true faith

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Tuesday, 12 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10, 12-14

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”

“What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost.”

“It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”

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Friday, 8 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of St. Dominic, or also known by his full name of St. Dominic de Guzman, the famous founder of the Dominican order, named after him, known officially as the Order of Preachers or O.P.. The Dominican order had been renowned as a religious order that was often at the forefront of evangelisation and the spreading of the Good News, in perfect accordance to their names as the Order of Preachers.

St. Dominic himself was born in Medieval Spain, a time of much changes and difficulties, and he was a truly devoted and faithful son of the Lord, who eventually joined a holy order and devoted himself fully to God and His people. St. Dominic became a beacon of light to many of those who remain in the darkness, as had been foretold even since before his birth.

His mother, Joan of Aza, received a vision which showed a dog that carried a lit torch that spread light brightly throughout a darkened place, and little that she knew, that this vision would become a reality in her son, St. Dominic de Guzman, who through his actions, and the actions of his compatriots and successors, became a great source of light for those who still dwelled in the darkness of the world.

St. Dominic is an example to all of us, and we all should be inspired by his actions and deeds. We too should follow his footsteps in bringing many more people, our brethren closer to the Lord, just as St. Dominic himself had done before. And that was exactly what the Lord wants from us, to be wholly and completely transformed in our lives that we may glorify and proclaim Him in our actions and deeds.

In the Gospel today, Jesus told His disciples that if they want to follow Him, they need to carry their crosses and follow Him. And that is the reality of life, in which we have to face difficulties in life, if we are to follow the Lord and adhere to His will. It will be different if we choose to conform to the ways of the world, where we will be welcomed by the forces of this world and face less persecution and opposition, but at what cost? Nothing less than the fate and salvation of our very souls.

God had mentioned it clearly at the passage we heard today taken from the Book of the prophet Nahum, who wrote how God would restore those who had been faithful to Him and bless them with greatness, but for those who did not obey Him and walked the path of evil, He would cast out from His path and into the greatest darkness, into an eternal suffering that is without end.

God is merciful and loving, but only to those who repent their ways of evil and abandon their sinfulness will receive grace and eternal rest from the Lord and be saved in eternal grace. He does not desire our destruction or for us to perish as a consequence of our sins, but He gave us a freedom of choice, of whether we want to reject Satan and together then reject sin or whether we embrace sin in our actions, submitting to the temptations of Satan.

What St. Dominic did was that by preaching courageously and strongly against any forms of debauchery and corruptions of sin, he brought many people away from their sinful ways and into the kingdom of God. Many people remained in the darkness because they did not have the opportunity to hear, to see and to feel the light, which St. Dominic and his order of preachers, the Dominicans rectified by bringing the word of God and His truth closer to mankind, especially those who are in darkness.

We too have our parts to play, brothers and sisters, and that is to also bring the word of God to those around us who had fallen along the way on their way towards God and His salvation. And also to those who had yet to listen and know the truth about God, let us all bring His light unto them. This is done not just by words alone, but also through actions and deeds, that in all the things we do, we should do it according to God and His ways, and show that we truly belong to the Lord, and not to Satan and his evil forces instead.

May Almighty God therefore guide us on our ways, that we may be the bearers of the light and the truth, so that in all the things we do and we say, we may truly proclaim the Lord as our Lord and God, and rebuke Satan and his lies, designed to deter us and prevent us from ever reaching our loving God. Let us also ask for the intercession of St. Dominic, that we may be faithful and courageous in showing our faith to others just as he had once been faithful. God be with us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 July 2014 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius Loyola, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of a great saint of the Church, namely that of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus or also more commonly known as the Jesuit order, the largest and the most prominent religious order in the Church. This order had been at the forefront of the Church’s confrontation with the world and the forces of evil, and at the forefront of evangelisation efforts.

St. Ignatius Loyola and his fellow Jesuits worked hard to bring the word of God and the revelations of truth in God to many people across the entire world. He lived during a time of great difficulty both for the Church of God and for the faithful. The corruption of Satan and the evils of the world had entered into the Church, and the unintended consequence of that is how many people became disillusioned with the faith, but instead of trying to resolve the problem, they chose to take the shortcut out.

That was the Protestant ‘reformation’, a truly sad and difficult time for the Church and for all the faithful ones of God. So many of the faithful were led astray by the agents of the dark one into damnation and were lost forever. This was a defining moment when the unity of the Church and much of the opportunity to reunite the various segments of the faithful may be lost forever.

