Weekday Homily

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Thursday, 18 June 2020 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today through the Sacred Scriptures we heard about the praises of the prophet Elijah as recounted by the prophet Sirach. In that passage we heard how the prophet Elijah had worked hard for the Lord and eventually was taken up into heaven at the end of his ministry. Then in the Gospel passage we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers on the matter of how they ought to pray and then taught them His prayer.

Let us first begin with our first reading today, in which we heard the account of the life and works of the prophet Elijah. In that account, we heard a summary of Elijah’s many achievements during his ministry and how he laboured hard for the sake of God’s people, a most thankless and tiring task, as he was persecuted, oppressed and rejected by those same people that he had been sent to minister. He had to flee many times for fear of his life during his ministry, with many people opposing him.

The Lord had worked through Elijah, as he performed many wonderful miracles, as mentioned by the prophet Sirach, as he brought fire down from heaven to burn the sacrificial offerings during the trial of faith with the priests of Baal and his opponents, bringing down fire on the agents of the king who demanded him to come down from the mountain and see the king, to raising the dead child of the widow of Zarephath to whom he also showed God’s grace and love with the miraculous and endless supply of flour and oil for her family to eat and survive during the great famine and drought.

But the people would still not be turned by all these efforts, although some were definitely touched by the faith and the efforts of the prophet. Most of the people, like that of their king, Ahab, and his successors remained in sin, living in sin and continuing to worship the pagan gods and idols, save for Jehu, the successor of the house of Ahab, whom God had chosen to be the king of Israel, and whom Elijah had helped to put in place. In all these, we see how God has cared so much about His people, that He sent them a great prophet to help them and reach out to them, and in the end, when that prophet had completed his ministry, God also took him up into heaven for the greater glory of His works.

How is this related to our Gospel passage today? We heard of the Lord Jesus ministering to the people, spreading the words of God’s truth among them. He was the new great Prophet sent into the world, and His role was affirmed as at the moment of Transfiguration, the prophet Elijah and Moses appeared before the Lord and spoke to Him on Mount Tabor as witnessed by three of the Apostles. This highlighted the Lord as the fulfilment of all the prophecies, and He Himself, as the one and true Prophet of prophets, would complete God’s plan to save mankind.

The Lord Himself faced challenges, opposition, rejection and difficulties, just as the prophet Elijah and myriads of other prophets had experienced. But He still carried on His work and ministry, for the wonderful and enduring love which He has for each and every one of us, the sons and daughters of mankind. And He has always reminded His followers and disciples to focus their hearts, their minds and their attention on God, and the way to do this is through having stronger and more authentic relationship with Him.

And how do we do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is through prayer! Just as the Lord taught His disciples how to pray, the Lord’s Prayer composed by Himself as the inspiration and example of what prayers should be like, and what prayers are meant to be. Prayer is the intimate form of communication between us and God, for us to get close to God and to open ourselves to Him. But many of us often got it wrong about prayer, thinking of prayer as a means for us to gain ourselves what we want and need from God.

That is why when we prayed, many of us often ended up falling into the temptation of focusing on ourselves, looking inward and immersed in our ego, desire, pride and ambition rather than to focus our attention in God. The Lord Jesus taught us to focus our attention on God, to honour and glorify Him, to thank Him for all the wonderful blessings He has given to us, and to devote ourselves to Him, and then, surely, God will guide us and help us. And in prayer, we ought to open ourselves to the Lord, to listen to Him and to follow Him in whatever He wants us to do.

Let us all therefore deepen our relationship to the Lord, our Father through prayer and by drawing ever closer to Him. Let us all follow Him faithfully much as how the prophet Elijah had dedicated his life to serve Him, by doing what we can, in our own lives, in our own respective communities and places, to obey the Lord and to do our best in serving Him, at all times. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 17 June 2020 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture that spoke to us about the need for us to follow the Lord with genuine faith and commitment, and doing everything in our everyday lives with the focus on God and not on our own ego and desire. We live our lives to serve God and to give ourselves to His cause, and in the end, the Lord shall glorify us with eternal life and true joy He has promised us.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to us about how His followers should pray and practice their faith. In their almsgiving, charity and works, they ought not to show off their actions, to give with genuine intention and compassion, and to pray and fast with the focus centred on God, not for appearances and fame, but rather out of the sincere desire to return to God, to be reconciled with Him and to follow Him.

These comments and words were made in particular in opposition and as criticism against the actions and attitudes of many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who often paraded their piety, made a show of their prayers, fasting and rituals, but the Lord Who knew all things saw right through them and their facade of piety, and inside, what He found was not faith and love for God, but rather, ego, pride, desire and the greed for worldly glory, fame and honours.

The Lord therefore reminded all of us not to be swayed and tempted by the temptations and corrupting nature of power, worldly glory and fame, the allure of ambition and the greed for wealth and possessions. Instead, all of us as Christians should seek not for the glory and greatness of the world, but instead, look forward for the eternal and true glory in the life that is to come, as what the Lord has promised us, and which the prophet Elijah showed us all in our first reading today.

In our first reading today, we heard of the account of the moment when the prophet Elijah was taken up into heaven in a great flaming chariot, as witnessed by his successor, the prophet Elisha. For many years, the prophet Elijah had laboured very hard to spread God’s words to the people and called them to repent them from their many sins. He had laboured hard, often suffering from the persecutions and oppressions at the hands of the king and his enemies.

In doing all of his thankless works and labours, risking his life and his own safety for the sake of the Lord, the prophet Elijah had shown us the true meaning of what being Christians and the disciples of the Lord is all about. To follow the Lord, we ought to give of ourselves to the Lord and focus ourselves and our attention on Him. We should not seek personal glory and satisfaction, and neither should we let those things guide our lives’ paths and actions.

We are all called to have deeper faith in God, and that we do not need to worry about things in life that often concern us. Instead, let us all do our best to serve the Lord and be good examples of faithful Christian living in our various respective communities. We ought to do what we can, through our daily living and actions in life to contribute to the greater works of the Church and to glorify God.

