trust

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Wednesday, 20 November 2013 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 19 : 11-28

Jesus was now near Jerusalem, and the people with Him thought that God’s reign was about to appear. So as they were listening to Him, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to assume regal authority, after which he planned to return home. Before he left, he summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver.”

“He said, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’ But his compatriots, who disliked him, sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’ He returned, however, appointed as king. At once he sent for the servants, to whom he had given the money, to find out what profit each had made.”

“The first came in, and reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.'”

“The master replied, ‘Well done, my good servant! Since you have proven yourself faithful in a small matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.'”

“The second reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver earned five more pounds of silver.’ The master replied, ‘And you, take charge of five cities!'”

“The third came in, and said, ‘Sir, here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping. I was afraid of you, for you are an exacting person : you take up what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow,'”

“The master replied, ‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow? Why, then, did you not put my money on loan, so that, when I got back, I could have collected it with interest?'”

“Then the master said to those standing by, ‘Take from him that pound, and give it to the one with ten pounds.’ But they objected, ‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!'”

“The master replied, ‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for my enemies who did not want me to be their king, bring them in, and execute them right here in front me!'”

So Jesus spoke, and then He passed on ahead of them, on His way to Jerusalem.

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Tuesday, 12 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Wisdom 2 : 23 – Wisdom 3 : 9

Indeed God created man to be immortal in the likeness of His own nature, but the envy of the devil brought death to the world, and those who take his side shall experience death.

The souls of the just are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them. In the eyes of the unwise they appear to be dead. Their going is held as a disaster; it seems that they lose everything by departing from us, but they are in peace.

Though seemingly they have been punished, immortality was the soul of their hope. After slight affliction will come great blessings, for God has tried them and found them worthy to be with Him; after testing them as gold in the furnace, He has accepted them as a holocaust.

At the time of His coming they will shine like sparks that run in the stubble. They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will be their king forever. Those who trust in Him will penetrate the truth, those who are faithful will live with Him in love, for His grace and mercy are for His chosen ones.

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Monday, 11 November 2013 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Wisdom 1 : 1-7

Love justice, you who rule over the world. Think rightly of God, seek Him with simplicity of heart, for He reveals Himself to those who do not challenge Him and is found by those who do not distrust Him.

Crooked thinking distances you from God, and His Omnipotence, put to the test, confounds the foolish. Wisdom does not enter the wicked nor remain in a body that is enslaved to sin. The Holy Spirit who instructs us shuns deceit; It keeps aloof from foolishness and is ill at ease when injustice is done.

Wisdom is a spirit, a friend to man, and will not leave the blasphemous unpunished, because God knows His innermost feelings, truly sees His thoughts and hears what He says. For God’s Spirit has filled the whole world and He who holds together all things, knows each word that is spoken.

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Friday, 8 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Today, we listened to the words of the Gospel, in which the Lord told His disciples on the parable of the dishonest steward, in which the steward was accused of making dishonest acts with his master’s accounts, and in his fear of his own future, he committed even more dishonesty, all to save himself and provide for himself.

It may seem to some who reads this passage at a face value, that the Lord endorses the actions of the steward, by saying that the master of the steward praises him for his astuteness and crafty nature. In truth, the Lord says that while the methods used by the steward is a good method and a smart move, but that is for this world, and not for the world of the next, that is eternal. It is either eternity in suffering or glory and joy.

We like to trust in our own strength, power, and ability, and we like to follow in the ways of this world, that is deceit, dishonesty, pride, arrogance, that we become over time, more and more like that of the dishonest steward. To be worthy servant of God, then we must break free from the entanglement of the evils of this world. The lures of this world’s pleasures are great indeed. It is up to us to cast out those habits.

We all have been made the stewards of creation, given to all of us as our charge, at the time when God created all of us. We have been entrusted this world as our dominion, that we would divide, multiply, and ultimately be responsible for all those who had been granted to us as our rightful possessions. It is in our power and dominion, to choose whether to do what is good or what is bad and deceitful, on our duty as stewards of God and His creation.

