of Him to be freed. He was tortured and made to suffer such indignity, and endured the excruciating pain of nails driven into His hands and feet.

All these were what the Lord had been willing to go through for our sake. He has always been so patient and been so loving towards us. That is why today, at the beginning of this Holy Week, we are brought to focus our attention to the Lord’s Passion, His ever so great and wonderful love for each and every one of us that He was willing to go through all the sufferings for us. His love is so great that although He is King, but He desires not His own glory but instead, our own glorification, through His sacrifice on the Cross.

For through the Cross, by His obedience in His Father’s will, the Lord our Saviour has restored us to the glory that was ours before we fell into sin. He wants us to be reconciled to Him and to receive His saving grace. Unfortunately, it is often us who have been stubborn and rejected His generous offer for mercy and love. We have been like those who enthusiastically welcomed the Lord on Palm Sunday, and yet, shouted ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ on Good Friday just a few days later. We are also often like Judas Iscariot, who outwardly had faith in the Lord and yet, betrayed Him in the end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we begin this solemn celebration of the Holy Week, let us make good use of this time and opportunities provided to us that we may redirect our lives and our focus and attention back towards God. This Holy Week, let us all spend more time with God in prayer, deepening our devotion through works of charity and through reading the Scriptures with greater clarity of purpose in mind. Let us all also spend some thoughts for all those who are suffering, sick and dying during these days, unable to rejoice and celebrate as how they have usually done.

Many of us these days are unable to celebrate as we usually do, and in many parts of the world, due to the current pandemic, the celebrations of the Masses publicly have been suspended, extending through to the Holy Week and possibly even through the Easter season. And even for some of us and our communities, much of this season of Lent had indeed been a time of spiritual desolation and sadness, as we have been in many ways deprived either the regular celebration of the Mass or access to the Eucharist.

However, this is probably a good time and reminder for us all that amidst all these darkness and uncertainties, all the despairs and terrible things all around us, we still have that very one hope, the hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, our King and Saviour. That is why we should still celebrate this Holy Week with much enthusiasm and faith, and we should try our best to bring forth this spirit of faith and enthusiasm to our fellow brothers and sisters. For we all should know that sin and darkness mo longer have permanent hold on us, as Christ has promised us freedom and liberation from these through His own suffering and death on the Cross.

Let us therefore enter into the Holy Week with an open heart and mind, welcoming the Lord to enter into our hearts and into our beings as gloriously and joyfully as the people of Jerusalem had welcomed Him with branches of palms and with great rejoicing and reverence. Let us all welcome the Lord into our beings that from now on, He may truly dwell in us, and be enthroned in our hearts, in our minds and in our whole beings, and that we may focus ourselves on Him from now on.

May God bless us all, and may He guide us through this blessed and most wonderful time of the Holy Week, that we may be filled with much faith and we may make good use of the time provided to us, to help us to draw ever closer to God, and to receive the fullness of God’s saving grace, forgiven from our sins and trespasses. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 29 March 2020 : Fifth Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the fifth Sunday in the season of Lent, as we approach closer to the beginning of the Holy Week and the Passion of Our Lord, we focus our attention towards the coming of Easter in which we celebrate the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord, and how through that Resurrection, He has brought upon all of us the hope of new life through His Resurrection, of which today’s Gospel passage on the resurrection of Lazarus is a premonition of what the Lord was to bring to us.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard of God’s promise to the people of Israel through Ezekiel, how He would restore them and bring them back to the land of their ancestors, and free them from their humiliation and bondage as a defeated and conquered people, after their kingdom and land were destroyed and conquered by the Babylonians under king Nebuchadnezzar. At that time, the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem had just happened, the Temple destroyed and the Ark of God disappeared.

The morale of the people of Israel at that time must have been really low, as they were in depth of despair and darkness, having been humbled such by their own disobedience against God. But the Lord reminded them then through Ezekiel how they would once again have a share in His joy and receive great happiness for the Lord promised them all that He would deliver them from their predicament, and that He would give them a new life. This is a premonition of what would happen in the days to come, when through king Cyrus of Persia, God would allow His people to return to the land of their ancestors.

