Weekday Homily

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Monday, 31 December 2018 : Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of Pope St. Silvester I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we are all reminded to keep the truth of Christ in our lives, to follow the path that God has shown us all as Christians, and not to believe in the falsehoods of the devil, the false prophets and all those who seek to mislead us into sin and destruction. In this season and time of Christmas, we ought to continue to reflect on what our faith is truly all about.

In the Gospel passage today, we listened to the beginning portion of the Holy Gospel according to St. John, we heard the same reading that is read during the Mass of Christmas Day, the narrative of the Word of God made Flesh, the Divine Word Incarnate, which used to be read at the end of the celebration of the Holy Mass as the Last Gospel. In that passage we heard how God sent His own beloved Son into the world, to be the Light of the world, and the salvation of all His people.

And through Him, we have received the fullness of truth, which He revealed to all of us, through His teachings and through the Holy Spirit, that gave us all the wisdom and understanding of what it means to become a follower of Christ, to be saved from our sins and from our fated destruction. In Him was revealed the fullness of God’s love for each and every one of us, by His own willingness to suffer and die for us on the cross, for our salvation.

The devil knows this well, and he knows that his fate and final defeat has been sealed, when the Lord conquered sin and death, by His own suffering and death on the cross, and by defeating death through the glorious resurrection from the dead. He showed all of us, that death does not have any more power over us, as long as we believe in Him, and put our trust and faith in Him, abandoning our old ways of sin and disobedience.

This is why the devil and his allies are always very busy at work, trying to subvert us and to turn us into the traps of sin that they had put into place in order to make us fall into eternal damnation together with him and his allies, the fallen angels, the demons. The devil does not want us to be saved, and this is why, he is placing in our path, many obstacles and temptations, in order to prevent us from receiving God’s saving grace.

He showed us path that is easier and more enjoyable and better than the Lord’s path, tempting us to follow him and to obey him instead of the path of the Lord. That is how we mankind fall into sin, when we allow the devil to tempt us and to turn us away from God. He is using the ego and pride, the greed and desire within our hearts and minds, to make us lose our way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded by the Lord that we ought to rediscover that love which we should have for God, because after all, despite having disobeyed and sinned against Him, but He is still willing to forgive us our sins and to be reconciled with us, as long as we are willing to turn away from those sinful and wicked ways, and return to Him with sincere and repentant hearts.

We need to realise that the path that the Lord has shown us, although it may be filled with challenges and difficulties, but that is the path that will lead us to eternal life and true joy, and not the falsehoods presented by the devil and all of his wicked schemes. We must be careful not to be swayed and tempted by all of his schemes to make us fall into damnation, and as we approach the end of this current year, do we want to continue the next year with the same attitude in life?

Today we should make the resolution for our upcoming new year, with zeal and renewed faith in God, by seeking to turn away from our past mistakes, disobedience and all things that led to sin. We should look forward to a new life and existence in God, with the desire to serve Him and to love Him with all of out hearts and with all of our strength. Today, we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Silvester I, a holy and devout servant of God, during the years immediately after the toleration and liberation of the Christian faith from the harsh persecution under the early Roman Emperors.

Pope St. Silvester I did many work in establishing a stable foundation for the Church in those years, building many important churches and facilities, some of which are still present to this very day. He helped began a new chapter in the history of the Church, and he was also influential in the maintenance and expansion of the true, Orthodox faith in the midst of growing number of heresies and falsehoods that were widespread in the Church.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should imitate the same zeal and courage, the commitment that Pope St. Silvester I had shown in embracing the enormous prospects that awaited the Church at that time, and we too should make use of the opportunity given to us by the Lord, in the coming year. Let us all devote ourselves and be faithful from now on, doing our very best to walk in the way of the Lord and love Him, each and every days of our life. Amen.

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Sunday, 30 December 2018 : Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Our Lord, with His blessed mother Mary and His foster-father St. Joseph. On this day we remember the special relationship that Our Lord and Saviour had with those who were closest to Him in His earthly existence, that is His mother who bore Him for nine months in her womb, and His foster-father who took care of Him as his own Son, despite not being his biological one.

First of all, we must understand that God Who is All-Powerful, Almighty and Infinite does not in fact need a family, for He exists before all ages and time, not created and has always been there, not bound by the natural laws and rules. To have a family is part of the natural law, and to have a parent and a child relationship, and for human beings, every family consists of the nucleus of a father and a mother, and having a child as a result of that blessed union of marriage.

Yet, God made Himself to be part of that Law, which He had given to us, being born into a family of man, the family consisting of Mary and St. Joseph, making Himself an integral part of the loving familial structure that we have just discussed earlier. That is because, He Who is God, the Son of God, did not just symbolically become Man, but taking up for Himself the full nature of Man, and thus conceived and being born in the flesh from His mother’s womb and having a family.

In the Holy Family, we see how God made Himself small and insignificant, in need of love as the Infant born and celebrated this Christmas season. He is the King of kings and Lord and Master of all the universe, and yet He chose to be a little and frail Infant in the manger, needing the protection and love from His mother Mary and from his foster-father St. Joseph. He therefore took up the full nature of man, our own nature, to show us what each and every one of us should become.

He grew up under the loving care and protection of His parents, and as the Scriptures mentioned, He listened to them and obeyed them. Through them He surely has learnt many important life skills and wisdom in life, and therefore, His humanity grew as we all had, and He became for us the model of the perfect Man, the New Adam through Whose obedience and love for God, His Father, became the source of our salvation.

Then with regards to the other members of the Holy Family, Mary shows us the role of a loving mother, who shows love, care and compassion for her Son, Who is of her own flesh and blood, having resided in her own womb for nine months. She was devoted to her Son, and took care of Him from His birth all the way throughout His life, and as we all know from the accounts of the Gospels, even to the final moments before His death on the cross.

