Sunday

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Sunday, 1 November 2015 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of All Saints (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a major solemnity and feast day of the Church, where together with all of the entire Church, with all the faithful living here now on earth, we rejoice together for all the holy ones whom God had chosen and called from among us, to be those considered worthy to receive the glory of heaven. They are the saints, the holy men and women whom by the virtues of their lives and their actions have been found and deemed worthy by the Church.

Sainthood truly does not determine whether one goes to heaven or hell, or whether one is worthy of it. Despite the large number of saints we have today, thousands of them if not more, but if only the saints are worthy of heaven, then we have to remember that there have been countless billions and tens of billions of people who lived throughout history. Have the rest all went to hell and be condemned? The answer is no.

There are many countless other men and women whom by their lives’ virtues, their works and deeds are truly worthy of heaven, and their names have been written securely in the Book of Life for the day of judgment. It is just that the Church did not proclaim them officially as saints, as sainthood is in fact just an official recognition of one’s deeds, because of their outstanding and extraordinary quality, would become a great source of inspiration to others who look up to them as role models and examples.

Yes, the saints are our role models, and we ought to follow in their footsteps. After all, they have lived their lives to the fullest, and by close and exhausting scrutiny of these, the Church had found them to be exemplary and by the wisdom of God and the authority God has given His Church, It declares that so and so man or woman truly deserve and is without doubt, already a denizen and a dweller of heaven, enjoying the eternal grace of God.

Yet there are those who thought that we Christians are no different from the pagans because we apparently worshipped the saints and prayed to them. I have to admit that this is one area where even many members of the Church are still not properly instructed or educated in, and many are not aware of who saints truly are, and how they can help us.

Jesus did say that if we believe in the Lord and keep our faith in Him, we will be called the children of God, and St. Paul and the Church also taught us that if we die and leave behind our earthly life in justice and righteousness, we shall share in the glory and in the fullness of God’s grace, and having all of our sins shed away from us, we shall be glorious and mighty as we share together the divinity of Christ. However, this does not make us gods in our own right.

Rightfully therefore, the saints themselves are glorious and honoured not because they have ascended in might by their own power, and neither do they have any power on their own separate from the power and authority of God. They share forever God’s glory in heaven, and they shall not know any more fear, death or darkness, for God is with them, and they are with God.

Rather, what we have to know is that the saints are our intercessors, those who help us deliver our prayer to the Lord. Then, indeed, one may ask, why not we ourselves then ask for our own behalf, and why must we ask someone else to pray for us? Then, in order to answer this, we just have to look throughout the Holy Scriptures, how many people at different times and periods, asked for each other for prayers and intercessions.

Do you remember what did Jesus tell the people about gathering in prayer? He told them and His disciples that when two or more are gathered in His Name, He shall be present there and He shall listen to their prayers. Thus, shall it indeed not be more beneficial for us to have even more people praying for our sake? The saints, having ascended to the presence of God, now sees with the sight of God, and surely, having been sinners themselves, they also understood how grievous our sins are, all of us still living in this world.

And having shared the glory and joy of the Lord, they also now share the love of God, and having been righteous as they were, surely in their love both for God and for their fellow men, they are also greatly concerned about us who are still living and struggling in this world against wickedness, evil and all forms of sins. If we are not careful about this, and continue to dwell in the darkness, then we risk falling into the trap of eternal damnation and hell from which there can be no escape.

As mentioned, the saints are not ‘gods’ in that they do not use or project their own might and power unlike those so-called pagan gods of old, where the people worshipped them as beings that could deliver them from trouble, provide them with something, dealing with things magical and supernatural, changing the world and the elements. No, the saints are not like these, and if we have had this misconception, then it is important that we now know the difference.

Those who pray to the saints and ask them for deliverance, or hoping that they can deliver them from trouble, or asking for favours from them in worldly things are misguided and mistaken in their understanding about the saints, who they are and how they work to help us in our way towards salvation. That is exactly who they are, our friends and our peers who had gone ahead of us, and now that they are close to God, they are our best allies and those whose prayers are most dear to God.