In turn, we can be sure that God will know of our faith in Him, and as long as we firmly hold on to this faith, we shall never be disappointed. If we seek worldly satisfaction, glory, power, fame and all these related things, all these things will eventually run out and disappear one day. This year alone, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, economic crisis due to the pandemic and other issues, many people had seen their incomes, savings, their pride and glory wiped out by the troubles that occurred. This is why we need to put our trust instead in the Lord.

And let us all be good and charitable as the Lord had taught us to do. In these difficult times and moments, let us offer helping hands and assistance to our fellow brethren, even if we ourselves are encountering difficulties. After all, there are bound to be people who suffer more than we are suffering. Let us be kind, compassionate, generous and righteous in all of our actions and in our interactions with each other. May the Lord also be our guide and may He strengthen us in the resolve to live faithfully as good and devout Christian from now on, and be the light of hope and strength for our fellow brothers and sisters in these dark times and situations. Amen.

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Tuesday, 16 June 2020 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded by the readings of the Scripture on the need for each and every one of us to be forgiving, to be compassionate and to be merciful and loving as our Lord and God has been kind, compassionate and merciful towards us. We are all called as Christians to be the examples of love, to follow in the love that God Himself has shown us, and which He reminded us again today through the Scriptures.

In our first reading we heard of the story of the king of Israel, Ahab, and his wicked deed in killing Naboth the vineyard owner for his own selfish desires, while in our Psalm today we heard of the famous Psalm of King David, Psalm 50, the Psalm that he himself composed in great sorrow and repentance over his sins, and lastly, in the Gospel today we heard of the exhortation by the Lord Jesus for His disciples and followers to love everyone sincerely and with great tenderness and compassion.

In the account of king Ahab’s sin in killing Naboth, we heard how Ahab’s wickedness would have earned him great tragedy and punishment, as the prophet Elijah came to confront the wicked king and put forth God’s pronouncement of the coming judgment for the king and his whole family. Judgment was also due for his even more wicked wife, queen Jezebel, a pagan whose deeds were even more wicked than the king, and whose persuasions had led to the king deciding to kill Naboth by wicked means.

Yet, we then heard how when king Ahab tore his clothes, humbled himself before God and Elijah, His prophet, and showed great remorse over his actions, God showed His kindness and mercy, His compassion and love, revealing that in truth, He is a loving and compassionate God, Who is ever filled with genuine and tender care for each and every one of us, without exception, even to the worst and most wicked of sinners. The mercy that God had shown to king Ahab was just one of the many examples of this.

God is ever merciful, just as He shows justice to the wicked and the evil ones. To those who are willing to accept and embrace His mercy, God shall extend His loving care and providence, and He will gather them again in His presence. For king Ahab, He was not completely forgiven, likely because his sins were indeed many and too great, and while he humbled himself and was sorrowful, but there was still wickedness in his heart and the unwillingness to repent fully and turn towards the Lord.

This is where then another king of Israel, namely the one who composed our Psalm today, came into the picture. King David was then punished for his immoral behaviour and sin, in plotting for the death of the husband of Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite. King David desired Bathsheba and eventually made her his wife after Uriah died, much like just how king Ahab plotted and successfully had Naboth killed so that he could own his vineyard. But then, hereafter we can see the difference between the two.

King David was wholeheartedly and completely repentant of his wicked actions, his selfishness and temptation by sin. Psalm 50 which we have used today as our Psalm is the expression of this great regret and desire to be forgiven by God. And as David’s love and faith for God was genuine and great, that was what brought Him to God’s forgiveness and grace once again. That was why, while David and his house remain firm, the house of Ahab crumbled.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord also reminded all of us that we have to love and love sincerely, not just to those who love us, but even to our enemies and those who hated us. And why is this so? That is because the Lord Himself had done so, when He forgave all those who have sinned against Him, those who have betrayed Him by their wicked actions and deeds like king Ahab, by their failure to restrain themselves like king David, among many others.

And each and every one of us have sinned against Him too, whether it be great or small sin, all of us have sinned regardless. Yet, the Lord did not mind at all and chose willingly to pick up His Cross, heavily laden with the mighty burdens of our sins. He bore all of these, and suffered all the worst sufferings, for our sake, because of His enduring and great love for us. And if God has been willing to forgive us and love us again, despite all of our sins and shortcomings, then why don’t we love one another and forgive one another our faults?

Let us all imitate the Lord’s own examples and rediscover once again the strong and genuine love which we ought to have for Him. Let us all seek His forgiveness and mercy for our many sins and faults, and be forgiving and loving ourselves to one another. May the Lord give us the heart to love, the courage to forgive and the faith to always be obedient to Him and to trust in Him all the time, from now on. Amen.

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Monday, 15 June 2020 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we heard from the readings of the Scripture in which we are reminded of the important obligation for all of us as Christians to be filled with virtue and love, Christian love following what the Lord Himself had shown us and taught us, that is to be genuine in our love, first of all towards God and then our love towards our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard about the story of the king of Israel, Ahab and his interaction with the vineyard owner Naboth, whose land was coveted by the king who wanted to get the land for his own use and purpose. But when the king told Naboth to sell his land to him, Naboth refused to do so, saying that the land belonged to him and had been passed down to him as inheritance from his ancestors. As someone who was likely to be righteous and even God-fearing and obedient to the Law, Naboth obeyed the Law of God which stated that the inheritance of the land is sacred.

But the king became angry because he could not get what he had wanted, and with the instigation of his wife, Jezebel, a pagan who was even worse and more wicked than king Ahab was, ended up with Naboth being implicated and wrongly accused of blasphemy against God, with false witnesses and efforts put in place to condemn him to death with the blatant and deliberate support from the king and the queen. It was truly a very wicked, evil and selfish action, a great sin before God and man alike.