Yet, St. Ignatius Loyola and his faithful Jesuits fought hard to preserve the sanctity of mankind’s souls from the assault of the devil and the wicked. Tirelessly he worked so that countless peoples would be caught and snared back into the Church and into God’s hands, the same meaning meant by Jesus when He told of how the kingdom of heaven is like a fishing net with various fishes inside it.

St. Ignatius Loyola himself when he was young was an impetuous and hot-headed, wishing to seek glory and honour for himself as a knight. St. Ignatius Loyola was born from a noble and rich family in the Kingdom of Spain of that time, and decided to find glory and honour for himself by joining in wars and campaigns as a knight and mercenary in the employ of the king of Spain in his battles.

He was wounded in battle, and had to spend some time to recuperate from his health. During this time, he contemplated about his life and about his goal of glory and honour, and he found that it is not the way that he ought to take in life. Following this thoughts, and hearing God’s call, he decided to devote his life to a new cause, that is no longer for his personal glory and honour, but for the glory and honour of God alone.

This is therefore reflected in the motto of the Jesuits, which he founded together with several other saints, including the help of St. Francis Xavier the missionary. This motto is Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, which literally means, ‘For the greater glory of God’. Therefore, St. Ignatius Loyola was determined that in his actions and in the actions of his brother Jesuits, all of them must be done for the greater glory of God, and no longer for the glory of self.

We too, brothers and sisters, are called like St. Ignatius Loyola and many other holy men and women of God. We too are called to be the workers of God’s glory and honour in this world. We should no longer be so concerned about our own glory and personal triumph, less than what we should indeed do to bring greater glory to our Lord’s Name.

We should let our Lord guide us in our lives, like a potter who moulds the shape of the pottery. Let the Lord shape us in our lives, that in all of our words, actions and deeds we may truly proclaim the Lord, and to all those who listen and see it, they know that we belong to God. St. Ignatius Loyola had shown us the way, and what remains is whether we do something to walk in the same way as he had done.

Let us all ask for the intercession of St. Ignatius Loyola, that we may also follow his examples and work together, giving ourselves wholly to what the Lord wants from us, and become the extensions of His hands in bringing His love and grace into this world. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 July 2014 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius Loyola, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 47-53

Jesus said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish in buckets, but throw the worthless ones away.”

“That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So He said to them, “You will see that every teacher of the Law, who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old.”

When Jesus had finished these parables, He left that place.

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Monday, 21 July 2014 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we who belong to the race of mankind are prone to the kind of fault that we witnessed today in the Gospel. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus to show them miraculous signs and supernatural deeds to prove that what He was doing is legitimate, in a sense that is to impress them with His powers and miracles.

But Jesus did not want to entertain and let them indulge in their demands, as He knows perfectly the weakness of men, most evident in the behaviours and actions of those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Yes, we mankind like to be impressed and we often like to be awed because we often feel inferior about ourselves and insecure about ourselves.

That is why we have our fears and desires in life, but these are not necessarily good or beneficial to us. Our fear and our insecurities lead us to be fertile ground for the devil to spread his seeds of faithlessness and doubt. That was why the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who were so concerned about threats to their esteemed and respected positions in the society, that they did all they could to bar and disrupt the works of Jesus, whom they saw as a great rival to their authority.

That was why, they tried to discredit Him, and were blinded such by their insecurities, fears, and desires, they asked for something which Jesus had abundantly showed them through the times whenever He performed His good works to the people. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law should have been the ones who know the most of who Jesus was, through the numerous miracles and good works He had done. But they did not, because they, in their adamant and hardened hearts and minds, refused to believe in Him.

The same can also be applied to the rest of us, mankind, brothers and sisters. Yes, for mankind also shared the same insecurities, desires and weaknesses as those Pharisees and teachers of the Law once had. However, we have the opportunity for all those of us who are still in this world, to change our ways for the better. The Pharisees had their chance and they spurned it, and gave even worse troubles for the Lord and His disciples.

We like to be awed by someone who possess greater might, intellect and someone who can give us that feeling of security and satisfaction. But if we are not careful, we will fall into the paths prepared for us by Satan, who will definitely use everything in his arsenal of lies and deception to persuade us. You see, brothers and sisters in Christ, that not only the Lord can impress us with His goodness and might, as Satan can do so as well.

