Weekday Homily

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Sunday, 2 January 2022 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, marking the important moment when Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, was revealed to the nations, to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish peoples, as represented by the Magi, also known as the Three Wise Men or even Three Kings, who came from afar, following the bright star, the Star of Bethlehem, in trying to find the Saviour promised by God to His people, the Israelites.

This great Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord got its name from the word Epiphaneia, which is the Greek word for ‘manifestation’ and it can be interpreted with the meaning of God having revealed and manifested Himself before the peoples of all the nations, coming to seek Him and worship Him. No longer that He is just a King and Saviour for the Jewish people alone, as He has revealed before through His prophets in the past, that all the nations and the peoples from those nations will come together seeking the Lord, worshipping and praising Him.

As we all heard from our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the prophet mentioned how the Lord has shown His Light and Salvation to the people of Israel, and how not just the Israelites but all the peoples of all the nations will become God’s beloved people, and follow Him through the Light of His salvation, that is in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. It was in Christ that God’s love has been manifested in the flesh, appearing before all of us, Emmanuel, God Who is with us, dwelling in our midst, all of His people.

Through Him, the world that has been in darkness, the darkness of evil and sin has seen a great new Light, the Light that pierces through the darkness of those evils and wickedness. God’s Light and Hope triumphed even over the power of sin and death, and by His coming, Christ brought unto us the assurance of God’s everlasting and enduring love for each one of us. He came to us to reach out to our hearts and minds, calling on us to follow Him and to turn away from our past evils, wickedness and sins. God has given us the way out of the darkness and into His new light.

I am certain that all of us are familiar with the story of the Magi and how they came after having travelled a great distance from their respective home countries, witnessing the great Star of Bethlehem that became their guide and hope, as they endured the long and arduous journey to come to seek the Lord. They finally found Him there in Bethlehem of Judea, a small town where the Lord and Saviour of all was born, placed in a manger in a place that was small and simple, possibly in a stable or any other similar place that was unworthy of proper human habitation, and less still for a King.

Nonetheless, He came into our world, to show His love for us, and through the Magi and their gifts, He revealed Himself to us and the gifts of the Magi also showed us Who the Lord truly is, that Child born in Bethlehem, as the Son of God, the Divine Word Incarnate and not just merely a little Child as how others would have perceived Him to be. The Magi, who are traditionally three in number, corresponding to their three gifts, and named Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, offered the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Lord, paid homage to Him and worshipped Him.

Let us all go through the gifts one by one, beginning with the gift of gold. All of us know that gold is a precious metal that has been used for millennia in the making of precious items and ornaments, of crowns and other expensive items, particularly with regards to royalty and power. For gold is a great symbol of wealth, and it also represents the Kingship of Christ. This is because it was often that the use of gold was often restricted to royalty and only the kings in the past usually had the ability to display his riches and power in gold. It has therefore been a mark and symbol of majesty and power since time immemorial.

Then, gold has also been used in the making of idols, as many pagan idols and gods were made with the liberal use and ornamentations from gold. In the history of the Israelites themselves, I am sure all of us are familiar with how the people of Israel forced Aaron to make for them the golden calf idol when they thought that Moses had died or abandoned them on Mount Sinai. They worshipped that golden calf idol and abandoned their God Who had just liberated them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh not long ago. Yet, the gold itself has no fault, as it was how the gold was used that made it to be tainted by evil.

How so? The Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred artefact of the people of Israel, containing the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments, the staff of Aaron and the manna, placed in the Holy of Holies and symbolising the presence of God is made almost entirely from gold, and even the Holy of Holies itself were also constructed with ample use of gold. Gold therefore is both a symbol of royal authority, power and divinity, highlighting how the Child Jesus was no mere child but in truth is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Master of all the whole Universe.

Then, for the gift of frankincense, we all know how incense has been used for a very long time to offer worship to the divine, to various gods and idols. People from various cultures and origins always associate the pleasant aroma of the various incense blends with the aroma pleasing to their deities, and offered them on their altars. Frankincense itself has an even more significant meaning, as it is the highest quality incense, just as frankincense itself meant high quality incense. It is the purest incense of the highest quality and is reserved for the most solemn occasions.

Its offering to the Child Jesus served as a revelation to all of us that Jesus is not just a mere Man, but He is the Divine Son of God at the same time. He is the one Person with two distinct yet inseparable natures, of Divine and Human natures distinct but perfectly united in his one Person, in the same Child Jesus that the Magi had paid homage to. This offering of frankincense highlighted that divinity of Christ, which at that time was not yet visible behind the veil of His humanity. It is a reminder that Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, is the Divine Word Incarnate, the Son of God Who willingly embraced our human existence, to be born into this world and to make God’s love tangible and approachable to us.

And in another explanation, frankincense is also representative of the Christ’s role as the High Priest of all, a foreshadowing of His own actions later when He would be standing between us and death, offering on our behalf on the Altar of Calvary, the Altar of His Cross, both as our High Priest and as the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice. This frankincense is the symbol of His office and role as the High Priest to deliver us all the redemption and forgiveness through His one act of supreme love by the self-sacrifice on the Cross. It is a prefigurement of the great work of His salvation for us.

Then, the last gift of myrrh by the Magi is a most peculiar and strange one, as myrrh is a kind of spice used in the embalming of the dead, and it was not meant to be offered to a living person and less still to be offered to a Child. Yet, it was a very powerful symbol of the Lord and what He would do in His ministry, again related to His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross. Although no one could have known it back then, but this was a prefigurement of Christ’s death, and how He would have to go through death in order to accomplish His mission.

Myrrh is also significant because in the various cultures, the embalming of the dead, particularly that of royalty and the nobility was symbolic of their desire to seek eternal life and way out of death. People had always feared death from time immemorial as the end of our earthly life, and because of that, people had always tried to seek ways to prolong their lives without success. And in some cultures in fact, the people believed that they could transcend death and became like the gods.

This highlighted how the Lord our God is so unique among all other beliefs and schools of thoughts out there, from all different faiths and religious beliefs, as when everyone else desired to transcend their mortality to become divine, Our Lord alone willingly humbled Himself to embrace our humanity and take up our human nature, to make His infinite and vast glory into the small and perceivable form of a small Child lying in a manger in Bethlehem. And not only that, as He also willingly later on embraced the worst of sufferings and pain, the scourges and the piercing of nails, as He was condemned to death on the most humiliating punishment on the Cross, for our sake.

As we have just heard and discussed, all the three gifts of the Magi, the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh are all very symbolic and serve to reveal to us all, to the people of all the nations Who this Child Jesus really was. He is the Almighty God and Ruler of all, the King of Kings and the Lord over all creation, the High Priest of all of us mankind, Who has offered on our behalf the most worthy offering, the offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood on the Altar of the Cross, Who endured suffering and death for our salvation.

