2nd Week of Advent, Wednesday, 10-12-2025

Isaiah 40:25-31 / Matthew 11:28-30   

One of the most inconvenient things that can happen is a power blackout.

If it happens during the daytime, at least we could see what is around.

We only have to bear with appliances and devices that cannot work without power.

But when the blackout happens at night, then the lights and everything else won’t work without electricity.

It literally means that we are powerless, and we are down to a standstill.

In such a situation, we will understand that we are quite helpless and we can feel that our abilities are so limited.

It is like our strength is all gone and it is so difficult to get back to normalcy.

It is like what the 1st reading says, even “young men grow tired and weary, and youths stumble.

But the 1st reading also says that the Lord is an everlasting God, He does not grow tired or weary.

And those who hope in the Lord renew their strength, they put out wings like eagles, they run and do not weary, walk and never tire.

In the gospel, Jesus tells us to come to Him and He will give us rest, and He will renew our hope.

It is in prayer that we will find strength and keep our hope alive.

And we will also remember to charge our emergency batteries and keep going in a power blackout.

2nd Week of Advent, Tuesday, 09-12-2025

Isaiah 40:1-11 / Matthew 18:12-14   

The season of Advent is a time of prayer and a time of waiting in hope.

It is a time of prayer for us to reflect about our human condition and who we are before God.

As we reflect on our weak and sinful human condition, the 1st reading gives us this stark reminder:

All flesh is grass and its beauty like the wild flower’s. 

The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on them.

But the Word of God remains forever.

We are reminded that we are really nothing before God.

Yet, God does not see us as nothing. We are the beauty of His creation.

The 1st reading also tells us that God is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breasts and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

Such is God’s great love for us and His love is shown when He sent His only Son to save us.

And Jesus tells us in the gospel that God does not want any one of His creation to be lost.

So our prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s great love for us.

And we pray with hope that those who have gone astray will be brought back by the love of God.

And it is only when we truly repent of our sins that we will be able to help others to repent and return back to God.

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Monday, 08-12-2025

Genesis3:9-15, 20 / Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12 / Luke 1:26-38  

To be able to succeed in any task or mission, there must be adequate preparation.

The bigger the task or the mission, the more detailed will be the preparation.

In the 1st reading, Adam and Eve were tempted and they fell into sin.

From that moment, sin entered into humanity and it is called “original sin”.

But God did not allow sin to destroy His creation and so He made preparations to save the human race.

And this mission of salvation would involve human beings.

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin.

It is because God freed her from the stain of original sin that Mary was able to say “yes” to the mission of salvation.

And it is through her that God became man in Jesus Christ.

Reflecting of the God’s plan of salvation, we will realise that it is because of God’s great love for us.

Let us like Mary, say “yes” to God’s love and to the salvation that Jesus won for us on the Cross.

May we do God’s will and may we also love as God loves us.

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 07.12.2025

Isaiah 11:1-10 / Romans 15:4-9 / Matthew 3:1-12

It is said that life is like a toilet paper roll. As it comes closer to the end, it runs out faster and faster. 

The same can be said about time. We are already one week into December, and in less than three weeks’ time, it will be Christmas. 

It seems that as we come to the last month of the year, time is really rolling and flying. 

Time is not only rolling and flying, there are also many things happening. 

People are going off for holidays, schedules are changed here in there. Christmas decorations must be put up quickly at home, in the office and also in church. 

Of course, when it comes to Christmas decorations, the must-have item is the Nativity Scene, because that is what Christmas is about. 

Then the rest are things like the Christmas tree, fairy lights, Santa Claus and reindeers and whatever. 

But no Christmas decoration would ever have a figure or a picture of John the Baptist. 

Anyway, why should John the Baptist appear in the Nativity Scene or in any Christmas decorations. 

With that kind of attire, and that kind of diet, John the Baptist is just so out of place in this festive season. 

But on this 2nd Sunday of Advent, the gospel brings in John the Baptist. 

He preached in the wilderness of Judaea, and this was his message: Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand. 

His message is straight and direct, and the prophet Isaiah spoke of him as a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.” 

His message was also accompanied by a baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

But John the Baptist had tough words for those who take repentance and the baptism lightly. 

John the Baptist says this: Even now, the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree that fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire. 

Yes, tough words that are accompanied by an uncomfortable image of the axe at the roots. 

If John the Baptists were to come and take a look around, he might take that axe and cut down a few things. 

We like our Christmas decorations to be nice and pretty. 

