Weekday Homily

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Friday, 8 February 2019 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints and Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God reminding us to remain virtuous and faithful in life, especially with the emphasis on faith and fidelity in our love for one another, in the married life between a man and a woman, the foundation of all Christian families. Through the Scripture passages that we heard today, we are reminded to put our faith and trust, especially in our marriage and family life, in God, and not in any other things.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard how the king Herod Antipas got himself into a very serious sin of murder because of his lack of faith in God, which caused him to fall into the temptations of lust and human desire, as well as ego and pride, that made him to commit even more and more heinous acts and sins against God. He committed adultery by taking the legal Herodias, the wife of his own brother Philip, and made her to be his queen, while his brother was still alive and legally married to Herodias.

St. John the Baptist spoke up against this heinous act and immoral behaviour, which went up against the Law of God and the moral conduct of the society. For his outspokenness and his stand against the king, St. John the Baptist was arrested and put into prison. Herodias held grudge against the saint for what he had blatantly and fearlessly mentioned before all, the sin of adultery that she and Herod had committed.

That was why in today’s Gospel passage we heard of how Herodias tried to achieve this by manipulating Herod, through her daughter, who was very beautiful and seductive, as she danced during a party that Herod had thrown for his nobles and guests. Herod was mesmerised by her performance and probably swayed under influence of the party and even alcohol, began making unrealistic promises and oaths before her, overcome by his desire and lust.

And this was when Satan struck, by making use of the opportunity through Herodias and her daughter, to force Herod’s hand into committing a great sin. Herod had not wanted to deal harm to St. John the Baptist even though he had arrested him and put him into prison, but as he made all those promises and oaths to the daughter of Herodias, when the mother instigated her to ask for the head of St. John the Baptist, Herod was trapped and could not refuse the request before his guests and nobles.

In all of these, we saw how when God is not at the centre of our family and married life, then we will end up having a lot of troubles, temptations of the desires of the flesh and the greed within our hearts, lust for things that are immoral and improper in the sight of God and men alike. That was how Herod and Herodias sinned, and that was also how countless others among us mankind also had sinned. Marriages and families have been destroyed by those corrupt desires and sin.

Today all of us are called to return to the true faith in God, and anchor ourselves, our marriage and family lives for all those who have families and been married, in God. Unless we do this, we will end up bringing harm and destruction to us and to our loved ones. Satan is always busy at work trying to strike at us, and even when we are faithful, we saw how St. John the Baptist was treated. He suffered many rejections, people who doubted and accused him, and was martyred for his courage in faith.

But all of these should not discourage us from living our lives with faith. Instead, they should become inspiration for us to be even more courageous and dedicated in living our lives with sincere love and genuine faith for God. Today, we celebrate the feast of two saints whose exemplary life and commitment to God should become inspiration to each and every one of us in how we ought to be living our individual and respective lives.

St. Jerome Emiliani was a soldier who turned into a priest and loving servant of God and His people, after conversion experience and intercession by the Blessed Virgin Mary during his time of troubles. He became well-known for his care of many orphans whom he encountered, all those who experienced sorrow and sadness, suffering and pain for the loss of their loved ones. They had no one to take care of them, but St. Jerome Emiliani took care of them, fed them and showed them much love.

He founded a religious order, gathering those who were like-minded and having the same desire to serve the poor and all those children of God who were suffering and had no one to take care of them. And he continued to minister to the people, particularly the poor, the orphans as mentioned earlier, the sick and those who were dying. St. Jerome Emiliani did not let up on his work, and ministered to all, dying in his duty as he contracted illness as he cared for the sick.

Meanwhile, St. Josephine Bakhita was once a slave, who was enslaved by slavers and made to suffer many terrible experiences as a slave, as someone who had virtually no rights at all, and she had to endure many insults to her dignity as a human being. Eventually, she became the servant to an Italian family, who was the Vice Consul of Italy in the region where she was in, today’s Sudan. And that was how she gained her freedom, as she left her old life of slavery behind and became a free woman.

She became a Catholic after being inspired through the experience of her freedom, and after baptism, she decided to dedicate her life to God for the rest of her life, and join the religious order of the Canossian sisters, and she was a very dedicated servant of God and of her fellow sisters, and praying at all times for all those who shared the painful experiences of her slavery and for all others in Africa, who were suffering from abject poverty and abuse of human rights.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow in the footsteps of these faithful and loving servants of the Lord? In their own ways, St. John the Baptist, St. Jerome Emiliani and St. Josephine Bakhita have shown us how we can truly be faithful in our daily lives, and also filled with love for one another and for God, by loving those who are in our midst, and putting aside all the temptations and the desires of our body and flesh. We are called to be faithful, and to resist all the efforts that Satan had put in place, to cause us to fall into sin.

