Weekday Homily

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Wednesday, 31 August 2022 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord speaking to us through the Scriptures, we are reminded to distance ourselves from worldly attachments and erroneous ways. We should not allow ourselves to be swayed by worldly pressures and temptations, particularly the temptation of pride and ego, of desire and greed, of worldly attachments and pleasures. That is because all of those things can easily and quickly lead us down the slippery path towards sin and evil, wickedness and damnation. If we are not ever vigilant and careful, we can easily be tempted and turned into this path.

In our first reading today, as we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, evidently there was quite a bitter dispute among the people of God regarding the support that they had for the different leaders of the faithful, from those who were siding with St. Paul himself, while there were those who sided with another popular preacher, namely Apollos. According to the Scriptures and Apostolic traditions, Apollos was a popular Jewish Christian preacher who gained a great following because of his great charisma and teachings, and is considered a saint of the Church just like St. Paul.

However, as we heard, unfortunately, although Apollos himself was faithful and devoted to God, and gave himself well to the service and the glory of God, but it was the people who were divided because of their competing allegiances and preferences, as some preferred to follow St. Paul and his way of teaching, while others preferred to follow Apollos and his ways. It is natural for people to have differences in their opinions and ideas, but when things become heated and very divided along various lines and opinions, or groups and viewpoints, that could quickly become very troublesome and hard for the Church and the faithful, who could become violently opposed to each other in bitter factional politics.

This was exactly what St. Paul warned the people against, and what he reminded them to avoid, as he told them that they should not be divided one against another, or be opposed to each other just because they were supporting different schools of thought, or ideologies, or preferences in the Church. He told the faithful in Corinth that whatever the missionaries and the different teachers of the faith like himself and Apollos had done, all of them were working for the greater glory of God and for the sake of His people, and all of them were all the servants of the same God, and hence, every one, every members of the Church and the faithful should be united in truth, love and purpose, and not be easily divided against each other.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard then the account of the Lord healing the mother-in-law of St. Peter, one of His Twelve Apostles. At that time, St. Peter, then known as Simon, asked the Lord to to help his mother-in-law, and immediately, the Lord healed her by His power, and made her completely healthy again. That news spread and soon there were many people who came to the Lord bringing all of their sick ones and those who were troubled in many ways. The Lord ministered to them and cared for them, healed their sick and shown His great power and might, and many believed in Him, that He is truly the Messiah or Saviour Whom God had promised to His people.

But the Lord left that place quietly in the morning of the day after, and His disciples were all wondering why He was doing that. The Lord told all of them that there were still many people who were in need of His work and mercy, and if He were to stay there in that place, then He would not have been able to do so. There would be a lot of temptations as well, in trying to lure the people into forcing Him to be their King, and that would have led to disastrous and unwanted consequences to the detriment of the Lord’s work and ministry. At the same time, the Lord also wanted to highlight and point out that whatever He and His disciples ought to be doing and were doing, those were all done for the greater glory of God, and not for their own glory.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to these words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that we must not allow those worldly temptations of power, glory, ambition, fame and all sorts of pride, ego, hubris and greed from misleading us down the wrong path. The Lord has reminded us that each and every one of us must always be centred and focused on God, that we will not end up losing sight on the true goal of our lives, that is to be united with God, to be reconciled with Him and to walk in His path towards the salvation and eternal glory, true happiness and joy that we can only find in Him alone. To that end, we should to our best to resist the many temptations found all around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to do our best to resist those temptations and pressures to conform to worldly ways and manners, and instead, be exemplary and committed to a life filled with virtue and grace from now on. Let us all draw ever closer to God and let us all seek the Lord with all our hearts from now on, dedicating our whole selves and our entire effort to glorify the Lord by our lives. May God be with us always and may He bless us in our every works and deeds, in all the things we say and do. May He empower each and every one of us to be ever faithful in our path towards Him, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 30 August 2022 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord, we are reminded to open ourselves to know the Lord, our Saviour and King, not just superficially but also wholeheartedly in a genuine desire to know Him and to love Him with all of our might. Each and every one of us ought to trust in God’s Wisdom and allow His truth to guide us. We must not let the temptations of worldly glory and other temptations of this world from misleading us down the wrong path, or making us to move further and further away from God and His truth.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, we heard of the need for all the faithful to embrace the Spirit of God that has been given to them, and to attune themselves to the Spirit, that they may appreciate and understand the truth of God, and not to see things through the spirit and understanding of the world. That is because the ways of the Lord are different from the ways of the world, and unless we see things from the Lord’s perspective, and through His Spirit, then we cannot truly understand the Lord, His ways and His truth.

Then in our Gospel passage today we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus cast out evil spirits from a man in Capernaum when that possessed man came to Him and began speaking up and revealing the truth about the Lord Himself, how Jesus was truly the Holy One of God, the Son of God and the Messiah or Saviour of the world. The significance of this moment is that when the people of Capernaum failed to recognise the truth spoken by the evil spirits, and especially when the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law often criticised and harassed Him, refusing to listen to Him or to believe in His words, it was ironically the evil spirits who spoke the truth.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? First of all, the evil spirits were truly once spirits in the service of God, Angels and other spiritual beings who fell into disobedience and sin, following Satan, the Fallen Angel, who fell into sin because of his prideful rebellion against God. But, although those evil spirits had disobeyed and rebelled against God, they were still nonetheless subject to Him and they could not but speak the truth regarding Him before others. Hence, what the evil spirits spoke through the man was indeed the truth. What the evil spirits however wanted to do by that action, is to sow confusion and make it difficult for the Lord to perform His mission by revealing His true nature before the people.

