Weekday Homily

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Wednesday, 16 September 2020 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Cornelius, Pope and Martyr, and St. Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture we are all reminded that as Christians, it is our primary objective in life to love, and not just any kind of love, but love in a selfless way, to love God with all of our might and strength, and to give of ourselves with love to one another, and not to be selfish and haughty, but rather place ourselves in the way of God’s love.

In our first reading today, we heard St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth reminding all of them of the importance of love to all of them, and how love is at the core of the Christian tenet, virtues and teaching. He highlighted how without love, then no matter whatever gifts and talents, graces and abilities we have received, then everything is meaningless.

And the Apostle also highlighted that true love is pure, and is truly wonderful, and that love is never selfish and is about caring and truly being attentive and concerned about the needs of others. St. Paul essentially exhorted all the faithful to follow the examples of the Lord and His Apostles in love, in being generous in giving and in the sharing of that love, rather than following the selfish ways of the world.

It is by our love that we will be recognised as Christians, as God’s own beloved ones and people, as His followers and those who have lived according to His Law and His ways. That is what is alluded in our Gospel passage today when we heard the Lord speaking about how the people failed to recognise Him and St. John the Baptist. He elaborated how the people looked down and were judgmental against St. John the Baptist because of his appearance, and the same people also judged against the Lord because He interacted and reached out to sinners.

All of these were caused by their lack of love, their inability to appreciate God’s love and all that He has done for the sake of us all mankind. They were too engrossed and preoccupied in themselves that they have ended up being blinded to the truth and the love of God. That is precisely why, despite their intelligence and great power, but without love, all these were of no use, as these referred to many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who criticised St. John the Baptist and the Lord, being considered the most well-educated and influential among the Jews.

It was those who did not hold on to their pride and ego, their preconceived notion of superiority that came to believe the Lord wholeheartedly and genuinely, for they perceived God’s love in the way that those who had allowed their pride and desires to get the better of them could not. They saw the Lord and all that He had done for the sake of His people, and came to believe in Him not just through words but also through His loving actions.

Meanwhile, the Lord often rebuked the Pharisees and also warned those who listened to Him, not to follow the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who did not follow the Law in the manner that they should have. He told them to listen to these teachers of the faith, but not to follow their examples, as their actions and deeds, their behaviours were done in order to satisfy their own personal desires and greed, and hence, they were misguided and in turn, could misguide others in their journey towards God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, once again, today’s set of Scripture readings remind us that the Lord has called us to be His faithful witnesses in all things and in all occasions, and the best way for us to do that, is to be His witnesses of love, that is by showing love in each and every one of our daily lives’ actions, being genuine in our love and tender care for each other, in the concern we show towards others who are suffering and less fortunate than us.

And perhaps we can learn a lot and be inspired by the examples set by today’s two great saints, whose lives had been exemplary and filled with God’s love. Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian were holy servants of God who dedicated their lives to the service of God and for the love of Him and their fellow brethren. Both were martyrs who died under great persecution, firm in their faith and unwilling to abandon the Lord Whom they had served so faithfully.

Pope St. Cornelius was elected as Supreme Pontiff, Pope and Successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the Vicar of Christ at a time when the Church was undergoing great tumult and period of great challenges, both from outside the Church as well as from within the Church itself. The Church was facing great persecutions from the Roman Emperors and their government authority officials, and at the same time, the Church was bitterly divided by those who then supported a charismatic Novatian, an influential priest who was then opposed by those like Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian.

Novatian led those who took a hardline stance on those Christians, known as lapsi or lapsed, because they abandoned their faith in the midst of persecution, either by offering sacrifices to the pagan idols and the Emperor or by publicly renouncing their faith and embracing back paganism once again. Thus, Novatian was the leader of the faction who argued that under no circumstances at all that those who have voluntarily left the faith or even those who had been forced to do so, would be allowed to return to the Church.

But Pope St. Pontian and St. Cyprian were those who argued that those who have lapsed and abandoned the faith, for various reasons and circumstances, and then showed sincere desire to repent and the commitment to be a dedicated Christian once again, then that person can be readmitted to the Church once again. Novatian and his followers argued that the Church did not have the authority to do so, and only God can judge the sinner, but they forgot that God’s love is so great that, if a sinner were to repent sincerely, he will still be forgiven.

And they had also forgotten that the Lord had granted the authority to His Church, the keys of the kingdom of Heaven to bind and loosen souls, and therefore the authority to forgive sins as the Lord Himself had explicitly granted to His Apostles, and from them to their successors, to all the ordained priests of the Lord. Any attempts to exclude permanently anyone from the Lord’s grace and salvation, is in fact a great sin for those who did so against God and against those whom they tried to exclude and cast out.

That is why Pope St. Cornelius and St. Pontian tried very hard and went up against all those supporters of Novatian who held that elitist, erroneous and dangerous view of self-righteousness and exclusion of those who could have been saved. They laboured hard to restore unity in the Church and also to reach out to all those who have been separated from the Church, reconcile the people on the two sides of the schism caused by Novatian and his supporters.

In the end, they were persecuted and remained faithful, and under the great persecutions of Christians mentioned earlier, both Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian were martyred for their faith, and suffered great trials and pains during all these. Yet, we all certainly remember the love and zeal with which they had dedicated themselves to God and to their fellow brethren, showing with concrete action the love of God, by fighting for the cause of those who believe in the power of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all turn towards God, inspired anew by Pope St. Cornelius and St. Cyprian, that we may grow ever stronger in faith in Him and grow ever deeper in our love, commitment and dedication to serve Him and glorify Him by our every actions, in each and every moments of our lives. May God be with us always, at every stage of this journey of faith we have through life. Amen.