Let us all pray and work together, that each and every one of us as members of God’s Church may come together united and strong in our faith, beginning from our families, where each and every one of our families are the important foundations of the Church and our faith life. Let us all strive to do our best to emulate the good examples showed by our holy predecessors and do our best to love one another and to love the Lord, putting Him at the centre of our lives. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 February 2019 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the word of God in the Scriptures reminding each and every one of us of the mission which we have been given by the Lord, as mentioned in the first reading and the Gospel passage today. We heard of the moment when the Lord sent His disciples, seventy-two of them in total, ahead of Him on the journey to prepare the way for His coming and for His teaching among the people.

Those disciples were sent to reach out to the people to whom the Lord Himself was about to minister, to prepare the hearts and minds of the people that they may be receptive to God’s truth and salvation that were about to come into their midst. They were like the farmers who tilled the land and prepared it, softening it with the hoe, in order to increase the fertility of the soil, that when the seeds are sown, they will grow far better and produce much more crops.

Through all that we have heard especially in our Gospel passage today, we are reminded of the role which the Church is taking upon in our world today, that is to be the medium by which God exercised His power in this world, delivering His truth and love to all mankind, to bring the truth of God’s salvation and love especially to all those who have yet to hear and know of what God has made available to all.

Yet, this task that the Lord has entrusted upon His Church and commanded His disciples and followers to do, is not an easy one, for there are plenty of challenges and difficulties that are present in our journey, as the Lord Himself has warned His disciples, that they would encounter many challenges and opposition, and there would be instances when the people and the communities they were sent to, would reject them and refuse to listen to the message that they brought with them.

This is not surprising because some of the people have closed their hearts and minds, their senses to the truth of God, for various reasons. Some of them were proud and filled with ego, and thus refused to listen to the truth of God because they thought that there was no way that they could have been mistaken in their way of thinking and in their action. Thus they turned against the Lord and His teachings, even persecuting Him and His disciples.

That is the reality of the challenges and difficulties that we may encounter if we choose to follow the Lord and walk in His path. But should these challenges then deter us from following Him and having faith in Him? They should not. God gives us His reassurance, that whoever has dedicated themselves to Him and does his or her best to serve and love Him, those shall not be disappointed, for God always fulfils His words and promises.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, the question that awaits us is that, are we willing to dedicate ourselves to walk down the path that the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord had walked, looking at the examples of all those holy men and women who had gone before us. Many of them were persecuted and had to endure all sorts of troubles and challenges, but because of their determination and commitment, many souls of the faithful had been saved from certain damnation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we as the members of the Church must play our part to obey God’s will and to listen to His commandments. And we must also have within each one of us, the desire to love God and to serve Him, by the selfless giving of ourselves, just as Christ Himself has shown us, and not be swayed by worldly temptations of power, ambition, greed, selfishness, material well-being and excesses and more.

Let us all renew our faith and commitment to God, from now on, that we may be worthy and be willing to follow the calling that the Lord has given to us, and walk down the same path on which the holy Apostles and disciples of the Lord had walked before. Let us all be exemplary in how we live our faith, and devote ourselves ever more to the Lord with each and every passing days. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2019 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God reminding us about the wonderful works that God has done in our midst, and yet at the same time, we are also presented with the sad reality of the opposition and ignorance with which many among us have in our own lives, in how we do not recognise God’s wonders and love in work within us and in the midst of our community, our society and even within our own families and circle of friends.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord’s work among the people, all the miraculous deeds and wonders He had done, healing the sick, casting out evil spirits and demons, and even raising the dead back into life, all these were doubted and even ridiculed by the people who saw all that He had performed before them. Some of them refused to believe and doubted because they thought of Him as the Son of a mere village carpenter, and they could not reconcile that fact with what they have witnessed in the Lord’s many miracles and wisdom.

All of these ultimately came about because of the prejudices and biases that were rampant among the community of the people of God, when people judged one another and treated one another according to one’s social status and standing within the society. Those who were uneducated and held difficult and yet humble jobs like carpenters, farmers, shepherds, all those who took up menial labours and went through much physical hardships, without proper compensation and were poor, all of these were often marginalised and ignored by the greater society.

The Lord called many of His disciples and followers from among these, as many of them were uneducated, with ordinary and even poor background, having no status or greatness, having no special privileges, just like Himself, born into a poor family from a poor and small, insignificant village of Nazareth in Galilee, which was equally a backwater periphery of the Jewish community and world at that time, where no one of particular honour and power was expected to come from.

The Lord gathered His disciples and followers, showing them all what they often had to endure for His sake, because of their background, and even more importantly, because of their faith and belief in God. To be His followers, the disciples of the Lord Jesus were called to be ready to be humiliated, ostracised, abandoned, rejected and left without honour, and even imprisoned and to suffer from various pains and sufferings, just as the Lord Himself has suffered the same.

That was what the first reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews spoke about, of the readiness to suffer for God’s sake, and yet, at the same time, the faithful were reminded of God’s faithfulness and unshakeable dedication to His faithful ones. God will not abandon His faithful ones to the darkness, and He will not allow them to fall into damnation, and that is why, He gave us this gift of faith, as well as love for Him.