Queen Jezebel encouraged her husband to misuse his power and authority, to be a tyrant who did not care about the well-being of his people or about righteousness and justice. Instead of doing what he had been entrusted to do, the king misled his people into sin and showed it himself by his wicked and selfish attitude, his unlawful and terrible seizure of the vineyard of Naboth among many other irresponsible and sinful attitudes, which thus brought about divine judgment.

In our Gospel reading today then we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples on the matter of the Law, in which it was once said that those who committed sins and mistakes must pay according to what they have committed, that in literal words, if they caused someone to lose an eye, then they too had to lose an eye as a result, a hand for a hand, and ultimately, a life lost is to be repaid with the life of the one who had caused such a loss of life. This was the law of reciprocity as interpreted and followed by the Jews at the time of the Lord.

But the Lord Jesus then showed the true meaning and intention of the Lord, in which the old interpretation of the Law was no longer to be valid. The old interpretation of the Law was such that in order to discipline and make sure that the people of God obeyed the Law and followed the path of virtue and righteousness, a harsh interpretation of the Law was followed. Yet, this ended up in them taking the interpretation to the extreme and losing sight on the real meaning and purpose of the Law.

The Lord wants us all as Christians to know that the Law is all about love, the love first and foremost, that we must have and show towards the Lord, our God and Master, and then the same love which we also have to show towards our fellow brethren. If we have no love in us, no matter how many great things we do, and how mighty or great we are, then we will have no real life within us. God calls on us all as Christians to show love in our every actions and deeds, in our every interactions.

Through what He has told His disciples, we heard how He said that if someone were to strike them on one side, offer the other side to be struck, and then if someone were to tell them to go forth one mile, then, go forth for even one mile further. In all of these, we can see how the Lord called us all to a new life and existence, one that is filled not with the selfishness of man, contrary to what the examples of king Ahab, his wickedness and evil had shown us. Instead, we are called to focus our attention on God and His love.

God ought to be the centre of our lives and we ought to follow His own examples, in how He has loved us so much that He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, by suffering for our sake on the Cross. He has shown us the willingness to give everything out of His love for us, as contrasted with the selfishness and ego shown by king Ahab in his unbridled desire and ambition, leading to him sinning ever further and more against God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all from now on turn away from the way of evil, the path of selfishness and worldly desires. Let us instead entrust ourselves to the Lord’s care and loving providence, and let us all be genuine in living our Christian faith with zeal and dedication from now on. May the Lord be our guide and may He give us the strength to be faithful to Him from now on, and be inspiration for one another, in our virtuous life and actions. Amen.

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Sunday, 14 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us celebrate the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, also commonly known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which takes place traditionally on the Thursday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or in some places, to avail the celebration to more people, on the Sunday after the Trinity Sunday. And this celebration is a very important one for us, as besides the Holy Trinity, the Doctrine of the Real and Holy Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is one of the key core tenets of our Christian faith.

Unlike the Trinitarian nature of Our God, which is acknowledged and the fundamental part of the faith for most of those who believed in God, the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist has not been accepted and was rejected by quite a few segments of the people who believed in God. However, this clearly did not show the sentiment and the belief of the Church fathers and all the early Christians, all of whom believed in the true, real and living Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that the bread and wine we offer at the celebration of the Holy Mass, and which the priest blesses and offers to God at the Consecration truly become the very Body and Blood of the Lord Himself, the very substance and essence of the Lord, although they may still appear to us in the form of bread and wine. This process is called Transubstantiation, in which ‘Trans’ meaning ‘change’ and ‘Substantiate’ meaning ‘substance or essence’.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word ‘Transubstantiation’ means ‘the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of His Blood. This change is brought about in the Eucharistic Prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit.’ From the Catechism we can see how the Church clearly teaches to us what the Eucharist means to us all.

This means that the very matter of the bread and the wine themselves have been changed, transformed and altered into the very substance, essence and reality of the Most Precious Body, and the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same Christ Who has offered Himself on the Cross at Calvary as a worthy Sacrifice, in atonement for our sins. In this bread and wine transformed into the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, the Eucharist that we partake, we share in the same sacrifice of the Lord that day on the Cross.

That is why the Mass is more appropriately known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as the priest celebrant acts ‘in persona Christi’ or in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the authority that He Himself has given to His Apostles, and as the Mass itself is the entire same Sacrifice that the Lord had undergone, as He brought His Cross up to Calvary, be crucified and died up there for us mankind, the whole Mass represents us all living through that very same supreme Act of God’s love in saving us.

As the celebrant speaks the words of Consecration, by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine became the Most Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, and as the celebrant says, in the same words that the Lord Jesus had spoken on the Last Supper, ‘This is My Body, which has been given up for you’, and ‘This is the Chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant, which has been poured for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins’ and elevate the Sacred Specie, it was the same offering that Christ made on the Cross, offering Himself in His Body, Soul and Divinity for our salvation.

Therefore, in the Holy Communion, we receive not just mere bread and/or wine, and not just merely ‘symbol’ of the Body and the Blood of the Lord as what some have otherwise believed and convinced themselves, but in truth and reality, the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Himself, in the Flesh and Blood. We may see them as the appearance of bread and wine, the taste of bread and wine, the smell of bread and wine, but in reality, the essence of it all have been transformed completely into something beyond our human capability of understanding, the Mystery of our Faith.

We believe in the Lord and in the mystery of the Transubstantiation, this most important doctrine of the Church from the very beginning and which was codified and formalised at the Fourth Council of the Lateran in the early thirteenth century, and which our brethren in the Eastern Orthodox Church also formalised on their Synod of Jerusalem five centuries later, believing that God Himself has given His own Precious and Holy Body and Blood for us to partake, to eat and drink as real food and drink, and not as something imaginary or merely symbolic, just as He highlighted it to the people in His discourse on the Bread of Life.

The Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, as the True Bread from Heaven far superior to the heavenly bread manna that had been miraculously given by God to the ancestors of the Jewish people, the Israelites during their forty years journey to the Promised Land. He referred to that occasion, comparing how their ancestors died, but those who receive this new Bread of Life, that is Christ Himself, they would have eternal life through Him.

