Weekday Homily

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Sunday, 18 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, or the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, in which we remember and rejoice in one of the most important tenets and indeed the very core of our faith in the Lord. It is our belief that the Lord has given us His very own Body and His very own Blood for us all His faithful ones, as real food and real drink in the Eucharist.

This is what all of us believe, all of us who believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, that the bread and wine which we use in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been thoroughly and completely transformed, or as the term says it: transubstantiation, into the very essence, and real material of the Body, the Flesh, and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, presence really in His Body, Soul and Divinity.

This is what we, who adhere to the true Christian faith, as well as our brethren in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches believe in, as separated and distinguished from those who had fallen into the heresy and falsehood of believing that the Lord’s sacrifice in the Mass is merely a symbolic gesture or a remembrance without real meaning and without the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

That is why, all of us believe that the Holy Mass is the highest form of worship, far greater and higher than all of our other participations in the acts of divine worship, for it is in the Holy Mass, more appropriately the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that the priests or the bishops, having been given the same authority by the Lord through His Apostles, acting in persona Christi, united with Christ Himself, offer the same offering of His Body and Blood, as the one He offered as He laid dying on the cross on Good Friday.

What we receive, and what we eat, is no longer a bread, or a chalice of wine, as even though we see the bread and the wine in appearance and in taste, but that is how our human senses perceive them as such. That is because in reality, transcending all senses and realities, the bread we receive and eat, and the wine we drink in some special occasions, have been completely transformed to the full Presence of our Lord, as Jesus Himself had mentioned in the Gospel today.

At that time, Jesus spoke the truth to the people of Israel and to His disciples, that He came into the world, bearing the true and living Bread of heaven. It was not the same with the bread from heaven which came at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Lord fed His people with manna in the desert for forty years. He gave them food in the form of manna to sustain them, but that food, even if they are the bread of Angels, gave no real and complete sustenance unlike the One which Jesus our Lord gave them and all of us.

Jesus Himself said plainly and clearly, that He is the Living Bread Who came from heaven, and all those who do not eat His Body or drink His Blood, has no share of life in Him. And at the Last Supper, at the time when Jesus our Lord according to the tradition of our faith, instituted the Holy Eucharist, which we now celebrate during every celebration of the Holy Mass, also said the same thing, that as He blessed and passed around the bread He broke, He said that the bread is His Body. And He said the same with the chalice of wine, which He said that the wine is His Blood.

Did the Lord say that the bread is merely a ‘symbol’ or ‘representation’ of His Body? Did He say that the wine is merely an ‘image’ or ‘illusion’ of His Blood? No, He did not, brothers and sisters in Christ, and He really meant what He had said. That is why all of us in the Church believe that He is really, truly and completely present, in Body, Soul and Divinity, the wholeness of God in the bread and in the wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Indeed, there are those who refused to believe in this truth, but remember, brethren, that the very same response can be seen in the Gospel passage today, as we heard how many of the followers of Jesus left Him because of what He had said about the giving of His Body and Blood to them. The very same doubt that we encounter today has been expressed by the people at that time, ‘How can He give us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink?’.

Those people refused to listen to the truth because it seemed to be unimaginable and disgusting to them that someone had said something of the sort. In fact, the same falsehood was spread by those who would try to bring down the Church in its early years, as misinformations, be it deliberate or unintentional led the Roman authorities to believe that Christians were a group of dangerous sect, not just because they refused to worship the pagan gods and the Emperor, but they were also a cult of cannibals who eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of Jesus.

Yet, that is what we believe, and indeed, while doubt will arise, as even the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord were dismayed and doubtful at what He had said, by saying, ‘Lord, this truth is hard to be accepted, who can believe and accept such truth?’, but we must not be swayed by doubt, and we must truly redouble our faith and devotion to the Lord, Who is truly and really present in the Eucharist.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why it is important that I bring you to attention to the reality in our Church today. Unlike in the past, when all the faithful ought to receive the Eucharist worthily and properly, when they are not in a state of sin and disgrace, and by kneeling and showing proper respect before Him in the Eucharist, and by receiving Him in the tongue only and not on the hands, nowadays, with the rampant abuse of the option to allow the faithful to receive Him on the hands, and the lack of proper catechism, we end up seeing many of the faithful not treating the Lord with respect, and go through receiving the Eucharist as if going through some regular motion without real meaning and understanding.

Brethren, this is a great scandal of our faith! This is what we need to stop from continuing to happen. We must really restore what is right and proper in this centre tenet of our faith. We can no longer be careless in our adoration and belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Every single particle of the bread of the host, and every single drop of the wine in the chalice, even to the smallest particle, is the Real Presence of Our Lord Himself, present fully in Body, Soul and Divinity.

But nowadays, we treat the Lord in the Eucharist and queueing to receive Him as if we are queueing for free food in a fast food joint, and we do not even receive Him with proper respect while doing so. We want to go through it as quickly as possible, and even get angry when the queue is getting very slow. We are impatient because it ends up making the Holy Mass to get longer, and we cannot wait to return to our daily activities outside the Mass.

That is simply unacceptable, brothers and sisters in Christ, and in reality, it scandalises our faith, in that, there had been a few people, who refused to believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, who commented that they did refuse to believe because they had seen that even us, Catholics, did not seem to believe in this through our actions and the way we come to Him and receive Him at the celebration of the Holy Mass.