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Tuesday, 15 September 2020 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we celebrate the feast of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows. It is interesting that after the high of the celebrations of the joyful exaltation and triumph of the Holy Cross yesterday, then we come to the remembrance of the sorrows of our Blessed Mother, who was sorrowful at the suffering and death of her Son.

But in truth, this is an important reminder that the Cross of Christ, while it is a sign of great victory and triumph against sin, evil and darkness, but it is also where our Lord and Saviour suffered grievously for the sins and faults that He had willingly bore for our sake, every blows and wounds that He bore up to the Cross, as a most worthy offering to God, for the redemption of all mankind and atonement of all of our sins.

And in all these, His mother, Mary, grieved as a mother should when the mother sees the suffering of the child. As the mother grieved in seeing her son suffers, Mary saw her own Son, born of her womb and Whom she took care all her life, suffering so much for the sake of the whole world, fulfilling the task which had been entrusted to Him as the Saviour of the world. And Mary saw all of that, and faithfully walked beside her Son, following Him as He took the last steps of the journey towards His crucifixion.

It must have been painful for Mary to witness such a horrific scene happening before her, as she saw her Son suffering in such a manner, deprived of all dignity and honour, betrayed and cast aside by the authorities and the people, condemned to death for faults that were not His. Yet, Mary obeyed perfectly and completely to the will of God, and bore her sorrows with the faith and knowledge that everything would happen as God willed it.

It must have indeed been most sorrowful for a mother to witness her own child’s death, but that was exactly what happened as Mary beheld the lifeless body of her Son, at the foot of the Cross. This is most commonly depicted as Our Lady of Sorrows, the most sorrowful and sad depiction of Mary, as a loving Mother holding her Son, His mission fulfilled and completed, but with sorrow piercing her heart seeing all that happened.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we can just see how great Mary’s faith and dedication is, that despite her sorrows and the trials she had to endure, she remained firmly committed to the cause and mission that has been entrusted to her. And seeing her Son suffered in such a way, certainly brought Mary to shown great concern and love for each and every one of us, whom by adoption into the Church, has become her own children and beloved ones.

That is why, if we notice, Mary has appeared many times to many people in various times and places, all with the similar message imploring us mankind to turn away from our sins, to repent sincerely and to embrace God’s forgiveness and most generous mercy. That is because she knew full well the suffering that we all will endure for our sins, in the suffering that her Son had endured and which she had witnessed herself as she followed Him faithfully right up to the foot of the cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we commemorate this Feast of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, let us all look up to Mary, our loving Mother for her exemplary faith and dedication to God. Let us all be ever more faithful and turn away from our wickedness, from our actions that had brought scandal to our faith, and genuinely seek God’s forgiveness so that we may be forgiven our sins and be worthy of the eternal glory, life and joy that will be ours in God’s presence.

Let us turn to our sorrowful and loving Mother and comfort her by our dedication and desire to lead a more Christ-like life, to obey the Law of God and to follow His will in every actions and deeds we have, and to be shining beacons of Christian faith for one another in this darkened world. Let us all sin no more, and strive to follow our Mother’s faithful examples, so that we may receive the crown of eternal life and glory, and triumph with the Holy Cross of Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

May the Lord, our crucified Messiah and loving Saviour continue to bless and guide us, and may His ever loving Mother continue to show her tender care towards us all. O Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us all sinners, and pray that we may all endeavour to turn away from our wicked sins, and enter into God’s mercy and forgiveness. Amen.

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Monday, 14 September 2020 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross or also known as the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross. This day marks the glorious and joyful moment when the True Cross of Jesus Christ, the very wooden cross on which our Lord and Saviour had been hung on, was discovered by St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, who was also the first Christian Roman Emperor.

St. Helena was a devout Christian woman whose love and devotion for both of her husband and son, the future Emperor Constantine probably helped the then young Emperor to eventually become a Christian, as a good influence always being present and well-respected by her son. St. Helena, although the Empress Mother of the Romans, she remained humble and devout, charitable and dedicated to the cause of the Lord.

To this end she embarked on a mission to the Holy Land, to discover the instruments of the Lord’s Passion, most especially the Cross of Our Saviour itself, and which she managed to discover in Jerusalem. There were three crosses in that place just as there were three crucified on that fateful day, the Lord and two convicted criminals sentenced to death. And in order to find out which one was the Cross of the Lord, St. Helena touched the Cross to a very sick person. And the one that instantly and miraculously healed the dying person is the True Cross of Christ.

That was the root and origins of this celebration of the Exaltation or Triumph of the Holy Cross, celebrating the rediscovery of the True Cross, and even more significantly, is the timing of its happening. The True Cross was rediscovered just not long after the Christian faith itself has finally gained a reprieve from centuries of persecutions and trials, in the Edict of Milan, the very first edict of toleration of their faith, jointly declared by the aforementioned Emperor Constantine the Great.

The Church and many among the faithful who had borne a lot of martyrs through the constant and at times, terrible persecutions, had finally triumphed, and this began with the memorable Battle of Milvian Bridge, which likely inspired Emperor Constantine the Great to adopt the Christian faith later on in his life. At that battle, the Emperor, outnumbered by his rival and enemy, saw a great vision from God, in which either he saw a cross, or the symbol of the Chi-Ro, the symbolic representation of Jesus Christ, the Greek letters Chi and Ro that are the short form of the Name of the Lord.

As the Emperor Constantine saw the vision, accompanying the image of the cross or the Chi-Ro is the words, ‘In hoc signo vinces’ which means, ‘By this sign, you shall conquer’. The Emperor went on to be triumphant against his enemies, and eventually also won against all those that persecuted the Christian faithful and communities. And this also marked a new beginning for the Church and the faithful alike, as persecution gave way for favour and acceptance, and eventually wide adoption of Christianity but most of the Roman Empire and beyond.

