Mary, Mother of God, Year A, 01.01.2017

Numbers 6:22-27 / Galatians 44-7 / Luke 2:16-21

By now, we wouldn’t be hearing any more Christmas carols. In fact, what we are hearing are the Chinese New Year songs with the unmistakable drums and cymbals.

Also Christmas décor has made way for CNY décor with those big-headed dolls and fire-crackers and dancing lions and chili-red banners.

Just eight days after Christmas, Christmas carols sound rather odd, Christmas décor look rather worn out, and it seems like Christmas is over and done with.

Even in church, to wish someone “Merry Christmas” sounds off-beat. What we hear is “Season’s greetings” although it is not clear what that season refers to. Because in Singapore, there is no winter season, so could it be the rainy season, or could it be the hot season? We have both... Well, so much for “season’s greetings”.

So for the world, Christmas is over and done with, making way for New Year celebrations with last night’s count-down and then it’s back to work and back to school.

And about those New Year resolutions, it’s usually one year in and one year out. Anyway, may all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.

But for the Church, we have continued the celebration of Christmas for eight days, or what is called the Christmas Octave, and today is the eighth day.

And on this day, we honour Mary with the title “Mother of God”. That title is certainly not new, in fact it goes all the way back to the year 431 when the Council of Ephesus formally proclaimed that title for Mary.

That title says much about who Mary is, but it also says much more about who Jesus is – that Jesus is God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

Mary is honoured as Mother of God on the eighth day of the Christmas Octave and there is a reason for it.

The number 8 has a peculiar biblical meaning. God created the world in seven days. The eighth day represents a new creation or a re-creation.

We heard in the gospel that when the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave Him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before His conception. So the Saviour is given a name eight days after His birth.

Similarly with John the Baptist, on the eighth day, his mother Elizabeth gave him that name and confirmed by his father Zechariah.

Also eight days after the His Resurrection, Jesus appeared again to His disciples and especially to Thomas and he made that proclamation: My Lord and my God.

Mary is honoured as Mother of God on this eighth day of the Christmas Octave because as Elizabeth said this of her:
“Blessed is she who believed that the promises made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary has this to say: Yes, from this day forward, all generations will call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.

And so year after year, as we begin each new year, we bless Mary and we honour her as Mother of God and also as our Mother.

In the gospel, we heard that Mary treasured all that had happened and pondered them in her heart. 

Mary had to wait for what God has to reveal to her. Meanwhile, she treasured and she pondered. She prayed and waited. And now she finally understood. Indeed the Almighty has done great things for her.

And as the Mother of God, she now prays for us that we will also treasure all that has happened and ponder over it and that we will see the great things that the Almighty will do for us.

But we have to pray and wait. There is something about this word “wait”. We can make an acronym out of it, as in WAIT can mean “will arrive in time”.

We have prayed for many of our needs. And to make our prayer more tangible, we write out petition slips and put them in the petition box. And then like Mary, we have to keep praying, keep treasuring, keep pondering and keep waiting.

But after a while, we may forget what we have prayed for. And even when God has answered our prayer, we may not even realize it because we have no record of it.

So why not keep a record of it? We can use the camera on our mobile phones and take a photo of our petition slips or Mass offerings and when we pray we ponder over it.

And when we see how God answers our prayers, then we will give thanks and like Mary, we can say that the Almighty has done great things for us.

I was talking with Robert, one of our church workers, that he had done much, in the absence of Francis, the other worker, in putting up the Christmas décor and all that. Now that Francis is back, he can ask Francis to keep the décor after Epiphany.

His reply astounded me. He said that he has been working here for two and a half years already, and he had never been ill or had any accidents. God had indeed blessed him. Even for Francis, God has also blessed him because he went back to India to get married. So Robert said that he cannot be calculative with God and that he will do whatever work that needs to be done so that he will receive more blessings from God.

That is truly inspiring from a simple and hardworking man. And so I wrote a petition for him that in time to come God will find him a good girl and get married. I took a photo of the petition slip, I will pray and I will wait, and I know that God will do great things for him and that the prayer “will arrive in time”.

So on this feast of Mary the Mother of God and on this first day of the year, let us write our prayer intentions on the petition slips and we wait for God to do great things for us.

So instead of making New Year resolutions, let us make New Year petitions. 

With Mary the Mother of God and our Mother praying for us, let us treasure our blessings, let us ponder on our needs, and let us wait for God to do great things for us.