The Magi who came from the very far country to seek the Lord bearing the gifts actually represent all of us mankind, all the peoples who have the desire to seek the Lord and to find Him as their Light and salvation. It is a reminder that God came to us not only to save a certain group of people and to gather the children of Israel only, unlike what some among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would have asserted. Instead, God is calling all the peoples to follow Him, to embrace His truth and love, the same truth and love that His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ has brought unto us.

The Magi followed the bright light of the Star that pointed them towards the Saviour. And this is a reminder for each and every one of us as Christians as we gather to remember the importance of the Epiphany to us. Through the gifts of the Magi, the gold, the frankincense and myrrh, we have been reminded of the nature of Our Lord’s Incarnation and coming into this world, all that He had done for our sake. Through His suffering and death, and by His glorious Resurrection, He has restored us back to life. And yet, are we following Him as the Star and the Light of our lives as well?

How many of us have disregarded the generous love that God has given us and rejected the kindness and mercy that He has shown us? This Christmas season we are constantly being reminded of all that God has done for our sake, and we should do our very best to focus our attention to Him and to glorify Him through our actions and service. Let us do whatever we can, even in the smallest things we say and do, so that our lives become a reflection of God’s Light, truth, hope and love in our respective communities.

In our world today, with so much suffering and difficulties encountered by us and many of our brothers and sisters, let us bring hope and encouragement to each other, and be each others’ pillar of support that we may endure the challenges that we may face together as one Church and one community of the faithful. We are all called to be the bearers of our Christmas joy and hope to all others, that God and His wonderful love and deeds may be known to all through us.

Let us all proclaim our great Lord and Saviour, the One Who has manifested and revealed Himself to the nations through the Magi, the Almighty God, Incarnate in the flesh and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother. Let us all proclaim Him before all the peoples with true faith and sincerity, so that more and more people may come to believe in the Lord through us. May the glory of Our Lord, He Who has manifested Himself and dwelled among us be with us, and may He bless us all in our every good efforts, works and endeavours. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 January 2022 : Second Sunday after Christmas (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the second Sunday in the Christmas season, for all of us who are celebrating the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord on its traditional date of the sixth of January. This Sunday as we have heard in the Scripture passages, we are again constantly being reminded of what we are celebrating in this Christmas season, that is celebrating the great appearing of Our Lord and Saviour in the flesh, Jesus Christ, the One Whom God has sent into our midst to be our Hope and the Light of our salvation, the Divine Word Incarnate.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the words of God’s salvation and promise of redemption being proclaimed and spoken before the people. At the time of the prophet Jeremiah, the fortunes of the people of God, the Israelites and their descendants had been at an all-time low, as they were facing great distress, humiliations, defeat and a lot of trials and troubles from different sources, one after another. All those things were caused by their own lack of faith in God and by their constant disobedience against God, preferring to walk in their own path than to walk in the path that God had set before them.

As a result, not only that the Assyrians had destroyed the northern kingdom and carried most of the northern ten Israelite tribes into exile and destroyed their cities, but even the southern kingdom of Judah was soon to face its own twilight and end as well. The enemies of the people of God rose against them and due to their continued disobedience and rebellion against God, even to the persecution of the faithful prophets and servants of God like Jeremiah, the kingdom of Judah was bound to be destroyed as well, which would later happen at the hands of the Babylonians.

But all the while God and the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed how the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem would become because of the evil deeds and the wickedness of the people, their kings’ bad influences and all of their infidelities, in worshipping pagan idols and demons, but God still in truth loved His people and did not abandon them. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because just as what we ourselves often experienced, it is the people who had consciously chosen to abandon God and His truth and love instead, and chose to walk the path of evil and sin.

That is why, through what the Lord has spoken and done for His people, He wants to show them that He still loves us despite all that we have done to hurt Him, in betraying and abandoning Him. He revealed how all of them would be gathered back from being scattered amongst all the nations. The Lord has shown His commitment and dedication to the Covenant He had made with us even when we have repeatedly disobeyed Him and betrayed Him. He still tried very hard to reach out to us and to help us to find the path to redemption.

To this extent, He has shown us His salvation through none other than Jesus Christ, His most beloved Son, Whom He had sent into the world, incarnate in the flesh, the Divine Word Incarnate as we heard in our Gospel passage today. In his Gospel, St. John the Apostle began his account with the most beautiful and detailed exposition of the truth and reality of the Lord God, the Word of God, Who was with the Father and is God, coming down into this world by the power of the Holy Spirit, indwelling in the womb of Mary, His mother, and became the Son of Man, born and revealed to all in Christmas.

Through Christ, the love of God has been manifested perfectly in the flesh and His love is no longer intangible. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, God’s love takes form and is approachable to us, and He came to us as He had promised, through the prophet Jeremiah and many others, to gather all of us back to Himself and to show us the path to eternal life with Him. God has not abandoned us and He has embraced us, through His Son, Emmanuel, God Who is with us. His coming into this world as we celebrate at Christmas is a truly significant event in our human history, and in the history of our redemption.

For through Him, we are no longer without hope and we have no more need to fear because while once we have been destined for destruction and damnation because of our sins, God’s love triumphs even over those sins and all the wickedness we have committed, and through His Son, Whose sacrifice on the Cross became the worthy offering for the atonement of all of our sins, God has shown us the path out of the darkness and into eternal life. He is indeed the Light for the people who are still living in the darkness, that is all of us sinners.

Yet, how many of us actually realise this truth, brothers and sisters in Christ? How many of us actually remember God’s love and see His love in the coming of His Son into this world? We do not have to look far beyond our own actions in life. How many of us celebrated Christmas without Christ Our Lord as the centre and focus of all of our celebrations? And how many of us spent our Christmas mostly in merrymaking, revelry and celebrations and forgetting all that God has done for us out of His enduring love? We cannot truly celebrate Christmas without Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Therefore this Sunday, as we continue to go through the Christmas season and as we continue our celebrations of the Christmas joy and exultation, we are called to remember the reason for all of our rejoicing and happiness. It is because of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem into this world that we have seen God’s light and salvation, tangible and approachable, and no longer just something that we cannot understand or grasp. This Sunday we should remind one another of God’s love made Man, in His ever generous love poured down to us in Christ His Son.

And because God has loved us so much, and given us the reason to rejoice much as the Israelites of old had received those glad tidings and hope amidst the darkness of their state then, let us all be the bearers of Christ’s light and hope in our communities today, spreading the joy that has come with Our Lord and which we celebrate this day and this season. Let our actions bring hope and encouragement to our fellow brothers and sisters, especially those who are sorrowful and without hope. Let us share our joy and celebrations with those who have little or no joy at all in their lives.

May the Lord, our Saviour and King, our loving God and Creator, Who has willingly come down to us in the flesh, be with us all and bless us in all things, so that our year ahead may be most blessed and wonderful. And may all of us draw ever closer to the Lord, as we commit our every living moments to serve and glorify Him, now and always. May God bless all of our works, efforts and endeavours, and may we have a truly blessed Christmas celebrations. Amen.

