Weekday Homily

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Thursday, 17 February 2022 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to believe in the Lord wholeheartedly and to entrust ourselves to His cause and works, to follow Him without doubt and hesitation, and to give ourselves in every opportunities and chances to be the dedicated followers of Our Lord. We have to listen to Him and not to allow the devil, Satan, to tempt us with his lies and falsehoods that can lead us down the wrong path in life.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation of the discourse from the Epistle of St. James, in which the Apostle spoke of the importance for Christians to heed the Lord’s words and commandments, His desire that all of them love one another and treat each other equally without prejudice and discrimination, unlike what had always frequently happened at that time, in a world filled with a lot of inequality and injustice, greed and worldly desires, ambition and ego, all of which had led to plenty of suffering and misery in our communities.

As Christians, all of us have been taught to love one another with sincere and genuine love, without prejudice and without discrimination. All of us have been taught to see each other as fellow brothers and sisters in the same Lord, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in Whom we have shared in His suffering and death, and have received the sure promise of eternal life and salvation. All of us have to follow the examples of Christ in how He loved all of us without exception, and in how He loved even the most marginalised and the poorest among us, reaching out to us and even to all those who have persecuted Him.

In our Gospel passage today we then heard of the time when the Lord asked His disciples regarding Himself, considering the many speculations that must have arisen back then from all that He had done, all the miracles He had performed and all the great wisdom and truth of God which He had spoken to the people themselves, and which the disciples themselves had witnessed, heard and experienced directly. And they gave various answers, including that of a prophet, a holy man of God, and with St. Peter saying that He is the Messiah, or the Saviour that God had promised to His people.

Then the Lord revealed that yes, while He is truly the Messiah, but He would have to suffer rejection and to be persecuted, by the same people that He has been sent to. This must have been taken with a lot of surprise and consternation by the disciples and followers of Jesus who must not have taken nicely to the idea, as many among them if not most would have expected to have Jesus to be the liberator of the people of Israel, to be their King and Saviour, free from the tyranny of the Romans and any other powers. And thus St. Peter pulled him aside and protested strongly against the Lord for saying such things.

That was when the Lord then rebuked Satan who was likely trying to persuade the Lord to stop His efforts and trying to convince Him not to do as what He was supposed to do, in trying to tempt Him with power and worldly glory. The Lord would have none of it and He told the devil to get away from Him, not allowing Himself to be tempted by the common temptations of this world. He had been tempted and tested by Satan before, and He had prevailed, and that time was not to be any different from the previous occasions in which He was tempted.

Through this, the Lord wants us to know that in following Him we have to discard the old attitudes of our past, sinful lives, and instead, we should embrace the truth and love that God has shown us, dedicating ourselves to follow Him wholeheartedly, doing whatever we can to serve Him in every opportunities available to us so that we may inspire all those who have witnessed us and our actions, knowing that through those, we may become faithful witnesses of Our Lord’s love and all that He had done for us, to suffer the Cross for us and to endure the worst of sufferings just so that we may persevere and gain assurance of an eternity with Him. And Satan tried hard in vain to prevent this from happening.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us should follow the good examples set by our holy predecessors as we celebrate their feast day today, namely the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These seven holy men of God, known by their names of Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta of Florence. All of them found each other in a bond of spiritual friendship which then grew on and having received a vision from the Blessed Mother of God, they were resolved to leave behind everything and followed God, marking the foundation of the Servite Order.

The seven holy founders worked hard and dedicatedly through the Order of the Servites, caring for the poor and the needy, those who were abandoned and without any proper attention and care. They all were dedicated with the care for the physical and material needs of those people, of whom the Lord Himself had said to us, that we have to show love and care for the least of our brethren, to the poor and those who had no one to love them and care for them. The seven holy founders of the Servites did their best within their capacity to care for these people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing and able to follow the examples of our holy predecessors, the great saints especially the Seven Holy Founders of the Servites Order? Let us all be inspired by them and strive to do whatever we can to glorify God through our lives. May the Lord continue to watch over us and help us to persevere through the many challenges in life so that each and every one of us can always remain faithful to Him and be dedicated to the path that God has shown us, and easily tempted and swayed by the evil one. Seven Holy Founders of the Servites, pray for us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 16 February 2022 : 6th 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, we are reminded as Christians to be righteous and to follow the Lord in the path that He has set before us, in the way that He has shown us through His Church and through His many servants and messengers in our midst. The Lord has taught us how to live our lives faithfully as Christians and as His followers we are all expected to be genuine in our faith and not be lukewarm or only following our faith with formality.

In our first reading today we heard from the Epistle of St. James, the continuation of the Apostle’s discourse on the need for the faithful people of God to do as God has told us all to do. They had to be active in their faith and devote themselves to the Lord in all of their actions and deeds, or otherwise their faith would have been an empty and meaningless one, no better than that of hypocrites and unbelievers. St. James was well known for his advocacy of faith that is substantiated with actions, as in his own words in the other part of this same Epistle, he himself said that ‘faith without good works is dead’.

