Vigil of Christmas

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the readings taken from the Holy Scriptures talking to us about the love of God, how the love of God had shown itself and manifested itself to us, in none other than Jesus Christ our Lord, the One Whom we celebrate in this Christmas season, for His coming into the world had brought God’s love itself upon us.

And we see one example of how God loved us all mankind in the Gospel reading today, where we heard the well-known story of how Jesus fed the multitudes of five thousand men, not including women and children, which would certainly add even much more to the number of those whom the Lord had fed with just five loaves and two fish.

The Lord Jesus saw the people who followed Him and listened to Him teaching for many days, and they were hungry, for although they heard the word of God and were satisfied in spirit, but they are still creatures of the flesh, and their flesh were weak, and they were hungry, just as we are all going to be hungry if we do not eat any food or little amount of food for quite a period of time.

And God was loving and merciful towards His children and His people, and that was why Jesus showed compassion and mercy on all those poor souls who hunger for food. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, blessed them and broke them into many pieces by His power and gave all the people to eat until they were all satisfied and full in their stomach, with even many pieces of bread and fish to spare.

This is how loving God is, but that is not just what God has loved us with, for the gift of the physical food that Jesus had done on that day with the five thousand men and countless other women and children were insignificant compared to what other things God had done for His people, that is for all of us. This is because, He has indeed spared nothing but He gave Himself completely, in His own Body and Blood for us all to eat and partake, that all of us may have life in us.

Yes, this is the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, which our priests during each Holy Mass offered in union with that ultimate sacrifice on the cross, when our Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself all of our sins and all the punishments due to our sins, and being lifted up high on the cross, He gave up His own life for our sake, that through His death, and by the shedding and thus the sharing of His Body and Blood, all may have a share in the life of His resurrection.

All of us who believed in God and who faithfully obeyed His laws and teachings through the Church, and who have shared in the Most Holy Eucharist with proper decorum and being worthy of it, have been blessed with this life which our Lord promised to all those who have faith in Him. He dwells in us just as we all dwell in Him, and united to Him Who is the Lord of all life, we have the promise of everlasting life through Him.

Today, as we heard the words of the Holy Scriptures, let us all reflect on what we have heard, and think of how we have all lived our lives, in our actions, words and deeds. Have we been faithful to God in all things? Or have we allowed our worldly concerns and desires to cloud our judgments and be unfaithful in what we do or say? As we continue on the season of Christmas and rejoice in the coming of the Lord Jesus, these are important questions that we really should ask ourselves.

This is because He Who have once come in a manger through the Blessed Virgin Mary, Who have suffered and died for us all, and Who rose from the dead in glory and ascended into Heaven in might, will come again for certain just as He had promised. If He comes again, at a time which we do not know or expect, and He finds us empty of faith and action based on that faith which we should have for Him, then what can we expect of what He will do with us?

If we want a part in God’s kingdom and be sharers of His love and blessings, then all of us should from now on reorientate our lives and refocus them in order to attune ourselves to the way of the Lord, and that in all the things we say and do, we may glorify God and proclaim His truth to the nations. May God awaken in all of us the love and the devotion which all of us ought to have for Him. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 6 : 34-44

At that time, 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.

It was now getting late, so His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a lonely place and it is now late. You should send the people away, and let them go to the farms and villages around here, to buy themselves something to eat.”

Jesus replied, “You yourselves give them something to eat.” They answered, “If we are to feed them, we need two hundred silver coins to go and buy enough bread.” But Jesus said, “You have some loaves; how many? Go and see.” The disciples found out and said, “There are five loaves and two fish.”

Then He told them to have the people sit down together in groups on the green grass. This they did in groups of hundreds and fifties. And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish and, raising His eyes to Heaven, He pronounced a blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to His disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them.

They all ate and everyone had enough. The disciples gathered up what was left, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces of bread and fish. Five thousand men had eaten there.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8

O God, endow the King with Your justice, the Royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Let the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills justice. He will defend the cause of the poor, deliver the children of the needy.

Justice will flower in His days, and peace abound till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

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Tuesday, 5 January 2016 : Tuesday after the Epiphany (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 4 : 7-10

My dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love.

How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world that we might have life through Him. This is love : not that we loved God but that He first loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

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Monday, 4 January 2016 : Monday after the Epiphany (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue on from the Solemnity of the Epiphany which we have just celebrated yesterday, we revel in the knowledge of God Who had revealed Himself to all of us, the truth about His love and the truth about the salvation which He had readily made available to all of us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The nature of the Epiphany and its celebration is about revelation, from which it got its name. The Lord Who was once not visible and intangible to us, had made Himself tangible and visible, by His incarnation in Jesus Christ, Who was God, is God, and will always be God, and yet by His assumption of the flesh of men, and by His birth through His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, He became Man and walked on this earth just as we do.