Mary showed us the love of a mother, which she showed very generously to all especially her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. As a mother, she stood by her Son and caring for Him with love, and she also loved her husband, St. Joseph. And this same love, she has also shown to us all as well, by the virtue of us being the brothers and sisters in Christ, and in what the Lord had done, at the moment of His crucifixion, when He entrusted His mother Mary to St. John, His disciple, and vice versa.

Through that action, Mary became for us the motherly figure, our mother and loving woman who is always concerned about our own well-being. That is why, just recently she was recognised in her role as the Mother of the Church, and how she also appeared many times throughout history, in Guadalupe, in Lourdes, in Fatima and in other places, with the message and intention of calling us mankind, her children through Christ, to repent from our sins and to return to God’s grace.

Meanwhile, we must also not forget the important role that St. Joseph played in the Holy Family. As the father figure to the Lord Jesus, despite not being His biological father, but he took Him as his own legal Son, and treated Him as much as if He was his own Son. St. Joseph cared for the Lord Jesus and for Mary, as seen in his crucial presence when the time of census came, and both St. Joseph and Mary had to travel all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem in Judea.

Mary could not have made the journey on her own, and St. Joseph was therefore important in the role he played, in protecting and caring for the need of Mary and the Baby in her womb along the long and difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And even when they reached Bethlehem, their problems did not cease, as all the inns and lodgings were full, and St. Joseph must have had a very difficult time in trying to secure a place for his wife Mary to give birth, as the time for her to give birth was imminent.

For his strong sense of righteousness and commitment to God, St. Joseph was therefore known also as the Protector of the Church, as the one who stands by the Church and protecting it, just as he watched over the Holy Family, protecting the young Lord Jesus and Mary, during the times of difficulty and persecution, especially when they had to flee to Egypt to get away from the hands of king Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I am sure by now we have seen the great love that is present within the Holy Family, as each and every one of the members of the Holy Family truly have that love in them for one another. And this love is not the kind of love that we may be accustomed to, but pure, selfless and committed love that Jesus has for Mary His mother and St. Joseph, His foster-father, the love Mary had for her Son and for her husband, and the protective care and love St. Joseph had for Jesus and Mary.

And it is important that each and every one of us take the Holy Family as our example and inspiration. Each and every one of us are either a child, a son, a daughter, and can also be a father or a mother, or even grandfather, grandmother or a grandchild to our family members. And unless we follow the example of the Holy Family in their love for one another, that is when cracks and troubles can appear within our respective families.

The devil knows this very well, and this is where he is intensifying his efforts in trying to destroy the fabric and the foundation of our families. We must realise that Christian families are the very important basic units of our faith and the important part of God’s Church. In fact, each Christian families are smaller subset of the larger Church, and it is through a functioning and loving Church, that the faith is preserved well among us, God’s faithful people.

That is why the devil is busy at work trying to undermine the institution of Christian families and marriage, by making use of many temptations, pressing on us to succumb to the temptations of worldly pleasures, fornication, adultery and unfaithfulness in the family. He tempts us to be disobedient and to create problems within our families, which eventually can lead to the breakup of its integrity and structure. And once we are vulnerable, the devil and his forces will strike.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all appreciate what we have in our families, and reflect on our actions and deeds thus far as members of our respective families, be it as a father, or as a mother, as a child or grandparent or grandchild. Have we truly made our families to be like the Holy Family of Our Lord Jesus Christ, His mother Mary and His foster-father St. Joseph? If we have not done so, that is probably why there were often problems within our families.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all imitate the examples of the Holy Family in our own families, by placing God first and foremost at the centre of our family lives, and spending time together in prayer, if possible every day. For a family that prays and works together, God will be in their midst and will become the anchor of the family. And that is also when, true love will bloom within the family, and when the true, selfless and unconditional love between the members of the family will flourish, and not the selfishness often found in our world today.

Let us pray, that our Christian families will remain strong and faithful amidst the challenges and difficulties we may encounter in life. May all of us continue to model ourselves on the Holy Family, and imitate the great love present in the Holy Family, in our own families. May God bless us all and our families, and keep us all in His loving grace. Amen.

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Saturday, 29 December 2018 : Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas, Memorial of St. Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the Law and the commandments of God, His precepts that He has revealed and given to us, for our benefit and for our salvation. God has given us this Law to guide us and to help us on our way, that we can remain strong in our faith, and not be lost to the sways and the temptations of the world, the temptations and pressures for us to sin.

God intends for us to be reconciled with Him, and to be with Him once again, in His grace. He presented before us the way to Himself, and reminding us again and again, to obey Him and to listen to Him, and through those, He guided us through the perilous and difficult path towards His salvation, and many amongst us fell into the traps of sin, the temptations of the devil who is always constantly at work trying to pull us into damnation.

Unfortunately, as history had shown, despite the laws and commandments that God had given to His people, but many among them failed to understand and appreciate the real purpose and meaning of the Law. The most obvious example was shown in the Gospels, as the actions and philosophy of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at the time of the Lord Jesus showed us. Those people claimed to be faithful, righteous and devout before others, but in reality, they were not.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law championed the way that required the people of God to live following a very strict and harsh application of the laws of Moses, where the people were expected to obey all the commandments, the precepts, the rules and regulations that were written in the Book of the Torah, as preserved from the time of Moses, the traditions and customs that were added along the way by the elders up to that time.

Yet, despite having outwardly showed piety and devotion to God, but in their hearts and minds, they did not give place to God. That was why, at the same time, many among them refused to listen to the Lord’s truth, when He came into their midst, even performing miracles and speaking words of God’s wisdom, revealing before them what the prophets had once spoken about, all being fulfilled in Christ.

