Weekday Homily

by

Saturday, 1 December 2018 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we come to the last day of our current liturgical year, we are yet again reminded of the importance to be always ready and be prepared to expect the coming of the Lord and the time of reckoning, which the Lord alone knows when in the exact time and age. We have to live our lives with faith, and devote ourselves, every single days of our life, to serve the Lord and to follow His will.

In the Gospel reading today, we heard from the Lord Jesus Himself warning His disciples and the people to always be on the watch of their attitudes, behaviours and actions, that they do not act foolishly or give in to the temptations of their earthly desires and the pride and ego in their hearts and minds. He reminded them of the threats and the snares of the devil that are always present in our midst, trying to pull us away from God.

The devil is always trying to tempt us with many forms of pressures, temptations and allures, more often than not, showing us the false sense of security found in his path. The path of worldliness often lead us into that form of happiness, satisfaction and pleasure, but it does not show us where the path truly leads to in the end, and that is, eternal suffering, pain and despair, when totally sundered from God’s grace and love in hell, we regret for eternity our choice.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why we need to remember that the Lord’s path, while it may seem to be not as appealing, not as easy, and not as smooth as the path which Satan is showing us as an alternative, but in the end, it leads to nothing less than eternity of happiness and true joy with God, in His presence and grace, forever and ever. This is what we have heard in our first reading passage today, from the Book of Revelations when the Angel of God showed St. John what was to be in the life that is to come with God.

Today, all of us are reminded of this reality in our life, and of the choice which we indeed need to make in our respective lives, on whether we want to obey the Lord and walk in His ways, or whether we prefer instead to follow the seemingly easier, less challenging and more pleasurable path as shown to us by the devil. We are called to make a stand and to choose the path we are to take, and we should indeed not tarry in making a decision.

Why is that so? That is because our time on earth, as we are all should be aware of, is limited, and God alone knows when each and every one of us are to give an account of our life before Him. Each one of us have different span of life, different experiences and paths in life, and it is prudent that we should be ever ready to face the reckoning of our lives. We should not wait, while the opportunity is available, lest it may be too late for us to change our ways, and we regret.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, day after day, God is always reminding us through the Church, through His servants, our priests and bishops, through even our family members, relatives, friends and all those whom we encounter in our daily living, to be faithful to Him and to follow His ways and examples. We should not ignore these sometimes quiet promptings from our God, Who loves each and every one of us.

Now, are we willing to make the commitment to the Lord and devote our effort, time and attention from now on, to turn wholeheartedly towards Him? Let us all therefore be faithful children of God, loving God our Father daily, through our every deeds, our every words and actions from now on, till the time we are reunited in perfect love in His heavenly glory. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Friday, 30 November 2018 : Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of Our Lord, who was called together with his brother, St. Peter, at the shores of the lake of Galilee from his profession as a fisherman. The four Apostles called that day was St. Peter and St. Andrew, brothers, and the sons of Zebedee, also brothers, St. James the Greater and St. John the Apostle and Evangelist.

St. Andrew was the first to be called among the Apostles, and that was why he is also usually known as St. Andrew the First-Called, and was also probably one of the disciples of St. John the Baptist. In the Gospel, St. John the Baptist baptised Jesus at the Jordan at the beginning of His worldly ministry, and he pointed out to his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world!”, pointing out the True Messiah of God to them.

And thus St. Andrew came to the Lord and listened to His call, as He called him, his brother and his fellow fishermen, the sons of Zebedee, to follow the path that God has called them into, to be the disciples of Christ, to be His Apostles and the ones through whom, God would come to exercise many of His wondrous works and blessings in this world. They were no longer mere fishermen, but according to the Lord Himself, they became fishers of men.

The Apostles, twelve among them were the closest collaborators and disciples of the Lord, and St. Andrew was one of them. They followed the Lord wherever He went, and listened to His words and teachings. He followed the Lord to His Passion, suffering and death in Jerusalem, and witnessed His glorious resurrection from the dead and ascension into heavenly glory.