Remember what happened at the wedding held at Cana? That was where Jesus performed His very first miracle, turning the water into wine, and in the process, helped save the bride and the bridegroom and their families from great shame. Jesus was initially reluctant to help them, as He felt that it was not yet His time to reveal Himself by such work of miracles and power. Yet, it was through Mary, His mother and her persuasion of Jesus, that He allowed Himself to reveal to the people a portion of the truth of who He is.

Mary, the mother of our Lord, is the greatest, most honoured and most esteemed of all the saints, and in heaven, she is the closest one to the throne of God, her own beloved Son. Just as she had pleaded with her Son to help the couple at the wedding held at Cana, and He heard her, surely if we ask her to intercede for our sake and pray for us, He will be more willing to hear us and show His mercy to us.

The same applies for all the other saints as well, whom we ask daily to intercede for us on our behalf, that God will help us on our way, so that in times of challenge and difficulty, during times of persecution and extreme suffering, and in times when our bodies and even our minds are assailed by temptations of the devil and by his wicked tempters, God may send to us His angels and other forms of guidance to help prevent us from falling into sin and darkness.

In all these, we have to realise that we as the Church of God are not alone in this world and in the constant battle, the spiritual battle of our souls. Those who have departed from us are not gone from us, and they are still with us, unless they themselves have given themselves to be lost, namely those who have been thrown into hell and eternal damnation.

In fact, we know three Churches, the three aspects and parts of the Church Universal, that is the Church Militant, all of us living and still fighting against the devil and his works, and who are still constantly having a daily struggle in this world to uphold our faith and defend it against the wickedness of evil. And then, there are the saints and martyrs, who are the Church Triumphant, those who have gone before us and have been deemed as righteous and worthy of heaven. They are still there, with us and praying for us.

But we must not forget, just as tomorrow we shall celebrate All Souls’ Day, that there is the third part of the Church Universal, namely the Church Suffering, the good souls in purgatory awaiting for their entry into the glory of heaven. They are suffering the residual consequences of their sins, and as they suffer, they also want us all still living in this world to overcome our own sins and to get rid of them so that we will not suffer like they now do.

I will elaborate in greater detail on this in tomorrow’s homily, but in the end of the day, as we gather together to rejoice with all of the people of God, with all the saints and martyrs, with the angels and with all of creation, let us realise how good God is, and how much love He is showing and pouring down upon us. Let us ask the good saints, principally the mother of our Lord, Mary, to pray for us, all sinners and unworthy to be in the presence of God, so that God may awaken in us the courage and power to live our lives filled with faith and total devotion.

May Almighty God be with us, and may He guide us on our path, and help us so that we will have the courage to overcome our pride, our desires and all the things that have blocked our path towards the Lord. Let us not be overcome by evil and by our own shortcomings, but let us be ever more faithful and be more committed to the Lord our God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 1 November 2015 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of All Saints (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 5 : 1-12a

At that time, when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain. He sat down and His disciples gathered around Him. Then He spoke and began to teach them :

“Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Fortunate are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.”

“Fortunate are the gentle, they shall possess the land. Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.”

“Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.”

“Fortunate are those who work for peace, they shall be called children of God. Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”

“Fortunate are you, when people insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you because you are My followers. Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God.”

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Sunday, 1 November 2015 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of All Saints (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 1-3

See what singular love the Father has for us : we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God’s children and what we shall be has not yet been shown. Yet when He appears in His glory, we know that we shall be like Him, for then we shall see Him as He is. All who have such a hope try to be pure as He is pure.

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Sunday, 1 November 2015 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of All Saints (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Sunday, 1 November 2015 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of All Saints (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Revelations 7 : 2-4, 9-14

I saw another Angel ascending from the sunrise, carrying the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four Angels empowered to harm the earth and the sea, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”

Then I heard the number of those marked with the seal : a hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of the people of Israel. After this I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice, “Who saves but our God who sits on the throne and the Lamb?”

