vision

by

Monday, 16 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Numbers 24 : 2-7, 15-17a

Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping, tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered his song : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, and beholds the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled.”

“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your encampments, Israel! Like valleys stretching far, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes planted by YHVH, like cedars beside the waters. His buckets are overflowing and his seeds are always watered. His king becomes stronger than Agag, and his kingdom grows.”

Then Balaam pronounced his oracle : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the word of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, and sees the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled.”

“I see a figure, but not really. I behold Him but not near. A star shall come forth from Jacob, he rises with a staff in his hand.

by

Monday, 9 November 2013 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a great feast for the Church, and for all of us. Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was declared by Pope Pius IX over one and a half century ago, after our Lady showed herself to St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in France.

She revealed to St. Bernadette, the truth about her Immaculate Conception, that is, Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus, was born without sin, pure and immaculate, because as the mother of our Lord, it is only fitting that His mother, just as He is, free from all kinds of defilement of sin.

The Church and the tradition of the faith had for long held a view somewhat similar to the concept of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, even since the early Church, but the apparition of the Blessed Virgin to St. Bernadette in Lourdes confirmed the teachings of the Church, and that was how we come to have this Solemnity, the great feast in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the mother of our God.

All of these, brothers and sisters, were part of the grand plan of salvation God had planned from the very early beginning. Ever since mankind fell into sin, the Lord had planned it all, even to the smallest of details, on how He is going to save us all. He knew everything even long before the things actually happened, simply because, He is God.

Then one may ask, how come then God did not try to stop Adam and Eve from disobeying Him by eating the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? He is God right? Certainly that is within His ability? If He knows everything, then He should have known that His most beloved creations would disobey Him because of the trickery of the devil, right? Then why did He not act for the sake of our ancestors?

Yes, these are the natural questions that will undoubtedly come to our minds as we read this passage. Certainly if God had prevented them from disobeying Him, then we will all live in paradise today right? After all mankind had been created and given the world as their dominion, and the beautiful Garden of Eden to live in. But sadly no, that is not how things are supposed to be.

God can easily impose His power and make things according to what we had thought, but most importantly, God gave mankind free will, and it is that free will that God has bestowed on us, the freedom to choose, whether to do something in line with God’s laws and ordinances, or to do things against the Lord and His laws.

And mankind chose to disobey the Lord and listen to the temptations of devil. They were then still innocent, pure without any trace of sin, for sin was unknown to mankind when they were created. But they made the wrong choice, out of their curiosity, and suffered the consequences. Sin entered into the world of men.

God punished mankind and the devil for their disobedience and the rebellion against His will, but He did not leave men empty-handed. For He loves all of His creations, from the smallest to the largest, and from the lowliest of all creations, to us, the most beloved ones that He created, the ones He created in His own image.

That is why He gave to us hope, by saying to our ancestors, that despite the difficulties that they and their descendants, including us, have to suffer, as a consequence for our disobedience, and despite that the devil will continue to hound us and try to trap us into damnation, note the words : “the snake will clutch at your children’s heels”, God gave us a hope.

That the woman will crush the head of the serpent, and in that sentence, lie the secret of God’s ultimate plan for salvation. That woman, as you all should be able to guess, is Mary. And in another passage it is said that the woman will bear the child, and the child will be named Emmanuel, which means God-is-with-us. And yes, that Emmanuel is indeed Jesus, because Jesus who is God and with God, has descended through Mary to be with us, as Man like us, and hence, God-is-with-us.

Through Mary, the salvation of the world was born, and through her, the final defeat was dealt on Satan and his plans to doom mankind into damnation in hell with him. For Satan was jealous of the power of God, and aspired to sit in His place, but he was defeated and cast down, and he planned his revenge on mankind, God’s most beloved creation, but God did not just let Satan have his ways, out of His love for all of us.

Mary, the woman, became the conduit, the vessel, through whom God made salvation possible for mankind. It was Mary’s complete trust and obedience in God that made all these possible. Her answer to the Archangel Gabriel showed her perfect faith in God and the purity of her heart, soul, and being. “I am the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me as God wills it.”, such an answer indeed.