And St. Andrew received the commandment from God together with his fellow Apostles and disciples, to go forth to all the nations, and to baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, and receiving the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he and the other disciples of the Lord began the evangelising and missionary efforts of the Church. He went to many places in faraway lands, in what is now today Ukraine, Russia and Greece.

He preached the Word of God and the truth of the salvation in Our Lord Jesus Christ to the people living in those places, calling them to believe in God and to turn away from their past ways of sin. He founded several dioceses and communities of the faithful in the places he went to, and eventually he was martyred in Achaea in Greece, crucified on the X-shaped cross, which would later be known as St. Andrew’s cross.

Now, we have just heard how this simple fisherman of Galilee became a great worker and missionary of God, truly fulfilling what the Lord had Himself said, that he and the other disciples would become fishers of men, and they really did. We have witnessed and heard, and probably read and knew the many good works that St. Andrew and the other Apostles had done, in their courageous and tireless deeds and works to serve God and His people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, surely we realise that God has called everyone to follow Him and to be His disciples. He called those whom He wanted to make worthy and not those who think that they are worthy. That is why He called simple fishermen, prostitutes and tax collectors, sinners and thieves just as He also called on the intellectuals and the righteous. What matters is for us to change our way of life so completely, that we orientate ourselves towards God.

Let us all realise that we are the successors of the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, in that we have to continue the same mission which God has entrusted to the Apostles and the disciples, in bringing the truth and the salvation of God to more people, of all the nations. We are called to live our lives more faithfully and be living witnesses of the Gospel through our daily living, following in the footsteps of the Apostles themselves.

If the Apostles such as St. Andrew has given his all to dedicate all his efforts to the Lord, then why are we not doing the same? The common answer to this is because of our own pride, our own emotions, temptations in life and all the allures and pressures to abandon the righteous way of the Lord, which have prevented us from giving our all to God. We have also then become more and more distant from God and easier to fall into the traps Satan prepared for us.

Let us all be inspired therefore by the courage and the faith of St. Andrew the Apostle and the many other holy men and women of God, that from now on, for each and every one of us, our lives will be ever more attuned to the Lord and that we will be ever closer to Him. May the Lord continue to watch over us and love us, every days of our life, from now on. May He empower each and every one of us to live faithfully in accordance to His will. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 November 2018 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this say we heard the story of the downfall of two cities, that is of Babylon and Jerusalem, each from the Book of the Revelations and from the Gospel of St. Luke. In those stories, we heard of the fall of the great city of Babylon and how the Lord and His Angels and saints stood triumphant against the forces of the wicked. And then, similarly, in the Gospel, we heard of the downfall of Jerusalem as prophesied by the Lord Jesus.

In order to understand the meaning and purpose of these two passages, we must first understand the context and history in which these two references to two great cities took place in the minds of the people of God at that time. The city of Babylon and Jerusalem were both great cities of historical past, and were capitals of great kingdoms, the former one of the Babylonians, while the latter was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Israel, under kings David and Solomon.

The Babylonians were the archetype of the wicked after what they have done to the people of God and the kingdom of Israel and Judah, having not just ended the line of kings that were continued unbroken from David to the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, but also the destruction city of Jerusalem itself, considered the Holy City of God, because of the Temple built by Solomon containing the Ark of the Covenant as the tangible and real presence of God in the midst of His people.

Therefore, in the memory of the people of God, the city of Babylon, where the Babylonians ruled much of the then known world from, that city would naturally become a very hated and despicable place. And this reference of the place of evil and wickedness was likely the reason for the attribution of the city of Babylon in the story we heard today from the Book of the Revelations of St. John the Apostle.

That story was basically the promise of God’s salvation and liberation for His people, from the tyranny and oppression of the wicked, that the power of the wicked, no matter how powerful they may seem to be, will eventually be broken and the evil ones will be overthrown. This is symbolically represented by the downfall and destruction of Babylon, which will never rise again, showing to the people of God, the ultimate triumph over evil.

Similarly, and interestingly, is the choice of Jerusalem in the Lord’s prophecy over the city as we heard in the Gospel today. That is because the Lord lamented the attitude of the people of Israel, many of whom, especially the majority of their religious and secular leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the scribes and the teachers of the Law who refused to believe in the truth that the Lord was bringing them, and instead, just as their ancestors persecuted the prophets, those people persecuted the Lord and His disciples.