When the Lord referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, He thus also mentioned to the people that unless they eat of His Body and drink of His Blood then they would have no life and no part in Him. He also specifically mentioned that His Body is real Food, while His Blood is real Drink. He did not say that He was giving them a symbol to have or to celebrate with, but instead, doubled down on His own statement of the truth, to the point that many of His own followers left Him after this particular moment, which is ironically very similar to how some of our brethren in faith chose to abandon this same truth about the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

To those of His disciples that remained, to His Twelve Apostles, the Lord gave the power and authority on the Last Supper when He instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. His commandment to them to ‘do this in the memory of Me’ is a very important mission, which the Apostles had faithfully carried out and which they passed on to all of their successors, the bishops and the priests of the Church, who have been ordained and received the same power and authority of the Lord to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

By the sharing and partaking of the Body and Blood of the Lord therefore we have this Holy and Sacred Communion in the Church, which then makes up the Body of Christ. For in sharing the same Body and Blood of the Lord, we have been united through Christ and made one as a people blessed by God and brought together our common partaking of the Bread of Life, Christ our Saviour, becoming the Mystical Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

And from the earliest days of the Church we have very firm proofs and extensive evidences of the Real Presence from the Church fathers and leaders themselves, such as St. Ignatius of Antioch, the second Bishop of Antioch and St. Peter’s successor there, who said that ‘I desire the Bread of God, the Heavenly Bread, the Flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God… and I desire the Drink of God, namely His Blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.’ clearly echoing the Lord’s own words that His Body and Blood were real Food and real Drink.

St. Justin the Martyr and the other early Church fathers and saints also concurred with this truth, speaking of ‘not as common bread and common drink do we receive these, but in like manner as Jesus Christ Our Saviour, having been made Flesh by the Word of God, had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation… the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word… is the Flesh and Blood of that Jesus Who was made Flesh.’ And they also warned against heretics specifically mentioning how those heretics denied that the bread and the wine were truly the Body and Blood of the Lord.

St. Ambrose of Milan, one of the Four Original Doctors of the Church and one of the most pre-eminent Church fathers of the Western Christendom also spoke firmly and strongly on this matter, saying that, ‘For that Sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the Word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements?’ against all those who doubted that the bread and wine could have changed in either essence or Presence into the Real Presence of the Lord.

For God, everything is possible, and everything can be done, even turning the matter and essence, the reality of the bread and wine into that of His own Precious Body and Blood, to be given to us and to be partaken worthily for our salvation. And at the Last Supper, which St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Paul the Apostle earlier on mentioned, the Lord said, ‘This is My Body…’ and ‘This is the Chalice of My Blood’, as His own Real, Unchanging, Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood, not an imitation, not a symbol, not a representation, not even a spiritual union, but the exact same, real, complete and bloodied Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross at Calvary.

It was a famous occurrence of a doubter of this truth which eventually led to the institution of this great celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. The famous Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena in what is today Italy marked one among the many other great miracles of the Eucharist that from time to time reminded us of this sacred truth and reality of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. At that occasion, according to tradition, a priest was celebrating the Eucharist while doubting the Real Presence. Immediately upon Consecration, the bread and wine changed into real Body and Blood of the Lord, with drops of Holy Blood dripping onto the corporal used to contain the Sacred Species.

With the affirmation of these miracles, including earlier miracles at Lanciano and other places, where occurrences of ‘Bleeding Body of Christ in the Eucharistic Host’ happened, the Pope instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi to celebrate and to put ever greater emphasis on this core aspect of our faith and core belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, where the bread and wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are transformed, completely and fully, into the essence, matter and reality of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having deepened our understanding of the rich history of this one of the most important tenets of our faith, how are we then going to truly celebrate this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord? It is not enough that we just celebrate today with a reverent and solemn celebration of the Holy Mass. In fact, all of us need to have a great change in the way we treat the Eucharist and how we have to return the respect and adoration we are to give to the Lord being truly present in the Eucharist.

A prominent person who did not believe in the Real Presence once said that, if we have truly believed in the Lord truly and really being present in the Eucharist, then in the presence of the Lord, he would have bowed down, prostrated and humbled himself in great adoration and worship. Unfortunately, this was not seen among many of us Christians. Many of us treated the Lord’s Real Presence as if He was just merely a bread to be eaten, or worse still, as a burden because we treat going to Mass as a heavy burden of obligation for us to fulfil.

How many of us have received the Lord with faith and worthily receive His Body and Blood into our own bodies, into our hearts and into our very own beings? There is a great need for us to restore the reverence and proper worship and adoration we ought to give to the Lord, His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and it has to begin with us and from us. We must have a great and profound change on how we view the Holy Mass, to make it the most important part of our lives and to centre ourselves and our existence on the Lord.

And having received the Lord Himself unto us, as St. Paul said in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we have become the Temples of the Holy Spirit, the very Temple of God present in the flesh, in our very own bodies. Here we have the very best and perfect Temples of His Presence, more perfect and better than the Temples built by Solomon and king Herod. But are we then treating our bodies and our beings as worthy dwelling place of Our Lord? Or have we instead defiled them with our disobedience, wickedness and sins?

Today therefore, on this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, let us all renew the zeal and faith which all of us must have in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the Lord’s own Most Holy Body and Blood which He has given us all for our salvation through the hands of His bishops and priests. Let us strive to be worthy to receive His Most Holy Body and Blood into ourselves, and be grateful for the loving Sacrifice He has gone through for us, by living a most virtuous and exemplary Christian life from now on.

O Sacrament most Holy, o Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine! O Christ, the Bread of Life, given freely as real Food for our salvation, Your Most Holy Body and Blood, flowing down from the Cross in atonement for our sins, have mercy on us sinners, and by our worthy partaking in this most Sacred Communion, unite us all as the One Body of Christ, the Church, and lead us all into eternal life. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 June 2020 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded to be sincere in faith, to be true to the Lord in all things, in following Him and dedicating ourselves and our efforts to serve Him, in whatever He has called us to, in whatever vocations He has shown us, the paths that He has laid out before us. We heard the Lord telling us through our Scripture passages today to be genuinely faithful and to be filled with real, living and true faith in us at all times.

