true faith

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Friday, 14 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

In our faith, brothers and sisters, we must always be genuine. We cannot take our faith for granted, and neither can we only keep an outward profession for faith, but inside we truly lack the faith and do not believe in God. True faith in God requires us to devote ourselves to Him and be committed in our actions and deeds to show our true faith to God.

We must heed what the Lord wants from us, in our actions and deeds, in every single aspects of our lives. We often end up doing lip-service to the Lord and following superficially the laws and rules He had given us, instead of truly devoting ourselves to His cause. This we cannot do, brothers and sisters in Christ.

And we certainly will have to do and act in the way that we preach. We cannot say one thing and yet do another, different thing from what we had said. If we do so then our faith is shallow and not genuine, and can be easily swayed by the wickedness that is in this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord loves us, and I have to repeat it again and again, that God loves us, very much, that He gave us Jesus His Son to be our helper, and to show us the way, how to devote ourselves entirely to Him, by teaching us and showing us the examples of being a good and faithful servant of God.

The key thing of all these is that we have to love, and we have to base all our actions on love, and in all of our actions and dealings, we have to always align ourselves with the ways of the Lord, that is righteousness. We have to adhere to the principles that God had established, in His laws and tenets that we ought to know, understand, and obey.

God wants all of us to love, and to love tenderly, and to forgive when someone slighted us or made mistakes to us. He wants us to do the same too, when we have slighted someone else. He wants us to be reconciled with one another, and forgoing all the hatred and differences that kept us apart, that we all may once again serve Him together as one, united people, united in love.

And He wants to show us that faith in Him cannot be just limited to observations of rituals and obligations according to the law. We cannot be just bystanders and followers, following the instructions of our faith to the letter, without understanding it. What I mean is that, we have to truly understand what we are doing, and in doing so we will make our faith much more meaningful.

And that is why God wants us to forgive one another first and be reconciled before we make our offerings to Him. What He wants from us is a heart of love, untainted by hatred, jealousy and all the other negative feelings that mar the perfection of our hearts. Let this be a lesson to all of us, that we may take note of it, whenever we do something, and whenever we say something, that we truly reflect that we belong to God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us make a resolution before the Lord, that we will be ever better servants of His will, that we will forsake the way of hatred, jealousy and other negative ill-feelings, and change them for the way of love, practicing what we have believed in, that is our faith in the One and only True God, Jesus Christ, who came to us in love to save us. Amen.

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Friday, 14 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 5 : 20-26

I tell you then, if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to our people in the past : Do not commit murder; anyone who does kill will have to face trial. But now I tell you : whoever gets angry with a brother or sister will have to face trial.

Whoever insults a brother or sister deserves to be brought before the council. Whoever calls a brother or a sister, “Fool!” deserves to be thrown into the fire of hell. So, if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at once and make peace with him, and then come back and offer your gift to God.

Do not forget this : be reconciled with your opponent quickly when you are together on the way to court. Otherwise he will turn you over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, who will put you in jail. There you will stay, until you have paid the last penny.

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Thursday, 13 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

We often forget, brothers and sisters, in our busy life and hectic schedules, that first and foremost, we should have no need to worry about this and that at all. We tend to forget this basic fact, and ending up to worry without end, and to fill our days with endless concerns and wants.

Brethren, our Lord provided us with all the things we need, and He provides us along the way, to help us with our respective lives. We may not realise this because He did so secretly, quietly helping us to make through things. It is often ourselves who screwed things up, because of our worries and concerns, which made us to take wrong decisions in life which may cost us dearly in the future.

And we know and should know that our Lord loves us very much, and He is willing to bless us and help us, but what He needs from us is that for us to ask Him and beseech Him for that help. It would be as simple as asking Him and knocking at His door, to seek for the Lord’s help, simple indeed or so it may seem to be.

But, we often forgot about this and did not realise this fact, and we often ended up depending solely on our own human power and based our decisions on our flawed judgment, which led to problems and uncertainties in our own lives. All these because we failed to recognise that in life, we cannot succeed if we do not depend on God, His love and loving help.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God knows our needs and He will give us what is good, only if we go to Him and ask Him for it. He will not makes us to fall into a disaster or destroy us purposely simply because He cares and loves us very much. It is entirely against His character and will to cause trouble and problems for us. It is we ourselves who make problems for ourselves.