That was because of the pride and ego that were in their hearts, which filled them up and prevented them from opening their hearts to God’s love. For they did obey the Law and follow the precepts of God, but they did so without knowing what the Law is actually all about. And the Law is in fact, all about love, just as Christ has revealed before us all, through His disciples. The essence and the heart of the Law is love, loving God and then loving one another.

And God is love, and He gave us the perfect example of His love, by giving us the perfect and best gift that nothing can surpass. He gave us His beloved Son, Who willingly emptied Himself from glory and majesty, and taking up the humble appearance of Man, born in the poorest conditions, in a dirty stable in Bethlehem, as a King Who was to save His people, and yet not with the power of arms and might, but with love, love that surpasses everything else.

That is why He presented before us, what the Law truly means, that is first and foremost, love for God, like the love which Christ as the Son has for His Father, as example for each and every one of us to follow. Instead of loving ourselves and being selfish, He emptied Himself and gave Himself so completely for the love of God His Father, and for the love He has for each and every one of us. He bore all the sufferings and pains, all of our sins, so that by His suffering and death, we may live.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings and what we have just discussed, all spoke of how we should follow the Law of God, with understanding and appreciation of its meaning and purpose, by doing what the Lord Himself had shown us. We must first of all, love God with all of our strength, with all of our ability, and place Him as the first and foremost in our respective lives. And then, we must also love our fellow brethren in the same way, and as much as we love ourselves.

It is when we do not do this, but instead succumb to the temptations of our pride, ego and greed, that we end up sinning against God. Today, we celebrate the feast of a saint, whose devotion and love for God, whose faith and commitment to serve Him, caused him to suffer and to die in martyrdom when he stood by his faith against those who sought to attack the Church and who wished to follow their own ego, pride and greed.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Thomas Becket, a famous saint and bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, the Primate of England, the most important bishop and leader of the Church in the British isles. St. Thomas Becket, prior to his reign as the Archbishop of Canterbury, was once a powerful noble, who was a good and close friend to king Henry II of England, and was appointed as the Chancellor of England, a position that is probably just second to the king in the secular realm.

King Henry II then appointed St. Thomas Becket as the Archbishop of Canterbury, hoping that keeping the highest ranked clergy in his realm close to him, as one of his closest confidants, the king and his fellow nobles could benefit financially and from other collaborations because of this appointment. However, little did king Henry II realised or could have predicted that St. Thomas Becket had a change of heart and conversion after taking up the role of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Amidst the struggle and controversies between the Church and the state, especially with matters of state jurisdiction and control over the Church, and the appropriation of properties and the right of nobles and the king over the Church matters, St. Thomas Becket stood up for his fellow churchmen, and defended the rights of the Church against the egoistic and corrupt desires of the nobility and the king.

As a result, the growing tension between the Archbishop and the king eventually resulted in the action taken by four nobles with tacit support from the king, in assassinating St. Thomas Becket right at his Cathedral, and thus making him a martyr of the Church, who died defending his faith and the rights of the Church of God, against those who sought to attack it for corrupt purposes.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have seen how St. Thomas Becket went through a conversion of heart and being, from one who lived his life of pleasure and debauchery, into a courageous and committed defender of the faith, who did not fear even going against the mighty and the powerful in his love for God and for His people, the flock whose souls were entrusted under his care. We too can follow in his examples and imitate his commitment to the Lord.

Today therefore, let us all reflect on our own lives, and see in which area that we have failed to live up to our expectation to observe the Law of God, not just in words and in paying lip service like what many of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, king Henry II and his nobles had done, but with pure and genuine love for God as St. Thomas Becket and many other holy men and women of God had done. May the Lord be with us all, and bless us in our effort to live more worthily of Him, day after day. Amen.

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Friday, 28 December 2018 : Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Innocents, one of the earliest martyrs in the Church, for those innocents were the young infants of the town of Bethlehem, who was killed by the order of king Herod the Great of Judea, in his futile effort to try to destroy the coming Messiah and King, as written in the Holy Gospels and prophesied in the Old Testament by the prophets.

The Holy Innocents were the victims of human greed, ego and pride, the outcome of man’s attachment to worldly glory and the temptations of the world. I am sure that some of us may have wondered, why God allowed those infants in Bethlehem to be killed. Surely he could have intervened and prevented the infants from being killed? But this is where we need to understand that, the cause of this sad tragedy, was our attachments to sin and our refusal to obey God’s will.

God gave each and every one of us free will and the wisdom to discern His will. Yet, by our own conscious choice and abuse of our freedom, we chose to be selfish and to entertain the wicked temptations which Satan put in our place, as obstacles in our way towards the Lord. Throughout the history of mankind, there had been countless occasions when people suffered, because of the tyranny of those who had power, glory, prestige and superiority over others.

For this particular case on the Holy Innocents, we should also understand the context and the reason why king Herod did what he had done, in the slaughter of the innocent infants of Bethlehem. King Herod the Great was the first king and the founder of the Herodian dynasty of kings who would rule Judea, Galilee and parts of southern Syria, which at that time, just came under the rule and domination of the mighty Roman Empire.

King Herod took over control of Judea from the previous native, Jewish dynasty of the Hasmoneans, descendants of the Maccabees, who were the ones that won the independence of Judea from foreign rule, as written in the Book of the Maccabees. King Herod took over power by deceit and with support from the Romans, who made Herod some sort of a client king, who had some authority and autonomy over Judea, but ultimately had to submit to the Romans. Herod himself was not a Jew, but an Idumean.

Herod therefore, was insecure in his power and kingdom, and therefore, the news of the coming of the King among the Jewish people, was a very bad news for him. As a foreigner ruling as king over the Jewish population, he would have felt even more insecure with this revelation, and of the Three Wise Men who came to him saying that the King of Kings would be born in Bethlehem in the territory of his kingdom.