Thus, the downfall of Jerusalem kind of parallels the downfall of Babylon mentioned in the first reading, again with the understanding of the oppression of the faithful by the wicked and by those who refused to follow God. And with that, came persecutions and difficulties, challenges and many temptations to leave behind our faith and to embrace the seemingly easier and more acceptable path of the world.

But this is what the devil always planned in order to prevent us from ever being able to reach out to God’s salvation and grace. He is doing all that is within his power and ability to lure us mankind further and further away from God. We must resist his temptations and his efforts, and persevere through the challenges and difficulties, no matter how difficult it is. There will be moments when we will be tempted to give up, but we must always remember, that in God alone lies our only hope and true path to freedom.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us now therefore turn towards the Lord and faithfully dedicate ourselves anew to serve Him and to be good witnesses of our faith. Let us grow ever stronger in our faith, and commit ourselves with ever greater courage and strength. May God bless us all and be with us, now and always. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 28 November 2018 : 34th 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, speaking to us about the reality of what we are to expect in becoming one of the followers of Christ, as Christians. That is what the Lord presented before His disciples in the Gospel passage we heard today, on how there would be persecutions and trials awaiting those who are faithful to God.

The Lord presented this fact to the disciples, that they should expect to suffer for the sake of His Name, when they would have to endure all sorts of ridicule, rejection and oppression just as the Lord has suffered at the hands of all those who refused to believe in Him. He revealed to them in advance what many of them would suffer as Christians, as what was made evident by the great persecutions in the first few centuries of the Church.

First the Jewish authorities, the Sanhedrin and the chief priests hunted the Christian faithful in Jerusalem, Judea and beyond, and Saul, who would later become a Christian himself as St. Paul, hunted and persecuted Christians harshly before his conversion. And this scattered many of the early Christians to the various places around the world, where they would still encounter persecution and challenges from those Jews who refused to believe in God, and in addition, from the Romans, Greeks and the Persians.

Through the many centuries since the birth of the Church, persecutions have been staple for Christians, throughout time and age. When one persecution ended, another persecution would rise in its place, and the faithful were often forced even to choose between remaining faithful to God and suffer, or to abandon their faith and receive plenty of worldly rewards and pleasures of life.

We have seen these persecutions in the recent centuries and decades, and even to this very day. Many people had to suffer indignations, injustice and pain, suffering and wicked deeds, just because they were Christians, believeing in God and following His ways. And there were many of those who sought to obliterate the Church and eliminate the faithful and all the truths and the teachings of Christ.

Yet, all of these eventually came to no avail, as despite the persecutions, in fact the Church continues to grow, to this very day. The words and sayings that ‘the blood of martyrs is the seeds of Christians’ indeed ring true in this case, as all those who have suffered and been persecuted for their faith in turn, became sources of great inspiration and hope for all those who follow after them, including that of all of us.

And all of these were because of the great faith that the people of God and the faithful had in the Lord, which overcame the fear and the doubt in their hearts and minds, and the promise of everlasting glory and true happiness with God, as we heard in our first reading today from the Book of the Revelations of St. John. St. John saw how at the end of time, God will send His Angels to bring forth destruction on all the wicked and all those who refused to believe in Him, but those who believe in Him, He will raise up and glorify.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us reflect on our own lives. Have we been truly faithful to God and been faithful to Him despite the challenges and persecutions that we are facing daily in our lives? We are called to be bearers and witnesses of God’s truth, but have we been truly faithful to God in our actions? Have our words, actions and deeds make and inspire others to be more faithful or have they instead caused others to distance themselves from God and His Church?

Let us all turn ourselves to God, and renew our commitment to love and serve Him from now on, each and every days of our life. May the Lord be with us and may He continue to love us always and give us the strength and courage to persevere in faith in Him. May God bless us all in all of our endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 27 November 2018 : 34th 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 in the Scripture speaking to us about the time of judgment and reckoning that will come to each and every one of us. In the first reading today we heard from the Book of the Revelations in which the account of St. John regarding his apocalyptic vision had been written. We heard how the Lord commanded His Angels to reap the harvest of the world at the time that He has decided. All the earth was reaped in the harvest of the Lord.