The Lord provides for all of His servants, to those who keep to His laws and commandments, for those who did not look away from His ways and keep themselves always in His grace. He gives all of them the best of His blessings and inheritance, as He had proven to the Queen Esther of Persia, His servant, when she asked Him for His help.

In today’s first reading, the prayer of Queen Esther, to put things into context, the Queen Esther of Persia, the wife of the then Emperor of Persia, Xerxes the Great, the greatest of the Emperors of Persia, was a Jew with a Jewish background, and a great enemy rose in the court of the Emperor, in the person of Hamman the Agagite, who despised Mordechai, the Queen’s uncle.

Hamman devised a plan and gained the heart of the king, and this plan, which was devised against all the people of Mordechai, that is the Jews, were to be slaughtered and killed without mercy and have their possessions taken away from them. This was where Queen Esther came into the scene, as she, as the Queen, tried to use her position and relations with the Emperor, to prevent that catastrophe from facing her own people.

That was what she was praying for, she prayed for strength, guidance and help, that she may be guided in her dangerous attempt to prevent the plans and devices of those who hated God’s people. And God heard her and the prayers of His people, by first destroying Hamman the great enemy, and by delivering the enemies of His people into the hands of justice.

Now you see how powerful God’s help is, and all we need to do is to sincerely and genuinely ask for His help, seeking for Him to show mercy towards us. If we do so, He will certainly come to help us, and provide us with all that we will need. May God help to open our minds and our hearts, that we may, in great humility, always seek for Him and ask for His mercy. Amen.

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Thursday, 13 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 7c-8

I thank You, o Lord, with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

With outstretched arm, You save me from the wrath of my foes, with Your right hand You deliver me. How the Lord cares for me! Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.

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Thursday, 13 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Esther 14 : 1, 3-5, 12-14

Seized with anguish in her fear of death, Queen Esther likewise had recourse to the Lord. Then she prayed to the Lord God of Israel : “My Lord, You who stand alone, come to My help; I am alone and have no help but You. Through my own choice I am endangering my life.”

“As a child I was wont to hear from the people of the land of my forebears that You, o Lord, chose Israel from among all peoples, and our fathers from among their ancestors to be Your lasting heritage; that You did for them, all that You have promised.”

“Remember us, Lord; reveal Yourself in the time of our calamity. Give me courage, King of gods and Master of all power. Make my words persuasive when I face the lion; turn his heart against our enemy, that the latter and his like may be brought to their end.”

“Save us by Your hand; help me who am alone and have none but You, o Lord.”

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Wednesday, 12 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Today brethren, we see how even a people, who were often prejudiced against by the faithful, as the pagan nations, and a pagan people, with their pagan practices and pagan idols, can turn their back to their sinful ways, and sincerely asking and begging God for forgiveness. That was why Jesus used them as an example to the wayward people of God.

The contrast between what the pagan people of Nineveh had done, with the lack of faith in the supposedly righteous and faithful chosen people of God can be seen very clearly in the two readings. The faithful people of God did not listen to the words of Christ, or at most did not take His message very seriously.

They continued in their debauched and misled way of life, and they even doubted and questioned the authority of Christ in His teachings, by asking Him for signs and miracles, as if what He had done all that time He had spent with them were not enough to them. They refused to believe because they had hardened their hearts against the Lord and closed their ears to His words.

On the contrary, the supposedly pagan and therefore condemned people of Nineveh, the capital of the powerful and all-conquering Assyrian Empire, when they heard the warnings of Jonah the prophet, immediately, from their king to the lowest of the people bowed themselves down, very, very low before God, and humbled themselves with fasting and penitence, showing their genuine regret and repentance for their past sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, an important lesson that we ought to take from today’s readings is that we must never judge on others based on our prejudice or any preformed opinions, and we must never be judgmental in general. We have no right to judge others because we too will be judged with them as one people of the same God.

And God wanted to teach us that no one is beyond redemption or help. What matters is not nationality, race, or any other categories of peoples that will help us to achieve salvation. What matters is how genuine we are in our faith and devotion to the Lord and in following His commandments and teachings. If we are true to our faith and be fully devoted to the ways of the Lord, then we will be considered righteous.