Then, that was again where we see how the Lord exercised His power, commanding the evil spirits to get out of the man. The man was freed from his predicament and was liberated from the torment of those evil spirits. That the evil spirits had to obey the Lord and His commands was yet another proof that He truly was Who those evil spirits spoke about, that although they were malicious in their intent and mischievous in their actions, but they could not lie regarding the truth of the Lord and His works and mission in this world. Yet, many of the people still refused to believe in the Lord and many still continued to harden their hearts and minds against Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of these then point out to our own attitudes as Christians, as members of the Church of God. Have we allowed God to speak to us through His Spirit and allowed Him to guide us in our journey of faith through life? Or have we instead kept on resisting Him and His truth, and preferred instead to follow the ways and wisdom of this world? Or remaining adamant in our own beliefs and way of thinking, and not willing to listen to the Lord speaking to us in the depths of our hearts and minds? Many of us as Christians we prefer to still follow our own supposedly superior way of thinking and doing things, without realising that this is one major obstacle in our path towards being truly faithful to God.

There is a need for all of us God’s people to be humbler and to be more willing to listen to the Lord, to attune ourselves, our actions and deeds to God, and that requires us to allow the Lord and His Spirit to exercise His works within us and through us. We have to learn to listen and discern the will of God through His words. But one major obstacle is our many attachments and preoccupations in this world, and it will do us well to resist the temptations of these worldly desires as well as the many other pressures of worldly matters and preoccupations, all of which tend to distract us from our path towards the Lord and His salvation and grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to do our best in our lives to focus our attention towards the Lord and to be humble and a good listener, in allowing the Lord to lead and guide us in our lives, distancing ourselves from the many temptations and distractions all around us. May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey, and may His Spirit continue to guide us with His wisdom and truth, and may His love and grace continue to strengthen us in all things and at all times. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 29 August 2022 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the suffering, the great love and the commitment which a great servant of God had dedicated himself to his Lord and Master, namely St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah, the bearer of the Good News of the Lord’s imminent coming, all that this man of God had done for the sake of the people of God and for his love for them, and how he stood up courageously for the sake of God’s truth, resisting the evils and immoral ways of the world, persisting even against those who were powerful and mighty.

St. John the Baptist was called by God and prepared ever since he was still in his mother, Elizabeth’s womb. St. John the Baptist had been marked by God for the mission which He has entrusted to this man, calling on all of mankind, all of God’s people to return to Him. St. John the Baptist dedicated himself throughout his whole life, preparing himself for his mission, and then calling on many people to return towards the Lord with great repentance, seeking God’s forgiveness, and be baptised as a visible sign of their desire to repent and turn away from the path of sin. That was how he was known as the Baptist.

Today, as we celebrate this Feast of the Passion of St. John the Baptist, we remember the moment when this holy man of God suffers for the sake of the faith, as he endured suffering and hardships in prison, as he defended the truth of God and the righteousness of faith, amidst the immorality of the king of Galilee, Herod and his unlawful wife, Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Contextually and historically, we must understand that it was likely that Herodias married Herod when Philip was still lawfully married to her, and with the daughter of Herodias being mentioned, it was likely she was the daughter of Philip and Herodias, hence therefore Herod’s liaison with Herodias constituted an adultery in the eyes of God and man alike, in opposition of God’s Law and truth.

That was why St. John the Baptist fearlessly criticised Herod and Herodias just as much as he had criticised the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who had misled the people and acted for their own selfish desires and greed. St. John the Baptist did not fear persecution or challenges, trials and hardships, and he entrusted himself completely in the Lord. To the very end, as St. John the Baptist was imprisoned and then by the plotting of Herodias, that led to the martyrdom of this holy man and servant of God, he never gave up his faith and dedication to God, and remained faithful and committed, righteous and fearless to the very end.

Today as we listened to the courageous story of the faith of St. John the Baptist, all of us are also reminded of the calling that each one of us as Christians have received in responding to God’s call to serve Him faithfully in the manner that St. John the Baptist had done, in standing up for our faith in the Lord and in defending the important Christian values and teachings. Each and every one of us are called to be courageous champions and defenders of our faith, and at every available and possible opportunities, we may be called to be witnesses of the Lord and to be missionaries of faith, following in the footsteps of the saints and martyrs.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we ought to reflect in what way our lives can glorify God so that in all the things we say and do, we will always proclaim the truth and love of God. All of us have the important obligation and duty to follow the Lord and His ways in all things and at all times. However, we must also realise that there will often be a lot of obstacles and temptations that may distract and drag us away from the path towards God and His salvation. And if we are not careful, we may end up also being dragged into the sins and immorality found aplenty in this world. This is where we have to be inspired by St. John the Baptist and his examples, in giving our all to God.