The Lord showed His love to us through Jesus, Who went about healing the sick, not just from the sickness of the flesh, but also from the sickness of the soul, that is our sins. He fed His people and led them to the right paths by His words of truth that did not mince any of its words and their meanings. He is the Good Shepherd Who leads all of God’s beloved flock to return to the embrace of God our loving Father and Creator.

And we rejoice because of this, our Christmas joy that continues to be strong and vibrant. The Lord Jesus and His salvation is our true Christmas joy, and not all the things we in the world often associate with Christmas and how it is usually celebrated. It is not a celebration of fun and merrymaking, partying or revelry, or holidays or anything related to the way Christmas is often portrayed, but it is indeed a celebration of God’s love.

The readings from the Holy Scriptures today place a great importance in this fact, with the prophet Isaiah who wrote about a great Light that was to come to a people living in darkness, and how that light would enlighten the paths of those who dwell in the darkness, and how the darkness would give way to the true Light through which men would find their way to the Lord.

Jesus is that Light, the Saviour Who had come to rescue all those who are still lost in the darkness and in the uncertainties of the world. Through Him, God reached out to His beloved people, who although they have erred in their ways and lost their path, but they are truly still deserving of His mercy and love, as long as they are willing to listen to the Lord’s calls for their repentance and thus accordingly repent from their sins.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the Scripture readings today, let us all ask ourselves, in our own words, actions and deeds, whether we have done what we can do, in order to help the Lord’s efforts in reaching out to the last, the lost and the least of His beloved people. Have we been welcoming to our brethren who seek to be reunited with God, or do we instead reject them?

Have we been forthcoming in our actions to seek out those who have yet to know of the Lord and His salvation? Have we endeavoured to make these all available for them? It is our duty and responsibility as those whom God had called and chosen out of this world as His disciples, to bring even more souls into the salvation that can only be found in the Lord, our God.

May Almighty God bless us in our works and efforts, and let us commit ourselves anew to bring the Good News to all those who have yet to hear of it, and then also practice our faith in our own lives, in all that we say and do, so that through us, God may show His salvation and His truth to His people, and more and more souls will be saved from the threat of eternal damnation and hellfire. God be with us all. Amen.

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Monday, 4 January 2016 : Monday after the Epiphany (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 4 : 12-17, 23-25

At that time, when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, a town by the lake of Galilee, at the border of Zebulun and Naphtali.

In this way the word of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled : Land od Zebulun and land of Naphtali, crossed by the Road of the Sea, and you who live beyond the Jordan, Galilee, land of pagans : The people who lived in darkness have seen a great Light; on those who live in the land of the shadow of death, a Light has shone.

From that time on, Jesus began to proclaim His message, “Change your ways : the kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Jesus went around all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom, and curing all kinds of sickness and disease among the people. The news about Him spread through the whole of Syria, and the people brought all their sick to Him, and all those who suffered : the possessed, the deranged, the paralysed, and He healed them all.

Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Ten Cities, from Jerusalem, Judea, and from across the Jordan.

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Monday, 4 January 2016 : Monday after the Epiphany (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 2 : 7-8, 10-11

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord. He said to Me : “You are My Son. This day I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

Now therefore, learn wisdom, o kings; be warned, o rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and fall at His feet; lest He be angry and you perish when His anger suddenly flares. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

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Monday, 4 January 2016 : Monday after the Epiphany (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 22 – 1 John 4 : 6

Then whatever we ask we shall receive, since we keep His commands and do what pleases Him. His command is that we believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commands remains in God and God in him. It is by the Spirit God has given us that we know He lives in us.

My beloved, do not trust every inspiration. Test the spirits to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets are now in the world. How will you recognise the Spirit of God? Any spirit recognising Jesus as the Christ Who has taken our flesh is of God. But any spirit that does not recognise Jesus is not from God. It is the spirit of the antichrist. You have heard of his coming and even now he is in the world.

You, my dear children, are of God and you have already overcome these people, because the One who is in you is more powerful than he who is in the world. They are of the world and the world inspires them and those of the world listen to them. We are of God and those who know God listen to us, but those who are not of God ignore us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error as well.

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Sunday, 3 January 2016 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we glorify God and praise Him together in the occasion of His glorious moment of Epiphany, the time when He revealed Himself to the people, the true nature of His coming and His birth through the Three Magi, or the Three Wise Kings of the east and their respective gifts, each of which bear very significant symbolism of His nature and truth.

Today, we heard the well-known story of how the three people, either learned and wise men or kings from the east, came to Bethlehem following the very bright star that appeared during about the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and seeing that star, they knew that someone with great power and authority is coming into the world although they did not know who this One would be.

They came to Bethlehem from their faraway country, braving difficult conditions and tough travel, long journeys and arduous paths in order to seek the King Who was prophesied to come into the world. And this is why, the star in our Christian teachings and understanding, specifically the Star of Bethlehem is the symbol of faith, for it represented the faith of the Magi who was though not counted among the chosen people of God, the Israelites, but they believed and made the effort to come and pay obeisance to Him.

