Thursday

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church commemorates the feast of the great saint, St. Francis Xavier, known widely throughout the Church especially in the mission areas of the Eastern Hemisphere, where he laboured for many years as the missionary of God to proclaim the Gospel and the Good News of God to the many people who had not yet ever heard of the Lord.

St. Francis Xavier was one of the earliest and founding members of the Jesuit order, also known as the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. At that time, like minded men and those with fervour and zeal to reform the Church and spread the faith joined St. Ignatius of Loyola in what was soon to become a great struggle and plenty of work in advancing the cause of the Christian faith both within the Church and outside of the Church.

At that time, the Jesuits were at the forefront of the Counter-Reformation efforts throughout Christendom, particularly in Europe when they were working hard in stemming the tide of false teachings and heresies that sprung up with the reformation. Many members of the Jesuits were sent to various states and countries throughout the world in order to evangelise, preach and teach the faith to the people, and they often faced many challenges and trials.

While much of the attention was often given to the efforts of the Jesuits in Europe and in Counter-Reformation, but equally important is the Jesuits’ efforts in sending missionaries that became successful in their efforts to plant the seeds of the Christian faith in many distant places in the Far East as well as in the New World, the Americas, where St. Francis Xavier was the pioneer in this effort with his missions to India, Southeast Asia, Japan and also China. It was timely with the discovery of routes and improvement in naval technology that allowed the Christian missionaries to travel to all those places they had not been able to go to before.

St. Francis Xavier went on a long journey to India where he established the foundation of the Jesuit mission in several places, and became the lead for many more Jesuit missionaries as well as other missionaries from other religious orders in the centuries to come. He also then went to Malacca in Southeast Asia, in the present day Malaysia and travelled throughout the Indonesian archipelago, spreading the first seeds of faith and building up the first local Christian communities.

This was where the famous story of St. Francis Xavier and the crab named after him came to be, as it was told that during a great storm that hit his boat as he was travelling through the archipelago, the boat was about to sink when St. Francis Xavier prayed hard and threw his crucifix into the water with faith that God would calm the waters. Indeed, the storm stopped and the waves calmed, just as the Lord Jesus Himself had once calmed a storm before His disciples. A crab appeared, holding up the crucifix that St. Francis Xavier threw, and as he collected his crucifix and thanked the crab, he blessed it, and from there henceforth, the crab has the marking of a cross on its back.

This story, among many others showed just how tough the works of a missionary is, especially in those distant, unexplored territories that St. Francis Xavier had gone to, to the furthest reaches of Japan and East Asia, where he also established the foundation of a very successful Japanese mission where hundreds of thousands would be converted in the succeeding decades. At that time, missionaries had to endure a lot of hardships, and St. Francis Xavier was no exception.

Nonetheless, St. Francis Xavier remained firm in his conviction and in his efforts to serve the Lord, doing his very best to spread the word of God and showing by example what it means to be faithful to Him and what it truly means to be a Christian missionary. As he waited for the opportunity to enter China in Macau and Shangchuan island off the coast of China, he passed away, until the very end never ceasing to desire to work for God and His greater glory, seeking to convert many souls for the Lord in the great land of China.

St. Francis Xavier had been named as the Patron of Missions and as the role model for all the Christian missionaries, all those who dedicate themselves for the Lord and His mission to evangelise the Good News to all the peoples, of all the nations. St. Francis Xavier should also be our role model in faith because ultimately, the Lord’s commission has been given to all of us and not just to any one of us.

He told all of His disciples, ‘Go forth to the nations, and baptise all in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ And with that same commandment, all of us have also been called to reach out to our neighbours and to all others, and to show them what our Christian faith is all about, not necessarily by words, but even more importantly through our actions and deeds.

After all, if we say that we believe in the Lord and preach of Him, and yet, in how we behave and act, we are doing contrary to what we believe, just like what many among the Pharisees had done, how can we expect others to believe in us? We are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers in reality. Unless we become genuine and true Christians in all things, we will have no place in God’s kingdom.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all embrace our calling as Christian missionaries, in each and every moments of our lives. Let us all be role models of faith and be good examples of what it means to be Christians to all. Let us show by example and not just by words alone, as St. Francis Xavier had done, and let us all have the same fire and zeal in us as St. Francis Xavier had once shown.