Are we willing and able to commit ourselves in that way, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing to suffer and endure rejection, oppression and even trials for the sake of the Lord. But we have no need to be worried or be fearful, as in the end, the Lord will be by our side and He will guide us to Himself, showing us the sure and right path, guiding us patiently and ever so lovingly, seeking us and reaching out to us, ever lovingly calling on us to turn back towards Him. We should consider ourselves so fortunate to have such a great and loving God and Father, and yet, many of us still hardened our hearts and minds against Him.

May the Lord continue to guide us and bless us, and may He continue to give us the strength to do His will in each and every opportunities we have. May all of us also remain ever faithful to Him and be able to commit ourselves with ever greater and more sincere efforts for His greater glory. May God bless our every actions and efforts, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 August 2022 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians, as God’s people to be full of humility and virtues, and not to be prideful and arrogant. We are all called to open our hearts and minds to the Lord and allow Him to guide our path. We should not allow our ego and pride to mislead us down the wrong path. We must always remind ourselves that we exist by the grace of God and everything we do, are ultimately to glorify God and to serve Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Sirach, on the matter of humility before God and how the faithful should act and behave in this world, with humility and obedience to God, and not to be filled with ambition or self-aggrandising attitudes. As Christians, all of us are challenged to put aside the temptations of greed and pride, of the many allures of worldly pleasures, power, glory, fame and human praises. This is of course easier said than done, as temptations will always be abound in trying to steer us away from the path of God’s righteousness and into the path of selfishness and wickedness.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and the guests regarding how some of the Pharisees were seeking the most important places on the dinner table, as with other events and gatherings. The Lord highlighted that we should not do such things, and should not seek the pride of honour, desire renown and compete for prestige and honour with each other, or indulge on our status, our privileges and other things which can lead us down the slippery path into sin and damnation. That is because pride and ego, desire and greed can easily lead us into doing things for our own selfish aims and purposes.

Contextually, we should understand that the Pharisees and the other respected members of the community were at the apex of the Jewish society, together with the king and his nobles. The Pharisees were greatly respected as well as feared because of their great intellectual abilities, being those among the few who were educated and had the knowledge and understanding of the Torah or the Hebrew Scriptures. They were also the ones who were entrusted with the maintenance and preservation of the Law of God as passed down from the time of Moses through the generations, adopting an especially strict interpretation of the Law.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law often made a show of their piety and faith by praying openly and loudly in the public places, wearing their wide prayer shawls and showing their obedience to the Law, while at the same time also shunning and criticising those whom they deemed to be less than worthy than they were, which in this case was essentially everyone else besides them, and in particular, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the people who were possessed with evil spirits and who suffered from illnesses and sickness, from various conditions and maladies. Those people were viewed with disdain and even open hostility from the same Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

While not all of the Pharisees were living their lives in that manner, but quite a number of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had the same attitude towards their faith. They focused more on appearances and external applications of the Law, and misused their privileged positions among the community in order to advance their own egoistic aims and ambitions. They thought that their righteousness and their piety made them to deserve the grace and salvation, honour and praise from God and man alike, but they had forgotten that everyone is equal before God, and their attitude, their boastfulness and their hardline attitude in fact turned people away from the faith and made it difficult for some to come back towards the Lord.

In our second reading today, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard of the words of the author of this Epistle that all of us the faithful have been called to come into the presence of God Most High, Who through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, have formed a New Covenant with us mankind, with Christ as the Mediator of this New Covenant. It is by God’s grace that we have received His pardon, His mercy, His compassionate love and care. It is through the works of His Son, that by His suffering and death on the Cross, by which we mankind have been made partakers of the New Covenant He has established with us, that will last forever.

What this highlights is that, while all of us have to be active in living our lives with concrete actions, with efforts based on our faith, but we do not justify ourselves based on those works and deeds alone. It is God working through us, as we carry out His will and as we do our actions in this life that allow us to come to the grace of God and become worthy of Him. Without God, and without His love and providence, and without faith, then all of our actions are empty and meaningless. Like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, while they were outwardly pious and faithful, but as the Lord Himself pointed out, that their hearts were not filled with the love for God, but with love for themselves and their pride and ego.

That is why, on this Sunday, all of us are reminded through all these passages from the Sacred Scriptures, that we should always be vigilant and be careful with the temptations of our desires, our pride and ego, all of which can mislead us down the wrong path, in causing us to do things that are contrary to the will of God. Each one of us should always strive to remain focused on the Lord and remind ourselves of what we have been called to do as God’s followers and disciples. We have to restrain the temptations of our flesh, the desire for pleasures and for false happiness and other temptations that are aplenty all around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us always strive to be humble and to do God’s will in each and every one of our actions, making good use of whatever opportunities that He has given each one of us so that we will not end up falling into temptation, or falter in our journey towards Him because we end up doing things to satisfy our selfish wants and desires first instead of doing what God wants us to do. And the more responsibilities we have, the greater the position we have in life, in whatever achievement we gained, in whatever honour we receive, let us not allow our pride and ego to overcome us as they had done to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

Instead, as the Lord had reminded us through the Scriptures, the greater we are, the humbler we should become, and there is no greater example for that than the Lord Himself, the Mediator of the New Covenant, Who although is the Almighty, All-Powerful God, willingly humbled and emptied Himself of His infinite glory, to be stripped and to be scourged, punished and broken for our sake, as He laid suffering and dying on the Cross. The Lord’s most loving sacrifice on the Cross is truly a reminder for us, of the virtue of Christian humility which the Lord Himself had shown us. At the Last Supper, the Lord has also washed His disciples’ feet, and told them to do the same as He had done, reminding us that as Christians, as God’s followers, we have to put God and others ahead of ourselves.