Satan has the world in his dominion and disposal. He has all the pleasures and wonders of this world, which we all know well enough, in order to sway our thoughts and ideals to match that of his ways instead of following God’s will. If our hearts are too attached to this world and all its corruptions, and if our minds cannot be disengaged from such perversions, we will fall prey to the works of the evil one, who tries to subvert the faithful to himself.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, a priest of southern Italian city of Brindisi, who lived during the late Renaissance era, at the time of the Counter-Reformation crusades and works against the heresy of Protestantism and many other divisions in the Church. St. Lawrence of Brindisi joined the Franciscan order, and during his life of service to God, he worked hard and zealously to spread the word of God and advance the cause of God’s Church.

The Pope in particular noted his zeal and dedication in service to God and His Church. As a result, the Pope appointed him to many works and duties that St. Lawrence of Brindisi took most seriously. And one of the many works which he was entrusted with, was to preach to the people of God, first called of all, the Jews, in order to bring them into the true faith in Jesus.

St. Lawrence of Brindisi is a role model to us all, because he served as the antithesis of what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did in today’s Gospel reading. St. Lawrence of Brindisi was faithful just as the Pharisees and the others were blinded by their own insecurities and fears to the point of doubting the very presence and good works of Jesus, which was truly apparent before them, and yet they did not see the truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all emulate the examples and the zealous works of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, surrendering ourselves to the will of God, and following His will, may we all be the ones to proclaim the Lord’s greatness and majesty to all of the world and its people, so that we may come together to love and serve the Lord. May God bless us all, all the days of our life. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 20 July 2014 : Epistle

Lectio Epistolae beati Pauli Apostoli ad Romanos – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans

Romans 6 : 3-11

Fratres : Quicumque baptizati sumus in Christo Jesu, in morte ipsius baptizati sumus. Consepulti enim sumus cum illo per baptismum in mortem : ut, quomodo Christus surrexit a mortuis per gloriam Patris, ita et nos in novitate vitae ambulemus.

Si enim complatanti facti sumus similitudini mortis ejus : simul et resurrectionis erimus. Hoc scientes, quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est : ut destruatur corpus peccati, et ultra non serviamus peccato. Qui enim mortuus est, justificatus est a peccato.

Si autem mortui sumus cum Christo : credimus, quia simul etiam vivemus cum Christo : scientes, quod Christus resurgens ex mortuis, jam non moritur, mors illi ultra non dominabitur.

Quod enim mortuus est peccato, mortuus est semel : quod autem vivit, vivit Deo. Ita et vos existimate, vos mortuos quidem esse peccato, viventes autem Deo, in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.

English translation

Brethren, all we who are baptised in Christ Jesus are baptised into His death. For we are buried together with Him by baptism unto death; that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer. For he that is dead is justified from sin.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ. Knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dies now no more, death shall have no more dominion over Him.

For that He died to sin, He died once; but in that He lives, He lives unto God. So do you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God; in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Sunday, 20 July 2014 : 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Bible Sunday (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today this Sunday just as last Sunday, we celebrate Bible or Scripture Sunday, when we truly come together to appreciate and honour this writing and collections of books which together make up the entire revelation of God and His words, which He spoke through the prophets and through His many servants throughout the ages.

In order to be able to fully appreciate and understand the importance of the Bible or the Holy Scriptures, then first we must know it and take the word of God in it into our hearts and minds. And it is important to know that without a sufficient knowledge of the word of God in the Scriptures, we cannot be truly faithful and devoted to God, for we are bound to be affected and corrupted by the falsehoods of Satan, the evil one, who spread his lies all the time to trap those whose faith are not strong.

But that does not mean we can just memorise and remember the Holy Scriptures and the word of God without understanding it and the true meaning of the literary works of the prophets and the writers of the Holy Scriptures. Do you all remember what Satan did when he tempted Jesus our Lord in the desert just after His baptism? Yes, precisely, Satan quoted the passages of the Holy Scriptures, and then twisting their meaning to serve his own wicked purposes.

Such will be the dangerous and powerful weapon that Satan will employ against those who knows the Scriptures, but refuse or disregard the need to understand the word of God and its meaning as written in the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, we cannot study or understand the Scriptures on our own, or claim that our understanding of them to be sufficient for our salvation, a view and idea which is called sola scriptura and which has quite a following among those who thought that they know it better than the early Church fathers in the matters of the faith.