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Saturday, 1 January 2022 : Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and World Day of Prayer for Peace (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White or Blue

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the first day of the solar Gregorian calendar year, marking the New Year and the beginning of a year ahead that I am sure we all hope to be better than last year and also the previous year before that. And today, the Church also celebrates a great Solemnity in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God or Theotokos, on this Octave or eighth day of Christmas, capping the great eight day celebrations of the Christmas Octave, although the Christmas season itself will still continue through the Epiphany this coming days and beyond.

First of all, the importance of this great Solemnity cannot be underestimated, as the belief in Mary as the Mother of God is a fundamental and essential Christian tenet that is inseparable from our believe in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour as God Himself, incarnate in the flesh. That is why today’s celebration is a fitting reminder of the true nature and importance of Christmas, a reminder for us all why we celebrate and rejoice during this Christmas season, a time for us to remember the love of God manifested to us in the flesh and appearing before us in Christ.

For at the time when the Dogma of the Divine Motherhood of God was officially proclaimed by the Church at the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus almost a thousand and six hundred years ago, there had been a lot of arguments and divisions amongst the members of the Church regarding the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The debates were whether He was truly the Son of God or just a mere Man, and whether He was the Co-Eternal and Co-Equal Son of God or subordinate to the Father. These divergent ideas and teachings had led to a lot of heresies which had misled many among the faithful and caused divisions in the Christian communities.

That was why, beginning with the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, the Church and its many leaders have already gathered together and inspired by the Holy Spirit to safeguard the true teachings of the Church as handed down to all of them and which we have also now received, from the hands of the Apostles and their successors. Firstly, the relationship between Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour and the Father was clarified, that He is not only just the Son of God, but is also Co-Equal and Co-Eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, not subordinated but in equal and indivisible unity within the Holy Trinity, the One Triune God that yet maintains its distinct identities, One God in Three Persons.

This became the Nicene Creed as we know it today, which was then further updated at the subsequent Ecumenical Council of Constantinople to become the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that we are still using regularly to this day. Through this Creed and the many other decisions by the venerable and courageous Church fathers inspired by the Holy Spirit, those who sought to subvert and change the teachings of the Church to suit their own self interests and ambitions were thwarted and many of those who have fallen to the heretical teachings and thoughts eventually returned to the Holy Mother Church.

Nonetheless, there were still disagreements and controversies surrounding the nature of Christ until that time particularly with regards to Mary, the Mother of Our Lord as there were disagreements between those who thought that Mary, as a mere woman could not have been the Mother of God, the same Infinite God and Creator of all the Universe. They thought how it was possible for a woman, a created being to become the mother of the One and Eternal God and Creator, for a created being to become the Mother of the Creator. This was the argument of those who also held the view that Jesus the Man was distinct and separate from the Divine Son of God.

Hence, they used the terms such as the Mother of Christ, or the Bearer of Christ in their references of Mary, highlighting that Mary was merely the mother of the human Jesus Christ, and not the Mother of God. But this view was totally flawed in that in the true nature of Our Lord, we can never completely separate His human and divine natures. Instead, as affirmed by the Ecumenical Councils at Ephesus and Chalcedon, the Lord and Saviour, Son of God and Son of Man is indeed one and only Person but with two distinct yet inseparable natures, Divine and Human at the same time. Each natures are distinct from each other and yet perfectly and completely united in the one Person of Jesus Christ.

And naturally therefore, if Jesus Christ is not just Man but also God, then Mary being His mother, as the one who bore Him in her womb, is also the Mother of God and not just the mother of Jesus Christ the Man. Just as Christ’s Divine and Human natures are inseparable, we cannot separate Mary’s motherhood of Christ from the fact that she is indeed the Mother of God. She was indeed full of grace and blessed among all women as said by her cousin Elizabeth, because she alone from all the creatures of the Lord was to bear the Almighty God Himself in the flesh, in her womb.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect today on Mary as the Mother of God, today all of us are also called to look to her examples and dedication to the Lord. She is not just honourable because she is the Mother of God but because she is also truly dedicated and faithful in her own way as well. She has obeyed the Lord wholeheartedly and followed Him throughout His life and ministry, ever since He was still in her womb, and then after He was born and then grew up, she still cared for Him, followed Him even throughout His works and then even through to the foot of the Cross. She remained true and faithful to the mission which God has entrusted to her.

Today we look up to Mary, who is not only just the Mother of God but also the mother of us all. For through His incarnation in the flesh, Our Lord has become part of our humanity and by sharing in our nature and in entrusting His own mother to us from the Cross, He has made all of us to be Mary’s own adopted children. She has watchfully guided us all and has never ceased praying for each and every one of us, and hoping that we can also follow her examples and also the examples of many of our faithful brothers and sisters, that we may also be truly faithful to God in all things.

Today we may then be wondering why is it that we are celebrating this occasion on the New Year’s Day. This is important because on this New Year’s Day, all of us are called to start the year right and not to continue living our lives in the manner that is not proper and unbecoming of our calling as Christians if that is what we have been doing all these while. All of us ought to remember that first and foremost, as Christians all of us are called to live our lives faithfully in accordance to the Law and the commandments that God has placed before us, which He has taught us and revealed to us through His Church.

If we call ourselves as Christians, then it is only right that all of us commit ourselves to a new life in God, to be true followers of Our Lord and be genuinely dedicated to Him in the way that Mary, the Mother of God and our mother had done. As we rejoice for her sake today, let us remember how all of us should also listen to her and her Son, in how we live our lives so that we do not end up being hypocrites in our Christian faith. That is why, as we begin this current new year, all of us should do our best and spend the time and effort to begin a year that is new, blessed and filled with true joy in Christ. The Lord has given us many opportunities in life and as such let us not forget to give Him thanks and to show our gratitude towards Him for His ever enduring patience and love for us.

In our lives in this new year, let us do whatever we can to be a source of light and hope, inspiration and strength to one another, especially to our brothers and sisters who are now suffering and are filled with sorrow and despair. In whatever way we can, and at least even through prayer, let us reach out to those who need our help, our love, care and attention. Just as Christ, Our Lord and Saviour has brought us the light of God’s salvation and revealed to us the wonders of His love, let us all pass on the light, love and all the wonders we have received to our fellow brothers and sisters.

Today, we also mark the occasion of the World Day of Peace, and hence it is an appropriate time for us to also dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of peace in our world. We all know how conflict and troubles had affected our world and many innocent people out there. If we do not actively make strides to go forth towards bringing Gos’s peace and harmony into our midst, then let us know just how our year and livelihood could be ruined by the conflicts, disagreements and hatred that are all around us. As Christians, all of us are called to pray for peace and to always work hard in championing the cause of peace.

Let us all do our best to live out our new year with ever greater faith in God and be ever fuller in love for Him, as we all gather together to celebrate this new year. And as we rejoice in all the new year celebrations, let us not forget to put Christ back at the centre of our hearts, our lives and existence so that we may live our lives from now on with Him as the focus and the inspiration for everything that we say and do.