And because she was to bear the Lord Himself in her, in flesh, it is not right for Mary herself to be tainted with sin as we are. This is because you all know the intimate bonds present between mothers and their child. Indeed, it is truly flesh from the mother’s flesh to the flesh of the infant’s flesh. Therefore, if Jesus who is Lord incarnate as Man is without sin, His mother too must be free from any kind of sin, no matter how small or insignificant the sin is.

That is why today we celebrate this solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lord made it since the very beginning according to the plan of salvation, that Mary was made special, set apart from any other human, that is without the taint of sin. Is it possible for God? Certainly. The Lord definitely has the power to do so, as after all, He is indeed God. He made Elizabeth to conceive a child in her old age, John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, the Messiah.

What is important today, brothers and sisters in Christ, is that while we rejoice and celebrate the conception of this wonderful woman, through whom the world would later get its salvation from, we too should reflect on our own sinfulness, reflecting on the unworthiness that kept us separated from the Lord. And let us remember that our sins have been redeemed by the sacrifice of the Son of this wonderful woman, yes, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross as the Lamb of sacrifice, taking away our sins and replacing them with grace and blessings.

Hence, as we go deeper into the season of Advent, preparing for the celebration of the birth of our Lord at Christmas, let us seek to be prepared for the coming of Jesus. Remember that He promised that He will come again at the time of His choosing, to judge the living and the dead, all of us included, and He will pick those whom He considered worthy, that is those who had turned away from their sinfulness and look up towards God and strive to reach out to His grace.

Let us all make best use of this Advent season, and let this blessed season be an opportunity for us to be closer than ever to our Lord Jesus, through His mother Mary, the pure and immaculately conceived woman, the promised salvation of our God. Mary, Mother of God, holy and pure, immaculate as snow, pray for us, and intercede for us before your Son. Amen.

by

Sunday, 1 December 2013 : First Sunday of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 2 : 1-5

The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In the last days, the mountain of YHVH’s House shall be set over the highest mountains and shall tower over the hills. All the nations shall stream to it, saying, “Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and we may walk in His paths. For the Teaching comes from Zion, and from Jerusalem the word of YHVH.”

“He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not raise sword against nation; they will train for war no more. O nation of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

by

Friday, 29 November 2013 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the kingdom of God is near, and it is approaching! Yes, that is the key message of the readings, especially that of the Gospel we heard today. And indeed, the kingdom of God is already here, with us, and dwelling in us. This is precisely as Christ had proclaimed to the people of the coming of His kingdom.

In the first reading, we heard about how Daniel showed his vision of the end of times, in which the Lord revealed to him of the difficult times that would come to the people of God. The beast was known to be the infamous Greek king, Antiochus Epiphanes, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, about one and a half centuries before the birth of Christ.

And that beast, king Antiochus, persecuted the people of God, those who still keep up their faith and devotion to the One, True God. The evil king enforced pagan rules and rites on the people, and many people apostatised their faith out of fear for punishment and death. The Temple and House of the Lord in Jerusalem was desecrated and made into a house of pagans.

Suffering was great at that time, under the reign and tyranny of the evil king, the loathsome beast on the horn, the one seen by Daniel. The people who kept their faith were tortured, imprison, and met their end in painful death. They were forced by the king to disobey the laws of God and to commit acts profane in the Lord’s eyes. Yet, there are many who resisted, and preferred death to disobedience.

But the Lord did not just leave His people in suffering without help or hope. For He raised the deliverance of the people through the Maccabees, who fought empowered by God’s providence and eventually liberated the people from the tyranny of the evil king Antiochus. The king himself was punished with painful death, with excruciating pain and endless suffering till the end of his life. That was when the beast in the vision of Daniel was punished and destroyed by the power of God.

That is a foreshadowing of the events that is to come, and I am sure you are all familiar with the Book of Revelation by St. John the Evangelist. For the devil too will, in much the same way, persecute the faithful ones, swaying many people to his side in rebellion against the Lord, in one final and futile attempt to defy the Lord’s will.

Jesus, the Messiah and Saviour of all mankind, will come at the end of time, in order to bring all creation towards Himself, and make everything good once again. The devil and all his followers, and all the filths and taints of sin He will destroy and cast into the lake of eternal fire, in damnation. Jesus who had once come into this world as the Son of Man, to suffer and die for our sins, will come again at the end of time as a victorious and triumphant King.