That is why St. James urged the faithful to reject the path of sin, to be vigilant and careful lest they might be tempted to sin. He reminded all of us, God’s faithful ones that we must resist the temptations of anger, of jealousy, of pride and other negative things and emotions we may often encounter in life so that we do not end up falling deeper and deeper into the path of sin and evil. All of us are reminded to keep ourselves free from the corruptions of this world, in whatever forms that these may come to us, so that we may always be great role models and inspirations for one another in faith.

In our Gospel reading today, we then heard of the Lord healing a blind man, who was not able to see at all. The blind man was touched by the Lord and he believed in Him, and soon his vision returned to him, and he could see once again. He was healed from his blindness and the Lord told him to return to his place while at the same telling him not to inform anyone about what had happened to him, likely to avoid undue attention and further efforts by the Pharisees to undermine His works, as they had often been agitated and angry over the Lord and His miracles.

Then, what is truly important for us? It is that we must realise how God has always attempted to reach out to us, and how in Him lies our hope and our salvation. And we are all like the blind man who was in need of healing, to be made whole once again. We may be physically healthy and all, but in truth, all of us are suffering from this sickness that is sin, without exception. Sinners as we are, regardless whether our sins be great or small, serious or trivial, we are suffering this malady which is corrupting us and our souls, and which God alone can heal.

The Lord has made Himself freely available to us, and what we all need is for us to be humble and accept His forgiveness and mercy, allowing ourselves to be healed and made whole again. Yet, it was often our stubbornness, pride and ego which prevented this from happening, just as how many among the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the chief priests often refused to listen to the Lord and also refused to believe in Him, doubting Him and making His works and efforts difficult because they all saw Him as threats to their power and influence, despite all the signs they themselves had seen pointing towards the Lord as the One Whom God had promised and sent to us to be our Saviour.

That was why many of them remained in darkness, and as the Lord Himself said in another occasion in the Gospels, that although their visions might be physically fine, but sin has blinded them to the truth, and their refusal to admit this leads to them continuing to live in the darkness of ignorance and sin. Their self-righteous attitude and their pride, their greed for power and worldly fame became their undoing. And this ought to be a reminder for each one of us not to easily allow those things to distract us from the Lord, His truth and His love.

That is why at each and every moments of our lives, we have to strive to do our best in all things to obey the will of God, following His Law and commandments. We have to be role models and examples for each other in how we live our lives so that all who see us and witness our works will come to believe in the Lord through us. May the Lord continue to provide for us and help us find our path in life that we may draw ever closer to Him in each and every moments from now on while being good role models for one another. Amen.

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Tuesday, 15 February 2022 : 6th 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 Scripture, we are all called to believe in the truth of God and to trust in Him. We should not be deceived by falsehoods and by the many distractions present all around us. We have to follow the Lord faithfully and remember everything that He had done for us. God has never abandoned us and left us alone, and He has always reached out to us, wanting us to be reconciled and reunited with Him, and therefore, to this extent, He has given us His salvation through Jesus Christ, His beloved Son.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle in which we heard of the Apostle’s reminder to all of us how each and every one of us can easily be swayed and tempted by our desires, by the many worldly concerns and thoughts, all the distractions that can lead us down the wrong path in life. It was not God Who tempted us because in truth it was us who gave ourselves to the temptations present all around us. We allow the allures of the world and its pleasures to delude us and to trick us down the wrong path.

If only that we have more faith in the Lord and trust in Him more, then it will be less likely for us to fall down this path. Unfortunately we often do not have enough faith in Him and we are still filled with doubt much as how the disciples of the Lord could not fully believe in all that they had seen and heard themselves in the miracles and signs that the Lord had performed before people. In this case, it refers to the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and then the other one when four thousand were fed with merely small amounts of bread. The Lord had done all that openly, and yet even His disciples were still slow to grasp its true meaning.

They must indeed have been amazed and probably even stunned by what they had observed and seen. Such deeds had not happened before in the past and it would not have been possible for it to be done by man alone. Even the prophets had not performed miracles to such a degree, and there was the Lord showing the truth about what He has constantly and gradually revealed to His people, in all that He had said and done. Yet, it was the stubbornness and the lack of genuine faith and trust in their hearts that had always constantly been the greatest barrier to them having a genuine faith in Him, preventing them from finding their path towards Him.

That was why, He reminded His disciples yet again about what they had seen, and reminding them that what they were following and committing themselves to were not just merely works of man alone. It was God’s works done in this world through Christ, His Son, through Whom God made Himself tangible and approachable by all of us. No longer that He spoke through messengers and intermediaries, for through Christ, His Son, He has come in the flesh, revealing the perfect manifestation of God’s enduring and infinite love for each and every one of us, His desire to care for us and to be reunited with us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings serve as a reminder for each one of us just how much more we as Christians need to trust in the Lord. Too often we trust in our own power, strength and judgment that we ignored God and His guidance, thinking that we can do everything by ourselves. And many of us have lukewarm faith in the Lord, one not based on true and genuine love for God, but rather, for appearances alone. Many of us also did not take our Christian faith seriously and even took it for granted, remaining idle and not doing as what we have been expected to do as Christians.

