unity in the Church

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Tuesday, 10 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 1 : 20 – Genesis 2 : 4a

God said, “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth under the ceiling of the sky.” God created the great monsters of the sea and all living animals, those that teem in the waters, according to their kind, and every winged bird, according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds increase on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning : the fifth day.

God said, “Let the earth produce living animals according to their kind : cattle, creatures that move along the ground, wild animals according to their kind.” So it was. God created the wild animals according to their kind, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let us make man in Our image, to Our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the wild animals, and over all creeping things that crawl along the ground.” So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

God said, “I have given you every seed-bearing plant which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food. To every wild animal, to every bird of the sky, to everything that creeps along the ground, to everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” So it was.

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning : the sixth day. That was the way the sky and earth were created and all their vast array. By the seventh day the work God had done was completed, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had done.

And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day He rested from all the work He had done in His creation. These are the successive steps in the creation of the heavens and the earth.

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Monday, 9 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today in the readings from the Scriptures we see how God had done His marvellous and wondrous works in this world, beginning from the very beginning of time up to the present and as He will continue to do so in the future. And He did these all through His Word, the Word that made all things be and which made all things present, that is Jesus, the Divine Word incarnate into Man.

He who made all things real had resolved to come and save all those He had created. This is because ever since we mankind disobeyed the Lord and chose to follow the words of Satan instead of the words of our Lord, sin and evil, that are imperfections entered into our world and make things wicked as it is now. Remember that our Lord in the Book of Genesis had created the world, all good and all perfect, and no evil could be found within the world when it was created.

It was the pride of Satan, the desire and greed of men and all other evils that brought about the imperfections that ruined the perfect goodness that was this world. Hence, ever since, evil and wickedness found their way into the world, and if we see violence, hatred, prejudice, greed and other terrible things in this world, all of them stemmed from our sinfulness and disobedience against God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, but despite what our ancestors had done to ruin and mar the beauty and the purity of creation, our Lord still loved all of us without exception, and although He hates our sins very greatly, but He loves all of us, the sinners, and He has no other wish than our freedom from the clutches of sin and from the chains of death. That was why He gave us His full love and dedication through Jesus, His Son.

Jesus laboured and worked to bring about the healing and reconciliation of mankind with Himself, so that by His works, He might reunite a people who had been scattered throughout this darkened world. His coming is like light shattering the darkness which had engulfed us for a very long time, and His light is like a guide which shows us the way out of the darkness and into the salvation which He promised to all those who keep their faith in Him.

Therefore, why do we all hear of the story of how God created the universe and all the things living and unliving today? That is because it is in our Lord’s desire to make us anew and to return us to the same state as when we were first created. He wants us to be made clean once more and freed from the illness and darkness which had covered us all body and soul, which tainted us and prevented us from embracing our Lord in complete love.

Sin is the disease of our soul, and as long as sin and darkness are in our hearts and as long as they taint our soul, our bodies will not be free, and death will continue to bind us. Thus, Jesus came to deliver us from the bonds of sin, from the chains of death. He freed us by His own sacrifice on the cross, and by showing us the selfless love which He had shown us by that sacrifice, so that we may be awakened from our dark slumber and begin to find our way towards our loving God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, from now on, let us all take concrete steps to change ourselves and our way of life, so that we may be relieved from that burden of sin which has plagued us since times immemorial, and so that by accepting fully the love which Christ our Lord has for us, that we may be made worthy and righteous once again, just as what the Lord intended for us, before sin came and corrupted us to the darkness.

May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and help guide us on our way, so that the inheritance He had intended for us, that is to live with Him eternally in perfect bliss and happiness may become a reality for us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 9 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 6 : 53-56

At that time, having crossed the lake, Jesus and His disciples came ashore at Gennesaret, where they tied up the boat. As soon as they landed, people recognised Jesus, and ran to spread the news throughout the countryside.

Wherever He was, they brought to Him the sick lying on their mats; and wherever He went, to villages, towns or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplace, and begged Him to let them touch just the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were cured.

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Monday, 9 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 103 : 1-2a, 5-6, 10 and 12, 24 and 35c

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; o Lord, my God, how great You are! You are wrapped in light as with a garment.

You set the earth on its foundations, and never will it be shaken. You covered it with the ocean like a garment, and waters spread over the mountains.

You make springs gush forth in valleys winding among mountains and hills, birds build their nests close by and sing among the branches of trees.

How varied o Lord, are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all – the earth full of Your creatures. Bless the Lord, my soul!

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Monday, 9 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 1 : 1-19

In the beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth had no form and was void; darkness was over the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘Day’ and the darkness ‘Night’. There was evening and there was morning : the first day.

