Weekday Homily

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Monday, 8 July 2024 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we should always put our faith and trust in the Lord, our God and Saviour. All of us are reminded that God truly loves each and every one of us, and we are all precious to Him. He has also done a lot to reach out to us, to embrace us all with His love and kindness, showing us all His mercy. Through everything that He had done and shown us, we are all reminded that as Christians, that is as those whom He had called and chosen, and we who have answered His call, and taken Him as our Lord and Saviour, our Master and King, we must always put God as the centre and as the very focus of our lives and existence. We must always have faith in Him and commit ourselves and every moments of our lives to serve and glorify Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which the Lord spoke to His people, the people of God in the northern kingdom also known as Israel, of what He had intended for all of them, reminding them all of His ever enduring love and kindness, His desire to see them reconciled and reunited with Him. The prophet Hosea was sent to the Israelites of the northern kingdom, who had long disobeyed God and disregarded His Law and commandments, refusing to listen to the many prophets and messengers that God had sent to them to help and guide them to the right path. They persecuted those prophets and messengers, silencing and killing them because they refused to turn away from the path of sin and evil, from their wickedness and disobedience.

But the prophet Hosea, while delivering God’s displeasure and warnings to His people, the premonition of the destruction and sufferings that they would have to endure because of their sins and wickedness, which was imminent, at the same time, as we all heard in our first reading passage, we also heard of God reassuring and encouraging His people of His continued providence and love. He reminded them of all of His wonderful deeds in protecting and providing for their ancestors since the time He had brought them out of the land of Egypt out of their slavery, and how He had guided them safely and well throughout the way, loving them patiently all throughout their journey. He was patient with them even they repeatedly disobeyed Him, chastising and punishing them to help them see the error of their ways and that they might return to Him with repentance and sincerity of heart.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the miraculous healing and miracle that happened to two people, first being a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhage or bleeding issue, and the second being the dead daughter of Jairus, an official of the synagogue. In both occasions, we heard how the woman and the synagogue official had faith in the Lord, and they sought the Lord for help with their respective troubles. The woman braved through the large crowd surrounding the Lord, and also courageously overcame her fears and uncertainties, and the shame that was associated with her condition, as according to the Jewish laws and customs, the Law of Moses, a woman with bleeding condition and discharge was considered as unclean.

We heard how the Lord embraced this woman who had been healed from her haemorrhage issue and praised her for her great faith, for it was her faith that had saved her. Similarly, it was the constant faith that the synagogue official had in the Lord that allowed his daughter to be saved and raised from the dead. The Lord was laughed upon by the people who were there at the house when He said that the girl was only sleeping, because those people had little faith in the Lord and they did not believe that He could do anything to help the girl. The Lord proved His power and authority by restoring the daughter of Jairus back to life, highlighting that it is in Him alone that we have hope of salvation and liberation from our troubles, including that sin and death, which can be forgiven and overcome respectively by the Lord alone.

Through what we have heard in our Scripture readings today, we are therefore reminded that we should no longer be stubborn and hardened in our hearts, in refusing to listen to the Lord and in not embracing the ever generous love and mercy which He has constantly shown to each and every one of us. We have to imitate the good examples of the courage and the faith of both the woman who suffered from the haemorrhage as well as Jairus, the synagogue official, whose faith in God brought salvation and healing to themselves and their loved ones. Thus, in the same way, each and every one of us should also trust in the Lord and put our faith in Him. We should always be focused on the Lord and remind ourselves that God is our only Hope and Redemption, through Whom we shall gain the assurance of eternal life, true joy and happiness in life.

This is why after we have heard our Scripture readings today and ponder on their messages for us, let us all realise just how sinful and wicked we have been in our lives. Let us all realise just how we could have easily been crushed and destroyed by the Lord for all those wicked things if He had willed it so. Yet, in His infinite and most generous love and mercy, He has always constantly reached out to us with His love, caring for us and showing us the constant desire He has to be reconciled with each and every one of us. We truly ought to be ashamed at all of our sins and wickedness, and we should always be grateful for the love and kindness which God has given to us all these while, and we should never take Him for granted.

May the Lord therefore continue to bless us and love us at all times, and may He continue to empower and strengthen us in our journey of faith and life so that we may continue to persevere in faith despite the many challenges and difficulties, trials and obstacles that we may encounter in our lives. Let us all renew our commitment and conviction to serve the Lord ever more faithfully and to do His will in all that we do in our lives, to do His Law and commandments and to entrust ourselves to His love and kindness, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 7 July 2024 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we must always be obedient to God, be humble in all things and keep in mind that no matter how great we are, ultimately everything that we have, and all of our greatness and achievements, all of these are only possible because of God, His guidance and blessings towards us. Through God’s help and guidance all of us have received the strength and the means to persevere through the challenges of life, and by His providence, we have been guided to reach the path towards salvation and eternal life with God. However, we must always be ever vigilant and careful, lest the many temptations present around us may lead us astray into the path of ruin and damnation.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel in which God called Ezekiel and sent him to the people of Israel in exile in Babylon, to speak to them all at the place of their exile to remind them all of their loving God and Master, the One Who had chastised and punished their ancestors and predecessors for their sins and wickedness, but One Who also would embrace them all once again with His ever generous and enduring love because after all, despite all the anger and punishments that He had given against those same people. This is because ultimately, God has always loved His people, whom He had called and chosen to share in His love and inheritance, and as a loving Father to His beloved ones, that He had treated as His children, He wanted them all to grow up well and to follow the path that He has shown them.

Therefore, God’s chastisements and punishments to the Israelites were ultimately meant to lead those wayward people back towards Him. He wanted them all to repent from their sinful ways and to remember His love for them, and how as God’s chosen people, they were supposed to live righteously and virtuously in God’s path, and not to give in to the wickedness of the world, all the temptations of sin that could bring them all into destruction and damnation. Their exile in Babylon was meant to remind them all that without God, there would be no good future for them, and there would only be desolation and suffering if they continued to disobey the Lord. On the other hand, if they embraced God’s mercy and love, His compassion and kindness, then there will be path out of the darkness and despair for them.

In our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we heard of the words of the Apostle St. Paul reminding the faithful there about the dangers of temptations and the corruptions of human desires and pride, all of which can lead the people into the path of sin and evil. He used himself as an example and told the faithful in Corinth about how he has constantly been reminded by the ‘thorn of Satan’ to keep him reminded of his own imperfections and frailty, lest he became to proud because of all of his works and achievements in proclaiming the Good News of God to more and more people among the Gentiles in his missionary journeys. Through this example, St. Paul wanted to remind and warn the other faithful people of God not to give in to the very dangerous allures and temptations of worldly fame, glory and ambitions which could lead them astray from the path of God’s righteousness.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when Lord Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth after He has raised the daughter of Jairus the synagogue official from the dead. We heard how the townspeople of the Lord’s own hometown doubted and questioned whatever the Lord had done and performed in other places, which certainly had been spread widely among the people, and the people of Nazareth as we heard, many of them refused to believe that the Lord Jesus could have done all the miracles and the wonders which they heard that He had done in other parts and towns of Galilee. They also raised up the point and fact of how He grew up in their midst, and His own Mother Mary and other family members were there in that town, and how He was the mere Son of the town carpenter, namely St. Joseph, His foster father.