And more profoundly, the triumph of the Cross is not just limited to the triumph of the faith against persecutions and trials, but even more importantly so, as our Scripture passages today indicated to us, that the exaltation and triumph of the Holy Cross refers to the triumph it brings us against the forces of evil and darkness. For it was through the Cross that our Lord has triumphed against Satan and all of his malice and evil, and showed us all His salvation.

The cross has always been, up to the time of Christ, associated with defeat, shame and humiliation. For the cross is not just used to punish any criminals, but reserved by the Romans to punish the worst of criminals, those considered as traitors and worst of all criminals in the nation. The use of the cross is the most humiliating and painful method of punishment, and not only that the victim is exposed and bared before all, without a shred of dignity left, but for the Lord’s case, in which He was nailed to the cross, it was even more painful.

That is because vast majority of crucifixions in fact did not involve the use of nails, and the criminals were just left hanging on the cross for even days on end. The use of the nails were reserved to those who were considered the worst of the worst, and thus, our Lord truly suffered a most excruciating and terrible death on the cross. But through His suffering and death, the Lord transformed this once shameful and humiliating symbol, into a symbol of victory and hope, and into the genuine manifestation and proof of God’s ever enduring love for us.

In the first reading today, we heard the occasion when the sins of the people of Israel as they travelled from the land of Egypt into their Promised Land, caused many of them to perish from the fiery serpents that came into their midst. When they rebelled against God and refused to listen to Him, grumbled and complained, and even threatened God’s servant, Moses, they sinned against Him. And those fiery serpents represent the punishments that are due for those sins.

And it is a reminder that the ‘sting’ of sin is death, according to St. Paul, who called death as the ‘sting’ of sin. For sin is the product of disobedience against God, and because of that sin, we are made corrupt and unworthy of God’s grace and love. Sin separates us from God, and separated from God, we have no life in us. When we consciously chose to sin and disobey God, then we may end up being judged and damned for those sins.

But that is not the end, brothers and sisters in Christ, for in the same passage, we heard of the love of God, which remained for us unchanged, and when Moses pleaded for the sake of the people for mercy and when they had regretted the errors of their ways, God asked Moses to craft a bronze serpent on a tall staff, and through that, all those who were bitten by the serpents and were dying, lived on if they saw the bronze serpent.

This is referred to by Christ Himself when He spoke with the Pharisee, Nicodemus, on the night when Nicodemus, secretly a believer of Jesus, asked Him about God’s truth and plans for mankind. The Lord told him how the Son of Man, referring to Himself, would be lifted up high for all to see, just as the bronze serpent of Moses was lifted up for the Israelites as the symbol of hope and salvation, and those who put their trust in Him would live just as their ancestors who saw the bronze serpent did not die or perish.

Thus, as Christ has been lifted up high on the cross, He gathered to Himself all the sins of the world, bearing those burden for us, being humiliated and punished for us, just as the bronze serpent is a reminder of how deadly those serpents had been in killing so many among the Israelites from their sins. When we look at the crucifix, the Cross of Christ, what do we see, brothers and sisters? We are looking at a very important reminder that we are sinners, wicked and unworthy for God because of our disobedience.

And yet, Our Lord and Saviour came to us, calling us to His salvation with love, taking up upon Himself the multitudes of our sins and faults, and humbling Himself unto suffering and death, He changed that Cross by His ultimate, selfless loving sacrifice into the ultimate symbol of triumph and victory, from what was once a symbol of humiliation, defeat and destruction. He broke the power of sin and death by His own death and resurrection, proving that neither sin nor death can overcome us.

The Cross is the sign of triumph, and more than just the triumph that the Emperor Constantine gained, or the triumph that Christians gained over those who persecuted them, because in the end, far more importantly, the Cross brings us triumphant against sin, and leads us into the final victory, that by the power of the Cross, we are no longer bound and enslaved by sin, and have been freed from the tyranny of death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we rejoice in the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, let us all remind ourselves of the great love of God by which He has loved us, done everything so much for us even up to the extent of sacrificing Himself for our sake, that we are no longer burdened by sin, and no longer bound by it, but free and triumphant, because of His Cross and the wounds that He had endured and bore for us.

Let us all glory in the Cross of Christ, praise the Lord for His ever amazing love and dedication to us. And let us therefore dedicate ourselves, our time and effort, our attention and our whole being to love God, to follow Him, and to be faithful at all times, bearing the Cross of Christ with pride and joy, and knowing that we have been saved through the Cross, proclaim God’s Good News and salvation that more and more can be saved. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 September 2020 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday’s Scripture readings all spoke very strongly and firmly on one topic, that is forgiveness. As Christians, forgiveness is a very important aspect of our faith, and we are all called to forgive one another generously, to let go of the anger and hatred in our hearts, to be forgiving just as the Lord, our God is rich in mercy and forgives generously.

The Lord Jesus in our Gospel passage today spoke very firmly on this matter when St. Peter asked Him, ‘Lord, how many times must I forgive the faults of my brother or sister?’ And the Lord answered to his suggestion of seven times, with an even greater number, of seventy-seven times, or in another, seventy times seven times. The use of the number seven here is symbolic and does not literally mean that we must forgive exactly seven, seventy-seven, or seventy times seven times.

In fact, the number seven is a frequently used number throughout the Scriptures, as the symbolic number of ‘perfection’, and many things associated with God number in seven, such as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven Sacraments of the Church, the seven Holy Archangels ministering in the presence of God, the seven Spirits of God in the visions, among others. That is why the use of seventy-seven or seventy times seven, represent the ‘perfection’ of forgiveness.

