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Thursday, 3 July 2014 : Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of one of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is St. Thomas, also known as the Twin and famously also as St. Thomas the doubter, the one whom we know in the Gospels to be the one who doubted that the Lord had risen from the dead after His Resurrection and after He had shown Himself to the Apostles except to St. Thomas, who was not with the others on that day.

And St. Thomas also voiced out openly his doubt when Jesus announced His intention to travel to Jerusalem for the last time, when He would eventually face His Passion and death, before the aforementioned Resurrection from the dead, which St. Thomas had no faith in. St. Thomas said to the other disciples, that they would go unto their death with Jesus together as they went to Jerusalem, in his own words, ‘Let us go and die together with Him.’

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this attitude which St. Thomas exhibited is truly common in our Church, and among all of us. It is easy for us to condemn others for their lack of faith, but we often fail to realise that in each one of us, we have our own ‘Thomases’ dwelling in us, and we often exhibited actions and behaviours that marks us as no better than little Thomases.

How often in our lives is it that we have so much on our hands and on our minds that we forget about God and about His existence? How often in our lives is it that we are angry at God for apparently not being there for us and accuse Him of abandoning us and ignoring us? And how many of us actually give thanks to God for His kindness and blessings in our lives, be it in big or small things? If we have done all these, or forgetting to do what is due to God, then we are just like Thomas the doubter.

But the quality of the faith that was in Thomas, was that he believed and repented his previous transgressions immediately once the Lord showed Himself to him in the fullness of His Risen glory. Thomas believed when he had seen and heard the Lord in person, to which Jesus kindly commented that, indeed that is good, but He said that how much better it would be if he had not doubted at the first place, that even without seeing the Lord, Thomas had believed.

We who believe in Jesus today, without witnessing directly the events of His life, death and resurrection are truly blessed indeed, because we believe without the need to witness directly the Lord and His majesty. But are we truly free from doubt and moments of weakness in our faith and devotion to the Lord? More often than not, this is not the case. In our lives, as history had often shown, mankind had succumbed too many times to doubt, especially in God’s providence and saving help, and came to rely on their own strength and ended up in darkness.

This is what we need to avoid, brethren, in each and every one of us. We should support each other to awaken the faith within us, that we are to have genuine faith in the Lord, one not based on blind obedience or lack of awareness of the Lord, but on the genuine faith that arise from the hearts of men. We need to follow in the example of St. Thomas and do even better than that.

Let us realise that the Lord is present, real and concrete, in the world around us through His love for us. Let us realise how much God truly cares for us, and let us doubt no longer but believe truthfully and completely place our trust in God. May we all be able to grow stronger in faith, hope and love, and make this world a truly better place for all the faithful ones in God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 April 2014 : 2nd Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, Canonisation of Pope St. John XXIII and Pope St. John Paul II (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the Second Sunday of Easter, or since a few years ago, we also celebrate the greatness of our Lord’s merciful heart and love for us, in the Feast of the Divine Mercy. We celebrate today not just the joy of Easter and the resurrection of Christ, but the very love and mercy that God had shown us in giving us Jesus to be our Saviour and redeem us from certain death because of sin.

Today we have to reflect on this great mercy God had shown us through Jesus. Without this mercy, mankind would still dwell in darkness of this world and engulfed in sin, and therefore, condemned to damnation with Satan and his fellow fallen angels in the eternal torture of hell, bereft of God’s love and mercy in its entirety, where there is no longer any hope for us.

Instead, God who loves us resolved to let Himself be humiliated, scourged, tortured and mocked for our sake. He let Himself to be wounded and punished with the entirety of the weight of our sins, no matter how heavy they are. For our sins are the wounds that He bear, and His cross is our rebelliousness that He bore for our sake, that we may not suffer the consequences of our sins.

Today we celebrate the rising of two great and yet humble men to the Altar, that is our beloved Popes, the Successors of St. Peter, Blesseds Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. The now Saints Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were great workers of love and mercy, proclaiming to the world the virtues of the Most Divine Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pope St. John XXIII was the great proponent and champion of peace, seeking peace in a world beset by conflicts and hatred between one another, building bridges of dialogue and reconciliation where there were anger, hatred and violence. This is one of the great aspect and essence of mercy, showing to the world that we mankind should shun evil and hatred, as well as violence and dispute, in favour of love, forgiveness, cooperation and genuine mercy.

