Weekday Homily

by

Friday, 30 March 2018 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the Good Friday, together the entire Church celebrate the moment when the Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and Our Saviour, suffered and took up His cross, and willingly be crucified on that cross to His death at Calvary. This day is indeed truly ‘Good’ because it is the day when our salvation has come, coming unto us from the cross of Christ.

The Lord Jesus was condemned to death and He was forced to take up His cross, a punishment for sins and for mistakes that He Himself had not done. It was the hatred, the enmity and the jealousy of the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin and the chief priests that had condemned the Lord to death on the cross. But the Lord accepted it willingly, though He did agonise over it, in His humanity, at the Garden of Gethsemane just before He was betrayed and arrested.

It was painful for the Lord to endure His cross and to bear it up to Calvary, because the burden of the cross is not just the weight of the physical wooden cross itself, already considerable due to its large size, and it is not just the distance which Jesus had to travel from the Praetorium in which He was condemned to death in the midst of Jerusalem towards the hill of Golgotha outside the city of Jerusalem.

No, the main reason why He suffered is because of our sins, all the faults and mistakes we have committed. We should have been punished for this, and we should have been cast into hell for eternity, but the Lord loves each and every one of us, for He has created us all out of strong and pure love, and surely He does not want any of us to perish because of our sins and disobedience.

Hence, He chose voluntarily to bear all the burdens of those sins and took it up upon Himself. We may think that such a feat is impossible, but remember, brethren, that what seems to be impossible for men, is completely possible for God. And God chose to bear our sins, weighing Him down on the cross, and also all the pains and sufferings He had to bear. All the lashes and wounds, all the cuts and slashes, all the spittle and all the humiliation He had to bear, all these are due to our sins.

When His accusers assailed Him and when the burdens of our sins crushed down upon Him, He accepted all of them quietly, as mentioned in the Scriptures, like that of a lamb waiting to be slaughtered for sacrifice. He gave Himself on the Altar of Calvary to be the Paschal Lamb, to be sacrificed for all of us, for the redemption of our sins. He brought all of our sins to the cross, and there, as the sacrifices of old, He poured down His own Blood, to seal a new Covenant between God and us, reconciling us with Our loving God and Creator.

That is just how much He loved us all, brothers and sisters, that He was willing to endure all of that, so that by His suffering and death, all of us who believe in Him may live. We all may think that the Lord remained on the cross because He was nailed to it, even when the people mocked Him to come down from the cross and save Himself. The teachers of the Law and the chief priests mocked Him, calling on Him to show a miracle by freeing Himself and coming down from the cross, that they might believe in Him.

Why did Jesus not come down from the cross? Certainly, He is God, and He is perfectly capable of doing so. But the words of the people who mocked Him, and the voices of the Pharisees, the chief priests and the elders were the voices of the devil, and all of his fallen angels and demons. Just as the devil tempted the Lord Jesus in the desert at the start of His ministry, then, at the very end of His earthly ministry, Satan tempted Jesus to abandon His mission and come down from the cross.

Who would not want to save himself or herself? Who would not want to be relieved from a great pain, inconvenience and suffering? We mankind have always been selfish by nature, and certainly we are tempted to put our own needs, desires and wants ahead of that of others. But that was not what the Lord Jesus had done. Despite all the pain He suffered, all the painful wounds He had to endure, all the blasphemy and all the insults He had to listen to, and the painful wounds of the nails that were hammered into His hands and feet, He persevered on.

For whose sake did He do all these? For all of us. It was not the nails that bound Christ fast to the cross, but it was the love He had for each and every one of us. It was His love that enabled Him to bear such a great burden and such an unbearable amount of pain. As huge and massive as our combined burden of sins are, even much greater is the love that God has for each and every one of us.

That, is what we need to realise when we look upon He Who is crucified on the cross, He Who died for us on Good Friday, the day when God Himself, Who took up the existence of Man, laid down His life, to save His beloved people. Have we appreciated the love that He has for each one of us? This is what we need to reflect on, as we remember His suffering and death today, on Good Friday.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as Christians, all of us are called to follow in the example of Christ. If the Lord Himself has shown such great love and concern for each and every one of us, and if He has been so merciful and forgiving towards us, granting us opportunities after opportunities, and chances after chances for us to be reconciled with Him, even to endure such great pain on the cross for that purpose.

Are we able to love Him in the same way, this God Who has loved us so much? Just as He has given everything for our sake, even dying on the cross, are we able to love Him with all of our heart and devote ourselves to Him? That is first and foremost our priority in life and our primary obligation. If we have not done so, then we must love God with all of our strength, with all of our effort, with all of our mind, heart, body and soul.

Then, naturally, as Christians, we must also show the same love to one another. After all, God loves each one of us equally. He even forgave all of His enemies, and all those who have condemned Him to death on the cross. He prayed to the Father, that He would not hold them accountable for the sin they have committed for condemning Him to death, because of their ignorance and inability to see and understand the truth.