In our first reading today, we heard from the First Book of Kings the story of the calling of the prophet Elisha, whom the Lord had appointed and chosen to be the successor for the prophet Elijah. The prophet Elijah found Elisha tending to the farm and the oxen, and he revealed to Elisha what God had planned with him, and almost immediately, Elisha told the prophet Elijah that he would follow him, and abandoned everything he had, saying his farewells to his family, and left, following Elijah to serve God.

Elisha had everything he needed, family, property, a sure guarantee of a good and settled life, with land and house of his own family, and yet, he chose to abandon everything and follow the Lord in whatever designs He had for him, and he obeyed the Lord entrusting his life to His care and providence. He embraced his calling fully and later on would become a great prophet much like his mentor, Elijah, performing many great works and miracles among the people of God.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord spoke to His disciples with regards to the matter of making oaths and vows. He told them all not to go around making vows and oaths, and base those oaths on either heaven or earth, or on their own body, even the smallest part of their body. And yet, we know that vows are an integral part of our Christian faith, with religious congregations and the order of priesthood making vows and oaths before the Lord, as with many other examples.

How do we then reconcile these facts? It is actually quite simple, and first of all, we need to understand that what the Lord truly wanted us to know is not to make vows and oaths that are merely gestures and empty in meaning, as when we make oaths and vows, and do not fulfil them, as what many of the people living during the time of the Lord had done, then what they did was actually very wicked, as they dishonoured and tarnished the name and identity of what they used to base their oaths on, including, the Holy Name of God.

What the Lord wants us to know is that, we need to mean what we say, and do as what we have said that we would do. That is why He said, ‘said yes when you mean yes, and said no when you mean no.’ Otherwise, we become hypocrites and liars. That is why, we have been reminded of the example of the prophet Elisha in our first reading today. When he responded to Elijah and the Lord that he would leave everything behind, and follow the Lord, he really meant what he said, and did everything as he said.

As Christians, all of us are thus called to mean and live through what we have promised to the Lord upon our baptism and entry as members of the Church. We have promised to reject Satan and all of his false promises, and we believe in the Lord and in His teachings and truth. And this is why, we need to truly live our faith actively, commit ourselves to the path that the Lord has shown us. Today, we can also then look upon the good examples of one of our holy predecessors to help and inspire us.

St. Anthony of Padua is one of the most famous saints within our Christian faith and Church. He was a renowned priest and Franciscan friar, who dedicated much of his life to the service of the people, especially those who were sick and abandoned. He spent much time to reach out to the people and called many to repentance. St. Anthony of Padua was also deeply honoured and remembered for his deep and extensive knowledge of the Scriptures, his eloquence and great ability in teaching and preaching the faith.

Through his many writings and his many works, St. Anthony of Padua dedicated his whole life to the service of God. Many were inspired by these and many believed in God because of his efforts and hard work, much like the prophets Elijah and Elisha in the old days. And through this, we are shown what it means for us to be genuine and sincere in our faith, that we live up to our faith as Christians, and truly mean what we say and what we believe in.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to do this in our own lives? Are we able and willing to commit ourselves to the cause of the Lord and to live ever more faithfully from now on, not just in words, but also in every actions and deeds, at all times? Are we willing to follow the good examples of St. Anthony of Padua, and of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, among many other inspiring examples we know of? To each and every one of us, God has given wonderful gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities, and it is up to us whether we want to use them for the greater glory of God, or whether we want to ignore them instead.

Let us all discern carefully our path in life from now on, keeping in mind that each and every one of us have been called to follow the Lord through the various avenues by which we can contribute. Those of us who are called to be holy through raising good and faithful Christian families, let us do our best, and to those who have been called to serve the people of God as priests and religious brothers and sisters, let us all also embrace God’s calling and do as what the Lord has told us to do.

May the Lord be with us in our respective journeys of faith, and may He strengthen each and every one of us that we may truly devote ourselves, our time, effort and attention as good and faithful Christians, living a meaningful and good Christian living from now on. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 12 June 2020 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we heard the readings from the Sacred Scriptures we are reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians to devote ourselves to God, to turn away from sin and to repent from all those sinfulness and wickedness we have committed in our lives. We are reminded to be active in leading a life free from the corruption of sin and from the temptation to sin.

In our first reading today, we heard the account from the First Book of Kings on the prophet Elijah and how he went to the Mountain of God, likely in the area of Sinai, where the Israelites once made a Covenant with God and received the Ten Commandments through Moses. The prophet Elijah reached the mountain and God came to him, and Elijah recognised the Lord coming in gentle wind, and listened to His words, through which God reminded His people of the Covenant that He had made with them and yet which the people had forsaken.

In the same occasion, the Lord also told the prophet Elijah what He would do to restore the Covenant to the people, by His instruction to Elijah to anoint Elisha to be his own successor as prophet to the Israelites, Hazael to be the new king of the Arameans in present day Syria, and Jehu as the new king over Israel, replacing their wicked predecessors. Through the subsequent events, the Lord’s plans and designs came into motion, and the Covenant of God was partly restored to the people, as the descendants of the wicked king Ahab were replaced and pushed out of power.

In our Gospel today, then we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples with regards to the matter of obeying the Law and the commandments of God. The essence and key point of what the Lord told His disciples is that first of all, of course we have to follow the Law and obey the will of God, but then we must also understand the true meaning and importance of the Law. And this means that all of us must not merely pay lip service to the Lord and His laws, outwardly obeying the laws and tenets of our faith and yet, within our hearts, we are still wicked and sinful.

