12th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 25.06.2023

  Jeremiah 20:10-13 / Romans 5:12-15 / Matthew 10:26-33

We have come to the last week of the month of June. 

Let us take a moment to ponder and see if we can think of anything that we can remember of the month of June. 

Oh yes, it is the month of school holidays, and parents would be busy thinking of how to keep their children occupied. 

There is also Father's Day, which was celebrated last weekend, and we hope that the fathers are happy with their Father's Day presents. 

For our parish, it was the Feast Day celebrations last week, and we thank God for His wonderful blessings on us. 

And there are more blessings coming up next week before the month of June comes to an end. 

Father Adrian Danker will be celebrating his 10th sacerdotal anniversary on Thursday. And on the same day, two deacons will be ordained to the priesthood at a Church of the Holy Family.

So, the month of June has many good and wonderful things to remember. 

And also, not forgetting that the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

And as we meditate on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His love for us, let us also ponder on what is in our hearts. 

Can we say without hesitation, that our hearts are at peace and that we are happy with life? 

Or, is it that our hearts are weighed down by worries and anxieties, resentment and disappointment, failures and frustrations that make our hearts freeze with fears. 

If that is so, then the Good News in today's Gospel is that Jesus tells us this: Do not be afraid. 

And Jesus wants to go deep into our hearts to uncover what is covered, to bring to the light what is hidden, so that we are able to face our fears. 

The world has a force to be reckoned with. It has a force, and that makes us succumb to fears. 

So, we fear for our security and our future, and we look to wealth and possessions to protect us from uncertainties. 

We fear that our image does not give a good impression because the world says that good looks give a good prospect. 

We fear for our reputation, and the world tells us to go with the flow and to play safe, and not to swim against the tide. 

But Jesus tells us not to be afraid, because He will protect us and keep us safe. 

Because when we keep thinking of problems and obstacles, then we will only see problems and obstacles. 

But when we let Jesus uncover what is covered, and to let His light shine into what is hidden in us, then we will proclaim the marvels of God from the rooftops. 

Then, instead of problems and obstacles, we will look for possibilities and opportunities. 

Instead of being beaten by the world and its ways, we want to offer our hearts to Jesus, so that our hearts will beat with love and peace. 

Jesus tells us not to be afraid, and He won't leave us alone to fight our battles in life. 

He will go ahead of us, and fight our battles for us, so that we can sing about how great is our God. 

So, the month of June has many blessings, and we want to count the blessings, and to sing of God's blessings that are poured into our hearts from the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Then, we will proclaim what is said in the 1st reading: Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for He has delivered the soul of the needy, from the hands of evil men.

11th Ordinary Sunday, Year A, 18.06.2023

  11th Sunday OT A-2023                                                                                       18-06-2023 

Exodus 19:2-6 / Romans 5:6-11 / Matthew 9:36; 10:8

Last Friday, we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is also our Parish feast day. 

In preparation for the feast day, we had a triduum, in which we had Masses, Devotion to the Sacred Heart and Holy Hour. 

We prepared the “Jesus invites” in which there is a petition slip to write our petitions, which are to be offered during the triduum and feast day. 

And there was also the “Roses for Jesus”; it is for us to contribute to the roses that will decorate the sanctuary on the feast day. 

It was quite a bit of preparation, and there is quite a bit of work involved to get these ready. 

The “Jesus invites” were folded by loving hands of the members of our Parish community. 

The roses had to be trimmed and arranged within a short period of time to be ready for the feast day. 

But in preparing all these for the feast day celebration, we also wondered what the response would be. 

This would be the first focused feast day celebration after nearly four years of restrictions. 

We sensed that some people have lost the routine and the rhythm of their faith. 

We were uncertain whether people were as fervent as they were before the pandemic. 

But still, we embarked on the feast day preparations as a means of inviting people to come back to the Church and to renew their faith in God. 

And over the triduum and feast day celebrations, God showed us something. 

To quote from the words of today's Gospel, God saw that His people were “harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd”. 

God wanted His people to come back to Him. 

He needed laborers for His harvest, and the harvest is rich indeed. 

And over the triduum and feast day, we saw how rich the harvest is. 

We saw that the people needed God as they offered up their prayers and petitions. 

