work and faith

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Monday, 1 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, remembering the foster-father of our Lord, St. Joseph who was a carpenter of the village of Nazareth. He was just a mere carpenter, a profession which was not highly respected at that time, considered a menial labour and job for the poor people, and yet, he was an upright and just man, who obeyed God in all of His commandments.

He worked hard to meet the daily needs for himself, and later on, also for his family, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As the breadwinner and head of the family, he must have laboured hard to sustain and provide for the whole family. The job as a carpenter was surely not an easy one, as carpenters even today can attest to. The job was tough and consumed many hours, and yet the pay was minimal.

Yet, St. Joseph remained true to his work and to his calling, which he had been called to, to be the foster-father of the Lord and the protector of the entire Holy Family. He remained true to the mission he had been entrusted with, and he was ever faithful, protecting Mary as she was heavily pregnant, while they were going down from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census. He guided her through from inn to inn, and dwelling to dwelling, even though all of them rejected them because they were all already full.

And when king Herod wanted to kill the newborn Baby Jesus, the Angel of God instructed St. Joseph to bring both Him and Mary to the land of Egypt, so that He might be hidden away from those who would want to cause Him harm, like Herod and the other enemies of the Lord. What does that mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that livelihood must have been hard for St. Joseph and for his family, as that meant, St. Joseph would have to live in exile in Egypt for the time when Jesus was there, and not being able to return to Nazareth meant that he must have laboured hard in the foreign land trying to make ends meet for his family.

But St. Joseph never complained, and he remained true to his calling. He accompanied the Holy Family and led it through times of joy and through times of difficulty. He was there for the young Jesus as He was growing up in body and stature. It was likely that he taught Jesus the skills required to survive in life, and likely taught him carpentry skills. St. Joseph worked hard throughout his life, and he is an inspiration to all of us who also work, and who also worry about our daily living, on how we are to make ends meet for ourselves and for our families.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we reflect on the life and the works of St. Joseph, let us all spend some time to ask ourselves this question. What is work and our career for us? What is the significance of what we are doing in our daily work, in our workplace, in all the busy things and schedules we filled our lives with? Is there meaning to all the things that we are doing in life?

Many of us instinctively will say that we are working in order to gain more money and wealth, to make sure that we are able to sustain our lives, providing for our daily needs. However, do we all realise that we can be easily distracted from what we ought to do in life, and we end up having the wrong focus in our work and in our daily efforts? It is because of our greed and desire, which caused us to lose focus on what working in life truly means.

Let us reflect, brothers and sisters, on all the time when we have become too busy in our lives, too busy trying to aim for promotion in our career, looking for more opportunities to gain renown, fame, recognition and praise from others around us, and in the process, we end up neglecting our families, our relatives and those whom we love, just because we have been too busy with our work, but with the wrong focus.

And we know how some people, if not many of them, in their pursuit for money, for power, for influence and other things, sought illegal and unjust means in order to attain and obtain whatever it is that they desired. This resulted in the corruption of the hearts and minds, as we fall into sin because of our unbridled and uncontrolled desire. This is what we all must avoid doing, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us all model ourselves after the good worker and the faithful servant of God, St. Joseph, the carpenter, the just and upright man, a hardworking person, and the foster-father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was exemplary in his life and actions, in how he committed himself to his work, and in how he has obeyed the Lord in all of his life’s deeds. In the same manner therefore, we too should do the same in our own respective lives.

Let us all inspire one another, and help one another in reaching out to God and to His salvation. May the Lord help us all in all of our endeavours, and may He bless all of our works, so that not only that we will do our work from now on, keeping in mind that it is God for whom ultimately we labour for in this world, and not for ourselves. Let us all pray that we shall be given the strength to persevere through all sorts of challenges in life. Amen.

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Monday, 1 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 22-29

At that time, the next day after Jesus fed the five thousand men, the people, who had stayed on the other side, realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with His disciples; but rather, the disciples had gone away alone.

Bigger boats from Tiberias came near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. When they saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found Him on the other side of the lake, they asked Him, “Master, when did You come here?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for Me, not because of the signs which you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for He is the One on Whom the Father has put His mark.”

Then the Jews asked Him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this : that you believe in the One Whom God has sent.”

