Wednesday

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Wednesday, 4 January 2017 : Weekday of Christmas Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
1 John 3 : 7-10

My little children, do not be led astray; those who do what is right are upright, just as Jesus Christ is upright. But those who sin belong to the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning.

This is why the Son of God was shown to us, He was to undo the works of the devil. Those born of God do not sin, for the seed of God remains in them; they cannot sin because they are born of God. What is the way to recognise the children of God and those of the devil? The one who does not do what is right is not of God; so, too, the one who does not love his brother or sister.

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Wednesday, 28 December 2016 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate the memory of the Holy Innocents, the martyrs of the faith who were slaughtered on the orders of king Herod of Judea, who murdered them in his futile attempt to destroy the Messiah and Saviour of the world, the True King Whom Herod feared would topple him and take over the kingdom and power and rule from him.

King Herod was known to be an Idumaean, who through his alliances with the Romans had gained the control over the whole kingdom of Judea from the Jewish monarchs known as the Hasmoneans, who belonged to the family of the Maccabees which had its roots in the Book of the Maccabees in the Scriptures. As such, King Herod was in a sense not the true king of Judah but a usurper, who gained power through worldly means and deceit.

He was a proud king who did not tolerate any opposition to his rule, no less the King of Israel and Saviour of the world Who had come into the world to usher in His kingdom of love and peace to all those who believe in Him. Pride is indeed a very dangerous enemy to us all, as it is pride that had caused Lucifer the Archangel to fall and became Satan the great enemy and the Accursed One, and it was pride that caused many men to fall and fail on their way to reach God’s salvation.

St. John also addressed this issue when he wrote in his Epistle that we heard as the passage today, speaking about those who said that they had no sin, that they deceived themselves and brought not salvation for themselves but instead ruin and destruction. St. John reminded us of the stubbornness of the Pharisees and the elders of Israel and Judah, who refused to believe in Jesus because they thought of themselves as righteous.

It was their self-perception of righteousness and pride in their own power, intellect and ability which became their downfall. They became haughty, ambitious and power-seeking, and they were unwilling to part with all the good things that they had enjoyed in life. And it was that same pride which had brought down King Herod that brought them down as well.

If Herod murdered many innocents, blameless and those who should not have been harmed, just in order to safeguard his interests, then we can see how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law constantly bickered with the Lord Jesus and His disciples, as they did with John the Baptist as well, because they were trying to safeguard and satisfy their own human interests. Is this what we want for ourselves, brethren?

It is a reminder from the Lord that this season of Christmas is a time when we should look beyond ourselves, perish our greed and pride, and seek instead to bring glory to the Lord and His Name, obeying His will and commandments rather than our own will and desires. The Holy Innocents are those who have perished from the result of the greed of men and the desire of those who hunger for worldly goodness and desires.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, there had been many other victims to human greed and ambition. Many people have suffered and perished because of our inability to resist the temptations of power and glory. In the same way, we too have often mistakenly celebrated this season of Christmas with revelry and rejoicing, celebrating our human achievements and deeds, but we forget about God, and we also forget about our brethren in need.

As Christians, we are today challenged to break free from the grip of our own greed and human ambitions and pride, so that we may learn to be loving and to be generous with our giving and mercy to our brethren in need. We should open our hearts to the Lord and welcome His love, trusting ourselves entirely, and not hardening our hearts and minds against Him as king Herod and the Pharisees and teachers of the Law had done.

May the Lord help us in our journey of life, and devote ourselves wholeheartedly and commit ourselves to Him in all of our deeds and actions. May He remind us always of the Holy Innocents who have died because of our human greed and ambition, that we may always seek to be humble and to give it all to God instead of trusting in our own human power and intellect. Amen.

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Wednesday, 28 December 2016 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Matthew 2 : 13-18

After the wise men had left, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will soon be looking for the Child in order to kill Him.”

Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and left that night for Egypt, where He stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled : I called My Son out of Egypt.

When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighbourhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learnt from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled : A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation : Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.

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Wednesday, 28 December 2016 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 123 : 2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8

Had not the Lord been on our side, when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive; such was their anger against us.

