understanding the faith

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Wednesday, 6 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people, each and every one of us are called and expected to do what is right and just according to what the Lord has taught and shown us, to obey Him and His will at all times and be inspirations and good role models for one another. We are reminded to do what is pleasing to God as it is what we are truly expected to do, to be worthy of God and to be faithful to Him, to be the beacons of His light, truth and Good News among the nations. And since we have known this fact, truth and the mission entrusted to us, hence, it is imperative that we have to live our lives courageously and worthily as true and genuine Christians.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Philippi in what is Greece today, we heard of the Apostle reminding the people of God there to live their lives righteously and worthily of God so that in everything that they say and do, they will be good examples and inspirations for one another, to stand apart from the wickedness of those who did not believe in God or those who embraced the ways of the world. At that time, there were many people in the community who had lived wickedly in the manner of the pagans, those who were influenced by the many hedonistic and worldly attitudes and practices of that time, and it was these practices which St. Paul reminded the faithful against doing.

St. Paul wanted to remind all the Christians in Philippi and also all of us who have listened to his message today through the Scriptures that we cannot be idle in the living of our faith, and we should not conform to the ways of the world simply because we live in it. On the contrary, since we have been taught and shown by the Lord Himself through His Church on how we ought to live our lives as Christians, as His holy and beloved people, then we truly ought to show it through our real actions, words and commitments, and not only through empty gestures and proclamations, or empty and meaningless faith that is essentially just a formality. A true Christian is someone who truly acts upon whatever he or she believes in, and this is what all of us should be doing in our lives as well.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of what the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples and to the people listening to Him, teaching them using the comparison to the planning by those who wanted to build a house or by kings planning before a war so that they could gain the things that they wanted or desired. He used that comparison to show that if mankind can plan well in advance of the things that are to come, then all of us should do the same in preparing ourselves well for what we already know will come for us and will happen to us, just as the Lord has told us and reminded us. We all know that in the end, as we conclude our lives in this world, no matter how long it may be, we will have to account for our lives and for whatever it is that we have done, and for whatever it is that we may have failed to do.

That is why, knowing this, then all of us should very well prepare ourselves and commit ourselves to follow the Lord ever more faithfully in all things, doing our part to live our lives worthily of the Lord as good and faithful Christians, truly faithful in all things and not merely paying lip service to the Lord, and truly embodying our faith in our every moments in life, in our every actions, in our every words and interactions with one another, in our every efforts and endeavours, our every contributions and works, so that in all things, even in the smallest and seemingly least significant things, we will always show true and genuine faith in God, and we will be truly inspirational and good as role models of our Christian faith to one another.

This also means that we should not put the desires and pursuits of worldly glory and ambition, worldly matters and greatness, treasures and riches of the world to be our priority and focus in life, unlike what many others had done in their lives. Echoing what St. Paul the Apostle had told to the faithful in Philippi earlier on that we have just discussed, we too are challenged to live our lives worthily in the manner that God has shown and taught us, and to distance ourselves from all sorts of vices and wicked things, from unhealthy attachments and obsessions for worldly comforts, desires and ambitions, all of which may lead us down the path towards ruin and destruction, as they kept our focus and attention away from the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed and discerned, let us all ponder these carefully as we continue to progress through life. Are we going to continue living our lives in ignorance of what the Lord our God has entrusted and called us to do? Or are we going to embrace His call and to walk in the path that He has shown to us, following Him to wherever it is that He wants us to go in proclaiming His greatness and truth among the nations? Remember, brothers and sisters, that each and every one of us are important parts and members of the Church of God, and our every works and contributions do matter in advancing the cause of the Lord’s missions and works. Our every contributions and works are important parts of the Church overall missions and works in the outreach to more and more people and to bring God’s salvation to all mankind.

May the Lord continue to strengthen and encourage us all so that we may grow ever more committed in our dedication to the Lord, in our strong desire to love Him and to follow Him at all times. May He empower each and every one of us in our every actions, deeds and efforts, in our every encounter with those people around us so that we may continue to proclaim God’s truth and Good News to more and more people with ever greater zeal and courage, through our own exemplary living and actions, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all presented with the important reminder for all of us not to allow ourselves to be swayed by all the false leads and temptations of this world which may bring us into the wrong paths and directions in life, as all those things may hinder us from truly being able to embrace God’s path wholeheartedly and prevent us from accepting Him as our Lord and Saviour, from following the path that He has shown us and from coming close to the salvation which He has generously provided, granted and reassured to us all these while. Our inability to detach ourselves from the various worldly attachments and distractions is a major reason for us to keep falling into the path of sin.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Philippi in what is today part of Greece, we heard of the Apostle reminding the people of God there to be faithful and obedient to God in the same manner as how Christ has been obedient to the will of His heavenly Father, and just as how He has shown us what it truly means to be a people whom God had called and chosen. The Lord showed us all of these through His willing acceptance of the role that He has been entrusted with by His Father, that is to become the Mediator of a New Covenant between God and mankind, and to be the One through Whom all of us mankind are to be saved and liberated from the dominion of sin and evil.

First of all, we have to understand that we have suffered sin and its consequences in the first place because of our refusal to obey the Lord and as we had preferred to follow the whim of our own desires and worldly ambitions, all of which had led us into this path of rebellion and disobedience, separating and sundering us away from the Lord, from His love and grace. had made us to disobey the Lord and His commandments, leading us to be corrupted by sin, and hence, defiled and corrupted as we are, we can no longer stay in the presence of the Lord, He Who is all Holy and perfect, and in Whose Presence sin and corruption of the world cannot exist or stand. That is why, by our own conscious choice to abandon God and to embrace the path of sin, we have ended up being separated and sundered away from God’s love and grace. Yet, the Lord has never given up on us, and He has given us none other than His own Son, so that if we desire knowledge, glory and power of the Lord that led us to sin, by His selfless giving and show of perfect obedience, He may lead us all back to Himself.

Through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Lord has made available to us the sure path towards His salvation and eternal grace, opening the doors of His rich and most generous mercy, love and compassion, calling on all of us to come back to Him and to follow the examples showed by His Son, to be obedient and humble in our ways, so that through our humility and obedience, we may finally be freed from the dominion of sin, evil and darkness around us. God has always loved us all and He has always sought for the reconciliation between us and Himself. This is why we must not resist anymore or be ignorant of the efforts that He has made to bring us back to His loving Presence. He wants us to walk down this path of forgiveness and reconciliation, and if we continue to disobey and disregard His love, then in the end, we will regret our course of action.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, which was taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard the parable that the Lord Jesus used to teach the people, in which the story of how many of the people that a man had invited to come to his banquet refused to come and attend the banquet due to their various excuses and reasons, as they used those excuses to tell the envoy and messengers the host sent out that they could not come to the banquet despite having been invited to come to it. Essentially, each one of them were putting their own personal reasons and actions, their own attachments above the rich and wonderful banquet that they had been invited to attend, which they did not have to pay for at all, not even for a single cent.