This is why, combined with Herod’s own megalomania and grandeur, as he was known for his many huge building projects, including vast expansion of the Temple of Jerusalem and a building named after himself, the Herodium, it would be natural for Herod to want the King of Kings to be killed as a rival to his power and authority. Yet, we have to understand that he clearly had a choice in this matter. He had it within his free will and choice not to do what was so abominable and wicked as killing innocent children, but he did it nonetheless.

And why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because of his selfishness, his inability to detach himself from his pride and ego, and his greed for power. He did not want to allow a rival King to emerge, someone who might snatch the kingdom, power and glory that was in his hands. And unfortunately, this was the same reason why many of us mankind, throughout history had done, and caused untold sufferings and pains for countless others.

Therefore, today as we celebrate this feast of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, all of us are called to reflect on our vulnerabilities to the temptations of pride and greed in our own lives, and how we can fall deep into the trap of sin should we indulge ourselves in them as Herod had done. Unless we consciously choose to resist those temptations, it is likely that we will cause sufferings and pains to others just as king Herod had done to the innocent infants of Bethlehem, all to satisfy his pride, ego and megalomania.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, during this blessed Christmas season, are we able to devote ourselves to God with a new strength and zeal? Are we willing to resist the pull and the temptation of worldly desires and to get rid of ourselves the pride and ego within our hearts and minds? Let us all instead turn towards God and follow the selfless example of Christ in everything we say, act and do, so that from now on, we are no longer living in sin, but in the grace of God. May God be with us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 December 2018 : Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if yesterday we celebrated the feast of the first martyr or protomartyr of the Church, St. Stephen, then today, the second day after Christmas we celebrate the feast of another great disciple of Christ, namely St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. St. John was one of the Twelve Apostles together with his brother St. James the Greater and also one of the four Evangelists who wrote the Holy Gospels.

St. John was one of the closest disciples of the Lord, who was often present at the many important events in the life and ministry of Our Lord, such as the Transfiguration, the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the resurrection of the daughter of the synagogue official Jairus, and many others. He was also one of the two Apostles, together with St. Peter, as mentioned in the Gospel passage today, who went immediately to the tomb where the Body of the Lord had been buried after His crucifixion, when they heard of the Lord’s resurrection.

St. John was also the author of the Epistle from which we heard our first reading passage today about God’s love being present in our midst, and He also wrote the Book of the Revelations, in which he wrote all that he had seen in the heavenly visions of what was to come, about the end of time, when Christ is to come again in glory to judge all the living and the dead. St. John received these visions towards the end of his life, when he was exiled in the island of Patmos in what is today Greece.

St. John was the only one among the Twelve Apostles who did not suffer death in martyrdom for his faith, but instead, died in a very old age many decades after the resurrection of the Lord, likely the last of the Apostles to depart from this world. His works through the Gospel and the Epistles he wrote, his life and ministry among the people of God were essential in the early years of the Church, in strengthening the faith of those who lived in persecution. St. John himself endured many persecutions and exiles, and was likely imprisoned many times for his dedication to God.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, because we are all called through God’s Church, to imitate the examples, the faith and the dedication which St. John had in the Lord. St. John stayed by the Lord even when all the other disciples fled at the moment when Jesus was betrayed by Judas and handed over to the Sanhedrin. He followed Him with Mary, the mother of God, all the way through to Calvary and was at the foot of the cross with her.

And St. John was the one to whom the Lord Jesus entrusted His mother Mary, at the moment just before He was about to give up His Spirit and die, and at the same time, He also entrusted St. John to the care of Mary, to be her own son. In this case, St. John represents all of us humanity, which God has entrusted to be under the care of His mother, Mary; to be our mother as well, and Mary has been entrusted to us, as our beloved mother.

Today, this mission which the Lord Jesus entrusted to His disciples, and especially to St. John the Apostle, remain in us, that each and every one of us, first and foremost must love God, and must have that living and true faith in us, as St. John himself had throughout his life. And we are also called to love His mother, Mary, who is also our mother, for if we love the Son, we must definitely also love the Mother, and vice versa.

Have we, in our respective lives, showed this faith and love that we ought to have for God? If we have not done so, then during this time and season of Christmas, it is imperative that we rediscover this love and devotion which we must have for God. Otherwise, I am afraid that we still have not yet understood the true meaning of Christmas. For Christmas is the embodiment of God’s infinite and boundless love for us, that He chose to come into this world as one of our own, and to suffer and die for the sake of our salvation.

Let us all seek to grow deeper in our love for God and in our faith and devotion in Him. After all, He has loved us first, so much, despite of our constant disobedience and refusal to love Him. He is always ever patient, wanting us to return to Him and to be reconciled with Him. Let us also ask for the intercession of St. John, His beloved Apostle and also His mother Mary, that we mankind, all of us who are sinners, may come to find peace in God, and grow to love Him more and more with each and every passing day. May God bless us and our Christmas joy. Amen.

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Wednesday, 26 December 2018 : Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the day after the Christmas day, every year, we celebrate the feast of the holy Protomartyr, St. Stephen. St. Stephen was one of the original seven deacons chosen by the Church, to be ministers to God’s people, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and he was a person filled with grace, and with wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit. In the Acts of the Apostles, the story of his last stand and defence for the faith, and his martyrdom were written, how he eloquently stood up for the Lord before his accusers, and accepted death with faith.

We must be wondering why is it that in such a time and season filled with joy and celebration that is this Christmas, then suddenly just right the day after the glorious and joyous day that is Christmas itself, then we are celebrating the feast of a great martyr of the faith, whose account of his suffering and death was truly one that is terrible and painful at the same time. He was falsely accused by his enemies and all those who sought to silence him, and was stoned to death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the reason why we celebrate the painful death of a great martyr of the Church, the first to be martyred after the foundation of the Church, and hence, St. Stephen’s title of protomartyr, is because we must remember, that Christmas in itself, all the joy and celebration associated with it, is far more than all the revelries and celebrations that we often associate with Christmas, in how this world celebrate Christmas.