Let us all therefore do our best to live our lives with Christian virtues, particularly that of humility, so that we may draw ever closer to God and also be inspiration for one another, in striving to live our lives more worthily for God and His glory. May all of us distance ourselves from the dangerous temptations of pride and greed, excise from us that pride and greed, that ego and ambition, and instead, serve the Lord humbly at all times, and do our best to glorify God by our lives at each and every opportunities. Amen.

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Saturday, 27 August 2022 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, each and every one of us have been reminded that we have been called by God to be His servants, and to follow Him to whatever and wherever He sends us, in our respective and various areas of responsibilities, in whatever opportunities and moments we have been given, to be the evangelising and missionary witnesses of His truth. Each and every one of us have been given by God unique talents, abilities, opportunities and gifts, and it is really indeed up to us whether we want to embrace these gifts from God and do what God had called and commanded us to do.

In our first reading today taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Corinth, we heard of the Apostle speaking regarding the Lord and how He called and chose those from the world that might not be in accordance to the expectations of the world. While the world often sought the rich, the powerful and the mighty, the intellectual and those who are considered worthy and good, but the Lord called on all those who are considered ordinary and plain, those whom the world does not consider to be good or worthy, to be the ones to carry out His will and to do His works. God called on all these to be the instruments of His will.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard another story, that of the parable of the silver talents, in which a master gave three of his servants several amounts of silver talents while he was going away for a while. Entrusting those silver talents to them, the master left on his matter, and the three servants acted differently on the silver talents given to them. The one who had only one silver talent chose to hide his silver talent and did nothing to it, while the ones who had received five and two silver talents respectively chose to put their silver to good use, invested in them and made good returns from them.

We heard how then the master chastised and was angry against the servant who was lazy and did not do anything to his one silver talent, while praising those servants who had done what they could to the silver entrusted to them. Through what we heard in our Gospel passage today and linking to what we have also heard in our first reading today earlier, we can see the clear parallel and comparison, between that of the silver talents and the servants with our calling and responsibilities as Christians, in serving the Lord, our Master and King. The Lord entrusted to us various talents, gifts, abilities, opportunities and others just as the master in the parable entrusted the silver talents to his three servants.

Yes, linking with what we heard earlier from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, God called us all to follow Him, and bestowed on us various gifts and talents, opportunities as each one of us have received and experienced throughout our lives. Each one of us have unique experiences and diverse gifts, all of which should be put to good use for the purpose which the Lord had given these to us. Sometimes we may not be sure what we should do with those gifts and blessings, and that is why it is important for us to discern carefully what our respective calling in life as Christians are, as we are all called to different vocations and purposes in life.

God called on us all from our diverse backgrounds, bestowing on us various things, blessings, abilities and more so that we may make good use of them, and be fruitful in our actions throughout life. As Christians, our actions, words and deeds should be life-giving and bear testimony to our Christian faith and to the Lord, our God and Saviour. But sadly, many Christians throughout the world are still lukewarm about their faith, and many did not do anything more than the minimum required obligations and responsibilities placed on us as Christians, and many more are even Christians in name and formality only.

That is why today all of us are reminded of this duty and obligation that each and every one of us as Christians have in being obedient to God and in doing His will, making good use of whatever God has given us to do His will. And unless we make the effort to do so, then we are likely to continue to ignore the Lord and His truth, and may end up falling into the slippery slope of worldliness and sins. We have to remind ourselves to be genuine in our faith and to be truly dedicated to God in all things. We can be inspired today from the story and the life of St. Monica, a great saint and woman, and the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the most renowned and famous early Church fathers, servant of God and Doctor of the Church.

Back then, St. Monica was married to a Roman pagan nobleman and had a child which was to become St. Augustine. St. Monica had to put up with her husband’s often violent temper and then her son’s immoral behaviour in his youth. St. Augustine was a wayward child and teenager, and spent his life in hedonistic pursuits and also fell into the Manichaean heretical teachings and influence. St. Monica never ceased to pray for her son and continued to patiently care for him, and after her many tearful nights being concerned and worried about him, eventually her prayers and the Lord brought St. Augustine to be converted to the true faith.

St. Monica might have just been an ordinary woman, a normal mother with all the issues that mothers often face even up to this day. Yet, in all of that ordinary living and things, we see how God turned what was ordinary into extraordinary. St. Monica lived her life with faith and righteousness, and did all that she could to obey the Lord and to care for her loved ones, and that led to the conversion of her son, who was to become one of the greatest of the Church fathers, and whose own contributions and works led to the many other good things and the salvation of so many other souls.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after hearing all that and discerning on the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to not be afraid to be extraordinary through God, although we may seem to be ordinary in our lives and appearances. It is God in the end Who will make us worthy of Him, as He had done with St. Monica and countless other saints, holy men and women of God who have inspired us with the stories of their great faith and deeds. It was God Who made all those things possible. That is why, we should answer God’s call with faith and conviction, and do our best to invest our time and effort in doing whatever is within our means, in living our lives for the greater glory of God.