Today, let us all spend some time to reflect on our calling as Christians, to be true and courageous witnesses of the Lord and His truth. However, before we can do so, we have to have genuine trust in the Lord first, and our relationship with Him should not be just one of formality only. Instead, we have to nurture a growing and living relationship with God, which we can do first of all by spending more time with God through prayer and by spending quality time in communicating with Him, something that for many of us often have become an afterthought and been forgotten.

May the Lord continue to help us and guide us in our journey of faith that hopefully we may continue to grow in faith in each and every moments of our lives. May He strengthen our resolve to resist the temptations of the world and to be strong amidst the challenges and trials we may encounter throughout our journey of faith towards the Lord. May God bless us all in all things, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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(Singapore) Monday, 14 February 2022 : 125th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church in Singapore celebrates the anniversary of the Dedication and Consecration of the Mother Church of our Archdiocese, namely that of Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the seat of the Archbishop of Singapore and the epicentre and heart of our Christian community here in this Lion City. Today marks the 125th Anniversary since the moment when this great House of God was dedicated and consecrated for the purpose of divine worship, in the Year of Our Lord 1897, although the Cathedral itself had been around and functioning for five decades before that.

The Church in Singapore had its humble beginnings with the coming of the now saint, St. Laurent Imbert, who was then a French missionary on his way to other mission lands. Just over two hundred years ago, St. Laurent Imbert landed in Singapore on the start of its days as a British colony and trade entrepôt. He found Singapore as a place with very few Catholics who lived in a wretched condition, without any shepherds, guides and priests to guide them. He celebrated Mass here for the first time on this island and then, in the coming years many more missionaries came to this island of Singapore, beginning the foundation of the Church in Singapore.

With the labour and hardships of the early missionaries, the Christian community in Singapore began to be established, and one of the first churches to be established was the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd itself, as no more than just a small little hut and chapel, about a hundred and ninety years ago. That small community began to grow and before long, the need for a proper and permanent church came to pass, and it came to the hands of another French missionary and priest, Fr. Jean-Marie Beurel who spearheaded the efforts to establish the first Catholic church, that was eventually built and completed in the Year of Our Lord 1846.

The church was named after the Good Shepherd, inspired by the faith and the martyrdom of the earlier mentioned St. Laurent Imbert, who as the Vicar Apostolic to Korea was martyred a few years previously, giving up himself and his life for the sake of his flock, remembering the Lord’s own words, that ‘The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep’. Thus, the new church was named in honour of the Good Shepherd and St. Laurent Imbert’s courage and faith. However, for many years after it has been completed, the then Church of the Good Shepherd was not yet consecrated as it took many years for it to be financially viable and the costs of its construction be paid off in full.

This House of God was finally consecrated to God and dedicated a hundred and twenty-five years ago, and today we remember the memory of that great occasion and we give thanks to God for His great providence both for the Church in Singapore and for all the faithful who have since multiplied since the time when the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore was established and dedicated to God. And more importantly, we remind ourselves as well that the Church is not just that of the physical building and this great House of God, but also the people of God, the flock of the Good Shepherd, all those who have believed in Him and entrusted themselves in Him.

It is important for us to recognise that all of us are the Living Church of God, the union of all the parts of the Body of Christ that the Church is all about. With Christ at our Head, all of us are the living and breathing members of the Church, the building blocks and the parts of the great works of the Church in doing God’s will and in responding to His call. All of us are part of this Church, and as God’s dwelling place, as He has came upon us and dwelled in our midst and within us, as we partake in His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the Holy Eucharist. And that is why all of us as Christians, all of us in Singapore are called to be partakers in God’s mission, what He has entrusted to us.

In our community today, all of us as Catholics living in Singapore are called to be good and faithful witnesses of God’s truth and love, to be genuine examples and inspiration of what Christians are supposed to be like. And yet, we often see around us plenty of indifference and lukewarmness of faith, the lack of joy and desire to proclaim the Gospel with sincerity and dedication. What I mean is that many of us profess to be Christians and we call ourselves as such, and yet we cause harm to others by our actions, our gossips and our selfish attitudes. And many of us also lack awareness and the understanding of the need of the poor and the needy in our midst, not just for physical needs but also for those who long for acceptance and love.

That is why today as we celebrate this great Solemnity of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the Mother Church of the Church in Singapore, all of us are reminded to do our part and glorify God by our lives. All of us should do whatever we can, in our own respective capacities and opportunities in life, to be role models and inspiration to each other, so that we may be the faithful and courageous bearers of God’s light, truth and love, just as St. Laurent Imbert, the many other early Christian missionaries and pioneers of the Church here in Singapore. We have to follow in their footsteps and do whatever we can to contribute to the good works of the Church.

