Sunday

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Sunday, 22 May 2016 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Trinity Sunday and Memorial of St. Rita of Cascia, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 8 : 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

When I observe the heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon and the stars You set in their place – what is man that you be mindful of him, the Son of Man that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

Sheep and oxen without number and even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all that swim the paths of the ocean.

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Sunday, 22 May 2016 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Trinity Sunday and Memorial of St. Rita of Cascia, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Proverbs 8 : 22-31

YHVH created Me first, at the beginning of His works. He formed Me from of old, from eternity, even before the earth. The abyss did not exist when I was born, the springs of the sea had not gushed forth, the mountains were still not set in their place nor the hills, when I was born before He made the earth or countryside, or the first grains of the world’s dust.

I was there when He made the skies and drew the earth’s compass on the abyss, when He formed the clouds above and when the springs of the ocean emerged; when He made the sea with its limits, that it might not overflow. When He laid the foundations of the earth, I was close beside Him, the Designer of His works, and I was His daily delight, forever playing in His presence, playing throughout the world and delighting to be with humans.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a very great occasion of the Pentecost Sunday, celebrating and commemorating that moment when the Lord sent the Helper and Advocate which He had promised to His disciples and servants, the Holy Spirit of God that empowered them and gave them the courage and strength to carry out the mission which have been entrusted to them.

On that day, the Apostles received the Holy Spirit that appeared to them as the tongues of flames coming down from heaven and settled on each of their heads. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus had promised to them, when He said that while John baptised with water, He shall baptise them with fire and the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit dwelled in them, and became in them the source of unquenchable flame, the passion and desire to go forth and courageously testify for the faith that they had in God. And it marked in them, the moment of great and unmistakeable transformation and change, which if we were to scrutinise the whole Gospels and the New Testament, we would be able to see the difference.

Before His death and resurrection, Jesus was always with the Apostles and disciples, and He always guided them and taught them all that He wanted to reveal to them. And like sheep under the guidance of their shepherd, they felt secure and safe while the shepherd was with them. Yet, their faith were still shaky and uncertain, as they did not yet fully believe in the entirety of God’s truth which Jesus had taught them.

And that was why, when the Lord and Master was suddenly taken away from them, they became confused and wandered without guidance. St. Peter even wavered such that although just on that same day he promised the Lord Jesus, that he would lay down his life for Him and follow Him to the death, he refused to recognise his Master out of fear and doubt, when those who tortured Him asked if St. Peter knew him or if he belonged to His group.

If we notice, even after the resurrection, the disciples were still afraid, not understanding fully the meaning of our Lord’s Passion, suffering and death on the cross. They locked themselves in their room, closing all their windows and hide in fear of repression, retaliation and persecution by the Jewish authorities, the chief priests and the Pharisees.

When the holy women who followed Jesus saw and witnessed His resurrection on Easter Sunday, and told the disciples of what they saw, still they refused to believe until the Lord Himself appeared to them. Only then they believed fully in Him. Jesus Himself at that time, and at various times prior to His suffering and death chided His disciples for their lack of faith, and rightly so, because these were easily shaken and were not firm.

And now, we should contrast this with how the Apostles acted after the coming of the Holy Spirit, when they fearlessly went forth to the streets and preached God’s truth in all languages. Their hearts have received the Holy Spirit, and God Himself dwelled in them through His Spirit. And that Holy Spirit gave them great strength and the courage to carry out the mission which the Lord had entrusted to them, that is the conversion of the whole mankind to the ends of the earth.

God led them and guided them through His Spirit dwelling in each and every one of them. The Apostles faced persecutions after persecutions, and gradually their own numbers were declining as they met cruel and terrible end in the hands of those who have persecuted them and the Church. And yet, through their tireless and zealous works, they have called many others to follow the Lord and continue the work which they have started.

We are surely familiar with the phrase, “The blood of martyrs is the seeds of Christians.” Truly, this means that even though the Church and the faithful were persecuted for their faith and devotion to God, but those persecutions and challenges were simply means through which the faithful could live their lives even more faithfully and devoutly, and by clinging to the Spirit of God and to the faith which they had in Him, they had brought salvation to more people, who saw what they did and believed in God as well.

The Apostles, for example St. Peter and St. Paul travelled widely across the known world at that time, preaching about Jesus our Lord, His words and His promised salvation to many communities, establishing the Church in those locations. Indeed, the amazing deeds of the Apostles were the deeds of the Lord Himself, Who had made these wonderful servants of God to be great instruments of His salvation of mankind by His Spirit.