How can we expect others to believe in the Lord Who is really present in the Eucharist, if we ourselves treat Him with disdain and lack of respect? How can we expect others to believe in the Real Presence when we do not bow down, kneel and feel unworthy to receive the Lord in the Eucharist, when we approach Him, and when we receive Him improperly while we are still in a state of grievous sin without confession?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today, as we commemorate this great Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us all rediscover our understanding and respect for the Lord Who has given us His own Body and Blood, and for what is that? It is for our salvation, that by eating His Body and Blood, we may share in the life He has brought upon us, by His sacrifice on the cross, and become united to Him in body and soul, and one day may come to share in His divinity, in the glory of His majesty forevermore.

Let us all start from ourselves, by striving to participate more actively and solemnly in the celebration of the Holy Mass, and by properly revering Him in the Eucharist, preferably by receiving Him only on the tongue and not on the hands, so that no particle of the Lord’s Body end up falling to the ground and get trampled on our feet. And also by properly preparing ourselves before receiving Him, knowing that we have sinned through our life’s actions, and how unworthy we are to receive Him, Who has come to us in Body, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.

Let us all do this, starting from ourselves, and thus by showing our own examples to others, we may create the great ripple effect, leading many, many more people, from our families, to our relatives, to our friends, throughout our communities and societies, that eventually, the whole Church, priests and laity alike, will return to the true reverence and faith in the Lord Jesus, in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and reject all forms of abuse that had happened in the recent years and decades.

May the Lord, Who is present in the Eucharist, continue to sustain us through the giving of His Body and Blood, that we, who receive Him worthily into our being, may be strengthened by His Presence, and may all of us grow ever more faithful and ever more devoted, that we, the Temple of His Holy Presence, will be deemed worthy of eternal glory with Him forever. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 June 2017 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, speaking to us about how we have been saved by the Lord, Who had reconciled us to Himself. And all of us as Christians are called to live our lives henceforth for the sake of the Lord, and to bring glory to the Lord, and no longer seeking glory for ourselves.

All of us have been called to serve the Lord with faith, zeal and real commitment, and this is what all of us Christians must do, that we are truly worthy of being called Christians. The essence of what we heard in the Gospel passage today is the same. When the Lord said to the people and to His disciples, that they should not swear by the heavens or the earth, or by Jerusalem, or by God Himself, He was not prohibiting them from making oaths or swearing, but rather, what He wanted to say is, that all Christians must really mean what they say and show it through real action.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask ourselves, how many of us made promises upon each other, with many words and persuasions, only to renege on those promises later on? It cannot be the case for our faith, for in reality, there are many Christians who have made their baptismal vows and promises during their baptism, and which are renewed every year at Easter, who then committed what is evil and wicked before the Lord.

And this is because the lack of faith among those who have not obeyed the Lord in His ways and commandments. If we have a strong and genuine faith, certainly then we will try our best to fulfil what the Lord has required us all to do in our respective lives. But when our faith is not solid, when it is shaky and we easily stumble on temptations and persuasions to do what is evil, then we end up failing in fulfilling what we have promised to do before the Lord. And thus we commit sin.

The Lord is calling all of us to live our faith with sincerity and zeal. We can no longer be complacent or be ignorant of what our faith requires from us. We can no longer treat our faith as if it is merely just a formality and nothing else. Nothing good can come from having Christian listed as our identity or religion, if we then do nothing at all about it in our lives, or worse still, doing what is contrary to our Christian faith.

In all of this, we may think that we need to do a lot of things in our life. But in reality, it is indeed just our commitment and desire to do what the Lord wants us to do is required. If we cannot even give our heart’s commitment in small matters, how then can we give it for matters that are complicated and difficult? We have to begin from ourselves, by reexamining the way we have lived our lives.

Have we given our time daily for the Lord and spending that time with Him? Many of us have forgotten to pray to Him. And if you think that prayer is a matter of saying sets of pre-crafted prayers, then that is not good enough. Our prayers must be sincere and genuine communication with God, in which we ought to open our hearts and let the Lord to speak in the depths of our hearts, and we can then have a good conversation with Him, knowing what it is that He wants us to do.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we therefore from now on renew our commitment to the Lord? Shall we seek to love Him with ever greater zeal and desire to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls? Let us all be true Christians who have genuine faith in God, and not just as mere formality or showing a fake and empty faith.

Let us all devote ourselves through our every words, actions and deeds, that all of them will declare the glory of God, and therefore, all of us will be worthy before the Lord, Who will bless us all, His faithful ones, forevermore. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, or the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, in which we remember and rejoice in one of the most important tenets and indeed the very core of our faith in the Lord. It is our belief that the Lord has given us His very own Body and His very own Blood for us all His faithful ones, as real food and real drink in the Eucharist.

This is what all of us believe, all of us who believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, that the bread and wine which we use in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been thoroughly and completely transformed, or as the term says it: transubstantiation, into the very essence, and real material of the Body, the Flesh, and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, presence really in His Body, Soul and Divinity.

This is what we, who adhere to the true Christian faith, as well as our brethren in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches believe in, as separated and distinguished from those who had fallen into the heresy and falsehood of believing that the Lord’s sacrifice in the Mass is merely a symbolic gesture or a remembrance without real meaning and without the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

That is why, all of us believe that the Holy Mass is the highest form of worship, far greater and higher than all of our other participations in the acts of divine worship, for it is in the Holy Mass, more appropriately the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that the priests or the bishops, having been given the same authority by the Lord through His Apostles, acting in persona Christi, united with Christ Himself, offer the same offering of His Body and Blood, as the one He offered as He laid dying on the cross on Good Friday.