Yet, sadly, we see in many occasions around us, how we Christians act in the most un-Christian manner. We often gossip about each other and we often slander and seek to harm one another, either physically or mentally. We often bicker over worldly matters and we become jealous and covetous when we do not get or have what others possess. In the end, our actions and deeds, and even our words cause hurt and pain in others.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, our actions that cause harm upon others are sin before God, and as we have just discussed earlier, it is the same sin that the Lord Jesus bore upon His cross for our sake. How can we call ourselves as Christians if our actions are contrary to what God has done and what He has shown us and called us to do?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we move on from today’s remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to His glorious resurrection on Easter Sunday, let us all renew our commitment before Lord crucified, that from now on, we will no longer live our lives with selfishness, ego, anger, and all sorts of negativities that had plagued our lives in the past. Instead, let us all love Him and love one another, just as He has shown us His ultimate love with the cross.

May the Lord, crucified for us this day, be the source of our strength and inspiration, that we may continue to live our lives in His footsteps, devoting ourselves at all times to serve Him wholeheartedly. May the Lord be with us all, and may He bless all of our actions. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 March 2018 : Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Thursday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we begin the three most important and solemn days of celebration in the entire liturgical year, that is the Easter Triduum. This is because all the events that are commemorated every year between this Holy Thursday evening until the morning of Easter Sunday are all linked together as one whole event, of the Passion, suffering, death and eventually glorious resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

On this day we commemorate together the beginning of the most pivotal moments in our human history and existence, beginning with the Last Supper which the Lord Jesus had with His disciples on the night before He was to suffer and die on the cross, betrayed by one of His own closest disciples, Judas Iscariot. On that night, the Lord Jesus celebrated the Jewish Passover, which was mentioned in our first reading passage today, as the celebration of the liberation of the people of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians.

The Jewish Passover is the most important feast of the entire Jewish calendar, and the most pivotal moment in the history of God’s people, the Israelites. At that time, the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were persecuted and enslaved in Egypt, and faced even extermination by the hands of their slavemasters. The Egyptian king, the Pharaoh even ordered the killing of all newborn male babies of the Israelites to exterminate them.

God saved His beloved people by sending to them deliverance through His servant Moses, and sending ten great plagues against the Egyptians and their king, the Pharaoh. When the Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the Israelites go, again and again, the ten plagues bore down hard on the Egyptians, that they even begged their king to let the Israelites go free.

Eventually, the Lord sent the last and the greatest of all among the ten plagues, the death of all the firstborn child of the Egyptians, from the Pharaoh’s child to the lowest among the Egyptians, from all the men to all the animals and beasts of the Egyptians alike. It affected everyone and every animals in the land of Egypt, but passing over the houses of the Israelites, hence the term of the celebration as the ‘Passover’.

The Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites because He has instructed Moses, His servant, to tell the people to choose a young and unblemished lamb, to be kept for a certain period of days, before it was slaughtered for the feast of the Passover. The blood of the lamb was collected and then used to mark the doorposts of the houses of the Lord’s people. The Lord saw the mark of the blood of the Passover lamb, and passed over the house. The lamb meat itself was roasted over the fire and eaten during the Passover.

As we remember this very first Passover, which the Lord instructed His people to keep year after year, and at all times, we can see great parallel and rich symbolism with what the Lord has done at that Last Supper He had with His disciples, as that meal is also a Passover meal like that of the old Jewish Passover which commemorated the liberation of God’s people from the slavery they suffered in Egypt.

But in that Last Supper, the Lord did things very differently, though in parallel with the original Jewish Passover. First of all, the Last Supper did not feature any lamb eaten during the meal, unlike the original Passover. Why is this so? That is because Our Lord Himself, the Paschal Lamb, is the Lamb to be sacrificed on the Altar of Calvary. And the shedding of His own Body and Blood, parallel to the use and purpose of the lamb in the original Passover, has become the source of our own salvation.

Thus, whatever we commemorate in the Last Supper, cannot be separated or distinguished from what we commemorate tomorrow on Good Friday, for all the things that happened at the Last Supper is united to the loving sacrifice of the Lord on the cross. Without the cross, then the Last Supper and all that the Lord has said in that event would not have a complete meaning, and vice versa, without the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist, then the Lord’s sacrifice on the cross is not complete either.

At the Last Supper, the Lord took up the bread, and blessed it, and then, gave it to His disciples, saying that it is His Body, given up to all of them to eat. Then He also passed around the wine He blessed, which He said that it is His Blood, poured out for all the people as the atonement for their sins. While the people of Israel were enslaved in the body to the Egyptians at that time, but all of us, the Israelites included, have been enslaved to our sins.

That is why, even though the Israelites were freed from their bondage in Egypt, but after that, as they journeyed through the desert, they disobeyed God and sinned against Him, and then they perished. They perished because death is the just consequence and punishment for sin, and all of us have sinned and thus deserving death. Sin is the greatest of all plagues and sicknesses, which claimed everything it touched and corrupted everything it was present in.