May the Lord help us all that we may make best use of this Season of Advent to prepare ourselves spiritually for Christmas, as well as to strengthen our conviction to be good and exemplary Christians, from now onwards if we have not yet done so. Let us all commit ourselves ever more faithfully from now on, always and evermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 116 : 1-2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 9 : 16-19, 22-23

Because I cannot boast of announcing the Gospel : I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preached voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted this office against my will. How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the Gospel, I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel.

So, feeling free with everybody, I have become everybody’s slave in order to gain a greater number. To the weak I made myself weak, to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people in order to save, by all possible means, some of them. This I do for the Gospel, so that I too have a share of it.

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Thursday, 26 November 2020 : Last Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded yet again as our current liturgical year cycle is coming to an end, that we have to put our trust and faith in God. We must not lose faith in the Lord just because of the persecutions, trials and troubles we face and will encounter in our respective journeys in life. We have to keep faith because the Lord is always ever faithful to His Covenant and promises to us, and He will lead us into the final and ultimate victory.

In our first reading today we heard the account from the Book of Revelations on the declaration of the Angel of God at the end of all the trumpets of the world’s end and the plagues, of the final defeat of the devil and all the forces of the wicked, by the declaration of the fall of ‘Babylon’ that shall never rise again, for it has been handed the final and ultimate defeat. God has triumphed and has won the complete and total victory for His faithful ones.

In our Gospel passage today we heard then of the account that the Lord had made, the premonition and prophecy on what would happen to the great and holy city of Jerusalem, that would be besieged and then destroyed. This would come to pass as the Romans would put down the Jewish rebellion in Judea and Galilee just less than four decades after the death and resurrection of Christ, causing many deaths and the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple.

Through all of these, the Lord wants us to remember that despite the difficulties and trials that we may have to endure as those in the past had endured and suffered, but we must not allow ourselves to be overcome by fear and by despair, for the Lord will always stand by our side and will not allow us to be thoroughly defeated and destroyed. He spoke of the suffering and trials that all the faithful and the devout will have to endure for their constant dedication and obedience to God.

Babylon is symbolic of the forces of evil that has once destroyed the city of Jerusalem earlier on, during the time of the end of the kingdom of Israel and Judah, when the Temple of God built by King Solomon was ransacked and destroyed, the whole city destroyed and the entire kingdom and population of Judah laid to waste. The destruction of Jerusalem and Judah was truly a terrible event for the people of God, much as the later destruction by the Romans would be as well. Hence, the symbolic representation of Babylon was used to refer to the forces of the enemy of God and His people.

And through that, the Lord wanted to show all of us that just as He humbled king Nebuchadnezzar and his mighty Babylonian kingdom, for all of his hubris, ego and ambition, the Lord will also bring low the forces of Satan and his mighty forces. The forces of evil and darkness may seem fearsome and terrible for us, but we must not forget that all those who are opposed to God, will be defeated and the Lord and His people will triumph in the end. That is why and how the Church and our faith still perseveres and going strong yet to this very day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all not be easily tempted and swayed by the falsehoods and the lies of the devil, all the efforts that he and his allies are trying to put in order to make us fear them and to lose hope in God. When things go bad and sour for us, we must remain firm and faithful in our dedication to the Lord, for the Lord alone is our firm foundation and in Him alone we have true hope for the future. We must not be swayed by the false leads and persuasions that the devil have put in our path as obstacles.

Let us all renew our faith and commitment to the Lord from now on, and strengthen our faith and be more courageous in living our lives with faith and with real action of faith. Let us all help one another to persevere through the challenges and trials of life, and remind one another that we must never lose hope in God, but instead must be ever more true to our faith in Him, with each and every passing moments of our lives. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 26 November 2020 : Last Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 21 : 20-28

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that the time has come when it will be reduced to a wasteland. If you are in Judea, flee to the mountains! If you are in Jerusalem, leave! If you are outside the city, do not enter it!”

“For these will be the days of its punishment, and all that was announced in the Scriptures will be fulfilled. How hard will it be for pregnant women, and for mothers with babies at the breast! For a great calamity will come upon the land, and wrath upon this people. They will be put to death by the sword, or taken as slaves to other nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled upon by the pagans, until the time of the pagans is fulfilled.”

“Then there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish of nations, perplexed when they hear the roaring of the sea and its waves. People will faint with fear at the mere thought of what is to come upon the world, for the forces of the universe will be shaken. Then, at that time, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

“So, when you see things begin to happen, stand erect and lift up your heads, for your deliverance is drawing near.”