We heard then how the host was furious at the rejection and refusals shown by those invited guests, and he told his servants to go out to the streets and to invite all those who were there to his banquet, to gather everyone to come to his table where he would provide for them rich and wonderful food and drink. This is in fact a metaphor for our own situation, as we all have been invited to God’s holy Presence, to come together and to enjoy the glorious inheritance that He has prepared for all of us. But many of us had disregarded His calling and generous offer, much like those ungrateful and wicked invited guests that had snubbed the host and refused to come to the banquet to attend to their own personal ambitions and things.

Therefore, it is a reminder fo all of us that if we put our own worldly ambitions and desires, our attachments to worldly matters and pursuits, all these above that of obeying God’s Law and commandments, and if we allow our many distractions and temptations present around us to lead us away from the Lord and His path towards salvation and eternal life, then we shall share in the fate of all those who have refused to attend the banquet that they had been generously invited into. Those who have fallen into Hell and damnation are those who have consciously refused the Lord and rejected His generous offer of love and mercy, and it is not God Who condemns us and strikes us down, but rather, our own wickedness and sins, and our own stubborn attitude, our rebelliousness and disobedience are what will condemn us into an eternity of darkness and destruction.

Let us all therefore abandon this prideful and wicked attitudes we have, be more humble and welcoming towards the Lord and His generous love. Let us turn away from our sins and evils, and embrace wholeheartedly the love of God, the kindness, compassion and mercy which He has generously poured down upon us. Let us remember the love of God shown to us through His beloved Son, His loving sacrifice on the Cross, which He has freely and willingly given to us, so that through Him, we may all have a part in the eternal and most joyful banquet of Heaven, which we shall all partake, and we will all be sharing in the love and wonders of the Lord forever. May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to empower us to live ever more faithfully in His Presence, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 4 November 2024 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Charles Borromeo, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, our first and foremost calling and mission in life is to show love to one another, and to be full of love in us, just as the Lord Himself is all full of love, for God is Love, and the love that He has shown to us, we too should also bear in our every actions, our every words and interactions with each other, our deeds and all the every parts of our lives. If we do not have love in us and if we do not love others around us generously as we all should have, then how can we truly call or consider ourselves as true and genuine Christians? That is because without love, then our faith as Christians, as those who believe in the Lord, it is truly dead, because faith without action, which are founded on love, is indeed dead and meaningless.

This is why, as we all listened to the first reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in Philippi in Greece, we are all presented with the Apostle’s kind reminder to the faithful in the city of Philippi that they all should truly embody their Christian faith through their love for one another, and for them all to be truly united as one people, all believing in the same Lord and God, the same Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has saved them all through His most wonderful manifestation of the perfect and selfless love that He has poured down on all of us from His Cross, at the moment of His Passion, His suffering and death. St. Paul pointed out that they all share the same Spirit of Christ, and therefore, they all should love one another, putting the needs of others above one’s own selfish desires and interests.

Contextually, at that time, during St. Paul’s missionary journeys which brought him all throughout many parts of the Mediterranean region including to the city and region of Philippi itself, there were a lot of divisions within the Christian communities especially between those followers and converts from the Gentiles, the non-Jewish populations like the local Greeks and the Romans, as well as many other people and then the Jewish diaspora population, many of whom were also divided in their allegiances and ideals like those in Judea and Jerusalem, and many of them subscribed to the idea of the Pharisees in particular, which championed the imposition of Jewish ways and customs on all the Christian faithful, and the idea that the Jews had the exclusive right of salvation in God, which likely led to divisions and friction in the community of the people of God.

Thus, what St. Paul told the Ephesians made sense as he exhorted them to leave behind all those prejudices and attitudes which the people had held in them, and which they had acted to one another, leading to strife, conflicts and divisions in the Church. He reminded them and also all of us that we must always remain united in our common faith in Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and we should not lose our sight and focus on this faith which we ought to have in the Lord, our most loving God. Our faith must always be centred in the Lord and not in our own ideals and thoughts, our intellects and worldly wisdom, or else we will find that it is easy for us to be swayed by falsehoods and temptations of the world, by false ideals and ways that may distract us from the path of God’s righteousness and grace.

In our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke we then heard of the Lord Jesus saying to a man who had invited Him to a celebration or banquet before His disciples about how when one invite someone else to a banquet, then the host ought not to invite those who are of their own families and friends, those who are close and dear, precious and beloved to himself or herself, but rather, one should invite the less privileged, those who were poor and who had nothing to celebrate with, and the context that the Lord told the man and His disciples was that, if the host were to invite those who were his families, friends, and all those who were good to the host, then the invitation and goodwill can be easily repaid, while when inviting those who had little or nothing with them, it will in fact be the Lord Himself Who would reward those who had done such a wonderful deed.

Again, as with many of the Lord’s other words and teachings, we must understand fully the meaning and the intention behind the words that the Lord Himself had spoken and not be hasty to interpret His meaning plainly and literally as many would have done. He does not ask us to despise or dishonour our own families, relatives and friends, or to only be partial towards those strangers and people who are less fortunate. Rather, His intention as He said this was that, He wants us to break free of our attachments and our constant pandering to those around us who are jockeying and desiring for attention, rewards and expectations from one another. That is how our relationships in this world are usually built upon, that is upon transactional kind of relationships, and the Lord wants us to learn to show true and genuine love, one that is not transactional, to everyone around us, be it those known to us, or those others.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo, a great servant of God and His Church whose life and dedication to God should be an inspiration to each and every one of us as Christians. St. Charles Borromeo was a young noble from the influential Borromeo family and he was a relative of the Medici Pope, Pope Pius IV, who was his uncle. From his youth, the young St. Charles Borromeo had been brought up and prepared for career in law, and he had a good academic preparation and education. And his connection to the Pope eventually brought him to be appointed as the assistant to the Pope, which was common at that time. He was first appointed as a protonotary apostolic and then at the still young age of about eighteen, he was made a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.

As a Cardinal, St. Charles Borromeo lived a simple and austere life, unlike many of his contemporaries. His connections to the Pope and being a member of the nobility did not make him proud, haughty or greedy. On the contrary, St. Charles Borromeo sought to deepen his relationship with God and to live his life and missions as best as he could. He took part in the Ecumenical Council of Trent in reforming the Church, and he spent a lot of time and effort in trying to implement the changes and reforms, especially after he was appointed as the Archbishop of Milan by the Pope, one of the greatest and most influential sees in Christendom at that time. He worked hard as Archbishop and resolved to reform the Archdiocese which at that time had faced a lot of worldly corruption and laxity in their spiritual and moral discipline.