In truth, as we all should have known, Christmas is all about Christ and His coming into this world, with a special mission, and that is the salvation of us all. He is God, Who willingly embraced us mankind, by humbling Himself to take up the form and appearance of Man, being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of His mother Mary. He was born into this world, God Who became incarnate into Man, Son of God and Son of Man, two distinct and yet inseparable natures, in the person of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

It is this truth which St. Stephen had to suffer and die for, the truth that the Messiah has come, as God Himself, incarnate in the flesh, fully God and yet at the same time also fully Man. He proclaimed before the people gathered, the truth about the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Whom they have rejected and crucified, and yet, Whom St. Stephen proclaimed to be the Saviour that God had promised His people, and Who had not died, but rose from the dead into His heavenly glory.

The Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and many of those who refused to believe in Christ and His truth, were angered by St. Stephen’s wisdom and revelation before them, his stand for his faith and for his God and Saviour, even when faced with a certainty of death amidst the throng and many people who wanted his death for the supposed blasphemy. St. Stephen courageously stood by his faith and became inspiration for countless generations of Christians even to this very day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we continue to progress through the season of Christmas, we ought to reflect on the life and the works of St. Stephen, his love for God and his courageous stand for his faith in Him. How can St. Stephen have that courage to stand before his many accusers and all those who were obviously hostile against him and his faith in God? That was because St. Stephen had great faith and love for God.

He truly believed in the salvation which Christ had brought with Him, Who emptied Himself of all glory and majesty, to suffer a most painful death on the cross, all for the sake of the salvation of us, His beloved people. And although St. Stephen knew that the people who went up against him were unlikely to listen to him, but he did what he could, and what he must do, in proclaiming the truth about the Messiah.

In the end, conversion did come for some among them, most importantly and prominently, St. Paul the Apostle, whom in his previous persona of Saul, was one of those who stoned St. Stephen to death. God called Saul, and he went through conversion to the faith, and became like St. Stephen, in devoting the rest of his life to God, and suffered martyrdom in Rome for his courageous faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should realise that Christmas is a reminder for us, that we are all those who believe in God, Who came into this world as a Man, as a Child born in the town of Bethlehem, Who has come to save the world, and yet many refused to believe in Him, persecuted and rejected Him as well as His disciples and followers. Throughout the history of the Church, many thousands and more have suffered from their devotion and faith to God, even to this very day.

Therefore, let us all pray, that our brethren in faith who are still constantly persecuted for their faith in various parts of the world, will remain strong in their commitment to God, and will not fall away from the faith. And let us also remain strong and committed ourselves, in our faith, by living our lives with true love and sincere faith in God, by sharing our Christmas joy with one another, especially with those who are in need and are suffering.

St. Stephen, holy martyr of the Church, the first of those in the Church who died because of your faith in God, pray for us all sinners, pray for each and every one of us, that by your intercession, we too may be strengthened in faith, and that we may live our lives ever more faithfully and ever closer to God, our loving Father. Amen.

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Tuesday, 25 December 2018 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after the long wait and expectation during the Advent season, today finally we come to the great celebration and joy that is Christmas, celebrating together as the whole Church, the occasion of the birth or the nativity, of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world and all of us. Today marks the day when more than two millennia ago, our Saviour was born in a stable just outside the small town of Bethlehem, as prophesied throughout the Scriptures.

On this day, we remember and rejoice at the moment when the world that has been enslaved for a long time by the power of sin and death, in darkness and separated from God’s grace and love finally saw the Light of its salvation, as Our Lord and King, in Whom lies our salvation, has come at last, fulfilling His promises and the Covenant He had made with us, from the beginning of time, all because of His love for each and every one of us.

It is the essence of true joy and love that is in Christmas, that the Scripture passages today have described His coming into the world, the Saviour Who is the Lord, His Word, the Son, Who is equal, consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, has taken up the flesh and appearance of Man, of us all, and uniting it to His divinity, that after nine months in His mother’s womb, just as all other men spend nine months in their mother’s womb, He was born and revealed into the world.

That is why, Jesus Christ Our Lord, born and celebrated on this Christmas day, more than two millennia ago, is both God and Man, united in His person, one person with two distinct and yet inseparable natures, Man and Divine. The One Who was born and celebrated in Christmas is not just a Man, for then His birth would have been an ordinary one among other births, and neither is He just a Divine, for how can God be born from man? Yet, this is the mystery of the Incarnation, that God willingly took up the fullness of man’s essence and appearance.

God chose to be born into this world, so that through His incarnation, He unites us all in our humanity, to His own humanity, and by sharing in the humanity of Christ, we share also in His obedience to the will of His Father, through which, He completed the mission which was given to Him, the salvation of mankind by His suffering and death on the cross. On the cross, the earthly mission of Christ that began with Christ, is completed.

Today, on Christmas day, we all ought to reflect on the great love which God has for each and every one of us. All of us are God’s most beloved, the pinnacle of all the things that He had created. He created us in nothing less than His own image, and gave us His Spirit and Wisdom. We have been intended to live in eternal bliss and joy with our God, but instead, we were overcome by pride and greed, tempted by Satan and fell into sin.

We should have suffered annihilation and destruction because of our sins, but this is where God’s love for us is so significant and powerful. He still loves us despite of our rebelliousness and refusal to appreciate His love and mercy. Sins of mankind do not change the fact that He loves us, for that is why He created us in the first place. If His love for us is not there, then there is no reason for us to be created in the first place.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Christmas celebrates this love of God made Man, coming down upon us as the tangible and perfect show of His love for each and every one of us. In all of history we have seen how men are trying to be great, powerful and mighty, to become like God. That is how Satan made us fall, by drawing us to the pride, ego and greed that are within our hearts and minds.

