Feast of All Saints, 01.11.2020

Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14 / 1 John 3:1-3 / 1 Thess 1:5-10 / Matthew 5:1-12

There are more than 10,000 saints that the Church has canonized. By that, it means that the Church has officially declared that these saints are in heaven. 

But of course, beyond that, the 1st reading tells us how many saints there are in heaven – a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language. 

If it is impossible to count, then it is also quite impossible to imagine how packed Heaven is with saints. 

But despite this countless number of saints, we do know some of them, or at least we must know one of them. 

There are the more well-known saints like St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Jude who is the patron saint of desperate and hopeless cases, St Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony whom we invoke for lost articles, and other saints that we may have a Devotion to. 

But at least we must know one particular saint, and that is our patron saint. 

Some of us may be thinking, “Our who?”. Yes, our patron saint, the saint we took as our patron and it is in our baptism name. 

So, from our baptism name, we would know who is our patron saint. And we can get to know our patron saint by checking out whatever information about the patron saint. 

But if for some reason our baptism name is not taken from a saint, then maybe God wants us to be a saint! 

But seriously, getting to know our patron saints is really helpful for the spiritual life. 

We can turn to our patron saints for intercession in our needs. We look to our patron saints as a model of faith and as a model for life and for inspiration. 

So, if your name is Damien, then your patron saint is Saint Damien of Molokai, or also known as St. Damien the leper. 

St. Damien offered to go to Molokai to serve the lepers there, and unfortunately, he contracted the disease and died from it. 

But from his own writings, he revealed the ordinary human struggles he had to endure in order to overcome his initial revulsion for the day-to-day life with his flock of lepers. 

He constantly thought of how Jesus reached out to the lepers and he wanted to do the same. 

Indeed, St. Damien is a model of self-sacrifice, of perseverance and of love for God and for the lepers. 

If your name is Therese, or Teresa, then your patron saint is St. Therese the Little Flower, who taught us how to do little things with great love for God. 

She inspired St. Mother Teresa who took on the motto of “doing little things with great love” in serving the poorest of the poor. 

So, the saints, especially our patron saint can be our model of faith and model of life. 

A lady by the name of Rita was asked if her husband has any faults. She replied, “Oh, as many as the stars at night.” 

When asked if her husband had any virtues, she said, “Oh, not much, maybe only one, like the sun in the sky.” 

When asked how she was able to cope with her husband’s faults, she replied, “When the sun shines, its brilliance covers all the stars.” 

But she also added that she had wondered what her name Rita meant, and she found out about St. Rita, and how she converted her wayward husband with her love, patience and forgiveness. And she wanted to do likewise. 

So, it was St. Rita who inspired her to be a more loving and understanding wife. 

So, on this Feast of All Saints, let us find out more about our patron saints.

Our patron saints want to help us in our need, but more importantly, our patron saints want to help us to journey towards heaven by living a life of love and gentleness, mercy and forgiveness, peace and righteousness. 

Like the saints who have gone before us, we too will face difficulties and opposition and even persecution. 

But let us persevere in faith and love. We may experience sorrow for doing what is right and loving. 

But as Jesus promised us, we will rejoice with the saints. 

That is our eternal reward in heaven. 

May the saints, and especially our patron saints pray for us.

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First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

6 Nov Friday 8.30pm Singapore time (GMT +8)

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30th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 25.10.2020

Exodus 22:20-26 / 1 Thess 1:5-10 / Matthew 22:34-40

All things have a shape and a colour. 

By the shape and the colour, we would generally be able to identify what the object is. 

Though some things may look a bit similar initially, but upon closer inspection we would be able to make the differentiation.

For example, a rose and a carnation may look alike from afar, especially if both are red in colour. But a closer look will tell the difference. 

But generally speaking, most things can be identified by their shape and colour. 

And our ideas and concepts are also influenced by these shapes and colours. 

When we talk about love, the shape of love that might come to our minds is the shape of a heart. 

So in celebrations of love, like marriage, there will be heart shapes all over, from balloons, to the cut-outs, and maybe even the shape of the cake. 

And usually the colour of love is red, to signify the power and the passion of love. 

So a red-coloured heart shape would generally mean love. 

In the gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus this question: Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law? 

It is not that the Pharisees don’t know the answer. They know the Law through and through. 

But they asked Jesus this peculiar question to disconcert Him. They just wanted to ruffle Him, and to make Him perturbed and disturbed, so that they could catch Him on something wrong that He might say. 

Nonetheless, Jesus gave them a straightforward answer, and in the process He also make them think about their understanding of the commandment of love. 

Similarly, the question of the Pharisees and the reply of Jesus would make us think about the commandment of love. 

As Jesus said: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbour as yourself. 