The concept of reaping of harvest, symbolised with the harvest of grapes is linked closely to the concept of the passage of time, with the time of the harvest at the end of the process of planting and growing of crops that began with the ploughing of the soil, the sowing of the seeds and the growing and flowering or flourishing of the plants. When the fruits are ripe, the harvest time is at hand, and the fruits are harvested.

Therefore, the time of the harvest that the Lord mentioned in the Gospel, is in fact referring to the time of judgment, of all the creatures past and present up to the time of judgment, which will happen as the Lord Himself has revealed it, as the end of time. The Angels of God will take up the fruits of the earth, and the fruits reaped will be put into the winepress of the great anger of God. And why is that so? That is because those grapes that will be harvested, are rotten and wicked.

Those represents the wicked fruits of sin which the people at that time committed, in refusing to believe in God and in the truth which He has revealed to the whole world through His disciples and followers, and therefore, through His Church. They chose instead to side with Satan and believe in his falsehoods and lies, his false promises of earthly glory and the seduction of worldly temptations.

And the Lord has given them many opportunities to repent from their sins and to turn away from all the falsehoods and lies of Satan. As He Himself mentioned in the Gospel today, the Lord has given His people many signs and He has revealed the truth about Himself and about what is to come, to all the people who heard Him. And He also warned them about false prophets and all those who have spread lies and tempted the people away from the path towards the Lord.

Despite all of these, people still refused to believe in Him, and chose instead to follow all those leaders and false doomsayers, some of whom claimed to be the Messiah to come. They claimed to speak in the word and the power of God, and claimed that the time is at hand. But, in reality, no one knows the time and what is to come, exactly, save that of God Himself, and all those who claimed to know of the time, are false prophets.

Sadly, there are many who have fallen to this trap of Satan, and they veered off the path towards God’s salvation, and instead right into the expecting hands of the devil. And he is ever active in trying to snatch us from the hands of God’s salvation, sending his agents and emissaries to tempt us daily, to turn us against God and His truth. Many have fallen into this trap, and many more, including us, will, unless we remain firm in our faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to renew our commitment to God, to be bearers of good fruits of our faith instead of the rotten fruits of sin. Let our actions, words and deeds be the proof of our righteousness and faith in God, and let us turn from now on, wholeheartedly, to Him, committing ourselves to His ways and turn away from all the sins and unworthiness that we have lived our lives with, all these while. May God be with us on our journey, now and always. Amen.

by

Monday, 26 November 2018 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of God through the Scriptures in which we heard about those who have given their all in the service of God, devoting their whole lives to God. We have heard from our first reading today from the Book of Revelations of St. John, of the great multitude of people, numbering a hundred and forty-four thousand, likely a symbolic way to represent a vast multitude of people who have suffered for the Lord’s sake and remained faithful to Him.

This is what the many faithful people of God had to endure, in living their lives faithfully for the sake of the Lord, remaining upright and true to their faith despite the persecutions and oppressions that they had to endure. They were subjected to different kinds of harassment, difficulties, challenges and oppositions, and yet, they remained true to God. Many of them suffered martyrdom for the sake of the Lord.

We may be wondering what actually gives these people the strength and the courage to do so. Then we need to also understand what the Lord said in the Gospel passage today, when He and His disciples saw a poor widow putting in merely two small coins into the Temple treasury as a donation. The rich and the powerful in the community put in a lot of money and wealth into the donation box, sometimes and likely even making a scene of their actions as signs of piety.

The Lord said that while those who were rich and mighty gave from their plenty, the poor widow gave from whatever she had even for her own living. Those two small coins could have gotten her food and sustenance for herself. In fact, those coins might not even have been enough to sustain her for even the day’s efforts and living, and yet, the widow still gave her very best to the Lord regardless. But why is that so?