He spent a lot of effort making pastoral visits and trips to visit his various flocks, reforming the seminaries that trained the new generation of priests and establishing various institutions to benefit the people throughout his Archdiocese. And he continued to be humble in his actions, devoting himself to the good of the people of God. He faced a lot of hardships and opposition, but St. Charles Borromeo never allowed all those difficulties and challenges to dissuade him from doing his best to glorify God and to show his constant love and care for his people, providing for their needs and guiding them through the right path in life, and he was also courageous in his campaign to root out and eradicate corruptions and wickedness in the Church and its institutions, until the last moments of his life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed earlier and from the life and examples of St. Charles Borromeo that we have listened to, clearly we can see that we must put our love for God and what He has entrusted to us, our missions and calling first and foremost, and not our personal ambitions and worldly desires, just as St. Charles Borromeo himself had done. If we allow those things to tempt and affect us, then very soon we may find ourselves distracted and misled down the wrong path. Hence, let us all renew our effort and conviction to follow the Lord ever more faithful and wholeheartedly in all things, now and always, and become good role models and inspirations for our brethren around us. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 November 2024 : Thirty-First Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday all of us as God’s holy and beloved people, as Christians, we are all called to remember that our most important mission in life is to obey the will of God and to obey and fulfil His Law and commandments, everything which He has entrusted and provided to us so that we may find our way towards Him with assurance and guarantee amidst all the distractions, temptations, pressures, coercions and all the things which had often misled so many among our predecessors down the wrong and wicked paths in life, away from God and His salvation. As Christians, all of us have received the truth of God, His Good News through His Church, and also His love manifested to us through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

From our first reading this Sunday, taken from the Book of Deuteronomy, in which the Lord told His people, the Israelites during the time of their Exodus and journey from the land of Egypt to the land that He has promised to them, we have heard of the Lord speaking to all of them through Moses, exhorting and encouraging them to remain true and faithful to the Law, commandments and rules which He had set before them, so that they may truly obey them and do not fall into the path towards damnation, which the devil and all of his fellow forces of evil have always been active in trying to lead us into those slippery slopes and traps that they have laid in the path of those who are faithful to God and many others. But God has always been full of love for His people, and He has always been patient in helping and guiding us to overcome our troubles and difficulties, the challenges and problems we face in our respective paths and journeys.

The Lord reminded His people that as long as they all faithfully kept His commandments and observed them wholeheartedly, loving Him above all else and doing what He has taught and shown them, in how He has generously and constantly loved them, in how they interacted with one another, then they would continue to walk under His grace and protection, and His blessings and wonderful guidance, providence and help would continue to shelter and aid them in their moments and times of need. The Lord has repeatedly proven His love and faithfulness many times, and yet, many among those people whom God had loved so much, still hardened their hearts and minds, rebelled against Him and refused to believe in Him or follow Him.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because of our own pride and arrogance, our thinking and perception that we know what we are doing and that we ourselves can be in charge of our paths and that we know it better, even than the Lord’s words, wisdom and guidance. Many of those Israelites and their descendants afterwards, and many other people throughout history had fallen into this path of disobedience and rebellion against God as they trusted more in their own intellect, power, wisdom and understanding of the Law, twisting the Law, the commandments and rules of God to serve their own purposes, ambitions and desires instead of to help them to love the Lord more as the Law had been intended by God. By the time of the coming of the salvation of God through His Son, about two millennia ago, the Law of God had become so different in how it has been practiced as compared to God’s true intentions.

This is why in our Gospel passage today, we heard again another reminder from the Lord to us, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who was answering and responding to the question from a teacher of the Law who had been asking Him regarding which Law would be the most important among all the Law and commandments of God. By the time of the Lord Jesus and His ministry, there were no less than six hundred and thirteen precepts, rules and laws, which were contained in the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament, where the Lord passed down those Law and commandments through Moses. But on top of what God had passed down, those Law and commandments had gone through extensive modification, amendments, changes and adaptations by the people.

Most importantly, even since the day and time of Moses, many amendments and adjustments had been made to adjust to the people’s stubborn attitudes, and their refusal to obey to the Lord, and as the Law was passed down through the centuries, and especially by the time of the Lord Jesus, there were those who sought to interpret and the Law very strictly according to the customs and traditions practiced by the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, and worse still, many of them no longer understood or appreciated why the Lord gave the Law to His people in the first place. Some like the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the Law were so fixated on obeying the full details, tenets and rites of the Law, in all of its vast complexities, that they obsessed over and idolised this careful observance they had on the Law, and persecuted those who did not follow the Law in the same way as them.

And thus the Lord reminded all of His people that the Law was meant for one and only one thing, that is for love, and to teach us all how to love. First and foremost, it is meant to help us to know how to love the Lord our God once again, to put Him always first and foremost in our lives, and not to be distracted by the love of all other worldly desires, pursuits, attachments and ambitions that had often distracted, pulled and tempted us away from the ability to truly love the Lord and prioritise Him in our lives. And at the same time, we are also expected to show the same love in all of our actions, works and deeds, in our every interactions with one another, to be truly generous in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us. Since God loves each and every one of us, how can we truly call ourselves His beloved children and people, if we hold hatred for others around us?

And the Lord Jesus Himself has shown us the perfect example of this obedience to the Law and of the way how we all should love each other. As mentioned in our second reading today from the Epistle to the Hebrews, He is our High Priest Who has offered on our behalf the perfect and most worthy offering of Himself as the Paschal Lamb, in obeying perfectly the will of His heavenly Father, to become the sacrifice to bring about atonement for our innumerable sins, and to reconcile each and every one of us to the Lord, our Master and Creator. And He did all these because He loved His Father, obeying Him out of love, and also for the same love which He has for every one of us without exception, that He has given to us by Him bearing the burdens and the brunt of our punishments for us, dying on the Cross for us so that by His death, we may be restored into life eternal.

Now, if the Lord, our most loving God, Father and Creator has loved us so much that He has given us all His only Begotten Son, to be our Saviour, to suffer and die for our sake so that we may be strengthened and reconciled to Him through this same Saviour, then all of us Christians, who have been called as such by our faith and trust in the promise of Christ, we all should also be filled with the same love, following in Christ’s own examples and actions, in loving God our Father first and foremost above all else, and in loving our fellow brothers and sisters around us, caring for the need of all those who are not as fortunate as us. We should always be genuine in our love, care and concern for everyone so that by our loving examples, we may truly be worthy to be called Christians, to be a people who are truly holy and beloved by God.

May the Lord continue to shower us all with His love as He has always done, and may He continue to stir in our hearts the desire to love others genuinely and generously at all times. May all the things we do in life, all the words we speak, the actions we carry out, all the interactions we have with one another always be done with love in the centre of everything that we say and do, to be the beacons of Christ’s light and love in all circumstances and in all places. May God bless us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, in everything that we do for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 November 2024 : Feast of All Souls, Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Black or Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the celebration of All Souls Day, the last among all the commemorations of Allhallowtide period, and on this day we remember all the souls of the faithful departed, all those whom we know and are dear to us, as well as all those whom we may not know, but who are all still awaiting for the completion of their period and time in the Purgatory, a place where we ourselves may one day end up in, as we await and expect the blissful joy and true happiness of Heaven which the holy saints of God have now enjoyed and are experiencing by the virtue of their obedience and faith in the Lord, and ultimately, the holy souls in Purgatory will also end up in Heaven as well, as they too are truly worthy of the Lord, but with their residual sins and corruptions preventing them from immediately attaining the entry to Heaven.