From all these things which we have heard today, all of us are shown again the dangers of our pride and ego, our thinking that we know it better than God on how we should progress in our lives and how we should act. Those people of Nazareth, the Lord’s own neighbours and relatives, all of them refused to believe in Him simply because they likely presumed that they knew Him well and they knew about His humble background, being the Son of a small town carpenter, an occupation that was considered as honourable and was necessary, and yet often maligned against and disregarded by the community as a poor man’s job, as a hard labour job that was done only by those who were uneducated and illiterate. And hence, those people hardened their hearts and minds with their prejudices, refusing to believe that the Lord could have performed all those miracles and wonders, and spoke all those wise words and teachings.

It was this same pride and ego, this inability to restrain the desires for worldly glory and temptations which had brought the Israelites, the people of God to their downfall all those years ago. Those temptations misled them down the path towards ruin and condemnation, and God chastised them all for those sins and wickedness that they had committed. Yet, the Lord still loved them all and sent them His prophets and messengers to help them, even though in their stubbornness, they refused to listen and believe in Him, persecuting those prophets and messengers of God, as they had also done to the prophet Ezekiel. And in the same manner, the Lord Himself had also been rejected and persecuted by those whom He had been sent to, the ones that whose midst He had come into so that He might help and lead them out the path of darkness into the Light of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened and remembered the words of the Lord contained within the Scripture readings which we have received this Sunday, let us all therefore reflect on our own way of life, our own actions and all the things which we had done. Let us all ask ourselves whether we have allowed our pride, ego, desires, ambitions and all the things that often distracted and misled us in this life to bring us away from the path of God’s salvation. Let us all continue to dedicate ourselves and our every moments in life to serve the Lord ever more faithfully, and let us continue to be humble, to be willing to listen to God speaking to us all through His Church and through everyone we encounter in life, so that by listening to Him and obeying His will, we may find our path in life, and be guided ever more to walk in the path towards God’s salvation and grace.

May the Lord, our ever loving God and Creator, continue to love and help us in our journey, and may He continue to bless us all in our every actions, words, deeds, and our every efforts to carry out His Law and commandments in every moments of our lives. May God be with us all, His beloved people and His Church, so that by His Presence and ever loving guidance in our lives, we may continue to walk faithfully in His path, and be the good and worthy role models and inspirations for one another, that our lives may always be illuminated with God’s light, His love and truth, at all times. Let us always remember God’s ever enduring love, and be thankful for all that He had done for us, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 6 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s holy people to be truly obedient to God and to follow Him wholeheartedly in all of our lives. It is part of our Christian obligation and calling for us to do what God has commanded and told us all to do, and to leave behind our past, sinful way of life which are not in accordance with God’s will. If we profess to be a Christian, as someone who believes in Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and yet, in our attitudes and behaviours, in our words, actions and deeds, we do things that are contrary to our beliefs, then we are truly hypocrites and no better than unbelievers.

In our first reading today, we heard the continuation of the passage from the Book of the prophet Amos in which after almost a week hearing about the anger of God and the punishments which God would bring upon His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom of Israel, we now heard of the promises of God’s salvation and redemption for His people, the same ones that He had chastised and punished. In what we have heard in our first reading passage, the Lord promised that He would restore all the destroyed places and towns of His people, restoring them into His favour and blessing, giving them once again the promises and inheritance that He has given to their ancestors, but which those ancestors and people had spurned and rejected out of disobedience and sin, through their stubbornness and wickedness.

God showed His love, compassion and mercy to His beloved ones, just like that of a father caring for his children, and we are all truly God’s beloved children, the ones whom He had created out of love, taken upon Himself to be His own people, to be loved and cared dearly by Him, and to receive the fullness of His grace and love. But at the same time, because we as His children had become wayward and disobedient in our way of life, in our actions, words and deeds, then just like a father disciplines his children to ensure that the children grew up well and did not turn out to be a delinquent and failure, thus, God, our loving Father, Creator and Master had also disciplined us, chastising us and making us to understand that as His beloved children, His disciples and His followers, all of us must adhere to His ways and act according to His Law and commandments.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the parable which the Lord Jesus presented to His disciples and followers, and to all the people listening to Him, telling them about the wine and the wineskin, and the cloth used to patch a hole in a piece of cloth. In both parables, the Lord spoke about how new wine must be stored in new wineskin, while old wine must be stored in old wineskin, while new cloth should be used to patch a new piece of cloth, and correspondingly, an old cloth ought to be used to patch a hole in an old cloth. All these were meant to deliver the message that the old ways were meant to be lived in the manner how they were in the past, but with the advent and the coming of the new truth and revelation of the Lord, the people had to adopt the new path and ways shown to them by the Lord Himself.

Just prior to the Lord speaking in these parables, the disciples of St. John the Baptist had been asking the Lord the question about why they and the Pharisees followed strictly the laws of fasting that were dictated by the Jewish laws and customs, but the Lord’s own disciples did not follow the same ways, and instead embarked on their own path as shown by the Lord. This was when the Lord used the parables to explain that, in truth, while the laws and customs practiced by the people of God had been done and practiced for a long time, but in the end, what God desired from His people is something that is better than all those obedience to the laws and customs of the past, which were imperfect and even misunderstood by the people of God, which led to them not doing as the Lord had wanted them to do, and also failing to realise the true intention and purpose of such laws.

For example, the law on fasting is meant to teach the people of God to restrain themselves in their lives so that they might learn temperance and resist the temptations of worldly desires and pleasures, and that they may come to focus better and more on the Lord, their God and Master. However, many among the people of God, especially those of the Pharisees instead carried out their fasting with the intention to be seen and praised by others around them, by making their fasting well-known and such a pompous activity that it had become deviant and misled from the true path which God had wanted His people to walk through. Instead, they fell into the path of temptation of their own ego, ambition and desire, and the Lord wanted to tell them that this was not the way that they and all of us ought to take in our lives.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Maria Goretti, great and holy servant of God, a champion of virtue and chastity, compassion and mercy, whose life while short, was truly filled with virtue, and her martyrdom, in defending her virtues and righteousness, her purity and sanctity, is something that has inspired many people of her generation and afterwards. St. Maria Goretti was born in a rather large family with seven children, with St. Maria Goretti herself being the third of the seven children. Her family was poor, and after her father passed away when she was still young, her mother had to bring them to live with another family, the Serenellis, in order to provide for her many children. It was at this household that the young and pious St. Maria Goretti encountered Alessandro Serenelli, the son of the owner family.

