Thursday

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings have a very clear message to all of us. We are all called by the Lord to follow Him and to walk in His path, just as He has called His Apostles at that time. In the Gospel today, we heard the story of how Jesus called His first Apostles, at the shores of the river Jordan, calling simple fishermen who were there catching the fishes in the river.

All of those fishermen, the four of them had no idea that they were called to an entirely new life, a new existence and reality, in which they were transformed wholly from their humble origins, once doing a job that no one really wanted, fishers of fish and equally the same for the other Apostles, who were once thief, tax collector, or rebel, and many more. They became fishers of men, after accepting the Lord’s call.

They left behind their past lives and careers in order to become fully committed to the missions and the works God entrusted to them. They served the Lord faithfully in the missions they went through, declaring the glory of God and preaching His truth to the many nations. They had a great change in mind and attitude, as they allowed the Lord to inflame their hearts through the Holy Spirit He gave them.

Once, they were doubtful, not strong in their faith and afraid to do what the Lord had entrusted them to do. They hesitated and doubted, but the Lord strengthened them, and eventually, they were transformed into courageous and hardworking servants of God, who went about preaching the Good News tirelessly, and secured for countless souls they have touched, the promise of eternal life by their salvation in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time now for us to realise the significance and meaning of the Scripture passage which we have read in today’s first reading, taken from the Epistle of St. John. In that Scripture passage, we are reminded that each and every one of us have been made the children of God, as the adopted sons and daughters of God, Our Father in heaven. And therefore, as God’s own children, all of us should be walking in His path, as He has shown us, through none other than His Son, Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, many of us mankind acted in ways akin to being prodigal sons and daughters, preferring to walk in our own path and disobeying the Lord and His commandments. We gave in to our pride and hubris, and we did many things for our own personal gain and worldly glory, rather than to serve the Lord and to live faithfully in accordance with God’s ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God Himself has bestowed upon us the great gift of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came into this world and dwelled among us, uniting our humanity to Himself, that we all become God’s own children through Him. If God has loved us so much and gave us so many opportunities and goodness, then should we not do the same to Him? Should we not devote ourselves out of pure love for Him?

Let us all seek to be better disciples of the Lord, imitating the courageous examples of the Holy Apostles. Let us all renew our faith and commitment to Him, that in all of our actions and deeds, we will draw ever closer to God, and be able to live faithfully all the days of our lives, and in the end, be justified by God and found worthy to receive the fullness of His eternal glory and inheritance He promised us all. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 1 : 35-42

On the following day John was standing there again with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and said, “There is the Lamb of God.” On hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. He turned and saw them following, and He said to them, “What are you looking for?”

They answered, “Rabbi (which means Master), where are You staying?” Jesus said, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where He stayed, and spent the rest of that day with Him. It was about four o’ clock in the afternoon.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard what John had said, and followed Jesus. Early the next morning he found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ), and he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John, but you shall be called Cephas” (which means Rock).

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 7-8, 9

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its peoples. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy before the Lord.

For He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Thursday, 4 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 7-10

My little children, do not be led astray; those who do what is right are upright, just as Jesus Christ is upright. But those who sin belong to the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning.

This is why the Son of God was shown to us, He was to undo the works of the devil. Those born of God do not sin, for the seed of God remains in them; they cannot sin because they are born of God. What is the way to recognise the children of God and those of the devil? The one who does not do what is right is not of God; so, too, the one who does not love his brother or sister.

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Thursday, 28 December 2017 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we remember the memory of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, those young children of the place where the Lord and Saviour of the world was born, in Bethlehem, the City of David. The children were killed by the order of the king of Judea, Herod the Great, who was the ruler of the land of the time.

King Herod wanted to get rid of Jesus because the three Magi came to him asking him about the King Who was to come into the world, and they followed the Star of Bethlehem to the territory of Judea, Herod’s kingdom at the time. Herod himself came to power, according to history, through deceit and corrupt practices, including collaborating with the Romans that he was rewarded with the kingship over Judea and Samaria, and many other lands.

As a result, we can only deduce that Herod was immediately jealous and afraid of the Baby Jesus, Who was born as King, and as the True King of Israel. As Jesus is the King of Israel and indeed over the whole creation, Herod was merely a usurper and therefore, he was nobody. Yet, Herod wanted to preserve his power, kingship and privileges as king, and thus, instead of humbly recognising the true King, he plotted to have his rival destroyed.

That was why he tried to trick the three Magi to give him the location and information about the Messiah and King, but the Angel of God led the three Magi through another way, that Jesus was kept safe from the plots of Herod. That was when the Angel of God also led St. Joseph to bring both Mary and the Baby Jesus to Egypt, to keep him safe from His enemies. Herod was angry as he was not able to get his hands on Jesus, and ordered the massacre of all the babies and young children in Bethlehem aged two years old and younger.