However, the reality of life is such that we often falter when we are faced with challenges and difficulties, because we have not been able to feel and know His presence in our midst. We are often too preoccupied and too prejudiced to notice the Lord’s works and presence in our midst, just as the people who witnessed all of the Lord’s miracles and wonders still doubted in Him and refused to believe despite all that they have seen and experienced.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of saints and martyrs, whose life and devotion to God are truly exemplary, and should become our inspiration in life. St. Paul Miki and his fellow martyrs, both priests and the laity were known together as the Holy Japanese Martyrs, those who suffered and died during those years when the Japanese authorities severely oppressed the faithful in Japan, both laity and priests, both foreign missionaries and local Christians alike.

St. Paul Miki and his fellow martyrs in faith were harassed, arrested and tortured because of their faith in God, as they refused to reject the Lord and abandon Christ. When they were forced to desecrate the holy images of the Lord, His blessed Mother and His saints, they refused to do so, and remained resolute in their faith and commitment. The authorities sentenced them to death, and they were forced to march thousands of kilometres from the capital in Kyoto to their site of martyrdom in Nagasaki.

But despite all of these sufferings, challenges and difficulties, the pains and sorrows that the Japanese Christians, St. Paul Miki and his fellow martyrs had to endure, they remained firm in their faith in God, and kept that joy within them. The Lord Himself was with them, and they kept that joy of knowing just how God’s love has given them strength. St. Paul Miki and his companions endured the long and arduous journey, singing the thanksgiving hymn, ‘Te Deum’ throughout the way.

When they were martyred, the holy Japanese martyrs faced death with faith, and committed themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord. They remained true to their faith to the very end, knowing that God would always be with them, despite all the difficulties and challenges that they encountered. Now, we are called to imitate and follow the examples of those holy saints and martyrs, St. Paul Miki and his companions, who have given themselves so totally to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to commit ourselves and dedicate ourselves in the same manner? Are we able to face the challenges of this world with the same joy as the Apostles, and as St. Paul Miki and his companions had done? We are called to follow in their footsteps, and let us all pray, that from now on, we will grow ever more in our faith and love for God, and be able to dedicate ourselves, each and every days of our life. May God be with us always, and may the intercession of St. Paul Miki and his companions be our help always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 February 2019 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God speaking to us about the wonderful deeds of the Lord, which He performed before all the people and witnesses to show the great wonders of God’s glory and His loving attention to His people, to whom He has sent the Saviour and Deliverer. It was through Christ that God wants to save all of us mankind, and He fulfilled all of His long promised salvation through Him.

That is why we heard all of the wonderful things He performed during His ministry, including the healing of the sick woman with haemorrhage and the rising of the dead daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official. He healed all of them from their problems and sicknesses, because He loved each and every one of them, and had pity on them when they suffered and were asking Him for help and mercy. And He also saw the great faith in each one of them.

All of these things the Lord will do for all those who have faith in Him. He will not abandon all those who have put their trust in Him, and will provide for the needs of those who have strong love for Him in their hearts and minds. God knows the depth of our thoughts and hearts, just as He knew the faith of the woman who was suffering from the haemorrhage. God knew her faith and healed her because of the faith she had in Him.

Today, all of us are called to look deep into our own lives, into our hearts and minds, to see more carefully into our own actions and deeds, our direction in life, our attitudes and behaviours, on whether by these, we have been exemplary in living our lives with faith, or whether we have not had faith in our minds and hearts. Too many of us put our trust first in our worldly provisions and abilities, and God took a secondary and less important role among us.

And yet, for all the lack of faith, disobedience and wickedness that we have committed thus far in our respective lives, we are called to remember just how the Lord continued to love us, despite our stubborn attitude and refusal to walk in His ways. He willingly endured all the suffering and pain, which were supposed to be our burden, just so that we may be saved through our faith in Him.

Many of us think that we have faith in God, but in reality few of us only have that true commitment and devotion to God, that comes from within our hearts. Having faith in God often does not just mean to come and attend Mass regularly as stipulated by the Church teachings and regulations. In reality, for us to have faith in God often means that we must suffer and face rejection, just as the Lord Himself has suffered all the humiliation and rejection before.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, many of those who have gone before us showed us that the reality of this world is such that many of us have not had that deep devotion to God, in times of good and bad, in times of prosperity and in times of hardship and suffering. Many of us remember God only when things turn downhill and we expect Him to come and help us with a quick fix so that we do not need to suffer. And when we continue to suffer, we often become angry at God, thinking that He was not there with us.

That is why today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we should be inspired by the good examples shown to us by our holy predecessors, those holy and devoted men and women who had stood by the Lord in good times and in bad times, suffering persecution and troubles, challenges and pain, all sorts of difficulties just because of their commitment and belief in God. And today, we commemorate the feast of one of those saints, namely St. Agatha, holy woman and good martyr of the faith.

St. Agatha was born in what is now Sicily in southern Italy, and lived during the years of the tumultuous second century Roman Empire, when many Christians suffered various persecutions by the Roman authorities. But St. Agatha together with the many other holy men and women of God did not easily give up their faith, even under the pain of suffering and oppression. St. Agatha made a holy vow of virginity, committing herself to a life of perpetual virginity dedicated to the Lord.