Divine Mercy of our Lord was truly at work, when Pope St. John XXIII carried out his mission as the Successor of St. Peter as the head of the Universal Church. Even in his life prior to his election as Pope, Pope St. John XXIII had been the embodiment of our Lord’s Divine Mercy, by acting in accordance to the Lord’s love, reaching out in particular to those who are bereft and longing for the Lord’s beautiful mercy.

Pope St. John XXIII as Angelo Roncalli prior to his election as Pope was sent as the diplomat of the Holy See, representing the Pope and the Church in various countries where strife was rampant, and divisions were evident among the faithful people of God, as the Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria, he helped to bridge the differences between the faithful belonging to the Church and our separated brethren of the Constantinopolitan communion or the Eastern Orthodox. He helped foster a good relationship among the faithful and did not fear to help out a fellow brethren in need.

In essence, therefore, he had exercised the merciful aspect of the Lord who is the Divine Mercy. Pope St. John XXIII has also emulated the same example of Christ’s mercy by helping the Jews who were hunted down by the NAZIs to be exterminated by working hard to arrange their escape when he was the Apostolic Delegate to Turkey, and when a trainload of Jewish exiles attempted to escape death through Turkey.

There were much mercy in this new saint’s actions, and that is why he is today elevated to the glory of the Altar and officially recognised by the Church as a saint worthy of heavenly glory and honour. The other saint elevated today, Pope St. John Paul II whom many if us dearly and fondly remembered as the Pope of our time, also was a great man of mercy and love.

Pope St. John Paul II and his predecessors worked on the vision of a religious sister, who is known now as St. Faustina Kowalska on the Lord as the Divine Mercy. The Lord appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska asking for mankind to repent and change their sinful ways, and cling to His most merciful heart, which became the origin for the devotion towards the Divine Mercy of God, and the origin for today’s celebration on the Feast of the Divine Mercy, which falls on the second Sunday of Easter.

Pope St. John Paul II himself, as many of us know, is a man of great mercy, whose works of love and perseverance for the sake of the faithful is well known throughout the world. When he met an assassination attempt in 1981, on the day of the Feast of our Lady of Fatima, he forgave his to-be-assassin, and visited him in the prison, reconciling himself with the assassin in love.

This is one of the many examples of his acts of mercy, which is firmly founded on the foundations of faith, and his perseverance in fighting for the rights of the faithful against the Communist regime in Poland, his country, was truly remarkable. He did not fight the violence of the atheistic government with violence of his own, even when the people were on his side. He fought for the people with prayers and activism, promoting and championing for the faith through real action firmly grounded on the Christian faith.

Pope St. John Paul II was also well known for his championing of the Universal Call to Holiness, in which the faithful and people of God are encouraged to be models of the faith and walk in a life of holiness, which he helped encourage by the elevation of many holy men and women whose lives had been exemplary to be the role model for the faithful, that is for all of us to follow. These are the examples of the manifestation of the Lord’s love and mercy which came true in the lives of these holy men and women, including that of Popes St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II themselves.

In celebrating the elevation of these two great and yet humble Popes to the holy sainthood, we celebrate together with the entire Church for the propagation of the Lord’s Divine Mercy and love to all the peoples of all the nations, that from today on, through the examples in the lives of these two new saints and countless other holy men and women of God, we may learn of the Lord’s Divine Mercy and understand this great act of mercy.

God did not want us to suffer for the consequences of our sins, which entered our hearts and bodies and minds ever since Adam and Eve our first ancestors disobeyed the Lord and His will. That is why He sent us the greatest gift and help that He can provide us, in Jesus His Son, who suffered in our place, bearing our sins and all their burdens on His shoulders to the cross, where He laid down His own life for us, and by rising from the dead, He gave new hope of a new life to all of us who believe and who are ready to cast away our old lives of sin.

Yet we also have to remember at all times that God hates sin, in all its forms, no matter whether it is a small or a large sin. A sin is still a sin, and it separates us from being able to be perfectly reunited with the Lord who loves us. Sin is the barrier that prevents mankind from being free from the bonds and chains of death, and therefore, it is imperative for us to take the initiative to get rid of our sinfulness.

And the Lord who is also the Divine Mercy as He had revealed to St. Faustina Kowalska, has offered much mercy and opportunity for all of us to repent and turn again towards Him from our past sinful lives. It does not mean that God hates sin then we who have sinned will be condemned to perdition and death. It does not mean that we will be cast into hell immediately for our sins. Mankind are often very aware of their sins, but the danger of this is that because of this awareness, mankind became fearful of God and were afraid to seek God’s forgiveness and therefore fall deeper into sin.