Today, we remember all those whose lives, actions, words, deeds and everything they have in their lives had not been wholly good and worthy of God, and whose residual or remainder sins, which are venial or minor in nature and not mortal sins, have kept them away from truly being able to enjoy the immediate effect of Heavenly glory and joy. This stems from the fact that God is all good and perfect, Almighty and all blissful. Hence, no corruption, darkness and sin may exist in His Presence, and in the past, God’s Presence and appearance is enough to strike dead anyone who dared to look at Him, except for the select few He gave the opportunity to do so, like Moses and Elijah. And even so, God’s Holy Presence was so great that it was unfathomable to them and those who looked at Moses after he saw God wondered at the great light and majesty of God reflected on Moses’ face.

Therefore, the Church and the Church fathers, the Apostles and their successors, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit had always taught of the necessity for all those who have met the end of their earthly lives to be rid of their sins and wickedness before they were to be admitted into Heaven. The saints, those whose virtues and good deeds far outweighed their sins and faults had by the grace of God and declared as such by the Church after a period of proper scrutiny, they have all deserved to gain entry immediately into Heavenly glory. But for many among us, whose virtues and good deeds may still be marred by some of our remaining more serious sins and obstacles, we have to bear some period of waiting in the Purgatory. It is not so much a place as it is in fact a state of our soul, where the suffering the holy souls are facing there are caused not by despair, unlike those in Hell, but rather because of the separation and yet to be fulfilled desire to be reunited fully with God. But they are ultimately destined for Heaven. 

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah we heard of the very wonderful words of the assurances that God has given to His people, the Israelites living in the southern kingdom of Judah, as at that time when the peop;le of God and their kingdom had been faced with great challenges and difficulties, obstacles and trials, having been broken in their unity andd scattered, and many among them having been defeated, conquered and overcome by their enemies and neighbours, enslave and exiled from their homeland once again as they had one endured before. Hence, God’s gentle words of assurance and love, and His promise of the end of their sorrows and sufferings, all the words He had spoken through Isaiah must have indeed been significant, and they also serve as a prefigurement for the salvation of all mankind as well.

Then, in our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Rome, we heard of the great reminders from St. Paul to the Romans and also to all of us, a message which our Gospel passage today also reminded us and echoed, that thankfully we have the great love of God for us which He has manifested through His Son, and this love has been shown to us most wonderfully in the most loving sacrifice of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, perfect evidence of God’s ever enduring love for us, that He was willing to offer Himself in the most selfless and wonderful way possible, becoming for us all the perfect and worthy offering and sacrifice to liberate us all from the power and dominion of sin, darkness and death. Through His loving sacrifice, all of us are brought to the perfect fulfilment of God’s love and everything that He has planned for us.

Lastly, as just mentioned earlier, in our Gospel passage today, from the Gospel according to St. Mark, we heard the part of the story of the Passion of the Lord, focusing on the moment of His death on the Cross, and afterwards, from the part of His glorious Resurrection from the dead on the third day. Through this reading we are clearly reminded that death has been defeated, overcome and conquered by Christ, Our Lord and Saviour Himself through His death on the Cross and most importantly through His Resurrection. And that is why all of us as Christians truly believe that Our Lord Jesus, our Saviour has truly died on the Cross to save us, as if He did not die, how can He then lead us through death together into the everlasting life and Resurrection that He has experienced Himself?

And if the Lord Jesus did not rise from the dead in glory, if the Saviour and Holy One of God Himself did not manage to triumph against sin and death, how can we then win against them as well? The Lord’s glorious Resurrection from the dead is a clear message of hope and reassurance from the Lord Himself for each and every one of us that if we continue to have faith and trust in Him, then we must be rest assured that we will also share in His glorious Resurrection, and death will not be the end of our existence, but rather it will be a new beginning and a transition from our mortal existence in this world to return to a new life blessed by God and to be full of His grace and love just as He has always intended us to be, from the beginning of time and everything.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore as we commemorate this All Souls Day today, let us all continue to pray for our brothers and sisters who have departed from this world to the afterlife. And we should also pray for all those holy souls in Purgatory, who may not have anyone praying for them in particular, because we must understand that our prayers are truly efficacious and the Lord will listen to our prayers made on their behalf, just as the saints in Heaven are also constantly praying for both us and for the holy souls in Purgatory as well. And we can see here the beauty of how united the Church of God is, even beyond the bounds of our mortal life and existence in this world, as both the saints and the holy souls in Purgatory are still together with us, parts of the same Church of God.

And we must not forget that one day, as I mentioned earlier at the beginning of today’s discourse and reflection, we may also end up being in Purgatory ourselves, having sinned and committed things that are against God’s Law, commandments and His will throughout our lives. If through our lack of repentance and forgiveness for some of our more serious sins, then those sins may serve as barriers preventing us from immediately enjoying the fullness of God’s grace and love, and which is why we end up in Purgatory as mentioned and discussed earlier just now, in order to purify us in our whole being, that we may be truly worthy of Him, as no evil or sin, imperfection and corruption may exist in His Holy Presence. 

Then, it may also seem that we may not be as righteous and as worthy as the saints are, but we must always remember that the saints themselves were also sinners like us, but they chose to commit themselves wholly to the Lord and embraced Him wholeheartedly. If we continue to do our best to live worthily in the Lord, then one day we too may share in the eternal glory that they have experienced as well, together with all the holy souls in Purgatory. All of us are one Church, one Body of Christ, all united in our love and faith in God, and one day, all of us will worship and praise the Lord together as one holy and beloved people, with nothing else separating us from God and the fullness of His love.

May the Lord, our most loving, compassionate and merciful God be ever merciful and forgiving for everyone who are now still suffering and enduring the wait and expectation of Heaven in the purifying flames of Purgatory. May He remember them in His most loving mercy, and remember His ever enduring and gentle love for all of them, that He may forgive them all their remaining sins and all the obstacles preventing them from returning completely and fully to His Presence in Heaven. And may we all, who are still living in this world be reminded as always to live our lives worthily of the Lord, to distance ourselves from sin and to continue to show care and concern for one another, as the Lord has told us to do, and to always remember and show our care for those souls in Purgatory who needs our help. May they have eternal rest in God’s Peace. Amen.

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Friday, 1 November 2024 : Solemnity of All Saints (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the great Solemnity of All Saints, celebrating all the holy saints, all those holy men and women who have enjoyed the beatific vision of Heaven. Today we rejoice in the honour of all these predecessors of ours who have lived their lives most worthily of God and who have shown us all how we should live ours as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people. And today we celebrate and honour all those saints who do not have their own date of celebration or feasts in particular, together with all the other more well-known saints. They all now enjoy the great joy and happiness that the Lord has promised to all of us, the experience of Heaven, the reward that they have received from God for their faith, their virtues and all the good things that they had done in life.