Let us follow Mary, the Mother of God and our loving mother that we may be ever more righteous and obedient in following the Lord and in living our lives as role models to our fellow brothers and sisters, as genuine Christians at all times. And let us not forget to share our joy and blessings with others, especially those who have little or none to rejoice with this new year. Let us bring hope to the downtrodden and those who are in need of strength, encouragement and hope.

May God bless us all and may He empower each and every one of us so that we may grow ever stronger in faith and that we may always ever strive to seek Him and to walk in His ways. May our new year be blessed and be filled with joy, through Christ our Lord, through His light and hope. May God be with is all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 31 December 2021 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today on the very last day of the solar year calendar, and being still in the middle of the Christmas season, all of us through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures are reminded to keep our focus on Christ, on God’s truth and love, and not allow ourselves to be distracted and deceived by the many temptations present all around us. As we end our current year and look forward to the beginning of the new year, we have to keep our focus steadily forward, with Christ as our focus and direction, the Star that guides our path ever forward in life.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. John, the Apostle spoke of the dangers of the antichrists, all those who spoke of falsehoods and heretical teachings not in accordance to the truth and the teachings of the Lord. At that time, even that early in the history of the Church, there were already those who sought to divide the Church and mislead its members and adherents, by spreading teachings and thoughts that were contrary to the truth that the Lord has passed down through His Apostles.

Many of those heresies came about because of the power and influence that those heretical teachers and even wayward priests and clergy could attain by spreading their own version of the truth and teachings of God. They were more concerned with their own fame and glory, and the advancement of their selfish, worldly causes and ambitions rather than to proclaim the truth of God. As such, St. John the Apostle, who have worked for a long time and laboured hard among the people of God, showed his concerns on how all these led the people away from God.

What he was mentioning to us is for us to be vigilant as we look forward to the future and guard ourselves against the many possible corruptions from the world. We must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed and instead we have to keep ourselves firmly focused on the Lord, on His truth and love. We have to live our lives with genuine love for the Lord, obeying His will, His Law and commandments. The Lord has given us the opportunities for us to follow Him, and He has revealed to us His message of love, by the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour into this world.

That is why today in our Gospel passage we are yet again reminded of the reason of our many celebrations that we have during this season of Christmas. We all celebrate because of the Word of God, the Son, Who chose to become Incarnate in the flesh, so that by the action of the Word made flesh, He might become for all of us, past, present and future, the One to redeem us and save us from our fated destruction because of our many sins. In Christmas all of us have been reminded of this great love of God manifested in the flesh, in Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today on the last day of this year, let us all take stock and evaluate carefully how our year had been like. Have we spent the time and effort to be faithful to God and also to dedicate ourselves to His works? Have we truly placed Him at the centre of our lives as we should? As we prepare to welcome the new year, we should look back and see in what way we can do better especially as Christians in living our lives ever more sincerely and genuinely in faith. We should be ready to lead a more wholesome Christian life in the year ahead, and we can do so by following the examples of our holy predecessors, the saints, the holy men and women of God.

Today in particular, on this last day of the year, we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Silvester I, also known as Pope St. Sylvester. Pope St. Silvester I was the leader of the Universal Church, as the Pope and Bishop of Rome during the time of new beginnings for the Church. His twenty-one years long pontificate was one of the longest of any Popes, and it ushered in the era of new beginnings for the Christian community and the Church. This is especially considering that his pontificate came right after Pope St. Miltiades, during whose pontificate the Edict of Milan officially tolerating Christianity was declared by the Roman Emperors Constantine and Licinius. This Edict was proclaimed just less than two years before the pontificate of Pope St. Silvester I began.

Pope St. Silvester I and his long pontificate marked the beginning of a new era for the Church and the Christian population throughout the Empire. Of course persecution did not end outright and there remained sporadic persecutions and tensions with the pagans and the authorities, but the end of persecutions opened a lot of opportunities for Christians who have long suffered from various persecutions and opposition from both the Roman government and from the pagan followers. There were a large number of churches and other Christian buildings being built during his pontificate, marking the beginning of a new and brighter future.

However, at the same time, the tensions and divisions that once were not previously apparent or visible began to make themselves apparent as various heretical teachings and thoughts like Arianism and Gnosticism amongst many others began to arise at that time, and in particular Arianism gained so much following and support that with the collaboration of the Roman Emperor, Pope St. Silvester I and many other bishops decided to organise the very first Ecumenical Council of the Church, the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea which formulated the official teachings of the Church and the rejection of heresies, just as St. John had warned against earlier.

The life and works of Pope St. Silvester I should remind all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the future is not necessarily bleak or dark. We all know just how difficult these past two years had been on so many of us, but we must have faith in the Lord that everything will one day be fine again. We have to look forward to a brighter future while at the same time being vigilant against all the evils and wicked influences, all the false paths that can mislead us down the wrong path. The best way for us is to commit ourselves fully to the Lord and entrust ourselves to Him.

Let us all seek the Lord with a new heart and be more committed to Him from now on. May He continue to bless us and guide us, and may He strengthen each and every one of us, so that we will always have hope in Him and as we enter into the new year, may He continue to bless us in each and every good endeavours, and bless our loved ones, families and friends. May God bless us all, and bless our year ahead. Amen.

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Thursday, 30 December 2021 : Sixth Day within Octave of Christmas (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are called to continue to remember that this is still now part of the Christmas season, and all that we have heard today reminded us that God in His ever enduring and supreme love for all of us have given us the perfect gift in Jesus, His most beloved Son, Whom He sent to the world to be part of our lives, to be the Bridge that brought us closer to Him and helped in reuniting and reconciling us to Himself. Too often we have been caught up in our busy life schedules and forgot about all these, ignoring God and His ever generous love.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. John, the Apostle reminded all the faithful to keep in mind their Christian calling, that is to follow the Lord and His path, to love Him more than anything else by their words and deeds, and not to succumb to the temptations of worldliness among other things. St. John reminded us all because it is very easy for us to love the world more than we love God, for the world often offers us easy pleasures and quick satisfaction that can tempt us to desire more of them.

St. John reminded all of us that the Word of God, the Word of Life has come upon us and dwells in our midst. He is the Divine Word Incarnate, the Word of God made flesh, the Son of God born through His mother Mary as the Son of Man, entering into our world and gracing us with His love, the perfect manifestation of God’s Love, made fully tangible and approachable, that all of us may know the truth of God, His love and ever generous compassion towards us. It is all these that we have been celebrating this Christmas season.

It is the same Jesus Christ Whom as a young Infant, was brought to the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God to be offered to God, as in accordance to the Law of Moses, as we heard in our Gospel passage both today and yesterday. The old prophetess Anna confirmed again what the old man of God Simeon had already spoken regarding the Child Jesus, before His parents, Mary and St. Joseph, who heard how this Child indeed would become the Saviour of all and amaze all by His power and deeds. It is this same Child that would later on grow to become the One to bear the Cross of suffering, dying and offering His own life for our sake.

