teachings of Christ

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Wednesday, 9 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 10 : 1-7

Then Jesus called His twelve disciples to Him, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles : first Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray him.

Jesus sent these twelve on mission with the instructions : “Do not visit pagan territory and do not enter a Samaritan town. Go instead to the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go and proclaim this message : The kingdom of heaven is near.”

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Monday, 30 June 2014 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 8 : 18-22

When Jesus saw the crowd press around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other shore. A teacher of the Law approached Him and said, “Master, I will follow You wherever You go.”

Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Another disciple said to Him, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

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Saturday, 28 June 2014 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr, and the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady or Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary) or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 8 : 5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached Him to ask His help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralysed and suffers terribly.”

Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”

When Jesus heard this He was astonished, and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven; but the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness; there they will wail and grind their teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the captain, “Go home now. As you believed, so let it be.” And at that moment, his servant was healed. Jesus went to Peter’s house and found Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with fever. He took her by the hand and the fever left her; she got up and began to wait on Him.

Towards evening they brought to Jesus many possessed by evil spirits, and with a word He drove out the spirits. He also healed all who were sick. In doing this He fulfilled what was said by the prophet Isaiah : He bore our infirmities and took on Himself our diseases.

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Thursday, 26 June 2014 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 7 : 21-29

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not speak in Your Name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in Your Name?’ Then I will tell them openly, ‘I have never known you; away from Me, you evil people!'”

“So then, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts accordingly, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock.”

“But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”

When Jesus had finished this discourse, the crowds were struck by the way He taught, because He taught with authority, unlike the teachers of the Law.

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Tuesday, 17 June 2014 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to cast away wickedness and sin from our lives. We have to get rid of pride, sloth, greed and all the other evil emotions from our hearts and minds. We must not follow the wickedness of King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, whose sins had brought the rest of the people of God into sin as well.

Today’s catechesis and readings are continuation from that of yesterday, when we discuss about the law of vengeance or do ut des, and the sin of Ahab in arranging for the death of Naboth in order to gain possession of the vineyard for himself. The wickedness of Ahab and his family is truly an important case for us to learn from, that we should not walk the same path as they have walked.

Jesus taught His disciples today the true meaning and purpose of the Law of God, which is indeed love. Love is at the heart of the Law, and God did indeed intend for the Law to help His people to love each other. But mankind had often forgotten this fundamental truth and they grew distant from God’s love. We also failed to realise the need for love, especially genuine love.

What is genuine love? It is when we can love in the way that Jesus had described in the Gospel today. Yes, to be able to love those who hated us, those who considered us their enemies, and those who despised us, without feeling hatred at them, and being able to forgive them, and indeed forgive one another, which are the essences of a true, pure and noble love.

It is indeed easy to love just those who love us and cared for us, and it is also indeed easy, in fact even easier, for us to hate those who hated us and disliked us. The challenge is for us to love and forgive those who considered us as their enemies and hated us, and how we continue to show that love amidst the repeated hostility and enmity.

If we are able to do this, then we have been truly great in the eyes of God. Yes, that is because if we do this, we overcome the temptations of evil and not only just that, as we will also open the door towards the light of Christ that the light may enter into the hearts of men, especially those who hated and disliked us, and it is hoped that they may see the truth and repent, and change their ways for the better.

Yes, brethren, we can even become role models for those who were in darkness through our own actions. This is why it is so important for us to implement and do what the Lord told us, and not merely paying lip service to our faith. We have to have a living and strong faith, based in love. It is from this love, that our faith will eventually blossom and prosper.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to love one another, and love tenderly. We are also called to throw away our old lives, to cleanse ourselves from the leaven of hatred and jealousy, so that we may truly be loving and faithful servants of our Lord, as those who are truly faithful and obedient to the will of God who is love. Let us do our best, to hate no more, and to forgive others who had brought much pain unto us.

Let us be faithful, be loving and help one another to seek God, our Lord and Father through love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 16 June 2014 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 5 : 38-42

You have heard that it was said : An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you this : do not oppose evil with evil; if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other. If someone sues you in court for your shirt, give him your coat as well.

If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give when asked, and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow from you.

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Saturday, 14 June 2014 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, again I have to emphasize today, of the importance placed on the understanding of the laws of God and His true intention, rather than blindly following rules without understanding, and take things literally without proper discernment and thinking. This is the essence of serving the Lord and His people, just as Elisha, son of Shaphat had been called long ago to serve God’s people.