We must not have this mentality or attitude towards God, because we know that the Lord is rich in mercy and slow to anger. Yes, just as much as He is wrathful and hateful against sins that we commit. What matters is for us to open our hearts to Him and allow His mercy to work wonders in us, and allowing His mercy to pierce to the greatest depths of our hearts that He may dwell in us and work His forgiveness in us.

Remember what Pope St. John Paul II had said to us? That we must not be afraid and open the doors wide to the Lord? And yes, therefore, we have to heed the words of this wise saint, and open wide the doors of our hearts to the forgiveness and mercy of God. Do not be afraid indeed, or else God’s mercy and forgiveness will not work its wonders on us, and we will remain in sin.

The problem with many of us and therefore mankind in general is that, not only that we fear the Lord and His wrath, but we also have great pride in us that we do not want to seek the Lord for forgiveness because of our ego. We keep our ego and heads held high, but for what? In the end, keeping our ego and pride will cost us dearly and we may be thrown into hell to suffer for eternity just because we refuse to lower ourselves before the mercy of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today, as we rejoice with the entire Universal Church for the elevation of the two new saints from among our Popes, let us follow their examples and heed their words, that we show mercy in our own actions and open our hearts to the Lord, that His mercy and love may be poured into us, and make us all truly worthy and holy children of His, showing the examples of mercy in all our words, actions and deeds.

O, Pope St. John XXIII, pray and intercede for us that we may be agents of peace in this world, to show love and mercy of God to all through our actions, that may all hatred and violence cease, and that men will be brought closer to God, just as you had once worked hard for the sake of peace and equality for all mankind before God.

O, Pope St. John Paul II, pray and intercede for us that we may have our hearts opened for the Lord to enter, that we will not shut tight our doors before the Lord who knocks daily at them. Pray for us that we will not be afraid to open ourselves for others and show love and mercy in all of our actions, that we will be witnesses of the Lord’s most Divine Mercy.

May the Lord show His infinite mercy to us on this day, that we who have sinned before Him may turn our back against our past and sinful lives, that we may take concrete and real steps towards full reconciliation with our God. O, most Divine Mercy and loving Jesus, forgive us sinners and bring us closer to Your most loving heart. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 April 2014 : Saturday within Easter Octave (Scriptures Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Today’s readings show us that we no longer have to fear or doubt in the truth of God. For if we stand by God and keep strong our faith, devotion and love for God, we will have everything and God will stand by us and provide us with all that we need. When we doubt, that is the moment of weakness which Satan can use to undermine our faith and our devotion to God, to the point that we may succumb to despair and commit things undesirable and wicked before Him.

This Easter, we celebrate the triumph of God over those who had arrayed themselves against Him, the celebration of the triumph of the good over evil, and the celebration of hope of new life over the old life, one that is decadent and filled with wickedness and sin. This Easter is a celebration of liberation and freedom, of mankind freed from the bonds of sin for eternity by the sacrifice of Jesus our Lord, and through whose resurrection we are made whole once again.

It is very difficult for mankind to let go of the temptations and impediments that were in place on our way towards God. It is very difficult for men to let go these goodness and pleasures that the world in particular are offering us daily. It is very difficult for many of us to let go of our desires, of our prejudices, of our judgments, and of our wants, for we are naturally, a creature tainted by the desires of this world and the desires of our flesh.

It is difficult for us to keep our faith in God, precisely because we are always tempted by sin, and at all times, doubt and fear are always in our minds. We cannot be truly close and intimate with God all because of our lack of total commitment and devotion towards the Lord, because we are unable to commit a hundred percent our attention and lives to God. Instead, we like to dwell in the world and be corrupted by the concerns and things of this world that inevitably lead us to sin.

That is why the elders of Israel, the chief priests, and those in the Sanhedrin of the people of God, supposedly the most learnt and the most educated of the people, opposed vehemently and firmly the presence and the works of God through Jesus, even though they naturally should have been the ones who would first welcome the Lord when He came. Instead, they became His enemies, and became those who attempted to derail the good works of the Lord by opposing in every situation and opportunities, the works of Jesus.