May God be with us always, and may He continue to guide us and bless us in all of our good efforts and endeavours, and may He continue to lead us down the path of righteousness, and bestow us His blessings and graces that we may make good use of them to glorify His Name all the more. Amen.

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Friday, 26 August 2022 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are presented with the need for each and every one of us as Christians to be dedicated to God in all things, and all of us should always trust in the wisdom of God and in His truth, His path and guidance rather than to follow the path of the world or any sorts of worldly means or solutions. All of us are called to be ever prepared and vigilant lest we allow ourselves to be deluded and misled by worldly temptations and false guides. We have to heed the words of today’s Scriptures that we may choose the right path forward in life.

In our first reading today, we listened from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Corinth, speaking to us regarding the matter of human wisdom versus God’s wisdom and truth. St. Paul elaborated how the wisdom of God far surpassed the wisdom of mankind, and how the truth and wisdom of God might be seen by man as a form of foolishness, and man by their own conventional way of thinking and wisdom may find the teachings of the Lord, His way and truth as foolishness. And yet, it is by seeking that truth alone and by putting our faith in God alone that we may find the path to eternal life and true joy.

Why is the wisdom and ways of the Lord be considered as folly by mankind? That is because the Lord’s actions, in Him reaching out to us all, flawed as we were, and showing His love, compassion and mercy might be seen as weakness by some who valued legalistic viewpoints such as that those who have erred ought to suffer punishments for their errors without forgiveness or chance of repentance. Then, when He chose to come into our world, being born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, assuming our humble existence, then that became a source of even greater confusion and consternation by those who kept the wisdom of man.

For the Jews, as we heard St. Paul saying, it was a great scandal, because Christ did not just mention that He is the Son of God Most High, the Saviour of the world, but more importantly, through His crucifixion and death on that Cross, He had suffered the most humiliating and painful death, at the hands of His enemies. By any conventional Jewish understanding and wisdom, such an event would have been utterly unbelievable and disheartening, as they had considered and thought the Messiah as the Mighty One that God would send their way to lead them in a great victory against their enemies and restore the kingdom of Israel.

On the other hand, for the Greeks, the notion of God being incarnate as Man would not have been very strange, as in their own pantheon and mythology, the gods often came down to the world disguising themselves and posing as man. However, what would have also befuddled and confused them is the same fact that this God came willingly to offer His own life, to suffer and die for the sake of mere mankind. That is something that the Greek gods and pantheon would not have done at all. Yet, that was exactly what the Lord had done, by His suffering and death on the Cross, for the sake of our redemption and salvation.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the story or parable of the five wise and five foolish maidens, which we may be quite familiar with. Those five wise maidens had backup oil with them together with their oil lamps while they were waiting for the coming of the bridegroom for a late night wedding celebration while the five foolish maidens were bringing with them just enough oil for their lamps, without any backup. Through what we heard regarding this story of the five wise and five foolish maidens, we can clearly see the Lord’s intentions in reminding all of us, His faithful disciples, that we cannot be idle and we have to be ever vigilant in living our lives with faith.

And we have to entrust ourselves in God’s wisdom and providence, and do our best to live our lives in the most worthy, Christian manner. That is because if we follow the ways of the world, and put our trust in our own human wisdom and strength, then we are likely to fall into the wrong path, of self-delusion and self-aggrandisement, which will prevent us from realising that we may be wrong in what we do. Unfortunately, it is quite often that we mankind prefer to follow our own ways and satisfy our own desires and wants, and as a result, we end up doing things that are contrary to the way of the Lord, and we end up choosing the wrong actions that causing us to be more and more distant from God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore dedicate ourselves and our time, our effort and our whole being to God, and entrusting ourselves to His wisdom and guidance. Let us all turn towards Him with faith, and let us allow God to guide us in our journey of faith so that hopefully we may always be true to Him and be committed to His path at all times. Let us all be wise and be filled with the wisdom of God like that of the five wise women in the parable, and not be like the five foolish women and all those who refused to trust in the Lord. May God empower each one of us to walk in His path and to embark on this journey of faith, now and always, to the end of our days and everlasting life with Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 25 August 2022 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Louis, and St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints or Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of the calling for all of us as Christians to remain faithful to the truth, teachings and the way of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We must always be ready and vigilant, and not to fall into the trap of complacency and sloth, or lukewarmness in faith and mediocracy. Each and every one of us as Christians are expected to live our lives full of faith and to do whatever we can in order to proclaim the truth of God and the glory of God through our daily living, our every words, actions and deeds.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, as the Apostle exhorted the faithful there to continue to remain steadfast in their faith and obedience to God through His Son, their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He reminded them of the wisdom and the light that they all had received from the Lord Himself, as they received those through the Apostles, from St. Paul himself and the other missionaries, and inspired from the Holy Spirit that has been given to them by the laying of the hands. They had received the wisdom and truth of God, and are therefore called to be faithful witnesses of the Lord and their Christian faith.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples with the parable of the faithful and bad servants, through which the Lord wanted to highlight the importance for each one of us, His followers and disciples, to live our lives most worthily at all times, and to do whatever we can in obeying His Law and commandments, and in doing our best to proclaim the truth of God by our exemplary actions. We cannot live our lives the way that hypocrites had done, that we do things contrary to what we profess to believe in. And we can neither neglect our obligations and responsibilities in living a good and faithful Christian life, when we are all called to be leading virtuous and good Christian living.