Remember brothers and sisters, that the authority to teach the meaning of the Holy Scriptures has been bestowed by God to none other than Jesus Christ, His own Son, who came into the world. In Jesus lay the full completeness and perfection of all the messages and the prophecies of the prophets of the past and all the words of God revealed through the servants of God. All these are in what we know today as the Old Testament, that is the testaments and the works of the servant of God before the coming of Christ.

Jesus taught His disciples and many other people through the means of parables, or stories that are related to many different life experiences and scenarios, often not talking directly about God in those parables. For the laypersons and all those who did not understand the meaning of those parables, what Jesus told them in the parables might not make sense to them, but they might have truly understood what the stories were about.

The parables of Jesus were constructed around many real examples that if one is to take a closer inspection, would reveal that Jesus often talked about the professions that were truly ubiquitous and renowned, as well as common during the time when He was in the world. These include shepherds, which we know in the case when Jesus talked about shepherds and Himself as the Good Shepherd; fishermen, which Jesus often referred to in His teachings to the disciples in their future role as the fishers of men.

Jesus talked about farmers and sowing of seeds most often, because farming truly was the most prevalent job in the society at the time. By using these analogies, or parables, He taught the meaning of the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures with perfect clarity and true authority of teaching. With those examples and references, He could relate with the life experiences of the people, who then might understand the word better.

However, as we all know, that Jesus did not stay in the world for long. He accomplished the long-planned salvation for mankind by going through the punishments meant for our sins, bearing them on the cross towards Calvary, and gave us a new hope in life. Jesus rose up from the dead and showed us hope in His resurrection and then departed from this world to return to His throne in heaven to prepare a place for all of us.

Hence, Jesus passed down the authority to teach the Holy Scriptures in its complete and true meaning to the Apostles and the disciples whom He had chosen from among the people. He sent them the Holy Spirit, the Advocate and the Helper, who enlightened them with zeal and faith, and through the Spirit sent by God to them, they passed down the same truth and teachings of the Lord to their successors, to pass them down in the Church of God, on which God had invested the authority over all of the faithful.

There is no other wisdom and truth beyond that of the Lord’s wisdom and power, and hence there can be no truth in the Scriptures and the Word of God beyond the teachings of the Church. There were those who thought that they have the intellect and knowledge better than the Church and the early Church fathers who had received the teachings and the directly from the Lord Himself.

Luther, Henry VIII, Calvin, Zwingli, and many other countless heretics who rebelled against God and His Church were the very examples of how people have misinterpreted, twisted and misused the words of the Lord in the Holy Scriptures for their own selfish purposes. They were attached to the promises of Satan in the glories and pleasures of the world, and so deeply attached they were to their own human frailty and weakness, that they failed to see what the Lord truly meant in His words and instead caused great divisions in the body of the faithful, that is the Church.

Therefore, it is important that as we celebrate this occasion of the Bible or Scripture Sunday, that we read the Scriptures with understanding, and do our best to obey and listen to the teachings of the Church as espoused and held firm by its members and through the successors of the Apostles, namely our Pope, the Cardinals, bishops and priests of the Church of God.

Nevertheless, it is also important for us to take note that, we do not have to worry about our faith if we hold true to the teachings of the Church. What is important is that we have faith in God and keep it true at all times. God has told us through Jesus, that the faith in us is like the mustard seed. Mustard seed from the mustard plant is a very small seed, only barely a small speck to our eyes. However, when the mustard plant is fully grown, the plant is truly large, at least four to five metres tall.

What Jesus meant was that, if we allow our faith to develop and grow in us, then no matter how small that faith is, it will grow and flourish, and affecting not just ourselves, but also those around us and inspiring them to come closer to the Lord as well. But if we choose not to allow this faith to grow in us, then we will wither and perish, just as a mustard seed will remain just that, a seed if it does not sprout and grow.

How do we let it grow healthily then? It is by listening to the word of God, and not just by our ears or by our eyes that we witness these words of the Lord, but also to carry them deep into our hearts. Follow faithfully the teachings of the Lord that we gained through the Church, and we will do fine. Let us all work together, that all of us may grow stronger together in faith, hope and love in God. May He bless us always, now and forever. Amen.

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Friday, 18 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we should grow to appreciate more the tenets of our faith, and not just to know and understand them, but also to put them into the deepest parts of our hearts and minds. It is only if we had done this that we may truly be good and faithful servants of our Lord, who follow Him not out of blind faith, but out of true understanding and appreciation of His precepts and laws.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ time are hardliners and ultra-orthodox purists who took up a very conservative and strict stance on how the people ought to live out their lives in accordance to the faith and to the laws of God as revealed to the people of God via Moses and the prophets who came after him. They criticised Jesus and His followers, and were constantly at their heels, trying to disturb and harass them at every opportunity because they failed to understand the true meaning of the law of God, and in doing so, they believed in God through blind faith and ended up causing greater harm than good.

