Sunday

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Sunday, 3 March 2013 : 3rd Sunday of Lent (First Reading) (First Scrutiny of Baptism)

Exodus 3 : 1-8a, 13-15

Moses pastured the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. One day he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the Mountain of God. The Angel of YHVH appeared to him by means of a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that although the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. Moses thought, “I will go and see this amazing sight, why is the bush not burning up?”

YHVH saw that Moses was drawing near to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. “Moses! Moses!” He replied, “Here I am.” YHVH said to him, “Do not come near; take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground.” And God continued, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face lest his eyes look on God. YHVH said, “I have seen the humiliation of My people in Egypt and I hear their cry when they are cruelly treated by their taskmasters. I know their suffering. I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a beautiful spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Moses answered God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them : ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ they will ask me : ‘What is His Name?’ What shall I answer them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel : “I AM sent me to you.” God then said to Moses, “You will say to the Israelites : ‘YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me.’ That will be My Name forever, and by this name they shall call upon Me for all generations to come.”

 

(Alternative reading from year A)

 

Exodus 17 : 3-7

But the people thirsted for water there and grumbled against Moses, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to have us die of thirst with our children and our cattle?”

So Moses cried to YHVH, “What shall I do with the people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

YHVH said to Moses, “Go ahead of the people and take with you the elders of Israel. Take with you the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you on the rock at Horeb. You will strike the rock and water will flow from it and the people will drink.”

Moses did this in the presence of the elders of Israel. The place was called Massah and Meribah because of the complaints of the Israelites, who tested YHVH, saying, “Is YHVH with us or not?”

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Sunday, 24 February 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

The Lord, Jesus Christ, who was transfigured on the mountain, as we heard in the Gospel today, we know to be both fully human and fully divine. He is fully human, having been incarnate into flesh through the Blessed Virgin Mary and the power of the Holy Spirit, and also being fully divine, as He is the Word of God, through whom all things were created by God the Father. Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent, by the Father to us, so that all of us can be saved, and can have hope to return to God who loves us, and not be lost to Satan and death.

Elijah and Moses appeared to Jesus on the mountain, because they represented the two aspect of the Old Testament, that Jesus had come to fulfill, and perfect through His new covenant, as told in the New Testament. Elijah represents the prophets, whom had come through the centuries before the coming of Christ, to proclaim His coming, and the prophecies that through Jesus were fulfilled, and all telling of the coming salvation of the people of God from the tyranny of sin, and the end of the separation that had separated God from mankind.

Moses represents the Law, which was given by God Himself at Mount Horeb, the holy mountain, to Moses during his 40 days stay there. This Law includes the Ten Commandments of love, and the other laws of the people of Israel. Christ had come to perfect this Law by explaining the Law, and based them on the very nature of God Himself, which is love. That the Law is made out of God’s love for mankind, and that mankind must not blindly subject themselves to the Law, but rather understand them and carry them out in love for the good of their fellow men.

In today’s transfiguration story, it is indeed noteworthy how, we humans prefer things that are good, and we always hope that things will stay our way, and we like to stay within our comfort zone, that is the sphere that keeps us from the harms and dangers of the outside world. Such was why Peter suggested to Jesus, that they stay there in Christ’s glory, and not come down from the mountain. To come down from the mountain for Jesus, as mentioned that He spoke about that mission to both Elijah and Moses, was to be death for Him, as He would die on the cross, but would rise again on the third day.

He chose to come down, and the Lord too told the disciples to obey Him, through the voice in the cloud, not to be tempted to stay on in glory, but to descend and continue the mission. In this case, Christ lowered Himself such from His glory revealed at the Transfiguration, and in perfect humility and obedience to God, laid down His life for all His sheep, the children of God, for their salvation. It is Christ’s obedience that allow God to exercise the greatest work of all, that is the salvation of all mankind, and the salvation of the world.

Similarly, Abram, who is later to be known as Abraham, was rewarded by God with the promise that his descendants will be numerous as the stars and will receive the Promised Land, all because of Abram’s great faith, obedience, and love to God. Later on, we are told that such is his great faith and obedience, he was willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, the son of the promise, to obey the Lord’s will. The Lord saw his faith, and rewards him greatly.

If Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son, how much more would the Lord therefore then do for our sake? That is to give His own Son, which is part of Him in the Holy Trinity, to be a man and then die so that we can live?

We too, today therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, should imitate Abram/Abraham and Christ, who do not just stay in their comfort zone, and rather do their best to fulfill the mission entrusted to them by God, no matter how difficult it was. Jesus had to face suffering and death, and Abram had to later to face the fact that the beloved son he was given to by the Lord, he had to sacrifice to the Lord. We do not face such difficult challenges, but we too have our own challenges in accepting and fulfilling the missions God has entrusted us with.

Too many times that we have failed to fulfill these missions simply because, we are content with our comfort zone, with whatever abundance we already have in this world, and in our own circles, either in our own family, with our own friends, or in our own career and workplace, and in the achievements and glory that we have achieved and made. We have to make sure that we step out of this comfort zone, as we ourselves are not Christians and not baptised just to be idle in our faith.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that we have to be proactive and do good for the sake of our brethren. Many people have need for our help and actions, and just as Coadjutor Archbishop William Goh mentioned in his recent ordination speech, our Church cannot be just a ‘maintenance church’, but rather must be a vibrant and powerful Church, that exerts its influence and love into this world.

Just like Abram, who was greatly rewarded by God out of his love and obedience to God, shall we then also obey God’s will, that is to help others around us, spread the Gospel and the Good News of our Lord, especially to those who seek for it, and to give the love of God that flows through us, to all mankind, that everyone too can become the children of God, and just like Abram, to be rewarded eventually with grace from God, which for us, is the promise of life eternal with Him in heavenly glory.

For no glory can come without hard work, and no glory exists without its sufferings and humility. The glorious Christ humbled Himself that all of us have hope through Him, by offering His own Body as the bridge between us and God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us be transfigured, and transformed just like Christ was, but not the way Christ was, rather, let us shed our old, passive, and idle path, our idle and dormant faith. Instead, let us boldly step forward into this world, bringing into it, the message of the Good News of our God, and to serve all peoples humbly with sincerity and love, both love for our fellow men, and for our Father who loves us. May God bless us today in all our works, in all our actions, and in all our dealings, that in all things that we do, we will always bring life and love to others, and to glorify God’s Name at all times. Forever and ever. Amen.

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Sunday, 24 February 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Luke 9 : 28b-36

Jesus took Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the aspect of His face was changed, and His clothing became dazzling white. Two men were talking with Jesus : Moses and Elijah. Appearing in the glory of heaven, Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about His departure from this life; which was to take place in Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions had fallen asleep; but they awoke suddenly, and they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. As Moses and Elijah were about to leave, Peter – not knowing what to say – said to Jesus, “Master, how good it is for us to be here! Let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

And no sooner had he spoken, than a cloud appeared and covered them; and the disciples were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then these words came from the cloud, “This is My Son, My Beloved, listen to Him.” And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was there alone.

The disciples kept this to themselves at the time, telling no one of anything they had seen.

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Sunday, 24 February 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Lent (Second Reading)

Philippians 3 : 17 – Philippians 4 : 1

Unite in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and look at those who walk in our way of life. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have said it to you many times, and now I repeat it with tears : they are heading for ruin; their belly is their god and they feel proud of what should be their shame. They only think of earthly things.

For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He will transfigure our lowly body, making it like His own Body, radiant in Glory, through the power which is His to submit everything to Himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for; you my glory and crown, be steadfast in the Lord.

 

(Alternative Reading – shorter form, Philippians 3 : 20 – Philippians 4 : 1)

For us, our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Lord. He will transfigure our lowly body, making it like His own Body, radiant in Glory, through the power which is His to submit everything to Himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for; you my glory and crown, be steadfast in the Lord.

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Sunday, 24 February 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Lent (Psalm)

Psalm 26 : 1, 7-8, 9abc, 13-14

The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

Hear my voice when I call, o Lord, have mercy on me and answer. My heart says to You, “I seek Your face, o Lord.”

Do not hide Your face from me nor turn away Your servant in anger. You are my protection, do not reject me.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord, in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Sunday, 24 February 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Lent (First Reading)

Genesis 15 : 5-12, 17-18

Then YHVH brought him outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.”

Abram believed YHVH who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. And He said, “I am YHVH who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?”

YHVH replied, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River , the Euphrates.”