For Christmas is indeed inseparable from the Passion of the Lord and His Resurrection at Easter. Through Christmas and all that we celebrate, we remember God Who has made Himself tangible to us, and sharing in our human existence, resolving to take upon Himself all of our sufferings, our human sufferings due to our sins, which would not have been possible without the Incarnation, and bore it upon Himself as the worthy offering in atonement for our sins. Through that act of supreme and most selfless love, God had redeemed us and saved us, assuring us who keep our faith in Him, the assurance of eternal life and true joy.

Yet, as mentioned just earlier, it is very easy for us to forget about all these, and forget why we call ourselves as Christians in the first place. In a world filled with a lot of selfishness and various temptations, of pleasures of the flesh, of wealth and glory, of fame and influence, power and others, we often sidelined the Lord and ignored His ever generous love, choosing instead to listen to Satan and all the temptress’ seductions, believing in their lies instead of God’s truth and ever enduring love for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we continue to celebrate the joy of Christmas, let us always remind ourselves and one another of the reason of our celebrations and rejoicing. Let us not be easily swayed and tempted by the excesses of worldly pleasures and instead seek the true joy and happiness that can be found in God alone. Let us all be good role models to one another and inspire everyone whom we encounter in our daily lives with the light and hope of Our Lord Jesus Christ. In these dark and difficult times, let us bring hope and encouragement to others, especially to those who are suffering and sorrowful without anyone to console or help them.

May the Lord continue to guide us and bless us in our every good works and endeavours, and may He continue to inspire and encourage us to be the bearers of His light and hope in our world today. May our love for the Lord continue to grow and remain strong despite the challenges and trials we may encounter in life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 29 December 2021 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are called to reflect on the Law and commandments of God, on what each and every one of us have received through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, all the truth and love that He has shown us. We have to live our lives virtuously and commit ourselves wholeheartedly as a holy people that God had called and chosen, and to whom God had sent His own beloved Son, that all of us may be saved through Him.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. John, we heard the the Apostle exhorting the faithful to be genuine in their faith, in how they ought to be following Christ, in all that He had done throughout His life. We are all called to be genuine and authentic witnesses of Christ’s truth and love in our respective communities and societies. Otherwise, we are no better than hypocrites and those who profess to be faithful and yet had no love or true faith in the Lord. This is why all of us are reminded by St. John to practice what we believe in our lives.

St. John especially exhorted all of us to be loving just as the Lord Himself has shown His love to us. We ought to follow Him with all of our strength and might, and do whatever we can to live our lives in accordance to the path that He has shown us. We should be truly genuine in our desire to follow Him and to commit ourselves to His path. We must not only show lip service but instead, obey the Lord’s commandments wholeheartedly, resist the temptations to sin and be ready to lead a good Christian life and be exemplary in that life and faith to our fellow brothers and sisters.

In our Gospel passage today we heard the account of the time when the Lord Jesus was presented at the Temple of God in Jerusalem in accordance to the Law by Mary and St. Joseph. At that time, they were met with the devout man of God named Simeon who was already very old and had been waiting and expecting the coming of the Lord and His salvation for a long time. He has been told that he would live to see the Saviour of the world with his very own eyes, and he did finally see Him as he beheld Jesus that day at the Temple of God.

It was there too that he proclaimed God’s words on the Child Jesus, speaking of the Sign that He has shown the world by His coming and all the wonders that He would do in fulfilling the many prophecies that had been made regarding Him. Simeon also spoke of what Mary herself would experience in the days to come, a premonition of her sorrow at the time of the Crucifixion, when she herself would witness her Son’s agony, suffering and death, and thus having her heart pierced with the greatest of sorrows.

What we have heard in our Gospel passage today is again another example of obedience to God, as the Presentation of the Lord was done in accordance with the Law of God, and marked the moment that the Lord was revealed and committed to the ministry that He had been sent to this world for. He was consecrated to God and marked as the One through Whom all that God had planned for the salvation of mankind would be fulfilled perfectly. It was the dedication of Christ as the future High Priest of all, preceding his role as the One to offer the worthy sacrifice for the atonement of our many sins.

Today, all of us as Christians should remind ourselves to be faithful to God and to dedicate ourselves to Him. And we should also emulate the good examples and inspiration given to us by the great saint whose life and works we celebrate today. St. Thomas Becket, also known as St. Thomas of Canterbury was the renowned Archbishop of Canterbury during the High Medieval era England, in his great passion serving the people of God and in his ministry, in his refusal to let the English king from having his ways in manipulating and controlling the Church, and finally his well-known martyrdom.

St. Thomas Becket was born into a merchant family who rose to become an efficient administrator and later on gained the trust and respect of King Henry II, the King of England. The king made St. Thomas Becket his Chancellor, and entrusted to him the governance of his kingdom. He became a close confidant of the king, and this was one of the main reasons why he was nominated by the king to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the most important position in the Church in England and also the leader of the Church and the other bishops in that kingdom.

The king most likely had wanted to bring the Church and its administration, as well as its income and wealth closer to the royal control. However, if he thought that by appointing his close friend, St. Thomas Becket, that he could achieve this, he was totally wrong. For St. Thomas Becket, after he had been formally appointed, ordained and enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury, he began to fiercely defend the independence of the Church from the secular control, especially from the king and his nobles. He strongly resisted the king’s efforts to interfere in the affairs of the Church.

The conflict between the king and Archbishop continued to grow such that there had been multiple tensions in which St. Thomas Becket stood his ground firmly against the king and his corrupt nobles’ actions and efforts. St. Thomas Becket even had to endure more than one exile for his dedication, having to flee to mainland Europe due to the threats against him. In the end, the Archbishop remained firmly faithful to the very end, and when the frustrated king spoke in his drunken rambles, some nobles went to St. Thomas Becket to murder him in cold blood, which enraged all of Christendom.

The faith and dedication showed by St. Thomas Becket should be a great inspiration for us to follow, in obeying the Lord and His laws and commandments, and not to fall into the temptations of this world. We have to follow in the footsteps of St. Thomas Becket in remaining virtuous and true to his calling despite the corrupt attitudes of his contemporaries and all those who pressured him and others to disobey the Lord by their own selfish and sinful actions. His courage and devotion to God should be our source of great strength and inspiration.

Let us all turn towards the Lord with renewed faith, vigour and zeal, and may the Lord continue to guide us and strengthen us, so that we may always be courageous in living our faith despite the challenges we may encounter in this world. May God bless us all and our every good endeavours for His greater glory. Amen.

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Tuesday, 28 December 2021 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we mark the occasion of the Feast of the Holy Innocents, remembering the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, all the infants aged two and below that had been massacred by King Herod the Great in his futile efforts and attempts to destroy the infant King of Israel, the One Who was prophesied by the prophets to come into this world and Who would rule over the people as King. King Herod henceforth feared that his rule and power would be taken over from him and his family, and handed over to this new King, and hence, he tried to eliminate Him no matter what.