Thus, today we remembered the memory of those innocent children who were martyred for the sake of the Lord, innocent victims of humanity’s greed and desire for power, for worldly glory and might, as displayed by king Herod and his attempt to kill Jesus the true King, and sacrificing many innocent people in the process. And therefore, we should spend some time to reflect about ourselves and our own lives, considering what had happened that day in Bethlehem.

Let us remember all the mothers and parents who lost their young children and babies because of the ambition and pride of humanity, as what happened in that occasion in Bethlehem. But we should not forget about the many other children and families affected in the same manner, throughout the world and throughout history. There are many other instances where many innocent ones suffered.

Let us remember all those young children and innocent ones who were manipulated into suffering, through vile practices that sadly still exist to this very day, as it was in the past, such as child labour, even child slavery and abuse, as well as the use of underage people in warfare and conflicts. This is the sad and wicked reality of our world today, just as it had happened to us mankind in the past.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all do our best as Christians, to stand up for the sake of the innocent children and all those who have been caught up in the midst of warfare, conflict, sufferings, abuse and many others, all because of our own human greed and desire for power, for prestige, for glory, for more wealth and influence in this world. Let us all put an end to these vile works if we ourselves have done them, or have taken part in them, and if we have been silent all these while, let us speak up for their sake.

Let us remember, that all these innocent children are also children of God, beloved and dear to Him, just as all of us are. We must not allow any forms of abuse or mistreatment of these people, who are indeed our brethren and relatives. God will show His wrath to those who are mistreating and abusing His beloved ones, and they will suffer the consequences of their actions at the time of their judgment.

During this Christmas season, let us return to the Lord and make Him once again the focus and the centre of our lives. Let us not be swayed by the temptation of worldly glory, power and prestige, wealth or any other forms of persuasions, which had brought so many of our brethren down into the trap laid down by Satan, through which he endeavoured to make us mankind fight one against the other, and oppress our brethren.

May the Lord our God forgive us our trespasses, and all that we have caused our brethren, to suffer and to be in pain, or for our ignorance of their need and our deafness to their pleas for help. May we all become ever more courageous to live faithfully in accordance with our faith. May God bless us always, now and forever. Amen.

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Thursday, 28 December 2017 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 2 : 13-18

After the wise men had left, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the Child in order to kill Him.”

Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and left that night for Egypt, where He stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled : I called My Son out of Egypt.

When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learnt from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled : A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation : Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.

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Thursday, 28 December 2017 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 123 : 2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8

Had not the Lord been on our side, when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive; such was their anger against us.

A bit more and the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.

The snare was broken and we were freed. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

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Thursday, 28 December 2017 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

1 John 1 : 5 – 1 John 2 : 2

We heard His message from Him and announce it to you : God is light and there is no darkness in Him. If we say we are in fellowship with Him, while we walk in darkness, we lie instead of being in truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin.

If we say, “We have no sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He Who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from our wickedness. If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, His word is not in us.

My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial Victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

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Thursday, 21 December 2017 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages which remind us that we are God’s beloved ones, as those whom He has created out of love, and He is willing to free us from our sufferings and tribulations, caused by our own lack of faith and disobedience against Him. God still loves us despite our stubborn rebellion against Him, and He wants us to be reconciled with Him.

And that was why the celebration of Christmas is truly about a new hope for all of us mankind, that despite our fallen state through sin, which ought to have merited condemnation and eternal suffering in hell, but God is willing to forgive us and embrace us back should we allow ourselves to be forgiven. And we do so through sincere and genuine repentance from our sinful ways, leaving behind our wicked past and walking from now on, on the path of righteousness.

Then, we should also reflect on the importance of Christmas to ourselves. The timing of Christmas itself is truly symbolic, as in most of the places where Christmas is celebrated, it happens in the midst of the winter season. In fact, tomorrow is the date of the winter solstice, the time of the year when the sun is at the lowest in the sky and when daytime is at its shortest. After that, the time of day is starting to lengthen again and the time of the dark night shortens.

In the past, during the time of the later Roman Empire, the date for the celebration of Christmas used to be a pagan festival worshipping the Unconquered Sun or Sol Invictus, a cult that gained popularity during the later years of the Roman Empire. It celebrated the triumph of the sun as in the past winter is always associated with darkness and cold weather. And the day when the sun starts to appear for longer again in the sky was thus celebrated.

But with the coming of Christianity and its triumph against the false pagan gods and idols, including that of the Sol Invictus cult, the celebration that was once celebrating the sun, gained a far greater and more important significance as the celebration of the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all mankind. There is even a Biblical and traditional explanation as to why we celebrate His birth around this time of the year.

And what is this explanation? It is that the birth of Christ is also related to the birth of the Paschal lambs or the Passover lambs according to the Jewish tradition, which must be a young lamb less than a year old, and at that region, lambs usually give birth in the midst of winter, around the time of Christmas. And we all believe as Christians that Christ is our Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, Who willingly sacrificed Himself that through His death all of us who believe in Him may have life in us.