But in this only occasion, of Christmas, we see for ourselves how God, the Lord and Almighty Master of all the universe, willingly humbled Himself and emptied Himself from all glory and majesty, that He, the Creator, out of love for us, assume the form of one of His own creation, in order to save us from our sins. He came into our midst, that we may share in His life, His suffering and death. He gathered our sins to Himself, and by offering, as the Eternal High Priest for all of us, His own Body and Blood, He brought for us eternal life and salvation.

That is why, just as we celebrate Christmas, we cannot forget that Christmas itself is linked very closely to another great feast of the Church, that is Easter. Without Easter there is no meaning to Christmas, and without Christmas, the celebration of Easter is not complete. And in that, we have received the revelation about the truth of God’s salvation, that He offered Himself on the altar of the cross, to be the source of atonement for our sins.

Unfortunately, as we see all around us, Christmas is getting more and more disconnected from its true purpose and reason. It is very sad to take note that while Christmas is the most popular celebration that is associated with our Christian faith, yet, at the same time, it is also the one that is most secularised in most of the celebrations we see around us. In many occasions, God is entirely absent and ignored in the Christmas celebrations and revelries, and the joy has become associated with materialism and human greed instead.

This is truly a sad state of affairs for us, brothers and sisters in Christ, as even many of us Christians are also celebrating Christmas in this manner. Many of us have been swayed by the temptations of the secular and worldly joys of Christmas, in all the merchandises, merrymaking and all the things that have become excessive, and unfortunately, also affecting us in how we celebrate our Christmas joy.

The truth is that, at Christmas, God is coming into our midst, and if we reflect on what has happened two millennia ago, we will be truly ashamed by many of our attitudes, our ambivalence and lack of interest in celebrating the true Christmas in our own communities and families. When Christ was about to be born in Bethlehem, have we noticed how so many of the inns and places where He could have come and stayed in, and be born in, were full or refused to accept Him? In the end, He had to be born in a dirty stable not even fit for human beings to be present in.

That, brothers and sisters in Christ, is a reflection of many of our hearts and minds, that have become so full of pride, greed and all other things that prevented us from being able to accept Him in our hearts, in our minds and into our beings. While God’s love for us is so great and vast, that He was willing to do everything, even to the point of humbling and emptying Himself to be born in such a state, and later on to suffer and die for us, but many of us have not loved Him in the same manner.

Instead, we love the temptations of power, of glory, of pleasure, of greed and of other things that are present in this world. We love all the merrymaking and all the excesses of the celebrations, we worry more about how we are going to show off our vanity and wealth to each other, boast about the gifts we are to receive and even what we are giving to others, instead of remembering why is it that we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, we are called to return to the true roots of our Christmas joy and celebration, that is by putting Christ once again in the centre of all of our merrymaking, celebrations and joy. We are called to remember the love by which we have been generously given by God, our loving Father and Creator. Then, we are also called to show the same love in our actions and interactions with those who are around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the true joy of our Christmas should be shared with those who have little or no opportunity to be joyful in this blessed time of Christmas. We should be sensitive to their plight, and be moved to help them just as the Lord had shown the same love and compassion towards us. And that is how we appreciate and live the true joy of Christmas, not the excesses and selfish desire to satisfy our own ego and pride and greed, but in the sharing of our joys and blessings.

Today, let us open our hearts and minds, with a renewed faith and love, day after day, from now on, that we will no longer close ourselves from God Who is willing to enter into our lives. Let us all turn towards Him filled with a newfound love for Him, and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord. May the Lord, Who was born into our midst more than two thousand years ago, in the town of Bethlehem, because of His great love for us, continue to love us all, and that we may also love Him in the same manner, from now on. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 24 December 2018 : 4th Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the joy of the expectation of God’s coming glory and salvation for His people, as we are about to celebrate the vigil of Christmas tonight. Today, the Scripture readings help us to reflect on the true joy of Christmas, that is the expectation of the coming of the salvation in our God, Who has come into the world, in the person of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Heir of David and Messiah or Saviour of all.

In the first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the conversation between the prophet Nathan and king David of Israel, during the latter years of his reign, after God has helped him to defeat all of his enemies and conquered the neighbouring peoples who once were threats to the Israelites. David wondered why he was housed in a magnificent palace, and yet, God’s Ark of the Covenant, remained in a tent, the Holy Tent of Meeting.

So David wanted to build a house for God, a Temple, for the Ark to be placed inside, as the sign of God’s presence among His people. He presented his plans before the prophet Nathan, but God had a different plan in His will, which He revealed through Nathan to David. David would not be the one to build a house for Him, but rather a son of his, who would reign after him, would be the one to build a house for Him.

This seems to be fulfilled by the son of David, king Solomon, who built for God a great Temple, known in history as the Temple of Solomon, built from the finest material and consecrated with a great ceremony, as written in the Book of Kings. The Ark of the Covenant was brought into the Temple, and God’s glory and presence entered into the Temple, filling it, and ever since then, until the destruction of the Temple in the year 586 BC by the Babylonians, God was present among His people Israel.

But the Lord in fact also alluded to the promise which He has made to David, that his house and descendants will reign forever, and his kingdom will never end. This was fulfilled because one of the descendants of David, through Joseph, his direct descendant and heir after many generations, was none other than the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man, Heir of David and his kingdom.

Jesus Himself mentioned before the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, how He would destroy the Temple in three days and then rebuild it again, alluding to Himself as the true Temple of God’s glory and presence. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did not understand this, and thought that it would have been impossible for Jesus to tear down the physical Temple of Jerusalem, the second temple built at the site, by the priest and prophet Ezra and later enlarged by king Herod.