Alternative reading (Mass of St. Joseph)
Matthew 13 : 54-58

At that time, Jesus went to His hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, “Where did He get this wisdom and these special powers? Is He not the carpenter’s Son? Is Mary not His mother and are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas not His brothers? Are not all His sisters living here? How did He get all this?” And so they took offence at Him.

Jesus said to them, “The only place where prophets are not welcome is their hometown and in their own family.” And He did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

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Monday, 1 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 118 : 23-24, 26-27, 29-30

Although princes conspire against me, Your servant will observe Your decrees. Your laws are my delight, my counsellors who uphold me.

When I explained my ways, You responded; instruct me then in Your precepts. Explain to me all Your ordinances, and I will meditate on Your wondrous deeds.

Keep me away from deceitful paths; be gracious and teach me Your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart upon Your laws.

Alternative reading (Mass of St. Joseph)
Psalm 89 : 2, 3-4, 12-13, 14 and 16

Before the mountains were formed, before You made the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity – You are God.

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. Let Your work be seen by Your servants and Your glorious power by their children.

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Monday, 1 May 2017 : 3rd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 6 : 8-15

Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Some persons then came forward, who belonged to the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia and Asia. They argued with Stephen but they could not match the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

As they were unable to face the truth, they bribed some men to say, ‘We heard him speak against Moses and against God.’ So they stirred up the people, the elders and the teachers of the Law; they took him by surprise, seized him and brought him before the Council.

Then they produced false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against our Holy Place and the Law. We even heard him say that Jesus the Nazarean will destroy our Holy Place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And all who sat in the Council fixed their eyes on him, and his face appeared to them like the face of an Angel.

Alternative reading (Mass of St. Joseph)
Genesis 1 : 26 – Genesis 2 : 3

God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, to Our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the wild animals, and over all creeping things that crawl along the ground.” So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God said, “I have given you every seed bearing plants which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food. To every wild animal, to every bird of the sky, to everything that creeps along the ground, to everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” So it was.

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning : the sixth day. That was the way the sky and earth were created and all their vast array. By the seventh day the work God had done was completed, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day He rested from all the work He had done in His creation.

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Sunday, 13 July 2014 : 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Bible Sunday (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a special occasion in our Liturgical year, when we celebrate Bible or Scripture Sunday, when we honour the Book from which we gained all that we need to know about our faith, and about our Lord and God. For the Bible or the Holy Scriptures is in itself the Word of God, the words of revelation which God had given to mankind over the ages, through His many prophets and servants.

The Holy Scripture is the revelation of the word of God, through which God made His will known to mankind, and through the advancement in technology and availability of printing, now we can have them as what we know now as the Bible. We have this privilege which members of the early Church did not have, and we should indeed be truly grateful for these gifts of the Bible we have with us.

How did then, the people of God and the faithful know about the Holy Scriptures? They did it through passing around oral stories and traditions, which they kept faithfully down through the generations, which were eventually compiled together and made into what we know as the Holy Scriptures, of which there are a total of seventy-three books, comprising of forty-six books of the Old Testament, of the time before the coming of Jesus Christ, and twenty-seven books of the New Testament, after the coming of Christ into the world.

One may ask, then, why the division between the Old and the New Testament? It is all in fact because of Christ, that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who as divine incarnate, became Man and came into this world. If we read the Gospel of John, on the first chapter, in what was faithfully read every Mass as the Last Gospel, it is all made clear. Jesus is the Word of God, who was made flesh, and became Man, for the sake of our salvation.

Thus the Old Testament refers to the ancient and old revelations of the Lord and the faith, before the Word Himself came into the world, while the New Testament reveals truly the new testament of faith, by none other than Jesus Himself, the Word of salvation. Those who believe in Jesus and in His teachings will be saved, and those who reject them will be doomed and damned for eternity.

There are sadly however, those who believe strictly in the words of the Bible as it is, without considering the different meanings that it may have carried and not immediately obvious to us, and sometimes even to the greatest intelligent minds that men possessed. This belief, which is also known as ‘sola scriptura’, is definitely wrong, and is truly a chief cause for the great divisions between the many so-called branches of the Church, separated by the evil act of the ‘reformation’ a few centuries ago.