What does it mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that we must learn how to forgive without end, forgive unconditionally, forgive without being transactional and to forgive with all of our hearts, with all of our whole being. Forgiveness is something that is very difficult and it is something that many people find very difficult to do, but it is what each and every one of us as Christians are called to do.

Why is that so? That is because to forgive means that we learn to let go of our ego and pride, of our hatred and perhaps jealousy, among other things. Many of us cannot forgive because we cannot find it in ourselves to do all these, and more often than not, it is our ego and pride that are the greatest barriers in preventing us from forgiving others. And we must know, brothers and sisters in Christ, by remembering again today’s Scripture readings, particularly the Gospel parable, that unless we forgive others, how can we expect to be forgiven ourselves?

In that parable, the Lord used the example of a great lord and master who had many servants, some of whom were indebted to him. And in that occasion, a servant who owed the master a very large sum could not pay his due, and therefore was to be punished and to suffer until he could return all that he had owed his master. He begged his master to give him more time to pay off his debt, for mercy and compassion.

The master who saw his pleas for mercy was moved and decided to forgive that servant’s entire debt, a sum of ten thousand pieces of gold, a very considerable sum. It was truly very generous act by the master, and the servant was free to go, free from all of his debts. And then, almost immediately we heard how that very same servant threatened another servant who owed him some money, a much, much smaller sum of a hundred pieces of silver.

The symbolic comparison between the cases could not have been clearer, with the other servant’s debt being represented with a far smaller sum and also in silver, a far less worthy and valuable, although still precious, metal and commodity at that time as it is today. The contrast was also made between the master’s great generosity and willingness to forgive, even the huge amount of debt, and the ungrateful servant’s insistence to persecute his fellow servant for a far smaller debt.

Through all of that, the Lord gave us all in fact, a very stern reminder that we must not be like that ungrateful servant, who had been forgiven his massive debt only then to persecute and refusing to forgive his own fellow servants who owed him a far smaller sum. Using this parable, the Lord showed the comparison between the mercy of the master, representing the Lord Himself, and the lack of mercy and compassion showed by the ungrateful servant, representing us mankind.

God forgave us our sins, even though they were numerous, terrible and wicked, and He wanted to forgive us all those faults and shortcomings, extending His most generous mercy and compassion to all of us, at all times. However, He has not showed us this mercy only for us to take revenge and to persecute our brethren because of their debts and faults against us. And we must also not forget that each and every one of us ourselves also had faults and mistakes against each other.

That is why, before we become angry against others, before we judge others and persecute others, thinking that we have the right to do so, or that we are better and superior against them, we must reflect on these readings we have heard today. We must wake up, brothers and sisters! Wake up and realise just how fortunate we are to have such a merciful and loving God. For every single one of our innumerable and terrible sins, we could have been cast to eternal suffering and destruction, if not for God’s enduring love and mercy for us.

And yet, we are not appreciative of this, we do not thank God as we should have done, and we failed to do what He has asked to do, that is to be merciful and loving as He Himself had done. We are being judgmental and biased to our fellow brothers and sisters, exacting revenge and held contempt and hatred for one another, and we refuse to forgive when we can do so, preferring to hold on to that anger and desire in our hearts and in our minds to satisfy our own ego and our own personal agenda.

Let us then do not forget that by whatever standards we have judged others, be angry on others, be unforgiving on others, then we will also be judged by those same standards. And it is not just that others will judge us in the same way, for as I said earlier, all of us have faults and mistakes, shortcomings and failures, and none of us are perfect, and if we are to hold others accountable for theirs, we shall be held accountable for ours too. We must then not forget just how even much more shortcomings that we owe the Lord.

This has been very clearly shown and summarised by the master in the parable told by Jesus, and how he has forgiven the immense debt of the ungrateful servant, only for that servant to hold a double standard and attack his own poor fellow brother, and thus, in the end, he was held accountable for his original debts, not being forgiven anymore for he himself did not show mercy when he should have.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, we all truly have great challenges ahead of us, considering how we have been called to live, that is to love when we ourselves have not been loved, to forgive others especially those who hurt us and made our lives difficult, even when they themselves have not forgiven us. The challenge for us is to dare to be different from the world, that when the world champions individualism and the ego of the self, we dare to break free from that, and seek instead to love and show genuine care for others, even to those who have hurt us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the question is, are we willing and able to humble ourselves to forgive generously and sincerely? As I said earlier, ego and pride are the greatest obstacles in the path to sincere forgiveness, and no true forgiveness will come forth unless we remove these burdens and obstacles from our hearts and minds alike. God Himself has forgiven us so generously, showing us His love despite the multitudes of times we have betrayed and abandoned Him. Can we forgive others just as how God has forgiven us?

The prophet Sirach echoed this again in our first reading passage today, that grudge and wrath are the things that are abominations in our lives, and these lead us deeper and deeper into sin, for grudge and wrath ultimately stemmed from our pride and ego, and our refusal to let go of these, that when we feel hurt, we hold grudge and are angry against our fellow men. Unless we get rid from ourselves all these, we cannot truly be God’s holy and devout people.

And lastly, a very good reminder from St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, in our second reading today is perhaps a very important reminder and also suggestion on how we can lead a holier existence in God from now on. He elaborated that no one lives in this world for himself or herself, but rather one lives for God. And as long as we remember this fact, and also remember God’s love and mercy for us, then we will be able to resist the temptations to be angry against others, and to be willing to forgive one another.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect carefully on what we have heard in the Scriptures today, and let us all discern what we can do from now on to live faithfully in accordance with the Lord’s path, to be inspiration and good example for one another, in being loving and forgiving just as the Lord, our loving Master and Father had done for us. Let us remember His love and mercy each and every moments of our lives, and trust in Him with great faith, now and always.