The Lord Jesus Himself is the one and only Temple of God, for by His incarnation, He took up for Himself a human existence in the flesh, that in His person, is united two distinct and yet indivisible persona of the divine and the man, His divinity and His humanity, perfectly united in His person, Our Lord Jesus Christ, both Son of God and Son of Man. He is the Heir of David, and as God said to David through Nathan, his heir would be the one to build the Temple for God, and this was fulfilled completely in Christ.

Thus, at that time, king David could only anticipate and look forward for the coming of the Lord, which he could not witness during his own time, and yet, through the Holy Spirit, was told to him. The Messiah, God’s Saviour would be born into his house, among his descendants. And that coming of the Messiah was awaited by all those who have been enthralled by sin, that is all of us mankind.

Then, Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist was the one whom we heard from in the Gospel passage today, in his song, inspired and filled by the Holy Spirit, also known as the Canticle of Zechariah. It was a song expressing a great joy, of knowing that the Messiah Who has been long expected and awaited by God’s people, was finally about to come, and how great Zechariah’s joy, of being able to witness that glorious event, and having his own son as the herald for the coming of the Messiah.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what the Scripture readings today presented us, is the great joy that accompanies our celebration of Christmas, not because of all the parties, shopping and goods, all of the merchandises and Santa Claus, as well as any other secular and materialistic celebrations of Christmas, but instead that hope and light that had come with the coming of Christ into this world, that through Him, all of us who believe in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Let us all today, as we finish our preparation to welcome Christ into our midst this Christmas, turn towards God with all of our strength and with all of our hearts and minds focused on Him. Let us celebrate this Christmas with Christ Himself at the centre of our celebrations and as the source of our great joy. Let us all have a meaningful Christmas, knowing that through Him, we can hope again and receive eternal life and glory from Him Who loves us all.

May the Lord bless us and our Christmas joy, and may all of us come to greater realisation of the true meaning and importance of Christmas for each and every one of us. Amen.

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Sunday, 23 December 2018 : Fourth Sunday of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this fourth and last Sunday of Advent, as we approach the coming of Christmas in just two days’ time, we are all called to put our focus and attention to the purpose and true meaning of Christmas, that is essentially the great and never-ending love that God has for each one of us. Love is the centre theme of Christmas, without which, there would not have been Christmas, and without it, we would have no hope.

The love of God has made possible our salvation, for His love was so great that despite the disobedience that we mankind have committed again and again, our sins and wickedness, God is still willing to forgive us and to welcome us back into His loving embrace, if only that we are willing to be forgiven, and willing to do what is necessary in order to be loved again, by our sincere and genuine repentance.

God created each and every one of us because He loved us, and He wants to share that love in Him with us, so that all of us may forever enjoy the fullness of His love. That is why, we were never intended to suffer or perish in this world, but the fact that suffering exists, is because of our own refusal to listen to God and to obey Him. We have willingly chosen to follow Satan and his lies, rather than to trust in the love that God has shown us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all like children who have gone wayward and become lost from the loving embrace of our father, that is God, Who is ever patient and ever loving towards us, despite our rebelliousness. And God, knowing that the consequences of sin, is of eternal separation between Him and us, our suffering and damnation in hell, He wants to save us all, and that was why, He gave us the perfect gift of His love this Christmas.

The cure for disobedience is perfect obedience, and that was why, He gave us His only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Divine Word, Who willingly took up our human existence, and become one like us, and by the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, was conceived in the womb of His mother, Mary, and was born into this world. His birth, which we celebrate as Christmas, marked the dawn and the coming of a new era of hope.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in every ages and throughout time, we have seen many men and women, who desired to be like God and to be gods. That, was exactly how we mankind first fell, because of our pride and greed, which Satan manipulated and made use of, tempting our ancestors with the temptation of knowledge and power, to become like God and to disobey God and instead following their own desires.

We have seen people who wanted to accumulate for them more power and glory, and in their actions, in the feeding of their personal desires, they caused the pain and sufferings of others. That is how sin continues to reign over us, as there is often no real love in us, but selfishness, greed and pride in our hearts that prevented us from being able to know and understand the pure love that is God’s love.

But this is where Christ came into our midst, bearing the fullness of God’s love, and the truth about His love for each and every one of us. His love for God, His Father and His complete obedience to His will, became for us the source of our salvation. He, Who is both fully God and fully Man, willingly took up our sins and the punishments due for those sins, as He was condemned to death for us, and bore the cross of our sins to His death.

And unlike the offerings of animals in the burnt offerings prescribed by the laws of Moses and Israel, for the temporary atonement for the sins of man, the offering that Christ offered willingly, His own Self, in the Flesh and Blood, the perfect sacrifice in atonement for all of our sins. He is our Eternal High Priest, Whose amazing and unfathomable love for us, has brought about our reconciliation with God.

Unlike those men I mentioned earlier, who aspired to be lords and kings, and even gods, desiring power and glory for themselves, here, we have the Almighty, All-Powerful and glorious God, King of all kings and Lord of all lords, Who willingly emptied Himself of all His glory and majesty, taking up our humble human existence, born in the poorest conditions available, in a place not even fit for human residence, and suffered death in the most humiliating way possible, all just that through His loving sacrifice, He can save us from our fated destruction due to sin.

And so, today, we should reflect deeper on just how great and amazing God’s love for us is. He has done everything for our sake, and He has loved us all so selflessly, even to the point of suffering all things and the worst of humiliations so that He can save us. But sadly, many of us have not realised or even ignored this love which God has shown us. We hardened our hearts and minds, and refused to accept God’s generous love and mercy.