And it all began on that moment of the Pentecost Sunday, fifty days after the celebration of Easter Sunday. It was after the Lord Jesus had ascended into Heaven, and in which He had promised that the Holy Spirit would be sent to His disciples soon. And the sending of the Holy Spirit marked a pivotal point in the history of our Church, for truly, it was the birthday of our Church, the moment when it was truly born.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? All of us, although we came from different origins and places, with different histories and backgrounds, we all share in the same God, the same Eucharist which we receive, and in the same Spirit of God which has descended upon all of us. The Lord Himself sent His Spirit to His Apostles and the first disciples, who then went on to preach, teach and bring into conversion many others, who therefore received the same Spirit through the hands of the Apostles and the disciples of Christ.

And from them, the Holy Spirit had been passed down through the generations, and ultimately, to each and every one of us the faithful, who have been baptised, confirmed and received the Holy Communion, completing the three important Sacraments of the Church, having received the fullness of God’s Presence and Spirit in each of us. The Holy Spirit Who dwells in us now is the same Spirit Who had dwelled in the Apostles and those faithful who came before us.

And what we have to take note is that, if the Holy Spirit had made such a tremendous change in the life of the Apostles, from those who feared and doubted, uncertain about their faith and were unable to live out their faith fully, even to the point of abandoning our Lord at the time of His greatest need, to those who are courageous, and willing to carry out the word of God and preach the Good News even though knowing that they would face intense persecution and suffering for doing so, then we must know that it can be and will indeed be the same for us too.

What does this mean, brethren? It means that we who have received the Holy Spirit ought to realise that the Spirit has been given to us as a great gift, and indeed the Holy Spirit gave us many great gifts. He planted in each and every one of us, the seeds of faith, of hope and of love. But remember, that seeds will remain as seeds, and gifts will remain unused and useless, if we do not make use of the opportunity which the Holy Spirit has given to us.

Our faith is one of action, and not of inaction. We cannot profess to be Christians unless we ourselves believe fully and completely that we all have to know what is love and show love in our actions. Remember the most important commandments that the Lord Jesus Himself told a teacher of the Law who asked this of Him? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and strength, and then love one another, our fellow men with the same love which we show to God and to ourselves.

It means that just as the Apostles had done it in the past, we too should act with love, care for the needy and the poor, protect the innocent and the weak who were oppressed and unjustly treated, love those who are ostracised and unloved, and many other acts and opportunities which we can use in order to cultivate and grow the gifts of the Holy Spirit inside each one of us.

And this is very important because, just as in one occasion, our Lord Jesus cursed a fig tree because He passed by it, was hungry and He could find no fruit on it, when He came unannounced and suddenly even when it was not a fig season, but this is the same for us as well. The Lord has promised us all that He will come again, and He will come again at the time of His choosing which is unknown to us. When He comes again, will He find in us a fruitful tree, filled with the rich and vibrant fruits of the Holy Spirit? Or will He find us a barren tree, filled with wickedness and sin instead?

Let us no longer doubt or be fearful, brethren, for the Lord Himself is always faithful and He will always bless and protect those who are faithful to Him. He has given us all His own Spirit to guide us and to lead us to the path of righteousness leading to our salvation. What we need to do now is to walk, and follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, as indeed, they have left us with many responsibilities, and there are still many works of the Lord left undone.

We are the modern day disciples of our Lord, and the mission which the Lord has given to His Apostles is now ours too. Gather people from all over the world, from all the nations and from all the ends of the earth, and baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, with the sole intention that these too, may be saved. And truly, it is often our own actions, our deeds, and not just our words alone that will convince them to listen to the truth of God, discover Him and finally find salvation in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on this as we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord? And have we kept that zeal and faith which we have for God, burning brightly in our hearts? Can we from now on redouble and reinforce our efforts, to do more for the sake of our brethren? It is us who have the choice, and we have been given the opportunity by our Lord, to make a difference in the life of many through our works and actions.

Let us help those who have yet to receive the truth of God, that they may also hear it, know it and witness it through us, so that they may come to believe and receive the same Holy Spirit that we have received. Let us also pray, that the Holy Spirit of God will always inflame our spirit, that we may no longer fear the darkness, but instead be filled with joy and with courage to preach the Good News to many.

May God help us in our endeavour, and may His Holy Spirit ever strengthen our faith in Him. O Holy Spirit, dwell in us, transform us and make us to be the instruments of Your Divine will. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 14 : 15-16, 23b-26

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments; and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever.”

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him; and We will come to him and make a room in his home. But if anyone does not love Me, he will not keep My words; and these words that you hear are not Mine, but the Father’s Who sent Me.”