And while the saints are already in Heaven enjoying the happiness and wonders there, they do not forget about us, and in fact, they are still constantly praying and interceding for each and every one of us in this world. They are in fact part of the same Church of God, and are still part of this same one Body of Christ, made up of all the believers and faithful people of God, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. While the most visible and tangible members of the Church are the ones who are still living in this world, daily struggling with our faith and with all the challenges, temptations and difficulties in life, but the saints are very much part of the same Church and they are also always concerned about us, knowing the challenges and difficulties that they themselves had once gone through and overcome.

The saints of God are parts of the Church Triumphant, with them having triumphed against the evil one and their fellow forces, in trying to destroy and bring them to their downfall. They have triumphed and won a victory with God against their enemies, and have been found worthy to enjoy the eternal gift and grace which God has always intended for each and every one of us as Christians, as His holy and beloved people. Together with them, we are also all parts of the Church of God, as the Church Militant, the ones who are still struggling daily, fighting against the evil ones and their deceptions and temptations, in trying to each God and His salvation. And we must also not forget all the other members of the Church, the parts of the Church Suffering, whom we will commemorate tommorow as part of this Allhallowtide, the faithful and holy souls of the departed in Purgatory.

Let us all now go through our Scripture passages on this Solemnity of All Saints. In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Revelations of St. John the Apostle, we heard of the vision of St. John as he saw a great throng of the righteous, a hundred and forty-four thousand of them, who had been deemed righteous by God, and who had washed their garments clean in the Blood of the Lamb, all those who have arrived into the glory and the true joy which God had prepared for them, to be united as one in praising and glorifying the Lord, together with all the Holy Angels of God, and all those whom St. John had seen in his heavenly vision are truly the saints of God, the ones whom God and His Church had deemed to be worthy of veneration and of the bliss of Heaven.

This is a reminder for all of us that no matter what challenges, difficulties, persecutions or obstacles we may have to face or endure in our path and journey in life, in the end, if we remain faithful to the Lord and true to His path and to the missions entrusted to us, eventually, we will share in His victory and triumph, and we will be triumphant like all those saints that St. John had seen in his vision. To those early Christians living during the time of St. John’s ministry and when he received these visions of the end times in the island of Patmos during his exile there, being persecuted and oppressed by the Romans and the local authorities, or by the Jewish leaders and authorities earlier on, as well as by other members of the public and the pagan supporters, this would have indeed been a truly uplifting, encouraging and hopeful message of reassurance and support.

From our second reading, taken from the Epistle of St. John the Apostle, we heard of the words of assurance from St. John reminding all of us of God’s ever enduring love for us, as He is truly our loving Father, and He has always been filled with generous and most bountiful love towards us. And because we have been truly loved by God, we are truly fortunate, as He has always considered us to be His children, and has always designed it to be so. For each one of us have been created as mentioned in the Book of Genesis, in the image and likeness of God Himself, and we have been made perfect and most wonderful, to enjoy the fullness of God’s creation, to be the ones to share His most generous and wonderful love that overflows from Himself to all of us, and as His beloved children, therefore, He has always intended for us to enjoy forever this eternity of bliss.

However, because of our disobedience and refusal to obey the Lord’s words, will and commandments, we have fallen into the traps of the evil one, who lured us with the false pleasures and attachments of worldly desires and goods, all of which had made us to fall astray from the path that God has shown us. Instead, we chose to rebel against the love of God and embraced instead the false lies and sweet words of Satan, walking down this path of disobedience and sin which caused us to be sundered and separated from God’s love and grace. We have disregarded the great things that God has created and meant for us, and instead sought the inferior and illusory desires of our worldly pursuits, attachments and ambitions, all the things which had kept us away from His loving Presence and from the eternal inheritance and true glory awaiting us.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew, we heard of the words of the Lord teaching His disciples and all the people in the famous Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Eight Beatitudes. The word Beatitude is the same meaning as ‘Blessed’ or ‘Beatus’ and this is because the Lord pronounced a series of blessings for all those whose lives have truly been worthy of God, in how they have embodied good and virtuous lives, full of love for one another and with genuine faith and desire to love the Lord and to seek Him wholeheartedly in their lives. We heard about those who were poor in spirit, referring to those who were humble enough to recognise their faults and shortcomings, recognising the need for them to embrace God’s mercy and love, His guidance and strength, and also those who have mourned and in trouble, being persecuted because of their faith in God.

We also heard of those who were peacemakers and striving for peace, those who seek and hunger for justice for everyone, those who show mercy to others around them and other virtuous qualities and things which the Lord was in fact encouraging all of us to do through His proclamations. All of those virtues, values and actions were what the innumerable holy men and women, some of whom had been declared officially by the Church as saints and celebrated in our ceremonies and liturgies, have done in their own lives, in their own unique ways. And each one of us also have the potential and opportunities that the Lord Himself has granted us generously to be like one of them as well. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, on this Solemnity of All Saints day, while we celebrate and rejoice in the memory and honour of all those holy men and women, our predecessors, it is also an important reminder of what we can be.

All the saints have once been sinners as well, just like us. They had their flaws and weaknesses, faults and mistakes which they had made. If we read through the numerous lives and experiences of the saints, then we will realise that at some point in their lives, they have encountered many of the things which we have ourselves experienced, all the struggles, challenges and difficulties, the persecutions, trials and obstacles we may have faced in different moments in our lives. But what is common from the lives and experiences of the saints is that they all reject the path of sin and darkness, embracing wholeheartedly afterwards the path towards God and His salvation in their own unique ways, making good use of the various gifts, talents and opportunities that He had granted to each one of them, for the benefit of the people around them and for the causes of the Church and its missions.

We must realise that the Church is one Body of Christ, the united Body composed of those whom God had called and chosen from this world to follow Him, and to be His own people. And He had called us all with our own various diverse backgrounds, with our own imperfections and flaws, faults and sins. We are not a Church composed of perfect people without any fault, sin or imperfections, as none of us can claim to be such perfect people. But we are all reminded through the examples and the fates of the saints, who are now enjoying the wonderful bliss of Heaven, that we may also share in their joy, and that none of us are denied this opportunity by the Lord. Now what matters is for us to embrace this opportunity that the Lord has given us and do our best to walk in the footsteps of the holy saints of God, to enter into the narrow path to the Kingdom of God.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Creator, and with His innumerable saints and the Holy Angels, continue to strengthen us in all of our journey and efforts to come towards Him with faith and dedication. May He continue to bless our every good efforts, works and endeavours in each and every moments of our lives so that we may always be committed to do what is right and just, virtuous and worthy of His cause, as we should always be doing. May His glorious saints, our holy predecessors, in their constant intercessions and prayers for us continue to help and inspire us all in our own journey, so that one day, we may ourselves be in their place, to be worthy partakers and parts of God’s everlasting Kingdom and dominion. All the Holy Saints of God, Holy Men and Women of God, pray for us sinners, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded of the need for all of us to remain faithful, strong and vigilant amidst every moments in our lives when we may face challenges, difficulties, trials, opposition, ridicule, obstacles and other hardships that may dampen our desire to follow the Lord faithfully as His beloved and holy people, as His disciples and followers. We must not easily give up just because of these obstackes and challenges. We need to put our trust and faith in the Lord, that He is always with us in our journey and struggles. We must also realise that as Christians, it is likely that we may face persecution and oppression just as the Lord Himself has faced the same difficulties and persecutions.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus the exhortation that he gave to the faithful about how the people of God should always strive to put on the whole armour of God, which is a reference to all the many gifts, blessings, graces and all the guidance which we have received from the Lord, the gift of His Wisdom and the Holy Spirit, that become our source of hope and strength amidst all the difficulties hardships, trials and all the darkness surrounding us. The Lord has always provided us with the means and the help needed for us to resist the challenges and to remain strong despite the persecutions that we may face. Most importantly, we must always trust in the Lord and be open to His help, as we likely cannot overcome those difficulties by ourselves without God.

