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Saturday, 1 March 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

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

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all know, that children are the greatest of the gifts of God to us. Children are the fruits of love, and they were born pure and innocent. Why are they then so great in their faith? That is because the faith of a child is the purest kind of faith, one that is unadulterated and untainted by the concerns and corruptions of this world.

The Lord Jesus showed His disciples, that if they reject these children, who came to Him in faith, that means they too also reject Him, because they failed to understand that their faith needs to be like these children’s faith. Faith is often clouded and hidden behind a thick cloud of darkness, that is the corruption of sin, and all the concerns of the world.

When we were all still a child, we do not have much worries and concerns. We do not have much things to think about, and like what many of us who have children will know, we understand that children wants just care, love and concern by their loved ones. They were innocent, pure, and if they believe in something, they truly believe in it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, have our faith been like the faith of children? Or have our faith been muddled with the corruptions of the world? We have many good things in this world, all the pleasures and the joy that this world can offer. The wealth and prosperity which this world can give to us, if we follow the ways of the world.

But if we do so, then are we faithful to the ways of the Lord? The way of this world promotes excessiveness, it promotes self-indulgence and hedonistic lifestyle. It does not necessarily mean bad thing, but if we immerse ourselves too deeply with the concerns of this world, more likely than not, our faith will gradually wear down, and we will then prefer to walk on our own way.

We like to complain and be angry, especially at God, when we face difficulties in life. And we especially are angry with Him when we think that He had not heard us or abandoned us. We often question Him and His love for us, without realising that our every breath is the proof of God’s love and dedication for us.

When we pray and when we ask God for help, much of the time, we do not make those prayers in full sincerity. We pray because we need something, and we need that something be taken care of. Yet, we often fail to realise that prayer is mainly the means of communication between us and our Lord who loves us, so much that He wants to talk to us regularly and continuously. Yet, our stubbornness and lack of true faith prevent the Lord from speaking to us, and for us from listening to Him.

Brethren, this is how the Lord wanted to show us that we have many things we can learn from a child. In particular, we should be like a child in his or her faith. A child’s faith is pure, and untainted by human desires. While we are already tainted by the world and its desires, and by the power and influence of sin, what we can do, is to aspire towards having the faith of a child.

We should all aim to be faithful in the same way a child is faithful. We should unconditionally love and trust the Lord our God, without any hidden agenda or desires that keep us from having a pure faith in the Lord. If we are able to do that, then our lives will be more meaningful, because we will be firmly rooted in the Lord, and no matter what happened to us, we will always be strongly devoted to the Lord and His ways, and we will not be taken away from salvation due to us.

May the Lord therefore continue to foster in us, a strong love for Him, a constant and living faith, that we may persevere and indeed, grow further in our faith to Him. Let us also on our side, do our best to dedicate ourselves in love to the Lord and to His children, our own brothers and sisters. God be with us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 25 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Be righteous, be humble and be faithful. These are the key takeaways from today’s readings, from both the letter of St. James, urging us to seek the Lord and His will in our lives, and to be humble, and in the Gospel today, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, that we may have a genuine faith, that is like the faith of a young children.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are presented with the things that were reality at the time of Jesus, and indeed is still a reality even today. We squabble and fight with our own friends and neighbours, because we desire certain things, be it power, affluence, wealth, friendships, and many other things, and we as mankind, has in our nature to be greedy and to desire for more and more things.

And in the end we often miss the point on what it means to be the children and disciples of the Lord. We often seek power and glory, position and honour, that we often forget about the Lord. We did not keep faithful to His commandments but instead walk in our own ways, that is following the ways of this world, which include violence, hatred, prejudice and many other things.

We follow the ways of the world often because it offers us very many things, things that look beautiful and tempting in our eyes. It offers us influence, power, authority, wealth and other things that may prevent us from reaching out to the truth in God. The reality is that, while these things seem to be very enjoyable and pleasurable to us, they are merely temporary. The pursuit of these things will not bear us much fruits, other than bitterness and regret at the end of our lives.

For if we make friends with the ways of the world, in all its corruption by evil, then we are no longer following God or remain as His disciples. We instead walk in the rebellious path of the devil. And God does not want this to happen to us, and that is why He sent to us Jesus His own Son, to straighten the path for us and to make us aware what it truly means to be followers of the Lord.

We have to be genuine in our faith and love for God, and we have to change our mindset and actions, that we no longer adhere to the ways of the world, but instead follow the Lord in His ways and walk in His ways. We cannot be half-hearted in our faith, because we must be firm and strong in resisting the temptations and challenges of this world.