Be honest, be faithful, and be true to God and to our fellow men. We should not let our ego or our desire to affect our actions and our deeds. We ought to rise from the depth of our sinfulness and egoistic nature, thinking and caring only for ourselves, and rise up to love and commit ourselves towards caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That is the way that we should follow, indeed as the Lord asked of us, to die to ourselves, and to die to our ego. That we cast away this veil of ego and embrace humility.

The root of corruption and evil is truly when one succumbs to his or her own ego, and allow that ego to take over themselves and their actions. When we begin to put ourselves and our own interests ahead of that of the others, then we begin our path to downfall and destruction. But this does not mean that we cannot escape from that path. It requires great effort and dedication to the cause, for us to reorientate ourselves to the path of righteousness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, much is expected from us, as we have been given much. We have been given our skills, abilities, and talents, that we are indeed expected to utilise them, for good and for the benefit of all those around us. We cannot be negligent and ignorant of what has been entrusted to us. Let us therefore, from now on, resolve to become, truly better stewards and caretakers of God’s creations.

May the Lord who is love and mercy, and may He who grant us His gifts and goodness, empower us with His Spirit, that we will always be strong, against temptations and assaults by the evil one. Be with us Lord and strengthen us, that we, Your children, will be always loving as You are. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 12 : 4-5, 6

Look upon me and answer, o Lord my God! Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death; lest my enemy say, “I have routed him,” lest my foes rejoice of my fall.

But I put my trust in your unfailing love, my heart will rejoice on seeing Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me!

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 17-18, 19 and 23

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

But His face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.

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Wednesday, 16 October 2013 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Hedwig, Religious and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious and Virgins)

Psalm 61 : 2-3, 6-7, 9

My soul finds rest in God alone; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him comes my hope. He alone is my rock and my salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is our refuge.

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Wednesday, 2 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, or in short our Guardian Angels, who care for us, watch us in our daily lives and intercede for our sake before the Lord, especially when we are lost in darkness, and when we are being pulled apart by the forces of the darkness.

The Lord had not left us all in this world empty-handed and without guidance. Just as He gave us His helpers through His disciples, who passed down their authority to our priests and bishops, who minister to us, He had also sent even His angels to each one of us, to be our protector, companion, and guide. That is what the meaning of the Guardian Angels is about.

An angel created by the Lord had rebelled against Him in his pride, in his arrogance. That is Lucifer, now known as Satan. Once the most brilliant and the mightiest of the angels, he had been thrown down and fell so low that he is the most disgusting of all creations, as the great Enemy, the deceiver. And with him, came down many angels who followed him into his rebellion against God. These are the fallen angels.

Satan and his fallen angels were certainly not pleased of their failed rebellion and were committed to destroy the ones that God loves, that is His creation, particularly in mankind. He came down as the snake at the gardens of Eden, to deceive Eve and Adam, our ancestors. He successfully did so, and mankind fell into sin.

God certainly did not remain silent, but He sent His help over the generations through the prophets and messengers to help bring His beloved creations back to Him, by shunning their lives of sin and embrace instead the love of God. But mankind is easily tempted, by the allures of the pleasures that are in the world, and by the temptations of Satan himself, who sent his fallen angels daily to tempt mankind and sow darkness in the hearts of each one of them.

That is where the Guardian Angels, our Guardian Angels come in. They are in constant spiritual battle against the fallen Angels Satan had sent to us, in battle for our soul, for salvation over damnation of this soul we have in us. The Guardian Angels is at the forefront of this daily spiritual battle, as is all of us. We are always barraged daily with the forces of evil, through temptations and deceit, and we must be strong if we want to persevere through this challenge to the end.

