will of God

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Monday, 3 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Ansgar, Bishop (First Reading)

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

2 Samuel 15 : 13-14, 30 and 2 Samuel 16 : 5-13a

A messenger came to report to David that the Israelites were siding with Absalom. Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Let us flee, for we cannot resist Absalom. Go quickly, lest he come hurriedly and overtake us. Surely he will put the city to the sword if he can bring disaster upon us.”

David himself went up the Mount of Olives, weeping. He was barefooted and had his head covered, and all the people who were with him had their heads covered and wept as they went.

When king David came to Bahurim, a man from the clan of Saul’s family named Shimei, son of Gera, came out cursing him. He threw stones at David and his officers although the king’s men and warriors flanked the king on the right and left. Shimei said as he cursed, “Go away! Go away! You bloodthirsty good-for-nothing! YHVH has brought down on your head all the blood of the family of Saul.”

“You became king in his place, but God has now placed the kingdom in the hands of your son Absalom. Ruin has come upon you because you are a bloodthirsty man.”

Then Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go and cut his head off.” But the king said, “Why should I listen to you, sons of Zeruiah? If YHVH has ordered him to curse me, who shall ask him why he acts like this?”

Then David said to Abishai and his officers, “If my own son wants to kill me, how much more this Benjaminite! Leave him alone and let him curse me if YHVH has ordered him to do so. Perhaps YHVH will look on my affliction and turn to good things the curses heaped on me today.”

So David and his men went their way.

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(Special) Friday, 31 January 2014 : Chinese New Year Day Mass (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

James 4 : 13-15

Listen now, you who speak like this, “Today or tomorrow we will go off to this city and spend a year there; we will do business and make money.” You have no idea what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? No more than a mist which appears for a moment and then disappears.

Instead of this, you should say, “God willing, we will live and do this or that.”

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Tuesday, 28 January 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 3 : 31-35

Then Jesus’ mother and His brothers came. As they stood outside, they sent someone to call Him. The crowd sitting around Jesus told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.”

He replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” And looking around at those who sat there, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to Me.”

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Sunday, 19 January 2014 : 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of Migrants and Refugees (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 39 : 2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

With resolve I waited for the Lord; He listened and heard me beg. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

As the scroll says of me, to do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your law is within my heart.

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

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Wednesday, 15 January 2014 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 39 : 2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

With resolve I waited for the Lord; He listened and heard me beg. Blessed is the one who relies on the Lord and does not look to the proud nor go astray after false gods.

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, ” Here I come!”

As the scroll says of me, to do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your Law is within my heart.

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

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Wednesday, 15 January 2014 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 3 : 1-10, 19-20

The boy Samuel ministered to YHVH under Eli’s care in a time which the word of YHVH was rarely heard; visions were not seen.

One night Eli was lying down in his room, half blind as he was. The lamp of God was still lighted and Samuel also lay in the House of YHVH near the Ark of God.

Then YHVH called, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel answered, “I am here!” and ran to Eli saying, “I am here, did you not call me?” But Eli said, “I did not call, go back to sleep.” So he went and lay down.

Then YHVH called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel stood up and went to Eli saying, “You called me; I am here.” But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”

Samuel did not yet know YHVH and the word of YHVH had not yet been revealed to him. But YHVH called Samuel for the third time and, as he went again to Eli saying, “I am here for you have called me,” Eli realised that it was YHVH calling the boy.

So he said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if He calls you again, answer : ‘Speak, YHVH, Your servant listens.” Then YHVH came and stood there calling as He did before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant listens.”

Samuel grew; YHVH was with him and made all his words become true. All Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was really YHVH’s prophet.

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Sunday, 12 January 2014 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast of the Church, commemorating the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Jordan river by St. John the Baptist. This baptism marked the beginning of the ministry of our Lord Jesus, after thirty years of His life in this world since He was born.

A detail on the early life of Jesus besides His birth, presentation at the Temple and the time when He was left behind in the Temple at twelve was scarce and absent, but it was likely that He lived normally as any man would, under the care of His loving family, Mary His mother and Joseph, His foster-father. He would have lived normally as any sons of a carpenter would live, learning and understanding the world from Joseph, His foster-father.

Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptised by John because it had been prophesied as such by the prophets, and it therefore the very first instance when Christ the Saviour was revealed to the world, the very first instance when many could see and hear the witness of God’s sign of salvation. The truth about God and His saving plan was made clear at that moment when Jesus was baptised.

God made His Son, Jesus Christ to be the Christ or the Messiah, or the Saviour of the world. That was because it was only in Christ that the world could be freed from the chains of sin and evil that had enslaves it since the time when sin first entered the world. And all those who believe in Him would receive the great reward of salvation.

In that event too, God made obvious His nature for the world to see. First, that He is the one and only true God as opposed to all other false gods. He is the one and only supreme Lord and King of all, as the One who created this universe and everything in it, including all of us. But in this Oneness and unity, He has three Divine persons, all coexisting with each other in perfect unity, Three distinct persona, but One in nature and in perfect and indivisible unity.

Yes, what was shown in the event of the baptism of Jesus was what we know as the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity. God that is One and yet has Three distinct persona of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. All of them are God, and One. The Father is the aspect of God as the Creator and the Omnipotent ruler and Lord of all things, while the Son, who was the Word of God made flesh, is the One who made things come to be, including the creation as well as the plan of salvation. The Holy Spirit is the force and power behind all things and all creation, as well as the life that God has given us.

The Father is not seen or visible to us, as He was portrayed in the Old Testament as a burning bush to Moses, or as a gentle wind to Elijah. It was often His voice that was heard, speaking His will to the prophets or directly to the people of God. Meanwhile, the Son who was the Word of God since the beginning of time and before that, was made known to us, in the person of Jesus Christ, incarnate as a Man, to become the Saviour of the world.

The Holy Spirit was also not directly seen like the Father, but is often portrayed as the flames of fire symbolising the flames of the Spirit of God, just as what happened in Pentecost, as well as a dove, which is the form that the Spirit took when Jesus was baptised at the Jordan. Thus, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, recalling the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan.

How is this important to us? That is because when we were baptised, we were immersed with the water of baptism much like Jesus as He was immersed in the waters of the River Jordan. And not only that, to show that our baptism is not symbolic, but instead a Sacrament, we were all sealed in the Most Holy Name of the Holy Trinity, to be the possessions of the Lord, and marked for His saving grace, which He had revealed to the world through Jesus.

Jesus Christ was unique among every beings that had ever been in creation and in this universe. That is because He is one Being with two distinct natures, one that is fully divine and the other that is fully human, the two natures of which are united much in the same way the Holy Trinity is united to each other, perfectly united in love and indivisible from one another.

The divine nature of Christ is the One who had existed before all ages with God and was God, the Logos or the Word of God, who came down into the world, and with the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, was conceived into the world in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, and that was the time, when His human nature, that is Jesus Christ, becomes extant.

The two natures had always existed together in Jesus, but as He grew as a baby and then as a young child, the complete truth about His appointed mission in this world was not revealed to Jesus. Nevertheless, He grew to be great with wisdom and knowledge as He aged, and whatever had been taught to Him by His family in this world. It was however at His baptism in the Jordan, when the Trinity once again come together, in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that the fullness of the divine mission of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was made completely clear.

Hence, it can be said that this is the moment of new beginning in the earthly life of Christ. He began His ministry and teaching the Good News for the next three years or so, gathering His disciples and performing miracles and healing for the glory of God. It marked the beginning of the period of great graces of God, just as it does for all of us.

When we were baptised, we were marked to be the possessions of the Lord, that the mark of the Lord will remain for us for the rest of our lives. We were made completely clean once again, without any taints of sin with the water of baptism, and most important of all, we are all made children of God upon our baptism. But then we cannot just be idle or engage again in sinfulness, as we were indeed made clean upon baptism, but there also began our journey of faith towards the ultimate salvation in God, just as Jesus embarked upon His ministry.

May the Lord our God remind us of our holy baptism, of the time when we were made His children and welcomed into the Church, today, when we celebrate the baptism of His Son at the Jordan. May we remember always the water of baptism that made us whole again and worthy of the Lord, that we will resolve from now on to continue living in faith and devotion to God, without turning to the left or right.