What we receive, and what we eat, is no longer a bread, or a chalice of wine, as even though we see the bread and the wine in appearance and in taste, but that is how our human senses perceive them as such. That is because in reality, transcending all senses and realities, the bread we receive and eat, and the wine we drink in some special occasions, have been completely transformed to the full Presence of our Lord, as Jesus Himself had mentioned in the Gospel today.

At that time, Jesus spoke the truth to the people of Israel and to His disciples, that He came into the world, bearing the true and living Bread of heaven. It was not the same with the bread from heaven which came at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Lord fed His people with manna in the desert for forty years. He gave them food in the form of manna to sustain them, but that food, even if they are the bread of Angels, gave no real and complete sustenance unlike the One which Jesus our Lord gave them and all of us.

Jesus Himself said plainly and clearly, that He is the Living Bread Who came from heaven, and all those who do not eat His Body or drink His Blood, has no share of life in Him. And at the Last Supper, at the time when Jesus our Lord according to the tradition of our faith, instituted the Holy Eucharist, which we now celebrate during every celebration of the Holy Mass, also said the same thing, that as He blessed and passed around the bread He broke, He said that the bread is His Body. And He said the same with the chalice of wine, which He said that the wine is His Blood.

Did the Lord say that the bread is merely a ‘symbol’ or ‘representation’ of His Body? Did He say that the wine is merely an ‘image’ or ‘illusion’ of His Blood? No, He did not, brothers and sisters in Christ, and He really meant what He had said. That is why all of us in the Church believe that He is really, truly and completely present, in Body, Soul and Divinity, the wholeness of God in the bread and in the wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Indeed, there are those who refused to believe in this truth, but remember, brethren, that the very same response can be seen in the Gospel passage today, as we heard how many of the followers of Jesus left Him because of what He had said about the giving of His Body and Blood to them. The very same doubt that we encounter today has been expressed by the people at that time, ‘How can He give us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink?’.

Those people refused to listen to the truth because it seemed to be unimaginable and disgusting to them that someone had said something of the sort. In fact, the same falsehood was spread by those who would try to bring down the Church in its early years, as misinformations, be it deliberate or unintentional led the Roman authorities to believe that Christians were a group of dangerous sect, not just because they refused to worship the pagan gods and the Emperor, but they were also a cult of cannibals who eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of Jesus.

Yet, that is what we believe, and indeed, while doubt will arise, as even the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord were dismayed and doubtful at what He had said, by saying, ‘Lord, this truth is hard to be accepted, who can believe and accept such truth?’, but we must not be swayed by doubt, and we must truly redouble our faith and devotion to the Lord, Who is truly and really present in the Eucharist. It is really the hard truth, and which we have to accept fully, as Jesus our Lord really did not mince His words when He said it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why it is important that I bring you to attention to the reality in our Church today. Unlike in the past, when all the faithful ought to receive the Eucharist worthily and properly, when they are not in a state of sin and disgrace, and by kneeling and showing proper respect before Him in the Eucharist, and by receiving Him in the tongue only and not on the hands, nowadays, with the rampant abuse of the option to allow the faithful to receive Him on the hands, and the lack of proper catechism, we end up seeing many of the faithful not treating the Lord with respect, and go through receiving the Eucharist as if going through some regular motion without real meaning and understanding.

Brethren, this is a great scandal of our faith! This is what we need to stop from continuing to happen. We must really restore what is right and proper in this centre tenet of our faith. We can no longer be careless in our adoration and belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Every single particle of the bread of the host, and every single drop of the wine in the chalice, even to the smallest particle, is the Real Presence of Our Lord Himself, present fully in Body, Soul and Divinity.

But nowadays, we treat the Lord in the Eucharist and queueing to receive Him as if we are queueing for free food in a fast food joint, and we do not even receive Him with proper respect while doing so. We want to go through it as quickly as possible, and even get angry when the queue is getting very slow. We are impatient because it ends up making the Holy Mass to get longer, and we cannot wait to return to our daily activities outside the Mass.

That is simply unacceptable, brothers and sisters in Christ, and in reality, it scandalises our faith, in that, there had been a few people, who refused to believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, who commented that they did refuse to believe because they had seen that even us, Catholics, did not seem to believe in this through our actions and the way we come to Him and receive Him at the celebration of the Holy Mass.

How can we expect others to believe in the Lord Who is really present in the Eucharist, if we ourselves treat Him with disdain and lack of respect? How can we expect others to believe in the Real Presence when we do not bow down, kneel and feel unworthy to receive the Lord in the Eucharist, when we approach Him, and when we receive Him improperly while we are still in a state of grievous sin without confession?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today, as we commemorate this great Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us all rediscover our understanding and respect for the Lord Who has given us His own Body and Blood, and for what is that? It is for our salvation, that by eating His Body and Blood, we may share in the life He has brought upon us, by His sacrifice on the cross, and become united to Him in body and soul, and one day may come to share in His divinity, in the glory of His majesty forevermore.

Let us all start from ourselves, by striving to participate more actively and solemnly in the celebration of the Holy Mass, and by properly revering Him in the Eucharist, preferably by receiving Him only on the tongue and not on the hands, so that no particle of the Lord’s Body end up falling to the ground and get trampled on our feet. And also by properly preparing ourselves before receiving Him, knowing that we have sinned through our life’s actions, and how unworthy we are to receive Him, Who has come to us in Body, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.