In doing that, she went up against the advances and efforts of some pagan Roman nobles who were enamoured by her beauty and tried to get her to marry them. Despite all of their advances and efforts to get her to change her mind, St. Agatha remained true to her faith and did not give in to their demands. For her dedication, she was arrested and put to suffer for her Christian faith, as her persecutors hoped that by the sufferings she endured, she would give in to their demands and give up her faith in God.

Nonetheless, St. Agatha remained firm in her commitment, and none that her persecutors did could dissuade or force her to abandon her dedication. She was tortured and suffered grievously, and was forced to endure the tremendous pain of having her breasts cut. But to the very end, St. Agatha did not give up her faith and remained true in her commitment. She was in fact showing the same faith, effort and attitude as the woman who was suffering from the haemorrhage and the synagogue official, who went out all of their way to seek healing and to love the Lord, their God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how about us then? Are we able and are we willing to commit ourselves and to be truly faithful as all those people which we have mentioned and discussed earlier had done? Are we able to spend our time, and give our effort and attention to the Lord? For after all, He has loved us so much, that He was in fact willing to endure such unimaginable pain and suffering for our sake, that by bearing our sins on the cross He bore, He brought us our salvation.

Let us all spend some time to reflect on all these, and think of ways how we can be better Christians, through all our everyday actions and deeds, by our every living moments. May the Lord be our guide, and may through the intercession of St. Agatha, holy virgin and martyr, we will draw ever closer to the Lord, our loving God. Amen.

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Monday, 4 February 2019 : 4th 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 which related to us about the power of God that He exercises in our world, the salvation which He has given to His people, and which He reminded us through various occasions, how He saved His beloved ones by His mighty power through His servants, as mentioned in the Epistle to the Hebrews, from the days of Moses and the judges of Israel, and then in the Gospel itself we heard the miraculous deed that the Lord Jesus performed as He cast out demons from a man in Gadara region.

We heard of God’s wonderful love and providence for His people, in how He helped all those who have placed their faith in Him. He liberated them from the tyranny and oppression of the Egyptians, the Amalekites, the Canaanites and many others who have became the enemies and oppressors of Israel through the centuries of their stay in the land promised and given to them. He brought them out of their troubles and provided for them, and blessed them.

Then, in the same Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard the mention of all those who have been persecuted and have received oppression and challenges, and yet refused to give in to the demands and pressures from those who sought to destroy them or to subvert them to abandon the Lord. They remained in good faith and committed themselves despite the pains and sufferings, putting their trust in the Lord fully.

The Lord reassured all those who have heard of all these things happening, especially for the early Jewish Christians who were oppressed both by the Jewish authorities and by the Romans and the Gentiles, that He was still with them, providing for them and guarding them despite all the troubles, pains and sorrows that they had to endure. Through the words of the Epistle, the Apostles were bringing this reassurance of God’s promise that He will stand by His people and that ultimately there is nothing, no matter how great, can stand up against God’s power and will.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord Jesus cast out from a man who had been ostracised and cast aside from the community because of the numerous multitudes of evil spirits and demons that had possessed him, so many that they called themselves as legion. The Lord showed His might and power by casting out those demons from the man, from whom everyone else had fled. He showed His people, that God’s love and power overcomes everything.

We see how the Lord loves each and every one of us, even those of us who are in the deepest darkness, dirtiest and most tainted by sin. He does not want any one of us, His beloved ones, to suffer the consequences of our unrepented sins, that is, eternal damnation in hell. He Who created us out of love, with His desire to love us and to share the perfect love found in Him with us, certainly wants each and every one of us to be reconciled with Him.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what is the true significance of today’s Scripture readings to us all? It is the fact that each and every one of us are God’s beloved people, that we should put our complete trust in Him, knowing that He is always ever present in our midst, and standing by us, even in the moments of our greatest sorrow, suffering, agony and pain. God will not abandon us no matter what, and He will always be there. To trust in God is something that we should be doing.

Let us all therefore learn to put our trust in God, and love Him as much as we can, knowing that He has loved us first, with so much love, that He always stands by us, even in our most difficult moments. Let us all be thankful for all the love and grace that He has given to each and every one of us, and strive to do our best in life, to be faithful and to serve the Lord with all of our hearts and strength. Amen.

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Sunday, 3 February 2019 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we listened to the Lord speaking to us and reminding each and every one of us of what He has called us to be, to become His beloved children and as His followers, filled with His love. He has called us to be open to the love that He has shown us all, and which He has bestowed upon us. Unfortunately, many of us are often too preoccupied and distracted in life, to realise this love that God has placed in our midst, the great gift He has given to each and every one of us.