At that time, in Ephesus and in other places, the Christians in the community did face quite a bit of challenges from various sources, from the external attacks and obstacles laid by the local and Roman authorities, the opposition from the pagan worshippers who disliked the spread in popularity of the new Christian faith, as well as from the Jewish authorities and groups who wanted to curb the continuing spread of the Christian faith in proclaiming Christ despite their efforts to snuff the Church and the Christian missionary efforts from the very beginning. There were also significant divisions within the community of the faithful, from the disagreements in how they ought to follow the Lord and His Law and commandments, and also the presence of false teachers and heretical ideas that were already rampant even from those early days of the Church.

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus in His lamentations on Jerusalem when some of the Pharisees told Him to leave the place because Herod wanted to kill Him for what He has done in His missions among the people. In His response to Herod and the Pharisees, the Lord was in fact also showing premonition of what He would face and suffer during the time of His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross, when He would be betrayed by one of His own disciples, rejected and accused by the elders and the leaders of the people to whom He had been sent to, with the people crying out for His punishment and death, even when He had no fault at all with Himself, or deserve any of those punishments.

The Lord lamented over Jerusalem because of the persecutions that He and the many other messengers and prophets had suffered and endured, despite the constant and persistent love and kindness, mercy and compassion that God has shown to them all, to those people who had been stubborn, obstinate and hardened in their hearts and minds, whose sins and wickedness, infidelities and lack of faith had led to them falling ever further and deeper away into the path towards damnation and destruction. God still does not want to see His people suffering and destroyed, and therefore, as we have received such a great grace from God, being loved so much by Him, it is essential and just for us to realise how our sins, wickedness and stubborn attitudes did not help at all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded that prayer is indeed very important, as the Epistle to the Ephesians had also mentioned earlier. Many of us have lost our path and way in life, falling into the path of rebellion and disobedience against God because we have allowed the temptations, pressures and coercions of the world to pull us away from the path towards God and His salvation. And most importantly, many of those people have not developed good, vibrant and active prayer life in their daily occurrences and moments. Without this important link to God, which prayer provides us, it is therefore easy for us to fall into the attacks of the evil ones, and to the many pressures of the world to push us to conform to its ways, and away from God’s path.

This is why all of us as Christians must always spend good and quality time with the Lord our God, in silent prayer and devotion to Him. Prayer is a way for us to communicate with God, and through this prayer and connection, we can come to know what the Lord wants from us, from our lives and paths going forward. Through prayer, each and every one of us can remain connected and attuned to God’s will, to His love and grace, and it will help us to persevere through the many challenges and trials we have to face in our journey. We should also open our hearts and minds, to be humble in listening to God, and to allow Him to lead us down the right path in life. We should not be like all those who have proudly put forward their greatness and achievements in life, that they end up being stubborn in opposing the Lord and His truth, as those people who have persecuted the Lord and His prophets had done.

Today, which is also the Eve of All Saints’ Day, the beginning of Allhallowtide and which we all celebrate as Halloween, we also remember all those holy and devoted people of God, our holy predecessors, whom have persevered through the many hardships and obstacles as mentioned, and they did not give up their faith in God. On the contrary, they remained faithful and committed to Him, living their lives and enduring through the many persecutions and challenges with joy, knowing that they have obeyed the Lord and lived their lives according to the path that God has shown them. We should also therefore be inspired by their good examples and inspiration, and remain strong in our own faith, remembering that all those saints and martyrs are in fact still with us, constantly praying for us and supporting us in our journey.

May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God continue to strengthen and empower each and every one of us with the power, wisdom and guidance, the ‘armour of God’ needed for us to resist the temptations and pressures in life. May He continue to guide us in our journey of faith and life, helping us to be good role models and inspirations for everyone around us by our faithful journey and obedience to God and His will, keeping in mind at all times to maintain a good relationship with God through prayer and other means. May He continue to bless us in our every good efforts and works, our every commitments to His cause, so that by our every actions, words and deeds, truly worthy of Him, we may continue to proclaim Him as always in our communities and among all those whom we encounter in life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are presented with the reminders that all of us as Christians, as God’s holy and beloved people should always strive to do our best to follow the Lord ever more faithfully at all times, to do what is good, worthy, right and just in our every words, actions and deeds. As Christians, it is important that we should always embody our faith in our every moments in life, to proclaim the Lord to everyone whom we encounter and interact with, and to be truly good and worthy beacons of His light and Good News in all of our respective communities in today’s world. 

In our first reading today from the continuation of the discourse from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful people of God in the city and region of Ephesus, we heard the same message which St. Paul had told the faithful in yesterday’s passage, regarding Christian families and how everyone ought to play their part and roles, with great harmony and love, both for God and for everyone within their families. And today, we have the extension of this as the Apostle continued to tell the faithful that even in their own capacities, work and other areas outside their families and relatives, friends and circles, each and every one of them should still continue to obey God’s will and to do whatever He has taught them to do, to be truly loving and generous with one another.

It is a reminder for all of us that as Christians we are all called and challenged to live a truly devout and committed life at all times, to be good and just, righteous and virtuous in our every actions and interactions with others whom we encounter in our daily living, no matter what the circumstances or occasions are, and no matter what capacity we are in. All of us must always strive to be the faithful bearers of our Lord’s love and truth, His Good News and teachings, manifested and made concrete in our midst through our own good and faithful Christian lives. How can we treat our fellow men and women with contempt and disdain, when the Lord Himself has treated us well and showed us all His mercy and love, when we erred and fell away from His grace.

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard from the Lord Jesus Himself about how difficult it would be for someone to enter into the Kingdom of God, because while the Lord has always been generous in showing us all His compassion, kindness and everything that He has done to allow us to come to Him, but in the end, it is up to us to cooperate with the Lord and to embrace His love, mercy and forgiveness. It is not the Lord Who has made it difficult for us to return to Him, as He has always been willing to embrace us, to forgive us from our faults and mistakes, and He has always loved us despite all these, but it is actually our own stubbornness, arrogance, our persistence to follow the path of sin which has separated us from the Lord and kept us away from His grace and love.