They failed to see reason and the truth of God in Jesus because their hearts had been hardened by sin, by the concerns of this world. Being people of influence and in the positions of power and privilege, they had forgotten their place and role in leading the people of God towards the Lord. Instead, they honoured power and glory, and craved for the people’s respect and praise towards them and did not tolerate any rival to their power and influence, leading to a vicious jealousy and hatred that grew so much, to the point that they even failed to see the truth in the Lord Jesus Christ, and ended up opposing and murdering the very One who would have rescued them from death.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Easter, we are invited to throw far, far away all these impurities and unworthy behaviours as those that had been exhibited by those who opposed the works of Christ, in the Pharisees and the elders of Israel. We have this perfect opportunity to deny first ourselves, and then the desires of our flesh to seek the pleasures of this world over the approval of God. Let us not waste this golden opportunity to make ourselves anew and dedicate ourselves to a change for the better.

This Easter, let us remember, that the Lord had given His all for us, His love and dedication to the point of death. The cross! Remember always the cross, and how the cross is the ultimate manifestation of God’s love for all of us! And also the empty tomb! Remember that empty tomb, which signifies the victory that God had won for us, to liberate us from the certain defeat of death, and He who had won for us this new life, where we have no more need to fear from sin or death, but forever be filled with the hope of eternal joy in He who loves us.

May the Lord therefore guide us in this Easter season, as we grow stronger and stronger in our faith, and deeper in our devotion and love for God, that we will first always be faithful to Him, and then also be loving and good children and members of God’s family, always showing the Lord to be at the centre of our lives and actions. Let us follow the footsteps of the Risen Lord and His Apostles, and let us all bring the light of Christ to all the peoples, beginning from ourselves, and to those around us, and to the whole world! Let us share the joy of Easter! God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 25 April 2014 : Friday within Easter Octave (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we see and hear the actions of the Apostles after the resurrection of Jesus, when they met the Lord in the lake while fishing in the Gospel today, and we also hear the continuation of the tale of the healing of the paralytic man in the Temple by Peter and John, which happened after Jesus had ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit had been sent to the Apostles.

The theme of today’s readings is mission, and the courage to pursue that mission, doing the mission with the full intention for the benefit of the people of God. Brethren, we are all also the disciples of Christ like the Apostles who were in that boat fishing all night for fish and not getting even a single fish, but with the guidance and blessing of the Lord in Jesus, they caught so many fish that the ship almost sank.

And therefore, the same can be said of the lives we have today as the fishermen of the Lord. The Apostles had been called to become the fishers of men, that is to bring them closer and closer to God, and hence ‘catching’ them for God. They no longer catch fish in the lake, but went on to catch new ‘fishes’ in the larger sea, that is the world, bringing mankind and countless souls to salvation in God.

The disciples of Christ become the agents of Christ in disseminating the words of the Lord’s Good News, and through them, the people of God received the truth about Christ and find their way to God, and hence the Apostles were the fishers of men. But their roles did not just end there, for we too, all of us who had received the light of Christ through baptism had also been called to be fishers of men as well.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This means that we have to take up the cross that Christ had entrusted to us, which is the mission He had given to His apostles and from them, to us. We have to be the bearers of the Good News of the Lord, and this is likened to the fishing nets that we are to spread throughout the entire world through our actions, that we may net as many souls as possible, saved before the Lord, accepting the Lord as their God and Saviour, repenting from their past sins as we once had done.

This world is the vast sea, and indeed, the huge ocean of the faithless and the people who still live in darkness, that awaits us to bring the light of God to them. Just as the Apostles had waged a long and arduous mission and work to be the fishers of mankind for the Lord, we too have to continue their good works and bring much goodness to the lost people in darkness and enlighten them with the truth about God and His love for us all.

This world does not like us who believe in the Lord, just as it had once hated the Lord and Saviour Himself, for this world is under the power and dominion of Satan, the evil one. That is why, this world had first rejected the Lord, but as the First Reading and the Psalm had shown, that the rejected One had become the Cornerstone of all the people who keep their faith in God. And it is this truth about the Risen Lord that we are testifying for and standing up for as we go against the currents of this world, to bring salvation to many souls who hunger for the love of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we rejoice in this Easter season, and as we celebrate the joy of Christ’s resurrection, let us always be reminded that we still have this important mission, to be the fishers of men like the Apostles had once been, and bring mankind and one another ever closer to God. Let us keep an eye for one another, that none of us may fall into the tricks and traps of the evil one, so that we may remain faithful and firm in our conviction for the Lord.