In all that we have heard today, from the readings of the Old Testament, New Testament and the Gospel passage, we heard of various expressions of God’s love, and how His servants have acted out of love for Him, and we are all called to emulate and show that same love that God has given to us, in our own lives. If we do not love each other as God has loved us, then we have not truly lived up to the fullness of our Christian faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, St. Paul wrote about the variety of gifts and wonders that God had given to us, in the various miracles, powers and talents He blessed us with, and yet, St. Paul reminded the faithful that all of those things are meaningless and useless, unless there is love in us, at the centre of our every actions and words, attitudes and direction in life.

In the first reading today, we heard of the words of the prophet Jeremiah, one of the most important and prominent prophets of the Old Testament time. The prophet Jeremiah was called by God to be His servant, to follow Him and to perform the great tasks entrusted to him, that is the conversion and repentance of the people of the kingdom of Judah, who is falling deeper and deeper into the path of sin and disobedience against God.

The prophet Jeremiah had a difficult task, and he encountered numerous challenges throughout his ministry, if we read more about his story as recorded in the Book of Kings. He had to face the wickedness of the people of Judah and their kings, together with their unwillingness to repent and change their ways, despite repeated reminders from the prophet, and the signs and warnings he gave of the inevitable coming of the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem.

He also had to go against many false prophets and lying seers and influential priests and leaders, who gave false prophecies and ideas to the people and the king, and the prophet Jeremiah was therefore seen as a crazy, unstable and unreliable madman, and worse still, some even saw him as a traitor to the nation, for having spoken such prophecies of the upcoming downfall of the kingdom of Judah, the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of the people.

And the prophet had to endure so many sufferings and pains, incarceration and prison, on top of the rejections and other forms of humiliations he had had to endure throughout his years of ministry. Any reasonable human beings would have given up their works and efforts in the face of such enormous opposition, challenges and difficulties. But why did Jeremiah not give up? He continued on regardless, and continued to be true to his mission to the very end.

That is because of his love for God, his understanding of God’s will, and how despite all the things that he had to suffer, but God had entrusted in him a very important task, which he had to do for the benefit of his fellow men, even if those people were stubborn and hard hearted, constantly refusing to believe in the word of God that he spoke of. He put his trust in God, that God will provide for him, and if he had not done what the Lord had commanded him to do, then many of his fellow men would have fallen deeper into sin and therefore into damnation.

In the Gospel today, we heard something that is very similar, of the moment when the Lord Jesus came among His own townspeople and neighbours in the village of Nazareth, where He proclaimed the truth about Himself and about the fulfilment of God’s salvation. The people went up against Him and many doubted Him, thinking of Him as a liar and upstart, using the argument that He was merely the Son of the village carpenter, St. Joseph, whom they had known for many years.

The Lord Jesus also encountered numerous other difficulties and challenges, throughout His earthly ministry. There were many who listened to Him and followed Him, but there were equally many if not more, who refused to believe in Him, doubted against Him just as what the people of Nazareth had done, and went against Him, particularly many among the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the priests of the Temple of God. In addition, the king Herod and his supporters, the Herodians and the Sadducees were also against the Lord.

They tested Him, made His journeys and teachings difficult, placing obstacles and barriers, challenges and persecutions, all for the sake of maintaining their own authority, their own prestige and status within the community of the people of God. They did not want to lose the privileges and the good things that they have gained for many years just because of the apparent challenge from that seemingly charismatic prophet, Jesus Christ, Whom they saw as a dangerous rival to their worldly schemes and ambitions.

We see in all of these, the lack of love which many of the people of God unfortunately experienced, that they did not have that love which they ought to have for God. In them, there is no place for God, for their hearts and minds have been filled up and corrupted by worldly desires, ambitions, ego, pride, and many other forms of distractions and temptations that have often prevented us from being able to love from our hearts. Instead of loving God, and loving our fellow men as we have been taught to do, we only care about our own desires and wants.

We may have all the talents, gifts, wonders and all other sorts of amazing things in our life, but if we are unable to love from our hearts, then everything that we have and everything we possess are meaningless and useless for us. Why is that so? That is because God has created us all to love, and to exist in love with Him and one another. And love is the essence of our existence. The moment we stop loving, we end up becoming selfish, egoistic, greedy and wicked, filled with all sorts of negativities that could have been avoided if only we allow ourselves to be filled with love.

What is love, brothers and sisters in Christ? Love is what the Lord Himself has shown us, not just by mere words but also through real actions. He showed us what love is all about, and taught us how we should also love through our words and actions in life. Many of us mistook love for desire and greed, and many also mistook love for pride and ego, or lust and promiscuity. All these are false forms of love that the devil has put in our midst in order to confuse us and to prevent us from finding our way to God’s salvation.

God has shown us what love is all about. True and genuine love is selfless and sacrificial in nature, filled with commitment and giving. He showed us what perfect love is, when He patiently ministered to us and cared for us, even with all of our rebelliousness and stubbornness, refusing to believe in Him and to love Him. We even ended up hating Him and being angry with Him, when we misunderstood His intentions, will and love for us. But God still loved us all nonetheless, even to the greatest of sinners.