That is because, brothers and sisters in Christ, she has faith in God and placed her trust in Him alone. Just as the vast multitude of saints and holy people that St. John saw in his apocalyptic vision of heaven and the end times, all of those multitudes of people have trusted in God and allowed Him to guide their way of life, their direction in life, and their actions and deeds, to withstand even the harshest and the most difficult of persecutions.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, the question that we need to ask ourselves is if we are able to give of ourselves and dedicate ourselves to God in the same manner as those holy men and women had done, and as the poor widow had so selflessly shown before all of us. Are we able to let go of the barriers and obstacles, of pride, of ego and our human desires and greed, which often had kept us from being able to find our way to the Lord?

Are we able to turn away from the worldliness of our time, the excesses of the pleasures of the body and the flesh, the lust of our generation, and all the other wicked temptations present in our midst, in this time and age? These are all instruments and methods through which Satan is actively trying to bring about our downfall and destruction. But many of us do not realise this, and many of us are oblivious to the fact of how just sinful we are in the sight of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us all reaffirm our faith in the Lord, and find ways in which we can dedicate ourselves to Him ever more, and put our trust in Him completely, just as our holy predecessors and the poor widow have shown us. May the Lord continue to guide us and watch over us, that we will continue to grow stronger in faith and remain true to Him despite all the challenges we may encounter in life. Amen.

by

Sunday, 25 November 2018 : Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Thirty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate the last Sunday in our current liturgical year, and more importantly the great Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King, King and Master of all the Universe, Lord of all creation. Today we celebrate the divine and true kingship of Christ, which corresponds to the authority which Our Lord has over all things, and above all worldly and earthly authorities.

In the first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard about the vision which Daniel received of the heavenly glory of God, in which He saw the revelation of the Holy Trinity, the One of Great Age Who is the Father, giving all power and authority over all things, over all of the world, all dominion and glory to the Son of Man, the Son, Jesus Christ, Who has been sent into the world to bring all things to Himself, Lord and King of all.

Through that vision, the fact of the kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal and unrivalled, and that He is the One True King of all, from whom ultimately, all authority, power, and honour came from. God Who is the Creator of all things, naturally has the jurisdiction and authority over all creation. And thus, He is both our Creator and our King, the very centre and focus of our whole lives.

This is what the Lord Himself reiterated in the Gospel passage we heard today, of the account of the encounter between the Lord Jesus and Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, just before the Lord was to be sentenced to die on the cross. When asked if He was the King of the Jews, not only that the Lord reaffirmed that He is the King, and not just any king, for His kingship transcends any earthly kingdoms and dominions.

And therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we rejoice together as one universal Church, for our glorious and ever mighty King, let us all spend some time to reflect on our own lives and actions thus far. A king is not a king without a country and without its people, and in a kingdom, the people obey the laws and the regulations and rules as decided by the king and his advisors.

Therefore, if we are indeed God’s people, and if we acknowledge Him as our Lord and King, then naturally and rightfully, we must follow and obey God’s Law, as the Lord has commanded it and revealed it, through His Son, Jesus Christ, Our King Himself, and passed on to His Church through His Apostles and their successors, which constitute the Church of God, preserving the truth and the commandments of God down through the ages till this day.

Yet, unfortunately, in how we act and behave, many of us Christians have not been exemplary and good in how we lived our lives. We have not obeyed the Lord’s commandments and laws, and instead, lived our lives in accordance to how we liked to live them, especially following the ways of the world, the ways of pride, greed and human desires. We have chosen to side with the world and with the forces of the evil one, rather than with God, our true King.

Pope Pius XI through his Encyclical Quas Primas published in the year of Our Lord 1925 established this Feast and Solemnity of Jesus Christ Our Lord, the King of the Universe, just several years after the end of the Great War, later to be known as the First World War, at the time when the world was going through great upheavals and changes, where the authority of Christ as the true Lord and King of all mankind was being challenged, by all those who championed atheism such as the Communist states, and also from those who wished to secularise the society, by distancing God and the Church from the people’s daily living.