May the Lord continue to guide us and show us the path forward in life. May He empower each and every one of us to live wholeheartedly in faith, so that we may dedicate ourselves more and more, in His service. May all of us, the Church of God, especially here in Singapore, continue to do our best to live our lives as genuine and faithful Christians at all times. May God be with us all and may He remain with us, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 14 February 2022 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to keep our faith in the Lord and do not let ourselves be swayed by the temptations of worldliness and vices all around us that we end up falling into the path of doubt and sin just as many of our predecessors had suffered from. We have to learn from their lessons so that we will not end up suffering the same fate as well. Believing in God is something that we have to inculcate in our hearts and minds.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. James in which the Apostle St. James spoke of the expectations for all of us as Christians in what each and every one of us should do in our respective lives. As Christians we have to put our faith and trust in the Lord, and not be easily swayed or frightened by trials and challenges of the world, and we have to believe in His providence and wisdom. We have to put ourselves in His hands and not depend only on our own worldly means and power.

For those who have no faith in God, they will be more easily tempted and swayed to follow the whims of their desires and worldly expectations, and they would also easily falter into the path of sin as they would end up closing their hearts and minds to the Lord and His truth as what had exactly happened to many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, all those who worked hard to oppose the Lord and His many good works, all simply because they were too caught up in their jealousy and their fear of losing their worldly privileges and status.

That was why save for Nicodemus and some others among them like Joseph of Arimathea, many if not most of the Pharisees resisted the Lord for a long time, refusing to believe in His signs and miracles, in all of His wonderful works and the truth found in His Wisdom and words, although they were the ones supposedly most knowledgeable about the Scriptures and the Law, and knew the most about the prophets and their prophecies regarding the coming of the Lord, the Saviour of all, which had come to fruition and fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the One Whom they had seen with their own eyes.

And that was why they still doubted Him and asked Him for signs although obviously they had seen many of those signs. They were the ones who allowed their worldly desires and concerns, their desire to hold onto the power, privilege and status they had, to muddle their thoughts and faith, and ended up blinding them to the truth of God. They were the ones who were healthy in their physical vision and yet, blind in their spiritual vision as their own hearts and minds had been closed up tight against God, not allowing Him to enter even as He continued to knock on their doors.

That is why today, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are also reminded of this so that we may be more vigilant and careful in life, reminded that we should do our very best to follow the Lord and to be faithful to Him. We must restrain ourselves and our desires, and be vigilant against the temptations to sin against God. We should not let our worldly attachments to delude us and to distract us from the need for us to be faithful to the Lord. We are called to follow Him wholeheartedly and are reminded of this today through what we have heard from the Scriptures.

Today we can also look upon the great examples set by two of our holy and faithful predecessors, namely that of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the two great servants of God and missionaries of faith, who are also the Patron Saints and Protector of the heart of Christendom in Europe. They were remembered for their dedication and great works in bringing the Christian faith to the people in Central and Eastern parts of Europe, the areas inhabited by the Slavic peoples, which by the efforts of St. Cyril and St. Methodius became Christians, which remain so until the present day.

St. Cyril and St. Methodius dedicated themselves to the Lord and to the mission entrusted to them, and they both spent their lives to minister to the people among whom they had been sent to proclaim the truth of God, and they were also remembered for their role in translating the texts of the Sacred Scriptures into the local Slavic language and in the development of the Cyrillic alphabet which are still in use until this day. Their contributions and hard work were truly inspirational and all of us Christians can do well to follow in their footsteps and heed their examples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we going to be idle any longer? Are we going to ignore our calling as Christians and turn a deaf ear to the Lord’s call and to the plight of our brothers and sisters who are in need of our attention and love? Are we going to continue to be idle in our lives and instead indulging in our own personal desires and ambitions? Let us all therefore seek the Lord with renewed faith and conviction, and let us do our best to glorify the Lord by our lives and follow in the footsteps of His faithful servants, St. Cyril and St. Methodius, to walk ever more courageously in proclaiming the love of God and His truth in our community today. May God be with us always and may He bless us at all times. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 February 2022 : Sixth 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 Scripture, we are all called to have faith in the Lord, to trust in Him and to walk ever more faithfully in His path. As Christians, all of us have to follow the Lord and His Law, His commandments, all of His precepts and ways, or otherwise we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers. As Christians we are called to be exemplary in our way of life, in our actions, words and deeds so that we may inspire others to follow in our footsteps and be faithful to God as well.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard the Lord speaking to His people regarding those who refused to believe in Him and instead depending on human power and might, in worldly things rather than believing in the providence of the Almighty. The Lord also encouraged all those who have kept their faith in Him, that they would be blessed and God would always remain with them no matter what, and they had no need to be afraid because in the end, they will triumph with God and receive true joy and glory with Him.

Contextually, we have to understand that the prophet Jeremiah brought God’s words and message to the people in the kingdom of Judah, which was then on its last days, but they still refused to believe in God despite everything that God had done for them and despite all the messengers and prophets He had sent to them to remind them of His love and of what would happen if they continued walking down the path of sin. Instead of believing in God, many of them believed in the falsehoods of the false prophets, some of whom contested against Jeremiah in as written in another part of the record of the prophet’s life, and deluded the king and the people of Judah to trust in them instead of God’s words.