That is because as the Lord highlighted, the moment of our reckoning, for our actions and deeds, and for our whole lives can come at anytime. Through that parable of the two stewards, the Lord compared their examples with our own lives, reminding us that the moment for us as the stewards of the Lord’s creation, accounting for our lives in this world, can happen at anytime. We all ought to remember and know that while the most certain thing that will happen to each one of us is death, but at the same time, the most uncertain thing for us is to know the time of our death, as no one will ever know when they exactly will reach the end of their worldly existence. God alone knows that detail.

That is why, all of us as Christians ought to prepare ourselves well for the inevitable, and we have to keep in mind what we have heard in today’s Scripture passages so that we can keep ourselves in check and also attuned to the expectations that the Lord has placed on us. If we have been delaying and been lukewarm in our faith, and not doing what the Lord has expected each one of us to do, then we really should spend the time to start doing what we should be doing, in living our lives in accordance with God and His ways from now on, and we can also seek inspiration on how to do so by looking upon the good examples set by our holy predecessors.

Today, we celebrate the feast of two great saints of the Church, whose examples and inspirations can and should inspire all of us to live our lives wholeheartedly full of faith, so that we may truly be good and worthy disciples and followers of the Lord Most High. St. Louis IX was the King of France during the High Middle Ages remembered for his great contributions to the Church both in his support for the Christian faith as well as in his role as the king and guardian of his kingdom and people. Meanwhile, St. Joseph Calasanz was a Spanish priest who was remembered for his efforts in caring for the needs of the poor and for establishing good education for the poor and the uneducated.

St. Louis IX was the King of France during the High Middle Ages, who ruled his kingdom for a long period of several decades during which time he dedicated himself to the advancement of his people and the betterment of his kingdom. He was remembered for his great contributions to the Church and also his zealous and faithful living, as he always dedicated himself to improve both the physical and spiritual well-being of his people, building churches and schools, as well as other institutions that were important in the livelihood of the people and his kingdom. He was also active in his efforts to defend the faithful and Christendom through the Crusades and more, both towards reclaiming the Holy Land and in rooting out the Albigensian heresy.

St. Joseph Calasanz was a courageous and faithful priest, who was remembered for his passion in bringing free education to the poor and the needy, as means to help them to overcome their constant cycle of poverty and suffering. Through education and his many other efforts, St. Joseph Calasanz also revealed God’s truth and love for His people, which he showed by his patient care and ministry in dedicating himself to the betterment of the lives and the education of the poor. He gave much of his time and effort to help those who are in need, and showing us all true Christian charity, love and action, that we should also be inspired to follow in our own lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard of the life examples and inspirations from St. Louis IX and also St. Joseph Calasanz, all of us are also called to live our lives faithfully in God’s path, to proclaim His truth and love to all the people whom we encounter in our daily living. All of us are reminded to do our best at every moments such that we may ourselves be inspiration to one another in how we all live our lives in God’s presence. May the Lord continue to bless us all and may He remain with us, by our side, guiding and strengthening us in our journey of faith through life. May God bless us all, now and always, evermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 24 August 2022 : Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, one of the Lord’s Twelve Apostles, and who was also identified as Nathanael, his alternate name as highlighted in our Gospel passage today. St. Bartholomew as known by Nathanael was an intellectual and educated person, who accepted the Lord’s calling and devoted himself henceforth in the service of the Lord. He would go on to proclaim the Lord’s truth and Good News among the people in various distant lands and committed himself to a ministry of service, right up to his martyrdom, which inspired yet many more to follow the Lord.

St. Bartholomew according to Apostolic and Church traditions went on missionary journeys to various regions including but perhaps not limited to Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Lycaonia in Asia Minor, Armenia and even India. He spent many years and a lot of efforts in proclaiming the Gospel of truth among the people there, some of whom received the Lord and the Good News with enthusiasm, while others rejected the Lord and refused to believe in Him, and refusing also to believe in St. Bartholomew and the other missionaries sent to their midst. Through those works, St. Bartholomew sowed the seeds of faith and built the foundation of the Church in many places, but he had to face a lot of hardships too.

St. Bartholomew was credited with an early mission to India and the regions far east from the land of Judea. He visited several regions in ancient India, establishing probably the first Christian communities there together with the other famous Apostle, St. Thomas the Apostle, who established the foundation of the Christian communities in India, that survived until the present day and could trace their faith lineage all the way since the days of the Apostles, both St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew. Then, St. Bartholomew was also involved in an important mission to Armenia where most stories agreed that he faced persecution and martyrdom there.

