4th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 31.01.2021

 Deut 18:15-20 / 1 Cor 7:32-35 / Mark 1:21-28

In the Catholic Church, there is this “Book of Blessings” which is used by priests to invoke God’s blessings. 

These prayers of blessings are for persons as well as for objects. 

So there are prayers of blessings for birthdays, wedding anniversaries, expectant parents, children, travellers and religious gatherings. 

There are also prayers of blessings for religious objects and articles like holy water, candles, crucifixes, holy pictures, statues and rosaries. 

There are also prayers of blessings for vehicles, electrical equipment, food, animals and even a general blessing for anything. 

The purpose of the blessing is to place the persons and objects under the protection and guidance of the Lord so that whether persons or objects, all will be used for the glory of God. 

The prayers are formulated based on Scripture, and so it can be said that every prayer of blessing is a proclamation of the power of God and the wonders He will do for His people. 

In the gospel, we heard that when Jesus taught in the synagogue, His teaching made a deep impression because He taught with authority. 

Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. His teaching brought about blessings from God and that is why people followed Him to hear His teaching. 

But in the synagogue just then, there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, and it shouted: What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?

As Jesus proclaimed the Word of God, He nourished the people with truth and love, and gave them hope and inspiration. 

But it also pierced the darkness of sin and evil, such that evil is to be driven out and sin is to be cleansed. 

The man who was possessed by an unclean spirit went to the synagogue to pray and to hear a teaching from Jesus. 

Coming into direct contact with the Word of God, the evil that was hidden in him was disturbed and eventually revealed itself. 

Its reaction to Jesus was with anger and hostility. Confronted with truth and love, evil is revealed and it was defensive.

Jesus responded calmly but firmly: Be quiet! Come out of him! 

And making a dramatic exit, the evil spirit was driven out, and the man was cleansed and freed of the evil. 

That will make us think about the Word of God that we hear at Mass or at prayer gatherings or when we read the Bible. 

The Word of God is a blessing for us. It enlightens us, nourishes us with truth and love, and gives us hope and inspiration. 

But the Word of God would also reveal the darkness of sin in us. 

Jesus wants to cleanse the sin in us and scatter the darkness of evil so that we can receive God’s blessings. 

As God’s People, we are also called to be a channel and instrument of God’s blessings for others. 

That is why we must read the word of God and be attentive to the voice of Jesus in the Scriptures, so that enlightened by truth and cleansed by love, sin will be forgiven and darkness will be scattered. 

When the Word of God takes root in our hearts, then we will bear the fruit of being a prophetic people. 

Then we will speak in such a way that others will love to listen to us. And we will also listen in such a way that others will love to speak to us. 

So let us listen to the Word of God, let us read the Word of God, let us speak the Word of God, so that we will receive a blessing and in turn be a blessing for others.

3rd Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 24.01.2021

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 / 1 Cor 7:29-31 / Mark 1:14-20

Whenever someone asks us “What is the time?” we will instinctively look at our wrist watch and announce the time. 

It is not likely that we will look at the sky and say “daytime” or “night-time”. 

Time is important especially in our busy schedules, so that there will be time management for the tasks ahead and that things will run on time. 

Time is not just necessary for schedules and tasks. The word “time” also appears frequently in our vocabulary. 

We talk about the “first time” which can be an anxious time, a time of initiation and a time of discovery. We talk about the “next time”, which can mean a time of preparation and a time of anticipation. Parents will use that “one more time” on their children as a warning and a deterrent. There is also the “last time” which could mean the end or finale, or it could be about reminiscing the past. 

What it might be, time is important and precious to us so much so that it is even divided into hours, minutes and seconds. That also reminds us not to waste time. 

In the three readings, there is a mention about time. In the 1st reading, the Word of the Lord was addressed a second time to Jonah. Why a second time? 

That was because when the Word of the Lord was addressed the first time to Jonah, he didn’t want to listen. He was told to go East to Nineveh but he went West and tried to run away. But at the second time he obeyed the Word of the Lord. 

In the 2nd reading, St. Paul tells this to the Corinthians: Our time is growing short. St. Paul wanted to stress on the urgency of his message. 

In the gospel, Jesus announced this: The time has come and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe in the Good News. 

So, it was not about how much time, or what is the time or when is the time. Rather the time here is understood as God’s time, it is an appointed time, a time that is in God’s plan. 

It is a time when things happen and people move, not by human will or human determination, but by the power of God’s will. 

It is said that when it is not God’s time, we cannot force it. But when it is God’s time, we cannot stop it. 

But how do we know when it is God’s time? 

For Jonah, as he tried to run away by sailing off in the opposite direction, the ship got caught in a storm and he was swallowed by a big fish, and he was in the belly of that big fish for three days and then the fish threw him up on the beach. 

So Jonah moved at the second time when the Word of the Lord was addressed to him. He didn’t need a third time. 