The greatest flaw is that, no man should ever claim to be able to understand or fully comprehend the meaning of the word of God contained in the Holy Scriptures all by himself or herself. This emphasis on the sole dependence on the Holy Scripture is not right, and will confound our understanding of the true faith in the long term. What then, should be the foundation of our faith? We should put our faith in God, and on His teachings which were made known to us through the tradition of faith among God’s people.

The sacred tradition of the faith is important, and it is also present strongly in our Church. This sacred tradition is the one that complements our faith and understanding of the faith, as we obtained from the Scriptures. It is like a guide for us in understanding the Scriptures, that we may not make the same mistake as what many throughout the ages had done, misinterpreting the Scriptures and the Holy Gospels as they liked.

It is important that we guard ourselves from the misinterpretations and misunderstandings of the Gospel’s and the Scriptures’ message, that we do not end up causing divisions among ourselves and in the Church, as what had happened before in the past. Our feeble and limited minds are not capable of understanding the fullness of the truth of God, and therefore we are bound to misunderstand its true meaning without guidance.

This is precisely the mistake that caused so many people to stray away from the faith in the one and only Church of Christ, to follow their own flawed human instincts and ways, in an open rebellion against God and His will.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remain faithful and obedient to the teachings of Christ through the Holy Mother Church, that is the Holy Catholic Church, the one and only legal and rightful authority on this earth and under heaven to teach the fullness of faith, as its role in defending the fullness of the truth of the faith. If we do so, we will be able to adhere more faithfully and closely to the truth of the Scriptures and the Word of God.

However, brothers and sisters, we have to always remember that being faithful alone is not sufficient. This is because a faith without works is dead. Remember this saying? It comes from the Letter of St. James the Apostle, who wrote how our faith must be living and genuine, and based on strong sense of love. Faith that is based on strong and living love is a strong and solid faith.

Jesus told His disciples and all of us these, in His parable of the sower and the seeds, where He mentioned the fates of the seeds that ended up in various different types of soil and growth conditions. In this parable, Jesus clearly explained how faith cannot remain dormant, but must be always living and growing so that it may prosper in us and we may be saved.

The seeds are the seeds of faith, and none other than the word of God, which God had planted in us through His Holy Scriptures and teachings which He imparted to us through His disciples and Apostles. But those seeds really have different fates depending on how we use them and how we put them in our own lives, which is indeed the soil where the seeds grow on.

The first scenario, where the seeds fell along the path and got eaten by the birds, represent the situation when the word of God is not properly internalised by us, and as a result, Satan, represented by the birds, come and take us deep into the darkness. This is what happens when we do not receive the word of God, and reject what the Lord had revealed to us.

The second scenario, the seeds that fell on the rocky ground and were not able to grow well, because they did not have deep roots, is basically our faith if we do not commit the word of God into our lives, that is exactly what I had mentioned. Yes, if we do not have a living faith, then our faith will not take deep root in our hearts, and with the coming of troubles, we will stumble and fall into darkness and evil.

The third scenario, the seeds that fell on soil infested with thistles. Thistles are plants that can grow quickly and wrap themselves around other plants, eventually competing with those plants for nutrients, and in the end, literally choking the life out of the other plants. In this case, as Jesus mentioned, the worries and concerns of the world, the pleasures and corruption of the world get in the way, and the word of God did not take root either.

It is only when we commit the word of God that we heard and read from the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Gospels into our hearts and minds, and commit to real and true actions in our lives, then the word of God may grow healthily and strongly in us, and therefore gain for us a rich bounty of harvest and returns in the faith. With regards to this, Jesus did not just promise a meager or small increase in the results, but in fact, none less than thirty, sixty, and hundred-fold or even more from what we put in as our effort.

What is this eternal reward then? This great reward is none other than eternal life with God, which He grants to all those who remain truly faithful to Him, and to those who did not just talk about their faith, but also live that faith in their daily lives. This is the way for us to achieve salvation in God, the culmination of our long effort to reach out to our Lord. It cannot be done without hard work, that is to ensure that the word of God is growing on a rich and good soil.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this occasion of Bible Sunday, let us all use this opportunity to renew our commitments to the Lord, first by reading the Bible itself, so that we may know His words, and then, apply what we know into our own lives, in our words, actions and deeds. Then, and only then, we can truly grow strong in faith and reap rich rewards in the end.

May our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, bring into us a greater understanding of the Word of God, so that we may live always in His grace, and remain truly faithful to Him. Amen.