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Thursday, 26 November 2020 : Last Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 4, 5

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His Name.

For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.

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Thursday, 26 November 2020 : Last Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Revelations 18 : 1-2, 21-23 and Revelations 19 : 1-3, 9a

After this I saw another Angel coming down from heaven. So great was his authority that the whole earth was lit up with his glory. In a strong voice he cried out : “Fallen is Babylon the great! Fallen! She has become a haunt of demons, a lodge for every unclean spirit, a nest for any filthy and disgusting bird.”

A powerful Angel picked up a boulder the size od a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “With such violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, never again to be seen. Never again will tunes of harpists, minstrels, trumpeters and flutists be heard in you. Never again will an artisan of any trade be found in you. Never again will the noise of the mill be heard.”

“Never again will the light of a lamp shine in you. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never again be heard in you. Because your traders were the world’s great and you led the nations astray by your magic spell.”

After this I heard what sounded like the loud singing of a great assembly in heaven : “Alleluia! Salvation, glory and might belong to our God, for His judgments are true and just. He has condemned the great harlot who corrupted the world with her adultery. He has avenged His servants’ blood shed by her hand in harlotry.” Once more they sang : “Alleluia! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!”

Then the Angel told me, “Write : Happy are those invited to the wedding of the Lamb.”

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Thursday, 19 November 2020 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all heard from the Scriptures the glory of the Lord in Heaven as described in the Book of the Revelations of St. John, as well as the lamentations of the Lord over the holy city of Jerusalem as He predicted the coming of its end as what would indeed happen in a few decades after, its destruction at the hand of the Romans.

In our first reading today as we approach the end of this current liturgical year we are reminded as always of the apocalyptic end times with the readings from the Book of Revelations or Apocalypse of St. John, in which we heard of the vision received by the Apostle on the coming of the Lord, and we heard today of his vision of the great scroll with seven seals being opened by the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ Himself, seated on the Throne of God.

And he saw how the Lamb on the Throne is surrounded by the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures, the highest of the Angels of God, unceasingly praising and glorifying Him, worshipping Him, the Lord and Master of all creation. The Lamb of God has triumphed over evil and being slain as the Sacrifice on the Cross, He has been glorified and has purchased for us all our eternal salvation and life.

This is a reminder for all of us that despite the challenges and trials that we have to face, we have the Lamb of God, triumphant and victorious by our side. The Angels of God and His saints had proclaimed His glory and victory before all of us, and even though tribulations will come our way, as represented by the doom and destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of that holy city and its Temple, but in God we shall be triumphant in the end.

This is a constant reminder for all of us that as Christians we must always glorify the Lord by our lives just as the commands at the end of each Holy Mass command us to, to glorify the Lord by our lives and to proclaim the words of the Gospel. And we do this not by loud proclamations or preaching, but rather through our lives and how we live it. If we speak of the word of God and yet our lives contradict what we have spoken and preached, does it not make us all hypocrites then? Who then will believe in God through us?

Today therefore we have been reminded and called to go the extra mile in the service of God, as His followers and faithful ones. We have to transform our lives and dedicate them to the Lord, that in each and every one of our actions in life, in how we interact with each other we shall always be filled with the love of God, obedience to His will and laws, commandments and ordinances, and exemplary in all things and deeds.

If our lives shine with the light of Christ, then Christ’s light will illuminate us and be with us even through our darkest hours and moments. And our Lord will lead us to the final victory that has been assured for us. Are we willing to commit to this path, brothers and sisters in Christ? There are many temptations and distractions in this world trying to mislead us and bring us down the wrong path. Let us not be misled by these and remain firm in our faith.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, the triumphant Lamb of God, continue to be with us, guide us in our journey of faith. May the Lord bless us in all of our endeavours and efforts to continue to journey faithfully with Him through this life we have received and the opportunities we have been given. May God bless us all, now and every moments. Amen.

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Thursday, 19 November 2020 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 19 : 41-44

At that time, when Jesus had come in sight of the city of Jerusalem, He wept over it, and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Yet days will come upon you, when your enemies will surround you with barricades, and shut you in, and press on you from every side.”

“And they will dash you to the ground and your children with you, and not leave stone upon stone within you, for you did not recognise the time and the visitation of your God.”