But this is also a premonition of what is to come for us mankind, in the promise of liberation from an even greater darkness and humiliation, that is the trials we experience because of our sins and wickedness. God promised us all a new life that is free from sin, where we will no longer suffer the consequences of sin, liberated and made free from the burden of our sins which had enslaved us and corrupted us all these while. And He made all these promises true and fulfilled by sending to us His own Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord showed us what He meant by His greatest miracle then yet, in bringing back even a dead person back into life, witnessed by many hundreds and more people who happened to be there. The resurrection of Lazarus has always been read on this fifth Sunday of the season of Lent to prepare us for the celebration of the Lord’s own Resurrection at Easter. And this resurrection of the dead Lazarus was a great proof for all those who witnessed it, how the Lord was with Jesus, the power from on high, authority over all life and death. This is something that no one colluding with the devil could have, unlike what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law claimed.

On a separate occasion, the Lord Jesus also raised the daughter of an official from the dead, as well as the son of a widow from the town of Naim. All these showed that death, the ultimate enemy, is no longer something that is to be feared. And here we need to understand better the nature of how death is related to all of us, so that we may be better able to appreciate the significance of what we have heard in our Scripture passages today. Death is something that all of us have always feared since it is something that is uncertain and scary, marking the definitive end to life in this world as we know it.

And death is the consequence of sin, which is then in turn caused by our disobedience against God, our inability to follow His will, our shortcomings and fall into the path that is divergent from God’s appointed path. Death is our fate, just as our first ancestors, Adam and Eve had to suffer death because of their disobedience, that they were to ‘return to dust just as they had been made from dust’. They were not meant to suffer this fate, for God intended for everything to be good and perfect just as how He created all of creation.

This means that all of us were meant to enjoy the fruits of God’s creation, to receive the fullness of His intended inheritance and to bask in God’s love and grace forever. This was why God created us in the first place, to share in the wonderful love overflowing from Him. But, our disobedience led to sin, and sin created that separation between us and God, and since we have been sundered from God’s grace and presence, He, Who is the Source of all life, that is why we suffer and experience death.

And especially at this time when the whole world is facing the terrible coronavirus pandemic, the Covid-19 trouble, and people are dying in their thousands, with many tens and even hundreds of thousands are now suffering from the disease, we can see how the whole world is gripped with fear, especially over the suffering that the sickness is bringing to us, and even more so over death, as many feared that they may succumb to the disease and die.

What we have seen in the past few weeks showed this, how so many people acted in a very selfish and irrational manner, as people flocked to the markets and shops, hoarding many essential goods such as food and also sanitary equipments, which put much of the world’s supply chain in great strain and at the same time, denying many of those who need the necessities from getting what they should have gotten. Many bought much more than what they should have even considered buying, in what we know as panic buying or hoarding.

And then we also knew and heard how there had been many incidents of racism and prejudices against certain groups of people, whom many either blamed for the outset of the disease, or that they have helped in propagating its spread. These led to attacks and ostracises against those whom they had been prejudiced against, both in the direct physical terms or in the online world, on social media platforms among others.

Looking at the behaviour of many of these people, we may end up wondering what had happened to us mankind that we end up doing such actions. It is in fact our fears and our worry of death that led to many of us acting in this manner. Many of us were so afraid of facing death that we ended up acting in self-preservation and selfishness, even causing hurt to others while doing so. And ultimately we had no faith in God and this is why we ended up doing all these out of our lack of faith.

In the midst of all these terrible things happening all around us, despite all the darkness and troubles we are facing, we must remember that there is still light and hope by our side. God is that light and hope that we must hold fast to, and we must not let go of this light that we have, for God has given us His reassurance, again and again that no matter how bad or terrible things may be, but as long as we keep our faith in Him, He, the Master of all things, the Lord of all life and death will deliver us from all of our troubles.