If we really consider God as our Lord and King, then naturally we should strive to do what the Lord has commanded us to do, and do our best to follow His ways. Unfortunately, this is not something that can easily be done, as temptations and challenges are plenty, and there are always pressures and forces that are trying to pull us away and to distract us from our focus on God.

This is why, it is important that we now make the conscious effort to focus our attention on God, and to resist those temptations, of power, of wealth, of pleasures of the world and other forms of worldly attachments and glories, which can become serious obstacles in the way of our faith and obedience to God. Satan knows very well what he needs to do in order to keep us away from attaining salvation in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to reflect seriously on our lives and our actions, as we approach the end of the current liturgical cycle. Are we going to continue on living our lives in whatever way we see fit, succumbing to the temptations of the world, and therefore, treating not God but Satan as our king? Or are we willing to make the effort to turn once again towards God with a renewed faith and commitment to live our lives from now on, in accordance with God’s will?

If we truly consider God as King, then we must indeed allow Him to exercise His kingship over our lives, and over our every actions, that in all the things we do, we bring greater glory to God, and remain centred on Him in all that we think, say and do. We must keep Him at the centre of our existence, and carefully discern our way of life in accordance with what He has revealed to us and taught us, through His Church.

Therefore, today, let us all pray for one another, that each and every one of us may become ever closer and be ever more committed to God, and that God may be truly our King, not as a mere formality or in superficial terms only, but in our every actions and deeds, in every moment we live, and in our whole beings, that through us, not only that others may know that God is our King, but our lives also reflect the truth about Who our King is. After all, how can we call God our King if we do not act in the way as taught and shown by Him?

The Lord our God, our King, although He is a King, but He is also humble of heart, and is filled with love. Therefore, we should also fill ourselves with great humility and lots of love, in loving one another, and in ensuring that not our will be done, but God’s will instead. Let us all follow in the examples of Christ, Our Lord and King, in humble obedience to Him and in loving relationship with Him.

May the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and King, be the King of our hearts, our minds, our bodies and over all of our beings, and may He continue to reign in our midst, His beloved people, that we may be ever faithful to Him, and grow ever closer in our faith and dedication to Him. May the Lord continue to be our guide and our strength, from now on, till forevermore. Amen.

by

Saturday, 24 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the readings from the Scripture which we heard about the suffering of the faithful and the resurrection from the dead into eternal glory of heaven. And this is apt considering that today we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions, the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs who perished during the harsh persecutions against Christians in Vietnam.

In the first reading today, we heard about the moment from the Book of the Revelations of St. John the Apostle, when at the end of time, holy witnesses of God came into the world to preach the truth about God, and many would not listen to the words that they said in their midst. Those witnesses were given power and authority to oppose those who were against them until the time when the great enemy, the devil is to rise up and destroy those faithful servants of God at the end of their ministries.

The wicked people rejoiced at the death of the two servants of God, and continued to walk in sin, not repenting from those sins that they have committed. But God will not abandon those who have been faithful to Him, and after three days, in the same manner as He Himself has risen from the dead, He raised the dead servants into glory, and they rose to heaven at the plain sight of those who had rejected and persecuted them.

This is related to what has happened throughout the history of the Church, of the challenges and persecutions that occur in various parts of the world, and at different periods and times in the history of the Church, when the faithful were subjected to varying persecutions and oppressions, be it from individuals, or from state governments and holders of power and authority.

Many missionaries and followers of Christ have encountered difficulties and challenges, rejections and oppositions throughout their ministries in the attempt and effort to preach the truth and the word of God among the people who have not yet heard of them. They had to suffer prison, torture, indignation, and even death just because of their determination and commitment to remain faithful to the Lord.

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs as mentioned, celebrating the memory of those who have perished through the many years of persecution of Christians in the land of Vietnam. There are both missionaries and local Christians amidst these martyrs, whose life and stories spanned over a century of the history of the early years of Christian faith in Vietnam.

At that time, the state government of Vietnam viewed the Christian faith with great suspicion, and suspected the missionaries to be agents of Western influence and of their effort to colonise their country. As a result, they placed strict regulations and restrictions on the propagation of the Christian faith among the local population, and persecuted the Christian communities harshly.