O most loving and merciful God, our loving Father and Creator, the Divine Mercy, have mercy on us sinners and forgive us our sins, and help us all to be able to forgive each other our mistakes and sins to each other too. Help us to be charitable and to be compassionate, to be generous with love and mercy whenever we are able to. Have mercy on us and on the whole world, forgive us and bring us into Your everlasting glory. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 September 2020 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Most Holy Name of Mary or Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, celebrated not long after the celebration of her Nativity just a few days ago. And this is also parallel to what we celebrate on her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, as we celebrate the feast of Our Lord’s Most Holy Name the week after Christmas, His birth into the world.

And we may be wondering then, what is it there in a name? And we will be surprised to note that name is something which is very significant, that symbolises identity and truth about someone and something. No longer will it be indistinct and unremarkable, for a name can make great difference. For simple example, none of us knows the names of the billions of peoples who lived throughout the millennia of our human existence, as each of these were not prominent enough, and known each only by their own relatives and close families.

But we can clearly remember the names of famous rulers, kings, personalities, famous peoples and scientists, many of whom had departed this world many years, decades and even centuries and millennia ago. This is because their names are powerful reminder, an identity that invoke the memory of that person’s achievements, greatness, all the deeds he or she had done. In the same way, a great criminal and enemy of humanity throughout history had also been remembered this way, with even mere mention of the name could bring up chilling reminder and memories of the terrible things and deeds the person had committed.

In this same manner therefore, whenever we utter the Name of Our Lord Jesus and that of His mother, Mary, do we actually realise that we have just invoked the great power of the Almighty God, and that of the powerful intercession of His mother? And yet, many of us have not treated their Name with the proper care and respect needed, but we often took these Holy Names for granted, or use them in vain, inappropriately and without proper respect.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do we realise that Satan himself would tremble at the mere mention of the name of Mary, God’s own mother, the mother of our Lord and Saviour. Satan would flee and not remain as he could not stand before the mother of God, through whom his final defeat and loss had been guaranteed for all eternity, for Mary is the promised Woman, that from the beginning of time God had promised that Satan would be defeated and crushed at the feet of the Woman.

Not only that Mary remained uncorrupt and righteous throughout her life, but her obedience to God has been feared by Satan ever since the beginning, as she was not under his dominion and power, without the corruption and taint of sin, and with the faith and obedience that was unshakeable, her love and devotion to her Son that was so complete. Mary is the antithesis of Eve, the new Eve that unlike the first Eve, Satan was unable to shake, tempt and make to fall into sin.

And even more importantly, through her acceptance and humble obedience to the will of God, Mary became the Mother of God, through whom the salvation of this world has come, the Light came which dispelled the darkness of sin and evil, and from whom, the path to Satan’s ultimate defeat had been paved and made clear. Naturally, therefore, just as Satan definitely trembled at the mere mention and utterance of the Holy Name of God. The name of His beloved mother would make him to fear and flee as well, especially when uttered with faith.

And as we call upon the name of Mary, in fact we are also calling upon her, who is our loving and caring mother. When we call upon her name, it is indeed like a child calling and yearning for the mother, for protection, love, comfort and assurance. Let us all look upon our mother Mary, and call upon her to help us in our struggle against evil, and that she may continue to intercede and pray for us all. Let us all not be fearful of evil any more, for our blessed mother is by our side, and her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, loves us even more.

Let us also be inspired by the faithful examples showed by Mary, in her faithful life, her obedience and commitment to the Law of God and to the mission which He has entrusted to her. Let us all be faithful and be good Christians in the way that our blessed mother has showed us by her actions. Let us all seek to be closer to God through His mother Mary, and commit ourselves anew to a life dedicated to the Lord, rejecting the temptations of sin and evil.

O Holy Mother of God, Mary, our loving mother, pray for us all sinners, and be with us always, that we may draw much inspiration from your dedication and the love you showed to your Son. Help us to be always ever faithful, and ever righteous despite the many trials and temptations in our path. May the Lord bless us all and may He grant us the strength to love Him in each and every moments of our lives. Amen.

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Friday, 11 September 2020 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listen to the readings of the Scripture, each and every one of us are called to deeply examine our conscience and our way of life. We are all called to reconsider our way of living and think whether we have been truly acting as Christians in our every actions and interactions, in everything we say and do.

In our first reading today, we heard St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, in which he urged them all to serve the Lord and not to serve their own desires and wishes for power and worldly glory. He told them of his own examples and that of the other disciples and missionaries of God, who laboured for the sake of the truth and the Gospels of the Lord, to tell all peoples of God’s salvation, and not for their own glory.

He put it plainly before all of them, how he had to do things that he did not desire, and yet he still faithfully did all that were asked of him, showing how being faithful Christians often require sacrifice and commitment of time, effort and other things from us. And he also said how he became like slave to all of the people, so that through his actions, he might bring more and more to the salvation in God.

This is because if he allowed himself to be swayed by worldly temptations and desires, he would not have been able to do his missions. If St. Paul had thought of himself, his needs and desires first, then he could not have devoted so much time to the people, and he might not have wanted to endure such suffering and pain as he had endured, and as a result, many would not have heard the words of God’s truth from St. Paul’s mouth otherwise.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is also what the Lord Jesus Himself alluded to in our Gospel passage today as He spoke of the parable of the wooden speck in another person’s eye. What the Lord wanted us to understand by this passage and parable is that before we are quick and judge another person, we should first look at ourselves and realise just how each and every one of us are sinners all the same.