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Sunday, 17 February 2013 : 1st Sunday of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Today, again we listened to the Word of God, and found that if we stay faithful to God, despite all the temptations and the challenges facing us in our journey towards Him, God will reward us greatly, and in heaven our reward is great indeed. God loves us, and He does listen to us when we call on Him, and if we keep Him in our heart, we will not lose Him, for He is faithful.

Our modern world is filled with many things, tempting indeed for us, and many of these are so attractive that they divert our attention away from God, and into them. Worse still, these temptations made us forget about the love God has on us, how He died for us on the cross to save us from death and sin. Instead, we sin even more, and cause the Lord to grief over our continued rebellions against His ever-gracious mercy. For today, we learn indeed that there are three main forms of obstacles against us, against us in our journey towards the Lord. These are greed, power, and pride. These also translate as the three sources of temptations that affect us terribly, namely, commercialism, the world, and ourselves, our sinful beings.

First of all, when the devil tempted Jesus to turn the stone into bread, in order to fulfill His hunger, the devil tapped into our own weakness to greed and for more. For hunger is a natural occurrence in our lives when we do not intake any food for a while, but many of us who are in great abundance, not only fail to resist the temptation of the devil, and place our stomach above all the rest. Just look at all the greed in all the excessive eating habits, the high rates of obesity in many developed nations, where people eat without abandon, and eat like as if there is no tomorrow.

Not only in the matter of food, but also in fact with regards to possessions and wealth, where there are many who dedicate their whole lives solely for the pursuit of wealth, and more wealth, and affluence, and then more affluence. These people may even stop at nothing to gain what they want, including hurting others in the process, especially those they see as competitors to their goal. This is how sin and evil permeate into the hearts of all the people, including even among the faithful today. Jesus told us the way to overcome this, that is to focus on the Word of God, for we do not live from bread alone, but indeed what is most important is the spiritual food that we have, that is the Scripture. Read the Scripture, reflect on it, share it, and understand it, and you will find that you will find fulfillment greater than food, wealth, and affluence can offer.

For food, wealth, possessions, and affluence will pass away, and they will not be with us after we die. There are many out there in the world who suffer from hunger and poverty, and yet many of the rich and even those who are in the middle class who are too busy with their worldly pursuits, to offer a helping hand. The Church, which is also the world’s largest humanitarian agency, had done much to help these people, the least among the least, the last, the shunned, and the weakest.

However, there is only so much the Church can do, and ultimately it depends on us to also extend our helping hand. After all, through the word of God in the Scripture, we now know that when we give aid to these least among us, to those shunned and rejected by the society, we have done it for Christ. For Christ too is rejected by many, and hated by the world. But we, who believe in Him, if we cling strongly to Him, we will gain our due reward when the time comes.

Then the second obstacle, which is power and the offer of worldly power indeed. The very well-known phrase of “power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely” is the perfect illustrator of this condition, in which power can corrupt us and twist us into a power-hungry beings seeking to gain more power or preserve our own power or control over others. This does not mean that power cannot be handled responsibly, but again, who do we then base that power on? Is it based on the Lord? or is it based on the evil one?

For indeed, a power that is of the Lord is also humble, and is also loving, for those wielding power responsibly, and belonging to the Lord will also know justice and love, and will not wield that power to cause suffering for others. Yet many use power and misuse that for their own purposes, and often cause suffering in others. The world offer a great temptation for many who has power, to always seek more and more in power and others, which is linked to that of the first obstacle, greed.

The quest for power has brought many destruction in the past, although also many constructive ones. Many people have died in wars and conflicts, especially those brought up by personal ambitions of certain people who seek ultimate power. They achieved it but for what? For power too does not last, and it is only temporary, either they are overthrown or they lose that power upon their death. Power is something that God entrusted to us, and therefore let us seek to use that authority responsibly, and not to misuse them for our own personal benefits and the detriment for others.

Then again, Jesus fought the devil and taught us that we should focus ourselves on the Lord and give the devil no attention, and base our own authority and power indeed in God and His teachings, that we can truly become wise, responsible, and just stewards of this power God has bestowed on us, for the good of others around us.