At one time, when the young St. Maria Goretti, who was only eleven years old was outside the house, and there was no one else in the house, Alessandro Serenelli came to her and threatened to stab her with his awl if she did not do as what he wanted, and Alessandro was intending to rape her. St. Maria Goretti refused to obey Alessandro’s commands and demands, struggling and screaming, pleading with Alessandro in vain that it was a great sin against God to do as he had planned to commit. In a fit of anger, Alessandro choked and then stabbed St. Maria Goretti a total of fourteen times, and then a few more times afterwards before running away after witnessing what he had done. St. Maria Goretti passed away shortly afterwards in the presence of her mother and family in the hospital, but before she died, she told her mother that she has forgiven Alessandro and wanted to have him in Heaven with her.

Through the years afterwards, when Alessandro was arrested shortly after the event, it was told that St. Maria Goretti appeared to Alessandro himself in prison in a dream, and eventually this made him to repent from his sins, begging forgiveness from the mother of St. Maria Goretti, who forgave her and later on, the same Alessandro after he was released from his incarceration, eventually became a lay brother of the Capuchin Franciscan friars in the community, living in the monastery, ever repentant and regretful of the vicious deeds he had done, and committed the rest of his life in prayerful and dedicated life to God. He also attended the canonisation ceremony of St. Maria Goretti together with her mother. In this story of St. Maria Goretti, her courage and martyrdom, we are all reminded of what we are all expected to do as Christians, to live courageously in faith, and to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our commitment henceforth to the Lord our God, doing whatever we can so that in our every words, actions and deeds, in our every moments in life, we will always be truly worthy of the Lord. Let us all continue to walk ever more faithfully in God’s path, remembering the love and mercy that He has shown us, and like St. Maria Goretti, let us all show the same love and mercy to one another, and love the Lord our God with all of our strength and might, now and always, that one day, we may truly be worthy to receive the fullness of inheritance that God had promised to all of us. Amen.

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Friday, 5 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to abandon our past sinful way of life and embrace from now on, God’s righteousness and virtues in our lives, in each and every one of our actions, words and deeds. We are all reminded that if we continue to walk in the path of sin and disobedience against God, and if we continue to allow the darkness of this world to mislead and bring us down the path to ruin, then in the end, we will regret our choice and path. The Lord reminded us all that we have been called by Him and given the opportunity to embrace His love and generous mercy, but we must also be willing to make the commitment and to embrace wholeheartedly this love and mercy, or else, we will continue to be separated from Him.

In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the passage from the Book of the prophet Amos which we have heard in the past one week or so, in which the prophet spoke of the Lord’s words to His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom, also known as Israel, who have disobeyed and disregarded His Law and commandments. The prophet Amos was sent to the people of Israel during the last years of the existence of the northern kingdom of Israel to bring about God’s warning and the revelation of the fate that would soon befall all those people who had hardened their hearts and acted wickedly for so many years in refusing to believe in God and persecuting the many prophets and messengers which God had sent them constantly to help and guide them in their path.

God thus spoke through the prophet Amos, chastising those same people of their many sins and wickedness, as we heard in our first reading today, stating how they had behaved inappropriately as God’s holy and beloved people by manipulating and exploiting the weak and the less privileged for their own personal benefits and ambitions, through their self-serving attitudes and actions, all of which had brought about a lot of misery and hardships for others, leading to more and more wicked actions and things that were truly unbecoming of a people whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. And the Lord also told His people that they were to be chastised and punished so that they might see the errors of their ways, and thus, hopefully that they could then turn away from those sins and wickedness before it was too late for them.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the calling of Levi, the tax collector by the Lord Jesus. Levi decided to follow the Lord, leaving behind his post at the tax collector’s office and committing himself to be a disciple of the Lord. He would henceforth be known as Matthew, and as with other people who changed their names in the other parts of the Scriptures, like Abraham, Jacob, Peter and Paul, this name change indicated the new life and path which Levi had committed himself to take, by which he embraced the Lord fully, and becoming Matthew, a committed disciple and servant of God, a member of the Twelve Apostles and later on as one of the Four Evangelists.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were quick to criticise the Lord when He went to have dinner with Levi and the other tax collectors, as at the time, the tax collectors were widely seen as traitors to the nation and the people of God for their role in collecting taxes on behalf of the rulers and the Romans. They were also seen as sinners and people who were unworthy of God’s grace and salvation, and as common at the time, no one especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would associate themselves with those considered as sinners, like the tax collectors, the prostitutes and those afflicted with certain illnesses and diseases, because they could make them to be considered unclean as well.

But the Lord immediately pointed out that His mission and what He wanted to do is to reach out to the marginalised and those who have been lost to Him, those who have been afflicted the most by the affliction of sin. It was sinners and those who are struggling that need the most help, and it is for them that the Lord had made Himself available through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Whom God had sent into our midst to be Our Saviour and Hope. He is the Light and Hope for all the people of all the nations, and He shows us all that God truly loves everyone, all of His beloved children and people, without exception. Even the greatest of sinners and those whom others deem to be unworthy, God still loves and desires to be reunited with Him.

That is why all of us are called to embrace God’s love and mercy, to seek Him and His forgiveness for all of our faults and sins. The Lord wants us all to turn away from all of our rebellious ways and to be like His servant, Levi, who have committed himself thoroughly to God’s cause, and gave Himself to the glorification of God. Each and every one of us have also been called to our own respective missions and vocations in life, to do what is right and just, virtuous and worthy in each and every moments in our lives. All of us should make good use of these many opportunities that the Lord had given to us so that we may come ever closer to Him and be forgiven from our many sins and wickedness. Let us all no longer harden our hearts and minds, but humble ourselves, welcoming the Lord Himself into our midst.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a renowned servant of God whose life and commitment to God can serve as a good inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives. St. Anthony Zaccaria was born into a noble family in what is part of Italy today, and he was brought up by his mother mostly after his father died when he was just two years old. From a young age, the young St. Anthony Zaccaria had been exposed to the sufferings of the poor and the needy through his pious and devout mother, who made him as an almoner, to be the one to reach out and care for the poor in the community. He became a physician for a short while before eventually, he joined the seminary and was trained to become a priest.