May Almighty God guide us in our journey and as we embark on this arduous and yet blessed mission of bringing the Good News to all men, of all the nations. God be with us all, always, till the end of time. Amen.

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Friday, 31 January 2014 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we hear today of the sin of David, the faithful and loyal servant of God. Not just any sin, but a great sin, because not only that David committed adultery with the wife of another man, but he also plotted to have the husband of the woman to be killed in battle, tantamount to direct murder of human life.

Today we are shown the vulnerabilities of our human selves, the temptations of the flesh and the attractions of the world, which assail us day after day without end. Even someone as faithful and obedient as David, was after all still a mortal man, with all of the vulnerabilities and inherent problems that expose one to sin and evil that are in this world.

This world offer us many amenities, joy, and goodness, especially in material goods and pleasures. Humanity can be easily swayed to take up the offer of the world and Satan behind it, and from there, grow towards materialism, desire, greed, lust, and many others. That was what David experienced, as the king of Israel.

Being a king or a ruler brought with it many privileges and goodness, and when he saw Bathsheba in that bath, he was tempted, and he failed. The law of God expressly mentioned the forbidden nature of adultery, and if you remember, that the last of God’s commandments would say that we must not covet the things and properties of others around us. This shows us that David, as the Lord’s most upright servant, should have acted in the way that conformed to the faith, and also obedient to the law.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I repeat this proverb once again, because in this case of king David, it is absolutely true. King David is king over Israel, and his words are law. He has the authority and power over all of his servants. But when he found out of the bitter fruits of his adulterous action with Bathsheba, he was gripped with great fear that his deeds would be discovered, and therefore tried to pull Uriah the husband into a fabricated lie likely made by David himself.

When that failed, because of the valiant and unchanging obedience of Uriah to David, the king resolved to plot to kill him, which he succeeded in doing. That made him to sin not just once by that adulterous act, but also to commit another sin of murder. Thus had David sinned before the Lord his God. Nevertheless, unlike Saul before him, and unlike most of us, what David did was truly remarkable. He was genuinely repentant of his sinfulness, and he showed that he was regretful of having committed such sinful acts before God.

God had chosen David to be king over His people Israel, not because David was powerful or mighty, but instead He chose him because of his humility, his good character, and his righteousness. And that was the moment when these characteristics showed up in David, that although he did sin heavily before God, but he showed genuine remorse, and from then on, he resolved not to commit such sins again.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learn indeed that we all may sin and commit evil things before God, but the most important thing is for us to realise and recognise our sins, and then repent and change our ways, as king David had done. Great sinners are not guaranteed hell as their end, as in fact many great saints had been great sinners.

What differentiates great sinners from great saints is one thing, that is the ability to recognise own sins and then act from it. The saints recognised their weakness and vulnerabilities to sin, and acted upon them, utilising what God has given them, that is the seeds of faith, hope and love in them. They did not fear in showing forth their faith, no matter how small it was, and how great their sins were.

That is in conjunction with what Jesus told His disciples and the people, that even if your faith is as small as a mustard seed, but that is sufficient if you truly utilise that faith, for even a small mustard seed, when grown, will become a large tree and bear fruits. What matters is that if we take concrete steps and actions, so that rather than lingering in our sinfulness, we may come into the light, and through our growing faith, we may bring others too into the light.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. John Bosco, the patron saint of youth. St. John Bosco was a priest who saw the situation in his surroundings about the youths of the time, many of whom were homeless or even without families, orphans and neglected by the society. He felt sad seeing these children running around the cities at risk from harm and misconduct. Hence, St. John Bosco worked with those children and resolved to guide them that they may not fall to evil.

His many works and dedications, and his contributions to the Church was truly great. He also help founded the religious order now known as the Salesians, and his many other contributions made him a well known saint, and one whom many devoted themselves, asking for his intercession. The example of St. John Bosco should inspire us all, that we should also take action, helping one another, especially those with great risk of falling into the darkness.

Let us therefore, inspired by the examples of St. John Bosco and many other saints, let the faith in us to grow strong and shine brightly, as we act to give our help to bring many towards salvation in the Lord. Let us not ignore the plight of our less fortunate brethren, and show the love of God to them, and just at the same time, our faith too will shine forth, and God who sees all, will reward us. Amen.