All the Angels were around the throne, the Elders and the four living creatures; they then bowed before the throne with their faces to the ground to worship God. They said, “Amen. Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

At that moment, one of the Elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these people clothed in white, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, it is you who know this.” The Elder replied, “They are those who have come out of the great persecution; they have washed and made their clothes white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

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Sunday, 25 October 2015 : Thirtieth (30th) Sunday of the Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the readings from the Holy Scripture all unanimously speak of one thing, one fact and reality, that is the salvation, healing and redemption brought about through our Lord Jesus Christ, the High Priest of all, Lord and Master of all, through Whose works and actions, all of us had been made justified and righteous, and purified from the taints of our original sins.

In the first reading, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, God made a promise to all of His people that He will never forget them, and that His love for them will always endure, so long as they too love Him and dedicate themselves to Him. He will save them and bless them once again with His grace and love, just as once He had done in the past.

This was in the context of the time, when the prophet Jeremiah lived at a time of difficulty and hopelessness, where the people of the ten tribes living in the northern kingdom of divided Israel had been carried off into exile and slavery by the Assyrians who had invaded and destroyed their kingdom. God punished them for their lack of faith and wicked deeds, for their worship of the pagan gods like Baal and Asherath, and paid no honour to Him, the one and only true God.

And the people in the southern kingdom of Judah were not faring much better either, as the Babylonians that came after the Assyrians now threatened to bring destruction to Judah and Jerusalem, and indeed, they would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple of God built by Solomon, and the people would be carried off to exile and slavery in lands far away from their homes.

But after all these, the punishments for Israel’s sins, just as their ancestors wandered in the desert for forty years due to their disobedience, and just as all mankind had to suffer and perish in this hard and challenging world, due to the sins of our forefather Adam and Eve, his wife, thus, God also promised salvation and liberation from all sufferings to all of His people if they would return to Him.

And God had promised all of us this since the beginning of time, when mankind first fell into sin, namely by promising to Adam and Eve, that even though Satan got them and tricked them into disobedience against God, but there would be a time to come, when God would send a Deliverer and Saviour to them, to the sons and daughters of mankind.

And God continued to renew His promise to His people throughout time, as He promised His servants Abraham, Moses, David, and many others through His prophets and messengers, or by directly speaking to them. God blessed His people and kept them with the hope of His deliverance and salvation. Yet, it was so often that the people refused to listen to the words of His prophets.

And today in the Gospel reading, we heard about how the blind man called out to Jesus Christ our Lord to save him and heal him from his blindness. The blind man struggled on and he did not give up, even when Jesus apparently did not hear him and continued on His way. And indeed, the blind man’s efforts were rewarded by the Lord, who healed him from his afflictions and restored his sight to him.

This is related closely to what we heard today in our second reading today from the Letter of St. Paul directed to the Hebrews, where he spoke if our Lord Jesus Christ as the High Priest, and not just as any other ordinary High Priests of the Temple of God, but truly as the High Priest over all mankind and over all of creation, for it was by what He had done as our one and true High Priest that He had saved and delivered us all.

Yes, as mentioned earlier with regards to the salvation of our souls and the redemption from our sins, we have had the perfect and complete fulfilment of God’s promised salvation through Jesus Christ, the Saviour and the One through Whom God made His will complete, the will that all of us His beloved ones ought to be drawn closer to Him and be brought out from the pit of misery and sin we are currently in now.

Truly, we are like the blind man, sickened and troubled, afflicted and suffering the consequences of our sins. Yes, for sin is not just the disobedience against God and all the wickedness we have committed in our words and actions, but in fact, sin is a disease and like a cancer that afflicts our souls, our hearts, our minds and also our bodies.

And sin is eating away into our beings, crushing us, destroying us and making us rotten. Unless we do something concrete and real to get ourselves clean and free from all these sins, we shall be brought down by them into the abyss of eternal darkness and suffering. For this is true hell, the eternal suffering of knowing that we have been completely separated from the love and the grace of God, and there is no hope for escape.