The Lord does not want us to fall into sin and into hell, which He did not prepare for us, but for the devil and his angels. That is why He sent us His angels to protect us and to help prevent us from falling to that fate. These angels, our Guardian Angels are truly noble beings, committed to our salvation, working tirelessly day and night to ensure that this happens.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, have we all then, appreciate what the Lord had done for us, all these while, through His angels that He stationed around us for our sake? Have we listened to their advice and follow their guidance? Or have we rather followed our own desires and the temptations of the evil one? We have a choice in this, brothers and sisters, and it is up to us to decide.

Let us, together with our guardian angels, persevere and fight on against the forces of evil, supporting one another in this daily struggle of the faith. We cannot be idle, but we must be proactive, reaching out at our brethren, especially those who are struggling in their faith, those who have fallen into the state of sin, and those whose life is filled with all forms of evils and corruptions of Satan.

May the Lord continue to watch over us, through His angels that He had sent for us, to be our protectors, that they will continue to pray for our sake, interceding for our purpose. May we continue to be loving in our actions, that we will remain in God’s favour, and also reject Satan and all of his approaches and persuasions. Let us continue to fight a good battle with our Guardian Angels and give thanks to them for their commitment, and to God for having sent them. Amen.

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Wednesday, 18 September 2013 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learn on how difficult it is to be the followers of Christ in our world. This is precisely because, mankind always judges others, and they judge based on their flawed understandings and assumptions, which they made on everyone and everything they encountered.

We also like to compare on things, especially with other people, tending to prefer things or person that we favour, and reject things that we dislike or person we abhor. In this, we create divisions and ill-feel between ourselves, which result in myriads of things such as prejudice, jealousy, persecution, oppression, ostracism, among many other things born of this evil.

We often put our trust more in our own human emotions and opinions, instead of trusting in the wisdom and judgement of the Lord our God. That is why we often end up in conflict with one another, and unable to resolve the differences between us, and thus leading to even more conflicts. We often judge people based on their backgrounds, their races, language and by many other criteria.

The Lord Jesus today challenges us to be different, to dare to be different in that we do not judge others based on their appearance, or indeed judge other people on how they are different from us. The Lord wants us to look in deeper, into one’s heart and to be fair in all our judgments. If we want to judge on something, we must not do it based on half-truths and lies, but instead, seek first for the truth, the real and unbiased truth, and only then, we can judge.

Indeed, it would be even better if we do not judge anybody at all. After all, who are we to judge when we ourselves deserve to be judged by the Lord who is the Great Judge of all? If we do not want to be judged ourselves, then we should not judge in the first place. Note that many of the world’s calamities were caused by people being prejudiced, judgmental, and bitterly opposed to one another. Holocaust, Rwandan Civil War, and many others, many of which atrocities are still fresh in our minds.

Instead let us put our complete trust in the true judgment of the Lord and give our full faith and attention to Him. Let us instead in this world, promote love, peace, and harmony among each one of us, ending the evil cycle of prejudice and being judgmental of one another. In doing so, we made ourselves worthy in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord God who is the Judge of all, will not condemn  us in the Last Judgement.

Let us seek what unites us instead of focusing on the divisions that divide us or the things that caused such divisions to occur. Let us seek harmony and peace in love with one another, with our fellow brethren even from different backgrounds from us, that we may live together in the harmony and peace of God, free from discord, mayhem, and destructions wrought by Satan the deceiver.

If we fight among ourselves, between brethren in the Lord, and seek on what divides instead of unites, then we have fallen to the traps of the devil, who desires only to see us broken, destroying one another, that in the process, all of us will fall with him into condemnation, that is eternal suffering for all ages. The Lord clearly does not want this to happen to us, and that is why, through Christ, He wanted to show the importance of love and harmony between us, and between us and Himself.

May the Lord who is a loving God, continue to shower us with His love, bless us with His peace, and teach us how to be truly just to one another. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 9 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Psalm 61 : 6-7, 9

Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him comes my hope. He alone is my rock and my salvation; with Him as my stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is our refuge.