Isaiah 60:1-6 / Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 / Matthew 2:1-12
By now we would have settled back into normal routine. The holidays are over, Christmas Day had come and gone, we are already into the new year, all the festive excitement has died down.
So it’s back to work and back to school with appointments and assignments, schedules and what-have-you.
Well, we are looking into the new year and there are targets to set and goals to achieve. All engines are fired up and it’s full speed ahead.
No one would think of taking leave at this time of the year. There is just no mood for this. We have already relaxed enough over the holidays and there is back-log to clear and much to do.
Even for the Church, after this weekend, we are going to take down and keep the Christmas décor. Already they are looking a bit tired and waiting to be cleared.
But just when we thought that things are back to routine, we may notice that the Nativity scene is a bit crowded today, and there are three additional figures there.
And these three figures are quite a contrast compared to the other figures. Their dressing is exotic with rich robes and crowns on their heads and gifts in their hands.
So it’s guest appearance and it’s just for this weekend only, we have the 3 wise men (let’s just take it that there is three) aka the 3 Magis, or the 3 kings (and that is where we have that song “We three Kings of Orient are”).
And sure enough they were from the Orient as the gospel tells us that they are from the East.
They saw “His star” rising and they have come to do homage to the infant king of the Jews.
And that perturbed king Herod and the whole of Jerusalem. How was it that he didn’t know that a new king was born!
But there was another group of “wise” men who knew – the chief priests and the scribes. And they can even say “At Bethlehem in Judaea” – Well, they knew, but they just sat on it. They did nothing about it.
And so king Herod sent the wise men from the east to Bethlehem, to find out more about this infant king. His motive was to use them as his informants.
And when they found the infant Jesus, they did Him homage and opening their treasures, they presented Him with the 3 symbolic gifts: gold to honour His kingship, frankincense to worship His divinity, myrrh to acknowledge His humanity.
So Christmas is the great celebration of the birth of our Saviour, but of significance is the celebration of the Epiphany when the Saviour and King was manifested or revealed. Epiphany means manifestation or revelation.
The wise men from the east may seem to be just making a guest appearance in the whole Christmas celebration, but they are probably the first to know about the birth of Jesus, through the sign of the star. But they were also the last to come and pay homage to Him.
They saw His star rising. There were probably many other stars in the night sky, but this star called out to them and they responded.
It was a journey across barren desert sands and harsh conditions but they had to stay together because they only had each other along the journey.
The star was not always there to guide them and lead them and that was why they ended up at the palace of king Herod and were even used by him.
But they eventually found who they were looking for and by their gifts, they became witnesses of the royalty, divinity and humanity of the infant Jesus.
And truly they were wise men. Of course they were wise enough to know which star to follow.
But they were also wise because they learned many things from their difficulties in their search.
And we can learn from them. One is about the star (Jesus). In this world there are movie stars, pop stars, sports stars, we may even want to be a star. But there is only one star that will lead us to God.
About the gold. All that glitters and all we treasure must be offered to Jesus because our true treasure is in heaven.
Frankincense is used in worship. We offer worship to the one true God, no one else.
Myrrh has medicinal properties. It is offered to Jesus because Jesus is our Healer who will heal us and save us from our sins.
The wise men may be the latecomers or last-comers but we still want to celebrate with them. Because they found who they were truly searching for.
And they have this to tell us: We too will find Jesus. We just have to learn from them.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Friday, January 5, 2018
6th January 2018, Saturday, Weekday of Christmas Time
1 John 5:5-12 / Mark 1:6-11 or Luke 3:23-38
Every now and then, we hear this phrase - storm heaven.
It probably means that so much fervent prayers for a particular need or intention is called for such that it creates a storm in heaven, figuratively of course, and to make sure that God hears the prayers.
In the history of Israel, God's people had stormed heaven on countless occasions with prayers of lamentation, prayers for deliverance, prayers of repentance, etc.
Over and above these fervent prayers was the prayer for the coming of the Messiah.
In today's gospel, we saw how that prayer was answered.
The scene at the baptism of Jesus was dramatic: the heavens tore open, the Spirit descended, and there was a voice from heaven.
The Messiah, our Saviour, has come and is now in our midst.
Yet very often, Jesus stands among us and we are not aware of His presence.
We storm heaven with our prayers and look upward for the answer when Jesus is in our midst and even right before our eyes.
Yes, Jesus is right before us and He sends us the Holy Spirit to open our ears so that we can hear Him and our eyes so that we can see Him.
May we storm our hearts so that our hearts will be opened to the Holy Spirit.
Every now and then, we hear this phrase - storm heaven.