Yet, the Christian communities continued to grow, and many more local populace converted to the faith despite the strong oppression and persecution by the government. That is because the Christian faithful held fast to the promise that God has made in today’s Gospel passage, when the Lord Jesus reiterated what He meant by the resurrection of the dead, when those faithful departed will be raised once again to life, to enjoy forever the eternal glory with God.

The saints and martyrs of Vietnam, St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions resisted the sufferings and the many temptations through which the enemies of the Lord wanted to lead the Christian faithful to abandon their faith. Putting their trust completely in God, they did not fear the pain of death and chose rather suffering and death rather than to abandon their hard-won faith and commitment to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we ought to reflect on our own lives, on our actions in life thus far on whether we have been truly faithful to God in everything, or whether we have allowed ourselves to be swayed by the temptations and to be intimidated to give up our faith and the Christian way of living. We need to reflect on this, so that we may be able to find our way to the Lord, and follow in the footsteps of the holy martyrs.

Let us all ask for the intercessions of the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam, St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions, that we may continue to strive to reach righteousness in God, to be able to courageously stand up for our faith amidst trials and tribulations we face. May the Lord be with us always, and may He be our guide in everything we do, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Friday, 23 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr and St. Columban, Abbot (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbots)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture reminding us on the importance for us to keep our faith alive in our lives, by listening to what the Lord has reminded each and every one of us today, particularly in what we heard in our Gospel passage today, on the moment when the Lord Jesus drove out the merchants and money changers from the Temple of God.

In that passage, we heard of what the Lord did when He saw all the corruptions and wickedness that were present amidst the people of God, all their corrupt dealings with money and cheating of the Temple visitors and pilgrims, for their own selfish benefits and other corrupt purposes that were totally unbecoming of the place as the location for divine worship and praise.

That is why the Lord chased them all out of the Temple for their blatant wickedness and refusal to follow the Lord’s commandments. And this is actually symbolic of what we need to do with our own lives. The Temple is referring to our own bodies, hearts, minds, and all of our whole beings. That is because God Himself is truly present in us, through His Spirit and the Body and Blood which He has given to us through the Eucharist.

And because God Himself is fully present in us, within us and in our midst, then each and every one of us must be truly exemplary as God’s Holy Temple and House. Otherwise, through our actions, by our disobedience of God’s commandments and by our failure to obey the Lord’s will, through our sins, we are putting wickedness and sin in the midst of this Temple of God, that is our body and being, much like the merchants and money changers that corrupted the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

God loves each and every one of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. And that is why, He is doing so much in order to bring us back to Himself, calling on us to change our ways and to repent from our sins. However, all of the wicked things and evil deeds we perform in our lives are things that have no place in God’s presence. For God is all good, and disobedience through sin is a great obstacle in the midst of our efforts to reach out to God.

Today, we should reflect on our every actions in life, and see if we have truly been faithful to God or whether we have veered off on the way in our journey towards Him, by the many temptations present in this life. We should think and reflect on all these things, and perhaps also take note of the examples shown by two saints, whose feast day we celebrate today, that is of Pope St. Clement I and St. Columban.

Pope St. Clement I was the Pope and leader of the Universal Church during some of its earliest years, as one of the first successors of St. Peter the Apostle, the first Pope. It was told that St. Peter himself consecrated Pope St. Clement I as bishop, and later on, the latter succeeded the second successor of St. Peter as Pope and Bishop of Rome. And Pope St. Clement I was remembered widely throughout the Church at that time and later on, as an influential Church and Apostolic father, the first among many of those who would continue the good works began by the Apostles in the building of the Church.

He wrote extensively to the various Church communities at the time, some of which were preserved as the collective writings of the Church fathers, and he helped to continue the growth and the stabilisation of the Church at the time, and many of the latter Church fathers and communities looked up to the piety and the good examples set by Pope St. Clement I in following Christ. He was martyred during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan, during one of the many Christian persecutions.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Columban, a holy man and abbot of the Church, who was an Irish missionary noted for his great many works among the regions of what is now France and Italy, establishing many monasteries and communities in those regions. At the same time, St. Columban also helped to evangelise the faith among the people, especially among those who have not followed the Lord in the right manner, affected by fallacies and heresies of the time.