The Lord mentioned that as long as one already had the intention to commit sin with someone, be it adultery or other forms of disobedience against God, then they had already sinned against Him. And in what many people would have misunderstood of the Lord’s intentions, as He said to them, ‘If your hands caused you to fall into sin, cut them off! And if your eyes caused you to sin, then pluck them off!’ The Lord was not actually meaning that we must literally do such an action. Rather, what He wanted to convey to us is that sin is so serious that we must remove them from our hearts, from our minds and from our whole beings.

This was somewhat alluded to in the first reading we had today, as we heard of the Lord’s instructions to the prophet Elijah, in appointing the successors of the kings of Israel and Aram, those who were more in accordance to the will of God. For king Jehu of Israel, the successor who destroyed the descendants and the house of the wicked king Ahab, also ended the worship of Baal and destroyed the pagan temples and idols. Those that had led the people to sin and refused to repent, were removed.

That is why through all these, we are all reminded to keep ourselves away from sin and corruption, to embrace fully the love of God and His merciful compassion, and we are also reminded to stay true and faithful to the Covenant which God has established with each and every one of us through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And in this world and time when there are often so many challenges and temptations surrounding us, we are called to commit ourselves to a renewed Christian life and zeal in the Lord.

Let us all be sincere in our desire to follow God and rediscover the love which we ought to have for God. Let us strive to walk from now on with great courage and faith so that we may be good examples and inspirations for each other in being faithful disciples of the Lord. May the Lord be with us always, guide us and help us in our journey towards Him, that all of us may be saved through Him and be glorified in Him. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 June 2020 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us celebrate the great Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, also commonly known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which takes place traditionally on the Thursday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or in some places, to avail the celebration to more people, on the Sunday after the Trinity Sunday. And this celebration is a very important one for us, as besides the Holy Trinity, the Doctrine of the Real and Holy Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is one of the key core tenets of our Christian faith.

Unlike the Trinitarian nature of Our God, which is acknowledged and the fundamental part of the faith for most of those who believed in God, the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist has not been accepted and was rejected by quite a few segments of the people who believed in God. However, this clearly did not show the sentiment and the belief of the Church fathers and all the early Christians, all of whom believed in the true, real and living Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that the bread and wine we offer at the celebration of the Holy Mass, and which the priest blesses and offers to God at the Consecration truly become the very Body and Blood of the Lord Himself, the very substance and essence of the Lord, although they may still appear to us in the form of bread and wine. This process is called Transubstantiation, in which ‘Trans’ meaning ‘change’ and ‘Substantiate’ meaning ‘substance or essence’.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word ‘Transubstantiation’ means ‘the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of His Blood. This change is brought about in the Eucharistic Prayer through the efficacy of the word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit.’ From the Catechism we can see how the Church clearly teaches to us what the Eucharist means to us all.

This means that the very matter of the bread and the wine themselves have been changed, transformed and altered into the very substance, essence and reality of the Most Precious Body, and the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the same Christ Who has offered Himself on the Cross at Calvary as a worthy Sacrifice, in atonement for our sins. In this bread and wine transformed into the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, the Eucharist that we partake, we share in the same sacrifice of the Lord that day on the Cross.

That is why the Mass is more appropriately known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, as the priest celebrant acts ‘in persona Christi’ or in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the authority that He Himself has given to His Apostles, and as the Mass itself is the entire same Sacrifice that the Lord had undergone, as He brought His Cross up to Calvary, be crucified and died up there for us mankind, the whole Mass represents us all living through that very same supreme Act of God’s love in saving us.

As the celebrant speaks the words of Consecration, by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine became the Most Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, and as the celebrant says, in the same words that the Lord Jesus had spoken on the Last Supper, ‘This is My Body, which has been given up for you’, and ‘This is the Chalice of My Blood, the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant, which has been poured for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins’ and elevate the Sacred Specie, it was the same offering that Christ made on the Cross, offering Himself in His Body, Soul and Divinity for our salvation.

Therefore, in the Holy Communion, we receive not just mere bread and/or wine, and not just merely ‘symbol’ of the Body and the Blood of the Lord as what some have otherwise believed and convinced themselves, but in truth and reality, the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Himself, in the Flesh and Blood. We may see them as the appearance of bread and wine, the taste of bread and wine, the smell of bread and wine, but in reality, the essence of it all have been transformed completely into something beyond our human capability of understanding, the Mystery of our Faith.

We believe in the Lord and in the mystery of the Transubstantiation, this most important doctrine of the Church from the very beginning and which was codified and formalised at the Fourth Council of the Lateran in the early thirteenth century, and which our brethren in the Eastern Orthodox Church also formalised on their Synod of Jerusalem five centuries later, believing that God Himself has given His own Precious and Holy Body and Blood for us to partake, to eat and drink as real food and drink, and not as something imaginary or merely symbolic, just as He highlighted it to the people in His discourse on the Bread of Life.

The Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, as the True Bread from Heaven far superior to the heavenly bread manna that had been miraculously given by God to the ancestors of the Jewish people, the Israelites during their forty years journey to the Promised Land. He referred to that occasion, comparing how their ancestors died, but those who receive this new Bread of Life, that is Christ Himself, they would have eternal life through Him.

When the Lord referred to Himself as the Bread of Life, He thus also mentioned to the people that unless they eat of His Body and drink of His Blood then they would have no life and no part in Him. He also specifically mentioned that His Body is real Food, while His Blood is real Drink. He did not say that He was giving them a symbol to have or to celebrate with, but instead, doubled down on His own statement of the truth, to the point that many of His own followers left Him after this particular moment, which is ironically very similar to how some of our brethren in faith chose to abandon this same truth about the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

To those of His disciples that remained, to His Twelve Apostles, the Lord gave the power and authority on the Last Supper when He instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. His commandment to them to ‘do this in the memory of Me’ is a very important mission, which the Apostles had faithfully carried out and which they passed on to all of their successors, the bishops and the priests of the Church, who have been ordained and received the same power and authority of the Lord to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

By the sharing and partaking of the Body and Blood of the Lord therefore we have this Holy and Sacred Communion in the Church, which then makes up the Body of Christ. For in sharing the same Body and Blood of the Lord, we have been united through Christ and made one as a people blessed by God and brought together our common partaking of the Bread of Life, Christ our Saviour, becoming the Mystical Body of Christ, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

And from the earliest days of the Church we have very firm proofs and extensive evidences of the Real Presence from the Church fathers and leaders themselves, such as St. Ignatius of Antioch, the second Bishop of Antioch and St. Peter’s successor there, who said that ‘I desire the Bread of God, the Heavenly Bread, the Flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God… and I desire the Drink of God, namely His Blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life.’ clearly echoing the Lord’s own words that His Body and Blood were real Food and real Drink.