We do not have to go far to see how this unfolds. We see how many of our Christmas celebrations, parties and revelries have little mention or even none of Christ in them. Many of us have followed the secular way of how Christmas has been celebrated, with plenty of merrymaking, but yet, Christ is not present in them all. Christ has been sidelined in our Christmas joy and celebrations, and as a result, instead of celebrating the true joy of Christmas, we are actually succumbing to the pride and desires in our hearts and minds.

We spent so much time trying to outdo one another in our Christmas parties, decorations and other celebrations, and yet, we forget that Christ is the One Who should be the focus and the centre of our joyous celebrations, and nothing else. And this is how Satan is trying very hard to distract us and to prevent us from finding our way towards the Lord, placing obstacles, temptations and barriers on our way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have discussed just how great God’s love is for us, and yet, many of us have not reciprocated that love, and we have not appreciated the vastness of God’s magnanimity, His merciful heart and compassionate love, ever ready to welcome us back to Himself, should we desire to be forgiven and to be reconciled. But sin has always been in the way, and the more we turn ourselves to the many temptations of the world, especially the secular celebrations of Christmas, the further we may fall away from God.

This time of Christmas, let us all have a change of attitude, in our hearts and in our minds. Let us all turn towards God with a new commitment to love Him and to serve Him. Let us remember just how much He loved us, that He willingly emptied Himself of His glory, born as a simple Man, in a poor family, and later on, to be rejected and crucified for our sake. As St. John wrote in his Gospel, the Lord’s own words, “that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that all who believed in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the true essence and the true joy of Christmas, that we should realise and know from now on. Instead of worrying about the celebrations, about what we are to wear or about how we are to enjoy ourselves this Christmas, how about we reflect instead on the love of God, and then, show that same love in our actions? There are many people out there, our brethren, who are not able to celebrate Christmas for various reasons.

And even in our midst, surely there are those who are poor and needy, who cannot even worry about all the revelries and parties, for they struggle to make their own ends meet, each and every single day of their lives. We are called to be generous in sharing our joy and love, imitating the examples of none other than the Lord Jesus Himself, Who shared His vast and unfathomable love with us, by His incarnation and willing entry into this world, to be with us and to save us.

Therefore, let us all celebrate a more meaningful Christmas this year, and from now on, no longer selfishly focusing on ourselves and our greed, or all the materialistic and hedonistic ways of the world, but instead, live up the true spirit of Christmas, that is selfless and unconditional love, which God has first shown us, and which now we ought to show in our own lives. May God bless us all, and may He bless our Christmas joy, that we may celebrate it meaningfully, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 22 December 2018 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages which told us of the joy which came for two women mentioned in the Bible, one from the Old Testament, while the other one was from the time of the New Testament. The first one was Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, while the second one was none other than Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.

Hannah was once a barren woman who was unable to conceive a child with her husband, while the other wife of her husband was able to conceive many children. Hannah was desperate because, we have to understand that in the customs and traditions of the ancient people of Israel, children are blessings from God, and the absence of children and a woman’s barrenness were considered signs that someone did not have God’s blessings or were cursed.

Hannah prayed before God and asked for His favour, and God listened to her prayers, and before long, she conceived a son, Samuel, and promised to consecrate him to God’s service, as we heard in today’s first reading, at the time when Hannah consecrated her son to God, to the service of God at His Temple. And later on, God would bless Hannah with even more children, as the sign of the end of her period of mourning and sorrow, and sign of God’s love and blessing for His faithful ones.

Meanwhile, in the Gospel passage today, we heard of the great joy that Mary expressed through her song of praise, the Magnificat, being inspired by the Holy Spirit in her. Her joy was because of what she has herself witnessed, in the same miraculous deed that God has done among His people, when her cousin Elizabeth, in her old age, having been barren for so many years, suddenly conceived by the will and power of God, as He revealed to them by His Angel.

And even more so, the baby conceived within Elizabeth and Mary each, would become the fulfilment of God’s long promised salvation for all of His people. St. John the Baptist, Elizabeth’s son, was the one who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah, or God’s Saviour, by calling on the people to repent from their sins and be baptised as a sign of their readiness to welcome God Who was coming into their midst.

And of course, Mary bore within her, by the will of the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Divine Word of God, the Son of God Who took upon Himself the form and fullness of humanity, the One promised for all the ages past, and the hope for humanity’s salvation and liberation from sin. Mary therefore, essentially expressed the great joy that came upwelling from humanity’s desire to be reconciled with God and to see the hope of God.

We have heard today, all the great deeds that God has done for His people throughout the ages past, and there were many other wonderful deeds He has done, for our sake. Yet, we should realise that in many occasions, God has often been overlooked, and especially what should have been the great celebration of joy in the thanksgiving for God’s love, in Christmas, have frequently been overtaken by commercial and selfish desires, as well as by human greed.

As we quickly approach the time of Christmas and the ending of our Advent season, we really should ask ourselves, again and again in order to remind us, what is the true meaning of Christmas for each and every one of us? Is it for us to enjoy the festivities, eat rich and plentiful of food and beverages, or to wear glamorous costumes and dresses? Or is it for us to know better and appreciate better just how great God’s love is for us?

That is why it is important that we get our focus on the Christmas joy and celebrations right, or else, we may end up missing the point about Christmas altogether. Christmas is about the joyful celebration of God’s generous and never-ending love, that He gave everything for us, by granting us the perfect and new hope in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, through Whom our salvation was assured, by His suffering and death on the cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today spend time to reflect on our lives and on what we have done so far in order to prepare ourselves for Christmas. If we have not done our preparation right until now, there is still time for us to go through a profound change in attitude and way of how we live our lives and how we will celebrate the true joy of Christmas from now on.

Let us turn towards God with a new heart, filled with love for Him, and dedicate ourselves, day after day, in celebration of His eternal love for each and every one of us. May the Lord, our loving God and Father, continue to love us, and bless us, every days and every moments of our life. Amen.