Some Christians like to take things in the Scriptures literally, as it had been written, even going as far as proclaiming the Holy Scriptures as the sole truth and the sole authority of the faith in the process of salvation. This is what is called the sola scriptura approach, popular among Protestants who in their heretical and misguided thinking, they thought that their understanding of the Scriptures is sufficient to guide them in faith and in life.

However, as we know, this is very wrong, and by depending on their interpretations, human interpretation that is flawed and imperfect, they have erroneously practiced their faith, thinking that we faithful cannot make oaths or anything similar, out of fear of sinning and going against the Lord’s will. But this is not in fact what Jesus meant when He said what He said in the Gospel today. This is the danger of literally interpreting whatever Jesus said and hold onto them as if they are inviolable laws.

Jesus liked to preach to the people of God in parables, through the use of stories and links to real-life contexts, which has two purposes. First, this facilitates understanding by the people, in consideration that most of them at the time were illiterate, and therefore unlikely to have strong background knowledge of what they have in the Scripture, and whatever they believe in, is mostly the oral traditions passed down through the generations and through the teachings of the priests.

But these, as we know it, were imperfect knowledge, since mankind had limited and feeble intelligence that is incapable of comprehending the fullness of the truth in the word of God, except if it is revealed to them through the Holy Spirit, or through the teaching of the Prophets. Those who trust only in the Holy Scriptures and in their flawed understanding on them, is being foolish.

This links to the second purpose of Jesus’ preaching using parables and stories to the people. If the first purpose is to make the teachings more understandable to the faithful, who were mostly farmers, fishermen and shepherds, and that was why so many of Jesus’ parables involve the terms that these people were familiar with, the second purpose is in fact to hide the true meaning of the word of God before it is time for them to be fully understood by the people.

Jesus Himself highlighted this, and He showed how the meaning of the words He had spoken had to remain hidden for a while until the appointed time when the Lord was to reveal Himself in His entirety to the world. But Jesus Himself did explain the meaning of His parables to the disciples, especially when they asked Him what He meant as He taught the people with those parables.

Yet, even after that, the disciples still did not understand perfectly, and as we know, there were many moments when they failed to understand what was to happen with Christ, especially when He suffered trial and death, when He was crucified on Calvary, and finally when He was risen from the dead, and the tomb of Jesus became empty.

It was through the Holy Spirit, the Advocate and Helper, that the Lord chose to reveal His truth to the people of God in its fullness. The Apostles and disciples received the Holy Spirit, and it was from them that the teachings of Jesus, the word of God, and the true intentions of the Lord were made clear to the people. The Scriptures, that is the New Testament section including the Holy Gospels themselves were written by the disciples inspired and filled with the Holy Spirit, to provide the people with understanding of their faith.

So what did Jesus mean then, by what He had said today? He did not mean to completely ban vowing and oath-making from us, and not to condemn us if we do so. What Jesus had meant was in fact that, whenever we do something and commit ourselves to something, especially when we say it verbally, we must truly mean everything that we spoke of, and we also have to take them seriously in mind and heart.

If we do not desire to do something, then we should not lie and make a false oath or vow. That is evil. And if we desire to do something, then it is more important and meaningful for us to go and act on it rather than just making empty promises and be slothful about it. That is the true essence of the Lord’s message to us. Rather than blaspheming against God by lying in His Name or on anything that He had created, it is best for us as Christians, to go forth and do all things that is right, immediately and with full consciousness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to keep alive the teachings and the knowledge which had been passed down to us through the Church, that is the deposit of faith. The Church alone is the custodian of this deposit of faith, which keeps us all anchored firmly to the Lord and His truth, and we have to keep it and follow it through. Let us not fall to the attempts of the devil to discredit the faith or the Church through his lies.

May God continue to guard us, keep us in His grace and love, and empower us to remain always in His truth and receive much blessing. May God be with us all, always. Amen.

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Friday, 13 June 2014 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a direct continuation of the discourse and catechesis of yesterday’s Scripture readings, and we continue on the matter of understanding the Law and the true intention of the Lord as He revealed to mankind. We need to know that the Law of the Lord should not be taken at plain literal meaning, nor should we be proud of ourselves and assume that we know it all about God and His desire, and therefore be judgmental on others.

We need to understand the greater purpose of the Law and the rules of our faith. We cannot be blindly oblige to the rules without first understanding them, and yet we can neither fail to oblige with the excuse that we do not understand them or worse if we decide to ignore them. We must therefore make the conscious effort to understand the Lord and His Law. How do we do so, brothers and sisters?