We have to put away our pride and dull the edge of our human ego. At the same time, we should also remain humble, and keep strong this humility at all times in our life. Pride and arrogance often separates us from the Lord, and they act as barriers preventing us from accessing the Lord, keeping us away from His salvation. Humility, on the other hand, allow us to open ourselves to the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us heed the Lord and His call. Let us not turn our back towards Him, and let us give Him our full attention without divide. We have to dedicate ourselves to the Lord, and practice it in our words, deeds and actions. As the prophet Micah said, let us walk humbly with our God, and let us follow Him with all of our hearts. Amen.

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Friday, 21 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

James 2 : 14-24, 26

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, to profess faith without showing works? Such faith has no power to save you. If a brother or sister is in need of clothes or food and one of you says, “May things go well for you; be warm and satisfied,” without attending to their material needs, what good is that? So it is for faith without deeds : it is totally dead.

Say to whoever challenges you, “You have faith and I have good deeds; show me your faith apart from actions and I, for my part, will show you my faith in the way I act.” Do you believe there is one God? Well enough, but do not forget that the demons also believe and tremble with fear!

You foolish one, do you have to be convinced that faith without deeds is useless? Think of our father Abraham. Was he not justified by the act of offering his son Isaac on the altar? So you see, his faith was active along with his deeds and became perfect by what he did.

The word of Scripture was thus fulfilled, Abraham believed in God so he was considered a righteous person and he was called the friend of God. So you see, a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. So, just as the body is dead without its spirit, so faith without deeds is also dead.

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Saturday, 9 November 2013 : Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 47 : 1-2, 8-9, 12

The Man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastwards. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the Altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing the east and there I saw the stream coming from the south side.

He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul smelling water, the water will become wholesome. Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful and the sea water will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound.

Near the river on both banks there will be all kinds of fruit trees with foliage that will not wither and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.

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Thursday, 23 May 2013 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers, sisters, in Christ, today’s Gospel reading in particular may sound a bit too much for us when we heard it, and a bit too weird for us to accept the advice that Christ had given us through His disciples, that to avoid eternal death and damnation in hell, we should cut off and cast off those parts that caused us to sin and prevented us from being truly with God.

But no, brothers and sisters, Christ did not actually mean that when your hands have caused you to sin, then you should literally cut it off, and becomes lame for the rest of your life. No, what He meant is in fact that we should not allow our human weakness to overcome us and therefore cause us to sin. It is not in fact our hands, our eyes, or our feet that causes us to sin, but ultimately, we sin because our hearts is not set up right for the Lord.

Yes, many of us if not most had been corrupted to a certain degree in our hearts, by the evils of this world, and by the evils of the devil, which corrupts our heart and making us susceptible to sinning through our weak flesh. Just as Christ had said, that the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak. But very often that the spirit itself is also weak, and this makes the flesh even more susceptible to sin.

We suffer from many weakness that made us susceptible to sin, ever since, our ancestors, Adam and Eve, disobeyed the Lord and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Since that time, we knew much knowledge, and we knew good, but evil too entered our hearts, and since then remained within each one of us.

We suffer from pride, arrogance, lust, greed, hatred, anger, and so many other evil vices that had entered our hearts since the day of our rebellion against the commands of the Lord. Pride and arrogance prevents us from welcoming God into our hearts, and in our pride, we think ourselves as better and become overconfident in our own abilities, thinking that we no longer need God.

In our pride, we become reluctant to seek God for mercy, and with the weakness we have towards lust and greed, we end up accumulating more and more sin, which extent becomes so large that we, deep in our pride and in our false sense of security, we do not want to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. We are therefore susceptible to this vicious cycle of sin that spiral quickly down, and if we are not careful, it will surely drag us into hell and eternal damnation.

That is why, brothers and sisters, while certainly we do not need to go to the extent of cutting off our limbs and tearing off our eyes, or inflicting any physical punishment to ourselves, whenever sin is threatening to bring us over the brink down into hell, we must strive to strengthen ourselves spiritually, in order to protect ourselves from the power of evil and any kind of temptations.

Prayer is important, brothers and sisters, and a strong, healthy prayer life is necessary, in order to ensure that we are truly fully equipped in our battle against the forces of evil. This is also what Christ meant as the saltiness of the salt. If salt has lost its saltiness and flavour, it would be then useless, and would be thrown away. And therefore, if our spiritual being has lost its characteristic and flavour that is God’s love and faith, then we too would be rejected by Christ, because we are then just like salt that has lost its flavour.