What the Lord wants from each one of us is not blind obedience or empty profession of faith, not substantiated by the action that makes our faith truly genuine and real. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us keep in mind of what God wants from us, that is our love and devotion! We cannot be half-hearted in our dedication to Him and certainly we will have to live up to our faith.

We cannot be like the people of Jesus’ time who professed outwardly as faithful and religious and yet did not show it in their actions which in fact showed the contrary. We should rather follow the example of the people of Nineveh, who showed their genuine faith and that they believe, not by empty words but through real and concrete actions.

We too, brothers and sisters, ought to show our love for God, by listening to Him, accepting Him in our lives and acknowledging at all times, the love He has for us, and the unworthiness of our sins, which we made and tainted ourselves. And yet our loving God is willing to forgive us from all of that and allow us to be reunited once again with Him.

Let us now therefore pray, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we may be like the people of Nineveh and be sincere in our faith, that we may give a hundred percent of our devotion to God and nothing else. May God too guide us as we make our way towards Him. God bless us all and be with us always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 12 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 11 : 29-32

As the crowd increased, Jesus began to speak in this way, “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah.

As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here there is greater than Solomon.

The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here there is greater than Jonah.

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Monday, 10 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Today’s readings are a premonition of what is to come, and which will come to all of us without exception. Yes, all of us will be judged, and there is only one judge who will decide our fate, which will last for eternity. That judge is our Lord and God Himself, Jesus Christ, who proclaimed the very role that He will take up in the future. He will judge all mankind and separate the good from the bad, the faithful and the rebellious ones.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is this judgment that determines our fate for all eternity, and once the decision is settled, and the hammer is down, our fate is sealed. It is either that we walk the path of righteousness and doing God’s will which will earn us a place among the sheep, on the right hand side of our Judge and therefore receive the gift of everlasting blessing and grace, to live forever in joy and perfect love.

Or we can choose to side with the devil, and walk the path of wickedness, either by committing acts that are wicked and deplorable in the eyes of the Lord, or by ignoring His laws and commandments, and by remaining idle when we are in full capacity and capability to do something in accordance with the will of God.

Yes, if we do these, then we will be on the left hand side, the goats, that is those who are rejected by the Lord, and those whom are judged unworthy by God to share the eternal blessing and grace He had allocated to those who remain faithful to Him. This leads to eternal damnation and suffering, that is total separation from the love of God, and in that state of nothingness and without hope, we suffer grievously.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, there are two kinds of sins that we have to really pay attention to. The first is what is often called the sin of action, the kind of sin that we are most familiar with. Essentially these are the sins which in our first reading from the Book of Leviticus tried to address, as also stated in the Ten Commandments that we all certainly know very well by now.

Basically these are sins by our direct and conscious actions, with examples such as murder, stealing, lying, jealousy, and many others, which brought negative consequences to either ourselves, and more often than not, our brothers and sisters, our neighbours and our fellow man, or to God Himself. These are the sins most obvious to us, because indeed, our world today are full of it. Mankind nowadays are often embroiled in violence and hatred towards one another.

This we have to avoid, yes, and we have to make the effort to avoid at all cost from committing these sins, by fortifying ourselves that we may not be easily tempted to commit these acts for whatever reasons, some of which bring certain advantages to us. But we must not forget that there is another kind of sin that we should not forget.

That kind of sin is the sin of omission, that is failure to do what is expected from us, the failure to do good deeds according to the Lord and His will. This is what Jesus mentioned as the Judge telling off those on His left, that they had ignored and cared not for the plight of those less fortunate in their life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to avoid committing these two kinds of sins. How best to do so? By strengthening our faith and defense against evil through a good and healthy prayer life that we may always be strong in our faith and not easily fall to the temptation to commit the sins of action. And whenever we have the opportunity to do good deeds, do not squander them. Be aware of the plight of others in need for our love. Give them our attention and be not afraid in doing so, even if others disapprove of our actions.

May we all not be found among those whom the Lord will reject on the Day of Judgment, and that all of us may strive to be always righteous and worthy of our Lord. May the Lord be with us always and bless us, that we may go through this life filled with goodness and be proactive in our faith. Amen.