Fear is the method by which the devil is trying very hard to subvert us and to turn us away from God. Through fear, he wants us to turn inwards and indulge in our own selfish and wicked desires, that we may end up act in ways that lead us to sin, by our lack of care for others, by our selfishness that cause the hurt of others because we want to preserve ourselves. When we are too afraid of death and having no faith in God, that is when we end up on the slippery path towards sin and death itself.

The more we fear death, the more in fact we draw closer to it, because we have little or no faith in God. And it is imperative that during this difficult time when we are facing this global pandemic and other issues, that we must put our faith in God and trust in His will and plan for each one of us. After all, why do we fear something that we have no control over? Life or death is in the hands of God alone, and none of us have the power to extend our lives for even a single second or even millisecond.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday, as we reflect once again on our Scripture passages, let us all think of our priorities in life. Let us all not overly worry over whether we will suffer or die especially in this terrible times. Instead, let us all focus our attention on caring those who are around us, spending precious time to love those who are in need of love, especially in this moment when many may need consolation and love, comfort and kindness.

Let us all be filled with care and love for our fellow brothers and sisters, that we may truly embody the Lenten spirit of repentance and turning towards God with all of our heart. It is by deepening our charity and love, and by casting aside all of the pride and ego in us that we will be able to appreciate better the love which God has for us, and to better able to trust Him and believe in the resurrection and the new life which He will give us all who believe in Him.

Let us all look forward to celebrate the glorious Resurrection of the Lord in this coming Easter, knowing how God has triumphed over sin and death, and how none of us should ever worry about suffering and death anymore, since God will restore us to the fullness of His inheritance and grace, and while we experience the death of our physical bodies, but after that, we will be raised in glory to join in body and soul with Him and all the Angels and Saints, in the glorious new eternal life.

May God bless us all and may He strengthen us all to live courageously and with faith even through this difficult moment. And may He also heal all those who are suffering, console those who have lost their loved ones, and bring those who have passed on into His eternal rest and glory. Amen.

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Sunday, 22 March 2020 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Rose or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we celebrate the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, also known as the Laetare Sunday, which came from the Introit of this Sunday which goes like this, ‘Laetare Jerusalem, et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam…’ or ‘Rejoice o Jerusalem, and come together all you who love her…’. And here we gather together this Sunday looking forward to the wonderful joy that is to come, the reason why we have the rose coloured vestments this Sunday.

Just like Gaudete Sunday during the season of Advent before Christmas, on this Sunday we have a brief pause of the penitential nature of this Lenten season to focus on the more joyful aspect of our expectation for the coming of the glorious season of Easter, just as Gaudete Sunday expects the coming joy of Christmas. That is why on this day we ought to focus our attention on the Lord, to keep our gaze affixed on Him, knowing that everything we do in this Lent, all of our penitential rites and customs, practices and works are to purify us before we rejoice together with Him, having been reconciled with Him in love.

In today’s readings therefore, there is this emphasis on us all having received healing from God, and for those who are in need of healing and God’s grace, it is reassured and promised to us as a certainty as long as we are open and willing to receive this wonderful grace of God. That is why today we focus our attention on the joy that is to come in Easter to help in keeping us focused in the right direction, knowing that we are in God’s good hands despite whatever challenges we may be facing now.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the story of the anointing of the new king of Israel, in which God had chosen one of the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem. Samuel was presented with six of his sons in the beginning, and while initially he saw that the eldest son was good in stature and appearance, but God told Samuel that He had chosen through what He has seen in the heart and not in the appearances. And that was how David, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, a simple and young shepherd, was chosen and anointed as king of Israel.

David was a steadfast and firm believer in God, who loved God with all of his heart. Since his youth, David had been devout and committed to God, and after he had been chosen and anointed as king of Israel as the successor to king Saul, David had shown his faith and his upright attitude and actions in most of the circumstances. Yes, as a mortal man, David did make mistakes and he did commit some serious sins, such as his adultery with Bathsheba and his hubris in the census of Israel, but ultimately, his faith and love for God never changed.