“I told you all this while I was still with you. From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have told you.”

Alternative reading

John 20 : 19-23

At that time, on the evening of that day, the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews. But Jesus came, and stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!”

Then He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy. Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.”

After saying this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Romans 8 : 8-17

So, those walking according to the flesh cannot please God. Yet your existence is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to Him. But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death as a consequence of sin, the Spirit is life and holiness.

And if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, He Who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. Yes, He will do it through His Spirit Who dwells within you. Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the Spirit, let us put to death the body’s deeds so that we may live.

All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. Then, no more fear : you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you sons and daughters and every time we cry, “Abba! (This is Dad!) Father!” the Spirit assures our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God.

If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God and we will share it with Christ; for if we now suffer with Him, we will also share Glory with Him.

Alternative reading

1 Corinthians 12 : 3b-7, 12-13

No one can say, “Jesus is the Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.

The Spirit reveals His presence in each one with a gift that is also a service. As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 103 : 1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour. How varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Sunday, 15 May 2016 : Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 2 : 1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. Whey they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them in our own native language?”

“Here are Parthians, Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Saviour, does.”

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Sunday, 8 May 2016 : Seventh Sunday of Easter, World Communications Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the death and martyrdom of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church from the Acts of the Apostles, our first reading, and we also heard from the Revelations according to St. John, about the promise of the world to come, and the promise that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, will come again at the end of time to succour His people.

And in the Gospel, we heard about the prayer which Jesus our Lord made to His Father, for the sake of His disciples, all who believe in Him, and ultimately, for the entirety of the whole Church. He prayed for their sake, that God His Father through Him would bless those multitudes of people, and that He would bring them into the salvation and the glory which He had promised the faithful ones.

In all these, what we have heard from the Scripture readings pointed out to us about the nature of our faith in God, on how persecution will be part and parcel of our life, but as mentioned, God will not leave them alone, and He will continue to guide them and show them the path towards eternal life. God will be their strength and their foundation. If they are to keep their hold on Him, they will not be disappointed.

Why does this matter, brethren? Jesus mentioned to us the troubles that is facing the Church, and another had been presented by the tale of St. Stephen and his martyrdom. External pressures and persecution against the Church and the faithful are a reality, and these will not go away. Since the very earliest times of the Church, there had been those who opposed the message and the truth of Christ, from the Romans to the Jews, and then from the heretics and the other unbelievers, the Turks and now we have those who refused to believe in God, the atheists and those who rejected Christ.

And we can still recall quite clearly how in the past century, and in some places even until this very day, persecution of Christians is a reality. The horrors of the persecution especially by the atheist and the hostile Communist regimes in Soviet Union, its satellite regimes in Eastern Europe and beyond, and then the terrible persecutions in China and in North Korea, which for the latter is still continuing even unto this very day, and for the former persecution also still happened from time to time.

In the Middle East and in other parts of the world, Christians are also still persecuted, rejected and ridiculed for their faith in God. They are facing difficulties for keeping their faith, were blocked from being able to live out their faith lives freely, and some were even persecuted and tortured, and martyred for their faith, just as St. Stephen was, for standing up for their faith and for being courageous in not fearing the persecution of the world.

In this matter, with regards to the external persecution of the Church and the faithful, we have to keep praying and hoping. We have to keep in mind what Jesus our Lord had said, and what St. Stephen had shown all of us. Jesus said that once it was such that if someone made another lose an eye, then it is ought to be that the one who made the person to lose an eye, also lose an eye as well. But it should not be so with us Christians.

The principle of justice by revenge no longer applies to us Christians, for that law in the past was given by God as a means to rein in His often rebellious people, who frequently disregarded His laws and commandments, and thus harsh measures as a deterrent was appropriate to keep them in check. Yet, the purpose of the Law remains the same, that is for mankind to be able to discover and to love their Lord.

It is in our human nature to hate and to hold grudge against another. And to those of us who have experienced grudge before, most of us I believe, and including me as well, we know how dangerous and powerful hatred and grudge could be. We tend to keep it inside us, and it causes us to feel anger and indeed, it can make us do dangerous things, even to the point of inflicting harm and pain on others.

This world is running on the principle of reciprocation such that, if someone caused us harm and pain, then we also want to inflict harm and pain upon that person as well. But do we all realise that in doing so, we are merely perpetuating the cycle of hatred, pain, anger and suffering? We inflict pain on someone, and that someone did the same to us in revenge, and then we having been slighted one more time, decide to retaliate, which leads to even more retaliation of even greater degree. It is a painful and endless cycle which only leads to more and more hatred, pain and suffering.