It is this love that is reflected in His disciples and followers, including in prophet Jeremiah, in how he still carried out his obligations and calling as prophet despite all the nasty persecutions, troubles and sufferings that he had to face for so many years. All of these allowed him and multitudes of saints and martyrs to show the same love, first for God and then second, for their fellow men, even to those who have made them to suffer and persecuted them.

All of these are caused by them being inspired by none other than the examples of true love that the Lord Jesus has shown us, by His ultimate, loving sacrifice on the cross. He emptied Himself and embraced fully all the grievous and painful punishment that should have been ours to bear. His love for each and every one of us was so great, that He was able to endure all those wounds and pains inflicted on Him. His love for God, His Father and for each and every one of us, is the same love that we must have, every single moment of our lives.

Now then, brothers and sisters in Christ, how should we then emulate and show genuine love in our actions, words and dealings each and every days of our life? It is by learning to show love, selflessness and genuine compassion for those whom we encounter daily in our own lives, to not be selfish and be filled with desire and greed. Let us be generous in our giving and in our love, forgiving those who have caused us much pain and suffering. It is when we have this love in us, and God is at the centre of our lives, that we will have found our true peace in life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all pray that we will be given the courage and strength, to show love in all and everything that we say, do and act in our daily lives, that even when the world itself is against us, and even when we are tempted to give up and find another way, we will remain strong in our love and in our faith in God, and filled with this love, we will not be swayed by the falsehood of the devil, and be able to live our lives faithfully from now on. May the Lord continue to be with us and guide us in our path. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 February 2019 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the great feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which is celebrated every second day of the month of February, which is also the fortieth day after Christmas. Today, traditionally is the last day in the whole of the Christmas season, in which the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, and earlier on, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, marked the transition from the celebration of the birth and the early life of the Lord Jesus, towards His public ministry and eventually to the upcoming season of Lent preparing us for the eventual coming of Easter.

On this day we recall the moment when the Lord was brought to the Temple of Jerusalem as mandated by the Law, and offered to the Lord as the firstborn of the family. This was the day when the Lord was presented officially before His people, when the relationship between Him, as the Son of God, was presented before His Father, symbolising the mission which He was about to take upon, as the Saviour of the world and of all mankind. He was consecrated to the Lord, His heavenly Father, to become the one true High Priest of all.

All of these were mentioned in the book of the prophets of old, including the proclamation by the prophet Malachi in our first reading today, that God would send to mankind His deliverance and salvation through the High Priest He would appoint to be the Envoy and Mediator of the new Covenant He would make with His beloved people. And in the second reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Jewish Christians were reassured of the High Priesthood of Christ, the fulfilment of God’s ancient prophecies, that He would save His people, and all these had happened through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

And the wonders of God’s mighty works lie in the very fact that He chose this way in order to save us His beloved ones, by directly embracing us with love, coming in the flesh and becoming as one of us, assuming the form and substance of Man, so that by uniting our own humanity with His, He would be able to offer the perfect sacrifice offering of love, to be the atonement for all of our sins, of the combined weight of humanity’s sins, past, present and future till the end of time. He did this, by becoming the High Priest Who redeemed us, once and for all by His loving sacrifice on the cross.

In order to understand and appreciate the significance of this event better, we must understand the role of the priesthood in the ancient Israel, where priests had been chosen from among the descendants of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. The priests were entrusted with the role of intermediary between God and His people, to be the ones who would bring God’s people back towards Him, by the offering of sacrificial offerings, the blood of animals, of goats, lambs and pigeons.

And there was, in Christ, a far greater, more worthy and more wonderful sacrifice and offering, the offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, acting by Himself as the High Priest, offering those worthy offerings for the atonement of all of our sins, of mankind throughout all time and ages. He established therefore a new Covenant between God and us mankind, sealed not in the blood of lambs and imperfect animals, but with His own Most Precious Blood, the Blood of the Lamb of God.

Today, as we recall the Presentation of the Lord at the Temple of Jerusalem, we are looking towards the Lord’s role in our salvation, remembering how our one and true High Priest laid Himself on the altar of the cross, bearing all the multitudes of our sins and impurities, our iniquities and unworthiness, so that by His perfectly selfless and loving action, all of us who place our trust and faith in Him may be saved, by our faith in Him.

We recall the love that He has for each and every one of us, that He was willing to endure such pain and suffering for our sake. He endured all the wounds and troubles for the sake of our salvation. Every single wounds that have been inflicted on the Lord are caused by the sins we have committed, whenever we have caused suffering on others, or because of our selfishness and greed that lead us ever deeper into the chasm of wickedness and sin.

But the Lord loved us so much, that He gave us the gift of His Son, our High Priest and Saviour, through Whom we have received the opportunity to achieve redemption and eternal life. And this He has extended to us through His priesthood, the ministerial priesthood that He has established within His Church, to become in His persona, the intermediary between us and God. He called those whom He deemed to be worthy, to become His priests, bishops and all those ordained to the holy orders, to offer at the celebration of the Holy Mass, the same sacrifice He has done at Calvary.