And the Magi came to Bethlehem, found the Baby Jesus in the manger with His mother Mary and with Joseph, His foster father. The Magi then paid Him homage and honour due to a King, and not just a King, for we see their offerings to Jesus, which gave us a revelation of Who Jesus really is. These are the gifts of gold, of frankincense, and of myrrh.

Gold is a precious metal which had been revered and treasured since the ancient times due to its beauty and lustre. The magnificent shine of gold and its incorruptibility had been the properties that many people had used to denote something that is great and precious, and over time, the use of gold denotes wealth, greatness, and then in particular, its use is regulated and sometimes reserved only for the king and the royalty.

Yes, the gift of gold by the Magi to the Baby Jesus revealed to us all, to all mankind that even though as a fragile Baby, the Son of Man, He was born among animals in the filth of a stable, in great poverty, but He was truly a King, King of all kings, Who did not choose to be born in pomp and grandeur, but to be born among His people, as all men were.

The gift of gold revealed Jesus to the world as a King, not as one of the kings of the world who flaunted their wealth and power to sustain their prestige and position, but as the true King Whose authority is absolute over the whole world. And yet, He chose to lower Himself and humble Himself, by being born in such a simple place and in such a circumstance, because He loves us all and He came into this world with a mission, which I will elaborate further in a while.

Then the three Magi also offered frankincense to the Baby Jesus, a curious gift indeed for a baby. But frankincense represented yet another aspect of Jesus that was revealed to the world through that gift. Incense were usually made from natural sources such as dried amber or tree secretions, and other sources such as fragrant wood materials that were then burnt as either perfume to remove bad odour or as offerings for the gods and the idols.

And frankincense is the finest quality incense that were around, and the gift of frankincense to the Baby Jesus revealed to all mankind, that He is God, a Divine being surpassing everything else. Yes, indeed, for He is the One Who created everything that ever existed, now exists and will exist. He is the one and only true God, to Whom only all honour, praise and glory should be directed to.

And just as incense is used in our worship, in the celebration of the Holy Mass and on other occasions, as the symbol of the offering of our prayer to God and as a way to honour the Lord our God, thus the Magi offered the finest frankincense to Jesus to worship Him, the one true King of all kings, and Who is also the Lord God of all the universe, Who had chosen to come into the world, again for a mission that is related to the last gift of the Magi.

The last gift is that of myrrh, a natural material used for preservation purposes, especially for burial in the preservation of the body of the dead before they were buried. This is certainly a gift that is completely out of place considered that it was given after a Baby was born, but this gift, just as that of the gold and the frankincense, was equally important, as this revealed to the whole world, just what Christ was to do in order to save it.

The gift of myrrh reminded us all about the mission which Jesus had taken upon Himself as He came into this world. It is a premonition of His suffering and death, which would take place at the very end of His earthly ministry, when He was rejected by His own people and were punished for the sins of the people, including the sins of those who have persecuted and rejected Him.

Yes, the gift of myrrh symbolised the death which Christ would pass through in order to save us and rescue us from our own fate of facing death, that is the eternal death and separation from the Lord. By His death which we share in our death in Him, had liberated all of us from the snares of death and gave us all a new hope, for now we know that through Jesus, death has no final say over us.

By His death, Christ had united all of us who share in His death and keep our faith in Him, and through His glorious resurrection from the dead, when He triumphantly destroyed and defeated death as well as all evils, He also brought all of His faithful ones into His victory and triumph, that we too will share in the joyous and bountiful graces of His promise of eternal life and blessings in heaven.

Therefore, today, on this Solemnity of the Epiphany, let us all reflect on our actions, so that in all the things that we do, we shall understand how much God has loved us that He had given us His own Son, Jesus to be our Saviour. It was because of His great love, that He, Who is King of all kings, King of the Universe and Almighty Creator God, had been willing and indeed willingly came down to us, assuming our humble human form, that as both Man and Divine, He ascended up the cross, and became our salvation.

Let us all therefore strive from now on, if we have not done so yet, to be good disciples and followers of our Lord in all the things we say and do, so that through us more and more people will come to believe in the Lord Jesus our Saviour and be saved through Him. May God be with all of us in this endeavour and strengthen our faith and devotion for Him always. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 January 2016 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 2 : 1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the days of king Herod, wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We saw the rising of His star in the East and have come to honour Him.”

When Herod heard this he was greatly disturbed, and with him all Jerusalem. He immediately called a meeting of all high ranking priests and scribes, and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea,” they told him, “for this is what the prophet wrote : And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means the least among the clans of Judah, for from you will come a Leader, the One Who is to shepherd My people Israel.”

Then Herod secretly called the wise men and asked them the precise time the star appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem with the instruction, “Go and get accurate information about the Child. As soon as you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may go and honour Him.”

After the meeting with the king, they set out. The star that they had seen in the East went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the Child was. The wise men were overjoyed on seeing the star again. They went into the house, and when they saw the Child with Mary His mother, they knelt and worshipped Him. They opened their bags and offered Him their gifts of gold, incense and myrrh.

In a dream they were warned not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their home country by another way.