By obeying the teachings and tenets of the Church, and the regulations established by the Church, and maintaining a good and healthy relationship with our shepherds, that is our priests and bishops. It is because these people are the ones who had been entrusted with our care by the Lord, and they have also been granted teaching authority by Christ Himself, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that they teach the faith and the Law of God in its purest form and in its true meaning.

Today we celebrate the feast day of one of the greatest teachers of the faith, that is St. Anthony of Padua, a very renowned Franciscan friar who was legendary and amazing in his homilies and discourses, so much so that even the Pope at that time employed him as the one to deliver the homilies at his court. St. Anthony of Padua also preached in many places across Europe, and from his teachings, he brought many people closer to God by awakening in them the proper understanding of His laws and purpose.

St. Anthony of Padua was well educated since his youth, and at the same time he was also very dedicated to the Lord, having been educated in the seminary since his youth, and eventually decided to join a sacred religious life. He learnt much about the faith and how to teach it well to the people of God, and through his vast experiences in many situations and stints in various religious orders, he gained great knowledge and ability to teach the faith to the faithful.

St. Anthony of Padua was a great orator and preacher of the faith, and yet he remained truly humble despite his renown and his abilities. In fact, the very first time when St. Anthony of Padua’s preaching abilities was identified, he was reluctant and afraid when he was pointed out to be the one to give a sermon to a group of gathered religious congregations. Yet, despite his reluctance and initial refusal, he made such an eloquent and impressive sermon, that the people who heard him were completely astonished.

St. Anthony of Padua continued to preach from then on, and demands for his sermons are always high, and the Pope even kept a record of his sermons, which was truly valuable for us, for there is truly much wisdom that we can learn from St. Anthony of Padua and his discourses. Through him the word of God and the intentions of the Lord were made clear to many people, who then grew on deeper in their faith because of that.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to keep faithful and true to the deposit of faith that is in the Church. Yes, we have to keep the complete entirety of the deposit of faith, which is the accumulated wisdom, teachings, and revelations that we have received through the holy men and women, who dedicated themselves like St. Anthony of Padua had done. Through them, we gain this precious knowledge and understanding, and therefore, in our lives, we have to continue safeguarding this deposit of the faith and teach it to others.

It is not difficult to do so, and we do not have to be like St. Anthony of Padua, or be as wise and eloquent as him in order to do so. What we need to do is in fact, to practice what we believe in our own lives, that in all our words, deeds and actions we will always reflect who we are, the children and followers of our Lord and God. If we practice genuinely what we believe in, then those who see us and who are still unbelievers, will certainly be touched by the light of Christ and believe in God, and come to believe and be saved.

May the Lord bring about His good works and graces through us, that He may make manifest His truth and love to the world, just as He had once made Himself known through St. Anthony of Padua. God bless us always and strengthen us at all times. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 June 2014 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Barnabas, one of the Apostles of Christ, and an important messenger of the Lord, although he was not among the Twelve Apostles. St. Barnabas was renowned especially for his works and his mission activities together with St. Paul the Apostle, the other great Apostle who was known for his extensive works to bring the Good News to the Gentiles and pagans.

St. Barnabas was one of the first teachers of the faith, and he preached the Good News to many people since the beginning of the Church, travelling to many places with St. Paul and the other Apostles to bring the teachings of Christ to many people. St. Barnabas was one of the principal workers of the evangelisation, and through him, the early Christian communities were strengthened and empowered.

He went on from place to place, and having been set aside by the Lord, as we witnessed in the first reading today, he brought the message of salvation just as we heard it in the Gospel today. To the people who still live in darkness and the ignorance of the world at that time, the words and preachings of St. Barnabas must have been a refreshing stream of water which enlightens the eyes and minds of the people, and bring them to realisation of the truths in Christ.

He went around many cities, towns and places throughout the Roman Empire, many of the journeys together with St. Paul, and in many places he was welcomed cordially, and the people eagerly welcomed his teachings, and listened to them. There were many who became believers of Christ after they heard the testimony of St. Barnabas and St. Paul, the pair who became the greatest tool of evangelisation of the early Church.

However, as many as there were those who accepted and welcomed St. Barnabas, there were also equally many those who rejected his preachings and his testimonies, if not even more than those who accepted him and St. Paul. And if we read the entirety of the Acts of the Apostles, we can see how difficult it was for these two Apostles, and the other Apostles in general, in carrying out their missions.