But God, through His great love for us, did everything He could in order to save us, by none other than the giving of His own beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Paschal Lamb of sacrifice for us all. As the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites have been marked by the blood of the Passover lamb and death passed over it, so has the Blood of Christ, which we receive into us, marking us as God’s own beloved ones, made death and damnation in hell to pass over us.

This is the Christian Passover, the new and everlasting Covenant God made with each and every one of us. And this can only happen if each one of us truly receive from God, the gift of His own Body and Blood, in the Most Holy Eucharist that we partake in the Mass. That is why on this occasion when we celebrate the Last Supper, we also celebrate the Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist as well as the Holy Orders of Christian priesthood.

Why is that so? That is because Jesus made it very clear when He said it, that the bread He gave to the disciples, is not a symbol, or a representation, or an image, or a memorial or a mere substitute for His Body, but it is His Body, real in the flesh, though in our eyes it appears as a mere, lowly bread. The bread, by the power of Our Lord Himself, has been made in existence and substance, the essence and material of His own Body, and the same with the wine, made to be the essence and material of His Precious Blood.

And to His disciples, the Lord has given the same authority, to bring unto us His faithful ones, the same Body and Blood that Our Lord has offered as a willing sacrifice on the cross, by transforming in matter and existence, the bread and wine offered in the Holy Mass, to become His Real and Most Holy Presence, that we partake and therefore all of us share in the glory and eternal life He has promised us all His faithful ones.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we proceed on through the Easter Triduum, we are moving on towards the suffering and death of Our Lord on the cross, which will be celebrated tomorrow on Good Friday. Let us all appreciate and understand even more, just how much that God loves us, to the point that He gave us everything He could, and did the best He could, even to the point of death on the cross, just so that we may be saved.

Let us all spend time with the Lord tonight, by remembering what He has said to His disciples, that while the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Let us grow ever more devoted to God, and spend time with Him, so that we may appreciate ever more how God is ever present in our lives, and by receiving Him in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, He now dwells in us, making us His holy Temple. Turn away from sin and be righteous from now on.

May God be with us all, be with His Church, and also especially with our priests and bishops, to whom He has entrusted the governance and guidance over His Church. Let us pray fervently and help one another, together as members of God’s Church, striving to live earnestly and faithfully in all things. May the Lord be with us always and bless us forevermore. Amen.

by

Thursday, 29 March 2018 : Chrism Mass, Holy Thursday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this morning we celebrate together as the whole diocese, the occasion of the Chrism Mass, the moment when annually the bishop of the diocese blesses the oils to be used in the celebrations of the Sacraments of the Church. They are the sacred chrism used in the Sacrament of Baptism and Holy Orders, the holy oil to be used in the Sacrament of Confirmation, and the oil of the sick used for those who receive the Sacrament of the Sick.

These holy oils to be blessed today are a continuation of a longstanding custom from the Scriptures itself, as if we read throughout the entirety of the Old Testament, we see in many occasions that oils are used. First of all, oil is important for life, as it is used in cooking, when the widow of Zarephath was with the prophet Elijah, she used the oil to cook food for herself, her son and for the prophet.

Then oil is also used to sanctify and dedicate an altar to God, as used by the ancient patriarchs and servants of God, the priest or the servant of God would pour the oil onto the altar, and therefore mark the altar as an altar dedicated to the greater glory of God. The use of the holy oils mark the altar as a holy place worthy of sacrificial offerings to God and as the sign of God’s holy presence.

And oil was also used to anoint kings, from Saul to David, both anointed by the prophet Samuel, as the sign of God’s grace and choice as king and ruler over the people. The oil also signifies the king at that time being elevated to the same privilege and order as the priests of God, who were also anointed with holy oils as sign of total dedication to a holy life committed to God.

And ultimately, as mentioned earlier, those holy oils are also used on the Sacraments of the Church, anointing us all as God’s chosen ones, as the ones to whom He has bestowed His grace and love, all of us who believe in Him, and therefore, commit ourselves to live in accordance with His ways. All of us are God’s chosen ones, anointed at our baptism and confirmed at our Confirmation, to be priests, kings and shepherds.

What does this mean? This means that we are all called to share in the priestly, kingly and in the leadership roles of Christ, the one and true High Priest, the King of Kings and the Good Shepherd of all the people of God. All of us are called to live upright lives and lives filled with devotion and commitment to God, ministering to one another with love, and to make evident and concrete, the Good News of God in our own daily lives, that we show others, of God’s love and truth, not just based on our words, but also based on our actions.

And today, especially let us all pray for all of our priests, all of our bishops and all those who have been ordained to the sacred order of priests, bishops and consecrated life to God. They have been called to an even higher purpose in their respective lives, all coming from various backgrounds yet called to be people consecrated to God, surrendering everything to God, and to be the ones who ‘in persona Christi’, reenact the same sacrifice at Calvary at the celebration of the Holy Mass.

The heads and the hands of the priests and bishops have been anointed with the holy oils, to show the sanctity and the importance of their role and vocation, as their hands alone are worthy to hold the Lord in the Eucharist directly, and through their hands, they will feed all of us, God’s own holy people, with His own Most Holy and Real Presence in the Body and Blood that He has laid down for us on the cross.