Jesus is the Son of Man seen by Daniel in His vision, the promised One who is given dominion over all things, including over us mankind. For, ever since we have rebelled against God through our forefathers’ sins, the devil who is lord of all evil has dominion, power and authority over us. In order to free us from our bondage to the evil one, a pure and unblemished sacrifice for the purification of our sins.

That is when Jesus came, as the Son of Man, the long promised Messiah. He was prophesied by the many prophets and servants of God throughout the ages. The Lord Jesus brought forth with Him, the salvation of mankind. Jesus revealed the great plan that God had crafted for the sake of our salvation. And He too revealed the imminent coming of the kingdom of God as I had mentioned.

Why did Jesus say that the kingdom is coming soon? And why did He mention that the generation would not pass before the coming of the kingdom? That is because, the kingdom of God was ushered into the world, and to all of us, precisely by a single important moment in the history of our world. That is none other than the sacrifice, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Himself. Through this singular event, the kingdom of God appears and is present to all of us, even today.

It is through the selfless and perfect sacrifice of our Lord that we receive this new life and the hope of salvation. Before the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no hope for us mankind, but with the death and resurrection of Jesus, a new hope had dawned. That is the kingdom of God made manifest into this world. And, the Lord Himself gave freely to all of us, His own flesh and blood, just as He gave them to His disciples at the Last Supper.

Remember the words of Jesus, that all those who eat the bread that is the Body of the Lord, and drink the wine that is the Blood of the Lord, will not die but live forever. That is because the Lord Himself, in His Most Holy Presence in the bread and wine we partake, comes and dwells in each one of us. Each of us essentially become the House of the Most High God, and consequently, we are all experiencing the kingdom of God, even now, in ourselves.

Yes, brethren, for we have received the Lord in the Eucharist, and consequently, our lives too have been transformed to mirror that of the kingdom of God. We are experiencing the kingdom even as we live day by day. And that is also the reason, why even though our lives will be difficult, and challenges scattered on our path, we should not be worried. The Lord Himself guides us along the way, and we ought to follow Him all the way to the end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why, today onwards, let us uphold our faith in Christ and proudly walk forth as the children of God, and as His disciples. Do not fear evil and his forces, and rather, let us do our best to obey the will of God. May the Lord continue to guide us, provide for us, and help us so that we will eventually reach the glory of heaven, when the Lord Jesus comes again in His glorious Second Coming. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 26 November 2013 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Daniel 2 : 31-45

Daniel said to king Nebuchadnezzar : “In your vision you saw a statue – very large, very bright, terrible to look at. Its head was of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.”

“As you watched, a rock cut from a mountain but not by human hands, struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, smashing them. All at once the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold crumbled into pieces as fine as chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind swept them off and not a trace was left. But the rock that struck the statue became a great mountain that filled the whole earth.”

“That was the dream. Now the interpretation. You, o king, are king of kings, to whom God of heaven has given dominion, strength, power, and glory, and into whose hand He has placed humankind, the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, making you ruler over them. You are that head of gold.”

“After you, another kingdom inferior to yours will rise. Then a third kingdom of bronze will rule the whole world. Last shall be a fourth kingdom strong as iron and just as iron breaks and crushes everything else, so will it break and smash all the others.”

“The partly-clay and partly-iron feet and toes mean that it will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some strength of iron, just as you saw iron mixed with clay. And as the toes were partly iron and partly clay, the kingdom will be partly strong and partly weak. Just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, the people will be a mixture but will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.”

“In the time of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom never to be destroyed or delivered up to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and put an end to them. And it will endure forever. This is the meaning of your vision of a rock cut from a mountain not by human hands, the rock which struck the statue and broke into pieces the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God has shown the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true and its interpretation reliable.”

by

Tuesday, 5 November 2013 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 130 : 1, 2, 3

O Lord, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.

I have quieted and stilled my soul like a weaned child on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.

Hope in the Lord, o Israel, now and forever.

by

Sunday, 6 October 2013 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Habakkuk 1 : 2-3 and Habakkuk 2 : 2-4

YHVH, how long will I cry for help while You pay no attention to me? I denounce the oppression and You do not save. Why do You make me see injustice? Are you pleased to look on tyranny? All I see is outrage, violence and quarrels.