Instead, as Christians, we ought to show love, true love that is unconditional and pure, just as the Lord Jesus Himself had shown to us. The love that Jesus our Lord showed us can be summarised also in the words He had spoken in the same occasion as He condemned those vengeance justice. He told us that we ought to forgive those who have sinned against us, and we ought to pray for those who hated us and persecuted us.

And even in the Lord’s Prayer, when Jesus prayed in another occasion to the Lord God His Father, one key essential element of the Pater Noster is that we pray that God will forgive us our sins just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us. And that was exactly what St. Stephen did just moments before his death. He forgave them and asked the Lord not to hold their sins and faults against them. The same action has also been done by our Lord Himself, as He hung upon the cross, forgiving all those who have called for Him to be crucified.

This means that, as Christians, we have to pray for perseverance and strength, that amidst the persecutions and the challenges presented to us by the world, we may not give up and surrender ourselves to the demands of the devil and the world. And yet, we must also pray for the strength to love and to forgive, that we may forgive those who have persecuted us, and love them even though they have hated us first. Hopefully through that love, they may be healed from the hatred and grudge they had against us, and be able to find repentance and forgiveness for all of their sins by God.

And lastly, just as I have mentioned that great troubles had always come from the outside of the Church, Jesus also mentioned about the coming troubles that would come from within the Church. He always warned His disciples against the false prophets, the wolves dressed in sheep clothing to deceive the faithful and to lure them away from the salvation in God.

And these false prophets and selfish men and women had brought about divisions and disunity within even the Church itself, with peoples making followings among themselves by spreading inaccurate and wrong teachings about the Lord in order to serve their own purposes, desires and ego. Throughout the centuries since the earliest days of the Church, we have been aware of those who have brought about this disunity, from the Gnostics, Arius, Nestorius, and then to Martin Luther, to John Calvin, Zwingli, King Henry VIII of England and many others who have misled the faithful and brought great divisions in the Church.

Jesus prayed to the Father that He will always keep His faithful people in the Church united, and He prayed hard for that unity, repeating again and again and emphasising of the need for the unity, so that the faithful may all be united as one people and one body in the Church, just as He Himself, the Father and the Holy Spirit are perfectly united in one Godhood, the Most Holy Trinity.

Therefore today, and indeed from now on, in addition to praying for the persecuted faithful around the world, and praying for the faith of the Church, we also should pray and work for the complete unity of the Church of God. The Church of God does not just consist of the buildings and the structures, and it does not consist only of the priests, the bishops and all the religious. Instead, it is the one and only body consisting of all, without exception, the faithful people who believe in God, who through the Church are journeying together towards their salvation in God.

And we all should realise that the unity of the Church had been long shattered, and many who claim themselves as faithful are outside the Church. There is no salvation but through God’s only Church alone, Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. Therefore, while there is hope for all others, our brethren in faith outside the Church, but for them to receive God’s salvation, they must find their way back to the Holy Mother Church, and thus, it is our task and responsibility now to welcome them, to help them and to encourage them to return.

Let us all pray for one another, and for all the faithful, that everyone may return and reside within the embrace of the Holy Mother Church, the Body of Christ, so that together, all of us God’s people may praise and worship Him together as one people, and we may find our way to His salvation. Let us all work together, so that each and every one of us may draw ever closer to God’s love. May God help us, and may He restore the unity to the Church, and may He help all those who are persecuted for their faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 May 2016 : Seventh Sunday of Easter, World Communications Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 17 : 20-26

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who through their word will believe in Me. May they all be one, as You Father are in Me and I am in You. May they be one in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”

“I have given them the glory You have given Me, that they may be one as We are one : I in them and You in Me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity; and the world shall know that You have sent Me, and that I have loved them, just as You loved Me.”

“Father, since You have given them to Me, I want them to be with Me where I am, and see the glory You gave Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You have sent Me. As I revealed Your Name to them, so will I continue to reveal it, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I also may be in them.”

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Sunday, 8 May 2016 : Seventh Sunday of Easter, World Communications Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Revelations 22 : 12-14, 16-17, 20

I am coming soon, bringing with Me the salary I will pay to each one according to his deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Happy are those who wash their robes for they will have free access to the tree of Life and enter the city through the gates.

I, Jesus, sent My Angel to make known to you these revelations concerning the Churches. I am the Shoot and Offspring of David, the radiant Morning Star. The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” Whoever hears let him say, “Come!” Whoever thirsts let him approach, and whoever desires, let him freely take the water of life.

He Who has declared all this says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.