For Jesus, the time had come when He heard that John the Baptist was arrested. It was time for Him to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God and the message of salvation and repentance. 

As for us, we should realise by now that we cannot force people to get things done even if it is for their own good. 

It is just like the egg. If the egg is broken by an outside force, life is ended. But if the egg is broken by an inside force, life begins. 

Yes, great things always begin from within, from the inside. 

Jesus proclaimed the message of repentance, but it is also in God’s time that repentance and conversion happens, and it happens from within. 

As we think about what is God’s time for us and the signs that He is showing us, let us heed the call to repentance and remember that things can only happen with prayer and it must begin from the inside, it must begin from the heart.

So, our prayer to God :

Cannot be PART TIME 

Cannot be SOME TIME 

Worse if NO TIME 

Must always be ON TIME 

Can be OVER TIME 

Because God can call us ANY TIME.

2nd Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 17.01.2021

 1 Sam 3:3-10, 19 / 1 Cor 6:13-15, 17-20 / John 1:35-42

The current requirement to wear face masks whenever we are going out of our homes has its advantages as well as disadvantages. 

One thing for sure is that as long as we are wearing a mask, we are compliant and law-abiding good citizens. 

We can also mouth a lot of words and expressions and others will not know it, especially if those expressions and words are not that pleasant. 

And if we ever forget to brush our teeth, then we better keep the mask on at all times. 

But if our devices and gadgets have face recognition, then we may be locked out if we are wearing a face mask. 

And with the mask on we can’t really recognize people with a glance, especially if they’re wearing a cap or change their hairstyle. 

We will have to look hard and even stare hard at the person, and it is not that polite to do so for too long. 

Oh yes, nowadays we have to look carefully before we know who the person is, or who it is that we are talking to. 

In the gospel, we hear of three incidents that required visual discernment. 

When John was with two of his disciples, Jesus passed by and John stared hard at Him. 

And then he said, “Look, there is the Lamb of God.” Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. 

When Jesus saw them following Him, He asked, “What do you want?” And they replied, “Rabbi, where do you live?” And Jesus replied, “Come and see.” So, they went and saw where He lived and stayed with Him the rest of that day. 

And then the next day, when Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, Jesus looked hard at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John; you are to be called Cephas (meaning Rock).”

The Gospel highlighted the power of sight, and with visual discernment comes about a revelation. 

In other words, there is more than meets the eye, and we may have to look hard, or even stare hard before we can see clearer and even see deeper. 

It is just like nowadays, with people wearing masks, we have to look hard before we can recognize who they are. 

What we see only their eyes, and so nowadays we can say that there is a lot of eye contact. 

And eye contact is important in communication because the eyes are the windows to the heart. 

With or without mask, our eyes and the eyes of the other person can say quite a bit and even reveal quite a bit. 

John looked into the eyes of Jesus in saw Him as the Lamb of God. The two disciples look into the eyes of Jesus and saw Him as the Messiah. Jesus looked into the eyes of Simon and saw him as the Rock on which He will build the Church. 

Our eyes reveal to us what we desire in what we are looking at. The 2nd reading warns us about fornication, but it begins with looking which turns into lusting. 

We must have custody of our eyes and to train our eyes to see only what God wants us to see. 

When we read the Bible, we are like having an eye-to-eye contact with God. We read God’s Word, and God’s Word enters into our hearts through our eyes, which are the windows of our hearts, and we enter into a union with God. 

When we look into the eyes of the other person, we may also come to see that what we really desire is for a sincere and honest communication that will lead to understanding and communion. 

We may realise that when we are in an argument with a person, we avoid looking into the eyes of that person because our eyes are burning with anger.

May we also see that every person is created in the image of God. 

Let us look at them with eyes of love and we will see Jesus looking at us with His eyes of love.

Baptism of the Lord, Year B, 10.01.2021

  Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7 / Acts 10:34-38 / Mark 1:7-11

Since the beginning of this year, it had been raining almost every day. 

It can be anything from a continuous heavy downpour, like on the first and second day of the year, and that resulted in some serious flooding in some parts of the island. 

Or it can just be a series of showers so much so that we won’t leave home without an umbrella. 

Anyway, with such unpredictable weather, it might be better to stay at home and keep dry and warm. Yes, keep dry and warm, and keep safe as well. 

And with water in abundance, it will make us do some thinking about water. 

Water is truly a good servant, but of course, on the other hand, it can be a bad master. 

Water quenches the thirst and is vital for bodily functions. It is the basic solvent and cleaning agent. Water can also be a means to produce energy as well as many other uses. 

Besides these vital and practical usages, water also has a spiritual purpose. 

In the Church, water is the element that is used for Baptism. It must be clean and flowing water when used for Baptism, to symbolize the cleansing of sin. 

It is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit entering into the heart and making it the temple of God. 