Let us all pray for them, these most faithful servants of God, who are often at the forefront of slander and gossiping, at the speartips of Satan’s attacks against His Church, as this great enemy of God is always ready to strike at God’s faithful ones, and he knows that if he strikes at the priests and bishops, he can cause so much harm and danger to so many of the faithful ones.

Let us give them our support and strength, our prayer and our assurance, that these holy priests and holy bishops, as well as our Pope, the Vicar of Christ and leader of the Church, will continue to persevere in their constantly ever-growing mission, to care for God’s people and to provide for the spiritual needs of the faithful, and also to bring God’s words and truth to more and more souls out there who are still lost in the darkness of the world.

May the Lord be with His Church, be with His servants and disciples, and be with all of us, that each and every one of us, anointed by the holy oils in accordance with the rites and sacraments of the Church, will grow ever more devoted to God and grow in our commitment to Him, day after day. May the Lord continue to watch over us and guide us in our journey of faith. May God bless us all. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 28 March 2018 : Wednesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the Wednesday of the Holy Week is traditionally known in the Church as the Spy Wednesday, as on this day the Scripture reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew highlights the betrayal of the Lord Jesus by Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples. On this day, according to the tradition of the Apostles, Judas went to the chief priests and the elders to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus because he did not have genuine faith in Him. He followed Him for ulterior motives, that is to profit and enrich himself through his frequent ‘helpings’ to the common fund of the disciples which was placed under his care, and thus he was corrupt in his ways and dealings. All these despite him having followed the Lord Jesus for over three years as one of His closest disciples.

Despite all the miracles the Lord had performed before him and the other disciples, and also all the teachings and parables He had used and mentioned throughout His ministry, Judas ultimately chose to betray the Lord and instead settled for what he has always been tempted to, that is money. He could not resist the temptation of wealth and worldly goods, and Satan made use of it to bring him to commit a great sin against God.

And thus Judas Iscariot was forever placed in the hall of infamy, for having committed the betrayal against Jesus, for his repeated and unrepented sinful acts, cheating his fellow disciples for the sake of his own greed and selfish desires. He had been given the free will to choose whether he should follow the Lord and repent, or whether he ought to continue walking down his path of sin.

Is that the path we want to take, brothers and sisters in Christ? He alone out of the Twelve chosen by the Lord at the start of His ministry fell out of grace and he alone did not die in the state of grace, having failed his Lord and Master, and instead of being obedient, he fell into sin and betrayed Him for worldly wealth, for thirty pieces of silver. To him, the Lord and His ministry was just means to an end, to achieve more wealth and power for himself.

Instead, brothers and sisters in Christ, we should follow the examples of the Apostles, especially that of St. Peter. Why is that so? Just like Judas Iscariot, they have also abandoned the Lord when He was arrested after the Last Supper, and they were scattered in fear after that moment. Yet, they repented and had great regret in their hearts after what they had done, and that was how they were reconciled and eventually became the courageous Apostles.

Those Apostles henceforth had to endure the same pain and suffering that the Lord Jesus had endured, being subjected to ridicule, rejection, anger, persecution, punishment and even prison and exile by those people to whom they had gone to, in preaching the Gospel and the Good News. They had embraced the roles which the Lord had entrusted them with, and did their best to follow the Lord in His ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now as we have heard all these readings from the Scriptures and reflected on it, let us all think of how we can apply it in our own lives. We have been called to be true and devout Christians, to walk in the Lord’s path with faith and devotion, and with genuine and zealous love for God. Are we able to devote ourselves in this manner? Or are we still like Judas Iscariot, who placed his greed and worldly desires ahead of his commitment to God?

As we journey through this time of the Holy Week, let us all turn away from our sinful past, from all of our wickedness, and turn towards the Lord with all of our hearts. Let us all grow ever more faithful day after day, that despite the challenges and temptations we may face along our way, we will continue to persevere regardless and grow deeper in our commitment towards Him.

May the Lord bless us all and may He grant us the strength to persevere in faith, that all of us will grow to understand and appreciate better the love that He has for each and every one of us, that we will no longer be swayed by the temptation of money as Judas had done, but instead, place the Lord as the priority and the centre focus of our lives. May God be with us always, now and forever. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 27 March 2018 : Tuesday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings we are reminded of God’s salvation that He sent to us through His Son Jesus Christ, Our Lord, of Whom the prophet Isaiah wrote in our first reading passage today, of the coming of the liberation and reconciliation of the descendants of Israel to their Lord and God. God sent His Messiah or Saviour into the world, to gather back all the scattered children of God, and to reconcile them to Himself.

But remembering what we have just heard in another passage taken from the book of the prophet Elijah in our Palm Sunday readings, about the suffering Servant of God, the Suffering Messiah, God did all of His works through the suffering and the obedience of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, that by accepting death, death on the cross, persecuted and rejected, and even betrayed by His own disciple, Judas Iscariot, He became the source of salvation for us all mankind.