Through our priests and all those who have been consecrated to God, including all those who have devoted themselves to the religious life and life dedicated to God’s glory, we have seen the light of Christ in our midst, despite all the darkness of mankind’s sins and iniquities. Through the examples and perseverance of all those who have lived their lives with faith, imitating Christ’s own obedience and loving sacrifice, we have seen the light of our salvation, and have hope in us.

There are also many of those who have also dedicated themselves to a life of prayer, prayers dedicated to many of us, and to holy life that brings about much inspiration to the rest of us the faithful people of God. They have followed the example and commitment of Christ, and become inspiration to us all. They spent their days and time in prayer, and go about everything in life, centering themselves so completely on God.

That is why, today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we must spend time to pray, and not just today, but each and every days from now on, for those who have dedicated themselves to the Lord and lived a consecrated life in God. We should give our full support and also encouragement to them, for indeed, as difficult as our faith life may be, with all of the temptations and challenges, they have even more difficulties in all of them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us all renew our commitment to love and serve the Lord with zeal, courage and faith, especially because of the wonderful love that He has shown us all. Let us all heed His call, and do our best in whatever we do, in order to do His will and devote ourselves to His cause. And let us continue to support the efforts and good works of the Church, particularly those who have been called to the holy orders and consecrated life. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 1 February 2019 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God reminding each and every one of us that we must be obedient to the will of God, be patient while living our lives in faith for while we may encounter plenty of challenges and difficulties along the way, but in the end, our patience in faith will bear rich fruits, from which we shall receive just rewards from God for all of our commitment and devotion to Him.

In today’s Scripture passages, God speaks to us by the means of parables, in which through Jesus Christ, He revealed to us what the kingdom of God is like, which He compared to a growing mustard seed and like that of seeds being sown in fertile and rich soil, growing into a healthy and good, fruitful plant. All of these are reminders for us all to be patient in faith, as all those who have grown a plant before would have known, how it takes a lot of time and effort before a plant can grow into its full maturity.

In the first reading today, from the Epistle of the Hebrews, the faithful Jewish Christians in the early Church were encouraged and reminded of the good deeds that they have done in faith, despite all sorts of persecutions and challenges that they had to endure. They were encouraged to continue the good deeds and the love that they had shown to one another, and even though persecutions would continue, but God will reward their faith in the end.

In what we have heard from our first reading passage and the Gospel passage today, we are all reminded that our faith is one that needs to be practiced and lived with all of our hearts and minds, with all of our efforts and strength. It is not enough for us just to claim our Christian faith and belief, and yet doing nothing to fulfil God’s will and do what He has asked and commanded us to do as His followers and disciples.

Yet, it is often that many of us Christians are unaware of what we have to do in our own respective lives, in living up to our faith. Many of us are ignorant and complacent of the demands and requirements of our Christian faith, to live out what we believe in our lives, through what we say and do, and by all of our actions and deeds. Many of us often do not realise the importance of living our faith as we should have, and many of us do not have the patience to follow the Lord and obey Him as we should have.

Many of us seek quick fixes and shortcuts, preferring path with lesser challenges and difficulties. But this is where we can easily end up falling into the traps prepared for us by the devil, who is always ready to strike at us just as how plants can be easily struck down by various unfortunate events as they grow from a small seed into a fully grown plant. The devil often strikes at us with temptations and persuasions meant to distract us and to lure us away from God’s salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to reflect on our own lives. How have we lived our lives thus far? Have we been obedient to the Lord and live up to what we have faith and belief in? Or have we instead chosen to follow the false ways of Satan and his fellow tempters and wicked spirits? We are called to discern on how we have our lives so that we may know how to progress in our respective lives from now on.

Let us all understand of what we need to do in our own lives as Christians, which often does not require us to start with a great and difficult venture. It all boils down to the appreciation of our faith in our daily living, in our every actions, in every words we say to one another, that we show the good examples of our faith, and how we can convince others of this faith that we have. Indeed, as mentioned earlier, there will be challenges and inconveniences, difficulties and troubles that inevitably will come our way, but this should not discourage us from trying our best to live our lives as we should, in accordance to the ways of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us turn ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord from now on, loving Him and loving one another to the best of our abilities. Let us devote our attention and effort to serve Him at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 31 January 2019 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words from the Scripture telling us about the need for each and every one of us to be faithful to God, and to live out our lives with faith, and not with just empty gestures and superficial dedication. The Lord has given us many talents, abilities and blessings as gifts, and rightfully we are expected to make good use of them, for the benefit and for the good of all of God’s beloved children.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard about the short parable with which the Lord Jesus taught His disciples, with regards to the use of a light that ought to be placed on a lampstand and not to be hidden. This must be understood in the context of the importance of light for the people at that time, and even in our present day world. Light is very important because in a world where the absence of light is often feared and undesired because of the darkness and our inability to see or to experience things around us, light is truly a very important thing to have.