St. Anthony Zaccaria continued to minister to the poor and the needy as a priest, working in hospitals and other institutions caring for the needy at the time. He and some other like-minded clerics began living a life of love and ministry to the people who were needy and poor, eventually establishing the congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, also known as the Barnabites, which members are devoted to the service of God’s people, delivering and encouraging the pious practices of the Forty Hours Devotion and the emphasis on the Passion of the Lord to the greater community. Through their many efforts, they helped and sustained the physical and spiritual needs of many people, bringing them ever closer to the Lord. The dedication and faith shown by St. Anthony Zaccaria and his compatriots should inspire all of us to commit ourselves to the Lord in the same way as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to do our part in following the Lord ever more faithfully, in doing His will and obeying His Law and commandments at all times. May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey throughout life, to do what He has entrusted to us to do. May He continue to bless us all in out every good efforts, works and endeavours, and help us to be His faithful and committed disciples in all things. Amen.

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Thursday, 4 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Portugal (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded that we must always have faith and trust in the Lord for each and every one of us are His followers and disciples, and we are all called and expected to do what He has commanded us to do, to obey His Law and commandments and to follow Him wholeheartedly in all of our ways. Each and every one of us who have put our faith and trust in the Lord, as Christians, we must always be genuine in how we live our lives with fullness of faith in the Lord, and our lives, our every actions, words and deeds should always be exemplary and filled with God’s love and grace, as much as possible. This is our calling as Christians, and we should do well to heed it.

We heard from the first reading today from the continuation of the story of the prophet Amos and his ministry among the people of the northern kingdom of the Israelites, where today we heard of the encounter and confrontation between Amaziah, a priest of Bethel against Amos. In order to understand better the context of what we heard of this confrontation and the exchange between the two of them, we must understand the history of how the Bethel priesthood even came to be, which was actually a history spanning few centuries earlier before the time of Amos. Back then, during the time when the kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon was still united, the whole people of God, the Israelites had one King and they all worshipped the Lord in His Temple in Jerusalem, where the Ark of the Covenant was placed in.

However, once the kingdom was divided into two parts because of the sins of Solomon and his descendants, the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah respectively became embroiled in conflicts and wars, and one of the initiatives of the northern kingdom was to establish a rival priesthood and temple in Bethel to rival that of Jerusalem, obliging the people of Israel to go to Bethel instead of Jerusalem. Not only that but the then king Jeroboam also built a golden calf idol to represent their god, and this led the people of Israel into sin against God, as they came to worship false idols and pagan gods instead of obeying the Lord’s Law and commandments and worshipping Him alone as they were supposed to do. The prophet Amos was sent like the many other prophets of God before him to tell the people of Israel to abandon their sinful ways, and to bring forth the premonition and warning of the punishments they would have to endure for their disobedience.

Prophet Amos answered Amaziah’s rebuke of him with stern words of the Lord, and told him that he had been sent by God Himself to prophesy among the Israelites, with the mission from God to bring this truth and the revelations to the people who have disobeyed Him and refused to believe in Him despite the constant efforts and outreach from the Lor to them, in sending them help, guidance, reminders and assistance one after another. The Lord has always been patient in loving and caring for all of them, however, there is indeed a limit to His patience, and all the sins and wickedness that those people had committed, those things could not be ignored either. The prophet Amos told the people of their impending fate of being defeated, conquered and exiled by their conquerors, which would happen at that time, when the Assyrians conquered Israel, the northern kingdom, destroyed its cities and brought the people into exile in far-off lands.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the story from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the Lord Jesus healed a paralysed man at His hometown, where He told the paralysed man brought to him to have faith and courage, and that he would be healed because his sins had been forgiven. This was met with an immediate criticism by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were there with Him, saying that the Lord Jesus had insulted God because of Him claiming that He had the power to forgive sins. It also happened in other occasions as recorded in the Gospels, when the Lord healed other people and told them that their sins were forgiven. They criticised Him and made noise against Him, claiming that He had committed a blasphemy.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is because they thought of the Lord as merely a Man, and they did not agree with Him on various issues, especially in how the Law of God ought to be practiced and observed. Consequently, despite having witnessed the many signs and wonders that the Lord had done before them, which confirmed what the prophets had been predicting and prophesying about the Messiah or the Saviour of the Lord, they failed to appreciate these signs and wonders and instead, they hardened their hearts, with pride and ego blinding them from seeing the truth. They likely thought that it was impossible for them to have been wrong given their knowledge and understanding of the Law and the Prophets, but the reality is that, the Lord came bearing His truth, and they refused to believe in Him just like how the Israelites refused to believe in Amos and the other earlier prophets that had been sent to them to remind and help them.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Elizabeth of Portugal, a holy woman and devout servant of God whose faith and dedication to God should serve as a good example for each and every one of us on how we should live our own lives as Christians. St. Elizabeth of Portugal was an Aragonese princess who had a very religious upbringing, and she grew to be a woman who was very upright in her actions and very pious and close to the Lord in all things. When later on she was married to the King Denis of Portugal, she continued on with her pious way of life, caring for the needs of the sick and the poor throughout the kingdom. She was also actively involved in the maintenance of peace and harmony in the region, when she was involved in the arbitration between the neighbouring kingdoms of Castile and Aragon.

When her husband the King of Portugal passed away, the now Dowager Queen retired to a monastery where she continued to carry out pious and charitable acts, caring for the sick and the poor as much as she was capable of. She was the benefactor of many hospitals and other institutions that benefitted the people, especially those who were neglected and poor. She was also still involved in peace arbitrations, such as the one between Portugal and neighbouring Kingdom of Castile, where St. Elizabeth as the Dowager Queen helped to defuse the tensions between both kingdoms. She passed away shortly after this, but her efforts and contributions, her great piety and charity are well remembered throughout history and inspired many others.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence be inspired by the good examples which St. Elizabeth of Portugal has shown to us all, and let us all renew our faith in the Lord, committing ourselves to live a more worthy and virtuous life, and no longer harden our hearts like our predecessors, like those Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and like the Israelites before them. Let us all be humble and allow the Lord to lead and guide us all in our journey through life, and may He continue to bless us all in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 3 July 2024 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord, also known as Thomas Didymus or Thomas the Twin. He was quite known in the Gospels as a figure who was always a doubter, a pessimistic person and disciple of the Lord, who always threw out doubts and questions against the Lord and His works and decisions. For example, at the time just before the Lord was about to embark on His last journey and Passion in Jerusalem, to face the moment of His sufferings, crucifixion and death, He told His disciples of His plan to return once again to Judea and Jerusalem despite the opposition and the threats which He had faced from the Pharisees and the chief priests, which St. Thomas replied rather sarcastically saying that they should all indeed follow the Lord to their deaths.

Then, we also heard in today’s Gospel reading from the moment after the Lord’s Resurrection from the dead, of how St. Thomas refused to believe in the Risen Lord despite all the other disciples of the Lord having told him that they had seen the Risen Lord Himself in the flesh, appearing before them shortly after His Resurrection at Easter Sunday. St. Thomas was not there at that moment, and he therefore refused to believe, and said that unless he could prove it himself that the Lord was truly Risen from the dead, and that it was truly indeed the Lord, to the point of mentioning that unless he can place his fingers into the holes that the wounds of the nails and the spear had made on the Lord’s hands and side, that he would not believe otherwise. St. Thomas truly had that doubting side in him which became a great barrier preventing him to truly believe in the Lord, but why is that so? That is because he has yet to embrace the Lord fully at that time and earlier on, allowing himself to be swayed by his pride and ego.