The significance of this reading is to show that God sees in us the light present within all of us, including what He had seen in David. There is inherent good in all of us since after all, every single one of us are God’s good creations although tainted by sin. By God’s grace and help, all of us can follow in the example of king David, whom God had called and chosen, and king David allowed God to work through him, committing many wonderful deeds as king over the Israelites, in faith and obedience to God.

In our second reading, again we are reminded through St. Paul’s letter to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus that we ought to become children of the light in all things. St. Paul mentioned that while once we belonged to the darkness, now through God, we have belonged to the light, and we ought to act in the manner of the follower of God’s light. God is our guide and Shepherd, just as our Psalm today on the famous Good Shepherd Psalm reminds us that God is leading us as our Shepherd to the good and righteous path.

Through sin and darkness, all of us have been corrupted, tainted and afflicted, but God wants us all to be healed and liberated from our sins, and He alone has the power and ability to do so. In our Gospel passage we heard of the story of how the Lord Jesus healed a man who had been born blind, and suffered from that blindness for so many decades. Yet, through his faith in the power of the Lord Jesus, he was healed completely, his eyes opened and his sight restored, a great miracle of God, but one which was protested and contested by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

The blind man was healed by Jesus and he could see again, and yet, the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the Law could not believe that the blind man had been healed, and not by the Lord Jesus Whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law then treated as a pariah and One that is not welcome in the Temple, because of the friction and difficulties that arose as the Lord ministered to the people and healed many of them, even on the Sabbath day which the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law vigorously defended as a day on which nothing including good deeds could be done.

Thus, these people gathered the people and conducted a trial over the blind man, as they doubted that he had been healed by Jesus, and then they even doubted that he had been born blind or blind at all. And they kept on asking the blind man for the details of his healing, repeatedly, showing that they still stubbornly refused to believe that Jesus could have healed the blind man. To them, Jesus was a sinner for His disobedience against their way of observing the Law, and a sinner could not have healed another person.

They even then became nasty against the blind man and angered against him, condemning and judging him as a sinner, as they were offended and their pride was hurt by the formerly blind man’s suggestion that they kept on asking him because they were interested to become the disciples of Jesus. This is exactly the problem that we need to take heed of, the matter of pride and ego that prevented so many of us from finding forgiveness for our many sins and our salvation in God.

In this season of Lent, as we focus our attention today on the Lord and on this joyful hope of His salvation and also on our own inner light and goodness, all of us are called to purge from ourselves all sorts of pride and ego, all hubris and hard-heartedness that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had, which made them to be ‘spiritually blind’, as they were ignorant of the truth of God even when they had seen and witnessed for themselves for more than a few occasions, what the Lord had done for His people through Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to open our hearts and minds to welcome the Lord with humility like that of the blind man? Pride kept us away from being able to seek God’s forgiveness, and we ought to be humble, realising that we need God’s healing and forgiveness for our sins. And then, are we able and willing to seek God for healing, that He may bless us and forgive us from our many sins, purifying ourselves from our corrupted state due to our sins? Let us seek to be God’s children, worthy and as bright children of the light, rejecting the darkness of sin, for the righteousness and faith in God. Our true joy and happiness is in the Lord, Our God and Saviour, and it is Him that we ought to look towards and focus our attentions on.

As we look forward towards the glorious joy of Easter, let us all renew our efforts to be ever closer to God, to be more devoted in each and every moments of our lives from now on. Let us deepen our relationship with God and be righteous and good in all of our actions and deeds. Let us be more loving and charitable towards our fellow brothers and sisters, and let us all be generous in caring for the needs of those who are needy, poor, unloved and rejected by others. Let us share the joy of Christ with one another, and hope that one day we may glorify God together and be worthy of God and His eternal kingdom as we enter into the new and heavenly Jerusalem.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to strengthen us with faith and the resolve to live our lives daily, that we may walk ever faithfully in His path, and draw ever closer to His grace. May God bless us all and all of our good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

by

Sunday, 15 March 2020 : Third Sunday of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Third Sunday of Lent, all of us as Christians are called to remember the love that God has shown to us all despite the rebelliousness, disobedience and stubbornness which we had shown Him all these while. Beginning from the story in our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus of the rebellion of the Israelites against God at the place called Rephidim, where they complained against God and became angry at God as they thought that God had abandoned them and left them thirsty and hungry in the desert.

