Wednesday

by

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Sin and the evil that comes with sin and rebellion against God has indeed enslaved us, even when many of us don’t realise that we are being enslaved. That is also because we adopt a rather open attitude at sin, and even embrace sin and evil, to the point that we are indeed almost glad at being slaves of sin and evil. We have been enslaved by sin as our forefathers were, since the days of rebellion of Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman.

Sin is evil, and is a state of rebellion against the love and authority of God. That is why God, who loves us so much, being the greatest of His creations, would want to send His own Son in order to save us. For slavery under sin is costly indeed, for anyone who want to liberate those slaves, that is us, from that mountains of sin. Imagine the amount of sin that we accumulate daily, not even counting yearly, or even our whole lives!

Imagine the weight of sin that Christ had to bear on Golgotha, that is Calvary, and on His journey towards there. When we do devotions especially in the form of the Stations of the Cross this Lent, indeed we would have heard and would have been reminded of the physical sufferings and burdens that Christ had to carry, with His heavy cross onto Calvary from Jerusalem. Yet, the heaviest weight, is not that of the visible and physical, but in fact, those that are invisible, and these were the mountains of our sins, all of us, past, present, and future.

Yes, in order to free us from our slavery, as Christ had mentioned in the Gospel today as what He wanted, a perfect and worthy sacrifice and exchange is necessary. No amount of animal blood and sacrifices will ever be worthy or enough to alleviate our sins, no matter how many times they were offered to God, as per the Law of Moses.

It is the very Precious Body and Blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, that is worthy of cleansing us from our sins and ‘purchasing’ us to free us from the slavery of sin. He has to die on the cross for that to happen. And yet so many people wished for His death, not because they want to be freed from their sins, but because they had grown so comfortable in sin, that they did not want sin to end enslaving them, but continue to dominate them in perpetuation.

So blinded were the people that they failed to see the freedom that God had brought them. Remember the rebellion of Israel against Moses and God at Massah and Meribah? When they grumbled that God had led them to the desert to die? That the life under slavery in Egypt were much better and much more suitable to them? That is the same, but now the Lord, through Jesus Christ had come to liberate all mankind, not just Israel, from the slavery of sin, but yet, there were still those who rejected our Lord just like at Massah and Meribah.

God offers His salvation and liberation of all of us from sin for free, for the price of His Body and Blood, which we receive regularly at the Mass, as the result of the Sacrifice offered by the priest, in union with the Sacrifice on Calvary. It is readily offered and available for us, if only our heart and our being are open to this freedom by the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray, that we will remain strong in our faith and in our conviction to remain in the Lord, and be free from sin and the chains of slavery it brings. May we remain in God’s love and remember always His love and sacrifice on the cross for our sake. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Daniel 3 : 52, 53, 54, 55, 56

Blessed are You, Lord, God of our fathers, be praised and exalted forever. Blessed is Your holy and glorious Name, celebrated and exalted forever.

Blessed are You in the temple of Your sacred glory, Your praises are sung forever.

Blessed are You on the throne of Your kingdom, honoured and glorified forever.

Blessed are You who fathom the depths, who are enthroned on the cherubim, praised and exalted forever.

Blessed are You in the firmament of heaven, praised and glorified forever.

by

Wednesday, 20 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Daniel 3 : 14-20, 91-92, 95

King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden statue I have set up? If you hear now the sound of horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and other instruments, will you fall down and worship the statue I made?”

“If you won’t, you know the punishment : you will immediately be thrown into a burning furnace. And then what god can deliver you out of my hands?”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we need not defend ourselves before you on this matter. If you order us to be thrown into the furnace, the God we serve will rescue us. But even if He won’t, we would like you to know, o king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.”

Nebuchadnezzar’s face reddened with fury as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of his strongest soldiers to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the burning furnace.

Then king Nebuchadnezzar suddenly rose up in great amazement and asked his counselors, “Did we not throw three men bound into the fire?” They answered, “Certainly.” The king said, “But I can see four men walking about freely through the fire without suffering any harm, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who sent His angel to free His servants who, trusting in Him, disobeyed the king’s order and preferred to give their bodies to the fire rather than serve and worship any other god but their God.

by

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is closely linked and intertwined with God the Father, our Creator. Together with the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity, they form the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Many would misinterpret this, including the Jews at the time, that it means there are 3 Gods at the same time, and that Christians worship 3 Gods, and therefore polytheistic.

No, this is simply not the case, for The Three members of the Holy Trinity are indeed three distinct members, not the same from each other, and distinctively different between the three of them, but yet, at the same time, are also One, and indivisible. This is the mystery of the Holy Trinity, that God who is present in 3 Godheads of the Father Creator, the Son who is the Messiah and the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit the Advocate, are at the same time distinct as they are one. They are one because they are bound by the link that is immemorial and infinite in nature, that is perfect and divine love.

For Jesus Christ as the Son loves the Father perfectly, and so does the Father loves the Son in the same way, and the nature of this relationship to the Holy Spirit is none other but the same as well. And the Son does the will of the Father, because He obeys the Father, and even unto death, as our Lord Jesus Christ died for us on Calvary, on the cross, that we all can be saved, from death, and from sin.

Jesus Christ our Saviour, is the Word of God, which the Father had sent down to us, to be like us, sinful man, that he can teach all of us, as the Word, the Words of God, the love of God, and the true meanings of God’s commandments, that is love, and the very nature of God Himself, that is love, mercy, and compassion. He showed God’s teachings through His own examples, and through His ultimate dedication to the cause of the Lord. That is to die on the cross on Calvary, to give Himself up as the worthy sacrifice for all our sins. For He brought into Himself the sins of all men, and the contrite hearts of all those who believed in God, and became the worthy sacrifice, saving mankind from being doomed due to their rebellion against God.

