4th Sunday of Easter, Year B, 25.04.2021

Acts 4:8-12 / 1 John 3:1-2 / John 10:11-18

One of the interesting features of the Catholic Church is the presence of religious objects. 

These religious objects can take the form of stained glass, as in these three looming stained glass images at the sanctuary. 

Or, there can be statues or holy pictures and images, all of which are present within the church as well as around the church. 

These religious objects (the proper name is “sacramentals”), are certainly helpful for our devotion and religious piety. 

They serve as reminders of God's love and blessings, and they also serve as visual prayer aids. 

So, there is the Crucifix to reminder us that Jesus died on the Cross to save us. The statues of the Saints remind us of the communion of saints, as they are there to pray for us and help us along the journey of life and the journey towards heaven. 

There is one big statue at the front of the Church, and it is prominent enough that we can't miss it. 

It is white in colour and bigger than life-size. It is the statue of the Good Shepherd and with four lambs. One is being carried and the other three are standing around. 

That statue of the Good Shepherd and the lambs evoke warm feelings and sentiments of God's love and care for us, that Jesus is our Good Shepherd and that He will protect us from harm and danger. 

That statue also connects us to today's Gospel and what Jesus said: I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. 

And when we look at the Cross, we can see it so profoundly and explicitly that Jesus is our Good Shepherd who laid down His life to save us. 

In the Bible, there are many mentions of shepherd and sheep, and often the imagery is that God is the shepherd and the people are His sheep. 

One interesting feature of the Bible is that, while all the books in the Bible tell us how God speaks to us, there is one book that tells us how to speak to God. 

That book is the Book of Psalms. The Psalms also have many mentions of Shepherd and sheep. 

One of the well-known Psalms is Psalm 23, also known as the Good Shepherd Psalm. 

It begins with this line: The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. 

That psalm is also expressed in hymns,  and it evokes feelings of how God loves and cares for us, that He leads us to the green pastures and peaceful waters, and that if we should walk in the valley of darkness, then God with His shepherd’s staff will lead us to safety. 

One interesting point is that the psalm before Psalm 23, is also a psalm that we are also quite familiar with. 

Psalm 22 begins with this line: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. 

It is a cry of distress, and that was what Jesus cried out on the Cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. 

But Psalm 23 follows up with: The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. 

So, the message is clear, that God comes to comfort those in distress, just like how the Good Shepherd will look for the lost sheep and tend to the sick and injured sheep. 

Yes, “the Lord is my shepherd, and there is nothing I shall want”. Indeed, what else would we want when we have the Lord as our Shepherd? 

This Sunday is known as “Vocation Sunday”, and vocations to the priesthood and the religious life is highlighted. 

And there is something that we are asking of the Lord, there is something that we want of the Lord. 

We are asking the Lord to send more men and women to serve in His vineyard, and especially more men to serve as shepherds, as priests, in the church. 

Yet, the fact is that many are called, but few have responded.

So let us ask the Lord, let us invoke the Lord, that He will open the hearts of those He has called, so that they will follow the Good Shepherd in laying down their lives to serve God and His people. 

On our part, let us pray and let us also encourage those who are discerning the call of the Lord. 

May the Eternal Shepherd send us good shepherds who will serve with love and lead the people of God to green pastures and peaceful waters, as well as through the valleys of darkness and distress.

3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B, 18.04.2021

 Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 / 1 John 1:1-5 / Luke 24:35-48

As we come to the third Sunday of Easter, things have slowed down a bit, and in a way the excitement has also kind of faded off. 

On Easter Sunday, there was the empty tomb and people were running around excitedly. 

On the second Sunday of Easter, the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to His disciples, breathed on them in the Holy Spirit, and then He appeared again for Thomas and asked him to touch His wounds. 

On this third Sunday of Easter, the Risen Lord Jesus was still appearing to His disciples, but things were not as dramatic as compared to the previous two Sundays. 

As we heard in the gospel, Jesus had earlier appeared to two of His disciples, but they did not recognize Him until He broke the bread with them. 