We have to understand that the truth is, God has been blessing them, providing for them and protecting them all through the challenging journey that they had gone through, starting from calling all of them through Moses, who confronted the Pharaoh with his brother Aaron, and sent ten great Plagues against Egypt and the Egyptians while the Israelites were protected from harm. Since then, God had led them out of Egypt, destroying the armies and the chariots of the Pharaoh sent after them, opening the sea before them to walk on the dry seabed.

And God also gave the people water to drink, water that is good to drink, plentiful and crystal-clear in the middle of the vast and dry desert. He gave them food in the form of manna, the bread sent down from heaven itself, every morning without fail, and also large birds to supplement what they have already had in the manna. For God to provide His people with sustenance and everything they needed in the middle of the lifeless and dry desert, He has done so much for the sake of His people, and yet we saw how the people complained and grumbled against Him.

While not specifically mentioned in today’s reading passage, the Israelites also complained because in Egypt although they were enslaved by the Egyptians, they were not short of food and good things to eat, complaining that all that they had to eat were the ‘tasteless’ manna when in another part the manna were actually described as being sweet and good-tasting. All these alluded to the fact that the Israelites were tempted and swayed by their own greed and desire for worldly sustenance and pleasures rather than to obey God.

As the Israelites put a lot of focus and emphasis on what they were missing and lacking from, this caused them to forget that they already had what they needed, all provided by God Who still continued to love them and was still patient with them despite their constant and repeated disobedience, complaining and grumbling against Him. And in what we heard of the rebellion of the Israelites at Rephidim, God still asked His servant Moses to give the people what they have asked for, which is drinking water, despite having been doubted by the very same people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must indeed count ourselves to be very fortunate to have such a loving God and caring Father, Who has always been so patient and good with us despite all of our disobedience, our pettiness and stubbornness, our sins and all sorts of wickedness we have done before Him, as the Israelites themselves can testify to us through their long history of rebellions and disobedience against God, both what we have heard in today’s reading from the Book of Exodus, and many other occasions.

The Lord has always been patient with His people, sending prophets and messengers, one after another to remind the people to turn away from their sinful ways and to embrace once again His laws and precepts. But more often than not, the people refused to listen and hardened their hearts, preferring to follow their own desires and paths, in disobedience against God. They worshipped the pagan idols and offered sacrifices to them, followed the wicked customs of their pagan neighbours among others. Yet, the Lord was still willing to forgive them and was willing to be reconciled with them.

Now, let us bring our attention to the Gospel passage today in which we heard about the Lord Jesus and His encounter with a Samaritan woman at a place named Sychar, in the land of the Samaritans. At that time, the Samaritans were at odds with the Jewish people in Judea and Galilee, and this enmity has occurred for several centuries by the time of Jesus’ ministry. The Samaritans were the descendants of the people who were settled in the region named Samaria after the old capital of the northern kingdom of Israel after the Assyrians destroyed that kingdom and brought most of its people into exile.

The Samaritans were therefore a mixture of peoples, with both descent from the Israelites through the people of the northern kingdom of Israel and those people who have been resettled from various origins by the Assyrians. The Jewish people, to whom the Lord Jesus and His disciples belonged to, were the descendants of the people of Judah, the southern kingdom which had been in conflict and rivalry against the northern kingdom of Israel. Therefore, the enmity and troubles between the Samaritans and the Jews had originated for many centuries.