This pride and ego likely made St. Thomas think that he could not be wrong in his assessment that the Resurrection was just nonsense mentioned by the other disciples, and in his naturally doubtful mind, it was indeed hard for him to accept that his pessimism about the chances of the success of the Lord’s mission could have been wrong. Thus, he asked for the signs and proofs to prove to him that the Lord did indeed rise from the dead, because his pride and ego were still holding him back from truly being able to believe in the Lord, in His Resurrection, truth and Good News. But the moment the Risen Lord Himself appeared before him and everyone else, challenging him to do whatever he had said that he would do in order to prove that it was truly the Lord Himself, Risen in body and flesh, St. Thomas was struck dumbfounded and finally professed his faith before the Lord.

The words that were spoken by St. Thomas may indeed sound familiar to all of us, ‘My Lord and my God.’ That is because these are the same words that we all say right at the moment when the priest at the Mass during the time of the Consecration as the Consecrated Host and Wine, the Most Precious Body and Blood of the Lord to all the faithful before we are to receive Him at Holy Communion. Through the hands of the priest and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been shown the Lord Himself truly present in His Body and Blood before us, and although the shape and the appearance remain of that bread and wine, but through our faith and belief in the doctrine of ‘Transubstantiation’, all of us believe that the Eucharist, the bread and wine are truly the Most Precious Body and the Most Precious Blood of the Lord.

Therefore, when we utter the same words which St. Thomas had mentioned, essentially that is what the Lord had told St. Thomas about those who have not seen and yet believed, and truly how they will be blessed. We may not have seen the Lord Himself in His physical form as known and recognised by the Apostles like St. Thomas when He was still walking in this world, but we still believe in Him, in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and we profess this faith in each and every moments despite not seeing the Lord in the form that is recognisable by us as a Man. But we know that in the Most Precious Body and Blood we have received and partaken, we truly receive the Lord Himself into our being, that He truly dwells within us.

St. Thomas himself would thereafter become a very steadfast servant of God, leaving behind all of his past doubts and lack of faith, embracing a new life of ministry and commitment to God, as he went to many distant places to proclaim the truth and Good News of God’s salvation and love, facing lots of hardships, persecutions and challenges on his path and journey. St. Thomas according to many Apostolic traditions and historical evidences, went to the region which is now part of southern India, where he proclaimed the Christian faith to the local population, gaining converts and establishing the first Christian communities in that area, which would remain strong after many centuries, known as ‘St. Thomas Christians’ for long afterwards.

It was told that he also ministered to other areas like Parthia or Iran today, and also the northwestern parts of India together with St. Bartholomew, another Apostle of the Lord. He continued to carry out his missions for many decades in the region of India, until about forty years or so after the Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension, he was martyred at the place known today as St. Thomas’ Mount in Chennai, southern India. It was told that he was martyred by being pierced with a spear in that place, likely after facing oppositions from those who worshipped pagan idols and opposed the efforts of St. Thomas in spreading the Christian faith and the belief in the Risen Lord among the local populace. We see how St. Thomas’ faith and trust in the Lord had developed that he no longer doubted but trusted in the Lord so wholeheartedly that he was willing to give up his life for Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all rejoice in the glorious memory of St. Thomas the Apostle, holy servant of God, let us all first realise that each and every one of us are also called to be faithful to God as St. Thomas had been reminded to have faith in God. All of us are reminded to be strong in our faith in the Lord so that any doubts, persecutions, oppressions and oppositions facing us in this world will not deter us from following God wholeheartedly. And then, at the same time, we are also reminded that all of us have the same obligations and missions to continue the good works of the Apostles in proclaiming the Good News and truth of God to more and more people. All of us are reminded that we should continue to do God’s will and to carry our whatever mission He has entrusted to each one of us.

May the Lord continue to bless and guide us all in our journey through life, and may He continue to empower and strengthen us all in our faith so that despite the many trials and challenges that we have to face, we may always continue to do our best to glorify the Lord by our exemplary lives and actions, at all times. May God bless us all in our every efforts, good works and endeavours for the Lord, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures we are all reminded that we must always have faith and trust in the Lord at all times. We must always remain steadfast in our commitment to God and be exemplary in our way of life, in our every actions and deeds so that by our good role model and examples, by our courageous commitment to the path of the Lord, we will always exude the shining light of God’s truth and grace in our everyday moments in life, that everyone who witness our works and interact with us may come to realise God’s Presence through us, His works and love being made manifest through our own lives and actions. Each and every one of us are called to be these shining beacons of God’s light and love at all times.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Amos, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking to His people, the Israelites in the northern kingdom of Israel, of His words of displeasure and disappointment with them because of their constant and persistent disobedience against Him, in them having continued to commit sin after sin, indulging in worldly wickedness and all the temptations of worldly pleasures which distracted and pulled them away from the path of God towards the path of worldliness and sin. They have profaned His temples and sanctuaries, worshipped pagan idols and gods in violation of God’s commandments and laws, trusting in their own human ways and instincts rather than to trust in God, their Lord and Master.

This is why the Lord reminded them all through His prophet Amos of the power that He has over all things, and how everything that had happened, is happening and will happen all came to be because of Him and what He had willed to happen. He also spoke of the moment of reckoning and punishment that the disobedient ones would have to endure as a just consequence for their many sins and wickedness, reminding them all of what had happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Each and every one of these were highlighted to the people through the prophet Amos, who went to the land of the northern kingdom of Israel from Judah to proclaim God’s judgment on the people who have repeatedly refused to embrace God’s path, persecuting those messengers and prophets, including that of Amos himself, whom God had sent to them to remind and help them.

The Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew then spoke of the moment when the Lord calmed a great storm that threatened the boat in which He and His disciples were travelling in. The disciples of the Lord were terrified by the great waves and winds battering their boat, and they cried out to the Lord for help, which the Lord answered with a rebuke to them for their lack of faith and trust in Him. The Lord told them they should not be afraid and believe in Him, and showed them that He is truly in control over all things by calming the great storm with His mere words. Like that of the words of the prophet Amos in our first reading today, we heard how God showed through His Son, before the eyes of His disciples, that He is truly the Lord and Master over all things.

