wicked life

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Wednesday, 2 July 2014 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we clearly heard the account of how Jesus rebuked and cast out the demons at Gadara from two men, that the Lord is good, and as perfect goodness that He is, He is the antithesis and opposite side of evil and all forms of sin. And therefore, we too, as the children of God and His beloved ones, have our clear-cut obligations, to shun and be free from all forms of evil in sin.

There can be no compromise to sin and evil, and we should not delude ourselves by thinking that we can get cordial and friendly with the devil and all of his persuasions, and end up falling into sin and thus condemnation. We cannot be children of both God and Satan, and as Jesus had taught His disciples, we can neither be servant of both God and money. We cannot therefore be servant of both good and evil, and either we will be attracted in the end to either one or we will totally hate the other in the end, as our Lord had taught us.

This however, does not mean that we should hate and shun sinners and those who had committed grievous errors before God and mankind. Remember the saying, hate the sin but not the sinner? This is exactly the case, as we must hate and avoid the evils in the works of sin, but we must never hate the person, who has the capacity to do both good or evil. We must instead embrace and welcome them into the Lord and His love through us, that we may help each other to escape the clutches of sin.

We must work together to live holy and worthily of God, and avoid blaming or being prejudiced against anyone on the basis of their sinfulness, for we ourselves are sinners, no matter how small or big our sins are. God is merciful and loving, but He also hates sin, and sin no matter how big or small, has no place in His presence. That is why we believe those who had died righteously in the faith but still were tainted by some venial or non-mortal sins, go through the fires of purgatory to cleanse themselves from those sins before they are admitted into heaven.

Sin, brothers and sisters, is the root of all evil, and if we expose ourselves willingly to sin, we will open the doors of our hearts to all forms of evil, corrupting them for the purpose of Satan, and keep us away from the love of God. And ever since our forefathers listened to the words of Satan to disobey the Lord, we have been prone and weak towards the corrupting nature of sin. Mankind are therefore predisposed to sin, and if we do not make the active effort to avoid committing sin, we will likely commit one before God and men.

And Satan is growing in his power and in his cunningness, in his plethora of means and arsenal of things he can utilise against us, through his agents and his hands in this world. Mankind has grown accustomed to the pleasures and the growing comfort in this world, and it is through this that Satan decided to strike against men, leading them to sin by turning them towards the path of desire and greed.

Our world today is rife with individualism, egoistic and materialistic behaviour. Yes, these behaviours are prone to sin, and in our world today, we can see the direct impact, in how money and material possessions are chased after by many who seek to have more and more of them, and sadly often with disregard to the plight of others, and we even often seek to gain more, at the expense of others around us.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we need to commit ourselves to a new life. Yes, a new life that is no longer based on sin and human desire, and instead based on love, justice and peace, namely a life that is based on God and on His principles and laws. Let us together help one another to reject sin and all the sinful ways of this world, and from now on resolve to love and lead a righteous life as the Lord had taught us.

May we all be truly children of God, and be like Him in all of our actions, words and deeds. May He guide us in our ways and lead us to Him, that we may be purified and absolved of our sinfulness, and emerge from the darkness of our world into a blissful life in the light. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 30 May 2014 : 6th Week of Easter (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, sorrow is part and parcel of our lives as we walk in this world. It is our due, as the Lord had mentioned, that we are now in sorrow, because precisely we are in a world filled with darkness and lacking God. It is because we are distant from God then we are filled with sorrow, since within us, we have this innate desire to be reunited to God, our loving Father and Creator.

But our sorrow is not eternal, and neither will it be a completely hopeless situation. In fact, as we all know, that Christ is our hope and our joy, the Easter Lamb, through whom we have been given new hope in order to come closer to the Lord and gain the wondrous blessings and joy, which only God can give, and not the world.

We are in this world today, and we are in the time when we labour for the eternal joy. Life is difficult and full of opposition, if we choose to remain faithful to our calling in life, that is to serve God. There is an alternative indeed, a quick escape and a shortcut, which the devil provided for us. This is exactly to immerse ourselves in the wicked pleasures of the world, that is the pleasure of the flesh, and enjoying the fruits of the world’s earthly desires and goods.

We mankind are naturally predisposed and vulnerable to sin, as we have sinned before the Lord and ever since our ancestors disobeyed Him, we have tasted the sweet fruits of sin. Mankind finds joy and happiness in the pleasures and abundance offered by the world, but are these true happiness and joy, or are they just mere illusions?

The joy and happiness are real, but these are not true joy, which I have to again emphasise that only God can give us true joy. The joy that we experience in this world is fleeting and temporary, and those joy and happiness will not satisfy us forever, and indeed, they may instead lead us away from the Lord and the ability to understand what is true joy and happiness.

In this era in particular, especially in the developed countries, and increasingly apparent in the rapidly developing countries, that we have grown to be pampered even since when we were very young, and still yet continue until when we have reach adulthood. Our lives are growing more and more comfortable and filled with ever-increasing desires and wishes.

The world feeds this desire and lifestyle, by directly feeding our wants and our longings. We have in us the negative emotions such as sloth, greed, pride and many others, which helped to prevent us from escaping the endless cycles of desire and consumerism, which are increasingly becoming more and more prevalent in our world today. Just look at the amount of advertisements in our television, and you will know how decadent and hedonistic our world is becoming today.

It does not mean that we should abstain and avoid every kind of worldly attachments and live like an ascetic, but we should take everything in moderation, including the pleasures of the world. Sure, it is very tempting for us to want this and that, but it should not make us slaves to our will and desires, but rather, we have to control ourselves and our wants. Do not let our desires control us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not be trapped in the pleasures of the world, but let us seek the pleasures that last everlasting. Yes, the true pleasure and the happiness that only God can give us. Let us resist our temptations and our desires, and do not allow the devil to influence us. Resist the goodness of this world, in that while we may enjoy them, but they should not be excessive.

May the Lord guide us on our way, and help us to seek Him, and seek the joy and happiness that He can give. Let us remain focused on our way, and commit ourselves completely to Him, that we may in the end, receive eternal and everlasting glory in heaven. God bless us all. Amen.