It is all of our love and attachments to worldly desires and pleasures, our inability to detach ourselves from all these ultimately futile pursuits, ambitions and allures of glory and worldly fame which became our undoing and these are the main reasons why the path has become so narrow for us in our path and journey towards the Lord and His salvation, which the Lord presented in His teachings as we heard from our Gospel passage today, on how many people may desire salvation in God, and yet, only few among them may actually be able to achieve this, as too many of us are so preoccupied by all those worldly desires and temptations, all the distractions and wicked things around us that we end up losing our focus and attention on the Lord and His salvation.

And as the Lord Himself mentioned to the people, that there would be many people who thought that they deserved salvation, by saying that they had known the Lord, or supposedly were close to Him, followed His ways and been pious in their practices and way of life, which was likely an indirect reference to the Pharisees and their actions, their sense of superiority against others around them, all of which made them to have this assumption that they deserved God’s grace and salvation more than others, but unfortunately, they were so preoccupied with following the details and tenets of the Law, the customs and rituals according to their interpretation and understanding, that they had forgotten the reason and purpose of those laws in the first place. They had been so busy in doing those things that they have in fact distanced themselves from the Lord and shut their hearts and minds against Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have listened and discussed earlier on through these readings from the Sacred Scriptures, let us all therefore do our part so that we can continue to prioritise the Lord and all of His teachings and ways in our every moments in life, to be truly committed to a life that is focused not on our own selfish desires, ambitions, our pride, ego and greed, but rather on everything that God has shown and taught us through His Church and through the Scriptures He has passed down and revealed to us. Each and every one of us as Christians are called and reminded to be good examples and role models in our faith and how we live them, that through these, we may help more and more people to come ever closer to God and His grace, His salvation and eternal life. Let us all do our parts as members of the Body of Christ, the Church of God.

May the Lord, our ever loving, compassionate and merciful God continue to help and guide us in our respective lives, and help us so that in everything that we do and in all of our whole lives, our interactions with each other, we will continue to strive to be good and faithful Christians, not just in words or appearances only, but also in everything that we do, in our every interactions and cooperations with each other, in how we genuinely show God’s love, His truth and hope to everyone whom we encounter in our lives, in each and every moments and opportunities provided to us. May God continue to bless us all and strengthen us in our resolve and endeavours, our efforts to glorify Him at all times, by our faithful lives and examples, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 29 October 2024 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that as Christians, each one of us must always cultivate good faith in the Lord and inculcate in each and every actions and parts of our lives good attitudes and behaviours in accordance to what the Lord Himself had told us to do, and then also provide good and suitable condition for us all to grow ever stronger and more vibrant in our faith in God. This has been highlighted throughout our Scripture passages today, and all of us are reminded to continue to do our best to live our daily lives as good and faithful Christians in each and every moments, and in every interactions and actions we carry out so that we and many others may grow ever stronger in faith and draw closer to the Lord.

In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus, we heard of the words of the Apostle reminding all the faithful in that area to remain truly faithful to God and His Law, His commandments and teachings, especially in today’s passage context, is about the matter of family and relationships, between that of husbands and wives in their respective families, and how they and the other members of the family ought to react and behave in their various interactions with one another, and how all of them as parts of the Christian community and in their own Christian families should live their lives and carry out their actions to be truly faithful in all things in following God’s path and commandments.

At that time, the people of God and those who have embraced the Lord and His truth, His ways and teachings were living amidst many people whose ways were morally and spiritually corrupt, all those who allowed worldly vices and temptations to lead them astray from the path of virtue and righteousness. Hence, St. Paul told the faithful that they all ought to follow faithfully what the Lord Himself had told His disciples and passed through His Church, in all the rules and obligations that they ought to follow so that they may truly live a genuinely Christian way of living, in devoting their time and efforts to be good role models and examples for everyone around them, to show them how one ought to live as a follower of Christ and His teachings.

St. Paul also pointed out how the faithful Christian family is just like the Church in its structure, function and dynamics, and indeed up to this very day, the family is still and is always the basic unit of the Church, and are like the bricks that make up the whole structure of the Body of Christ, that is the Church. Like the Church with the various diverse people making up its parts, thus the family with the various people inside it, be it the father, mother, husband, wife, child and even extended ones like grandparents and grandchildren, all these have to work in tandem and harmony, live and coexist with love and compassion, care and concern for one another, so that not only that the family will truly function and grow well, but also the whole Church as well. If our own families are broken and are divided against each other inside, how can we expect the Church to be vibrant and strong as well?

Then, in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we also heard about the Lord speaking to His disciples and those assembled in the crowd listening to Him with two parables by which He wanted to highlight and to teach them about the Kingdom of God, and He used the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the measures of flour to highlight these ideas. The Lord liked to use these parables because first of all majority if not most of the people at that time were uneducated and illiterate, and if He had used complicated theological and intellectual terms and ways to teach the people, then they would not have understood the meaning and significance of what He wanted to tell them.

And hence, He used the examples of mustard seed and the measures of flour and yeast in the dough because many of the people were either farmers or involved in agriculture, and many of them were involved in bread-making or were familiar with the process as bread was an important core staple food of the time of the Lord. Through these He wanted to highlight to everyone who have been waiting for and expecting the coming of the Kingdom of God, which they expected the Messiah or the Saviour to bring into their midst, has actually already existed among them with the coming of the Lord, Who showed and taught them how to cultivate the Kingdom of God, that is none other than the Church, which He has established in this world.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church highlighted that the Church came forth from the Lord, with the outpouring of Blood and water that were shed on Good Friday, at the moment when the Lord in His Passion suffered and died for all of us. By uniting all of us to His humanity and by offering Himself as the perfect and worthy offering for the atonement for our sins, He has united us all as one Body and community of believers, all those who share in the promise of everlasting life, the Church of God, the Kingdom of God manifested in this world. However, as the parables of the Lord mentioned today showed us, that to grow and manifest the Church, there is a need for us all to cultivate lives that are truly good, righteous and worthy of God in all circumstances and occasions.

Those who are familiar with agriculture will know that for seeds to be able to grow into a healthy and good plant, those seeds will need to receive the right condition, of having enough water, warmth and oxygen from the air, and also afterwards constantly being provided with the loving care and maintenance by the one who planted it. Similarly, in order to make the bread dough to rise properly and become a good quality and delicious bread, the dough has to be put under the right condition, being added with yeast and deprived of oxygen so that the fermentation of the sugars in the bread can be done properly and the bread will rise and form into a good and proper bread, one that is truly desired, soft and full of flavour.