That is how God gave us His love, the proof of His dedication and love for each and every one of us, that He was willing to bear and suffer the unimaginably heavy burden of the cross. The cross that the Lord Jesus bore was extremely heavy not only because of the physical mass and dimensions of the wooden cross, but even more so, because as He bore that cross, He bore for us, the multitudes of our countless sins and trespasses.

Every wound He endured and suffered from, every lashes of the whip He received, every ridicule and rejection He received and heard from those same people who have just so recently welcomed Him as King, but then quickly rejected Him and condemned Him to death, all of these, every single one of them, are our sins and wickedness. Yes, our sins and evils are the wounds that we have inflicted upon the Lord’s Body.

But many of us do not realise this, and we are not aware how our sins and faults have been borne by the Lord, Who suffered because of all the things we committed in our respective lives. Instead, we continue to sin more and more, and we continue to do what is wicked and unworthy in the sight of God. As a result, we are dragged deeper and deeper into the state of sin, and we become even more desensitised from sin, that we are no longer ashamed of what we have done.

Our attitude is also often like that of St. Peter, when he said before the Lord Jesus, that he would defend Him, even to the point of giving up his own life for His sake. The same thing was repeated by the other disciples as well. But when the time came, all of them abandoned the Lord and ran away, scared for their own lives, and when confronted about being a disciple of Christ, St. Peter denied knowing Him three times, just as He had foretold.

How many of us have this kind of faith, brothers and sisters in Christ? How many of us are not firm in our faith, that we flee the moment persecution and trouble come to us? Let me ask you now, brethren, when the Lord Jesus was presented with the great suffering and tribulation that He had to endure as part of His work of salvation, having to bear the heavy and painful cross, did He run away or reject the responsibility?

Indeed, His humanity agonised over this, for no human being should ever have to suffer such great misery and trouble. But in the end, He is always obedient to the will of His Father, Who loves each and every one of us, and thus He was obedient unto death, death on the cross for us, because of His great and undying love. If God can love us so much, to the point of enduring everything for our sake, then can we not love Him in the same way?

Today, as we continue to progress towards the Easter Triduum at the end of this Holy Week, are we reflecting upon these realities of our faith? Have we lived our lives with true and genuine faith? Have we loved the Lord just as He has loved us? If He can love us so much so as to accept a most painful death and to endure the most horrible of sufferings and pains, then why can’t we do the same?

Too many of us think that we have no time for God. But if we actually spend some time to think about it, we can actually take some time of our busy schedule if we want to. But do we want to? Do we want to spend time with God? Remember that He spent an entire six hours on the cross, and not counting the many more hours on the way to Golgotha, since the moment when He was arrested, full of ridicule, persecution, suffering, torture and difficulties for our sake.

Shall we all make a new commitment to the Lord during this Holy Week? Shall we devote our time, effort and attention to the Lord with renewed zeal and love for Him? This is what we should do, and which we should prioritise in our own lives. Remember, that if God can do so much for us, then at least we should give our very best to love Him as well.

May the Lord continue to be with us, guiding us on our way and blessing us all the days of our lives. May He empower us to live ever with more commitment and love for God, day after day, living with faith, alive and zealous. May our Holy Week celebrations be fruitful for us, for our salvation in God. Amen.

by

Monday, 26 March 2018 : Monday of Holy Week (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the Scripture readings bring us ever closer to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who would suffer and die on the cross, as we commemorate it in Good Friday in just a few days away from today. In today’s Gospel we heard of Mary, one of the constant followers of Jesus, who came up to Him during the dinner meal and anointed His feet with the most costly perfume and dried it with her own hair.

In this seemingly simple action and what happened afterwards all of us Christians are reminded in this time of the Holy Week of Who it is that ought to be the centre of our lives, that is the Lord, Our God. The Lord Jesus Who came into the world and dwelled among us, is God, and through Him God was willing to save us all mankind from our fate of destruction because of our sins.

And because He is God, that is why, as Mary showed us all, that He alone is worthy of all worship, glory and honour, and thus she used the most precious perfume to anoint His feet. At the same time, this is also a practice which is also done on the bodies of the dead, to prevent the bodies from having bad odour due to decomposition, which also therefore is a premonition of what the Lord was to go through, His suffering and death on the cross.

Mary humbled herself before the Lord, by bowing before Him and using her own hair to dry the Lord’s feet from the perfume she anointed Him with. For a woman, the hair is the most precious and the most important part of her body, her most valuable and prized possession. For Mary to make use of her hair to honour the Lord is for her to give her very best to the Lord, to do what she could, in the best way she could commit, to serve the Lord.

Let us compare this faith to what the disciple of Jesus, Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, said at the same occasion. Judas sneered at Mary and ridiculed her for what she had done, and he mentioned how the expensive perfume she had used on the Lord’s feet could have been sold for a rich sum of money, and the money given to the poor instead. And the Lord rebuked Judas for his comment against Mary, because he was mistaken in his remarks.