The Samaritans and the Jews argued that they were the righteous and chosen people of God, as mentioned in today’s Gospel, the differences in viewpoints as the Samaritans argued that their ancestors’ practice of offering sacrifices on the mountains of Bethel or Ephraim was the right and legal way of worship, which had originated since as early as the earliest days of the division between Israel and Judah, over a thousand years earlier. the Jews argued that worship must be conducted at the Temple in Jerusalem, in the tradition of Solomon’s Temple which King Solomon built in that city.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how are all these linked to what we have heard about the disobedience of God’s people earlier on? This is because the Jews at the time of Jesus often looked down and were very discriminatory against the Samaritans. The Jews were very proud of their status as the direct descendants of the Israelites of old, those same Israelites who were led by God out of Egypt in their Exodus. They saw the Samaritans as pagans and people who were unworthy, ungodly and wicked, and henceforth, ought to be despised and ostracised.

The Jews thought that they were guaranteed salvation and God’s inheritance because of their heritage, but they failed to realise that being the sons and daughters of Abraham and Israel alone were not good enough reason for them to become worthy and righteous before God. And the Lord Jesus showed it all through His words and interactions with the Samaritan woman, whom, in the terms of that day’s society, was among the lowest of all people. She was a Samaritan, prejudiced against as I elaborated earlier on, and she was also a woman, who was regarded as inferior to men. And her background of not being legally married, and having cohabitated in the past would have made her to be even less respected.

As the disciples of Jesus showed us, it was most bewildering to them that Jesus, their Master, a Jew, would be in such close proximity to a Samaritan, less still a woman, and being engaged in such a deep conversation with her. That was why the Lord revealed to them that the Lord does not distinguish His people in the manner that they have been divided against each other, being prejudiced against other people and thinking of themselves as being better than others based on their own prejudices and narrow mindsets.

The Lord loves all of us equally and He treats us all equally without any prejudices. As long as we are willing to embrace Him and His love, He will give us all the blessings intended for us, and through Christ, His Son, make us all to be His adopted sons and daughters. This is because Christ, the Son of God, has willingly entered into our world and assumed our human existence in the flesh, born as the Son of Man, and by sharing that humanity with us, we also share His connection with the Father. We call God, our heavenly Father because of this.

Our Lord Jesus showed us all that God’s love and forgiveness are extended to all of us mankind, and even to the worst of sinners, like that of the Samaritan woman, to whom the Lord Who knew her sins, offered the living water found in Him, essentially offering her forgiveness and reconciliation, and the fullness of grace by her faith in Him. And now, the Lord wants us all to reflect carefully on our way of living our lives, and how we live our lives together with all those who are around us, whether we want to be like the Jews and the Samaritans, who were prejudiced against each other, or whether we want to work together to be more faithful and help each other to be more committed to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to renew our love and devotion to God, just as He has loved us all so much all these while despite all the terrible attitude, doubts, disobedience, and rebelliousness we have showed and committed in our lives. We must remember how God still provided for His people, the Israelites, for a total of over forty years throughout their time journeying towards the Promised Land. Despite all their constant actions in angering God and in betraying Him, God still sent them manna and food without fail, and provided drinking water in the desert.

If God loves us all so much despite our imperfections and sins, then why can’t we also do the same to our fellow brothers and sisters? Whenever we look down on anyone, or are prejudiced or biased against anyone, or whenever we think that we are better or more worthy than others, or when we are angry against certain people or are unhappy and even hating them, then we should keep in mind what the Lord has done to us, forgiving and loving us sinners, as St. Paul said in our second reading today, even when we are still so wicked, imperfect, terrible and in such a corrupted state.

This season of Lent, as we go forward in living our lives, let us all discern and strive to be more like God, to love the way He has loved us, to be more forgiving upon one another just as He has forgiven us, to be more patient with each other, with our spouses, children, parents, family members, friends and even those who we disagree and are unhappy with, just as the Lord has been so patient with us all these while. Let us all make this blessed season of Lent meaningful and fruitful to us all, and be closer to God, through our deeper appreciation of His love, through healthy prayer life and deepening of our spiritual life, and through our charity and acts of love to our fellow brethen. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.