A bit more and the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.

The snare was broken and we were freed. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

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Wednesday, 28 December 2016 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
1 John 1 : 5 – 1 John 2 : 2

We heard His message from Him and announce it to you : God is light and there is no darkness in Him. If we say we are in fellowship with Him, while we walk in darkness, we lie instead of being in truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from all sin.

If we say, “We have no sin,” we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He Who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from our wickedness. If we say that we do not sin, we make God a liar, His word is not in us.

My little children, I write to you that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an Intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just One. He is the sacrificial Victim for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as we approach closer to the great celebrations of Christmas, when we rejoice together as all the people of God in memory of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son of God born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On that day two millennia ago, the Lord had sent into this world His salvation through Jesus, through Whom He revealed to the whole world and to all creation, what needs to be done for us to be redeemed and freed from our fated destruction.

The Lord is our Hope, and in Him alone lies our salvation and grace. But this is a fact that many of us tend to forget, and many of us are often too busy and preoccupied in our lives to notice and to understand the love of our God. We seek instead for the comforts of this world, trying to satisfy our desires and our wants, for either money, possessions, wealth and other things, for things that supposedly bring us joy and happiness.

However, none of these will last us and none of them are permanent. All these are distractions that prevent us from discovering the true joy and love of our lives. Our reaction upon seeing the Lord and upon receiving His love and grace should be that of joy, and indeed of extreme joy and happiness, knowing that because He has come into this world, He has made all things new and filled with hope once again. We should be happy, as the children are happy when their parents come back from work and see them again.

Yet, many of us are like prodigal children, who ignored our Father’s love and pretended as if He is not there. He has blessed us with many things, and yet we are often ensnared in these same things, and rather than giving thanks and rejoicing in the One Who had made all of these possible, we instead end up being entangled in the falsehoods and in the lies of the evil one, he who desired our destruction and damnation.

And it is the same with us who have come to celebrate Christmas without properly understanding what it is that we are celebrating about. Many of us have lost the focus of our celebration and rejoicing, to the point that instead of putting our focus in the Lord, we ended up getting distracted with all the worldly revelry and rejoicing, as what we often see every time we come to the season of Christmas.

That is the sad reality of our world today, in how many of us celebrate Christmas. Many of us, even Christians alike forgot that Christmas is truly about Christ, from Whom the name Christmas came about. Without Christ there can be no Christmas, and if we take out Christ from the equation of our celebrations and joy, then there is no meaning to Christmas. For Christmas cannot exist without Christ, Whose birth is celebrated on that day, and for Whom we should be truly grateful.

As we move on through Advent towards Christmas, it is imperative that we should understand what is our focus this Christmas. In all of our plans, do we have the Lord in mind as we rejoice and are happy with each other? Have we prepared everything with the birthday and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in mind? Have we told our children and our young ones about the Christ and what He had done, His significance to all of us that in this Christmas we merit the opportunity to rejoice?

It is important that during this time of Advent, a season and time of preparation, that we should prepare ourselves well to welcome the Lord Who comes into the world, as we should prepare ourselves such that we are well prepared for the Lord in our hearts and minds, as well as in our souls and in our bodies. This is important so that we will realise that when we celebrate Christmas, we are not just remembering He Who has come before, but also He Who has promised us all that He will come again.

And in that, we should also seek help and guidance from His saints, who are our examples in their faith and obedience to God. Today, we celebrate the feast day of a great saint and a holy man, whose faith and actions can help and guide us on the path towards the Lord. St. Peter Canisius is a Jesuit priest, who was among the first members of the Jesuit order or the Society of Jesus founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

At that time, the Church was rife with troubles and with corruption due to the worldliness of many of its members, both the laity and the members of the priestly and episcopal orders alike. Many people openly vie for positions in the world and in the Church, not shying away from misusing their positions and power in order to do so. As a result, the Church became divided and there were many who chose to follow false and heretical teachings and became sundered from the salvation of God in the Church.

St. Peter Canisius helped to refocus the people’s attention towards the Lord, through his hard work, his preachings through which he taught the people, many of them, about the truth found in the fullness of faith through the Church alone. He endured many rejections, ridicule and challenges and many thousands flocked back to the Lord as a result of the hard works of St. Peter Canisius and his fellow compatriots in faith.

