All Saints, Friday, 01-11-19

Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14 / 1 John 3:1-3 / Matthew 5:1-12               

As we celebrate this feast of All Saints, it may be necessary to ask this question: What is a Saint?
There are a few immediate answers to that question, answers like:
- Saints are people who live holy lives.
- Saints are people who love God.
- Saints are people who are now in heaven.

So these are the obvious and immediate answers to the question “What is a Saint?”

But the most important and fundamental answer to that question is this : A saint is one who believes that there is a heaven and that there is a God.

This is fundamental for a Saint, especially when the Saint was in this world. To believe that there is a heaven is fundamental because that is the hope in the journey of life on earth.

So the destination is not on earth but in heaven. It is a hope for an eternity in heaven.

Not only to believe in Heaven is fundamental, but together with it is also to believe in God who is calling the Saint to come home to be with Him in heaven.

So to put it simply, a Saint is one who believes that there is a heaven, who believes in God who is in heaven, and who is now with God in heaven.

And just as the Saints heard and answered that call from God to come home to heaven, we too are called to be with God in heaven, a call that we hear loudly today.

And if we believe in what the Saints believe in, then we will live our lives according to the Beatitudes, which we heard in the gospel.

It is because we believe that there is a heaven and that there is a God, we would want to be gentle, to do what is right and just, be merciful, be pure in heart, be peacemakers and accept sufferings and offer sacrifices for the love of God.

The Beatitudes are blessings that God gives us to help us on our journey to heaven and that we live our lives according to God’s ways and not to the ways of the world.

So let us continue to believe that there is a heaven, that God is calling us to be with Him in heaven, and also that all the Saints in heaven are praying for us, so that one day we will join them in heaven to praise God forever.

30th Week, Ordinary Time, Thursday, 31-10-19

Romans 8:31-39 / Luke 13:31-35

It is a historical fact that King Herod was a man who wanted, at all costs, to have no trouble in his territory.

He saw Jesus as a trouble-maker and he wanted Him out of his place.

Hence he could have sent the Pharisees to warn Jesus and to frighten Him.

But Jesus was not going to turn back, and He was adamant in completing His mission, even though He could see where it was leading Him.

Jerusalem had a long history of killing the prophets and Jesus could see that He was the next in line.

But He also knew that God was with Him and hence He had to complete His mission.

And that is also what the 1st reading is telling us.

In the face of persecutions, who can be against us when God is on our side? What can ever come between us and the love that God has for us?

St. Paul was certain that neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, not any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God.

St. Paul's certainty lies in Jesus Christ who is the visible love of God.

May we also be certain about the love of God, and put our faith in Jesus Christ who promised to be with us until the end of time.

30th Week, Ordinary Time, Wednesday, 30-10-19

Romans 8:26-30 / Luke 13:22-30           

The desire for happiness is in every human being, and we devote our energies in search of happiness.

So we try to obtain and possess what we think will give us happiness.

It may be achievements, possessions, financial security, status or position.

But after obtaining and possessing what we think might bring us happiness, and we are still not happy, then we might wonder what the problem is.

Even in the spiritual aspect, when we pray for something and we don't get it, we might wonder if we are using the proper words to pray properly.

And we might even want to try out those "powerful" prayers that are said to be able to pierce the heavens and make our prayers heard.

But this state of unhappiness and the search of this elusive happiness can be turned into something good.

But that requires us to love God first and then God will co-operate with us and the Holy Spirit can then help us in our weakness.

The Holy Spirit will show us what true happiness is, and that is seeing good in everything, because our love for God will help us see that goodness.

So whenever we see the narrow doors in the path of our lives, let us not despair.

Rather, let us know that our love for God and the help of the Holy Spirit will help us see that the narrow doors lead us to true happiness.

30th Week, Ordinary Time, Tuesday, 29-10-19

Romans 8:18-25 / Luke 13:18-21

Whenever we sigh, we can be telling others a few things.

We may be bored, as when we sigh in a long boring meeting; we may feel helpless in that we cannot change a situation and so we sigh; we may be frustrated that we cannot get something to work, and so we sigh.

But sighing is not as serious as groaning. Groaning could mean that we are heavily burdened and undergoing pain and maybe even struggling to stay alive.

The 1st reading says that the entire creation has been groaning in one great act of giving birth.

Not just creation but we too are groaning inwardly. The groaning here is the longing to be set free. But to be set free from what?

It is to be set free from the clutches of the world that makes us want to think that all in life is just the here and now.

Yes, we are subjected to the worldly thinking that the temporary is the eternity. And people do succumb to the clutches of this worldly thinking and they live wildly with the pleasures and desires of life.

But for us, we know that salvation lies in eternity. And St. Paul says at the beginning of the 1st reading that he considered the sufferings of this life can never be compared to the glory that is waiting for us in eternity.

Still, we need to struggle to believe in that salvation that God has promised those who remain faithful to him.

May our faith be like the mustard seed and the yeast in the parables in the gospel. May our faith keep growing, despite the groaning, and one day reach the eternity of heaven.

Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles, Monday, 28-10-19

Ephesians 2:19-22 / Luke 6:12-19

Some ancient Christian writings have it that St. Simon and St. Jude went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there.

This may explain the lack of historical information on them and also why their feastdays are usually put together.

Even the gospel accounts do not say much about them.