St. Justin the Martyr and the other early Church fathers and saints also concurred with this truth, speaking of ‘not as common bread and common drink do we receive these, but in like manner as Jesus Christ Our Saviour, having been made Flesh by the Word of God, had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation… the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word… is the Flesh and Blood of that Jesus Who was made Flesh.’ And they also warned against heretics specifically mentioning how those heretics denied that the bread and the wine were truly the Body and Blood of the Lord.

St. Ambrose of Milan, one of the Four Original Doctors of the Church and one of the most pre-eminent Church fathers of the Western Christendom also spoke firmly and strongly on this matter, saying that, ‘For that Sacrament which you receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the Word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements?’ against all those who doubted that the bread and wine could have changed in either essence or Presence into the Real Presence of the Lord.

For God, everything is possible, and everything can be done, even turning the matter and essence, the reality of the bread and wine into that of His own Precious Body and Blood, to be given to us and to be partaken worthily for our salvation. And at the Last Supper, which St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Paul the Apostle earlier on mentioned, the Lord said, ‘This is My Body…’ and ‘This is the Chalice of My Blood’, as His own Real, Unchanging, Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood, not an imitation, not a symbol, not a representation, not even a spiritual union, but the exact same, real, complete and bloodied Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross at Calvary.

It was a famous occurrence of a doubter of this truth which eventually led to the institution of this great celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. The famous Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena in what is today Italy marked one among the many other great miracles of the Eucharist that from time to time reminded us of this sacred truth and reality of the Real Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist. At that occasion, according to tradition, a priest was celebrating the Eucharist while doubting the Real Presence. Immediately upon Consecration, the bread and wine changed into real Body and Blood of the Lord, with drops of Holy Blood dripping onto the corporal used to contain the Sacred Species.

With the affirmation of these miracles, including earlier miracles at Lanciano and other places, where occurrences of ‘Bleeding Body of Christ in the Eucharistic Host’ happened, the Pope instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi to celebrate and to put ever greater emphasis on this core aspect of our faith and core belief in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist, in the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, where the bread and wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass are transformed, completely and fully, into the essence, matter and reality of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having deepened our understanding of the rich history of this one of the most important tenets of our faith, how are we then going to truly celebrate this Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord? It is not enough that we just celebrate today with a reverent and solemn celebration of the Holy Mass. In fact, all of us need to have a great change in the way we treat the Eucharist and how we have to return the respect and adoration we are to give to the Lord being truly present in the Eucharist.

A prominent person who did not believe in the Real Presence once said that, if we have truly believed in the Lord truly and really being present in the Eucharist, then in the presence of the Lord, he would have bowed down, prostrated and humbled himself in great adoration and worship. Unfortunately, this was not seen among many of us Christians. Many of us treated the Lord’s Real Presence as if He was just merely a bread to be eaten, or worse still, as a burden because we treat going to Mass as a heavy burden of obligation for us to fulfil.

How many of us have received the Lord with faith and worthily receive His Body and Blood into our own bodies, into our hearts and into our very own beings? There is a great need for us to restore the reverence and proper worship and adoration we ought to give to the Lord, His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and it has to begin with us and from us. We must have a great and profound change on how we view the Holy Mass, to make it the most important part of our lives and to centre ourselves and our existence on the Lord.

And having received the Lord Himself unto us, as St. Paul said in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we have become the Temples of the Holy Spirit, the very Temple of God present in the flesh, in our very own bodies. Here we have the very best and perfect Temples of His Presence, more perfect and better than the Temples built by Solomon and king Herod. But are we then treating our bodies and our beings as worthy dwelling place of Our Lord? Or have we instead defiled them with our disobedience, wickedness and sins?

Today therefore, on this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, let us all renew the zeal and faith which all of us must have in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the Lord’s own Most Holy Body and Blood which He has given us all for our salvation through the hands of His bishops and priests. Let us strive to be worthy to receive His Most Holy Body and Blood into ourselves, and be grateful for the loving Sacrifice He has gone through for us, by living a most virtuous and exemplary Christian life from now on.

O Sacrament most Holy, o Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine! O Christ, the Bread of Life, given freely as real Food for our salvation, Your Most Holy Body and Blood, flowing down from the Cross in atonement for our sins, have mercy on us sinners, and by our worthy partaking in this most Sacred Communion, unite us all as the One Body of Christ, the Church, and lead us all into eternal life. Amen.

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Thursday, 11 June 2020 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast day of St. Barnabas, who was counted among one of the Apostles, as he was a renowned early Church father and missionary, following and accompanying St. Paul in several of his missionary journeys, spreading the Good News and the Gospel to the many people in towns and cities across Eastern Mediterranean region. St. Barnabas accompanied St. Paul through the arduous journey, encountering good welcome from quite a few among the communities they visited, but they also encountered significant opposition and rejection from many other communities and places they visited.

As recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, and as what might have been even missed and uncounted in the Acts, St. Barnabas and St. Paul had encountered many great challenges, even moments when they were in danger of death. They were stoned in some occasions, and left for death. Only by the grace and love of God that they somehow escaped death, and they then still continued to labour and work hard for the Lord. They did not fear suffering and death, knowing what they had signed up for when they dedicated themselves to the missions of Christ.

