transubstantiation

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Sunday, 2 June 2013 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi (Second Reading)

1 Corinthians 11 : 23-26

This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my turn I have handed on to you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that He was delivered up, took bread and, after giving thanks, broke it, saying, “This is My body which is broken for you; do this in memory of Me.”

In the same manner, taking the cup after the supper, He said, “This cup is the new Covenant in My blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of Me.” So, then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this cup, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until He comes.

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Sunday, 2 June 2013 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi (First Reading)

Genesis 14 : 18-20

Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth! And blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hands!”

And Abram gave him a tenth part of everything.

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Thursday, 9 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is Ascension day, a very important day in our faith, because today we celebrate a central tenet of our faith. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is resurrected on the third day after dying on the cross for the salvation of all  mankind, but that today, most importantly, we celebrate the glorification of God, in which Christ, who had descended to this world as a humble man, returns to His glory in heaven as the divine God.

For Christ, our Messiah and our Lord, is both fully man and fully divine at the same time, with both of His human and divine nature united indivisibly in a mysterious and holy link that is beyond our best understanding. In Christ, who had been made incarnate to be a lowly human like us through His birth in Mary, His mother, lies our salvation, and our only hope.

Because, Christ, who is the Lamb of God, gave up Himself to be the sacrifice for the sake of our sins, just as God instructed the people of Israel to sacrifice unblemished lambs to erase their sins and their unworthiness before God. Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God is not merely unblemished, but also perfect, and as the only perfect and worthy sacrifice to take away all the sins of the world, once and for all, through the sacrifice He made on Calvary.

We celebrate this every time we celebrate the Mass, in which the bread and the wine that we offer are truly turned into the Precious Body and the Precious Blood of the Lamb, which He Himself had offered to His disciples at His last supper, so that He will continue to live in them, and therefore remain within us, that He will be within us, and therefore belong to Him and the Father. We have all been mark as His own, and we will not be lost, as long as we keep Him ever in our hearts, and invoke Him in all our actions.

He may be no longer with us in physical form, because He was indeed taken up to heaven with His glorious Ascension, when He parted ways from His disciples and left physically this world, but He actually remains with us, within all of us, that we are empowered with His presence. He granted us the Holy Spirit, the Helper, which came to the Apostles at Pentecost, and from them, the Holy Spirit is passed down to us, with the Sacrament of Baptism and strengthened at Confirmation, the fire of the spirit is burning with us, the living symbol of Christ’s presence within each one of us.

This Spirit that we have within each of us will stay dormant if we do not do anything to make use of the gifts that the Spirit had granted within each of us. Yes, all of us have the power and ability to make the difference, in our own lives, and in the lives of many of those who are around us. The Spirit has planted within us the seeds of faith and love, and these seeds will not sprout unless we provide them with ever greater faith and love, that can only be provided through solid and true actions made in the name of the Lord, and reflecting that we truly are God’s children.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to grow within us and use our beings to bring about love and peace in both ourselves and those around us, it will allow us to grow and bear much fruit, fruits of love and blessings, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Christ who was taken up on Ascension will come again as He promised all of us, in His Second Coming, which is coming soon. When He comes again, He will see if we, the plants that He, the seed spreader, had grown to the results that He wants.

If we do not bear any fruit, like that of the barren tree, He would destroy us and curse us, because we have not bear any fruit, despite having been planted with seeds of faith. Just like those who had been given money by the master to be invested, but wasted the money in idleness, and did not invest it to let the value of the money to grow for profits. In this, the love that God had given us had become useless, because love cannot just remain within ourselves, because love is between us and another party, and remember that the Lord Himself had commanded us to love both Himself, and our fellow brethren.

The Lord Himself has told us that to love the least and weakest of our brethren, we have loved Him. That is why to just love the Lord alone, is in fact not sufficient, because this love that we have is not perfect, and can only be made perfect by us also loving our fellow brethren, particularly those who lacks, and those who are weakest and persecuted. Therefore, only in living our faith, and using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has placed in us that we can truly bear fruit and be found worthy when Christ once again comes into this world to judge it.

He will welcome and congratulate us, if we had done what we can to fulfill His wishes and His commandments. He will say to us, “Well done, My faithful servants. Come and take your rightful place at My Kingdom.” But if we do not make use of the chance we have now, and waste it on idleness, or worse, that is to spurn God’s love and Spirit, and indulge instead in the worldly temptations and pleasures and the world of hatred, we would be banished by the Lord from His presence, because we will be found unworthy of Him.

The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore, serves also as a reminder. Indeed, we rejoice in His glorification and ascension in heaven, to take up His rightful place at the right hand of the Father, but as the angels had said to the disciples on that day, that Christ will come again and that time when He comes again, He will judge the world and gather His faithful ones to Himself while banishing those who strayed from His way, together with Satan and his fallen angels, into the eternal damnation that awaits them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us not be complacent, and let us strive to be always ready for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, which indeed will come soon, and will come at a time when many are at their most unprepared moments. Do not be caught unprepared, and let us make sure that all of us, from now on, put Christ at the very centre of our lives, and reflect Christ in all our thoughts, our words, and our actions, that we show that we belong to Christ and to Him alone.