That is clear enough for us to understand. But when we think deeper about it, it may not be that easy to put it into practice. 

When we think of love, we think of red coloured hearts, with all the ribbons and roses. 

We like to think of love in a romantic way, love that is beautiful, love that is soft and warm. 

Yes, when we think of love, we think of a red-coloured heart. 

And that is also the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

But when we look at the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we will notice the cross on top of the Heart, and also a crown of thorns around the Heart, and also the Heart was pierced and bleeding. 

These are images of pain and suffering and they are there in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

That image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus tells us that God’s love for us came at a price. 

Jesus suffered, died on the cross and His heart was even pierced with a lance, to tell us that God’s love for us is a sacrificial love, and that sacrifice was made by Jesus on the cross. 

That would tell us that if we truly want to love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves, then a sacrifice has to be made. 

The people that we are called to love may not look like little red hearts with ribbons and roses. 

If we say we truly love God, then He may not send us the people that we want to love, but the people that needed to be loved.

These people may take the shape of a heavy cross and painful thorns that will pierce our hearts. 

But love is beautiful and powerful. If we truly love God, then God will fill our hearts with the power of His love to love those that needed to be loved. 

Let us look at the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Let us meditate on the beauty of the love that flows from His Heart.

And then let us go forth to love those that God wants us to love.

Mission Sunday, Year A, 18.10.2020

 Isaiah 2:1-5 / Ephesians 3:2-12 / Mark 16:15-20

Having something that is multi-purpose seems like a good idea. 

Multi-purpose sounds more versatile than single-purpose, and also more economical too. 

For example, having a multi-purpose cooker would mean that the kitchen can be cleared of all those pots and pans that are used for various types of cooking. 

Because a typical multi-purpose cooker is able to boil, simmer, bake, fry, grill, roast, stew, steam and whatever we can think of.

That would be a chef’s dream kitchen appliance and every homemaker would desire for it. 

But before rushing off to get one, let us remember that multi-purpose may also mean that it may be a “jack-of-all-trades, but master-of-none”. 

We are more familiar with the old-fashioned pot and pan and we know what we could do with it and we can be quite certain of how the food will turn out. 

With a multi-purpose cooker, there are multiple settings for various types of cooking. 

But use the wrong setting for the cooking and the fire-engine might come over and the firemen looking at your cooking, or whatever remains of it. 

Anyway, as the Church celebrates Mission Sunday, the Church may also seem to be like a multi-purpose cooker, and like the settings, there are so many aspects of the Church’s mission in the world. 

There are missionaries sent out to foreign lands, the Church is involved in social work and charities, building schools and hospitals, and a variety of activities that are under the term “mission of the church”. 

Yes, these are expressions or signs of the Church’s presence and mission in the world. 

The Church is following the command of Jesus to go out to the whole world and to proclaim the Good News to all creation. 

Then Jesus talks about the signs that will be associated with believers. They will cast out devils, they will have the gift of tongues, they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison, they will lay their hands on the sick who will recover. 

These are certainly very spectacular and wonderful signs of the mission of the Church. 

But we may have to admit that it is like reading the description on the box of a multi-purpose cooker and we are impressed by what it can do. 

Being impressed is one thing. To be able to get the cooker to cook what we want is another matter. 

Just like how the pictures in the recipe book don’t look like anything we cook. 

So, what is the relevance in what Jesus said in the gospel? Are those signs still associated with the Church now? 

A man asked a priest, “How can we perform those miraculous signs that Jesus talked about in the gospel?” 

The priest replied, “If you teach a person to read the gospel, you have opened the eyes of the blind. If you teach a person to help the poor and needy, you have healed the paralyzed. If you help a person to go to Church, you’re healed the crippled. If you lead someone to repentance, you have raised the dead. Now go and perform these miracles.” 

The world needs to see these miracles, these signs, and Jesus has commissioned us to do it. 

And we can do it when we practice love and forgiveness. 

With the simplicity and humility of love, the Lord of love will work with us and show us these wonderful signs. 

With forgiveness, we will cleanse ourselves, and the world, of the poison of sin and bring about the joy of salvation. 

Our mission is to help others learn the ways of God and walk in His paths of love and forgiveness. a

That is the vision of Isaiah, son of Amos, in the 1st reading. Let that also be our vision.

28th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 11.10.2020

Isaiah 25:6-10 / Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20 / Matthew 22:1-14

Having a choice does sound so much more attractive and appealing than having no choice at all. 

Somehow, we like choices. It is like going through the menu and looking at all the pictures of the scrumptious food. 

But we know that we could only choose one item from the menu especially when there is some kind of special offer. 

And especially when there is a special offer, all the choices look so attractive and appealing, but we can only choose one. 

So as much as choices may make us feel like we are the masters, and that we are spoilt for choice, yet we also like slaves of choices. 