It probably means that so much fervent prayers for a particular need or intention is called for such that it creates a storm in heaven, figuratively of course, and to make sure that God hears the prayers.
In the history of Israel, God's people had stormed heaven on countless occasions with prayers of lamentation, prayers for deliverance, prayers of repentance, etc.
Over and above these fervent prayers was the prayer for the coming of the Messiah.
In today's gospel, we saw how that prayer was answered.
The scene at the baptism of Jesus was dramatic: the heavens tore open, the Spirit descended, and there was a voice from heaven.
The Messiah, our Saviour, has come and is now in our midst.
Yet very often, Jesus stands among us and we are not aware of His presence.
We storm heaven with our prayers and look upward for the answer when Jesus is in our midst and even right before our eyes.
Yes, Jesus is right before us and He sends us the Holy Spirit to open our ears so that we can hear Him and our eyes so that we can see Him.
May we storm our hearts so that our hearts will be opened to the Holy Spirit.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
5th January 2018, Friday, Weekday in Christmas Time
1 John 3:11-21 / John 1:43-51
It is said that "one good deed deserves another". So if someone does you a favour, you should take the chance to repay it.
And by the same token, if we do a good deed, then we can expect it in return. But is that really so?
Now if we do a good deed and we expect it to be returned, then we may disappointed when it is not returned.
And if every good deed is returned, then there won't be such a thing called ingratitude. We know what is ingratitude. We have even experienced ingratitude, and certainly that hurts.
So as much as "one good deed deserves another" sounds like a noble proverb, it may not always be the case, besides the fact that there are contradictions to it.
But when we reflect on our Christian spirituality, then we may realise that that we can't expect anything in return for doing good.
Because doing good is our duty, our obligation and our mission as Christians. To expect any returns for doing good will leave us disappointed and frustrated and we will get tired of doing good.
We must be contented with the fact that God sees the good that we are doing and He knows that we are doing it for His glory and not expecting rewards or returns.
But that is only one side of the coin. What if we do good and what we get in return is evil? It does not make sense to think that what we get for doing good is evil in return.
But we shouldn't be surprised by that. The 1st reading tells us that Cain cut his brother's throat simply for this reason - that his own life was evil and his brother lived a good life.
It goes on to say that we must not be surprised when the world hates us just because we live good lives and want to do good in this world.
So as it is, the Christian life is a difficult and challenging life to live. Without prayer, we will be without love and we will refuse to do good, we will begin to resent and even hate others for their ingratitude.
We will even resent and hate others for doing good. The 1st reading warns us that we have become like murderers.
But that's why we come for Mass on the first Friday and for the devotion to the Sacred Heart. We want to experience the love of Jesus for us, that He gave up His life for us so that we too will give up our lives for others, even if what we get in return is evil.
We take refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and draw healing and strength from Him so that we can go forth to face the world again and keep doing good.
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus give us faith and courage to know that He is greater than the evil of the world and that He has conquered the world.
It is said that "one good deed deserves another". So if someone does you a favour, you should take the chance to repay it.
And by the same token, if we do a good deed, then we can expect it in return. But is that really so?
Now if we do a good deed and we expect it to be returned, then we may disappointed when it is not returned.
And if every good deed is returned, then there won't be such a thing called ingratitude. We know what is ingratitude. We have even experienced ingratitude, and certainly that hurts.
So as much as "one good deed deserves another" sounds like a noble proverb, it may not always be the case, besides the fact that there are contradictions to it.
But when we reflect on our Christian spirituality, then we may realise that that we can't expect anything in return for doing good.
Because doing good is our duty, our obligation and our mission as Christians. To expect any returns for doing good will leave us disappointed and frustrated and we will get tired of doing good.
We must be contented with the fact that God sees the good that we are doing and He knows that we are doing it for His glory and not expecting rewards or returns.
But that is only one side of the coin. What if we do good and what we get in return is evil? It does not make sense to think that what we get for doing good is evil in return.
But we shouldn't be surprised by that. The 1st reading tells us that Cain cut his brother's throat simply for this reason - that his own life was evil and his brother lived a good life.
It goes on to say that we must not be surprised when the world hates us just because we live good lives and want to do good in this world.
So as it is, the Christian life is a difficult and challenging life to live. Without prayer, we will be without love and we will refuse to do good, we will begin to resent and even hate others for their ingratitude.
We will even resent and hate others for doing good. The 1st reading warns us that we have become like murderers.
But that's why we come for Mass on the first Friday and for the devotion to the Sacred Heart. We want to experience the love of Jesus for us, that He gave up His life for us so that we too will give up our lives for others, even if what we get in return is evil.