To that extent, the king and the people of Judah chose to depend on their more powerful neighbours, entrusting themselves to the protection of Egypt, which was one of the major powers alongside the then rising Neo-Babylonian Empire under King Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was one of the few who spoke against doing such a foolish act, depending on one power against another, and he was the only one who dared to speak up against the king and those false prophets, which led to him being persecuted for his faith and dedication to his work. He was almost killed if not for the help from some of his few remaining friends and allies.

The Lord therefore wanted to reassure those remaining few faithful ones who still kept their faith in God, that they had no need to be worried or afraid of their fate. Whatever things that would happen to them, as long as they were faithful, God would take care of them, protect them and guide them. As proven later on, with the downfall of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, and even though many of the people were carried off into exile in Babylon and other lands, but God always remembered them.

And even though they had to endure hardships and humiliation, but in the end, they and their descendants would rejoice with great happiness when He led them back to return to their own land as it happened under the reign of King Cyrus the Great of Persia. The King of Persia would allow the people of God to return to their homeland in triumph, to rebuild their cities and to restore their lost glory and rebuild the Temple and House of God in their midst, supported by the King of Persia and his kingdom.

In our second reading today, then we heard from St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle and letter to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, as he spoke of regarding the matter of Christ’s resurrection from the dead to the Christians in Corinth. St. Paul reminded all of them that their faith was all about believing in the Risen Lord, their Lord and Master Who had risen from the dead and was triumphant. And because of this, all of them could be assured of the ultimate victory and joy, the true happiness that will come from God because of His victory over death through the Cross.

For the Lord has sent His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, into this world, appearing in the flesh, and through Him, God has made clear His promises and reassured all of us that our faith in Him are well placed and we will never be disappointed. The Lord reassured His people that if they had suffered and endured challenges and trials in this world all these while especially because of their faith in Him, they shall not be disappointed because the Lord would remember them and give them their due in its time, in the time that God Himself deems appropriate.

The Lord will provide for His faithful ones just as He had provided for their ancestors during the time of the prophet Jeremiah and beyond. He has given His own Son as the proof of all that, and through Him all of us have received the sure hope of eternal life, because by His Cross, bearing the multitudes of our sins and the punishments due to those sins, we have shared in His suffering and death, as He bore all of our faults upon His own shoulders, and through that, He shared with us His own glorious Resurrection, triumphant over death and sin. He showed us all that sin and death no longer have the final say over us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the Scripture passages and recall these words of the Lord, let us all therefore seek to trust more in the Lord and believe in Him and His love. Let us all no longer doubt Him and strive to resist all the temptations in this world, all trying to mislead us down the path of sin and evil. Let us do our best to persevere through the challenges and trials that we may encounter in life, and try to be inspiration to one another in how we remain faithful to the Lord despite all the difficulties and obstacles we may have to face in the midst of our journey towards the Lord.

All of us are called to be witnesses of His truth and love, to be the bearers of His compassionate mercy and the Good News, to reveal Him, Our Risen Lord and Saviour, to all the people of all the nations just as He had commended this mission to the Apostles. All of us are part of this effort and work, which He has entrusted to His Church. The Lord gave us the gifts, talents and abilities to do what we can in giving ourselves and our time, our opportunities and efforts to spread the truth of His salvation and Good News to more people, to the far ends of the earth.

That is our calling as Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ. And we cannot truly commit ourselves to the cause of the Lord unless we have truly embraced the Lord and His ways, resisting the temptations to sin, striving to be faithful in all things, in our every actions and deeds. All of us are called to do God’s will, to practice our faith sincerely and with conviction, at all times. We are all given the many opportunities to touch the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters around us, in these opportunities afforded to us.

Now, are we going to remain idle? Are we going to ignore the Lord’s call and keep our own gifts and abilities hidden, or to misuse them for our own selfish purposes? We are all given the freedom to choose our path, and we have to make a clear choice whether we want to follow the Lord wholeheartedly or to allow our path to be swayed by the many worldly temptations that lead us down the path of sin and destruction. Let us recall the love that God has shown us, His reassurance and encouragement to us. Let us not be discouraged if we meet hardships and hurdles, and instead help one another to endure them together as one united people by faith, in the Church of God.

May the Lord continue to be with us and guide us in our respective journey of faith through life, that we may always grow ever stronger in faith in Him, and do our best to be good role models for our fellow brothers and sisters whenever we can, bringing hope and encouragement to a world shrouded in darkness, and bearing God’s light and love with us as we carry on living our lives in this world. May God bless our actions and every endeavours, all for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 February 2022 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures we are all called to remember yet again the patient love of God which He had shown us despite everything that we had done to hurt Him, in betraying Him and in refusing to obey His Law and commandments. The Lord has shown us that great love and compassion even when we have openly rebelled against Him and abandoned Him as the past history of God’s people had shown us and as we heard in our Scripture passages today.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Kings, relating the story of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, we heard of how Israel and Judah, the two halves of the once united Kingdom of Israel, were separated further after Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom resolved to keep the kingdoms and their people further apart by establishing his own centres of worship in Bethel and Dan, rivalling the House of God in Jerusalem as he feared that the people would soon reject him and return to the House of David. Worse still, he made the likeness of golden calves as idols for his people to worship instead of God, a direct reference to the golden calf that the Israelites had made for themselves at Mount Sinai.