Let us all do this, starting from ourselves, and thus by showing our own examples to others, we may create the great ripple effect, leading many, many more people, from our families, to our relatives, to our friends, throughout our communities and societies, that eventually, the whole Church, priests and laity alike, will return to the true reverence and faith in the Lord Jesus, in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and reject all forms of abuse that had happened in the recent years and decades.

May the Lord, Who is present in the Eucharist, continue to sustain us through the giving of His Body and Blood, that we, who receive Him worthily into our being, may be strengthened by His Presence, and may all of us grow ever more faithful and ever more devoted, that we, the Temple of His Holy Presence, will be deemed worthy of eternal glory with Him forever. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 16 June 2017 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us as Christians are reminded by the Lord through the Scripture readings we heard today, to be genuine and true disciples of His, in all of our words, deeds and actions. He mentioned it in the Gospel today, when He spoke of which actions constitute as sins against the Lord, even in the matter of mere thought and intention, and how we ought to resist against sinning.

The Lord Jesus mentioned the danger of having even the intentions and thoughts of sinning, in whatever form it is, as intentions eventually lead to the deed, if we do not do anything actively in order to resist those temptations and the allure to commit the sin. That is why, what the Lord Jesus told us today is that, all of us who are Christians, cannot be complacent in our faith.

It might seem very scary to us that the Lord Jesus told His disciples and the people to pluck out their eyes and cut off their hands in the case that those organs and limbs leading us towards sin. But that is exactly the danger of interpreting and seeing the words of the Scripture literally as it is. The Lord was not ordering us all to cut off our limbs and destroying our organs and senses if we are tempted to sin, but in fact, He was telling us to be active in resisting the temptation to sin.

Why is that so? That is because, if we are to do as the Lord had asked us to do, then almost everyone, if not everyone will become paraplegic or paralysed, without limb, blind, deaf or mute, since everyone is a sinner, and all of us mankind are easily tempted by various means to sin, be it with our eyes, or our ears, or our tongue, or our limbs, hands and feet.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, God has blessed us and given us these organs and limbs, for us not to commit those sins, but instead, to bring glory to His Name. We are all expected to do our best, to fulfil what He had commanded us to do, through our organs, bodies, limbs, through our minds and hearts, through our entire being.

All of us must be active in our faith, by doing all that we can in order to serve the Lord, by our good deeds and by our actions. We must do so, so that the more good and faithful deeds we commit in life, the more capable we will be in resisting the temptation to sin and do what is not right in accordance to the Lord and in His teachings. When we sin, we tend to sin more and more, since our senses and minds will be dulled by the sins we commit.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are called to seek the Lord by sincerely doing what we need to do, by doing the acts of love and mercy to our brethren, forgiving all those who have slighted and hated us, by praying for those who persecute us and consider us to be their enemies. Let us all seek peace and harmony in all things, and do our best to show the examples of our faith through our actions.

It is by living our faith to the fullest, by our words, actions and deeds that we will be able to come to the fullness of grace and love by the Lord, and He will bless us all forevermore, remembering our faith and the dedication with which we have devoted our whole lives to. May the Lord empower us to become ever better and more faithful disciples of His. Amen.

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Thursday, 15 June 2017 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day through the readings from the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that as Christians, all of us have to be truly devoted to the ways shown to us by our Lord Jesus, as He had taught us through His disciples. We cannot be Christians and yet in our words, in our actions and in our deeds, we show things that are contrary to what we believe in.

Our faith in the Lord must be sincere, deep and genuine, and based on our heartfelt desire to love Him and to serve Him all of our days. We must truly love one another and seek peace and harmony in all things. We must follow the examples of the Lord our God in all that He had done, in all that He had shown us how to do. He has taught us to love Him and if we love Him, we will also love one another in the same manner.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the exhortation He had made in our Gospel passage today, Jesus our Lord is challenging us to go beyond what has been expected of us in accordance with the Law. We cannot just obey the laws and commandments of God without understanding them, or else we will end up being just like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who obeyed the laws to the letter, but on their true heart’s intentions and purpose, their hypocrisy was evident.

Let us ask ourselves, brothers and sisters in Christ. How often is it that in our own daily lives, we have been angry at our brethren, at another person, just because we are jealous at what they have, which we do not have? The Lord said that even the intention is enough for us to drive ourselves towards committing the crime of sin, so if we do not restrain ourselves and those negativities, such as anger, jealousy, desire and all, we will end up leading ourselves into sin.

Therefore, as Christians, all of us need to have that zeal in us, that commitment and devotion, which we must have to be true disciples and followers of our Lord Jesus, or else we will be easily swayed by the temptations of this world, by all the pressures for us to do otherwise, to do differently from what the Lord had taught us and shown us, because these were things that are easier to be done than to be faithful to God.

Why is that so? It is easier for us to hate someone and be angry at someone for a misstep or wrongdoing or pain that has been inflicted upon us by that someone. It is in our human nature and habit for us to do so, by our instincts and experiences. However, it is far more difficult for us to forgive and let go of our anger, allowing us to think rationally and not be carried away by our anger and emotions.

Similarly, it is easier for us to do what is evil and wicked, as because of sin, we have been made vulnerable to those desires that led us to sin. It is easier for us to seek the desires for the pleasures of the flesh, for other forms of worldly desires, for recognition, for power and all the things which inevitably lead us into conflict with one another, as we mankind are by our nature selfish and stubborn, not wanting to give in or to let go.

No, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us as Christians cannot be like this. We must seek to be humble, to be peacemakers, and let us put our attention especially on the sermon which Jesus made on the mountain, the Beatitudes, in which He spelled out clearly, how Christians, all of us who believe in the Lord and follow Him ought to live.

We must be sincere in our faith to the Lord, and through our action we must bring peace and harmony with one another, for all of us are brothers and sisters in the same Lord. Whatever actions that others had done that caused us to be angry, let us not be quick to be angry, for remember that perhaps in our own actions and words, we might have made someone else unhappy and angry too.

Let us all rather seek to love one another, and therefore also love the Lord our God with sincerity and tenderness. Let us all renew our commitment to Him, and devote ourselves to a holy and loving life from now on, as the true and beloved children of God. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 June 2017 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the Lord Jesus reminded us that He came into this world in order to fulfil the Law and the prophecies made by the prophets, for all of them came eventually from God, and Jesus also came from the same God, the Father Who sent His Son, in order to save this world, and all of us mankind, by the revelation of truth and the salvation He offered us all through His sacrifice on the cross.

God gave us all His Law so that through His Law, we may be able to find our way to Him, for obeying the Law means for us to live according to what the Lord had taught us, in being faithful to Him, and in making ourselves worthy of Him and worthy of His love. If we are not able to follow His commandments and laws, how can we then expect to receive the fullness of His grace and love?

That was what He criticised of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, for their hypocrisy in teaching the laws, passed down onto them from Moses. The worldly concerns and desires of men had twisted the original, true and pure intention of the Law, such that the divine law of God had ended up becoming merely human laws, to serve human interests rather than God’s interests.

And worse still, as often mentioned in the Gospels, they did not act in the way that they had preached. They preached one thing but acted in a different way. That made them to be hypocrites, and that was why Jesus was not amused by the way they had behaved themselves before the people. And that is not what He wants from each and every one of us Christians, Who ought to be following His ways.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what does this mean for us? It means that all of us who are Christians and indeed call ourselves as Christians cannot be idle in our faith, or worse still, acting like how the Pharisees had acted, by doing what is contrary to our faith in God. Imagine how would others think about us and our faith, should we, who are Christians, act in the most un-Christian manner?

We cannot be Christians on paper only, or as an act of formality only. We cannot pick and choose what we want to believe in, or decide what we are to believe in the faith we have in God. When the Lord gave His Law to His people, and all of His commandments, He never allowed or permitted them to choose which law or commandment they can believe in and which one they are free to ignore or reject.

In the same manner, therefore, all of us must also be obedient to the entirety of the Law and the commandments of God. We must listen to what the Lord Jesus had told His disciples on how to obey the Lord with our hearts, minds, souls, and indeed with our whole beings. We must do our best to love and serve the Lord our God, with all of our words, actions and deeds. That is the most important commandment of all, and we have to do it by rejecting all that is wicked and un-Christian in our actions.

And by doing so, we will also have obeyed the Lord’s other commandment, that is for us to love our fellow men, our brothers and sisters in the same Lord, with genuine love, concern, care and attention. We must show love to our brethren, be kind on others, and refrain from all sorts of actions that can bring pain, both physically or mentally to our brethren.

These are what all of us as Christians must do. We must devote ourselves to what the Lord had taught us to do. Let us all devote ourselves to the Lord and obey His will through His laws and commandments, seeking to be ever more faithful from time to time. May the Lord bless us all, and may He love us always with His loving grace. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 June 2017 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Gospel, we heard the famous parable of our Lord Jesus Christ, the parable of the salt and the light, which He used in comparison to all of us His people, in how we ought to live our lives, filled with faith and commitment to Him, or else, we will be like those who claim to hold the faith, and yet have nothing in us to prove it.

Salt and light are two very important commodities at the time of Jesus, just as they are still important today. We may primarily know salt as a substance that gives our food its saltiness and good taste, but do you know that in the past, before refrigerators and electricity are available, salt is also a very important commodity used in the preservation of food products? Its saltiness preserves the food and kills any bacteria or dangerous pathogens that would otherwise grow in the food.

Similarly, light is very important for us, because without light, we cannot see anything. Our eyes can see the world and all the things around us simply because light is reflected off them and gets into our eyes, which is then processed by our brain and seen as a vision. Without light, vision is impossible. In our world today, inundated with various artificial light sources due to electricity and technology, it is often that we take light for granted.

But do you know that in the past, after the sun had set, which is our main source of light, there is really total darkness? There is no electricity or lightbulbs, or any artificial light source by whatever means? The only source of light at that time, was fire, and the ability of mankind in using fire was recognised as being very crucial in the development of our human societies.

Without the light, and also the heat, provided by the flame, using lighted candles, mankind could not do much at night time, when there was no sunlight. It was the light which allowed them to see in the darkness, dispelling the darkness and providing them with vision. It allowed people to travel safely at night and not veering off the road or falling into a ravine or into danger.

Therefore, Jesus our Lord used these two examples because they were very, very important to the people living at that time, referring to their usefulness. If they became useless by losing their prized properties, saltiness for the salt and light for the flame of the lighted candle, then they would be of no use and would be thrown away and discarded.

Thus, as Christians, as all those who believe in the Lord Jesus as our God and Saviour, all of us must not be complacent, or be ignorant of what we are supposed to do in our respective lives. We must not be found lacking of Christian virtues and live as if we are not Christian at all. Otherwise, we will indeed be like salt that has lost its saltiness, and light that no longer dispels darkness.