If we do not understand first of all this important fact, then how can we help and guide others to the right path if we are ourselves also corrupted by sin? That is why the Lord often rebuked many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who have often looked down on those whom they deemed less worthy and less pious than themselves. And those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law liked to criticise others for their shortcoming in faith, yet were blinded towards their own shortcomings.

That is why, when the Lord Jesus spoke of the specks in the eyes of another, using that parable, He wanted to tell all of us not to be judgmental to one another, with the wrong intention of criticism and make ourselves feel good and look better, like what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did. He wants us to be humble and to recognise our own imperfections and sins, rather than focusing on the shortcomings of others and thinking that we are better or superior in any way we often compared ourselves with each other.

The more we open ourselves to pride and ego, to hubris and ambition, to desires for glory and satisfaction, for fame and other things we often desire in life, the more we allow Satan and his evil forces to enter into our bodies, into our hearts and minds, and the more distant from God we will end up becoming. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to avoid this, and we also have to overcome our sins and the temptations to sin, and we cannot do this alone, all by ourselves. We need God’s help, His guidance and strength.

And in addition, we also need to learn to divest ourselves and empty ourselves from all sorts of these worldly attachments and obsessions. This is what we are challenged to do, and we have that responsibility to look after and take cafe of those who are around us, those within our communities and the Church.

Let us all be good role models in faith from now on, to be good guides for one another in faith. And let us all pray that God will continue to guide us and strengthen us in faith, and help us to remain humble and committed to Him, resisting the many temptations to sin. Amen.

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Thursday, 10 September 2020 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded by the Lord through the readings of the Scripture that each and every one of us as Christians need to show love in our everyday life and in all of our actions and interactions. Unless we love, and love generously and sincerely, we truly cannot call ourselves as Christians, for a Christian loves in the manner that God Himself has shown us, to love one another and even those who despise and hate us.

In our first reading today, we heard St. Paul who wrote in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth on the matter of eating of food and meal that has been offered to the idols. For the context, when St. Paul mentioned this, it was because there had been debate and disagreements on whether one was allowed to partake in the food that had been offered to the pagan gods and idols. In the society dominated by Greco-Roman, Egyptian, Anatolian, Phoenician and other pagan beliefs and systems, many of which had pantheons of gods and goddesses, and offerings of foods and drinks were often made to them.

Partaking in the food and meals offered to the pagan idols and gods were one of the signs by which one was recognised as a believer, and therefore, as St. Paul mentioned, while he said that technically such meal and offering had no effect in the real and physical way, considering that all those idols and gods were false and unreal, but should any among the faithful partake from those food, what St. Paul meant is that this action might scandalise the faith and lead to the loss of faith in others.

At that time, some among the Christians chose to safeguard themselves and their livelihood by performing pagan rituals and by partaking in the food offered to the pagan idols. Regardless whether they still clung to those old practices, considering how most of them were converts, or whether these had been done purely for the safeguarding of one’s life, the Apostle reminded all of them that they could not and should not do that.

The simple reason is that, the actions of those who did so would cause misunderstandings and divisions among the faithful, and would make those who had to suffer for the sake of their faith to lose faith and wonder why there were those who did such a thing just so that they could live a ‘normal’ life. What St. Paul said was that as Christians, we must strive to be always true to our faith and we must show good examples of that faith to each other.

How does this then relate to the matter of Christian love, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is the fact that each and every one of us must show care and concern for one another, by being careful in our actions, in our deeds and interactions that we do not unnecessarily cause confusion, division and disagreements among the members of the Church and the Christian faithful. In the manner of how we live, we must always show the way of the Lord in all things, so that we may truly love our brethren and not instead lead them to their downfall.

And even more so, in our Gospel today, the Lord then challenged us to do even more than that. If we have already loved and showed care and concern, and helped all those who are dear, close and good to us, to find our way to God, then, we need to do the same to all those who have been difficult with us, those who have persecuted and made our lives terrible, those who consider us their enemies and those who hate us.

Are we able to do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? Indeed, it is easier being said than done, but this is the Christian ideal of love, something that all of us need to look towards and focus our attention on. It is what Christ Himself has shown us, and which He had led us by example, the examples and inspirations of love, to love one another and to love Him, just as much and even more than we love ourselves.

Let us all look at Christ Our Lord, His enduring love for each and every one of us. When so many of us refused to believe in Him, persecuted Him and His disciples, He remained firm in His love and in the dedication to serve us, to help us, to care for us and to guide us to the right path. This is the proof of just how great His love is, which He even showed to those who despised Him. Right from the Cross at Calvary, He looked on all those who have condemned Him to death and crucified Him, and prayed to God His Father, not to hold their sins against them, and to forgive them those sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if Our Lord Himself has shown such mercy, compassion and the ability to forgive, to love tenderly and genuinely, and how His disciples and followers, the innumerable saints and holy men and women of God had done, then can we do the same as well in our own lives? This is what we are all called to do, to be true and committed disciples of the Lord, in deed and in action, filled with genuine and wholesome love for all mankind.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be shining examples of faith and be filled with God’s love, so that everyone who sees us, witnesses our actions, and interacts with us will truly know that we belong to God, and know of His truth and salvation, and not be stumbling blocks that caused scandal to our faith by our own lack of faith and disobedience as warned by St. Paul. Let us all be ever more faithful, and let us all be ever more loving and forgiving, reaching out to others, and learn to forgive those who have hurt us and made our lives difficult. May God be with us and grant us the strength to carry on in this journey of faith, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 9 September 2020 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we heard the Scripture passages we received today, some of us might have some questions and we wonder why for example St. Paul spoke of how it seemed that the end of the world and the time of judgment and the Lord’s coming was at hand, and also what the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, in His series of the Eight Beatitudes, blessings to those who have done what the Lord wanted them to do.