And then when He appeared to the rest of His disciples, they were initially frightened, but as Jesus showed them His hands and feet, their fear turned to joy, but they still could not believe it and they stood there dumbfounded. 

Then Jesus made a rather amusing request. He asked them if there was anything to eat. 

They offered him a piece of grilled fish, which He took and ate before their eyes. 

That is rather amusing, because the Risen Lord Jesus, besides saying “Peace be with you”, the other thing that seemed to be on His mind was food. 

He broke the bread with the two disciples, and so it was over food that He revealed Himself, and then they recognized him. 

He took the grilled fish and ate before their eyes, and it was another revelation. 

Through an ordinary commodity like bread and an ordinary act of eating grilled fish, Jesus was telling His disciples that He is risen from the dead and that He is real and alive. 

So, if we were to ask the disciples what was their experience of the Risen Lord Jesus, they would say this: He showed us His wounds. He broke bread. He asked for food and He actually ate something. 

The first experience of seeing the wounds of the Risen Lord Jesus was dramatic and amazing enough. 

But it was the ordinary act of breaking bread and eating grilled fish that revealed the reality of the Risen Lord Jesus. 

So as Jesus sent the disciples to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, they were to witness to Jesus not in dramatic or spectacular or amazing acts. 

Rather it is through the ordinary acts of life that they will bear witness and reveal Jesus to others.

There is this story of a group of salesmen who went to a regional sales convention. They had assured their families that they would be home in time for Friday night dinner. 

But the convention overran the time and they rushed to the airport and to the boarding gate. 

With boarding passes and briefcases and other stuff, one of the men accidently knocked over a table which held a display of apples. 

Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane just in time … all but one.

That man paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his colleagues to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. 

Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad that he did.

Because the girl selling the apples was blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as people rushed around her. 

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. 

As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket.

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this money for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears. 

As the salesman started to walk away, the blind girl called out to him, “Sir ….” He paused and turned to look back at the girl.

She continued, “Are you Jesus?” He stopped in mid-stride … and he wondered. He went back and said, “No, I am nothing like Jesus – He is good, kind, caring, loving and would never have bumped into your display in the first place.”

The girl gently nodded: “I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him – only He knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, Sir.”

Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight, with that question burning and bouncing about in his heart: “Are you Jesus?”

We witness to Jesus by being Jesus to others. We make Jesus real for others in the ordinary acts of kindness, compassion, generosity, patience and understanding. 

In a word, we witness to Jesus and make Him real for others by acts of love. 

So, like how the girl asked the salesman, “Are you Jesus?” let us ask ourselves, “Am I Jesus to others?” 

Let us ponder on that question and we will experience the Risen Lord Jesus for ourselves.

2nd Sunday of Easter, Year B, 11.04.2021

 Acts 4:32-35 / 1 John 5:1-6 / John 20:19-31

It has been one week since we celebrated the great feast of our faith, the feast of Easter, the feast of the Resurrection. 

Yes, it is the great feast of our faith, because we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, that He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death, and with that He brings us new life. 

That is what we profess as our faith, that the Risen Christ is our Lord and God, and in Him we too will renounce sin, reject the devil, profess our faith in God and live our lives as God's beloved children. 

In not so many words, it is “NO” to the devil and “YES” to God. That was expressed last Sunday as we renewed our baptismal promises by renouncing sin and the evil one and professing our faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

Well, one week has passed, and let us ask ourselves how we have been keeping up with our baptismal promises. 

Some may be a bit surprised and say, “Oh, I made a promise huh … Oops …”  Some may be rather realistic and say, “If promises are made to be broken, then I am sorry that I broke the promise.” 

Whatever it might be, the fact is that keeping a promise is easier said than done.

But breaking a promise of faith is not a light matter because it is expressed in unfaithfulness to God and wrongdoing to others. 

But thanks be to God for His faithful love for us and in His mercy He forgives us. 

This Sunday is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. In the gospel, we heard that the Risen Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples the Holy Spirit who is the love of God. 