As Christians, we must be truly devoted to the Lord, in actions, words and deeds, so that in everything that we say and do, we glorify the Lord through them. Today, as we also celebrate the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, let us all also learn from his examples, as he was well known for his dedication and love to the people of God, especially to the poor, the downtrodden and all those who have lost hope.

He preached among the people, calling them to repent from their sinful ways, and he was so eloquent in his teachings that people came to him in droves, and believed in the Lord through him. He worked hard throughout his life, serving the poor and the sick, all those who have been suffering in this world. He did his best, in whatever way he could, to help the people of God, his fellow brothers and sisters.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, by looking at the examples of St. Anthony of Padua, all of us ought to be following his examples in our own lives. Let us all be true Christians in actions and deeds, doing whatever we can to love our God, and to love our brethren in the same way, as He had commanded us to do. Let us all be truly salt of the earth and light of the world, as our Lord called us to be.

May the Lord bless us all, and may He guide us all through in our actions, so that in everything that we say and do, we will always glorify the Lord and His holy Name, and will always be found worthy of His grace and love. Amen.

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Monday, 12 June 2017 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Gospel, we heard the famous Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount, which our Lord Jesus made on the mountain before the people, listing all the blessings and fortunes which He bestowed on all those who have been doing all that He was praising and encouraging the people to do.

The essence of the Beatitudes is that as Christians all of us are compelled and indeed, obliged to live in the manner as prescribed in the Beatitudes. What our Lord Jesus told the people at that time during His sermon was not just empty words, but strong exhortation for them to live in accordance with the ways which He had shown them, and He even detailed out what a Christian should be like, living with the virtues of the Beatitudes.

First of all, a Christian must be poor in spirit, which does not equate to material poverty. Instead, the term poor in spirit means that we as sinners, weak and unworthy human beings, all of us ought to realise just how insignificant and sinful we are in our lives, and just how much we need to be helped in our journey towards the Lord. It is by being humble and desiring for our conversion, that we are poor in spirit, shunning all of our human pride and greed, which have become great obstacles for us.

Then, a Christian must also be gentle and merciful. There are in reality many Christians who have acted with violence and greed upon others, causing suffering and pain, by our refusal to show love in our words and actions. We slander upon others, backstabbing our relatives and friends to achieve our own objectives, wants and desires. We have not shown mercy to those who seek to be forgiven, and we keep grudge in our hearts and minds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are not the traits of us as Christians. And if we have done all these in our lives, perhaps we should reevaluate the way we have lived these lives, and think of what we can do, in order to turn away from all those things, wicked and un-Christian in nature which we have committed all these while. We must be more loving, more gentle towards each other, and be ready to forgive and to let go if we wish to be forgiven ourselves from our sins.

And it is important for us Christians to be peacemakers, to be those who seek and desire for peace in this world. Unfortunately, many Christians do not show peace or support peace in their lives. Instead they caused divisions, conflicts, and a lot of anger and hatred between each other, by their failure to give way and by giving in to their pride, ego and human desires.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, peace is important, for if we are not at peace, even within ourselves, we will always be tormented and never find the peace of God. When we are always worrying about what we are to have today, what profit we are able to gain from our work and actions, then we will always seek for more, and try to exploit whatever opportunities we can gain, even if we have to step over the rights of others while doing so.

But remember, brethren, when we do so, we will constantly be hounded with anxiety, worry and even more lack of satisfaction. It is our human nature that we are always desiring for more and more, and even once we have what we want, we will not be easily satisfied, and we desire even more. And the more we want, the more we will end up clashing with one another, ending up in conflict, pain and harm.

Last of all, as Christians, all of us are called to persevere through the challenges and difficulties that will come our way as we live our Christian lives with zeal and devotion. There will be challenges and difficulties, even coming from those whom we consider to be friends, relatives and close confidants. There will be a lot of moments when we will be rejected, ridiculed, and even persecuted for our faith, but we must persevere, for the glory of the Name of our Lord.

Through our perseverance and strength, through our patience and faith, through our commitment and devotion, we shall find our way to the Lord, and we shall inspire many others to do the same as well. This is what we all need to do, brothers and sisters in Christ, as those whom God had chosen to be His own people. Let us all seek to be what the Lord Jesus had described in His Beatitudes, and strive to do our best to serve Him as He had taught us how to do so.

May the Lord bless us all, and continue to guide us in our path in life, so that in all of our words, actions and deeds, we may always be pleasing to Him, and are always worthy of His grace at all times. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Trinity Sunday and Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, one of the centrepiece of our faith, and yet one which is also often misunderstood by many people, both by those who are outside the Church, and even among Christians like us. How many of us truly know what is the Holy Trinity and how important it is for us Christians?

Imagine, brothers and sisters in Christ, if someone is to come to us and ask us, questions such as what kind of God do we believe in, or what is the Holy Trinity which Christians believe in, are we able to give them an accurate and reliable answer based on our knowledge of the Holy Trinity? It is often that, we realise that not only that in many occasions, Christians are taken aback by such questions, as we often take for granted what we believe in, and we do not take the effort needed to understand better what is the mystery and truth of our God.

What if someone is to ask us why we believe in three Gods or three separate divine Beings, or if someone else indeed accuse us of being false to our supposedly monotheistic faith because we believe in three Gods? It is truly a reality that there are quite a few people who do not truly understand our Christian faith, who thought that we worship three distinct Gods, in the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, and therefore, we do not believe in the One and only God, Creator and Master of all the universe.