In Armenia, St. Bartholomew likely proclaimed the Lord together with another Apostle, namely St. Jude Thaddeus, and it was there that the first seeds of the Christian faith was sown. While Armenia would eventually become the first Christian nation in the world about two and a half centuries later after the time of the Apostles, but back then, it was still a land of pagans, although St. Bartholomew managed to convince some of them to listen to the Good News of God, and some were convinced to become Christians. Not only that, but one of the rulers, traditionally according to historical stories, named Polymius was convinced by St. Bartholomew to become a Christian, and that led to a vicious reaction against the Apostles.

Depending on the version of tradition, St. Bartholomew was either crucified upside down in the similar manner as St. Peter the Apostle in Rome, or the more popular and common one being that he was flayed or skinned alive before he was martyred in Armenia. Regardless of the way and the circumstances of his martyrdom, what each one of us can really be sure of is that St. Bartholomew had dedicated his life to the service of God and he had suffered greatly for that, and yet, he embraced his martyrdom happily and with great faith, knowing that he had suffered for the sake of the Lord and His Church, for the salvation of many more souls.

The courage and faith showed by St. Bartholomew and the other Apostles, saints and martyrs still inspire us even right to this day. St. Bartholomew showed us all what it means to be genuine and true Christians, to become true followers and disciples of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Each and every one of us had been called and chosen, to become the Lord’s disciples and followers, and we have been given the mission to go forth and proclaim the same truth and Good News just as St. Bartholomew and the other Apostles had done in the past. As members of God’s same Church, we are all called to be evangelising disciples and missionaries through our lives.

This does not mean that we have to do what St. Bartholomew and the Apostles had done. Each one of us have been given different talents, abilities, gifts and opportunities by the Lord. What the Lord wants us all to do is that, we should make good use of all those in whatever opportunities and goods we have, whatever blessings and talents we have gained, so that we may glorify the Lord and His Name, and proclaim His truth by our worthy lives, our worthy actions, words and deeds. This is what we should be doing, brothers and sisters in Christ, namely to live our lives worthily for the Lord and to do our best to obey His Law, His commandments and His will.

Let us all strive to be missionary and evangelising disciples and followers of the Lord, in everything we say and do, in our every vocations in life, be it as married couples, as family members, youth or elderly, be it as laypeople or members of the presbyterate, or be it as members of religious orders and other institutions. Each and every one of us have our own unique roles to play as part of the Lord’s Church to fulfil what He has called us to do, to obey Him wholeheartedly and to be exemplary and sources of inspiration for one another, for our fellow brothers and sisters at all times. May God be with us always, and bless our every good works and endeavours, and may St. Bartholomew continue to intercede for us sinners. Amen.

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Tuesday, 23 August 2022 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Holy Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded to distance ourselves from the taints of hypocrisy and all sorts of temptations to sin, especially the temptation of worldly desires and pleasures, worldly glory, fame and renown, all of which can distract us in our journey towards the Lord. Through our Scripture readings today we are all reminded how there had been many people who were entrusted with the faith and the responsibility to guide their fellow faithful ones, and yet they failed to do their duties and responsibilities appropriately.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord rebuking the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their behaviour and way of living their faith lives, and especially in how they misused their authority as well as their hypocrisy and their imposition of very strict and harsh rules and regulations pertaining to the Law on the entire people of Israel. They demanded their portion and for the people to respect and to support them, and yet at the same time, they looked down on all those whom they deemed to be less worthy, the ones like the tax collectors, the prostitutes and all those who were inflicted with various diseases and illnesses, and many others.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law demanded an external application of the Law, and they paraded themselves in doing all the things that people could witness and see them doing, praying aloud in the synagogues and in the streets, and they similarly imposed this bias and preferences in what they taught the people of God through their actions and words. But they had failed to realise that obeying the words of the letter of the Law is empty and meaningless unless one also understands and appreciates the meaning and the Spirit of the same Law. One can easily obey the Law to the letter but without understanding the importance and significance of why one has done so.

That is why the Lord was so critical on them and their actions. Their actions and irresponsible behaviour had made it difficult for many to seek the Lord and not only that, but it likely also turned many people away from God and His salvation, since the conditions and requirements which they imposed on everyone were so difficult, tough and yet unnecessary, that many people simply did not make the effort to come closer to God and instead remained in their state of sin. That way, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law whom God had entrusted with His people, had not done as they were supposed to do, and in their obedience to the Law, they were also selective and focused more on the externals rather than a wholesome application of the Law of God.

The Lord told His people that in order for us to truly love and serve the Lord, we have to have that proper understanding of His truth and love, and obey His Law wholeheartedly instead of just obeying blindly or paying lip service or only seeking for external application or holding up appearances only. Each one of us must live our lives with faith and practice our faith with genuine dedication and commitment, at every available opportunities and at every moments, or else we may end up causing scandal on the Lord and His Church, and we may have to be responsible for making people to be more distant from God just as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done.

That is why today we are all called to reflect on our way of life and see carefully how we can better commit ourselves from now on with faith, in following the Lord in all the path of our lives, and at all times. Each one of us have been called to reflect on the path that we should be taking moving forward in life, so that our actions and words, our deeds and everything may always be aligned with God and His will, with His teachings and with His revelation of truth. We are all presented with the opportunities and the many circumstances through which we will be able to find our way to do things in accordance to our calling and God’s will.