First of all, as mentioned in the Gospels, Judas did not make the comment because he was truly caring towards the poor and the needy. Instead, as he was in charge of the Lord and His disciples’ funds and money, he could have stolen the funds and the money obtained by the selling of the expensive perfume, and put the money into his own pockets. He was thus in fact very corrupt in his action and in his thoughts, committing sin against God by slandering his fellow men, and by putting money ahead of God, and by telling lies and having a hypocrite’s faith.

That is also why Judas later on betrayed the Lord Jesus, because he was tempted by the allure of money, as he found the opportunity to sell Him over to the chief priests and the enemies of the Lord, who priced Him at a mere thirty silver coins, the price of a slave. Later on, Judas would regret this betrayal, but it was too late for him, as what has been done, cannot be undone. This is the proof of just how dangerous it is, when we put our selfish desires foremost in our minds and in our hearts.

Instead of following Judas’ example, we should imitate Mary, who gave her all to the Lord. She did not hesitate to humble herself before the Lord, and loved Him and followed Him wherever He went. This is the kind of faith which we all should have in our own lives, not the faith of a hypocrite, not the empty faith of someone like Judas Iscariot, and all those who refused to believe in the Lord with all of their heart, but only paying lip service to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we continue to progress through the Holy Week celebrations, let us all reflect on all these, and strive to live more worthily of the Lord, and by turning our hearts and minds towards God. Let us all become ever more humble like Mary, and love God with all of our hearts. Let us all realise just how sinful we have been, and in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us on our way, that we will always walk in His path, and eventually find our way towards His loving embrace, and be fully reconciled with Him, Our loving God and Father. May the Lord bless us all and our endeavours of faith. Amen.

by

Sunday, 25 March 2018 : Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we begin the celebration of the most important events in our faith, that is the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, His final earthly mission, to complete everything that the Lord has planned for mankind, the salvation of us all, by the suffering and the death of the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus, on the cross at Calvary.

This Holy Week of important events of our faith begins today with the Palm Sunday, celebrating the moment when the Lord Jesus entered in glory into the Holy City of Jerusalem on a donkey, as we heard just earlier in our Gospel passage at the start of today’s celebration of the Holy Mass. The people welcomed the Lord Jesus and hailed Him as the Messiah and King Who was to come to His city in glory, saying loudly, “Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna to the Son of David!”

They waved palm branches and placed their cloaks and clothes in front of Jesus, welcoming Him as if He is the King of Israel. Indeed, He is King and Lord of all, and among the people at that time, as mentioned later by the disciples who walked to Emmaus just after Jesus’ death that they had hoped that He was the One Who would have restored the Kingdom of Israel.

Yet, it was the very same people who would shout loudly in just a matter of a few days, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” The same people who cheered and welcomed the Lord with much energy and spirit, were the same ones who would reject Him and call for His death, death at the hands of the Romans and a most painful death on the cross. How could this have happened, brothers and sisters in Christ?

The Scripture readings today show the nature of Our Lord’s plan of salvation, that He must suffer at the hands of His enemies and bear the cross on His own accord towards death and punishment for the crimes and sins that He Himself did not commit. But all of these are ultimately meant for our own good, for our salvation and liberation from the bondage to all of our sins.

The cross of Christ is the cross of our sins and faults, all of our shortcomings and rebellious attitudes against God. When the Lord Jesus bore that cross, He did not just bear the physical weight of the wooden cross, which according to historical data and research was already quite formidable in itself, but even more so, it was the massive and unimaginable burden of the combined weight of our sins, our shortcomings, our trespasses, our faults and all other things that should have been ours to bear.

All of us, each one of us are sinners, brothers and sisters in Christ. All of us have disobeyed God in one way or another, in small sin or in major sin. And each and everyone of us should have endured the consequences for all these sins and faults we have with us. What is the punishment of sin? Death, and also separation from God and eternal damnation in hell. That is what we should have suffered.

But God, Who loves each and every one of us, His beloved children so greatly, did not want this fate to befall us, as ultimately, as mentioned, He loved us all greatly, though not our sins and disobedience that creates those sins. Thus, He promised us all since the beginning, that He will save us, by the sending of a Saviour, or Messiah, He Who would reconcile all mankind, God’s beloved people with Him.

All of these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, Whom the prophet Isaiah prophesied in the first reading we heard today, about the Servant of God Who would suffer, be rejected and be persecuted for doing God’s work. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about the Suffering Messiah Who would suffer, and it was this suffering that the prophet was speaking about. Christ was obedient that He took up His cross for our sake, for the salvation of His own beloved people, that because He died, we may live.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this most important moment in our liturgical year, the Holy Week, how are we preparing ourselves that we may worthily commemorate the events that will come in a few days’ time? This is where we need to spend time to reflect on our own lives, on our actions and how we have lived our lives thus far. Have we been living our lives in disobedience and sin, and have we refused God’s rich offer of mercy and forgiveness?

We should use this time and the opportunity given to us, to reflect on our lives and on our actions. Have we had a good relationship with God? And indeed, how much time in a day that we actually spend with Him? Or have we instead forgotten about Him in the midst of our busy schedules, in the midst of our pursuit for power, prestige, honour, worldly comfort, money, and many other worldly desires we have?