Then, eight days later, the Risen Lord Jesus came back again, and this time it was for Thomas, who demanded to see the wounds of Jesus. 

Jesus did not reproach Thomas but showed him mercy and forgiveness. And Thomas responded with those five profound words: My Lord and my God. 

So, one week after the celebration of Easter, Jesus comes to us to breathe on us the Holy Spirit, the love of God, and to show us His five wounds, that express God's mercy and forgiveness.

There is a story of a little boy who went to visit his grandparents, and he was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target.

As he came back to Grandma’s back yard, he saw her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit the duck squarely, and the duck fell dead.

The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to look up and see his sister Sally watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So, Johnny did the dishes.

Later, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.” Again, she whispered, “Remember the duck.” So Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, finally he couldn’t stand it. He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck.

“I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. But I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

Just a story to let us know that God is loving and merciful. We are weak, we have sinned, but we must renew daily our faith in God who is love & mercy. 

We repeat with St. Thomas those five profound words of faith “My Lord and my God” and we meditate on the five wounds of Jesus. 

May God's love and mercy that flow from the five wounds of Jesus grant us strength to overcome our sinfulness and to protect us from the snares of the evil one.

Easter Sunday, 04.04.21

  Acts 10:34, 37-43 / Colossians 3:1-4 / John 20:1-9

One year ago, and that is not that long ago, we may remember what Easter was like, or how we celebrated Easter. 

But if we can't remember what Easter was like or how it was celebrated last year, it is not because our memory has failed us.

Because last year, Easter came and went with churches closed and all religious activities were suspended. 

So, if we had no recollection of what Easter was like last year, it was because we didn't come to church at all; we couldn't come to church at all. 

And if we went online last year for the Easter Vigil Mass at the Cathedral, we will remember seeing the Archbishop with just one server walking into an empty Cathedral. That scene reflected the reality of the situation last year. 

Well, for this year, the situation is slightly lighter and brighter. We can come for Mass, although the numbers are still restricted. And there are several other things that we still can't do. 

Nonetheless, and over and above everything else, we want to give thanks to God for the reopening of churches and the resumption of religious activities. 

Oh yes, we rejoice that we can come to Church for Mass and for the celebration of Easter. 

The imagery of the stone being rolled away and the empty tomb is an image that we will remember for this Easter. 

Yes, the stone is rolled away, Christ is risen, and He wants to lift us up and to rise with Him in victory over sin and death. 

And with that, the stones covering the entrances of the churches are also rolled away so that the voices of prayer can be heard again with acclamations of “Alleluia!”. 

But we also must be aware that the stone can also roll back and cover the entrances of churches, if we are complacent and not compliant to the essential safety measures. 

But more than just complacency, we must also be conscious of those stones that are blocking the entrances of our hearts. 

The Risen Christ wants to roll away the stones of our hearts so that the light of His Resurrection can shine into our hearts and to scatter the darkness of sin and fear. 

Those stones must be rolled away so that the blood and water from His pierced side can flow into our hearts and renew our faith, strengthen our hope and deepen our love.

And that is why Easter is the time when we renew our Baptismal Promises, which is essentially to renounce sin and to be faithful to God. 

And after that we are sprinkled with Holy Water as a reminder of our Baptism in Christ. 

That brings us to a reflection of stone and water. In the encounter between flowing water and stones, the water always win, not by strength or by force, but by persistence and perseverance. 

And as the waters flow, the stones are smoothened and even polished, so much so, we can say that the waters have made the stones beautiful. 

Even if it is just dripping water, it will wear out the stone, and again, not by strength or by force, but by persistence and perseverance. 

The Book of Proverbs 21:1 has this line: The heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord. As the waters of the river, the Lord turns it wherever He wishes. 

So, may the waters that will be blessed and given out during this Easter celebration, soften our hearts and make it like living waters in the hands of the Risen Lord, so that we will always flow with the will of God. 

May these waters that remind us of our Baptism, also roll away the stones that are blocking our hearts, so that we will come out of the darkness of sin and fear, and rise in love and holiness with the Risen Lord Jesus.