This passage on the great storm afflicting the boat that the Lord and His disciples was travelling in, and how the Lord calmed the storm afterwards showed us all the symbolism of the challenges and trials facing the Church of God, all of God’s faithful people, disciples and followers which were represented by the storm, the waves and the wind battering against the boat. The boat itself represented the Church, the entire holy people whom God had called and chosen, represented by the disciples of the Lord who were in that boat. The Lord was with His disciples throughout and was in the boat, representing how He is always with us, with His Church even through the most difficult and challenging moments, and we should continue to stay faithful to Him just as He has always been there for us, all throughout the most challenging moments of our lives.

That was how the Church had weathered through even the most intense persecutions and challenges to its existence in these past two millennia, and empires and kingdoms had come and gone, those who sought the destruction of the Church and the eradication of the Christian faith, and yet, the Lord’s Church and the Christian faith remained strong and going on even after all these things that had happened. The Lord continued to guide His faithful ones, His Church and all throughout the great storms of life throughout its existence just as He had been with His disciples on the boat through the storm, an calmed the storm, just as He will also steer us through those challenges and hardships, leading us to the ultimate triumph and victory with Him. If we remain faithful to the Lord, He will be with us, strengthening and encouraging us to overcome and persevere through the hardships in our path.

Let us all therefore make good use of this reminder which we have received this day so that we may grow ever stronger in our commitment and devotion to God, as we have been called to follow the Lord and to put our trust in Him wholeheartedly once again. We must not easily allow ourselves to be tempted and swayed by the various temptations, obstacles and hardships present all around us, and we have to remain firm in our faith in God, knowing that He will always stand by our side, and He alone will not leave us and fail us, even when all sorts of worldly means and all of our powers and abilities in this world fail us. On the other hand, if we choose to abandon Him, like how the Israelites had disobeyed and abandoned Him, then we shall face doom and destruction, much as how one would surely perish if he or she had jumped from the boat into the waves rather than staying in the boat with the Lord.

May the Lord continue to guide us all, strengthening us in faith and give us His protection and power, so that amidst all the hardships, trials and challenges that we may encounter in our paths through life, we may always be firm in our conviction and desire to follow the Lord ever more wholeheartedly and so that we may continue to walk ever more worthily in the path that God has shown us, that our lives may be great role models and examples for all those whom we meet and encounter in life. May God bless us always, and be with us in all circumstances, throughout our lives, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 1 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures all of us are reminded that each and every one of us as God’s beloved and holy people ought to listen to Him and obey His Law and commandments. We should not harden our hearts and minds, being stubborn or disobedient against God as many of us and our predecessors had done, which had led them all into sin and wicked ways, and which had brought some of them into the path towards downfall and eternal damnation. As God’s people we must truly be wholehearted in our commitment to Him, in doing what He has taught and shown us all to do, so that we are truly worthy to be called as His disciples and followers, and as His holy and beloved people.

In our first reading today, we heard the Lord speaking to His people through the prophet Amos, speaking about His grievances and anger against them because of their lack of faith in Him and their lack of virtue and their wickedness, all of the evil and unworthy deeds and actions which they had carried out in violation to God’s Law and commandments. The prophet Amos was sent to the northern kingdom of Israel, and he was entrusted with the message of God speaking to the people who have disobeyed Him for a long time, constantly and persistently refusing to follow Him and obey Him despite repeated reminders and help from the Lord through His many prophets and messengers. The people of Israel instead persecuted and oppressed those prophets and messengers that had been sent to them.

That was why the prophet Amos voiced out God’s disapproval and disappointment with the behaviour and attitude shown by His people, who have repeatedly committed all sorts of wicked and sinful actions, deeds and works which were abhorrent to God. The prophet Amos reminded the people both of everything that God had done for the sake of His beloved ones, all the works and efforts He had done in caring and bringing God’s people ever nearer to Him, from His liberation of the Israelites in Egypt, to the things He had done in protecting and providing for the people throughout their way to the Promised Land and protecting them, giving them His blessings, guidance and help throughout the time when they were dwelling in that Promised Land.

Yet, they still rebelled and disobeyed God, and God showed His displeasure by warning them of the impending disaster and hardships that they all would have to face as the consequences of their many sins, evils and wickedness. God has always been patient with His people, loving them and caring for them even despite all these wicked and unruly behaviour that they have displayed before Him and before all the other people. This is therefore a reminder for all of us that while God’s love and mercy are truly enduring and wonderful in all of their richness and perseverance, but ultimately we must embrace this love and mercy wholeheartedly, so that we can be forgiven from our sins and wickedness, and therefore gain the assurance of eternal life.

This is because no sin can exist before God, and since sin is a corruption and dark stain on our souls and our beings, we cannot truly experience the fullness of God’s love and grace as long as our lives continue to be overshadowed by sin and evil in our midst. That was also what happened to the Israelites in the past, as their sins and wickedness were great obstacles which prevented them all from truly being able to come to the Lord and gain the fullness of His grace and love. All of their sins and wickedness have to be answered for and settled, and the same applies to us all as well. If we do not get our sins and faults sorted out before the time of the reckoning of our lives, then we must suffer the consequences of our sins, just as the Israelites had suffered.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and to the people that if they all wanted to follow Him, they must truly follow Him wholeheartedly, and they must be ready to face challenges and hardships throughout their journey in life. He told them that the Son of Man did not have even a place to lay down His head, and this is a representation of the kind of commitment that would often be required of all those who seek to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. To us, it is a reminder that we are all called to devote ourselves to the Lord and His path, embracing Him and His way fully and completely, by living lives that are truly holy and worthy of God in all the things that we say and do throughout our whole lives.

All of us are reminded to live our lives in accordance with the way of the Lord, abandoning our past sinfulness and wickedness, embracing Him and His love wholeheartedly at all times. We are all called to seek the Lord, His forgiveness, compassion and grace, all that He has ever generously presented to us. All of us are called to a life of virtue, acting in the manner that is acceptable and truly worthy of the Lord at all times. Each and every one of us have been shown how to do this by the Lord Himself and taught of His Law and commandments through His Church. Now what matters is for us to answer God’s call and renew our commitment to Him, to be a people that is truly committed and full of love and faith in Him.

May the Lord continue to bless us all and strengthen each and every one of us in our journey in life. May He continue to guide us all in His Church so that in everything that we say and do, we will continue to do so with true faith and devotion to God, that we will continue to do our best to glorify God through each and every parts of our lives. May God bless us all in our every good efforts, endeavours and works in all things, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 30 June 2024 : Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded through the words of the Sacred Scriptures which we have heard and received that each and every one of us as God’s most important Creation, as the pinnacle of His works in this Universe and world, as His most beloved ones are truly precious to God, and we should truly be thankful to Him because He has always shown us His grace, kindness and love despite our many transgressions, stubborn attitudes and disobedience against Him. He has always put us first and foremost in His mind, reaching out to us to find us, to be reconciled with us and to help us all out of our predicament. He has always wanted each and every one of us to find our way back to Him, so that what was once lost from us through disobedience and sin, we may regain through our renewed obedience and faith in Him, through His love and ever generous forgiveness for our sins and transgressions.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Wisdom in which it was highlighted that God created all things good and perfect, and what we all must realise is that because God Himself is all good and perfect, He did not create evil or sin, or any of the imperfections in this world. He created all things including all of us mankind in the state of perfection, all good and wonderful, truly worthy of God as the Master and Lord of all creation. Especially for us, we have been made and crafted in the very image and likeness of God Himself. All of us were never meant to suffer and to endure all the challenges and trials present before us and our predecessors in this world, as we were all meant to exist in the Presence of God, to enjoy fully His love and grace, experiencing fully His inheritance and everything that He has prepared for us in this world.