God said, “Let there be a firm ceiling between the waters and let it separate waters from waters.” So God made the ceiling and separated the waters below it from the waters above it. And so it was. God called the firm ceiling ‘Sky’. There was evening and there was morning : the second day.

God said, “Let the waters below the sky be gathered together in one place and let dry land appear. And so it was. God called the dry land ‘Earth’, and the waters gathered together He called ‘Seas’. God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit with seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.”

And so it was. The earth produced vegetation : plants bearing seed according to their kind and trees producing fruit which has seed, according to their kind. God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning : the third day.

God said, “Let there be lights in the ceiling of the sky to separate day from night and to serve as signs for the seasons, days and years; and let these lights in the sky shine above the earth.” And so it was. God therefore made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the smaller light to govern the night; and God made the stars as well.

God placed them in the ceiling of the sky to give light on the earth and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning : the fourth day.

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Saturday, 7 February 2015 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we discuss in the readings of the Holy Scriptures, of the nature of our Lord and God as our Shepherd and loving Guide, who cares for all of us, as His beloved children and people. He wants us all to be reunited with Him, and that was why He sent us Jesus His Son, to be the Deliverer and Saviour of us all, to bring us from all evils and liberate us all from all forms of sins.

God did not desire our destruction, but instead He wants us all to be saved from our own destructive attitudes, our rebelliousness and disobedience against His will which directly leads us into sin, and from sin into death, as sin is an obstacle for us to be reunited with our Lord, and without the Lord our God, our Shepherd, we are truly nothing. We cannot survive without the love of our Shepherd, just as sheep cannot survive and prosper without their shepherds.

We have lived for a very long time in the darkness, and we have lost our way in the darkness of this world, and without a guide, we are condemned to an eternity in darkness and suffering, in a state of hopelessness and complete separation from the love of our God. All these are because of our sins, the disobediences we have committed before the Lord and men alike.

But as I have mentioned, the Lord loves us very, very much, and just as the shepherd loves his sheep and cares for all of them without exception, thus the same applies to our Lord, who does not want even a single one of His sheep, that is all of us, to be lost from Him. We can liken this to a shepherd who does not wish his sheep to be lost to the wolves, to be scattered and without a leader to guide them and show them the way to a good life.

Thus this was why if we look at the Gospel passage today, even though our Lord Jesus and His disciples were very tired, particularly our Lord Himself, after ministering without cease on many occasions to the multitudes of the people of God, He still pushed Himself forth and taught more people who were looking for Him for guidance and the way for them to go in their life.

That is because He truly has concern and love for us. He is genuinely worried about us, for what is at stake is nothing other than the eternal fate of us all, and if He did nothing to save us, then all of us would have been lost, body and soul, to the eternal suffering and despair in hellfire. This is the fate that He does not want us all to have, and that was why, He became our Shepherd, to guide us all along the right path and show us all the path towards salvation in Him.

And just as a shepherd is willing to die and give up his life for his sheep, thus our Lord Jesus, our Shepherd is also willing to lay down His life for our sake. He laid down His life to protect us, and indeed to deliver us from the darkness of this world, to pay the price for our sins. Shepherds are willing to put their own lives at risk just so that their sheep may be safe from the depredations of wolves and all others that seek their destruction and harm. And indeed, our Lord is no different.

So for such a great love and care which our Lord had shown us all, even to the point of bearing the consequences of our sins and to even bear enormous suffering and to die for us, have we shown Him the same kind of unconditional and genuine love which we ought to show Him? Most often, we have shown Him contempt and indifference, and we even reject the love He had given us freely.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all appreciate the love which our Lord and Shepherd had shown us, and let us reciprocate it by loving Him back and following Him and the path which He had shown to all of us. Let us follow Him with all of our heart and let us no longer be disobedient but follow Him all the way to the end, where He will reward us with rich rewards and eternal life in bliss. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 February 2015 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Mark 6 : 30-34

At that time, the Apostles returned and reported to Jesus all they had done and taught. Then He said to them, “Go off by yourselves to a remote place and have some rest.” For there were so many people coming and going that the Apostles had no time even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a secluded area by themselves.

But the people saw them leaving, and many could guess where they were going. So, from all the towns, they hurried there on foot, arriving ahead of them. As Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began a long teaching session with them.

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Saturday, 7 February 2015 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

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Saturday, 7 February 2015 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Hebrews 13 : 15-17, 20-21

Let us, then, continually offer through Jesus a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips celebrating His Name. Do not neglect good works and common life, for these are sacrifices pleasing to God. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are concerned for your souls and are accountable for them. Let this be a joy for them rather than a burden, which would be of no advantage for you.

May God give you peace, He who brought back from among the dead Jesus our Lord, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, whose Blood seals the eternal covenant. He will train you in every good work, that you may do His will, for it is He who works in us what pleases Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom all glory be forever and ever. Amen!