King Jeroboam had been given the ten tribes of Israel by God as a division of the united Kingdom of Israel because of the sins of Solomon that had misled the people down the path of sin. However, that was not intended to split the people apart and the introduction of further pagan worship. King Solomon caused the people to sin because he introduced pagan worship and idols for the sake of his many wives, and as I mentioned earlier this week, likely to gain diplomatic recognition and further his ambitions among his neighbours.

Yet, King Jeroboam made it even worse than Solomon because he who had been entrusted as the safekeeper of the ten tribes of the Israelites actually did what Solomon had done and worse. Again, just like in Solomon’s case, we have seen how the temptations of the world could lead to our downfall into sin. Even the strongest and the most faithful could fall into sin when they allow themselves be tempted and when they let themselves be persuaded and coerced into doing things that bring themselves pleasures at the cost of their faith and obedience to God.

Yet, despite all that, the Lord still continued to reach out to His people most patiently, and He still cared for them and wanted them to be reconciled with Him, sending messengers and His servants to them to remind them of the love which God always has for each and every one of us. The Lord has always been patient and He reached out to us sinners, to help us to get out from our predicament and to assist us in finding our way towards His salvation and freedom from the tyranny of sin and the bondage to evil. He sent us His own Son to be our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to bring us the perfect love of God manifested before us.

As we heard in our Gospel passage today, the Lord was concerned about all those people who came and followed Him, all the multitudes of people who came and gathered in their thousands to listen to the Lord and His teachings, seeking His healing and trying to find Him and a way out of their sufferings. They all followed the Lord with great faith, and they were all hungry without food because the Lord often preached and worked in the wilderness away from towns and villages, and yet the people still flocked to Him and sought Him.

The Lord did not just take good care of them spiritually but physically as well. He also wanted them all to be filled and satisfied, and when His disciples brought a mere seven loaves of bread, completely insufficient to feed the entire four thousand men and many thousands more of women and children, the Lord miraculously multiplied those loaves of bread until there were enough for everyone to eat and then with still seven full baskets of leftovers. The Lord fed His people and cared for them, even though they were sinners and had often rebelled against Him and abandoned Him.

And not only that, but we also know how the Lord even gave it all for us, by giving His own Most Precious Body and Blood, He, the Bread of Life, offering Himself freely to us so that all of us who partake of Him and share in the Eucharist, the gift of the bread and wine turned into Our Lord’s own Most Precious and Holy Body and Blood, that we shall have eternal life through Him. Through Him we have received the assurance of eternal life and true joy surpassing all other things, and through Christ we have found this new hope in life.

Are we all willing to embrace God’s love and kindness, His compassion and mercy for us? Are we still stubborn in our refusal to reject sin and all of our past wicked ways? Let us all discern these things carefully and remind ourselves just how fortunate we are to have been truly beloved by God all these while. May God be with us always and may He strengthen us in our resolve to follow Him, and may He give us the courage to embrace His forgiveness and mercy, that we may draw ever closer to Him, trusting in His love and kindness, in all that He had done for us, and devoting ourselves, our time and effort for His greater glory, always. Amen.

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Friday, 11 February 2022 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the miraculous apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God in Lourdes, a small secluded area in the southern part of France. Mary in her apparition as Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to the young girl named Bernadette in a grotto where today the great Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes now stands, and that young girl eventually became known as St. Bernadette Soubirous.

At that time, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the young girl Bernadette as a lady dressed in white with beads of rosary on her, girdled in blue and with flowers by her. That supernatural vision startled the young St. Bernadette at first, and scared her, but Our Lady reassured her and asked her to pray the rosary together. She made her appearance a few more times even as St. Bernadette’s parents and others were skeptical of what had happened. Some of them even thought that she had hallucinated, seen an evil spirit or simply was lying to cover up some misdeeds.

But St. Bernadette kept on visiting the grotto where she met the apparition of Our Lady despite the opposition from her parents and others, and Our Lady revealed to St. Bernadette a hidden spring of water which would soon became truly famous as the source of many miraculous healings, of which some of them were certified as truly miraculous in nature. Initially this was received with much skepticism both from the Church and from the secular authorities, which resulted in attempts to prevent further spread of the devotion.

It was then that Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette, revealing to her who she truly was, the Blessed Mother of God, the Immaculate Conception. This revelation brought a shock to a local priest who immediately believed in what St. Bernadette told him about the Marian apparition. That is because the illiterate St. Bernadette living in the secluded village that is where Lourdes was located could not have known about the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception which at that time was just recently declared by the Pope in Rome, and at that time, it would have taken a long time for the message to be propagated throughout the Christendom.

It was therefore the beginning of the growth in the popularity and the attraction of the Shrine at Lourdes, which grew to became an international phenomenon drawing millions annually as many people who are sick sought to seek healing and recovery through the miraculous occasions and reassurances from the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady of Lourdes. The Church also designated today, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes as the World Day of the Sick as a reminder that there are many people who are suffering from physical and even mental maladies and sickness all around the world.