Love one another and love God with all our hearts, our minds, and our beings. Put our trust completely in Him, and let Him transform us with His Holy Spirit, and bear much fruit in us, the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Remember that Christ ascended to heaven, is always within all of us, with all of us serving as the Holy Temples of His Divine Presence. May God be with all of us, always, till the end of time. Amen.

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Wednesday, 17 April 2013 : 3rd Week of Easter (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus Christ, our Bread of Life, the Lord of life, and the Saviour, has died for us, and in dying, He destroyed our death, and through His glorious resurrection from the dead, He bring us to live eternal, all those who believe in Him, will have life through Him, and in Him.

He is the Bread of Life, and indeed, on the last supper He had with His disciples, He gave them His body and blood for them to eat and drink, in the form of the bread and the wine, and through these, He gave all of us Himself, that we all may have a share in Him and in the eternal life assured through Him.

This is why we should regularly and worthily receive Christ into ourselves, through the Eucharist in the Mass, when the Sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, when He laid down Himself for all mankind to save them all, is once again brought to us, in a mysterious way, that the Sacrifice on the cross brought down upon us the Precious Body and Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, freely given, for our salvation.

It is not easy indeed to believe in things like this, that our Lord would give Himself up for us, and His Body and Blood for all of us to eat and drink. But indeed that was what happened, and He gave His Body and Blood for us in the bread and wine transformed by the priests, so that we may have a part in Christ’s salvation.

There were many people who even though had seen Jesus’ miracles and works, had refused to believe truly in Him when He said that those who do not eat His Body nor drink His Blood would not have eternal life. To them, the idea was just too radical, and the reason for their lack of faith was because they did not have a true faith in Christ. Their faith is human faith, believing because they see what He had done in miraculous signs, instead of true faith in God, even without all these miracles.

Blessed are all of us who did not see all these miracles attributed and done by Christ and yet truly believe that Christ is the Messiah and the Son of God, because just as He said, blessed are those who did not see and yet believe, when He mentioned the faith in Thomas, who believed only because he saw the Risen Christ. This kind of faith in Christ is true faith, not faith born just out of miracles and awe, but because we truly believe in Christ, in His works and His teachings.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive to receive our Lord regularly in the Mass, and ensure that we are worthy when we receive Him into ourselves, and keep ourselves holy and worthy, as the Holy Temple for God, that is our body, that we will always be ever in His grace and receive His infinite blessing and love. Amen.

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Thursday, 14 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

It is not easy to believe in God. Too often we are distracted by other things, by temptations, and those that offer items that seems to be better than what God can offer. Many would think, why do we believe in God, who we can’t see and who we can’t touch? Is it not better to put our faith in something more tangible? Something that is closer to us?

That is the exact argument of the people of Israel, when they thought that God has abandoned them, on the Mount Horeb, when He called Moses up the mountain for a long time. The people of Israel chose to turn to worldly god, the golden calf, because it can be touched, it can be seen, and it can be said as ‘present’ among the people of Israel. Then God was angry, and He wanted to wipe this rebellious people out of the face of the earth, but Moses begged God for their sake and God relented.

How is this then different from what is happening in our world today? Many of us today also have our own false gods, not in the form of a golden calf, but in the form of the distractions that we have in our world today. From materialism, consumerism, emphasis on wealth and affluence, worldly power, and many other different forms of temptations.

With all these things surrounding us, we become less perceptive of the Lord God, and His presence in our world today. The attention which we should have given Him alone, is now divided towards the things that keep us away from His love. These are the golden calves that we have to face in our lives. Those false gods that have kept us away from enjoying the fullness of God’s love and graces.

That is why, at the time of Jesus, the people of Israel have failed to open their eyes and see, and even if their eyes were open, they could not see, because their hardened hearts have kept the Lord away from them. For Jesus, the Son of God, had been sent into this world, so that through Him, all the works and love of God will be made manifest to all mankind. Those who believe in Him and believe in the prophets who proclaimed His coming would believe, but many would not.

That is because for the many people, their pride and their arrogance had become their golden calves, that prevented them from seeing the Lord in truth, and instead accused and mocked Him. They preferred something tangible, like miracles and wonders, which they can see and believe in, so that they will worship Jesus as their Lord. But they have failed to realise that the true mission of the Lord is not such, and as we knew, God has shown many signs and others through His prophets before the comng of Jesus, but yet they have failed to listen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us gathered here today have the benefit of listening the word of God, through the Holy Scripture, and through our priests, who teach us about the Lord and His mission in this world. And to all of us who had been baptised in the faith, we all have been promised great inheritance in heaven, if we remain faithful in God.

However, let us not be complacent, and let us strive to be not like the people of Israel, that is to remain faithful to God, and to turn not onto the false gods, in manner similar to that of the worship of the golden calf by most of the people of Israel. We should distance ourselves from these false gods, and began the path towards renewal in our faith towards our God.