Today as the Church celebrates the Baptism of the Lord, all these symbols are recalled and reflected upon. 

But of course, the meaning and purpose of the Baptism of Jesus is quite different from that of our Baptism. 

Jesus was baptized so as to immerse Himself into our human situation and become one like us in all things, except sin. 

The Saviour was baptized so that through Baptism, we can be saved. 

At His Baptism, Jesus was revealed as the Beloved Son of God. Through our baptism, we become children of God. 

As Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. With the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus began His ministry of salvation as He went about doing good and curing all who have fallen into the power of the devil. 

We too are given the power of the Holy Spirit at our baptism, so that we can continue the saving mission of Jesus. 

As baptized Christians, we are anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power to go about doing good and helping those who have fallen into the power of the devil so that they can come back to God. 

So fundamentally, it is clear. It is either we are doing what Jesus is doing or we are not. It is either we are for Jesus or we are against him. It is either we gather all to Him or we scatter and scandalize. 

This Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is so timely because we want to be washed clean of all the defilement and weaknesses and to be empowered again by the Holy Spirit. 

We want to be cleansed of our complains, our arguments, our resentment, our anger, our bitterness and our disappointments. 

We want to be renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be thankful and grateful for the gift of faith so that we will endure and persevere through difficult and challenging times. 

We will remember that when the Sacraments are not available and the churches are closed our faith began to waver, it was the Holy Spirit that came to help us in our weakness. 

As we heard in the 1st reading, the crushed reed was not broken, the wavering flame was not snuffed out. 

But like Jesus, we must come out of the murky waters of sin and defilement, so that the Holy Spirit can descend upon us to strengthen our faith. 

Let us break free from the power of the devil, who makes us pessimistic and to criticize everything. 

Let the power of the Holy Spirit rise up in our hearts so that we will go forth and do good and bring back those who have fallen away from the faith and fallen into the power of the devil.

Let us pray to the Lord for showers of blessings that will bring about peace and salvation for the world.

Epiphany, Year B, 03.01.2021

 Isaiah 60:1-6 / Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6 / Matthew 2:1-12 

As we enter into the new year, it will certainly be a good thing to do some housekeeping and some cleaning up. 

After all, it would be good to start the new year with some spring-cleaning and to get rid of the junk and the mess. As it is said “mess is stress”.

And we certainly need to de-stress, and maybe throwing away some junk can help us do that.

But before we bring in the trash bags and clear out everything, let us look at some of the stuff that we might just want to keep for a while. 

Some things are really of no use anymore, but keeping them may help us to do some reflection about life. 

One of the things that we might want to keep, at least for a while, is last year’s calendar.

Why of all things, last year’s calendar? That might be the first thing we want to throw away. We don’t want to be reminded of the year 2020. So why keep last year’s calendar then?

Well, it had been a rough and tough year. The days of 2020 were filled with cancellations, reschedules, new and numerous schedules, online meeting IDs and passwords, and other things. 

But whatever it was, we survived 2020, we lived through it, and we also became stronger and tougher with it, all that of course, thanks be to God. 

So, the 2020 calendar can be like a testimonial for us, reminding us that we stumbled but did not fall, we were down but not out, it was dark but there were little lights to keep us moving. 

Yes, we didn’t stop and stagnate, but we moved on in 2020 and now we are ready to face 2021, no matter how it will be. 

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Epiphany, the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles, as represented by the wise men. 

Epiphany also means a moment of sudden and great revelation or realization.

For the wise men, it was a moment of realization. They were comfortable in the homeland, and maybe they were looked up to by their own people as they had knowledge of the stars. 

But it was a star, a peculiar star, that caught their attention. The star caught their attention, and they came to the realization that the star was beckoning them, calling them, to something mysterious and yet wonderful, to look for this infant King of the Jews. 

So they got up and got moving, and yet, they were not that certain how things will turn out. 

They only had the star to guide them and yet the star was not always there for them. 

That was why they ended up in Jerusalem, and they were even used by King Herod to be his agents. 

But they still managed to find their way to Jesus. 

But did they expect to find the infant King of the Jews lying in a manger at the stable in the obscure little town of Bethlehem? 

Whatever their expectations, it was by Divine revelation that gave them the realization that the infant lying in the manger is the one they were looking for. 

They acknowledged that the infant was a King, as symbolized by the gold, is Divine as symbolized by the frankincense, and is human as symbolized by the myrrh. 

What we can learn from the wise men is that they had to look and listen and think about what God was showing them. 

The wise men offered gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Infant Jesus. 

We offer our eyes, our ears and our minds to Jesus. 

Jesus will open our eyes to see what we need to see, open our ears to hear what we need to hear, and open our minds to understand what He is showing us. 

Like the wise men we journey on into 2021, with the only certainty and assurance that Jesus our Lord and Saviour, will guide us through the year, so that we can see Him in all things, and to give thanks to Him for all things.