This is the how our historical Christmas celebrations came about, and why we celebrate it at this time. But even more important than all of that is the fact that Christmas is the celebration, not of the sun worship I mentioned earlier, and not of some secular event or mere merrymaking, but instead it is the birthday of the One through Whom God made His love for us evident.

Jesus Christ is the proof of God’s love, for as in the Gospel of St. John, He mentioned Himself that, God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that all who believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. And yet, many of us are not aware of this great love which God has shown us, and which we should be grateful for. There is no one and nothing else that loves us as much as Our God does.

But mankind prefers to follow the ways of this world, by their merrymaking and festivities which exclude Christ from the celebrations. Our Christmas celebrations become a celebration of human and worldly vanity, greed, ambition and desire for pleasure and glory. We spend our Christmas trying to outdo one another in glamour and prestige of our gifts and revelries, trying to show off ourselves and achievements.

And all of these are fuelled further by worldly temptations and all the materialistic attitudes surrounding the secular celebrations of Christmas around us. We see all the branded goods and items, all the good shopping deals and discounts being paraded and shown all around in shopping malls and many markets, and many of us throng those places in order to get good bargain on good items.

Some of us are worrying on what kind of new clothes or accessories we should be getting this Christmas, while some others worry about how to decorate their houses and places in the best way possible to impress others who come to see our homes. And we also worry about we are to give and to receive in our Christmas gifts, and we are worried that we will be getting less than that of the previous years.

And where is Christ in all of these? He is nowhere to be found. He has often been overlooked and forgotten in our celebrations and revelries. He has been sidelined and replaced by other familiar figures like Santa Claus, the reindeers, the snowman and all of the other usual secular Christmas paraphernalia. This is what all of us as Christians should reflect on, as we progress towards Christmas. Have we done all these in how we celebrate this important event of our faith?

It is time that we rediscover our reason of celebrating Christmas, and there is no better way than putting Christ back at the centre of our Christmas joy and celebrations. It is because of Him that we have Christmas, and it is because of Him that we can rejoice in Christmas. He is the very reason of our joy, because we have once been deemed as lost and fallen from grace, without hope in the darkness. But through Christ, all of that have been changed through His light, with a new hope and way out from our predicament has been provided.

Perhaps we should follow in the footsteps of one of our great and holy predecessors, whose faith and devotion to the Lord can become an inspiration to each and every one of us that we may aspire to live our lives ever more faithfully. He is St. Peter Canisius, a member of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits, a priest and later eventually made a Doctor of the Church for his great contributions to the Church and the faith.

St. Peter Canisius lived during a tumultuous and difficult time for the Church, being assailed from within and from outside by those who sought its destruction. At the time, the Ottoman Turks were threatening the entire Christendom and were invading into the domains of Christian rulers and conquering many parts of the Christian world, and then, religious unrest due to the rise of the Protestant heresies in many parts of northern and central Europe threatened to cause the destruction of Christendom.

That was why several people, gathered and inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founded the new society of priests, named the Society of Jesus, to be at the forefront of the Counter Reformation effort, and many of them were also sent to the foreign lands as part of evangelisation to the new lands then recently discovered due to the rapid expansion in European discovery. St. Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci were some of the famous ones among these missionaries.

Meanwhile, St. Peter Canisius worked hard among the areas affected by the false teachings and heresies, encouraging the people through words and actions, through his pious devotion and careful explanation of the true teachings of the faith as espoused by the Church. As a result, thousands and tens of thousands returned to the embrace of the Holy Mother Church and were reconciled with the Lord.

St. Peter Canisius was well known for his writing of the Catechisms of the Christian faith, which became a gold standard in catechism and teachings of the faith to many catechumens and other candidates who were willing to embrace the Christian faith. He was also remembered for his great devotion to Mary, the holy Mother of God, and his Mariology was among the best that has been compiled. For all these great contributions he had done, he was bestowed with the title of Doctor of the Church several centuries after his passing.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, witnessing the examples shown by St. Peter Canisius and his courageous and zealous compatriots in faith, the early pioneers of the Jesuit order, we should follow in their footsteps and commit ourselves to the Lord in the same manner. We should renew our focus and attention to the Lord, and one good way that we can do it at the moment, is as I have mentioned, by restoring Christ to the centre of our Christmas joy and celebrations.

Let us ask St. Peter Canisius to intercede for each and every one of us, that we may grow ever more faithful and devoted, day after day, drawing strength from our commitment to the Lord, and becoming ever closer to Him and walk always in His ways. May our Christmas celebrations be meaningful for us, and may we be thoroughly prepared to celebrate it with all of our hearts attuned to God, the reason for our joy this Christmas. May God bless us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 December 2017 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 1 : 39-45

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and, giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women; and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you, who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”