St. Simon is called the Zealot (or Zealous) maybe because of his patriotism and nationalism.

St. Jude is traditionally depicted carrying the image of Jesus in his hand or close to his chest, which according to some accounts, was used to preach the Good News

Devotional prayers to St. Jude helped people, especially newly arrived immigrants from Europe to the US, deal with the pressures caused by the Great Depression and World War II and other political and economic and social changes.

St. Jude is also invoked as the patron saint of desperate cases.

So even though we may not know much about the historical facts of these two saints, we know that they are praying for us.

We also have recourse to them in our needs, especially to the intercession of St. Jude.

They also remind us that we have to keep faith in Jesus and trust in Him always.

They even laid down their lives for Jesus in order to witness to Him.

May we also put forth our needs through the intercession of St.Simon and St. Jude, and may we also offer our lives to God in this Mass.

30th Ordinary Sunday, Year C, 27.10.2019

Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-19 / 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 / Luke 18:9-14
The month of October can be called the “R&R” month. So what does “R&R” mean? Is it rest and recreation, or is it rest and relaxation?

That would be nice actually - rest, relaxation and recreation. But those are the kind of things we can think of doing only upon retirement.

But back to what “R&R” means. For students, and they can forget about retirement for now, “R&R” means revision and results.

October is the month for revision, as the year-end exams are looming. May St. Jude help those who are desperately revising and feeling hopeless.

And for the students who have taken the PSLE exams, October is the month to start praying for good results, as the PSLE results will be out in a month’s time.

So whether desperately revising or waiting anxiously and nervously for the PSLE results, it would be very helpful to pray to Saint Jude, patron saint for desperate cases. Saint Jude’s feast day is tomorrow, Monday, 28th of October.

So that’s why October can be called the “R&R” month. It is the month for revision, it is also the month to be prepared for results.

As much as revision and results seem to be the main concern for students, revision and results go beyond from school life to working life, from studying to making a living.

There are other words, like assessment and appraisal, but in essence it is a revision, or a review, so as to see what are the improvements that can be made in order to achieve the desired results.

But more than just for schooling and making a living, a review and a revision of life can help us to grow and to live life well, especially in the spiritual aspect.

In the gospel, Jesus told a parable of two men who went up to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

The Pharisee’s prayer was more like a review of his state of life and his good deeds. 

He was like an “A” student and scored top marks for praying, fasting, paying tithes, and for keeping the Commandments.

So that Pharisee did pretty well. But only according to himself. We wonder who he was praising, God or himself. And we know what is said about self-praise.

And when Jesus told this parable, He made it a point to say this: The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself.

It is strange to say prayers to yourself. It is like praying to yourself. Can that be called prayer in the first place, if the prayer is just to yourself? 

So the Pharisee was actually talking to himself in prayer.

Whereas the tax collector was talking to God, and his prayer was simple: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And Jesus concluded the parable by saying that the tax collector went home at rights with God, but the Pharisee did not.

And through the parable, Jesus teaches us again that anyone who exalts himself will be humbled and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted. 

And through the parable, Jesus invites us to review our prayer life and the results of our prayer.

It is rather embarrassing to realize that there are times that we are talking to ourselves in prayer. That is like praying to ourselves, and if our prayer is not answered, then we should know why. Because we are like coming before God, but not talking to Him, but talking to ourselves.

Yet, we learned something from the tax collector’s prayer: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

God loves a humble sinner, and God is merciful to those who have failed in life, those who are desperate and in despair. God comes to those who need Him. 

And when we are desperate, and despair and feeling hopeless, then the saint to turn to is Saint Jude, whose feast day is tomorrow. 

Saint Jude knows what is despair and desperation. 

He has the same name as the man who betrayed Jesus. So devotion to St. Jude began much later and was slow to pick up. 

And then, a for a time, between the 13th century to the 18th century, he was revered, but persecution broke out, and devotion to him fizzled out.


It revived again in the 1920s during the Great Depression, when people were desperate, and in despair and feeling hopeless, but they found God’s mercy through devotion to Saint Jude. 

And Saint Jude will pray for us, if we are humble enough to ask him. 

And through Saint Jude, let us humbly make this prayer: O God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

29th Week, Ordinary Time, Saturday, 26-10-19

Romans 8:1-11 / Luke 13:1-9                       

To die a peaceful death is indeed a great blessing from God.

And to be surrounded by close family members and to have received the Last Rites and Viaticum would be something that is deemed as a perfect end to life on earth.

And a happy, peaceful and blessed death is one of the petitions that are found in most devotional prayers.

Yes, we do pray for a peaceful and blessed death, and if God willing, without pain or suffering.

But when we hear of a sudden tragic death, or a life that was ended by some kind of disease, or an untimely death, we may wonder if it was some kind of punishment.

In the gospel, some people told Jesus about the deaths of some Galileans, who were probably tortured and executed, going by what Pilate did with their blood.

Jesus in turn recalled the eighteen lives that were lost when the tower at Siloam fell on them.

Jesus also made it clear that those who lost their lives tragically were not more sinful than the rest of the other people.

In fact, those who lost their lives through persecution, those martyrs who witnessed their faith with their lives, are blessed by God.

Whichever the case may be, whether tragic death or peaceful death, let us through our repentance be prepared to face death.

It is a great blessing from God to know that death is the passage to the eternal life with God.