Then YHVH answered me and said, “Write down the vision, inscribe it on tables so it can be easily read, since this is a vision for an appointed time; it will not fail but will be fulfilled in due time. If it delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be deferred. Look : I do not look with favour on the one who gives way; the upright, on the other hand, will live by his faithfulness.”

by

Tuesday, 1 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as per the theme of the readings yesterday, today we once again listen to the words of Jesus, on the importance of humility in our lives, in all our dealings with God and with one another. That humility is one of the key elements necessary for the salvation of one, because with humility, many of the necessary attitudes needed for one to be saved can be achieved.

It is too often that we are so preoccupied with ourselves, and immersed in our sense of pride and our natural arrogance that we fail to realise our own shortcomings and our sinfulness. That is why many of us tend to continue to dwell in the world of sin and darkness instead of seeking the light in God. We close ourselves and our hearts to the Lord, all because we think of ourselves as great and beyond reproach.

That was the reason of the fall of many, who put their trust in their own strengths and disregarded any advice that the Lord had given to them through various sources. Pride leads to arrogance, and arrogance leads to even more pride. And in our pride, we forget about God, we forget about those around us, and even those who are dear to us, and we tend to care only for ourselves.

Ever since we have fallen into sin, we have been prone to any kind of sins and evils, including pride. It is also how the devil fell, as Lucifer the lightbringer, who was enraptured by his own beauty and might, as the greatest angel, turned to pride and then jealousy and hatred against God. That is how pride brings down even the mighty and the powerful. Indeed, those who are mighty are more prone to pride than those who are weak, but that does not mean that all of us can be complacent.

The way to greatness is truly through humility, as through humility, we tend to be better able to express ourselves in love, in gentleness, and in faith to God. The Lord who sees us doing these things, will truly reward us and glorify us, just as He had glorified Christ our Lord, His Son, whose sacrifice in perfect humility, brought about the salvation of mankind.

Through His own humility, Christ showed the love that is within Him to all those whom He touched and met. He lowered Himself in great humility so that He can love us all more perfectly. To the extent, that He gave His own life, so that we may live and not die. He sets the example with His own actions, the saving power of His eternal love.

Jesus also told His disciples to be more like little children. Why so? That is because it is the faith of little children that is the purest, the purest faith and love towards God. Very often, we as adults, are so preoccupied with the things and matters of the world, that we forget what is more important in our lives, that is love, gentleness, hope, and God Himself.

If we can just be more like children in our faith, then we will certainly be better persons, with faith untainted by the concerns and corruptions of this world. We ought not to forget our true calling in this life, that is to love, and to love tenderly, especially to those who are unloved, we can truly be like those children, whose faith and dedication to God are pure and total.

That is what was echoed by the saint whose feast day we celebrate today, namely St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as St. Therese Lisieux. St. Therese Lisieux was well-known for her great humility, her piety, and her deep spirituality and devotion for the Lord, that she showed in her short life, as she died early in her early twenties, and yet in that short life, she had really done much for the sake of the Lord and His people.

St. Therese Lisieux joined the religious life and devoted herself fully to the Lord, and received series of visions and revelations through her life. She dedicated herself to her life of prayer in simplicity and perfect obedience to the will of God. Through her numerous writings, she communicated her feelings and beliefs, in the life dedicated to God.

It is through her extensive writings, poems, and other works, that St. Therese Lisieux influenced many of us even to this day. Although she had lived only a short life in this world, through her works and writings, she lived on forever, inspiring and strengthening many in their own paths towards the Lord. She is now up there, as one of the saints, interceding endlessly for our sake, we who are sinners still living in this darkened world of pride and evil.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, after we hear the examples set by St. Therese Lisieux and that of many other saints, let us emulate their virtues, their piety and humility, realising the depths of our own sins, and asking the Lord for His pardon out of His eternal love for us. Let us also be proactive in love, that we love tenderly, love sincerely, and love generously, both to God and to our fellow men.

May the Lord continue to shower us with His love and that we will come to ever greater realisation of our own unworthiness before Him, and therefore come ever closer to reach out to the throne of mercy, asking Him to show His infinite mercy to us, and forgiveness for our innumerable sins. God bless us all and watch over us always. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 1 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”

by

Tuesday, 1 October 2013 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Solemnity of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 130 : 1-3

O Lord, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.

I have quieted and stilled my soul like a weaned child on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.

Hope in the Lord, o Israel, now and forever.