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Friday, 6 February 2015 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the stories of faithful marriage and what we must do to preserve sanctity and holiness in our matrimony, as well as the story of the death and martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, the messenger and herald of the Lord, who was murdered, albeit unintentionally by Herod, the king of Judea at the time.

The readings of today are all related in that they spoke of the same theme, that is the sanctity of marriage, the holiness which should be maintained at all times in our marriage, and not only in our marriage but also in our lives. And they also highlighted to us the dangers and obstacles that will come our way if we stay faithful to our Lord, the opposition and difficulties that will be laid upon us.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Paul Miki and his companions, who are the brave and courageous servants of the Lord, who were martyred for their Faith during the violent persecutions of the faithful in Japan during the early years of the seventeenth century under the Tokugawa shogunate. St. Paul Miki was a Jesuit, a faithful missionary and servant of God, and a very successful preacher of his time, bringing many into the Church through his words and actions.

The faith had been growing strong in Japan at that time, and hundreds of thousands, peasants and lords alike have turned towards the Lord, accepting God as their Lord and Saviour. However, the secular government at the time changed their earlier toleration of the Faith and became very hostile to it. To them, the Faith is a threat to their existence, simply because it spoke the truth about this world, that is filled with much filth and wickedness.

And thus St. Paul Miki and his companions suffered, for they remained true to their Faith and refused to succumb to the temptations of the world, and they spoke for the truth which Christ had brought upon this world. They were persecuted and tortured, but they did not give up the Faith, and instead through their perseverance, they showed the truth of Christ to all who have tortured and persecuted them. Some even believed, converted and followed in being martyred with them.

And St. John the Baptist had also endured the same suffering for the Lord, for speaking up the truth of the Lord, out of concern for mankind and all the sins they have committed. He chastised Herod and his brother’s wife, Herodias, whom Herod had taken as if she was his own wife. This was a great adultery, the improper relations one had outside of marriage, and this is what St. Paul in his letter to the Hebrews had reminded us all against.

By the fornication of the flesh which Herod and Herodias had committed, by being unfaithful to the sanctity of marriage and through their actions which spat upon the sacredness of the bonds of holy matrimony, they have sinned greatly before God. And what is truly sad is that, despite having sinned before the Lord, they continued to live in their sin, and being engulfed in that sin, they ended up sinning even more.

Indeed, such is the great danger of sin, that it continues to corrupt the soul and bring us to sin even more. Herod was corrupted with the sin of greed, of lust and of pride, and with Herodias, they together committed the sin of adultery, and later on Herodias also developed the sin of anger and hatred against the truth spoken by St. John the Baptist.

And Herod gave in to the temptation of the flesh, when he saw the beauty of Herodias’ daughter, giving in to temptation, and under that same temptation, proclaiming vows and oaths he could not retract later on. And Herod therefore took part in the slaying of the messenger of God, and his sin grew ever more. Herod sinned because he refused to repent and continued in his sinfulness and in not changing his life.

This is a warning and a revelation to all of us, that the anchor of our faith, the foundation of our lives must be strong, that is our families. If our families are built upon a solid foundation of faith, that is keeping holiness and purity in our marriage and married life, then we can be assured that sin will have a hard time to get unto us. It does not mean that we will be free from the threat of sin, which is ever-present, but rather that if our families and the institution of marriage are not well respected, then the danger of sin is ever the greater, just as the case of Herod had shown us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we ought to recall the examples of the holy saints and martyrs, of the courage of St. John the Baptist who dared to chastise a king to make him see the errors of his ways. Even though this was not to happen, but at least through what he had done, he became a shining symbol of the true faith in the Lord.

And the examples of St. Paul Miki and his companions should also inspire us, that sin and all of the darkness of evil has no power over us as long as we remain faithful to the Lord. St. Paul Miki was tortured, scourged and humiliated, and they were made to an extremely arduous journey and death march from the Imperial capital of Kyoto to Nagasaki, where they were martyred, a very great distance for them to march under terrible condition and torture by their executors.

Yet, they gladly march to meet their death, and they sang the great thanksgiving hymn to God, the ‘Te Deum’ along the way. This is because they knew that they had stood up for their faith and for the Lord, and in what they have done, they had brought countless others into salvation in God, and that God would not abandon them and they would not be disappointed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all profoundly change our way of life and reflect on the actions of the holy martyrs and saints which I have mentioned. Let us no longer live in sin, but dedicate ourselves to a life of holiness, a life filled with virtue and the love of God. May Almighty God be with us all, forgive us all our sins and in His mercy and love, may He find us worthy for our deeds made out of faith and love for Him and grant us eternal life. Amen.