Today, as we celebrate this Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes let us all therefore remind ourselves to put our trust in the Lord, He Who has sent to us His blessed Mother, Our Lady of Lourdes to be our intercessor and to help guide us to His loving embrace. The miraculous healings were not due to superstitions and the quality of the waters of the grotto of Lourdes, but rather, it was the faith that the sick had in the Lord which brought them to healing and the miraculous things that happened there, just as at the time of the Lord, He healed the sick and how if we remember a woman with haemorrhage problem was healed by her faith in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are also reminded that we are all people who are sick and are in need of God’s help. I know many of us may wonder what we are sick from since we are in such good health. We may indeed be perfectly healthy in the body but we are all suffering from the sickness due to our sins. Yes, all of us are sinners and sin is the sickness that is actually eating us from within, corrupting us and affecting us adversely by its corrupting nature. Through sin we have been made sick in our spirit and soul, and the only healing we can get is through God and His loving mercy.

Therefore today all of us are reminded of how sinful we are and regardless how big or small, or how significant those sins may be, all of us are in need of healing from God, as unlike any other physical ailments and maladies, God alone can heal us from our sins. It is through Him alone that we can be freed from the clutches and tyranny of sin and evil. The Lord offered us His healing and forgiveness freely, and He gave us all His mother to care for us and to help guide us in our journey towards Him, so that by the intercession and guidance of Our Lady of Lourdes we may come to be fully healed body and soul.

Let us therefore ask Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Lourdes to intercede for us sinners, who are sickened by sin, and who are suffering the consequences of our infidelity and weakness. Let us ask her to pray for us and guide us in our path to seek the healing from the hands of her Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. May God also look kindly upon us and show us His mercy, love and compassion, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 10 February 2022 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all reminded to be vigilant in our lives and to keep strongly to the faith that we have in the Lord, entrusting ourselves to Him and believing in His providence. We have to be careful and do not easily allow sin to creep into our hearts and minds, corrupting us and our conscience and thoughts, our actions and efforts. In order to do so, we must have strong faith in the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Kings of the account of the unfortunate downfall of King Solomon of Israel who allowed his many wives to distract and mislead him into sinful ways, as they established pagan worship and placed idols in many parts of the kingdom, which led the people into the worship of those false idols and they ended up falling deeper and deeper into sin as their descendants later did.

King Solomon did not remain faithful to God unlike his father David, who remained faithful throughout his life to the very end. Solomon was very wise and rich, powerful and mighty, and while we do not know exactly what led him to his choice of actions, but it might have to do with him trying to secure his power, reign and rule through worldly means, just as he married many wives from different states and neighbouring countries likely with the aim to gain diplomatic recognition and building relationships with those countries, gaining trade agreements and making arrangements to enrich themselves more.

However, the negative impact of such an arrangement and effort is that likely that would have required accommodation and changes in religious policy, including the toleration and even promotion of the pagan faith and worship as done by King Solomon and his wives. And that led him and the kingdom down the slippery slope towards sin. The Lord certainly did send reminders to Solomon through his prophets and messengers, but it was likely that these reminders fell on based on circumstances and the information we have in the Scriptures, he might have been tempted by the power and glory he had, to lose sight of what truly mattered.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord and His interaction with a Syro-Phoenician woman, a woman who came from the region of Phoenicia north of the traditional lands of the Israelites. As such, according to the Jewish viewpoint and customs at the time, she was considered as part of the Gentiles, or the non-Jewish people. The Jews always took great pride of their descent from the people of Israel, the chosen people of God, and the name Jew itself came from the word Judah, representing all those who have descended from the people of Judah, who remained faithful to the House of David and to God, at least for part of their history.

Therefore, as we heard the Lord speaking to the Syro-Phoenician woman, we may indeed be surprised to hear the tone and the harshness in the words He had chosen to use against the Syro-Phoenician woman. We may have thought that the Lord had reacted so uncharacteristically in His words and replies against the woman. However, if we try to understand the context of what happened back then and the societal aspects of the interaction, then we will quickly realise that the Lord in fact intended the exact opposite of what He had spoken to the woman.

Through what He had said to the woman, the Lord wanted to highlight to all of us the folly and the ugly nature of the sentiments and the opinions then prevailing among the Jews regarding their superiority and the exclusivity of their status as God’s chosen people, especially as interpreted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, to the exclusion of others, even among the Jews themselves who were deemed to be less than worthy, and even less so the Gentiles, like that of the Syro-Phoenician woman, who as a non-Jew and as a woman must have been viewed very much less favourably.

And yet, despite all of that, the Syro-Phoenician woman held on to the faith she had in the Lord and kept firm in asking Him to heal her sick daughter, and she remained resolute in believing in Him despite all the harsh words and replies that she had gotten from the Lord. This proved that her faith in God was truly genuine and no amount of hardships and challenges were going to change that. The Lord knew it all already without Him even needing to ask her, as is He not an Almighty and all-knowing God? But yet, He still asked it from her, as He wanted her to proclaim the truth about her faith to all, to the shame of all those who claimed to be more faithful and yet, refused to believe in God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our readings today, we are reminded that we need to have that strong and genuine faith in God, and we have to resist the temptations of our personal desire and ambitions, the temptations of wealth and worldly pleasures that can easily mislead and misguide us in our journey of life. We have to heed the example of how King Solomon, the wise and great king of Israel had fallen into sin and disobedience against God because he failed to heed these, and resulted in great trouble and anguish for the people of God later on.