Be faithful, and be loving, brethren, love our neighbour and especially those who are weak, oppressed, and prejudiced against. Stand with them, and show to them God’s love, that they will not lose hope, and in them too, they will enjoy a spiritual regeneration, and at the same time, the same will also happen to us, that the salt that is our spirit, will remain truly salty, a sign of our spirit’s strength and perseverance against sin and evil. God bless us all, Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 May 2013 : 5th Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (Gospel Reading)

John 15 : 1-8

I am the true vine and My Father is the vinegrower. If any of My branches doesn’t bear fruit, He breaks it off; and He prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit. You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you. Live in Me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but has to remain part of the vine; so neither can you, if you don’t remain in Me.

I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in Me and I in you, you bear much fruit; but apart from Me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in Me is thrown away, as they do with branches, and they wither. Then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.

If you remain in Me and My words in you, you may ask whatever you want, and it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit : it is then that you become My disciples.

 

Alternative Reading (Mass of St. Joseph)

 

Matthew 13 : 54-58

He went to His hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, “Where did He get this wisdom and these special powers? Isn’t He the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary His mother and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas His brothers? Aren’t all His sisters living here? How did He get all this?” And so they took offense at Him.

Jesus said to them, “The only place where prophets are not welcome is their hometown and in their own family.” And He did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

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Official video by PixelMusica on the Speech of Coadjutor Archbishop William Goh of Singapore at the Episcopal Ordination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pNUnz1hRitc

Official video by PixelMusica on the Speech of Coadjutor Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye of Singapore at the Episcopal Ordination at MAX Pavilion, EXPO, Singapore, on Friday, 22 February 2013, the Feast of Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle.

 

The Speech :

“President Tony Tan;

Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio to Singapore;

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean;

Archbishop Nicholas Chia;

Fellow Archbishops and Bishops;

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon;

Members of Parliament;

Esteemed heads of Interreligious organisations;

My fellow priests, religious, and seminarians;

Relatives and friends.

Every successful event requires many hours of hard work, particularly so for an event of this scale and significance, even more so for one that was put together under the shadow of many seemingly impossible odds. But we are people of great faith. At least, I can vouch for the organising committee. Not only did they do everything within their power to move mountains, but they stormed heaven and earth, working tirelessly with the countless hands behind the scenes to turn this event within a span of just fifty-five days.

Truly, this event has been occasion to manifest the generosity and charisms of the people, all working together as one Body in Christ. It is indeed a privilege and a joy to behold the power and the glory of God in turning water into wine, in situations that seem near impossible by human reckoning. I cannot begin to thank everyone who has made this event so memorable for me. The list is long, and the night is short, and the trains would not wait.

So, I will not launch into a litany of thanks. But at least allow me to mention a few groups of people without whose support and blessings, we would not be here tonight. First of all, I must give glory to God, for He has not abandoned His flock, and has blessed the Church of Singapore with the gift of renewal. I am humbled that He has appointed me to shepherd and build on the work of my predecessors, in spite of my unworthiness and inadequacies, a sinner among men. I must also thank our blessed Mother, for drawing me near to her Son, guiding and shielding me with mental protection ever since I was young.

I was particularly honoured to have the President of Singapore, Dr. Tony Tan; the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Teo Chee Hean; Chief Justice, Sundaresh Menon; leaders and representatives from other Christian communions or churches, and heads of the interreligious organisations, graced this evening’s Episcopal Ordination with their presence. Thank you for celebrating and supporting this momentous event of the Catholic Church in Singapore.

Next, I wish to express my gratitude to His Grace Archbishop Nicholas Chia, who has given me so many opportunities to grow in faith, always supporting me in my ministry. I thank him for his guidance, support, and fatherly love. I knew he will continue to level the path for me in the transition period to leadership of the Church. I would also like to thank the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, for agreeing to be the Principal Consecrator. My gratitude also goes with His Grace Archbishop Nicholas Chia and Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, for co-consecrating me at my ordination.

My heartfelt thanks to all the bishops of the region, and all my brother priests from Singapore, Malaysia, and India, and Myanmar, for concelebrating the Mass with me. I am grateful that you have made time to pray and celebrate with me in spite of your tight schedules. Distance has not hindered you from showing me your fraternal support. Let us give thanks to all these people.

My great appreciation goes also to the organising committee. They don’t want me to name them. Who deliberated and despite the great challenges of planning and executing the ordination within such a short time frame, forged courageously ahead with 22 February 2013 date. Many of the members sacrificed their time and precious sleep, often meeting into the night, even after a hard day’s work at the office. Truly, truly I can’t thank them enough. They have won my admiration and confidence. Thank you.