A Happy & Blessed New Year to All!
From left: Fr Stephen Yim, Fr Paul Tong, Fr KS Michaelraj
Mary's Shrine, Church of the Sacred Heart, Singapore
https://www.facebook.com/churchofthesacredheartsg/

31st December 2016, Saturday, Seventh Day within Octave of Christmas

1 John 2:18-21 / John 1:1-18

Today being the last day of the year, it is also a unique time when we look in two differing directions.

Yes, we look forward to the new year ahead, with its "joys and hopes," as well as its "griefs and anxieties" (Pastoral Constitution On The Church In The Modern World, Gaudium Et Spes
Promulgated by His Holiness, Pope Paul Vi on December 7, 1965
). 

Yes, the future is uncertain and unpredictable, but that is what the mystery of life is all about.

On the other hand, we also look back on the 365 days that had passed, for some it was quickly, for others it was slowly, but in whatever case, it has gone down to memory and for our recollection and reflection.

For better or for worse, be it good times or bad, the gospel takes our recollection and reflection to "In the beginning was the Word..."

And that is to tell us that the Word of God was made flesh everyday of 2016, from the 1st January to today. The question is: Did we recognize Him and accepted Him into our lives?

Or is it like what the gospel said: He came to His own domain, and His own people did not accept Him.

The 1st reading begins with an opposite time when it says that "these are the last days", and it is described as a rather turbulent time, with the appearance of several antichrists, arising from within the church.

But as it says of these antichrists, they had never really belonged and now they had become enemies of the Church.

So as we come to the last day of the year, let us acknowledge the presence of Jesus, the Word made flesh, and let us welcome Him into our lives. Let us pledge to belong to Him so that He will be present to us all the days of the new year ahead.

Holy Family, Friday, 30-12-16

Sirach 3:3-7, 14-17 or Col 3:12-21 / Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

It is said that sometimes the very thing that you are looking for is the one thing you can't see, or don't seem to be able to see.

We look far and wide for the ideal or perfect thing but it may be the very thing that we are standing on, or even as close as our noses. And often we don't notice our noses isn't it.

Such may be the case with our families in general. The fact is that no family is ideal or perfect. And things have degenerated to such an extent that there are terms like broken families and dysfunctional families.

Yes, the family, which is the very basic social nucleus, faces many challenges and difficulties, and we care enough for our own families to pray for peace and unity.

And when we understand what the gospels say about the Holy Family, we will pray that our families will be spared of the challenges and difficulties that they went through.

But we will also pray that our families will take the Holy Family as a model of unity and understanding, as well as of care and concern, patience and kindness towards each other in the family.

The 1st reading gives us the fundamentals of family relationships and these must be highlighted, reiterated and seared into the very fabric of family life. It will be good to state this again:

- Whoever respects his father is atoning for his sins, he who honours his mother is like someone amassing a fortune.

- Whoever respects his father will be happy with children of his own, he shall be heard on the day when he prays.

- Long life comes to him who honours his father, he who sets his mother at ease is showing obedience to the Lord.

Yes, the Word of God has already stated what the family should be like. Let us heed what God our Father is telling us through His son and our families will be like that of the Holy Family.

29th December 2016, Thursday, Fifth Day within Octave of Christmas

1 John 2:3-11 / Luke 2:22-35

When setting up the Nativity Scene, it is necessary to have this one important element, without which the whole Nativity Scene would look rather odd.

Besides the backdrop of the stable and the manger and bits of lookalike hay, it is important that there must be light shining on the figure of the baby Jesus, or at least there must be light around the figure.

A Nativity Scene without light would look rather odd, and perhaps it betrays a lack of understanding of the meaning of Christmas.

In the prayers for the Christmas season, the aspect of light is often repeated, besides the emphasis of the celebration of the Lord's birth.

That is emphasized in the gospel when the devout and upright Simeon, who looked forward to Israel's comforting, blessed God when he held the infant Jesus in his arms and for letting him see the salvation which God had prepared for all the nations.

And then Simeon added: A light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.

Jesus came as Saviour and salvation is manifested as light that will scatter the darkness and the darkness can never overcome it.

The 1st reading says that with Jesus, the night is over and the real light is already shining.

The celebration of Christmas is the the celebration of Christ as the true Light who shines forth the light of salvation on us.