Today, we should look upon the good examples set by one of our holy predecessors, namely St. Scholastica, who was renowned for being the fraternal twin of St. Benedict of Nursia, another great and famous saint, and who herself helped to establish a community of religious and monastic sisters much as her brother was one of the pioneers of religious and monastic brothers and monks in Western Christendom at the time. St. Scholastica became one of the pioneers of female religious life in the Church.

And not only just that, as St. Scholastica was also exemplary in her faith as well, in the virtuous life she lived in, and in all that she had done in contributing to the good of her religious community and to the wider Christian community, of all the faithful people of God. She and her fellow religious sisters were also involved in charitable works and education among other things, and their commitment to the service of God should become our great inspirations, as role model for us to follow in our own lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore seek to glorify God by our own lives and let us do whatever we can to serve Him through our actions and deeds, our words and interactions throughout our lives, even in the smallest things we do. Let our lives and faith be like that of St. Scholastica and like the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman, distancing ourselves from sin and being vigilant against worldly temptations just as the example of King Solomon and his downfall ought to have taught us. May the Lord be our Guide and may He strengthen our resolve and commitment to live faithfully in His presence, always and at all times. Amen.

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Wednesday, 9 February 2022 : 5th 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, we are all called to reflect on what we have just heard and discern how each and every one of us can become more dedicated and faithful followers of Our Lord. We heard of the story of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to the court of King Solomon of Israel, renowned for his great wisdom, and then in the Gospel we heard of the Lord’s words and rebuke to the Pharisees for their insistence and stubbornness in enforcing a very strict interpretation of the Law of Moses.

In our first reading today, as mentioned, we heard from the Book of Kings about the coming of the Queen of Sheba from faraway land visiting King Solomon of Israel and his court, bearing many gifts of gold and other precious items, enthralled and desiring to hear of his words and wisdom. Solomon had been blessed with great wisdom from God, as he prayed for wisdom when the Lord told him to ask of Him everything that he desired. God gave Solomon not just great wisdom, but also great riches, wealth and glory, prosperity, peace and safety for his kingdom and for the people of God.

King Solomon showed the Queen of Sheba all the achievements he had gained, the wealth and power he had amassed, engaging her with all of his wisdom, and amazed her with all that God had blessed him and his people with. All that impressed the Queen of Sheba greatly and left a legacy that lasted till this day as it was told that the nation of Sheba is where the land of Ethiopia in East Africa now is, and the people there began to believe in God and later on, when Christ came and His disciples spread the truth of God, their descendants were the same ones to accept the Christian faith early on.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord spoke to the people who were listening to His teachings, and as He also spoke out against the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who had always tried to thwart His works and efforts among the people, by saying that in not following the very strict set of rules and commandments as required by the Law, which in fact was their own overly zealous and misunderstanding of the true purpose of the Law, that they actually unjustly accusing the Lord and His disciples of wrongdoing.

And the Lord went on by saying that it was folly to think that anything from outside can make one impure, dirty and unworthy. Instead, it is something that comes from within, from our hearts and minds, from our own conscience that leads to sin and corruption of our body, mind, heart and soul. And that was what the Lord wanted to convey to the people, and He also must have hoped that the same Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, despite their stubbornness and rigid ways, might come to see the truth in His words as well.

The Lord reminded us all as well that wicked desires from our hearts and minds, born out of greed and jealousy, from personal ego and ambition among many other things can lead us all into sin and into doing things that are contrary to the good works that God wants each and every one of us to do in our lives. Hence, through what we have heard today in our Scripture readings, from the tale of Solomon and his wisdom and then the interactions between the Lord and His people, all of us are called to reflect on what it truly means for us to call ourselves as Christians.

As Christians, we are all called to be virtuous and righteous, to be filled with love for God and the wisdom that He has given to us just as He has blessed Solomon with great wisdom. However, we also have to make good use of those gifts and also for the right purpose. King Solomon faltered later in life as in his old age he wavered and let his many wives to distract him and to do things that are not in accordance with the will of God. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law have also allowed their own desires and personal ambitions to lead them astray from the path of God and misleading others in the process.

Let us all therefore instead strive and do our best to serve the Lord and to do His will, to follow His commandments and Law with true understanding and sincere love for Him, doing what He has told us to do because we love Him wholeheartedly and not just because we want to look pious and good to others, and not because we want anything in return from doing so. We are all called to be good and to be inspiration to one another. Let our lives be shining beacons of God’s light and truth, inspiring many others to follow in our footsteps as we we continue to live our lives in faith, making use of all the gifts that God has given us.

May God be with us always, and may He bless each and every one of us, that we may always be ever more faithful to Him, and may God empower us all to live ever more worthily in His presence, now and always, forevermore. Amen.