But John the Baptist will remind us that this is still the season of Advent, and he will take down those things that will distract us from the spirit of preparation and repentance. 

And going down to the root of the matter, John the Baptist wants us to remember this:

Our lives are rooted in Jesus Christ, and when we are rooted in Christ, then we will bear fruits for Christ. 

But along the way, our roots have gone to look for the waters of worldly pleasure and sensual desires. 

Slowly we begin to drink in the contaminated waters of addiction to porn and immorality, and living by the ways of the world. 

We slowly forget about the clean waters of our baptism, and walking in the straight ways of the Lord.

John the Baptist wants to give us an Advent present, and that present is an axe.

With that axe, we need to look at the roots of our lives that have gone the wrong way. 

Let us start by looking at those roots that have made us produce bad and rotten fruits. 

Let us get down to looking at the behaviours and the attitudes of our lives. 

Behaviours and attitudes like: jumping to conclusion, passing the buck, throwing our weight around, making mountains out of molehills, blowing our own trumpet, adding fuel to fire, pushing the blame. 

Let us cut off all the crooked and twisted attitudes and behaviours of our lives. 

Then the roots of our lives will thirst for the living water of Jesus Christ, and we will bear fruits of love for Jesus and for others. 

Then we will learn how to swallow our pride, , walk away from gossips and bickering, speak the truth, pick up the pieces of our disappointments and frustrations and giving them to Jesus, take responsibility, live with honesty and sincerity.

When we are rooted in Jesus Christ, we will see the straight path and walk towards Jesus Christ, from this Advent to Christmas, and always. 

1st Week of Advent, Saturday, 06-12-2025

Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26 / Matthew 9:35 - 10:1, 6-8  

The question of the connection between illness and sin is an age-old question.

Despite being a long-standing question, there is no obvious answer to it.

On the one hand, those who commit wickedness will pay for their sins by being afflicted with illness or disease.

But on the other hand, in the face of innocent suffering, what explanation can there be.

In the gospel, Jesus summoned His twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness.

It is the love of God for all peoples that is the foundation of the ministry of Jesus and the mission of the disciples.

So for sinners, God’s love reaches out to them that they may come to their senses and repent and be healed of the affliction of their sins.

For the innocent, God’s love comes to strengthen them to bear witness to God even in the midst of suffering and illness.

Regardless of whether it is the sinner or the innocent, Jesus feels sorry for them because they are harassed and dejected by the sufferings and afflictions of life.

We pray for them that when they have experienced the healing love of God, they will become labourers of love in the Lord’s harvest.

1st Week of Advent, Friday, 05-12-2025

Isaiah 29:17-24 / Matthew 9:27-31   

We ask questions for various reasons.

One is to get an answer or a clarification.

Another is to see what is another person’s understanding and conviction.

In the gospel, Jesus asked the two blind men a simple question: Do you believe I can do this?

When the two blind men replied that they do, Jesus touched their eyes saying, “Your faith deserves it, so let this be done for you.”

That would also make us think about our faith in prayer.

When we pray for an intention or a need, do we believe that Jesus will answer our prayer?

Especially when we face the wickedness from evil-doers, and we pray desperately for help.

In the 1st reading, God says this: for tyrants shall be no more, and scoffers vanish, and all be destroyed who are disposed to do evil:

Those who gossip to incriminate others, those who try at the gate to trip the arbitrator, and get the upright man’s case dismissed for groundless reasons.

God will not let evil overcome us when we stay faithful to Him.

Let us believe that God will protect us from evil, and we will see the powerful justice of God.

1st Week of Advent, Thursday, 03-12-2025

Isaiah 26:1-6 / Matthew 7:21, 24-27   

In our modern fast-paced world, to have to wait is considered a waste of time or unproductive time.

So, the solution to waiting time is to have instant products and instant responses.

With that, the waiting time is reduced to seconds or minutes.

but when the waiting time is increased to hours, or days, or weeks, or months, then we will get flustered, frustrated and irritated.

But for the people of God in the Old Testament, they had waited and waited for the coming of the Messiah.

They had to dig deep into their hope that the promise of God to send the Messiah will be fulfilled.

So, the 1st reading urges the people to keep the hope alive with these words: Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting Rock.

Jesus is that everlasting Rock that came down from heaven to give us hope.

As we face the struggles and troubles of life, we pray and wait for God’s saving help.

When we build our faith in Jesus the Rock of our salvation, we will not wait in vain.