But all of them were born out of misinformation, misunderstanding and the lack of true knowledge of what our Christian faith is. We have received the fullness of truth, and therefore, the ultimate truth of God, and the One Who had revealed it was none other than God Himself, through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself had made known to His disciples on more than one occasion, that only He alone knows the truth about God, for no one who did not come from the Lord would know the truth. Because Jesus Himself is God, certainly He has the full knowledge of truth.

And what is this truth, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is what all of us Christians need to know, for it lies at the very centre of our faith, at the very heart of all that we believe in Christ. First of all, we all believe in the One and only One True God, Who is beyond compare and Almighty, and there is no other god besides Him. All the other gods and deities are pagans and of false origins, for it is the Lord our God Who is the Creator of everything in the universe, and therefore He is the Master of all.

Then, secondly, we believe that while there is only One and only One God, but that same God has in existence three distinct Divine Persons, namely the Father, the Son and then the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son and not the Holy Spirit, and vice versa, the Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit, and thus, the Holy Spirit is also not the Son, or the Father. Each of the three Divine Persons are distinct, and yet at the same time, they are indivisible and inseparable from each other.

For all the three Divine Persons of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit all form the indivisible unity of the One and only God, the Creator, Lord and Master of all the universe. Without any one of the three Divine Persons, the whole unity of Divinity will be imperfect, and truly, we cannot separate one from the other without disrupting and distorting completely the truth about the Lord our God, in Whom we believe.

If you find this explanation to be difficult, it is perfectly understandable, for all these things have been revealed to us by the Lord, as matters that are beyond our normal human and worldly understanding. These are supernatural and spiritual matter which our senses cannot identify and distinguish directly, and therefore, our faith in what the Lord had told us is important.

And how did we know about all of these? How did we receive all of these truths? It is because all of these truths, the teachings of our faith and all that the Lord Jesus has revealed to us mankind through His disciples have been preserved through the Holy Mother Church, to which we belong to. It was through the Church that we have received our faith, for it had preserved the truth via its sacred traditions, and through the compilation of the sacred texts and Gospels into what we now know as the Holy Bible.

And the saints who have preceded us have also taught us in various ways on how to understand the concept of the Holy Trinity, most famous of which was done by St. Patrick, the well known patron saint of Ireland, who was a great missionary that laid the foundation of the faith in Ireland, formerly a deeply pagan country, worshipping pagan idols and gods, but ever since St. Patrick brought them the truth of God, many and eventually all of them converted to the true faith.

St. Patrick used the example of a three-leaf clover, which is a common plant easily found in Ireland. The three-leaf clover is a unique leaf, which leaf blade does not consist of just one singular leaf, or many leaves joined together by their leaf stalks. Instead, the three-leaf clover has its leaves consisting of three leaf blades that are at the same time conjoined together into a singular leaf. Thus, just like the Holy Trinity, each of the three leaf blades are distinct from each other, and one can see that there are indeed three leaves, and yet, at the same time, there is as a whole, only one leaf.

We cannot detach any one part of the three-leaf clover and still call it a three-leaf clover. A three-leaf clover is only so when all the three leaf parts are attached and intact. In the similar way, we cannot separate any parts of the Most Holy Trinity, the Father from the Son or from the Holy Spirit, and vice versa. They are three Divine Persons, distinct from each other, and yet part of a perfect and indivisible unity as part of a singular and One Godhood.

Using another example, which Jesus had used in His parables, we can also liken the Holy Trinity to salt and light of a candle. How do we know that a certain substance is salt, and not some other substances? That is because, first of all, when we touch salt, it has its crystalline structure, which is clearly different from for example sugar, and even other crystalline sugars like rock sugars and crystal sugars.

And then, when we look at salt, its appearance can be distinguished from that of other substances. We will know if something is not salt by the appearance, and also by the shape and the feel of the crystalline structure as mentioned. And finally, we can taste the salt. Salt has that saltiness taste that makes it to be so useful and favourable by many cultures. Without that saltiness, salt is useless.

Similarly, with regards to flame and candles, the flame provides light to all who sees it, as well as heat. In the past, people do not have electricity as we have nowadays. Therefore, at nighttime, people always live in darkness, and they use the lighted candles to give them light, in order to allow them to do their night activities. And there is no source of heat beside flame, for which reason in winter time or in cold night, people warm themselves around fireplaces and bonfires.

A flame consists of its light, its heat and finally its shape. If a flame has lost its heat, or somehow is devoid of heat, can we still call it as a flame? Surely not. Similarly, if a flame no longer emits light, and therefore cannot be seen, is it still a flame? Certainly it is not either. Therefore, it is the same with the Holy Trinity, for our Lord and God consists of the three Divine Persons that are distinct as much as the heat, light and the shape of the flame is different from each other, and inseparable from each other forming a perfect and indivisible union.

And how is our belief in the Most Holy Trinity important to us as Christians? That is because the whole history of our salvation and creation has been made possible by the works of God, Who is in everything and has been present in everything. The Father willed all things into creation, while the Word of God, the Son, is what the Father used to will all things into being, for example, as He said the words, “Let there be light.”

And the Holy Spirit is in everything, the source of all creation, of all life, through which God made all things into being and possible. The three Divine Persons are at work throughout our creation and our salvation. The Father loves each and every one of us whom He had created, and as the Gospel mentioned today, that because of that love, He sent to us His only begotten Son, the Word of God, Who took up the flesh and nature of Man, and became Man for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Through our Lord Jesus, His loving sacrifice on the cross, and by His giving of His own Precious Body and Blood for all of us, He has united all of us, those who believe in Him, to Him, and He is present in all of us, which He affirmed to us, by sending us all, the same Holy Spirit which is part of Him, Who is in us now, giving us the strength and courage to go on living our lives with faith.