We have become like the slaves of the choices and it takes so much of our time and thinking just to make one choice. 

So, having too many choices may not be that attractive or appealing after all. 

Today’s gospel parable sounds like an awkward story. It begins with a king who sent out invitations for the feast of his son’s wedding. 

The awkwardness of the parable is that the invited guests would not want to go for the feast. 

The parable goes on to say why they would not go for the feast. It was because they were not interested. 

They had other personal things to do. One went out to his farm, another to his business and others even turned violent against the king’s servants. 

And then, in place of the invited guests, others who were not in the original guest list were collected, literally collected, from the road-sides to be the guests at the wedding feast. 

The parable does sound rather awkward, but just what is the parable telling us?

Among other things, it highlights the free-will to make a choice. 

But it was not a choice between two equally desirable alternatives. 

It is a choice for our destiny and also about our eternal destiny. 

It may look like an obvious choice to make but actually it can be quite a challenging choice. 

The 1st reading may give a clue as to why it could be quite a challenging choice. 

The 1st reading begins with this: On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food and fine wines, food and wine which is rich and juicy. 

If we were invited to such a banquet, and it is the Lord’s banquet, then obviously we would certainly want to go. 

But then, it is high up on the mountain, and we think about the tiring climb up the mountain and our initial fervour begins to waver. 

So even before setting off to the mountain, we already feel tired, and then other things begin to come in to distract us. 

So, in the end like the invited guests in the parable, we lose interest and we may even say it is not worth it. 

The month of October is dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and also the month in which Our Lady made her last apparition at Fatima on the 13th of October. 

The Rosary and the message of the Marian apparitions at Fatima point to prayer, penance and sacrifices so as to obtain God’s mercy for the salvation of souls. 

It is not a new message and it has been a repeated message over the years. 

It has been a repeated invitation to go up to the mountain of prayer and to obtain God’s blessings for ourselves and for the whole world. 

And on that mountain of prayer, God will wipe away the tears from our eyes so that we can see that when we make the choice for God and for salvation, we will rejoice in His love. 

With faith and perseverance, let us climb that mountain of prayer with penance and sacrifice. There is no other better choice.    

27th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 04.10.2020

 Isaiah 5:1-7 / Philippians 4:6-9 / Matthew 21:33-43

It is often said that “you reap what you sow”. Even the Scriptures would say that too in the letter to the Galatians 6:7. 

That is not too difficult to understand. Simply, it means that you have to face up to the consequences of your actions, and that future consequences are inevitably shaped by present actions. 

As we may know, especially if you are a parent, that exam fever has begun. The PSLE exams began late last week. 

Exam time is certainly a time of intense prayer. Do we know what is the difference between a prayer in church and a prayer in an exam hall? In an exam hall you really mean what you pray. 

Yes, among other things, exams can be an example of that saying “you reap what you sow”. 

And if there are bad results, the blame certainly cannot be on the teachers. 

Blaming the teachers for bad exam results is like blaming the doctors for people getting sick. 

As much as that is the truth, yet when there are problems, the blame game well kick in because no one wants to take responsibility. 

And that is the message of the 1st reading and gospel. 

In the 1st reading, there was a story of a man who had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug the soil, clear it of stones, and planted choice vines in it. He expected it to yield grapes, but sour grapes were all it gave. 

So just what happened on? It was a contradiction to that saying of “you reap what you sow”. 

The matter becomes clearer in the gospel parable when again, there was a man who had a vineyard. He leased it to tenants, but when the time came to collect his produce, it was not sour grapes but sour tenants, who just wanted what was not rightfully theirs. 

So the problem is not with the landowner or with the vineyard. The problem was the greedy tenants. 

Translating that into the educational system, it is not teachers who are to blame for bad exam results. 

Their sowed their best. They can only hope that their students will do their best. 

God is like a good teacher who has given us His best. He chose us to be His people. He cares for us and provides for us and He blesses us so then we will be faithful to Him and walk in His ways. 

We are the vineyard of the Lord and we are to bear a good harvest for the Lord. 

In this current situation, where the church is partially open, or partially close, God has also opened a church in every home. 

Every home is to be a house of prayer where the voice of prayer must be heard, the voice of prayer for blessings, for healing, for deliverance, for joy, for peace, for love. 

Oh yes, these are worrisome times, but as the 2nd reading tells us, there is no need to worry, but if there is anything we need, we ask God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard our hearts and minds. 

As we enter into the month of the Rosary, the Rosary reminds us not to worry, because Mary our Mother is there to pray with us and for us. 

Let us sow with the prayer of the Rosary and we will reap abundantly. 

Let us be God’s harvest of joy, so that we can bring peace and love into our worried and troubled world.