To do that is to first be humble and be ready to lower ourselves before God, and not to blind ourselves with pride and arrogance, that with humility and faith in God, we will be able to see and recognise the Lord and His works in our daily lives. How to do this? None other than to have a constant prayer life, to pray continuously at all times, that God will empower us with faith in Him, that we can remain strong despite all the temptations the world places in our path.

And perhaps the best way is so that we will not be tempted to abandon God for something more ‘manifest’ and ‘tangible’ as in the false gods and the golden calf of Israel, is to make God truly manifest in our lives as well. There is nowhere better to make the Lord manifest, other than through the proper and solemn celebration of the Holy Mass. For in the Mass, we take part in the celebration of the Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which the bread and wine are truly transformed into the very Precious Body and Blood of our Saviour, that the Lord becomes manifest, and this manifested Lord is who we receive into ourselves when we receive Holy Communion.

This is why it is important to have a proper and solemn celebration of the Mass, tainted as little as possible from external and worldly distractions, such as loud music, improper behaviour and conduct, and even the way we dress is important, since coming to the Mass is like coming to the Banquet of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Master of the Banquet, who is manifest in the Mass. As we are coming to be at God’s banquet, then we truly should prepare ourselves well, dress well and appropriately, and behave properly.

Remember the term ‘Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi’, which is when translated means, the way we worship determines the kind of faith that we have in us, and the faith that we have determines the kind of life that we will lead. If we do not approach the worship of the Mass with proper decorum and behaviour, how are we then to have a good faith in our Lord, who is indeed truly made manifest in the Mass through the Eucharist? Then if we have no faith, or little faith, our lives too will be barren, and we will be easily swayed and persuaded by the temptations of this world, to distance ourselves from our God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us pray that we will be strengthened by God in our resolve to know Him better, to love Him more, and to have greater faith in Him. That we will be able to lead a strong prayerful life, that is supported by active participation in the Holy Mass, that we finally will know that we serve the living God, made manifest in the Eucharist, which He gives us to eat and drink, that we may have a part in His salvific mission. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

The Lord in today’s reading sent out His disciples to begin spreading His work across broader spectrum of the society of Israel. This is also the base of the authority that our priests and bishops today have, since the Lord has commissioned the Apostles to heal the sick and cast out demons, with authority that came directly from Himself. Through the Apostles, in an unbroken chain of succession, this authority is passed down to our bishops today, and thus to all our priests. It is in this authority that our priests today exercise many of the similar faculties as those of the Apostles.

Our priests are also important in the Church, since they administer to us spiritual healing of our soul, they listen to our sins and by the authority given to them by our Lord through the Apostles, our sins can be forgiven in the confession, if we truly repent and vow to change our sinful ways. They also can cast out demons with the authority of the Lord, in what we know as exorcism. Although this rarely happen today, but it does still happen, and we must always keep each other strong in faith that we do not allow evil to dwell within us, and exploit the absence of light in our hearts.

Sadly, despite the good works that Christ has commissioned the Apostles to, and therefore, the missions that our priests and missionaries have, many still reject the approaches that the Lord has made. Ironically, even many of these rejections also come from ourselves, from those who believe in the Lord. It does not mean that once we are baptised and in the Church, that we no longer need to listen to the Word of God, and receive God’s good graces and work through the priests. We still need these, and indeed, it is important that we read the Scripture and reflect on it daily, in order to gain our daily ‘food’ of the Word of God.

The priests too, by the same power and authority, conduct the Transubstantiation, which is the turning of the bread and wine into the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same Sacrifice that the Lord made once and for all in Calvary, the very blood that Christ, the Lamb of God, poured down on us, and being a blood more worthy than all others, even that of Abel’s, this perfect offering is accepted by God, and thus, also the Precious Body and Blood on the Altar at the Mass, for our salvation and redemption from sin.

Therefore, let us strive to regularly and frequently receive the Lord into ourselves, and make ourselves always ready and worthy to receive Him into ourselves. That Jesus will be in us, and we in Him, and through Him, we are justified in our faith. Let the Lord to reside in us, and keep ourselves also nourished always with the words of the Holy Scripture, keep ourselves holy, and anchor all our actions in love, in the love that is of the Lord.

Let us pray together too, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Lord will ignite the hearts of those whom He called, to be priests of the Lord, and ministers to all the faithful in Christ. Remember that while the harvest is truly plentiful, but we do not have good labourers and workers to harvest them. We need holy, young, and faithful young men blessed and called by the Lord to be His missionaries, just like how Jesus sent the Twelve Apostles. We pray for all the seminarians and those who are on their journey towards the priesthood, that God will bless them and keep them holy and faithful in their journey.

We also pray for ourselves, that all of us can also increase further in faith, in love, and in our dedication to God and to the mission that has been entrusted to all of us. Help one another, and support one another in faith, through love. May God bless all of us, and bless His most holy Church, all the priests, religious, and our Pope, Benedict XVI. Amen.