Stay faithful, brethren, and as we rejoice in the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us also remember our own day of baptism! Yes, when we were made glorified as the children of God! God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 January 2014 : Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God – Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is a day of many blessings, a holy day, when we celebrate once again the important role that the Blessed Virgin Mary had on the plan of salvation of the world.today we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Peace, but even more importantly for our faith, we celebrate today the Feast of the Theotokos, that is Mary as the Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.

Theotokos is the term in the Greek language, given since the earliest times of the Church to honour Mary, meaning the ‘Mother of God’. The Church and the faithful had, since the very beginning recognise the special role that Mary played in our salvation. Mary is a lowly and humble woman, but one who was destined to bear the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, who is none other than God Himself incarnate into man, to be one of us.

Therefore, to believe in the mother of the Divine, Mary, as the mother of God in Jesus, is to believe in the divinity of Christ Himself. Both of these beliefs are completely inseparable in nature. Christ is God just as He is man, He is the Son of God just as He is the Son of Man. We cannot believe in that Jesus is God if we do not believe that Mary is the mother of God.

Of course, in her motherhood of Jesus, this does not make her divine in herself, nor does this make her a goddess, as some enemies of the faithful and the false prophets have proclaimed. As the mother of God, Mary was made preeminent before all the other creations, over all mankind, save her own Son, Jesus, who is God and who existed before all ages, while Mary was created just as any other men and women.

Yet without Mary and her acceptance of the role which she had been given, we would not have Christ in our midst. Even though Jesus is Lord our God and was conceived wholly by the power of the Holy Spirit without human intervention, it was in the womb of Mary that the Saviour gestated for nine months before His entry into the world. It is through womb of Mary that the Saviour was born into the world.

That is the truth about our faith, that Jesus was born into this world as one of us, through Mary His mother, because through her womb, He was born. Many people over time would try to attack this fundamental part of our faith but they did not succeed. They would either attack the divinity of her Son, denying it and claiming that He was merely human and not divine, or by separating the humanity of Jesus from His divinity, and thus claiming that Mary was merely the mother of Jesus the Man and not the Mother of God.

No, brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot fall into the same erroneous thinking as what was espoused by these people. We cannot deny the motherhood of Mary, who birthed the Lord and Saviour as the Mother of God, not that she is a goddess, just as we cannot separate the humanity of Jesus from His divinity. Jesus our Lord is fully and perfectly human just as at the same time He is also perfectly divine.

Many seemed to think in the erroneous ways because they were misinformed about the faith or misunderstood its true meaning. They failed to understand that in honouring Mary as the mother of God, we do not idolise or make a goddess out of her. We do not idolise or worship Mary, but instead honour her greatly as the blessed one among us, for having been the one chosen to bear the Saviour as He entered this world as a baby.

Mary is our role model, because she is truly obedient to God and she walked righteously in God’s way, without succumbing to the wickedness of the world. She is a person of love, peace, and faith. And that is why we glorify and honour her, as the greatest one among all those that God had created. God made her the first among all of us, so that we too may follow her example and be ever closer to her Son, Jesus.

Today we also celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Peace, which fits perfectly with today’s celebration on Mary as the Mother of God. Our world has forgotten peace and the values of peace, because mankind has given themselves up to the corrupting nature of the world. The world is filled with good things, but unbridled, they also feed our human weaknesses of greed and jealousy. Many of the wars in the past and even present, as well as the conflicts of the future will be fought because of mankind’s greed.

People fought over resources and material goods, and even siblings fought one another for their parents’ properties, often before even the latter’s departure from this world. Mankind always have their wants, and frequently they alwaiys desire more and more, and this is fueled by the world and the evil inside it. Mankind find it hard to satisfy their needs and therefore disregard the love they should show one another, and instead fight for their own benefits.

Wars, conflicts, and fightings are abhorrence of nature, because the devil has planted in us the seeds of division, pitting one man against another. We kill each other because hatred and greed has taken over our heart. We often allow the ways of this world to take us over, rather than to listen to the will of God, which exhorts us to seek peace and to love one another.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, even as we celebrate the coming of this new year of our Lord 2014, we should not forget that in the midst of all the celebrations and rejoicing, we should also seek for the peace and love in this world, that as we all pray for peace, we too lead the way for peace through our own actions, that we truly represent peace, love and harmony in all of our actions, our deeds, and our words.