In our first reading today, we heard St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians and the Church there, a reminder for all the faithful to remain faithful, to keep the commandments of God, to remain virtuous and good in all things and not be tempted by their worldly desires and other things that can lead them down the path of sin. St. Paul exhorted them to do all these in light of the earlier discourses for the past week from this same Epistle, with regards to the increasingly lax morality and discipline among the faithful.

Thus, as we heard the seemingly strange words from St. Paul, we are reminded that in the context of what he intended for the people, that is to turn away from their sinful ways and increasingly corrupt ways, he reminded them how the Lord Jesus Himself did say that the time of His coming and the time of Judgment and reckoning will come to a surprise to everyone, as no one would have expected the Lord’s moment of truth when it comes.

This, coupled with the general belief among the early Christian communities that the Lord would indeed come again soon, perhaps within a human lifetime, generated that idea among some that it is perhaps best for people to remain chaste and free from sin, for virgins to remain pure rather than to fall into sin, to avoid things that could lead them down the slippery path into eternal suffering.

While this was indeed not accurate, as in the end, no one but God alone knows the time of His coming, but the essence of that call to holiness remains true for all of us. Do we want to allow ourselves to be controlled by sin, by the many temptations that we face in life, and which will lead us to our eventual downfall in exchange for mere momentary pleasure and joy in life? Or do we rather resist and oppose these temptations, and remain firm in faith in God?

And when the Lord spoke of His Beatitudes to His disciples and followers, He was praising those who are persevering in faith and dedicating themselves to serve the Lord with faith. But He was not in fact against or condemning the rich, powerful and mighty. Rather, through His words, He has reminded us to keep ourselves from being too attached to the many comforts we have in life, that we end up falling into immoral and wicked ways, into temptations and sin, and therefore into eternal damnation.

Today, we are called to be more disciplined in life, to be more dedicated and committed in faith, to turn towards God with ever greater faith, with each and every moment. And in doing so, we can draw inspirations from our holy predecessors, especially that of St. Peter Claver, whose feast we are celebrating today. St. Peter Claver was a great priest and missionary who is remembered for his great commitment to the mission among the people he worked with in missionary area.

He was especially remembered for his care and concern for the oppressed, for people who were deprived of their livelihood and even basic human rights and respect, at a time when slavery was still rampant and prejudices among the people for those who were considered lesser races and beings were very common. St. Peter Claver laboured hard in order to oppose all these injustices he saw happening all around him, and protected and cared for the people in the best way he could.

St. Peter Claver spent a lot of time amongst the slaves to whom he ministered to over the years, doing his best to gain them their freedom and their human rights, and at least to give them better livelihood, spreading the faith to them and protecting them from injustices and harassment. He lived among them and stayed with them, and was always humble in heart, in appearance and in deed.

Through all his years of ministry, St. Peter Claver encountered plenty of opposition and challenges, but he did not allow all these from stopping or preventing him in his mission and in his love and compassionate care for the downtrodden and the oppressed. In this way, he is the epitome and example of what the Lord had mentioned in the Beatitudes, as the blessed ones who lived in accordance with the way of the Lord, and are shining beacons of hope and light amidst our darkened world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on all these and be better Christians from now on, in deeds and in faith, that we may follow in the footsteps of St. Peter Claver, in serving God with devotion and in obeying Him, in remaining good and righteous, pure and free from the taints of sin and to keep ourselves worthy at all times, that when the Lord comes again as He promised, we will be brought into eternal and true glory with Him. May God bless us always, and help us in our journey of faith. Amen.

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Tuesday, 8 September 2020 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrating the moment when Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, was born into this world. And if we noticed the date and timing, we will realise how it is exactly nine months today, after the eighth day of the month December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

If on the day of the Immaculate Conception we rejoice in the moment the Mother of God herself was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, then nine months after that, today, we celebrate her birth into this world, the moment of joy when both her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne welcomed her into the world although at that time no one would have ever known that this little baby, soon to be a young woman and lady, would be the one to bear the Saviour of the world.

In today’s Scripture readings, we heard of the humanity of Christ that came forth from His descent, through His legal foster-father, St. Joseph, who was the rightful heir of David, the great King of Israel, and He was also descended from king David through His mother Mary, through another lineage also highlighted in the Scripture and according to the sacred traditions of the Church.

We heard through the long lineage how the Lord eventually descended through the kings of Judah and Israel, to king David and through him, from Abraham, the father of many nations, and ultimately from Adam, the very first one of all man. Through this very significant link, we can see that in Christ lays the ultimate culmination of the Lord’s salvation of His people, in Christ as the New Adam, a comparison that was made by St. Paul, the One Who liberated us all from death just as the first, old Adam brought us into death through sin.

Then how does Mary fit in all these, brothers and sisters in Christ? Just as Adam was the first man, and Eve was created by God from the flesh of Adam, then we can surely see the interesting parallel that exists between Adam and Eve, and Christ and His mother, Mary. Yes, exactly, Mary is the new Eve, the new Woman that the Lord Himself had proclaimed at the beginning as the one through whom the final victory of man over Satan and his forces would come from.

When Eve fell to the temptations of Satan and fell into sin, it was Mary’s faith and obedience to God that marked a new beginning for all of us. And while Adam and Eve fell into sin, embracing the temptations of Satan who persuaded them with knowledge and power, to fill themselves up with greatness and in Satan’s own words ‘to be like God’, the new Adam, Christ Himself, although fully Divine, chose to empty Himself from His divinity, and in humble and perfect obedience, destroyed the sins caused by the disobedience of man.