We take refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and draw healing and strength from Him so that we can go forth to face the world again and keep doing good.
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus give us faith and courage to know that He is greater than the evil of the world and that He has conquered the world.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
4th January 2018, Thursday, Weekday of Christmas Time
1 John 3:7-10 / John 1:35-42
We are already into the fourth day of the new year. If we had made new year resolutions, then how are those resolutions coming around?
If we had made new year resolutions, then how many of these are about our spiritual lives?
Although some people say that making resolutions are futile because they are not going to be kept, yet it is still good and even necessary to make one.
It is still not too late to make a spiritual resolution in order to have a direction in our faith.
The 1st reading gives us a direction for a resolution - to live a holy life and to be holy just as God is holy.
It also tells us how important holiness is in our lives. To be holy is to belong to God. To be sinful is to belong to the devil.
To be holy means to be loving to others because God's seed of love must bear fruit in us.
Just as in the gospel, Andrew followed Jesus and saw where He lived and stayed with Him.
Then with love in his heart, Andrew went to tell his brother Simon Peter.
May we also see God's love in us and that He lives in our hearts, and may we go forth to live our lives in love.
We are already into the fourth day of the new year. If we had made new year resolutions, then how are those resolutions coming around?
If we had made new year resolutions, then how many of these are about our spiritual lives?
Although some people say that making resolutions are futile because they are not going to be kept, yet it is still good and even necessary to make one.
It is still not too late to make a spiritual resolution in order to have a direction in our faith.
The 1st reading gives us a direction for a resolution - to live a holy life and to be holy just as God is holy.
It also tells us how important holiness is in our lives. To be holy is to belong to God. To be sinful is to belong to the devil.
To be holy means to be loving to others because God's seed of love must bear fruit in us.
Just as in the gospel, Andrew followed Jesus and saw where He lived and stayed with Him.
Then with love in his heart, Andrew went to tell his brother Simon Peter.
May we also see God's love in us and that He lives in our hearts, and may we go forth to live our lives in love.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
3rd January 2018, Wednesday, Weekday of Christmas Time
1 John 2:29 - 3:6 / John 1:29-34
There is a deep connection between parents and their children.
Among other things, every child bears a physical resemblance to the parents.
That's why there are such sayings as "a chip off the old block" or "like father, like son".
John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world by being sacrificed for sinners.
Jesus sacrificed Himself for us so that freed from sin, we can be re-formed and re-created into His image and likeness.
As the 1st reading puts it, we must purify ourselves and try to be as pure as Christ. That is why sin is so serious and devastating.
Because to sin means that we do not know Christ.
But by our baptism, we have become children of God and we have become one with Christ.
In our prayer, let us renounce our sinfulness and profess our faith and our love for God.
There is a deep connection between parents and their children.
Among other things, every child bears a physical resemblance to the parents.
That's why there are such sayings as "a chip off the old block" or "like father, like son".
John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world by being sacrificed for sinners.
Jesus sacrificed Himself for us so that freed from sin, we can be re-formed and re-created into His image and likeness.
As the 1st reading puts it, we must purify ourselves and try to be as pure as Christ. That is why sin is so serious and devastating.
Because to sin means that we do not know Christ.
But by our baptism, we have become children of God and we have become one with Christ.
In our prayer, let us renounce our sinfulness and profess our faith and our love for God.
Monday, January 1, 2018
2nd January 2018, Tuesday, Weekday of Christmas Time
1 John 2:22-28 / John 1:19-28
As we enter into the second day of the new year, and as we look into the days ahead, we might wonder will happen in the days to come.
And as we look back at the past year, many things had happened; some were expected whereas many others were surprises.
So as we look forward to the year ahead, we would have the experience and the wisdom to know that some things would happen as expected but there will be many other surprises as well.
Yet, whatever happens, whether expected or otherwise, we still must know who we are and what is the meaning and purpose of our lives.
And even for John the Baptist, when the appointed time came, he appeared openly as a witness to prepare the way for the Lord.
We can say that things changed for him almost overnight yet he remained focused on what he was called to do.
His mission in life is unique and special, and it was for him to remain focused on who he is and the purpose and meaning of his life.
We too must remain focused on who we are and what is our purpose and meaning in life.
The 1st reading gives us this direction: Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning: as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you, you will live in the Son and in the Father.
Yes, we have been anointed with the truth that is from God, and when we keep living in the truth, we will know who we are and what is the meaning and purpose of our lives.
Then we will be able to look confidently at the days to come, with all its expectations and its surprises.