And as mentioned by the author of the Book of Wisdom, God also did not create death or rejoice in our destruction. Rather, our deaths came about because of our own doing, by our failures and inability to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, in our conscious choice to follow the path of rebellion and disobedience against God, which essentially us rejecting the love of God, His grace and kindness, and hence, when we reject God, the Lord and Master of life, then the life which He has granted to us will depart from us, and we will not have share in Him, and that was how death came to claim us, because when life departs us, then we suffer from death, as the prime consequence of sin, which in turn is the consequence of our disobedience against God.

If we wonder why God Who made us all good and perfect had allowed us to disobey Him and to commit such evils, this was because He granted to us the gift of free will, the great gift which He has bestowed on us, because He wants us to love Him by our own free will, and that we truly choose to love Him and not by coercion or force. This is because true love is something that comes voluntarily and freely from the heart, and not something that God can force from us. Thus, He gave us the gift of free will, which is something that His Angels have also been given, as was evident from how Satan, once known as Lucifer, the most brilliant and mightiest of all the Angels that God had created, chose to embrace and give in to his pride and ego, his ambition and desire, rebelling against God and falling from grace, becoming the great enemy of all the faithful. It was him who also successfully tempted our first ancestors to sin, to disobey God just as he himself had done.

In our second reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Corinth in which the Apostle exhorted all of the faithful people of God to be filled with love just as much as they had been filled with knowledge and other riches of all sorts, imitating and following the good examples of Christ Himself, the Lord and Saviour of all, Who had loved everyone, all of us so greatly, that He was willing to empty Himself of all glory, honour and riches, of all dignity so that by His loving embrace of our sufferings and by bearing upon Himself all of our sins and their consequences, He might open for us the path to salvation and eternal life, showing us all the path to return once again to the loving Presence and grace of God, to regain what we have lost.

God had sent unto us all His own beloved Son, so that while our ancestors sinned by engorging upon the forbidden fruits and desiring and craving after knowledge, glory and riches of the world, thus, by His Son’s perfect obedience, and by His willingness to abandon all glory and honour, He has shown us all how we can come out from our state of deprivation and the darkness all around us in this world. Through His Son, God wants us all to find our way back to Him, and to have the chance to be reconciled with Him. He has given us many opportunities, again and again, for us to embrace Him and to accept the generous love and mercy which He has always shown us. He has reached out to us, calling out upon us to follow Him once again into the path of righteousness, abandoning our wickedness and sins.

And in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Mark of the story of the two great miracles that the Lord Jesus performed during His ministry, the well-known healing of the woman who had long suffered from haemorrhage or bleeding issue, and also the raising of the dead daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official, back into life. These two miracles showed us first of all the love of God which He has generously given to us through His Son, through which He has come into our midst, touching our lives and strengthening us, leading us back to His loving embrace, giving us new hope and rejuvenating our lives. And as the Lord had done to both the woman suffering from haemorrhage and the dead daughter of Jairus, He showed us all that He is truly in charge of all things, over all the matters of the world, over all life and death. And again, He does not want us to be lost forever to death, but to return to Him and to live and exist with Him forever in a renewed bond of love.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we listened to these words from the Scriptures, all of us must heed the message which the Lord through His Church had been giving to us, as He calls upon us to listen to Him and to embrace His love, compassion and mercy. He wants us all to seek Him with faith and love, just as how the woman while trying to hide her shame and condition, dared to brave through the huge crowd around the Lord with the firm hope and faith in her heart, that the Lord could heal hear from her predicament, and that of Jairus, who remained faithful and trusting in the Lord when He reassured him and his family that his daughter did not die and would be returned to him, while others laughed at the Lord and mocked Him. We too must have this strong, enduring and vibrant faith, trust and hope in the Lord, at all times.

Each and every one of us are sinners, brothers and sisters in Christ, and by our ancestors’ disobedience against God and by our own conscious choice to disobey Him and to disregard His Law and commandments, we have fallen into the state of sin, and been corrupted by sin’s dangerous stranglehold on us. But the Lord Who has loved us all has never given up on us, and He has given us the sure hope and guarantee of our liberation and salvation through His own Beloved Son, and what we all need to do now is for us to embrace this most and ever generous love and mercy. The question is then, are we willing to humble ourselves and seek Him, recognising how wicked and fallen we have ended up in, and are we willing to embrace Him with the faith and trust which those people mentioned in our Gospel passage today had shown us all?

Let us all therefore return to the Lord, our loving God and Father, with renewed love and desire to serve Him and to follow Him all of our lives, rejecting from now on all the allures, temptations and false pleasures that sin and evil have tempted us with, and committing ourselves henceforth to live ever more faithfully in God’s Presence. May the Lord continue to help, guide and strengthen us all in this journey of faith throughout our lives, and may He bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 29 June 2024 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Universal Church mark the joyful and glorious occasion of the Solemnity of the two Holy Apostles, St. Peter the Apostle and St. Paul the Apostle, both of whom are among the most prominent of the Apostles, namely those who were considered the inner circle among the Lord’s disciples and followers, and who had been entrusted with the important roles in leading the spread and growth of the Church, with the mission to proclaim the Word of God and the Good News to all the people of all the nations. And in particular, this celebration of the two Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul here is related to their patronage over the city and Diocese of Rome, where the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the leader of the whole Universal Church has his seat.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are part of the Roman Catholic Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church formed and established by the Lord Himself in this world, and which He had entrusted to His Apostles and given to St. Peter in particular to lead and guide as His Vicar, therefore, the celebration of the Roman Church, that is the Diocese of Rome, the Pope’s See, is also a celebration that is celebrated throughout the whole entire world, throughout the whole entire Universal Church. It was these two great Apostles who helped to establish the Church in Rome, at the very centre and heart of the then mighty and powerful Roman Empire, the political giant and great power of its time, which ruled over the whole Mediterranean region and much of Europe, as well as the lands of the Holy Land where Our Lord carried out His ministry.