Through Mary and her obedience, her faith and commitment, the love she has for her Son, showed by her dedication through her whole life since birth and through the lifetime and ministry of her Son, she has showed us what it means for us to follow God and to be faithful to Him, and that is why, rightfully, the devil himself fears Mary very, very much, the most of all the children of Adam and Eve, as it was her devotion to God, her perfect love and faith, modelled after her Son, that brought him to his ultimate and complete defeat.

Unlike Eve, Mary was not and could not be tempted by Satan, just as he failed to tempt the Lord Himself. That is why, rightfully, he feared Mary, just almost as much as he had to yield to her Son, his rightful Lord and Master, whom he had rebelled against, lost, and cast out, to face eternity of defeat and destruction, while all of us, who share in the glory of Christ, will be brought out of the clutches of Satan, and with Mary guiding the way for us to her Son, our Lord and Saviour.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice today in celebration of the birthday of the Mother of Our Lord, let us all therefore look upon the examples of her faith and dedication, her trust in God and how she humbly allowed God to lead her in all things. And indeed, it is by following her examples and being inspired by her faith that we can be closest to God, for ‘through Mary, to Jesus’ should be our rallying cry, in the constant struggle against sin.

Let us all not lose faith and remain strong in our commitment to the Lord, and let us all have faith, that in the end, we will win the struggle over our souls, and by siding with God, with the help of His beloved Mother, Mary, who is also our mother, we will find the surest and best way to reach the salvation in God’s everlasting grace and love.

O Holy Mary, Mother of God, whose birth we celebrate and rejoice today, pray for all of us, your adopted children and sinners, that we may grow ever stronger in faith and love for your Son, by imitating and following your own examples, humility, obedience and faith, in all times and at all moments of our lives. May the Lord be with us always, and may He always bless all of our good endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 7 September 2020 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today each and every one of us are called to reflect on the words of the Scripture in which we are reminded to get rid from ourselves the corruption of sin and evil, to purify ourselves and to embrace the righteousness of God in our lives, to sin no more and to be faithful at all times, following what the Lord had taught and commanded us to do, through His Church and from the examples He has shown us.

In our first reading today, we heard the words of St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, chastising the faithful for the immorality and corrupt behaviour among some of them, for practicing immoral actions that at the time could have even been abhorred by the pagans, with actions like taking one’s own stepmother as a spouse among other things. All of those were incompatible to the Christian faith, and St. Paul strongly reminded all of them to that extent.

St. Paul symbolically told the faithful using the examples of yeast and dough to make a good explanation to them, to make them understand how they cannot let themselves to be corrupted by the wickedness and sins all around them, and how, compared to yeast and the dough, that even the slightest amount of yeast will cause the dough to rise. This is linked to the use of unleavened bread for worship and for important celebrations, in which case, yeast is an undesirable matter.

That is why, in this case, the immorality, wickedness and sins of the people were likened to yeasts that would ruin the purity of the unleavened bread. And it was exactly because of this that St. Paul exhorted all the faithful to keep themselves free from the corruption of those sins and evils. This is because if we allow these to affect us and corrupt us, then it will lead us astray down the wrong path, as shown in one example in the Gospel passage today.

We heard in our Gospel passage of the rather heated confrontation between the Lord Jesus and the members of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who was in the synagogue and in fact having wicked thoughts in their minds. They purposefully went to see if the Lord would perform the healing miracle on a paralytic man who was there, and if He were to perform such a miracle, then they could accuse Him of disobedience against the Law and even blasphemy.

We can clearly hear and feel the frustration and disbelief in the Lord’s voice as He addressed those who were opposed to Him and His works, those who would mislead the oppress and suppress the truth and the good works of the faithful, just for the sake of their own selfish desires and wants, in sustaining their ego and their pride, their ambition and worldly attachments to power and influence in the community.

They imposed plenty of restrictions, rules and regulations on the people, imposing very strict interpretation of the Law which focused on the externals and appearances, which included that of the Sabbath laws. But as the Lord pointed out, their stubbornness and opposition to His works were without sound base, both logically and theologically, when understood with the eyes of faith and reason.

He said how it is folly to think of outlawing all things on the Sabbath, even for those things that bring about good and life, in saving others and in the preservation of life. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were blinded by their attachments and attention to details, to the excessive focus on the literal understanding of the Law without understanding its true intention, that is for us mankind to rediscover our love for God, to give us the opportunity to reserve a sacred time for the Lord, but one that certainly does not ignore the need to care for our own good as well.

That was why the Lord healed the man with the paralysed hand, to show His truth and His real intentions, the real intentions of His Law that is not to burden or oppress His people without good reason but rather, to bring them closer to Him and to His love, that they may follow Him faithfully and understand His ways, not by blind obedience or by following their own twisted agenda and misguided ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us as Christians we are all called to turn away from sin, reject the temptations of pride and ego, of greed and human desires in our lives, that we must not allow all these to take root in our lives, or else we will end up like the many among Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and those who have not lived their lives with genuine faith and devotion to God.

Let us all reflect on what the Lord has clearly laid before us, and which His Apostle, St. Paul had told us to think about, of the necessity for each and every one of us to love God with all of our strength and with all of our hearts, to trust in Him completely that we will not end up being tempted by the many persuasions or traps of the evil one trying to lead us to our downfall. Therefore, let us all live our lives faithfully from now on, as we grow ever stronger in our Christian faith, and devote ourselves day by day in God’s loving grace. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.