Through the drive of the Counter-Reformation as it is now known, the Church through the Society of Jesus led by St. Ignatius of Loyola and aided greatly by St. Peter Canisius and the other prominent members of the Church such as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila helped to reform the Church and root out the corruptions and wickedness that had plagued the Church at that time, returning it to its pure intention for the salvation of the souls of mankind.

St. Peter Canisius is renowned not just for his actions, but also through his works in the Three Catechisms he wrote, a series of teachings of the faith which he made clear and available to the people so that, they would no longer fall into heresy and into the false teachings and ways. Through these Catechisms, many people after the time of St. Peter Canisius had benefitted greatly, and many returned to the faith and were saved from damnation because of his works.

And St. Peter Canisius was also renowned for his deep and strong devotion to Mary, the mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. His many works include a series of Mariology works through which he explained in great detail the role of Mary as the bearer of the Saviour of the world, and how in her own life examples she has become a great example to all of us to follow, in how we ought to live our lives in accordance with the will of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, following the examples of St. Peter Canisius and the other brave and courageous saints of the Lord, let us all reorientate our lives and rededicate our lives to the Lord our God, and shed away all the sins and wickedness of our lives, surrendering ourselves to God and obeying Him in the same way that Mary our role model had done.

May the Lord help us all to remain ever faithful to Him, and not to give up amidst the many temptations present in this world. May He bless us all and keep us all in His grace, now and forevermore. May all of us use the remaining time in this Advent season to prepare ourselves well to celebrate Christmas meaningfully and with full faith in the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 1 : 39-45

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Song of Songs 2 : 8-14

The voice of my lover! Behold He comes, springing across the mountains, jumping over the hills, like a gazelle or a young stag. Now He stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice.

My lover speaks to me, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one! Come, the winter is gone, the rains are over. Flowers have appeared on earth; the season of singing has come; the cooing of doves is heard. The fig tree forms its early fruit, the vines in blossom are fragrant. Arise, my beautiful one, come with Me, my love, come.”

“O my dove in the rocky cleft, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice. Your face – how lovely! Your voice – how sweet!”

Alternative reading
Zephaniah 3 : 14-18a

Cry out with joy, o daughter of Zion; rejoice, o people of Israel! Sing joyfully with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem! YHVH has lifted your sentence and has driven your enemies away. YHVH, the King of Israel is with you; do not fear any misfortune.

On that day they will say to Jerusalem : Do not be afraid nor let your hands tremble, for YHVH your God is within you, YHVH, saving Warrior. He will jump for joy on seeing you, for He has revived His love. For you He will cry out with joy, as you do in the days of the Feast.

I will drive away the evil I warned you about.

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Wednesday, 21 December 2016 : 4th Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 32 : 2-3, 11-12, 20-21

Give thanks to Him on the harp and lyre, making melody and chanting praises. Amid loud shouts of joy, sing to Him a new song and play the ten-stringed harp.

But His plan stands forever, and His heart’s design through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord – the people He has chosen for His inheritance.

In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. Our hearts rejoice in Him, for we trust in His holy Name.

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Wednesday, 14 December 2016 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the proclamations of the goodness of God, through which He declared to all of His people, just how loving and good He had been to them, bringing them from the darkness into the light and saving them from destruction by their enemies. He has blessed them with many things, and it was by His will and by His unending love for us all, that He had sent us the ultimate gift of all, that is His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

Through the Scriptures we indeed have heard just how great God is, and how mighty He has been in ordering around everything He had created in the universe. He is supreme and a Being without any equal save in His own Trinity of Godhood. Yet, different from any other false gods and deities of this world, while many of these demanded worship and sacrifices from the people who worshipped them, God really has no need for sacrifices, but instead what He needs is our love.

Before we loved Him, He has loved us all first, and He showed it by His blessings to our ancestors, right from the very first mankind down to all of us today, and He will continue to do so right to the very last man. And He has loved us all through Jesus, through Whom, He has willed to find all of us His lost sheep, so that He as our Shepherd may gather us all and keep us safe. And to that extent He was willing to do all of that for us, even to come down into this world to gather us in and to deliver us from our troubles.