By establishing the presence of the Church in Rome, the Lord had called upon St. Peter and St. Paul to evangelise not only to the Jewish people, but as He had told them, to go forth to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation to everyone, so that every people of every nations may come towards the Lord and receive salvation from Him. Therefore, while St. Peter had also founded the See of Antioch and was its first bishop, but it was the See of Rome that eventually became the See of the Vicar of Christ, St. Peter the Apostle and his successors, the Popes of the Church, right up to our current and reigning Pope, that is Pope Francis. Rome as the seat of secular and worldly power is symbolically made to be the seat of the Lord’s Vicar to highlight the authority that God has over all things, even over the secular world and rulers.

Rome was also most importantly the place where both St. Peter and St. Paul ended their respective ministries in martyrdom. St. Peter and St. Paul both encountered persecutions with the other Christians at that time in Rome during the reign of the infamous Roman Emperor Nero, who began the first intense persecution of Christians first in Rome and then elsewhere in the Empire. First to be martyred was St. Paul, who according to tradition was martyred by beheading at the time when the Great Fire of Rome happened in the Year of Our Lord 64. At that time, St. Paul had been in Rome for a while, awaiting the time of his appeal to the Emperor for the case raised against him by the Jewish authorities and the Sanhedrin. He and the other Christians persecuted were executed as they were blamed for causing the Great Fire of Rome, which according to historical evidences was probably started by the Emperor himself.

Meanwhile, St. Peter was also persecuted and was martyred slightly later, about four years later when he was crucified at the site where the great Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican now stands. Out of humility, St. Peter asked his executioners to be crucified upside-down so that he would not die in the same manner as his Lord and Master. And thus was how both St. Peter and St. Paul, Holy Apostles of the Lord, shed their blood and gave up their lives for the sake of the Lord, as they endured persecutions and oppressions in defending their faith, and in their commitment to continue proclaiming the truth of God to the people of all the nations. They did not fear persecution or death because they trusted in the Lord and they knew that even in martyrdom and death, they would share in the glory of God, Who Himself has suffered and died for the sake of all mankind.

If we wonder how we can follow in the footsteps of these two great saints, as we all indeed should do, we must first realise that they were all flawed and imperfect, normal human beings just like each and every one of us. They had their weaknesses and faults, just as we all had ours, but what matters is that, they let God guide them, answering His call and committing themselves to walk down the path which He has shown and told them to walk through. St. Peter himself was once a humble, illiterate and brash fisherman at the Lake of Galilee as Simon son of John, who would have been relegated to the footnotes of history and mankind’s existence just like many other countless fishermen and others out there from those seemingly humble backgrounds. He was not eloquent and he did commit mistakes, and he was also known for his not just once, but thrice denial of the Lord at the moment when He was arrested and persecuted at the beginning of His Passion.

Meanwhile St. Paul when earlier on he was still known as Saul, he was a great enemy of the early Church and Christians for his overzealous but ultimately misguided campaign to eradicate the followers of Christ. The young Saul was a young Pharisee who blindly followed the tenets and ways of the Pharisees, many of whom were also opposed to the Lord. Thus in his young, hot-tempered and overzealous passionate efforts, he brought a lot of grievances and hardships against the early Christian communities throughout Jerusalem, Judea and beyond. He was on his way to Damascus in Syria to continue the persecutions against the Christians there when the Lord appeared to him and had an encounter with him, which eventually led to Saul realising the mistakes and the folly of his misguided ways, and hence, embracing the Lord as his Saviour.

Both Simon and Saul had profound change in their lives upon encounter with the Lord, and they henceforth were known as Peter, from the word Petros in Greek, or the original Kephas or Cephas in Aramaic, which means ‘Rock’. Saul adopted the name Paul shortly after his conversion, and just like Abram and Jacob in the past, who both changed their names to Abraham and Israel respectively after life-changing moments, these name changes highlighted their commitment to a new life that is blessed and in accordance with God’s will. This is what we usually also practice as we adopt our baptismal names upon our baptism, and also when we add on our confirmation names as well. All of these symbolically signified our willingness to commit ourselves to the Lord, just as the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and other holy servants of God had done.

And even after they have embarked on the path of God’s righteousness, as Apostles, these two men were not perfect either. St. Peter himself still made mistakes, as when he initially followed the opinion of those who sought to introduce strict Jewish customs and practices, and the Lord corrected and helped him to understand what the true desire and intention of the Lord truly was. And according to Church tradition, just before he was to be martyred, it was famously said that St. Peter did flee the city of Rome to flee the intense persecutions then happening against Christians, and he encountered the Lord along the way, carrying His Cross. When St. Peter asked the Lord, ‘Quo Vadis?’ meaning ‘Where are You going?’, the Lord told St. Peter that He was going to Rome to be crucified again. St. Peter, embarrassed at his lack of courage, resolved to go back to Rome, and was crucified upside-down as mentioned earlier on. St. Paul on the other hand was also involved with disputes with the other disciples of the Lord and the Apostles, such as the dispute which he had with St. Barnabas the Apostle who accompanied with him in some of his missionary journeys.

All these showed us all that the Apostles, such as St. Peter and St. Paul, and just like the many other saints and holy men and women of God, are not supermen or superwomen, and they are not people who are greater than us in nature. But what makes them distinct and eventually revered, is the fact that all of them allowed the Lord to lead them in their lives, so that through their imperfections and sins, made better and more perfect, forgiven and reconciled to God by His mercy and love, they have shown us all that all of us indeed have the potential to be saints as well, brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, as we rejoice in this great Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Holy Apostles of the Lord and the Patron saints of Rome and the Universal Church, we are all reminded that each and every one of us also have the same capacity and potential to be like them, and indeed, we have been entrusted with the same mission that the Lord had entrusted to His Apostles, to St. Peter and St. Paul, two millennia ago.

In our world today, there are still a lot of people who have not yet known the Lord and who are still living in the darkness, in ignorance of God’s truth and love. And it is up to us all, as members and parts of God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, to continue the good works which the Apostles like St. Peter and St. Paul had started. All of us in our own respective areas in life, in our various commitments and vocations in life should always strive to do our best to sanctify our lives, our every good works and efforts, so that in everything that we say and do, in our every interactions with one another, we will always be the worthy and holy disciples and missionaries of the Lord, to proclaim the Good News and the Gospel of salvation through our own lives, just as the Holy Apostles had done. All of us are the ones who can touch the lives of many others and help them to come ever closer to God and His salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best to be good examples and role models for one another in our lives, to be like the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul in their commitment and faith in the Lord. Let us all do our part as active and contributing members of the Church of God to evangelise and proclaim the Lord and His salvation to more and more people throughout the world. Let us joyfully reveal and show the Lord, His love and kindness to all, by our own loving actions and obedience to God’s will in our own respective lives, in how we love the Lord our God wholeheartedly, and in how we love one another, our fellow brothers and sisters, most generously and tenderly at all times. May God bless us all, and be with us in all of our journey throughout life, now and always. Amen.