There were always those who stubbornly refused to listen to reason, and refused to listen to the word of truth, as spoken by the Apostles, and many of these people were the fanatical Jews and Pharisees who were spread widely in the Jewish Diaspora in the Greek cities, where they often fiercely contested the teachings of the Apostles in the synagogues and among the people, inciting the people to rise up against them.

And eventually, St. Barnabas also met his end in violent death through martyrdom, in the defense of his faith while ministering to the people of God and preaching the faith, commonly agreed to have happened in the island of Cyprus, where his tomb can now be found at. This faithful man of God had dedicated much of his life to the faith and to God, and even though he met his end, but through his works, he brought many people to salvation in God.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore we are once again presented with the life of this dedicated saint, who worked hard for the sake of the Lord and His people without fear and full of courage, despite all of the oppositions against him and all the persecutions that he had to endure. St. Barnabas showed us all how to be zealous and faithful servants of the Lord, and his example can indeed help us to find our own purpose in life, as children of God and members of His Church.

Let us ask for the intercession and prayer from St. Barnabas, that he will constantly pray for us, that we may find our way and purpose in this life, and that we may serve the Lord in the way that St. Barnabas himself had done in the past, to proclaim the Lord and His truth to others without fear, and filled with zeal and encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

May God guide our path at all times, and help us to carry out the mission that He has entrusted to all of us, that is to become the modern day Apostles and disciples, to bring the light of God to all peoples of all nations. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 9 June 2014 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ephrem, Deacon and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today in the readings, we heard the famous Beatitudes or meaning, Blesseds, which is also known as the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus to the people. In that discourse and teaching, Jesus showed the people how people who do the will of God are blessed by Him for obeying His will. Through the Beatitudes, Jesus encouraged us all to carry out what we should be doing, to be truly blessed in the presence of God.

The Beatitudes showed us the criteria and the expectations that God kind of requires from His children, as they all embody the nature of God, that is love and mercy. However, in this world today we have often forgotten these things and be preoccupied by much concerns for the world and many other factors, that we fail to carry out what the Lord wants from us, as He laid them out in the Beatitudes.

For example, the Beatitudes blesses those who seeks peace and are peacemakers, and yet our world today is filled with hatred and violence, where brothers can fight against brothers, sisters fight against sisters, and quarrels are frequent among ourselves, which truly does not represent the peacemakers that we are supposed to be.

We too often find it difficult to show mercy to others and to forgive others for the mistakes, the wrongs, injustices and any other negative actions that they had done unto us. Indeed the Beatitudes blesses those who are merciful, but how many of us give mercy voluntarily to those who have hurt us? How many of us can genuinely forgive those who had wronged us? It is not easy, and it is in our human nature to seek vengeance and retribution rather than being merciful.

We often become judgmental of others, and we thought of ourselves as being the best, often in the disadvantage of others, that we get further and further from fulfilling the words of Christ in the Beatitudes. All these are because of our bad habits, tendencies and vulnerabilities in dealing with others and in our natural vulnerability to sin and evil.

Today we celebrate the feast of a saint, whose life has been dedicated to do the will of God, and in committing all that God has mentioned through the Beatitudes in his life. Today we commemorate St. Ephrem, also known as Ephrem the Syrian, who was a great inspiration source of many faithful during his lifetime, and a very faithful and hardworking servant of the Church and the people of God through his various ministries and roles in the Church.

St. Ephrem served the people of God dutifully and faithfully, and most importantly, he was very dedicated to the Lord, like the ones poor in spirit, as he sought the Lord for guidance. He received great graces and blessings, just as the Lord had pointed out in the Beatitudes. He also acted as mediator and communicator between many peoples, and between different ideas, providing important mediation between them and therefore promote unity and peace among the faithful.

As such, he was truly blessed by God, and he was made worthy of heaven, and recognised as such by the Church, in addition to the recognition of the vast amounts of work that he has done. He is our inspiration, and he should be our role model, someone who we aim to become, and perhaps even more, practising what the Lord Himself had recommended, as He stated in the Beatitudes.

Let us all ask for the intercession of St. Ephrem, that in our lives, we will always strive to become a good and responsible person, one who fear God, and yet love Him and who carry out His works dutifully. Let us all be like the persons whom the Lord described in the Beatitudes, beginning with small things, and gradually do all that the Lord asks of us.

May God remain with us, and through the intercession of His saints, let us all continue to profess and renew our faith, that we may truly be blessed by God, and be worthy of Him at the end of all times. God bless us all. Amen.