As I have said, they don’t want their names to be mentioned. So we give glory to God for them. The first of the many challenges was to find suitable venue at short notice to accomodate 14,000 people. God however had sent many angels to make it possible. I must thank the many government departments. In particular, the traffic and security agencies, and the Singapore EXPO, for their critical logistic support in securing the venue and ensuring a smooth execution of the event.

Of course, I must thank the various ministry from  churches all over Singapore, who joined forces to form the combined choir, and served as the liturgy ministers, altar servers, wardens, hospitality ministers. My brother priests, who have provided valuable guidance, and support to the various committees to ensure the proper liturgical and other Church protocols were observed.

The young and energetic team of designers, from the youth ministry, Amplify! and their associates, who helped with all the design works, including my coat-of-arms, and the souvenir magazine.

The team of professional photographers and videographers who so freely and generously give of their talent, time, and rights to intellectual property, and you the faithful for joining me in this glorious occasion.

In a special way, I must thank my late mother, whom I believe is instrumental in inspiring and nurturing my vocation, because of her deep prayer life, faith, and love, for blessed Mother. I want to thank my brothers, and I want to thank my sister, Anne. Particularly, for their constant support, and understanding, and for looking after the family.

To the many individuals and groups who had contributed in one way or another, in kind and in spirit, known and refusing to be known, who gave their all joyfully, let me say a big thank you.

I know many of you have also been praying for me, individually, and in community, first that I would not be made bishop, because you want me to continue with the retreats. Then, when that was not to be, praying, fasting, and offering sacrifices that I would be a good shepherd, persevering in the trials that must come my way. I am deeply touched and edified. Fervent and constant prayer, and I repeat, fervent and constant prayer, would be the best gift you can give to me. For without prayers, I would not be able to be a good, wise, and holy shepherd, after the heart of Christ.

I too pray, that I would be worthy of my appointment, that in union with Christ, I would remain faithful to the ministry of the Apostles entrusted to me. Trusting and relying, not on my own strength, but in God’s infinite wisdom and power, that I’ll bring everything to completion according to His Divine plan and purpose. Indeed, in this time of mounting secularism and relativism, as our Nuncio has mentioned in his homily. A mist of threat of an Antichrist, anti-establishment era, there is much that we as the Church can do and must do. That is to share the Gospel values, and to make Christ known.

You know my family name may sound like one who is destined for action – ‘Go (Goh)’ – That is why we are always on the go. But in reality, I might always be on the go, but I cannot do it alone. I see a powerhouse of bubbling enthusiasm, grace, and talent among the presbyterian and laity, and particularly the young people, that can be harnessed and unleashed to propel the Church forward in this new millenium. Together we must forge new and creative ways, to categorise our youths, who are looking for a faith that is personal, real, and tangible.

We must harness modern technology, to influence the values of society. We must also give great attention to the family and married life, which is under threat by a world that no longer believes in the institution of the family, and of marriage, which is the first cradle for Catholic spirituality.

My dear brothers and sisters, the Church must reclaim its voice in influencing world views without fear, particularly with respect to the universal values of truth and justice, for the promotion of harmony. We must continue to steadfastly, resist the lure of secularism, and relativism, which threaten to suppress the voice of God, by working assiduously in areas of interreligious dialogue and ecumenism. Unless religions unite, faith will be relegated to the private domain of an individual’s life, thereby weakening the impact of religions on society and morality.

Not withstanding the issues at large, what I hoped for above all in my episcopacy, is to be both an encouraging and supporting brother to my priests. Thank you so much, brother priests for coming. I want to empower them in their ministry, and to you laity, I would like to be a compassionate and caring father. We must therefore work at becoming a vibrant, faith-filled, missionary, evangelical Church. We must never be complacent or satisfied with a maintenance Church.

This will be achieved, not only by me, not the clergy, religious, or just the laity, but together as entire people of God in unity. Remember the Holy Father Pope Benedict has told us, laity are corresponsible, not simply collaborators. Corresponsible in the mission of the Church. Hence passion and compassion will be the hallmark and thrust of my ministry in renewing the Church in Singapore.

We are one Body, one Spirit in Christ. Your pouring of your love, sacrifice, and generosity thus far had edified me, and I am moved to give of myself to the people of God. That this not be just a passing emotion, but the breath of the new spring, the wind beneath a tidal wave of change, sweeping the Catholic Church in Singapore. Thank you for your support. Ut Vivant! That you may live!”