Just like the priests and high priests of Israel, whom God had chosen and ordained out of the people, to be those sanctified and empowered to offer the offerings for the sake of the sins of the people, or sin offerings, where the priests offer the lovely smell of animals and burnt offerings at the altar for the temporary remission and forgiveness of the sins of the people of God, so God had also instituted once and for all the eternal redemption by the one true High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And Jesus did not offer the blood of rams or bulls, or birds or any other earthly offerings. Rather, He offered His own Precious Body and Precious Blood, His own Life, so that by that one and singular offering made at the Altar of Calvary, lifted up high on the cross, He might become the perfect offering, the perfect sacrifice which is worthy and the only one worthy to absolve forever the whole multitude of all of our sins.

And He offered it all willingly and freely for all of us, sinners and wicked people who have acted like the Israelites of old, like the people living during the time of the prophet Jeremiah in Judah. Exile and destruction would have been ours if not for the mercy and the richness of the love of God. However, this does not come free and easy for us. Why is this so? This is because mercy requires dedication and genuine repentance.

We often forget that God’s mercy and love requires first on our side, the willingness to accept them, and also the willingness and the desire, as well as the seriousness to leave behind our past sins and wrongdoings. No mercy will be shown or given to us if we persist in our sinfulness, in our rebellion against God’s will, for the simple fact that just as much as God loves us all without exception, even the greatest sinners, He despises our sins just as much, for evil has no place in His presence.

Today, as we all gather together to glorify our Lord and to give thanks to Him for His wondrous mercy, let us all not forget that we must dedicate ourselves to a life of holiness, far away from all sorts of sin and wickedness, far away from all sorts of adultery and unfaithfulness, from all sorts of debauchery and greed, from anything that can separate us from the love of God and thrust us into eternal damnation.

Let us all renew our faith in the Lord and commit ourselves anew to a new life blessed by His love and by His justice, that in all the things we say and do, we proclaim Him and we bring glory to Him. May God bless us all in our endeavours, and may He keep us united to Him and never be separated once again from His love. God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 25 October 2015 : Thirtieth (30th) Sunday of the Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 10 : 46-52

At that time, Jesus and His disciples came to Jericho. As He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth passing by, he began to call out, “Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!” Many people scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying, “Take heart! Get up, He is calling you!” He immediately threw aside his cloak, jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Master, let me see again!”

And Jesus said to him, “Go your way, your faith has made you well.” And immediately he could see, and he followed Jesus along the road.

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Sunday, 25 October 2015 : Thirtieth (30th) Sunday of the Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 5 : 1-6

Every High Priest is taken from among mortals and appointed to be their representative before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. He is able to understand the ignorant and erring for he himself is subject to weakness.

This is why he is bound to offer sacrifices for His sins as well as for the sins of the people. Besides, one does not presume to take this dignity, but takes it only when called by God, as Aaron was.

Nor did Christ become High Priest in taking upon Himself this dignity, but it was given to Him by the One who says : ‘You are My Son, I have begotten You today.’ And in another place : ‘You are a Priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek.’

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Sunday, 25 October 2015 : Thirtieth (30th) Sunday of the Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 125 : 1-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

When the Lord brought the exiles back to Zion, we were like those moving in a dream. Then our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy.

Among the nations it was said, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord had done great things for us, and we were glad indeed.

Bring back our exiles, o Lord, like fresh streams in the desert. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs and shouts of joy.

They went forth weeping, bearing the seeds for sowing, they will come home with joyful shouts, bringing their harvested sheaves.

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Sunday, 25 October 2015 : Thirtieth (30th) Sunday of the Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Jeremiah 31 : 7-9

For YHVH says this : Shout with joy for Jacob; rejoice for the greatest of nations. Proclaim your praise and say : “YHVH has saved His people, the remnant of Israel!”

Look, I will bring them back from the land of the north, gather them from the ends of the earth, the lame and the blind, mothers and women in labour – a great throng will return.

They went away weeping, they will return in joy. I will lead them by the streams of water, on a level path so that no one will stumble, for I am Israel’s father and Ephraim is My firstborn.