Contextually, we can understand his actions better if we know more about how King Herod the Great rose to power. He was born as the son of Antipater the Idumaean, a high ranking official in the Jewish Hasmonean kingdom hailing from the region south of Israel known then as Idumaea or the ancient Edom, the neighbouring state bordering the land of Israel. According to historical traditions, the ancestors of Herod had converted to the Jewish faith, and dwelled among the descendants of Israel in Judea. Nonetheless, as he owed his rise to power to the assistance and support of the Romans, he has always felt insecure in his power and rule.

Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because he could be considered as a usurper, having usurped the rightful rule over Judea and the other traditional lands of Israel from the Hasmonean kings, the descendants of the Maccabees who won independence for the Jewish people a century prior. King Herod seized power from the last of the Hasmonean kings and forcibly took one of the Hasmonean princesses as his wife. And his rule in Judea and beyond was characterised with its megalomaniac nature and immense building projects, such as the rebuilding of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, henceforth known colloquially as Herod’s Temple, and also other major buildings such as the Herodion and many others.

Herod’s preoccupation with building such grand scale projects was a reflection of his great fear of being treated as a usurper, and as a usurper indeed he was, he feared that one day his rule and kingdom would be overcome by anyone who would contest his power and authority, being someone with greater claim to the kingship than himself. Hence, it was no wonder that the moment King Herod heard about the coming King of Israel through the three Wise Men or Magi that he began to do all that he could to find out more about the coming King, the Messiah of God, and later on, in his attempts to eliminate this threat to his rule.

Herod the Great’s paranoia and determination to hold onto power no matter what the cost ultimately caused him to commit the great and heinous sin of murder, as he ordered the murder of so many innocents in Bethlehem just that he might destroy his opponent, the newborn King of Israel. He ordered his men to commit such great murders, shedding the blood of the innocent children in order to secure his own power and authority, because he was only interested in maintaining his own glory and kingdom, and caring not for the plight of those whose lives he had destroyed, whose family members he had killed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through this historical example of the massacre of Bethlehem, we are all called to reflect on the dangers presented by sin on our daily living, for sin can easily corrupt us and mislead us down the wrong path, and cause us to succumb to evil deeds like what King Herod had done. That is how many of us had sinned and how many of our predecessors have fallen into sin, and even into damnation because of their inability to resist the allures of sin. Some of us even perhaps deny that we have sinned, and how everything we have done can be justified, for our own purposes and needs.

As St. John stated in his Epistle that we heard as our first reading today, we deceive ourselves if we say that we have no sin. All of us are sinners and the Lord alone has the power to forgive us and free us from the bondage of sin. That He has done, and He has come into this world, incarnate and born in the person of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour as we celebrate in this Christmas season. He has shown us the way out of the darkness and into His new Light, and what we need to do is for us to follow Him, reject sin and refuse to allow ourselves to be swayed by it.

As Christians, all of us should look up to Christ, the True Light and Hope that God has brought upon us and that He has given to us, as the manifestation of His love for each one of us. Let us all remember the memory of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, holy and innocent martyrs of mankind’s greed and ambition, which had led to so much sufferings, pains and sorrows, as they abused the freedom given to them, the authority and power entrusted to them as Herod the Great himself had done. Let us all not fall to the same temptations and let us do whatever we can to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, committing ourselves to His cause from now on.

May God bless us all, and may He strengthen us in our faith, that we may always aspire to be better Christians, in all things and in all deeds. Let us all distance ourselves from sin, and be good role models for each other. Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, martyrs of purity and virtue, pray for us all, your fellow brothers and sisters, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 27 December 2021 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us celebrate the great feast of one of the Lord’s Twelve Apostles, who happens to be one of the Four great Evangelists as well. St. John the Apostle and Evangelist was one of the two sons of Zebedee together with St. James the Apostle, his elder brother. With St. Peter and St. Andrew, all of them were fishermen in the lake of Galilee. They were all called by the Lord to follow Him, and they left their old profession and their families, committing themselves to the Lord and served Him from then on.

St. John became one of the Lord’s closest disciples, as one of the Twelve Apostles, and also together with St. Peter and St. James, his brother, he was often brought to the most important events in the Lord’s ministry, such as the resurrection of the synagogue official’s dead daughter, the Transfiguration of the Lord at Mount Tabor, and also the moments of Our Lord’s Agony at the Gardens of Gethsemane just before the time of His Passion. He therefore witnessed many of the important events surrounding the Lord’s ministry and works, and was a witness of His miracles and His truth.

St. John the Apostle was one of those who remained by the Lord’s side and kept following Him even up to the moments of His Passion, suffering and death on the Cross. He accompanied Mary, the Lord’s own mother as she came to the foot of the Cross, seeing her own Son being crucified and died before her. It was to St. John that the Lord entrusted His mother, and similarly, He entrusted St. John to Mary as well. St. John therefore was really important in his role in the early Church, as one of the Apostles and close collaborators of the Lord.

And not only that, he also spent many decades in spreading the truth of God all over the known world, travelling from places to places with the other Apostles and disciples, assisting in the foundation of the Church in various places. St. John also wrote several Epistles and letters in addition to his well-known work on one of the four canonical or officially endorsed Gospels. He was also the one who received the vision of the end of times in the Island of Patmos where he was exiled to by the persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. He recorded all that he had seen in what we now know as the Book of Revelations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we reflect on the life and the ministry of St. John, Holy Apostle and Evangelist, let us all first reflect on what he wrote in his own Epistle, which is in our first reading today. St. John wrote of the Word of Life that has come into this world, and how he and the many other Apostles and disciples had shared and given whatever they had experienced and received from the Lord. He showed us that this same Jesus Christ that we are celebrating this Christmas is the One Who is the Saviour of the world, and the One Who has brought Life upon us.

St. John gave his whole life and did everything he could to glorify the Lord by his life and actions. He encouraged many of the faithful back then who were going through many persecutions, and through his accounts in the Book of Revelations, he encouraged the faithful not to give up on their faith in God as no matter what, in the end, God will come and claim His faithful ones, and those who remain faithful to Him will indeed receive the promise of eternal life, true happiness and everlasting joy with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all realise that just as St. John had been called to follow the Lord and be His disciple, all of us have also received the same calling as Christians to follow the Lord and to devote ourselves to Him. This is what we have to remind ourselves well as we continue to celebrate the joy and hope of Christmas in this ongoing Christmas season. We have to remember that we are the witnesses of His truth and love, of the Love of God incarnate in the flesh, in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

Are we able and willing to follow in the footsteps and examples set by St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, brothers and sisters? Are we willing to live our lives wholeheartedly in accordance to our Christian faith, and especially now in our Christmas celebrations by putting Christ at the centre and heart of all of our rejoicing? It is through our genuine faith and sincere commitment to the path that God has shown us that we can inspire so many others to come to believe in the Lord as well.