All of us have therefore been sealed with the seal of the Most Holy Trinity, of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, beginning with our baptism, be it as babies or as adults, when we were baptised in Their Name. And the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confirmation, see the Lord Himself dwelling in each and every one of us, who have become the Temple of His Most Holy Presence.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, now that we know what the Holy Trinity of our Lord is truly about, and how we ought to explain it to others who are misinformed or are curious about it, and how they have worked together in creation and our salvation, as Christians, all of us are tasked to fulfil what the Lord had commanded us all, that is to call all peoples and all the nations, and baptise them in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

As such, all of us need to be exemplary in our faith, to do what He has taught us to do, to love Him with all of our heart, and by showing genuine devotion, spending our time with the Lord Who has loved us so much, that He gave us His only Son. And by following in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus, by being humble and obedient, let us all show all the others, especially those who have yet to know about the Lord, that they too, hopefully will also be touched in their hearts, and come to believe in Him.

It is too often that Christians are divided against each other, and we are easily affected by our ego and conflicting human desires, that we bring even suffering and difficulties to our fellow men, even to fellow Christians. If our Lord and God is perfectly united in love, Three Divine Persons as One, then how can we call ourselves as Christians if we do not love one another and are divided against each other?

Let us all thus put our complete trust in the Most Holy Trinity, and as Christians, strive to do our best to glorify Their great and glorious Name. Let us be united with one another and not be divided, and remain as one people, just as They are One. Let us all be exemplary in all of our actions and deeds, and let us all renew our commitment to live faithfully, beginning from ourselves, and then to our families and communities, that more and more people will believe in the Most Holy Trinity, and receive salvation through that faith. May God, the Most Holy Trinity, bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 10 June 2017 : 9th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, all of us heard about how the Lord Jesus praised the faith and dedication of the poor old woman, who went to the Temple to give her donations, just two small coins, which was most of her money, as a devotion to the Lord. He was comparing it to the large donations made by many other people, which they made by boasting and comparing with one another, and by showing them off to show just how generous they were in giving.

To be fair, Jesus was not criticising the rich and the powerful for being wealthy or influential as they were, and neither did Jesus praise the poor to the point that He made all the poor sound so saintly. There are many rich people out there indeed, at the time of Jesus and in our world today, who are truly generous with their money and wealth, sharing them with those who are in need, who readily give whatever extra things and blessings they have with those who have little or none. And there are also poor people who were wicked and evil in those times as it is now.

Similarly, Jesus was not criticising the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for who they were, or for what they were practicing and wearing. What He was criticising is the fact that they did what they had done, all of their prayers and devotions in order to be seen and be praised by the people. They said all the long prayers publicly in the square and marketplaces, all that they would be highly regarded by the people and respected by them.

It is for their love of self-adulation and praise that Jesus had condemned them, similarly with those people who have not donated to the Temple treasury with genuine sincerity, but in order to be seen and praised by others around them. Therefore, it is indeed sad, to see how in our Church today, it is quite often that there are those who attack and persecute priests, religious and laity who are committed to a life of prayer and piety to God, just because, according to them, the priests were wearing ornate and beautiful vestments, or that the churches are richly decorated and ornamented, all the precious vessels and items used in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

That is because those people misunderstood and misinterpreted what Jesus had rebuked the Pharisees and the rich people for. They thought that by doing what they had done, they were doing what the Lord had done. But remember, that many of those priests and laity who were committed to make sure that the Holy Mass and our celebrations of the faith is solemn and worthy of God, is doing so not for their sake, but for God’s sake, unlike those Pharisees.

Most importantly, we should support all those who had given themselves in service to God, committing themselves wholeheartedly, their whole lives to the Lord. If we do see some of them who genuinely erred in their ways, then indeed we should remind them. But it is not ours to judge what we do not know. There are many of those who have left everything behind, fame, money, possessions and worldly renown so that they might serve the Lord and us, His people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps this should bring us to attention to what all of us Christians need to do in our own lives. Many of us have lived our lives perhaps without realising what it is that each one of us can do in order to contribute in the way that the Lord had commanded us all to do. We live our lives as usual, focusing on what we need and what we want, but failing to do what we should be doing as the disciples of the Lord.

How many of us spend some time to think about all those who are in need around us? How many of us actually take part in helping the good works done by the Church to help all these less privileged brethren of ours? How many of us help to support our priests and all those who have devoted themselves to a religious life? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves, if we have not done any of these.

What is important, brothers and sisters in Christ, is not in the size of our giving or in how much we have contributed. Even the old, poor widow gave only whatever she was capable of giving, but most importantly, she gave it sincerely from her heart, and not from her ego and desire for any rewards or for recognition. And our priests have given their lives, efforts and works for the sake of the Lord, serving Him and all of us. While some had indeed erred and fallen on their ways, but almost every one of them had been faithful and were committed to their vocations.

It is now the part for each and every one of us to take part as well, by devoting our time, effort and actions for the sake of our fellow brethren, for the love of our God, and in all that we do, let us always remember that we do them not for ourselves, but for the greater glory of our God, Who has given us all these blessings we have in life. Let us remember this, as we continue to live in our world today, doing His will all the time. May God bless us all, and remain with us always. Amen.