As we enter into the second day of the new year, and as we look into the days ahead, we might wonder will happen in the days to come.
And as we look back at the past year, many things had happened; some were expected whereas many others were surprises.
So as we look forward to the year ahead, we would have the experience and the wisdom to know that some things would happen as expected but there will be many other surprises as well.
Yet, whatever happens, whether expected or otherwise, we still must know who we are and what is the meaning and purpose of our lives.
And even for John the Baptist, when the appointed time came, he appeared openly as a witness to prepare the way for the Lord.
We can say that things changed for him almost overnight yet he remained focused on what he was called to do.
His mission in life is unique and special, and it was for him to remain focused on who he is and the purpose and meaning of his life.
We too must remain focused on who we are and what is our purpose and meaning in life.
The 1st reading gives us this direction: Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning: as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you, you will live in the Son and in the Father.
Yes, we have been anointed with the truth that is from God, and when we keep living in the truth, we will know who we are and what is the meaning and purpose of our lives.
Then we will be able to look confidently at the days to come, with all its expectations and its surprises.
Mary, Mother of God, Monday, 01-01-18
Numbers 6:22-27 / Galatians 4:4-7 / Luke 2:16-31
If I were to wish you “Merry Christmas” you may think I am out-of-time. We may think that Christmas is already over, and I should be wishing you “Happy New Year”!
Yes I know that today is the first day of 2018. But Christmas is not over yet. Because Christmas is celebrated for eight days in what is called the Christmas Octave, with today being the last day, and it concludes with the feast of Mary, the Mother of God.
The mystery of the Incarnation, the God-becoming-man at Christmas is meditated upon for eight days, with Mary coming in at the last day under the title of Mother of God.
That title, which goes back to the year 431, 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.
But of course all this may sound rather lofty for most of us. We came for Mass today not because we understand all that, not because it is a public holiday, but more because it is the first day of the new year. We came to ask for God’s blessings and we also want to ask for Mother Mary’s intercession.
And surely the Lord will bless us. The 1st reading tells us that the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”
This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’
Yes, the Lord our God will bless us in more ways that we can think of. But like Mary, we have to treasure all these blessings and ponder them in our hearts and wait for them to be fulfilled.
Blessings are like seeds that are sown in our hearts and we have to wait for them to germinate and bear fruit.
Like Mary, we ponder and wait and water those seeds of blessings with prayer, and as we wait for God’s blessings to be fulfilled, those blessings will also WAIT – Will Arrive In Time.
Later after Mass, we will go in procession to Mary’s Shrine and there we will pray the Rosary. It is to remind us that in praying the Rosary, we pray and wait with hope that God’s blessings “will arrive in time” for our needs.
And instead of making New Year resolutions, let us write our petitions and offer them to God through the intercession of Mary our Mother.
May the Lord bless our petitions. May the Lord let His face shine on us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord uncover His face to us and bring us peace.
If I were to wish you “Merry Christmas” you may think I am out-of-time. We may think that Christmas is already over, and I should be wishing you “Happy New Year”!
Yes I know that today is the first day of 2018. But Christmas is not over yet. Because Christmas is celebrated for eight days in what is called the Christmas Octave, with today being the last day, and it concludes with the feast of Mary, the Mother of God.
The mystery of the Incarnation, the God-becoming-man at Christmas is meditated upon for eight days, with Mary coming in at the last day under the title of Mother of God.
That title, which goes back to the year 431, 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.
But of course all this may sound rather lofty for most of us. We came for Mass today not because we understand all that, not because it is a public holiday, but more because it is the first day of the new year. We came to ask for God’s blessings and we also want to ask for Mother Mary’s intercession.
And surely the Lord will bless us. The 1st reading tells us that the Lord spoke to Moses, “Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”
This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’
Yes, the Lord our God will bless us in more ways that we can think of. But like Mary, we have to treasure all these blessings and ponder them in our hearts and wait for them to be fulfilled.
Blessings are like seeds that are sown in our hearts and we have to wait for them to germinate and bear fruit.
Like Mary, we ponder and wait and water those seeds of blessings with prayer, and as we wait for God’s blessings to be fulfilled, those blessings will also WAIT – Will Arrive In Time.
Later after Mass, we will go in procession to Mary’s Shrine and there we will pray the Rosary. It is to remind us that in praying the Rosary, we pray and wait with hope that God’s blessings “will arrive in time” for our needs.
And instead of making New Year resolutions, let us write our petitions and offer them to God through the intercession of Mary our Mother.
May the Lord bless our petitions. May the Lord let His face shine on us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord uncover His face to us and bring us peace.
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