Then the last one, is the most difficult obstacle of all, that is the pride within our own being, and ourselves. We who are weak in flesh, are constantly tempted, and though our spirit is strong, but temptation of the flesh can indeed lead us astray from the path towards the Lord, but nothing is more difficult to conquer than that of pride. We humans are prideful in our nature, and pride is what has become the downfall of many. For pride prevented us from seeing in ourselves the defects that we have, and in pride too, we grow to seek more for ourselves, and hence greed, and also the quest for more power, that hunger also began from pride, pride in ourselves and our own abilities.

It is perfectly fine to be proud of our achievements if we also give what is due to the Lord, since it is with the Lord’s help that we can accomplish many things that we otherwise cannot accomplish on our own. Pride, undue pride in particular, is the main obstacle blocking us from giving what is due to God, to thank Him for His great blessing and kindness. Remember, the devil himself was the greatest, brightest, and most brilliant angels in all heaven, who was Lucifer, the light-bringer. But in pride, he has allowed himself to indulge in his own vanity, in his beauty and might, that he aspires to ascend and become God himself, challenging God the creator who created all including him. In his pride, he fell, and became the devil. We too, in our pride, can fall, and from the beautiful ones we are upon our creation by the Lord, we can fall to become nothing better than the servants of the devil in our pride and our hubris.

For pride prevents us from bowing down before the Lord, from acknowledging our sins and faults, and from approaching the Lord most merciful with a humble and contrite heart. Jesus taught us to be humble, and to not challenge the Lord our God in our pride, but to rather open ourselves to God’s love and mercy. Read the Scripture, understand the Word of God, and share our faith with one another, that we can learn more on the values and virtues of humility, simplicity, responsibility, and love itself.

Let us therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, in this Lenten season, strive to make this time a fruitful one, where we learn to wield power and authority we have responsibly, and to extend our hands to help those needy around us, those who hunger for food, those who hunger for love, and those who hunger for God. Bring to them what they need, and show God’s enduring love for all of them. Then let us also approach God with great humility, acknowledging our sins and weaknesses, and ask the Lord for His forgiveness, which He will be happy to do so, if only we approach Him with broken, humble, and contrite heart. A heart that longs for God and His love alone.

Let us like Jesus, confidently reject Satan, devil, Lucifer, the fallen angel out of pride, with a solid commitment to God, rejecting all his temptations and all his offer of corrupting goods and powers, and rather put ourselves completely in God’s hands and entrust ourselves to Him with all our hearts, our minds, and our souls. May all of us have a blessed Lent, and be prepared to commemorate our Lord’s Passion this coming Holy Week. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 February 2013 : 1st Sunday of Lent (Second Reading)

Romans 10 : 8-13

True righteousness coming from faith also says : “The word of God is near you, on your lips and in your hearts.” This is the message that we preach, and this is faith.

You are saved if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart you believe that God raised Him from the dead. By believing from the heart, you obtain true righteousness; by confessing the faith with your lips you are saved.

For Scripture says : “No one who believes in Him will be ashamed.” Here there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; all have the same Lord, who is very generous with whoever calls on Him. Truly, all who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”

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Sunday, 17 February 2013 : 1st Sunday of Lent (Psalm)

Psalm 90 : 1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, “My stronghold, my refuge, my God in whom I trust!”

No harm will come upon you, no disaster will draw near your home. For He will command His angels to guard you in all your ways.

They will lift you up with their hands so that your foot will not hit a stone. You will tread on wildcats and snakes and trample the lion and the dragon.

“Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them,” says the Lord. “I will protect those who know My Name.” When they call to Me, I will answer; in time of trouble I will be with them; I will deliver and honour them.

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Sunday, 17 February 2013 : 1st Sunday of Lent (First Reading)

Deuteronomy 26 : 4-10

Then the priest shall take the large basket from your hands and place it before the altar of YHVH, your God, and you shall say these words before YHVH, “My father was a wandering Aramean. He went down to Egypt to find refuge there, while still few in number; but in that country, he became a great and powerful nation.”

“The Egyptians maltreated us, oppressed us and subjected us to harsh slavery. So we called to YHVH, the God of our ancestors, and YHVH listened to us. He saw our oppression to which we were subjected. He brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting His powers with signs and awesome wonders. And He brought us here to give us this land flowing with milk and honey.”

“So now I bring and offer the firstfruits of the land which You, YHVH, have given me.”