Christ had suffered, and He had died on the Cross, and then he too had risen from the dead, and in glory He returned to the Father and left this world at the hands of His disciples, who continued to propagate His mission and His words, throughout generations, throughout many centuries and millennia, through good and hard times, through bountiful harvests of faith and persecution of the martyrs and the faithful in God, to all of us today who belong in God’s Church, which He established through Peter.

The Church today is the last and only bastion of truth, love, and light in this world increasingly eaten up by evil forces of consumerism, hedonism, secularism, and atheism. Many had abandoned God in search of temporary and worldly pleasures and temptations, and left God for their own reasons and their own ideas, and even thinking that they need no God, even though it’s the very God who had come down to us, in order to build a bridge between us and the Lord who created us, that we are finally able to return to God, through Christ’s death on the cross, His ultimate sacrifice, for all of us.

Our Church had been the greatest charitable body in the world, and had done much to help the poor and the suffering, and there are of course still much more that we can do to help, even every one of us, we can all contribute more to help those least and the weakest in our society. Let us all help the Church in its mission, help all who are involved in serving the weak, the poor, the ostracised, and the persecuted ones. Let us also of course strive to spread God’s Good News and message of love to all, especially those who had rejected Him, and those who even persecuted God’s holy people.

For Christ, the Son of God, will come to judge His people again at the end of time, at His Second Coming, which time and place we do not know about. But He always reminds us to be vigilant, and to be awake, lest we are caught unawares. He will judge those who had done acts of love, for one another, and for God, worthy, and worthy to join Him in eternal bliss of heaven. And to those whom had failed to love, those who failed to forgive and those who had forsaken Him, He will reject and drive away from His presence.

Let us not worry, since if we do what is good, God is on our side. Continue doing acts of love, mercy, and compassion, and begin to do charitable acts starting from small, little things we can help, like not refusing to help a beggar, and tried to spare a coin for them, and also to help one another in the society, and to be aware of the plight of our fellow brothers and sisters, that we will all remain strong, in God’s love.

Help one another to grow in faith, hope, and love, the three cardinal virtues of life. Let us pray that our faith in God will remain strong, that our hope in Him and mankind will be ever present, and be light to those who despair, and let our love burn within us, filled with God’s love, to show God’s love to all mankind, and to all the nations, that those who have yet bend their knees before the God who loves them and gave His life for them, will follow. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 : 60th Birthday Anniversary of the Apostolic Nuncio to Singapore, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli

Yesterday, besides being the day when our new Pope, Pope Francis was elected the 266th Pope and the 265th Successor of St. Peter the Apostle, was another joyous day.

http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/nunciature/nunc152.htm#8848

This is because, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio to Singapore, who was born on 13 March 1953, celebrated his 60th anniversary yesterday.

Let us pray together for Archbishop Girelli, that God will continue to shower him with His love and strength, that he will continue to faithfully carry out the mission that has been entrusted to him as the representative of the Holy See to Singapore, Vietnam, and to ASEAN.

Ad multos annos, Your Excellency!

by

Fifth Ballot : White smoke (Fumata bianca). A new Pope has been elected. Habemus Papam!

Habemus Papam! We have a Pope!

549289_509082082489147_147052586_n

by

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

John 5 : 17-30

Jesus replied, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” And the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made Himself equal with God, calling God, His own Father.

Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by Himself, but only what He sees the Father do. And whatever He does, the Son also does. The Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He does; and He will show Him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed.”

“As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom He wills. In the same way the Father judges no one, for He has entrusted all judgment to the Son, and He wants all to honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever ignores the Son, ignores as well the Father who sent Him.”

“Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; and there is no judgment for him, because he has passed from death to life. Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, on hearing it, will live.”

“For the Father has life in Himself, and He has given to the Son also to have life in Himself. And He has empowered Him as well as to carry out Judgment, for He is Son of Man. Do not be surprised at this; the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear My voice and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

“I can do nothing of Myself, and I need to hear Another One to judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

by

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Psalm 144 : 8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18

Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creations.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

by

Wednesday, 13 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Isaiah 49 : 8-15

This is what YHVH says : “At a favorable time I have answered you, on the day of salvation I have been your help; I have formed you and made you to be My covenant with the people. You will restore the land, and allot its abandoned farms. You will say to the captives : Come out, and to those in darkness : Show yourselves.”

“They will feed along the road; they will find pasture on barren hills. The will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the scorching wind or the sun beat upon them; for He who has mercy on them will guide them and lead them to springs of water.”

“I will turn all My mountains into roads and raise up My highways. See, they come from afar, some from north and west, others from the land of Sinim.”

Sing, o heavens, and rejoice, o earth; break forth into song, o mountains : For YHVH has comforted His people and taken pity on those who are afflicted. But Zion said : “YHVH has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”

Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you.

by

Third Ballot : Black smoke from the chimney of Sistine Chapel. No Pope had been elected yet.

6de75351b30a02082c0f6a706700aa80

At around 11.45 am in the morning on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 in Rome, black smoke poured out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, slightly earlier than predicted. Therefore, as of the third ballot we do not have a new Pope elected yet.

Be prepared for the fourth ballot, since it is just possible that in that ballot a new Pope will be elected, since if there is a clear candidate that is worthy of election, the Cardinal-electors may converge on him, and the election may occur at the fourth ballot, if not then the fifth ballot.

Keep praying for our Cardinal-electors!