Jesus today in the Gospel advocated and taught us the importance of understanding the words of the Lord found in the Holy Scriptures, and finding the true meaning of what our faith, and indeed of what our God is all truly about. And He highlighted that using the example of His own servant David, who out of hunger, were allowed to eat the bread of offerings in the Temple, normally reserved only for the consumption of the priests. David and his companions ate the bread.

All of this is to show that God is love, and all about love. He loves all of His creations, and in particular all mankind, the most beloved of all His creations. And the laws which He had given to them through His prophets, is just another form of His love and dedication which He showed them. Through the Law, He hoped that mankind would be able to find their way to Him and ensure that these beloved ones of Him did not fall along the way as they seek the way to reach out to Him.

Sadly, throughout the history of mankind, and the history of the people of Israel, the chosen people of God, they had grown corrupt in their ways, and even with the prophets to remind them about the love of God espoused and enshrined in the Law, they still chose to ignore the pleadings of the prophets even to the point of rejecting and murdering them to shut them up for good.

And even after God had rescued His people when He showed His mercy to the exiled ones of Israel, they still persisted in their unruly behaviour, as shown in the occasions of the apostasies during the time of the Maccabees, when many of the people of God chose to honour their own safety and well-being in exchange for abandoning their Lord and their faith. But the worst of all was indeed not the ways of the people who veered away from the Law of God, but the rise of those who took the Law for granted and used it for their own selfish and self-aggrandising desires.

The Pharisees and the Scribes were among these, and they used the Law to impose on the people a very strict and unbending set of rules and obligations that ended up mocking and ridiculing the Law itself, causing the people to forget the true meaning and intention of the Law, in exchange for a blind observation of the faith which they truly did not understand and misinterpreted, to the point that the Pharisees regarded themselves as being superior to others and casually condemned all those who were against them.

Jesus our Lord came as the Saviour of the world, and of all His beloved people. Therefore, as part of His great mission, He came to clarify all doubts and remove the layers of untruths and distortions which the people had made with the Law. He came to bring the Law into its perfection, the Scriptures and the prophecies of the prophets and servants of God into their complete fulfillment, and to bring love, the love of God Himself, into the world once again.

And to show that love, which God had shown mankind and all creations since the beginning of time, He showed that through His ultimate act of love, the sacrifice on the cross on Calvary, when He bared Himself and opened His own heart to all of His beloved creations. In that, He made the Law perfect and revealed the entirety of the meaning of God’s love and precepts.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, even today there are still those who refuse to listen to God’s loving words and His calls for us to repent and to follow Him and instead, trusting in their own human wisdom and intellect and thinking that they know it all better than anyone else, walk on their own paths towards their own doom.

We must not end up being focused so much on ourselves, that we forget or ignore everything else, especially God and His love for us. Our fear of losing things precious to us and our attachments to the world can often stand in the way of truly becoming faithful disciples of the Lord. The concerns and worries of king Hezekiah of Judah, although a faithful servant of the Lord, was to become his taint and the blotch of ink that spanned through his otherwise immaculate record.

King Hezekiah was so distraught that he was to die young, that he begged the Lord for mercy, and kindly, the Lord heard him and extended his life. But later on, we found that if we read the Holy Scriptures, that King Hezekiah showed off his wealth and glory to the Babylonian ambassadors, priding in his own greatness and human power, all these while rejecting and refusing to listen to the word of God which He had spoken through His prophet.

King Hezekiah is an example of how attachments to worldly things and all other distractions that exist in this world may lead to our detachment from the Lord and His way, and end up being too caught up in our own concerns, worries and others, that we do not glorify God in our works and actions, but instead glorify ourselves and the evil one.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be mindful of all these, and let us be careful, lest our worldly attachments bring us into ruin. Let us all have a good and healthy relationship with our God, through devout prayer and obedience to the teachings of the Church, through which Jesus our Lord had made clear the purpose of the Laws of God, purified from all the corruptions of men, the Pharisees and others.

May Almighty God bless us and be with us always, that He may guide us to Him, and straighten our path and make it secure, that we may not fall into the darkness, but remain always in the light. Amen.

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Monday, 14 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 49 : 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. Those who give with thanks offerings honour Me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.