They did what the Lord had told His disciples in our Gospel passage today, in sending them to towns and places to proclaim the Good News and the truth of God. They brought only the absolute necessities and did not bring spares with them, that they were able to focus on their mission, and depending on the good will of the people they visited, and when they encountered opposition and challenges, rejection and refusal, they left those places for other places that might be more willing to listen to them.

Through all of these and many other hard works that St. Barnabas had done together with St. Paul, and in other occasions when he travelled by himself and preaching to other communities and towns, many people became believers and were baptised as Christians. The Holy Spirit guided him and the other Apostles and disciples as they laboured hard for the greater glory of God. The Lord was with them and they were strengthened and empowered even in the moments of their greatest distress and sorrow.

And brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate the great feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle today, we therefore recall his hard work and efforts, his dedication to the service of God, in spreading the Good News and in reaching out to the people, many of whom became believers through his efforts. He put himself through danger, even through danger of death just so that more souls could be saved through repentance, conversion and faith in the Lord.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us must realise that the works done by the Apostles were just the beginning of the works of the Church, and throughout time, countless people, some of whom now honoured as saints, martyrs and blesseds, had taken up the same works and gave themselves to the same ministry as the Apostles like St. Barnabas had done. They had endured much persecution and challenges, just as St. Barnabas had experienced, but they also led many people to God and to their salvation in Him.

We are all now called to follow in their footsteps, to continue the good labour and hard work that they had done for the Lord’s greater glory. We are all called to be witnesses of the Lord’s truth in our own respective communities, in our societies, and even within our own families and among our circle of friends. And it is often that we do not realise, that to be living out this mission of the Lord, which He entrusted to us, it is often not necessary for us to preach and speak. Instead, it is by our actions, all steeped in genuine faith, that we will speak the loudest for the Lord’s sake.

The Apostles themselves inspired us all by their tireless dedication to the Lord, the love they showed to one another, the mercy and compassion they had to all peoples, even to those who have rejected and persecuted them, as well as the patience they had shown throughout their works and ministries. And that is why all of us also need to show this sincerity in our faith, that everyone may know the Lord, His truth and love through our own examples and good faith.

Let us all follow in the footsteps of St. Barnabas, dedicating ourselves to the Lord to spread the message of God’s truth in our own communities, by living a genuine and faithful Christian life. Let us all be exemplary with our lives and commit ourselves as genuine and true Christians from this moment onwards. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen us in our resolve to serve Him, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 10 June 2020 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we have listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded that all of us must be committed to God and we must obey His fundamental Law and truth, as revealed and taught to us by the Church, from the revelation of truth that the Lord Himself had revealed to us, and through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit passed down to us and through the Apostles.

In our first reading today, we listened to the story of the prophet Elijah as he went up against the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal at the Mount Carmel, one of the prominent mountains of Israel, as he went up before the king and the people of Israel in a great moment of reckoning, as he confronted king Ahab on his continued defiance against God and his continued worship of the pagan gods and idols such as Baal, openly promoted by the proliferation of so many priests of Baal.

What the prophet Elijah essentially did was that he reminded the king of the need for his obedience to the Law of God, to the laws revealed and handed down through Moses, to the Ten Commandments, first of which, was the obligation for all the faithful to worship and serve only one God, the One and True God of all. The king and the people had not obeyed this and instead chose to follow the false ways of the foreign pagan gods and idols, committing great sin before God.

This was why the prophet chose to stage a great contest before everyone so that all might witness and know Who the True God truly is, whether it was the God of Israel and the One Who brought the Israelites and their ancestors out of their slavery in Egypt and provided them with the Promised Land, or whether it was Baal, the pagan god of the Canaanites who was worshipped by the great majority of the Israelites and their king then.

The prophet Elijah showed before all the Israelites, that it was indeed God Who is the one and only True God, Who ought to be worshipped and loved, when he showed that God was the One Who listened to the prayers of His people, sending down great flame from heaven to burn the entire sacrificial offerings of Elijah, while the sacrificial offerings of the priests of Baal remain untouched, and despite all that they did, even in their desperation, the latter failed to show the presence and the truth of the falsehood of Baal was exposed before all to see.

This was in fact what the Lord in our Gospel passage today has been trying to say and reveal to His followers and all those who listened to Him, how He came into the world in order to reveal to the whole world and His people, what His true Law truly means, and in order to purify the Law to its original meaning, intent and purpose. As He Himself said that, nothing that is in the Law would be overruled or overwritten by Him, not even the smallest iota or part, and He came to fulfil the entire Law and not to destroy it, unlike what some of His enemies accused Him wrongly of.

What really happened then was such that the Law of God had been misinterpreted, misunderstood and misused over the many centuries since it has been revealed to the people of God. The elders and the many preceding guardians of the Law had interpreted the Law as they wished and wanted, and according to their own biases and prejudices. And they ended up becoming too focused and engrossed in the management and the nitty-gritty details of the Law, its execution and enforcement rather than on the true meaning and purpose of the Law itself.

The Lord Jesus, much like the prophet Elijah, reminded the people of God that the Law stipulated that each and every one of us, the faithful ones and beloved people of God must put God first and foremost n our lives, entrusting ourselves completely to His care and loving Him with all of our strength and might. He wanted this to happen, rather than for us mankind to be distracted by the many temptations present in life, the temptation of power and glory, for fame and human praise, as how the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been afflicted, or for the false promises of the devil, as how the Israelites of old had been swayed to the worship of Baal.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that as Christians, that is as the members of God’s living Church here in this world, each and every one of us are bound to the same fundamental Law that God Himself had revealed to His people Israel, and which His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, had revealed further by His own teachings and by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit that He had sent down to us, to His Church and His faithful ones. Therefore, all of us ought to be true Christians from now on, in our every words, actions and deeds.

May the Lord give us His strength and strengthen our resolve to live faithfully according to His ways from now on. May the Lord bless each and every one of us, and may He empower us all to be true witnesses of His Resurrection and to our own Christian faith. Amen.