May the Lord, born in Bethlehem and celebrated by us in this Christmas season, continue to help and guide us in our journey of faith. May St. John, His Holy Apostle and one of the Four great Evangelists continue to inspire us by his examples and intercede for all of us, that God may strengthen our faith and that we will grow ever closer to Him, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 December 2021 : Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we mark the occasion of the Feast of the Holy Family, celebrating the Holy Family consisting of Our Lord Jesus Himself as the centre and heart of that most blessed and wonderful family, and Mary, the Mother of God, as well as St. Joseph, the legal husband of Mary and the foster-father of the Lord as the Protector of the Holy Family. Today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures and keeping mind what the Lord had done for us by coming to us in this world in Christmas, let us all reflect on God’s words and remind ourselves on the significance of the Holy Family and our own Christian families.

In our first reading today, we listened from the Book of the prophet Samuel about the time when the prophet Samuel as a baby was brought by his mother Hannah, the wife of Elkanah. Both of his parents had long been expecting a son together and although Elkanah, Samuel’s father had many children and sons with Penninah, his other wife, it was Hannah, Samuel’s mother that Elkanah loved more. Therefore, when Hannah prayed to the Lord asking for help as she was often bullied by Penninah for not having a child at all, God heard her and at that time, Hannah also made the promise to offer her firstborn son to the service of God.

And thus, Samuel, one of the greatest of the prophets of Israel and also a Judge over the people, the last one before the days of the Kings, came to be presented before the Lord after he was born and under the loving care of his parents, Elkanah and Hannah. He was brought up well and later on would prove to grow up in strength and faith, in his dedication and commitment to God, such that he came to succeed Eli, the Judge and High Priest of the Israelites who took care of him since his early infancy after being presented at the Temple of God.

This story of the prophet Samuel is in a way parallel to what we heard from our Gospel passage today regarding the famous story of Our Lord Jesus when He was only twelve years old, in the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God. At that time, the Lord and His family, the Holy Family, with Mary His mother and St. Joseph came to Jerusalem to attend and celebrate the feast of the Passover in accordance to the Jewish traditions. It was a time of great celebration and many pilgrims would have come and made their way to Jerusalem from all over the world.

In such a situation, it made sense why Mary and St. Joseph could lose track of the young Lord Jesus when He purposefully remained behind in the Temple after the celebrations and the ceremonies. He stayed there in the House of God, the dwelling of His Heavenly Father, to be close to Him and at the same time, engaging in conversations and debates with the wise men and the teachers of the Law assembled there, who were all astonished to witness His great wisdom. It was there that Mary and St. Joseph found Him after they realised that He was not with them.

They found Him there in conversation with the wise men and the teachers of the Law, and were also greatly amused by what they had heard, although they knew Who He really was. When the Lord spoke to them saying that He ought to be in His Father’s House, those words were remembered by Mary, who also surely understood what He meant, as the Archangel Gabriel himself had revealed to her at the Annunciation that her Son is indeed the Son of God Most High. Jesus was there in Jerusalem, at the Temple of God to be with His heavenly Father.

However, as we heard there, the Lord obeyed His mother Mary and His foster-father St. Joseph. He returned with them to Nazareth and put Himself under their tutelage and guidance. He is indeed the Lord God, King of Kings, the Master of all the whole Universe, Lord of all creation. Yet, by His incarnation, through the mystery of His indwelling in the flesh, He had also become the Son of Man, born as a Child in Bethlehem, the city of David in Judea just as we have just celebrated it in Christmas yesterday.

He placed Himself under the authority and power of His parents as part of the Holy Family to show us that as the Son of Man, He was just like all of us, who also have to obey our own parents and seniors, to listen to them and to hear their advice for us on how we ought to live our lives. As the Son, He listened to His mother Mary and also St. Joseph, both of whom must have been instrumental in teaching Him the life skills needed for Him to face this world as any man would have, and just like how we learnt our first skills from our own parents.

The Holy Family showed all of us what a true and loving Christian family should be like, full of love and care for one another, and each member doing their part in making their entire relationship work well together. The Lord as the Son followed and obeyed His parents, listening to them and their words. Even much later on, as we all remember in the Wedding at Cana, the Lord listened to His mother’s words and performed His first miracle there to help the wedding couple who then faced an embarrassing situation of running out of wine.

Meanwhile, Mary loved her Son as His mother, caring for Him and providing for Him, walking with Him and according to Apostolic traditions, following Him on His many ministries and efforts among the people of God. And she followed Him even to the foot of the Cross, as anguished and most sorrowful as she was to have witnessed her beloved Son battered and bruised, rejected and reviled by His own people, and was forced to take up the Cross, bearing it to His most painful and humiliating death. As a mother, Mary dedicated herself totally to her Son and loved Him unconditionally.

And St. Joseph, the husband of Mary and foster-father of the Lord, the Protector of the Holy Family took great care of Mary and her Son, since before the Lord was even born into this world. Following the guidance of the Angel of God, he took Mary as his wife and doing his part in the mission entrusted to him, in guiding the Holy Family, as he helped Mary on her way to Bethlehem, enduring a lot of challenges in the process. As a loving husband, he cared for Mary and the yet unborn Jesus in her womb, as they made the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and later on in trying to find a lodging and a place for Mary to give birth as all the inns and lodgings were full and rejected them.

Later on, St. Joseph would also lead the Holy Family to Egypt when King Herod the Great wanted to kill the Lord, as he came to know of His existence and coming, seeing Him as a threat to his own rule, power and authority. He followed the guidance of the Angel of the Lord and led his family to safety. Later on he would lead them back to Nazareth after those who wanted the Lord’s death had gone, and settled there, where he likely helped Mary in patiently bringing up the Lord. Although the Lord Jesus was not his own biological son, but he still surely cared for Him very much. He did not say any words throughout the Gospels, but in his righteousness and actions, in his attitude and according to traditions of the Apostles, he must have been a really good father figure.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the story of the Holy Family of Our Lord Jesus, Mary His mother and St. Joseph, all of us are called to reflect on our own families, our own parents and also our own children for those who have them and have been blessed with these. Today we are reminded that our families first and foremost must be grounded in love, the love that we ought to show one another and especially so in our respective families. Without love, the bonds that keep us together in our families will easily fall apart and that may cause our families and their members to go against each other and become divided and bitter.

This Christmas as we gather together to rejoice in the Lord Jesus and the salvation that He has brought upon us, let us all spend it together as a family. And let us use this opportunity to remind ourselves how important our family is to us. Many of us have often forgotten or sidelined our family members, in our pursuit for wealth, glory, fame and because of many other reasons. As a result, we have lost that cohesion and love that all of us ought to have as a family, and many become separated and even bickering among themselves in their families.

If we have been too busy so far in our lives, then let us all spend some time together this Christmas to get rid from ourselves all those excessive concerns and other thoughts we have, all the worries and desires we have for worldly things. Instead, let us do our best to celebrate Christmas together with our families and various family members, to reconnect ourselves and rekindle the love that we have between us, so that our family will still remain stronger together and hopefully become ever closer through. Christ and His love.