May this day, the World Day of Prayer for Peace, then be a day where we all as one humanity, may reach out ever closer towards peace, following the examples of our role model in faith, Mary, the Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, in her obedience to God, and her faithfulness in Him, showing it through her loving actions, that we too ought to follow. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Monday, 30 December 2013 : Sixth Day of the Christmas Octave (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 12-17

My dear children, I write this to you : you have already received the forgiveness of your sins through the Name of Jesus.

Fathers, I write this to you : you know Him who is from the beginning.

Young men, I write this to you : you have overcome the Evil One.

My dear children, I write this to you because you already know the Father.

Fathers, I write this to you because you know Him who us from the beginning.

Young men, I write this to you because you are strong and the Word of God lives in you who have indeed overcome the Evil One.

Do not love the world or what is in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the craving of the flesh, the greed of eyes and people boasting of their superiority – all this belongs to the world, not to the Father.

The world passes away with all its craving but those who do the will of God remain forever.

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Monday, 16 December 2013 : 3rd Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is our teacher and our guide, the One who would bring enlightenment to this darkened world of ours, dark in the depth of the ocean of sin, which promotes ignorance, indifference, and even hostility against the infinite and gracious love and kindness of the Lord. He came in Jesus, incarnated into man, so that He might teach His own people directly, on the truth about God and His plan for all of us.

Jesus taught with clear authority, and He showed forth His infinite wisdom and intellect even as He taught the people. He showed them the revelation of the Lord’s Good News to mankind and showed them the truth about what God has prepared for all of us, that is salvation, and the promise of eternal life. He did not make up anything in His teachings, because all that He taught was the truth and is truth.

And although many things had been revealed through the prophets and the words in the Scripture, many still adamantly and obstinately refused to believe in Christ and in what He had taught them. They questioned Him and even His authority, even though they had eyes to see and ears to listen to what Christ had done, which would have been far more than enough to show the authority of the Messiah.

They doubted Him and refused to believe what He would tell them. They ignored His advice to them, and even plotted for His downfall. Such was the reception of a people for whom Christ Himself has come down upon this world for, to the point that He would even die to bear our sins and the consequences of our sins.

But was Jesus bothered by all these negative reactions, especially coming from the leaders of the people and the powerful ones in the society? No! Jesus brushed them aside, masterfully trapping them in their own queries, and He continued to teach the people. He found no point in arguing or debating with them, for after all, they were hell bent at trapping Him in His own words, and were adamantly against Him.

Similar situation also happened in the first reading taken from the Book of Numbers. In order to give all of you an understanding of what happened, one of the kings of the people of Canaan hostile to the people of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt and journey towards the Promised Land, was so terrified by the approach of the Israelites that he resolved to employ the service of a seer, named Balaam, a seer of God.

Balaam was employed to curse the people of Israel, that they would be cursed and destroyed. Is it not the same as the Pharisees who employed all their intelligence and knowledge for the wrong thing, that is wishing for the downfall of Jesus? But Balaam did not obey the orders of his employer, and instead of cursing the Israelites, he blessed them instead with rich blessings.

Balaam showed that we as the children and people of God should have no need to fear worldly authorities. Instead we all should obey the Lord, the One who has real and true authority over all creations. It is He who possesses all authority, the source of all authority that we have. We will not have any authority if we do not adhere ourselves to the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, as we reflect on the readings we had heard from the Scripture, let us first acknowledge the authority of the Lord and place our full trust in Him. Let us not be like the Pharisees, the Sadducees and many other people who were so occupied with their own pride and arrogance, so as to refuse to accept the Lord and listen to His teachings, stubbornly clinging to their jealousy of the Lord for challenging their own authority.

Let us trust in the Lord, and pay close attention to His teachings. Let us not ignore His call to us, a call which He intended for us to heed, that we may be called to be closer and closer to His love and mercy, changing our once sinful ways, with the ways of the Lord. Make God our guide and our leader, and resolve to walk closely within His path, without turning left or right. Listen to His words and let His words come in and transform us all. God be with us all. Amen.