Today, one of such ways and opportunities is for us to follow the good examples and inspiration from St. Rose of Lima, the first saint to be proclaimed from the New World. She was born in what is today Peru in the New World, the Americas, and was acquainted with another saint of the New World, St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, who was then Archbishop of the area and administered to St. Rose of Lima the Sacrament of Confirmation. St. Rose of Lima began to grow closer to God and despite her father’s efforts to force her to marry against her will and desire, St. Rose of Lima resisted and remained faithful to her commitment to God.

St. Rose of Lima had wanted to join the Dominicans as a nun, however her father’s opposition prevented that, and she instead became a third order member of the Dominicans. She took a vow of perpetual virginity and lived a life of great holiness and grace, and was famously remembered of her wearing of a heavy silver crown with spikes and thorns to emulate the Crown of Thorns of Our Lord and Saviour, in keeping up to her commitment to God and in self-mortification, living her life full of prayer, inspiring many others to be more faithful to God themselves, and many were inspired even long after she passed away at the rather young age of thirty-one.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the great examples showed by St. Rose of Lima and many other holy saints, holy men and women of God so that we may always do our best to resist the temptations of worldly glory and ambitions, the temptations and desire for human praise and other worldly pleasures. Let us all instead strive to become ever closer to the Lord and to His salvation, and may St. Rose of Lima intercede for us all, helping us sinners to come ever closer to God, now and always, evermore. Amen.

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Monday, 22 August 2022 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we as the whole Church celebrates the feast of the Queenship of Mary, the ever Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Mary is truly a Queen, as is befitting her role as the Mother of our God and King, Jesus Christ, in Whom we believe in and put our trust in. Mary is the Queen of Heaven, the Queen of Angels, the Queen of All Saints, the Queen of Peace and the Queen of many other titles that had been bestowed on her in the previous centuries and ages. What matters is that we honour her and emulate her, and entrust ourselves to her.

Why do we consider Mary as Queen, brothers and sisters in Christ? Some skeptics and all those who misunderstood our veneration for the Blessed Mother of God may think that we have given excessive or undue honour or praise to her. Some saw Mary as no more than any ordinary human being. But how can we treat Mary in such a way? No matter what, Mary is the Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the Divine Word Incarnate, Son of God Who through Mary took up the human flesh and existence, and because Mary is the Mother of God Himself, she is therefore respected and honoured as is befitting for her as the Theotokos, the Mother of God.

Even since ages past, from the early days of the Church, there had been those who tried to dissociate Mary from her motherhood of the Divine Word Incarnate, because they believed that she was merely the Mother of Jesus the Son of Man, and therefore not special in any sense. However, through the deliberations, discussions and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church and all the early Church fathers have agreed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Son of Man both, two Natures in one Person, united through an indivisible bond of perfect love. Although the two Natures are distinct, but they cannot be separated, and hence, Mary as the Mother of Christ, is the Mother of God.

That has been confirmed through the Ecumenical Councils, firstly in Nicaea and then Constantinople, and finally the Dogma of the Divine Motherhood of God or the Theotokos was finalised and approved at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus. Through all these, the Church has solemnly formalised the teachings and the truth as preserved from the Lord Himself and through His Apostles, that Mary as the Mother of our Lord and Saviour, is indeed the Mother of God, our Lord and King, the King of all the whole entire Universe. As such, because our Lord is King, then His mother rightfully is a Queen by the virtue of her Son’s Kingship.

In the historic times, the mother of the king is always treated with great reverence, even if that mother was never a queen in her own right. Whenever the son of this mother became a king, then the mother automatically became the queen mother of the kingdom, and was a figure of great reverence and honour. In the kingdom of Israel, the mother of the king sat beside her son as king and gave important advice to him, and she was very highly respected not only by everyone in the kingdom but also by her own son, who was expected to show his filial piety to his mother. If that was the case during the old kingdom of Israel, then how can we not give the same honour and reverence to Mary, the Mother of our Lord and King?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Mary has shown us not only her most loving Motherhood of her Son, but even more so, through her own virtues, her commitment to God and obedience to God’s will, she has shown us that she is truly worthy of all the veneration and the honour that we have given her. In fact, it honours a man or woman to see his or her mother being honoured and respected, and the same applies to the Lord and His mother Mary as well. If we honour Mary, and also emulate her examples, we honour and respect not only her but we also honour and glorify in even greater ways, her Son, our Lord and King.

We must realise that Mary as the Queen Mother of Heaven, the Queen of Angels and All the Saints, sitting close to the Throne of her Son in Heaven is truly our greatest ally in our journey towards her Son and His mercy and love. We have her in our struggle against sin and evil, as our Mother and guide, our loving mother who has always shown her tender care and compassion, and who has ever thought of us, reaching out to us patiently and calling on each and every one of us to embrace the mercy and forgiveness offered freely and generously by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, her Son. Through her, many had been saved and found their way to God and His salvation and grace.

Today, let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord through our renewed love and dedication to Him and also our honour and respect for His mother, Mary, our mother and Queen. Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Queen, the Queen of Heaven, Queen of All Saints, Queen of Angels and our role model and inspiration, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.