St. Columban inspired many people through his works, and by his monastic rule, the Rule of St. Columban, mirroring the more famous Rule of St. Benedict, many people turned towards God and reorientate their lives towards God through prayer and upright life. Some of them joined the monasteries St. Columban founded, and many others became missionaries as how St. Columban was.

Today, by looking upon the examples set by these two holy and devoted servants of God, Pope St. Clement I and St. Columban, let us all turn towards God with a renewed love and faith for Him, and let us always be mindful, that we are all the Temples and Houses of God’s Holy and Real Presence, and as such, we should strive to be holy and free from sin, and repent from those sins if we have indeed fallen into the temptations and sins.

May God be with us all in this journey, and may we continue to devote ourselves and become ever closer to Him, day after day, in our every lives. May God bless us all and our good endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Thursday, 22 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue to approach the end of the current liturgical cycle, we listen to more and more apocalyptic readings from the Scriptures that speak about the coming of the end times, from the revelations of St. John the Apostle, to the accounts of the Gospel recounting the moment when the Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem because of all the things that would happen to that city.

First of all, the first reading today from the Book of the Revelations of St. John we heard about a vision that St. John received of the heavenly kingdom, in which, a Throne was surrounded by multitudes of Angels and elders, and a Scroll was laid on the Throne, which no one was worthy of opening. Within that scroll lies the truth of God and the salvation of all mankind. And in the end, only the Lamb of God, Who has sacrificed Himself, was worthy to open the scroll.

All of the elders and the Angels worshipped the Lamb Who came to take His rightful place at the Throne, and proclaimed His glory and majesty, by all the things and deeds He had done, through His loving and selfless sacrifice on the Cross. He is a King, Who has come into the world in order to save His beloved people, but the same people whom He wanted to save, many of them refused to believe in Him, rejected His message of truth, and in the end, put Him to death on the cross.

The reading from this Book of the Revelations, coupled with what we heard on the lamentations of the Lord for the heinous things that in therefore present us with the realities of our faith, that there would be persecutions and challenges awaiting all those who are speaking the truth and bearing what the Lord Jesus Himself has brought into this world, that is, the message of His salvation for us all.

The lamentations which Jesus made over the city of Jerusalem are linked to what the people of Israel had done to the prophets and messengers of God throughout history, in how they rejected God’s truth and revelations, persecuted the prophets and messengers of God, exiling them and even killing them for speaking the truth. The people hardened their hearts and minds, and refused to believe in the message of truth.

This presents to us how persecution and martyrdom have been part of our faith for countless years, how the faithful had to endure various challenges and difficulties in order to remain true to their faith. Throughout the history of the Church, innumerable martyrs have been made due to the persecution of Christians by various groups and authorities, including St. Cecilia, whose feast day we are celebrating today.

St. Cecilia is one of the most famous of the saints and the martyrs of the Roman persecution era, as the patron saint of musicians. St. Cecilia was a devout Christian and made a vow of virginity to the Lord. But despite that, her parents forced her to marry Valerian, a pagan nobleman. She continued to devote herself to the Lord nonetheless, and managed to persuade her husband to let her remain chaste and virgin, and showed him the proof of what she said, and an Angel appeared to her husband.

In the end, even her husband became a believer and was baptised as a Christian. But that was a particularly difficult time to live as a Christian, when Christians throughout the Empire were going through a particularly brutal and vicious persecution. That is why St. Cecilia and her family went through martyrdom for remaining faithful to the Lord despite the sufferings they had to go through.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to reflect on our own Christian living. Have we been probably too complacent or too lax in how we live up our lives in faith? Have we been true witnesses of the Lord in how we conduct our actions and in how we lived our lives? What we heard from the Scripture passages today and from the life of St. Cecilia should inspire us to be more active in living our faith, in devoting our time, effort and attention to the Lord.

May the Lord bless us all, and may He continue to remind us to be faithful to Him, each and every single moments of our life. May God be with us all, now and always, forevermore. Amen.