Therefore, in this same manner, in order for us to grow in faith and to be ever closer to God, to be better Christians we will have to strive to provide the best conditions available so that we may nurture our faith in the Lord, especially within our families and among those who are close and dear to us, linking to what we have discussed earlier from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians. We should do this through constant and meaningful prayer life and practice, both personally and together within our families, our circles of friends and relatives, and more. We should also continue to show genuine love to one another, forgiving each other our mistakes and imperfections, our faults and flaws, our trespasses and sins. As Christians we must always be full of love and compassion, mercy and kindness just as Our Lord Himself has been full of these for us.

Therefore, let us all continue to strive to grow in our faith in God, doing whatever we can so that by our lives and dedication to Him, we may always show good examples and be inspiration for everyone around us, teaching and showing all on how we should live our lives as Christians in all things. Let us all continue to nurture our faith and give ourselves the best condition that we may continue to be inspired to follow God at all times. And may the Lord continue to help and strengthen us in our path, and may He continue to bless us in all and everything that we say and do, in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 28 October 2024 : Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the great Feast of not just one but two of the Lord’s Twelve Holy Apostles, namely that of St. Simon the Apostle and also St. Jude the Apostle. St. Simon the Apostle was also known as Simon the Zealot, and was a member of the radical Zealots who were very much opposed to the Romans and their rule and occupation of the lands of the Jewish people at the time. Meanwhile, St. Jude the Apostle should not be confused with the traitor Judas Iscariot, as he is also known as Judas Thaddeus or Jude Thaddeus. Sometimes this St. Jude the Apostle is also identified by some Church historians and scholars with Jude, one of the relatives of the Lord. Both of these Apostles had extensive work and ministry after the Lord commissioned and sent them during His Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven.

First of all, let us all look through the Scripture passages which we have heard and receive today, reflecting and pondering upon the messages and words that the Lord wants to remind us all as His followers and disciples. In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus, we heard of the Apostle telling the faithful there about how they have all been made parts of the Church of God, becoming God’s holy people, having been called and chosen from the world to be truly beloved and holy in Him, and tofo share together the mission that God has entrusted to His Church, because all of them are part of this same one Church of God, as we all are as well. Too us all of us, God has entrusted the same missions which He has entrusted to His Apostles and His Church.

In this Epistle, all of us as the disciples and followers of the Lord, we are all reminded that we are all as parts of the one Church of God have been made to be the Temples and Houses of God’s Holy Presence, as the Lord Himself has come into our midst, dwelling in us and giving us all the gift of His Holy Spirit, and through Him coming into us and dwelling within us, each and every one of us should always remember to keep ourselves truly holy and worthy of God by our actions and deeds, our contributions and efforts that mark as truly as those whom God had called and chosen. If we are idle in living our lives as Christians and if we do not do what we can do in order to follow the Lord and obey His commandments, then how can we be worthy part of the Temple of God, this one Church of God that is His Body?

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke, we heard of the Lord calling His Apostles, choosing the Twelve of them from among all of His disciples, and which St. Luke introduced each by their names, including that of St. Simon and St. Jude whose feasts we are celebrating today. We heard how the Lord chose them to continue His works and to extend whatever He has been doing in our midst, reaching out to the people of God, healing those who are sick and troubled, proclaiming the Good News of God to those who have not yet heard them, and to prepare the way for the Lord, to reach out to the people and to bring them to God. And through these actions that the Lord Himself had done, He has shown by His own examples, what each and every one of us as Christians should be doing in our own lives.

Linking to what we have heard and discussed earlier today in our first reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, this is therefore what each and every one of us as Christians need to do in order for us to do what God had entrusted to us to do, to commit ourselves wholeheartedly and to do His will, to show His love, compassion and kindness manifested through our own exemplary lives and actions, by each and every one of our loving actions towards our fellow brothers and sisters around us. All of us as Christians must always practice and show the love of God and embody His Good News and truth in everything that we say and do, in every opportunities and occasions, and that is how we take part in the efforts and works of the Church, which the Apostles had begun and which all of us ought to continue and carry on.

And now, after having discussed and discerned on the readings of the Sacred Scriptures, let us all discuss further about the lives of the two Apostles whose feast we all celebrate today. St. Simon the Apostle as mentioned was a member of the radical Zealots who often attacked and sabotaged the Roman rule in Judea and Galilee, and he was likely part of this efforts and uprisings before he came to know of the Lord and became His follower. After he followed the Lord, it was likely that he was no longer involved in the activities of the Zealots, and gave himself wholly to the service and cause of the Lord, and after the Lord has risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven, he together with the other Apostles, strengthened and empowered by the Holy Spirit, went to proclaim the Lord in many places and regions.

St. Simon the Apostle according to Church history and tradition went to various places all around Judea and Galilee in the Holy Land, as well as further regions like Lebanon and Armenia, Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as traditions that showed that he was also involved in ministry and evangelisation in areas even further like Africa and Britain, where he likely encountered many people who have not yet known the Lord in very distant places, and he brought the seeds of Christian faith to all those people, telling them of the salvation and eternal life that Christ has offered and reassured them with, and which St. Simon himself had heard and witnessed. Eventually, like most of the other Apostles and the early disciples of the Lord, he was persecuted and martyred in Georgia in the Caucasus, during one of his missionary trips.

Meanwhile, St. Jude the Apostle, also known as St. Jude Thaddeus as mentioned, had different stories and legends depending on who he was associated with in history. He was known either as St. Jude of James or son of James in the Gospel of St. Luke today and in the Acts of the Apostles also written by St. Luke, or as the brother or relative of the Lord as mentioned. Nonetheless, regardless of the actual identity of the St. Jude we honour and celebrate today, he went to many regions to proclaim the Lord and His Good News, travelling all throughout the regions of Judea, Samaria and Idumaea around Jerusalem, preaching among the Jews and Gentiles alike, and also further afield in Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya, travelling to those places and bringing the Good News of God to many people.

St. Jude was credited as one of the first missionaries to bring the Christian faith and teachings to the region now known as Armenia, where he revealed the Good News of Christ to many of the people in the region, many centuries before Armenia was to become the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as the official faith. Eventually, like St. Simon the Apostle and the many other Apostles and disciples of his time, St. Jude the Apostle was persecuted and eventually martyred in the region of Beirut in what is today part of Lebanon. According to one tradition, it was also where St. Simon the Apostle was martyred, and why they were usually celebrated together. Regardless, the commitment and dedication that St. Jude the Apostle showed, with that of St. Simon the Apostle should serve as good example and inspiration for all of us to follow in our own life as Christians.should serve as great inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives as Christians.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all have listened through the life and examples of St. Simon the Apostle and St. Jude the Apostle, their commitments to God and their dedication in proclaiming His Good News and truth, let us all realise that we are all also part of this same Church of God, entrusted with the same mission to do God’s will and to proclaim Him faithfully at all times, in our various groups and communities and among everyone that we have encountered daily in our lives. May all of us continue to exhibit the strong faith, dedication and commitment like what St. Simon and St. Jude, holy Apostles of the Lord have shown us. And may the Lord continue to bless us in our every good and faithful works, endeavours and efforts, all for His greater glory. Amen.