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Monday, 10 March 2014 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15

The law of the Lord is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of the Lord is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of the Lord are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, all of them just and right.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour in Your sight, o Lord – my Redeemer, my Rock!

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Sunday, 9 March 2014 : 1st Sunday of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s readings, we see how the ‘old’ Adam and the ‘new’ Adam are compared to each other. You may be asking, why is there two Adams? That is because, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is the new Adam who came to rectify the faults and mistakes committed by the first Adam, as what he had done in the Book of Genesis.

In the readings, we see the clear contrast between the two Adams. The first Adam, our first ancestor, fell to the temptation of Satan with Eve, and they disobeyed God’s will by eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge, thinking that they might become like God as the devil spoke to them about. Yet Christ, as the new Adam, did the exact opposite, refusing to listen to the sweet lies of the devil and firmly held onto the faith in God His Father.

Yes, how right it is when it is said that because of the first Adam, every single one of humanity, including all of us have been condemned to a life in difficulty on this earth, and a life that is subjected to the power of death because of the disobedience of our ancestors. Initially, because of the disobedience of the first Adam, we were also destined for doom and destruction, which were our due for our disobedience, but all that was changed with Christ, the new Adam.

In Christ, the new Adam, mankind was made anew. Christ our Lord became one of us, the sons and daughters of Adam, that through His perfect obedience to the will of God and the total rebuke and refusal to follow the ways of Satan, He had made all of us anew, and bring us into the light of God. As the new Adam, He broke free the fetters and chains holding us, that is the sin of the first Adam, our ancestor.

Adam and his wife, Eve, the first two mankind to be created by the Lord, showed us the things that we are vulnerable to, when the devil came and offers us things that are contrary to the goodness and to the will of God. And the temptation of Jesus in the desert by the devil further highlighted the many vulnerabilities that the devil may attack us, to tempt us away from the salvation in God.

Yes, brethren, even though Jesus through His death had liberated us from the chains of original sin, that is the sin of the first Adam, that tainted all mankind until the moment when Christ broke free that chain of sin as the new Adam, the progenitor of new life of man, the devil can still attack us and as he always does, he tries at every moment to bring us away from the salvation offered through the new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ.

The temptations which Christ went through can show us the venues through which the devil may strike at us. The devil can strike at our desires, our greed and desire for things like food, as in the first temptation of Jesus. He can also strike at our ego and our desire and affinity for praise, and that was the second temptation of Jesus.

And lastly, the temptation of power and glory, which he may strike us with, is one of the most dangerous, which he made in the last of his three attempts to tempt Jesus. All of these he can utilise to break us and bend us to his ways. It is easy for us to fall if we do not prepare ourselves well. The devil has many tools in his disposal to trap us and make us fall.

Do not think that we can also use the Scriptures to ward off his attacks, if we are unprepared. The devil himself quoted from the Scripture passages when he tried to tempt Jesus! If he did so before, then certainly if we are unprepared, then we will be more vulnerable to the devil’s attacks. We have to prepare ourselves, by deepening our faith in God, and strengthening our devotion to Him.

Yes, brethren, we need to strengthen our faith, the shield of our souls, that we will not fall to the tricks of the devil. Our faith should be firm like the faith of Jesus. It is not easy, brothers and sisters, as the devil will be merciless and relentless in his attacks. We need to strengthen ourselves, and reject the alluring temptations of Satan, rejecting the false pleasures that he may offer us.

This is because the joy and pleasures he offers us are just temporary and illusionary in nature. They are pleasures that gives happiness briefly for a moment, and later on may bring about great sorrow and suffering. And ultimately, if we want to gain these false promises from Satan, we will have to serve and pay him our obedience.

Brethren, we cannot have two masters, either we serve the Lord or Satan, we have to make a decisive and concrete choice. And if we serve Satan we all should know that for a brief moment of joy and pleasure, we will suffer for eternity with the devil. Serving the Lord will not be easy, and there will be challenges awaiting us.

Therefore, let us from now on, seek the Lord with all of our strength. Do not be complacent in our faith but keep our faith living and strong, by devoting ourselves genuinely and sincerely to God, giving out our love to Him and to our fellow mankind. Be faithful brethren, and be strong always, against the evil one! Amen.