If we live in that light, then we will love God and our neighbour. If not, then we are still in the dark. May the light of our Saviour Jesus Christ shine on us and scatter the darkness of our sins and fill us with light and love.

Holy Innocents, Martyrs, Wednesday,28-12-16

1 John 1: - 2:2 / Matthew 2:13-18

Most of us have fond memories of our childhood days.

We may recall those slow and easy days of our growing up years when we were in the sun most of the time and we made toys from our own simple creativity.

In that aspect, we can consider ourselves really fortunate.

Because when we read in the papers or see in the tv of the turmoil going on in the other countries, we are immediately confronted with the fact of how vulnerable children are.

In fact, in times of war or conflict, or even in tragedies or disasters, children are the first to suffer, whether the persecution is direct or indirect.

So it was in the time of Jesus, when Herod out of his insecurity and insanity, ordered the massacre of infants of Bethlehem.

And this senseless brutality continues to this day.

It continues in the political, racial and religious conflicts.

It has even happened at home in the form of child abuse, not forgetting abortion, where the fetus is regarded as a thing.

The feast of the Holy Innocents remind us that it is our duty to protect the rights and dignity of children, just as Mary and Joseph protected the helpless Jesus.

The children are our future. They need our love and protection.

And in the not-so-far-away future, they will be the ones who will show us God's love and protection.

St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, Tuesday, 27-12-16

1 John 1:1-4 / John 20:2-8

According to tradition, St. John was subjected to torture by being plunged into a pot of boiling oil but he miraculously survived, whereas the other apostles were martyred.

It is also believed that he lived to a ripe old age of about 94 and he died of natural causes.

There could be some truth in that because the gospel that is attributed to him contains a spiritual depth that is not so obvious in the other three gospels.

In biblical art,  the Gospel of John is often depicted with an eagle, which symbolizes the insight to the height of the mystery of the person of Jesus which was expounded in the first chapter of the gospel.

It had that depth of insight to the height of the mystery probably from the reflection and meditation over the years.

There was a story that when St. John was an old man, he was asked to preach to a gathering of believers.

His message was short yet sublime: Dear children, love one another. Learn to love one another as God loves you.

That is also the central theme in the gospel of John - the love that God has for us, and it can be found in passages like  John 3:16-17; 13:34-35; 15:17.

It is a profound theme and to love one another as Jesus has loved us is a spirituality and a mystery that needed to be constantly reflected and meditated upon in our hearts.

Like St. John, may God also deepen and enlighten us in His love for us so that we will in turn love one another as Jesus has loved us.

St. Stephen, Protomartyr, Monday, 26-12-16

Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59 / Matthew 10:17-22

We are still very much in a festive mood with Christmas carols like "Silent Night" and "Joy to the world" still ringing in our heads and maybe we are still bloated from all the feasting.

Today is also known as Boxing day, and it came from a custom when Christmas presents packed into boxes were given out on this day. But maybe it has become a day to open our Christmas presents because we might have been too busy yesterday.

Well, today the Church opens up the liturgy with, of all things, the gruesome and shocking martyrdom of St. Stephen.

Somehow the tenderness of Christmas is shattered by the violent execution of St. Stephen.

Why didn't the Church move this feast to another time, maybe in Lent, so that we can still have that Christmassy feeling and just talk about angels and shepherds and baby Jesus?

Well, the martyrdom of St. Stephen has a deep connection with the birth of Christ.

Somehow Christmas have been embellished and glossed over with so much sentimentality that we forget that Jesus was born into a hard, cold and violent world.

The Son of God had to born in stable, of all places, and laid in a manger. Not long after He was born, King Herod was looking for Him to kill Him.

That was only the beginning of the violence and the persecution that Jesus was going to face, and it would eventually lead to His execution of the cross.

Yet when we reflect on the joy of Christmas and the martyrdom of St. Stephen, we see the connection between divine tenderness and human violence.

Christ came to heal our human violence with His divine tenderness, expressed in mercy and forgiveness, as witnessed to by St. Stephen.

Let us also believe that the ugliness of human violence can only be changed with the divine tenderness of forgiveness and love.

The young man by the name of Saul in the 1st reading, who approved of the killing, would later be touched by divine tenderness, then changed his name to Paul and went forth to proclaim the tender love of God and His forgiveness.

So in the face of human anger and violence, let us stand firm on divine love and tenderness.

It is only through God's mercy and forgiveness that hardened hearts will be turned into loving hearts.