Instead of spending so much of our time in these ultimately meaningless pursuit, shall we then turn ourselves towards God and learn to put our trust in Him? Shall we spend more time with the Lord Who loves us so much that He gave us His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour? Remember, brothers and sisters, that if not for the cross of Christ, all of us would have lived our lives with no meaning, as everything would have ended in the eternity in hell.

But because of Christ, and His loving sacrifice on the cross, by His willingness to endure the effects and the consequences of our sins, all of our punishments, all of us who believe in Him and who are willing to put our trust in Him will receive pardon from our sins and justification before God, that we who were once unworthy because of our sins, will be worthy of God’s grace, and be able to receive the eternal life He has promised to us all.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let this day be a reminder for us all, that whenever we sin, we inflict the wounds and the pain on Our Lord Jesus, Who willingly bore those sins with Him on the cross. Let us all remember that we should turn away from sin, repent from all of our past wickedness, and ultimately, return to the Lord with an open mind and heart, that all of us will be reconciled completely with Him, and receive eternal life from Him.

May God be with us all throughout this Holy Week, and may He continue to guide us and bless us all the days of our life. Amen.

by

Saturday, 24 March 2018 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scriptures speaking to us about the promises God had made to His people at the time of the prophet Ezekiel, a prophet who spoke about God’s words during the time when Israel had fallen into a state of humiliation and great misery. God promised His people that He would no longer turn His gaze away from them, but He would take care of them again as He had before.

This happened in the context of the people of Israel at that time having been exiled from their homeland, and having their cities destroyed and conquered. And at that time, the kingdom of Judah was also destroyed, with all of the people carried off to Babylon far away from their homeland. It was a time of great humiliation and misery for the people, who had to endure exile and persecution as their ancestors had experienced before in Egypt.

But God would not forget His people, and instead, He gave them help and liberation through His servants, and called upon the king of Persia, Cyrus, to emancipate the Israelites and send them back to their homeland. The people of Israel would return to their homeland and reestablish their livelihood there. However, eventually they would once again fall into sin and disobedience against God.

And God once again sent His deliverance to His people, by sending unto them Jesus, His own beloved Son, to be their Saviour. Unfortunately, they did not appreciate what God had done for them, and in fact, they persecuted the Lord Jesus and His disciples just as their ancestors had refused to listen to the prophets and messengers that God had sent among His people in the days past.

They were even plotting against Him, the chief priests, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, all those who had frequently been on the collision course against the Lord and His teachings. They made life very difficult to the Lord Jesus and His disciples to the point that, according to the Gospel passage today, He had to hide from all those who were after Him and wanted His death.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, the reality is that, we also often act in the same manner, without regard for God and for His laws and commandments. We refused to listen to Him and we would rather follow the whim of our desires and our worldly concerns. As a result, we have fallen deeper and deeper into sin. But yet, the Lord has always given us opportunities, one after another, giving us help wherever and whenever we need them.

Are we grateful for all that we have been given and what we have been blessed with, by God Himself? And above all else, are we grateful for the ultimate gift which God has given us, that is eternal life, which is given to us by the loving sacrifice He performed on the cross? Whenever we look at the Christ crucified on the crucifix, do we realise just how much it is that God loves each and every one of us?

As we enter into the celebration of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the beginning of the Holy Week tomorrow, during the Palm Sunday, let us all deepen our understanding of God’s marvellous work among us, and how He has given us all His everything and every effort, that as we are going to hear the Passion Reading tomorrow, relating to us the moment when He laid down His life for us, that we may live, we may grow deeper in our relationship with Him and in our faith.

May the Lord be with us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, and may He continue to bless us with a good and living faith. May He empower us all to live faithfully, ever in His loving presence. May God bless us all. Amen.

by

Friday, 23 March 2018 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we approach the coming of the Holy Week, the readings taken from the Scriptures increasingly took up a very peculiar tone, to highlight the gravity and the importance of the events that would take place soon in the liturgical calendar of the Church. In today’s passage from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, we heard of the plotting which the wicked people of Judah plotted against the prophet Jeremiah, who came into their midst speaking God’s truth, and yet, he was rejected because of what he had told them.

The prophet Jeremiah had to endure much difficulty and opposition throughout his ministry among the people of Judah, and few believed in his message. They ridiculed him, made his life very difficult, and placed obstacles, one after another in his path. But the prophet Jeremiah, despite his occasional grumbling and complaints about his challenges and difficulties, he remained ultimately faithful to God and entrusted himself to Him.

God was with Jeremiah, and He guided him through those turbulent times, and despite all the challenges encountered by the prophet, he did not give up or stop his preaching and calling upon the people to turn away from their sinful ways. This is similar to what the Lord Jesus experienced, when He came into the world, bringing His truth and His salvation into our midst.

As we can see in the Gospel passage today, the Lord also encountered great opposition to His mission and work, because the people to whom He was sent, refused to believe in Him and they ridiculed and rejected Him just as their ancestors had done to the prophet Jeremiah. They refused to listen to Him, and hardened their hearts as they became angry at Jesus’ mention that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, sent into the world to correct all of mankind’s wrongs.