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Sunday, 6 July 2014 : 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord has entrusted this world to His Son, Jesus Christ, including all of us who live in this world. And in Him He bore salvation to us all, and remade us anew in light. As the possessions of Christ we have been liberated from this world and the darkness that is in it. We have been made anew in Christ and we ought to be grateful for it.

God lifted us up from the despair and hopelessness caused by sin, and bringing new hope into our hearts, with the coming and the life and death of Jesus Christ, who had knocked down the gates of hell and broken the chains that enslaved us to sin and death. He gave us a burden, yes, that is a burden to be the disciples and followers of Christ, but this burden is a temporary one, and one far better than the eternal burden we are to bear if we choose to forsake God and His ways.

As the Lord had said, that we ought to cast away our old ways, the ways and the pleasures of the flesh which corrupts us and makes us unclean before the Lord. We ought to be rid of our corrupted habits and lack of control over ourselves, and instead following the way of the Lord and resolve in our hearts that we will be faithful forever to the Lord who made all things possible, and who awakened in us a new hope and gave us a new life.

If we rely on the power of men and the power of this world, we are at risk brethren, for the power of men is limited and flawed, while the power of God is never exhausted and never fails to satisfy. The way of the Lord is not an easy one, but it is better than the path that seems to be easy, that is the path of Satan, but which leads to eternal damnation and destruction to all who are caught in his snares.

This world has always been against us and all the Lord’s creation, since it belongs to the evil one and lays in the dominion of the evil one, ever since mankind tainted the world by their rebellion against God’s will. It is founded on evil and therefore evil is strong in the world, but that does not mean that we are hopeless under the dominion of the evil one. Instead, as we all know, our Lord had liberated us through Jesus Christ His Son, whom He had sent into this world in order to save it.

And it is through Jesus, His life, His teachings and His works, and ultimately through His death, that God gave hope and life to mankind, and brought us a way to escape the bonds and chains of death and sin. But this is only if we repent and change our sinful ways, and follow the Lord with all of our hearts and with complete and total devotion. That means we must no longer rely solely on ourselves but on the divine providence and love of our God.

Do you all remember the parable which Jesus told His disciples? The one comparing those who built their houses on sand and those who built their houses on solid rock? This is a clear reminder to us by our Lord, how we cannot rely on our own strengths and powers in life, for it will be indeed like building up our houses on sand, which will not last against the forces of evil arrayed against us.

Instead, depending on God is indeed like those who built their house on solid rock. Remember, brothers and sisters! Even our Church is built on the foundation of the solid rock of faith, on the faith of Peter, whose name was given by Jesus, and which means ‘rock’. We all know that Peter’s own faith was not perfect, and he fumbled a few times during his time of following Jesus, culminating in his three-times denial of the Lord during His Passion.

It was not in his own human power and greatness that Peter eventually depended on, and it was not for the sake of human praise and worldly glory that he sought to do in the world. Rather, he surrendered himself completely to the Lord, just as all the other Apostles had done, and in that way, allowing the Lord to use him to do great things in the world and strengthening the faith of many others.

Therefore, our Church was founded by our Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, who founded it on the faith of Peter, His disciple, whom himself depended on the Lord as his foundation, and thus, we all in the Church draw our strength from God, who had entrusted it all in His Son, Jesus Christ. Those who placed their trust and faith in Him will not be disappointed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as mentioned, the path of following the Lord is not an easy one. Satan, the evil one, is bound to do all within his ability and cunning mind in order to draw us away from the Lord, the source of all our salvation and strength. And as mentioned, we know that this world does not match us, and we stand out in contrast to the ways of the world if we choose to follow Jesus our Lord. However, does this mean that we should conform to the world and follow its decadent ways at the price of our very own soul? It is not worth it. Truly.

We have to be more proactive in our faith from now on, brethren, that is to truly proclaim the Lord as our Guide and our Saviour in all of our words, actions and deeds from now on. If we believe, we should not hesitate, and we must indeed be courageous no matter how things will turn up for us. Let us begin to put our trust in Jesus and follow Him all the days of our life.

If live turns difficult and problems spring up along the way, then it is best for us to help one another and be there for one another, just as Christ Himself is always with us to guide us and protect us. And it is very important as always, for us to pray and pray fervently, that we may always be close to our Lord and remain always in His love. May the love of our Lord Jesus Christ enfold us and bring us to His eternal peace and happiness. God bless us all. Amen.