If light is covered up, then it becomes useless, as its light then cannot be seen by anyone. It is also senseless and meaningless for light to be hidden and not be seen by anyone. Therefore, when we heard the parable that the Lord mentioned about light, it was in fact a comparison to the talents, abilities and blessings that God has given to each and every one of us. Hiding up the light is essentially keeping our talents and abilities without using them for the benefit of men.

That is what the Lord told to the people, with the intention to remind them that each and every one of them have been given plenty of blessings, talents and abilities in order to be used for the benefit and good of one another, and yet, many of them have misused those gifts and blessings. Throughout history, we have seen many circumstances and occasions when there had been suffering because of the misuse of these talents and abilities.

In addition, there had been many occasions when the people were ignorant of the sufferings and difficulties faced by their peers around them. For example, in our world today, many people who are in need, poor and suffering, and at the same time, there are all those who are very rich and having abundant blessings and yet, did nothing to help those who were less fortunate. That is why there are so much injustice in this world today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today each and every one of us are called to make use of the various gifts and blessings that we have been given, and share them with one another. That is what the Lord truly meant as He told His disciples the parable of the light, put on a lampstand to provide light to dispel the darkness that is present around us. We are called to do this, as part of what God had commanded us all to do.

Today, we celebrate the feast day of St. John Bosco, the saint well known for his dedication and hard work for the benefit of the poor and the less fortunate, in particular his work among the young boys and delinquents, who were gathered by the saint into a house where they could gain education and proper guidance with love and compassion. St. John Bosco showed love, care and compassion for those who need them the most and touched their lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to follow the examples of St. John Bosco in his dedication in serving the people of God, his love for the poor, the needy and all those who need care and attention. Let us all share the love and the blessings that God has given us so generously, so that none of us will be left unloved and uncared for anymore. Let us turn our hearts and minds wholeheartedly to the Lord from now on.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to lead and guide us down the right path, that in everything we say, do and act, we will always bring glory to God, and will love Him ever more, with each and every passing days. May God bless us all in everything, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 30 January 2019 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, as we continue the discourse regarding the High Priesthood of Christ from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we are reminded yet again of the wonders of God’s love that He has willingly sacrificed Himself, offering His own Most Precious Body and Blood as the High Priest of us all, that through this sacred and worthy offering, all of us are freed from the slavery of sin, and receive the renewed grace of God’s love.

He has made a new Covenant with each and every one of us by the outpouring of His Blood and the shedding of His Body on the altar of the cross, sanctified and sealed by that sacrifice, making a Covenant that is everlasting and unbreakable, the Covenant of love between God and His beloved people. And because of His love for us, He willingly embraced that painful and yet loving sacrifice, enduring all the sufferings for our sake, that we may live.

Yet, for all that the Lord has done for our sake, many of us are still incapable of recognising the wonderful gift of this love. And the Lord reminds us about this through the Gospel passage today, in which He told His disciples the famous parable of the sower. In that parable, the Lord told the people of a sower who sowed his seeds which fell on different types of soil and conditions, in each of which, the seeds failed to grow except for the ones that fell on the rich and fertile soil.

Those seeds that the sower spread on the soil, is the Word of God, the faith and the truth that God has brought upon us through His Church and all those who worked hard to spread the Good News and the message of the Gospels of Christ. The sower himself is the Lord, Who sowed good things in us and spread His Good News and truth in our midst, that each and every one of us may grow in our faith and become closer to Him.

Unfortunately, based on what the Lord had gone through with us through the parable, we heard how many of those seeds fell on various types of soil medium, which were not conducive for proper and healthy growth and development of the plants. First of all, the seeds that fell on the roadside were eaten up by birds and therefore did not grow, representing all those who were distracted by the many temptations of life, and chose to follow Satan and his lies instead of following the way that God has shown us.

And then those seeds that fell among thorns and thistles and were strangled by those plants, as well as those that fell on rocky ground and failed to grow deep roots and dried up, were those who had the faith in them and yet, they were unable to grow in faith as the burdens of worldly temptations and the allures of pleasure and human greed caused them to falter and fall, to be made to bow to the pressures of the expectations of our world and our community.

It is only those seeds that fell on the rich and fertile soil that managed to grow into healthy and fruitful plants that bore rich produce and returns, many multiples of what had been planted in the first place. This rich and fertile soil is in fact referring to all those who have allowed God’s words and truth to come into their midst, and not only that, but they also internalised and understood those words and their meaning, and making them integral part of their lives.

That is how the Lord’s grace, love and blessings can bear fruit within us, and make us to be bountiful and great, when we allow God to enter into our hearts and minds, and transform us completely from the inside out. And thus, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are called to love God in the same manner as He has loved us all so deeply and wonderfully, that He has laid down His own life for our sake, offering for our salvation, the perfect offering of His own Most Precious Body and Blood as our Eternal High Priest.

Let us all turn towards the Lord from now on, loving Him and devoting ourselves to Him, each and every days of our life. Let us all open our hearts and minds, to allow God to enter into our lives, changing us and transforming us to become His worthy and beloved servants, and His wonderful people from now on. May God bless us all and our every endeavours, and may He be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.