And He healed from many people their bodily afflictions and diseases, as the concrete sign of God’s love for us all, as He Himself had promised earlier on, that when His deliverance came into the world, He would heal all of His beloved ones from their afflictions, their sorrows and their sufferings, and bring them into the true joy and happiness found only in Him. And the greatest of all of these healings are the healing of our souls, the destruction of sin, and the liberation of all of us from the chains of sin that had enslaved us.

This is what we commemorate and celebrate in Christmas, brothers and sisters in Christ, that a great and Almighty God beyond equal and beyond any comparison, would be willing to humble Himself and come down upon us, as merely one among us, as Man, so that by that action He might be able to gather us in, and by gathering all of our sins and disobedience upon Himself, He becomes our Easter or Paschal Lamb, Who becomes for us all the perfect sacrifice before God in order to absolve us from all the taints of our sins.

This is what Christmas is about, brethren, not about ourselves, or about our festivities and celebrations, but truly about God Who loves us so much that He was willing to do all of those things He had done so that we may all be saved. But have we ever shown Him gratitude and thanks for all that He has done for us? The reality is that many of us even ignored and rejected His love, and do not care for what He has blessed us with and we cast His love aside for the love of the world.

It is often that we are too busy with ourselves to even notice His love and His grace for us every single days of our lives. We are too preoccupied with our desires, greed and all of our daily concern to even notice of others around us, let alone God Whom we cannot see directly. And yet, it is clear and undeniable that He is the One behind all of our life’s successes and goodness. Without Him, we can do nothing, and without Him, our lives will be meaningless and empty.

In this time of Advent, as we approach ever closer to Christmas, therefore it is appropriate for us to spend time and indeed find the time to reflect on our own lives, our actions and our deeds. Have we loved our God in the same manner that He has loved us first? He wants from us only our love and devotion, that we should commit and give of ourselves in love to Him. But we are often too busy with ourselves and too distracted to be able to commit ourselves. This is where perhaps we should reflect on the life of the holy saint, St. John of the Cross.

St. John of the Cross was a holy and devout man who was one of the very important figure of the Counter-Reformation efforts during approximately five centuries ago, when the Church was assailed by the many forces of the world that threatened to destroy it from the outside and from within. Many of the faithful were spiritually lacking and corrupt in their deeds. They put ahead the concerns of the world instead of spiritual pursuits, and put ahead their selfishness ahead of the concerns of the poor and the needy, as what Christians should do.

Even among the priests and the religious corruption of the soul and corruption of worldliness had caused great perversity and danger to the whole Church. This brought about division and conflict within the Church, and many souls were lost because they were disillusioned with the Church and its leaders. When the leaders did not show good example, so neither would the members imitate what they should have done. St. John of the Cross set out to stop this decline of the Church, and by his works and many other brave and courageous servants of God, they have reversed the declining trend of the Church and its institutions.

St. John of the Cross helped to reform the Carmelite order together with St. Teresa of Avila, and also conducted many other reforms designed to purify the Church and its religious orders, casting out its corruptions and worldly taints, and promoting true devotion to God and rigorous discipline in how the people and especially the religious and the priests ought to live their lives, filled with faith. But of course, these efforts were faced with tough opposition from those whose lives had been affected by the reform.

St. John of the Cross had to suffer rejection, indignation and even imprisonment for his good works and efforts. He had to suffer many things, even torture and pain, but he never gave up his efforts. Instead, he persevered and did all the more than he could in order to bring renewal to the Church despite the threat of suffering and even death from his opponents. It is all these virtues and qualities which all of us should emulate in our own lives.

May the Lord help us to be ever more faithful as St. John of the Cross had been, and let us all do our best to resist worldly temptations, the temptations of our greed and our bodily desires, so that we may be pure and good in all of our dealings, so that we will be found worthy by the Lord when He comes again to judge all of us. St. John of the Cross, pray for us all, that God will strengthen our faith and help guide us on our path towards Him. Amen.