Instead of allowing God to enter into their hearts and listening to His offer of mercy and forgiveness, they resolutely continued down the path of their rebelliousness, and they were in fact the ones who would also reject the Lord before the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, when they were asked to choose between the Lord Jesus and the murderer Barabbas. They called out for His death and said in a loud voice, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the attitude that many of us have also either willingly or unwillingly taken in our lives. We have not allowed God to enter into our hearts and minds, and we close ourselves up from Him. We would not listen to Him and preferred to follow our own ways and thoughts instead. And that is why we have fallen into sin and became distant from God.

Today, let us all look upon the example of a particular saint, whose feast day we celebrate on this day, that is St. Turibius de Mogrovejo. He was a Spanish priest who was appointed to be the Archbishop of Lima in Peru, then part of Spanish America. He was remembered for his great piety and commitment to God, living honest and good life in accordance to God’s will.

St. Turibius de Mogrovejo showed great concern for the poor, the sick and those who were oppressed in the society. He established many houses and schools to care for them and to provide for their needs. He also championed for the case of the slaves and all those who were often prejudiced against by the society. He was also committed to serve the needs of his flock, entrusted to him by God. He enforced a stricter standard amongst the clergy, which by then had fallen into corruption and scandal. He even excommunicated the members of the clergy who had corrupt dealings and persecuted the native peoples of the Americas.

St. Turibius de Mogrovejo showed us all, how to live as true Christians, by doing God’s will and turning away from wickedness and sin. We must not allow our ego and pride to be in the way of our salvation in God, but instead, let us all be humble and be open to God’s mercy doing its work in our lives. Let us all make this our resolution from now on, that we no longer live to serve our own selfish desires and our ego, but instead, to serve the Lord with all of our hearts and with all of our strength.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us in this life, that we may progress in our journey of faith towards Him and find in Him the eternal life and the salvation that we are looking forward to, each and every day of our life. May all of us be reconciled with Him through our genuine repentance and turning away from our sins, and by embracing His ways, as His holy saint, St. Turibius de Mogrovejo had done. St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, pray for us. Amen.

by

Thursday, 22 March 2018 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Lord Who made a covenant with His servant Abraham, as recorded in the Old Testament, saying that He would establish His descendants and bless them forever, because of the great faith which Abraham had shown to the Lord, by obeying Him and following Him at every moments of his life.

But in the Gospel passage today, we see how the Lord Jesus was angry at those people who called themselves the descendants of Abraham and Israel. They claimed to be the descendants of those who were good and faithful servants of God, but in their actions and deeds, and in their lack of faith in God, and in what the Lord Jesus had delivered to them, they were nothing like that of their illustrious predecessors.

As we heard in the Gospel passage today, the people accused Jesus of having colluded with Satan and worked with him in His teachings among the people, just because He told them the plain truth and reality, which they refused to listen to and to believe in, as those plain truth and reality were difficult to be accepted. Yet, that was what had afflicted them, the reality that the people had sinned and erred against God.

But God was truly a patient and compassionate God, Who does not let Himself be angered unnecessarily because of His people’s constant disobedience and waywardness. Indeed, they had erred many, many times, and despite constant reminders and messages sent to them through the prophets, they continued to disobey because they have hardened their hearts and closed off their ears and minds from receiving God’s truth.

They claimed that they were faithful to the Lord and that they have preserved His laws. However, in reality, they were only paying lip service to Him and did not truly love Him as they should have. They were only obeying the laws and the rules because they were following the traditions of their predecessors, without truly understanding and appreciating why they did all that they had done.

This is not what God wanted from them. What He wanted from them was true dedication and love, that they turn themselves completely towards Him, abandoning their sinful ways and all of their wayward behaviour. He wanted them all to be like their forefather, Abraham, in his faith and dedication, and in how they lived their lives, trusting in God and being good and righteous towards one another.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is what the Lord is also calling us to, during this season of Lent, that we turn away from all of our past bad and wicked habits, to embrace His ways and to repent from our sins wholeheartedly. Are we able to commit to this change in our way of life? This is surely not something that is too difficult for us to do? After all, let us think about it, that God Himself had done so much for us, so as to send us all His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to save us by His death on the cross.

And that cross, which Christ bore willingly in great suffering and pain towards Calvary, and on which He was hung above for all of the people to see, is the source of our salvation, and it is where all of the combined weight and consequences of our sins have been gathered and taken by Christ, that He suffered and died in our place. If we believe in Him and put ourselves completely in Him, entrusting our fate to Him, He will give us the succour from all of our sins, and we will be worthy of the grace of eternal life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, as we approach the coming celebration of the Holy Week and the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, let us all draw closer to God and deepen our relationship by spending our time in prayer, in contemplation and deeper understanding of our own sins, and by being more charitable and generous in our love for our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us turn towards God and turn our back away from our sins.

May the Lord bless us all, and may He be with us all throughout our journey of faith, that we may find our way into the eternal glory promised to us by the Lord. Amen.