In our world today, there are many families that have been broken because of their lack of love and faith. Those families that fail to communicate with each other and spend time together often fall apart easily, especially when difficult times come. Many couples have divorced each other and many of their children were left without both parents caring for them and their love. And not only that but even the institution of marriage and family itself is often now under threat from the changing conditions and demands of our current world and society.

This is why all of us must look up to the Holy Family for strength, inspiration and guide in how we manage our own families. We should aspire to follow the examples of Christ, of His mother Mary and St. Joseph to ensure not just that our families will remain together and united, but that our families will be sanctified and holy just like that of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And often the best way for us to do this is to come together and practice our faith together through prayer. A family that prays together and love one another will have a much better chance of staying together.

May the Lord our God and Saviour, in His most holy and loving Holy Family continue to strengthen us and our faith, and give us the courage to live our lives with faith, and united in love in our respective Christian families. May He awaken and strengthen the familial love that we have among us, between spouses, between parents and children, among siblings and even among the members of our extended families. May He empower us in love, to love Him together as a family, all of us, in our own families striving to be filled with holiness and love. May all of us rejoice together this Christmas, and be blessed with ever greater love imitating the great love found in the Holy Family, our inspiration. Amen.

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Saturday, 25 December 2021 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Day Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we have finally come to the moment of our glorious celebration of Christmas, as we gather together on this Christmas Day rejoicing together because the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour has come upon us and He has fulfilled God’s promises for our salvation, our liberation from the certain destruction and annihilation due to our many sins. He has shown us His ever generous love, compassion and mercy, and God has never given up on us. He even gave us all His only begotten Son, that through Him we may be saved and have eternal life.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we heard of the glorious proclamation of the Lord to His people, proclaiming the coming of the King to the people of God, to Zion or Jerusalem, the city of God. Through His coming into the midst of His people, God Who is their King would free them all from their troubles, their sufferings and break free their fetters and the chains that were holding them. He would restore their joy and glory to them, so that they would no longer be in shame and suffering from their predicaments.

For the people of God, it was truly words of reassurance that they must have heard from the prophet Isaiah, as they were back then beset by many troubles, having been oppressed by their neighbours and facing many threats even to their own independence. The remnant kingdom of Judah, the southern half of the old united kingdom of Israel held its position precariously amidst rivalling great powers of the region, while the northern kingdom of Israel had been laid waste and destroyed by the Assyrians years earlier and its people brought off to exile.

The Lord showed His people that if they remained faithful to Him, they have no need to worry and be fearful, and they and their cities would be saved, as God would reveal His power and saving help before all, and gather all of His faithful ones and make them once again to be His beloved flock and people. This is the same promise that God had made and renewed repeatedly over the years, which He gave through His many prophets, and especially through the prophet Isaiah, who spoke many prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah.

In our second reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of the Epistle spoke of the Lord Who has sent His own Son into this world, that by appearing in the flesh, He has become the manifestation of the love that God has for each and every one of us. He, the Son of God and the Divine Word Incarnate came down upon us to dwell among us that the power of God’s Word may be reflected through all who have witnessed His mighty works, the foremost of which is how He has lifted us all up from our sins and from the darkness surrounding us, by His sacrifice on the Cross.

For that is exactly how He rescued all of us, His beloved people. He sent us down His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that by His coming in the flesh, He has shown us the means out of the darkness surrounding us. He has come down to us, the Word that was made flesh, as mentioned by St. John in the beginning of his Gospel that we heard today, so that His words and His truth may become tangible and accessible to us. He is no longer unreachable to us and has made Himself as One Who is approachable, crossing the chasm that once existed between us due to our sins.

Sin borne out of our disobedience, our wickedness and evil deeds have sundered us away from the love of God, but God’s love has overcome even our many sins, as He willingly assumed our humble human existence to be reconciled and reunited with us. He assumed our human appearance and existence because He wants us to know that we belong to Him and we should no longer be separated from Him. He came to us as our Good Shepherd, full of love for us and full of His most compassionate and generous mercy.

Through His coming into the world, He has become for us the beacon of Hope and brought to us the undimmed Light of salvation. He became the New Adam and the New Man, showing His perfect obedience to His Father’s will, and through His willingness to bear all of our sins and their consequences, bearing those burden on His shoulders, by picking up His heavy Cross, He was scourged and suffered for us on our behalf. And by His offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood on the Altar of the Cross, He offered for us, on our behalf before His Father, the perfect offering of sacrificial love in atonement for all of our sins.

Yet, despite everything He has done for our sake, we still often ignored and even rejected Him, preferring to sin rather than to love Him and follow His path. And as we come to celebrate Christmas, many of us scarcely even remember Him and less still placing Him at the centre and as the focus of all of our rejoicing and celebrations. That is because we have often been swayed by the secularised and over-commercialised Christmas as we have often been exposed to in our world today.

As Christians, all of us are called to remember our faith and love for God. We are called to remember just how beloved and dear we are to our Lord. And knowing that we are truly beloved by Him, then it is only right that we recognise that love and strive to love the Lord wholeheartedly if we have not done so yet. In Christmas, we are celebrating this love of God made evident and real, tangible and accessible through the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. Therefore, all of us should reflect this in the way we are celebrating the joy of Christmas.

It means that we should not end up celebrating Christmas with great excesses and merrymaking, in order to satisfy our own desires for pleasure and comfort, for earthly goods and wants. Instead, our Christmas celebration and joy should come from the genuine desire we have in loving God and in thanking Him for all that He has done for us. We celebrate this Christmas because God has done so much for us, in extending His love and mercy towards us through Christ, His Son, Whom He had sent to our midst in order to show us all His love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all share our Christmas joy and blessings with one another, with our fellow brethren who need them the most. Many of our brethren out there are in fact unable to rejoice this Christmas in the manner that many of us are able to do. Some are suffering even from remaining faithful, in those parts of the world where being Christians may mean certain suffering and death. Not only that they have to celebrate Christmas in secret, but they must also practice their faith in secret or else risking persecution and death. And many others still are suffering and in difficult times, especially as we know how these past two years had been difficult for so many of us.

Many people had lost their loved ones or are still suffering the effects of the current pandemic, as well as its related complications and negative impacts on the communities all around the world. This Christmas should be an inspiration to all of us, especially if we have received more joy and blessings than others, for us to generously share those joy and blessings with those who have little or none of them. Let us all not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to their plight and need, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us all share the true joy of Christmas, that is the joy in the Light and Hope that Christ our Lord and Saviour had brought into our midst, in His coming into the world that all of us now have the assurance of eternal life and true happiness with Him. Let us be the bearers of this joy, this Hope and Light that we have received from Him, and help others who are suffering, sorrowful and are in difficult moments, to be able to see the Light and the Hope of God’s salvation, through our faith and actions.

May the Lord, our Saviour and King, born to us and celebrated this Christmas day, continue to be with us and bless us all in our every good endeavours and deeds. May God give us the strength, courage and joy to live in our world today with true Christian virtues, and bear with us the joy of His love and grace, now and always. Wishing all of us a most blessed and happy Christmas! Amen.