We don't know what were written in the petitions, but when people took the trouble to write prayers on paper, those are certainly prayers of the heart. 

So, despite being harassed and dejected, the people still have faith in God. 

Their devotion and their prayers show that they need Jesus as their Shepherd to lead them in the road of life. 

And from the offerings of the “Roses for Jesus”, it showed that people want to be part of the Church, and may even want to offer themselves in service to the Lord. 

So, over the triduum and feast day celebrations, God has revealed and showed us something. 

One of which is that people need God, and they have faith in Him. 

And we, as labourers of the harvest, are to help them to come back to the Lord. 

We are to pray for them and to pray with them, and to accompany them to come for Mass and for the Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart. 

And just as laborers deserve their wages, God will reward us with His blessings. 

He will answer our prayers so that our faith in God will be strengthened and deepened. 

Then we will be able to witness to others that being labourers in God's harvest is indeed a blessing and a reward.

Corpus Christi, Year A, 11.06.2023

 Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 / 1 Cor 10:16-17 / John 6:51-58

We know what the Sunday obligation is, and that is we have to come for Mass on Sundays. 

So, we will come to Church on Sundays to say a prayer, as well as to listen to the Word of God in the readings, and receive Holy Communion. 

For most of us, coming for the Sunday Mass is a weekly routine, and also a part of our weekend schedule. 

Then the pandemic came along, and that routine and rhythm was broken.

The Sunday obligation became an option of either on-site Mass or online Mass. 

Although the Sunday obligation has been reinstated, the pre-pandemic routine and rhythm have been broken. 

Some have a difficulty fitting in the Sunday obligation into their weekend schedule, while some have lost it all together. 

For most of us who observe the Sunday obligation faithfully, we may need to reflect on what we are doing. 

The Sunday obligation can become a habit and a routine that we are familiar with. 

We may begin to take things for granted, because routine can be the death of reverence. 

Today, as the church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, we need to ponder and reflect. 

The Mass is not just about going through some religious ritual. 

At Mass, God speaks to us through the Scriptures. So, we hear the teaching from heaven to tell us how to live holy lives on Earth. 

And then we will receive Holy Communion. What we received at Holy Communion is something holy from heaven. 

We are receiving the Body of Christ, and Jesus enters into our hearts, and makes His home in our hearts. 

So, something very holy is happening at Mass. It can be said that heaven comes down to earth at Mass. 

And we participate of the Divine banquet, in which we partake of the Body of Christ at Holy Communion, and hence this Feast is called Corpus Christi. 

Jesus gives us His heart at Holy Communion, so that our hearts can be like His, and that we can live our lives like Him. 

But all these profound aspects of the Mass take the form of the simple and humble and ordinary. 

The Sacred Host, or the Blessed Sacrament, looks so simple and ordinary, that we might lose reverence for it and treat it casually. 

But that Sacred Host, the Blessed Sacrament, the Body of Christ, is nothing less than the very Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

We are given the faith to believe that, and we must have utmost reverence for the Body of Christ in that humble form. 

There are many accounts of the Miracles of the Eucharist, and there is one about St. Anthony with the Blessed Sacrament and the hungry donkey. 

The story goes that there was a man who openly mocked those who believe that Jesus is present in the Blessed Sacrament. 

St. Anthony tried to convince that man, but he was stubborn. So St. Anthony prayed and received an inspiration.

He challenged that arrogant man, “If the donkey you ride adored the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, would you believe in the truth of the Blessed Sacrament?” 

The man agreed, but decided to raise the stakes. He would starve his donkey for three days and then bring it to the town square. 

St. Anthony would bring the Blessed Sacrament to that same square. The donkey then would be put in front of a pile of hay and St. Anthony would stand a few yards away with the Blessed Sacrament. What happened next would decide the victor.

To prepare for the challenge, St. Anthony fasted for three days, and the man in turn told everyone in the town of the contest. He was convinced that the donkey would think nothing of the Eucharist and ravenously eat the pile of hay.

On the day of the contest, the man brought his donkey and placed the hay under the donkey’s nose. 

St. Anthony came and stood a distance away with the Holy Eucharist. 

Defying all odds, the donkey turned its head and walked over to St. Anthony. When the donkey was near, it bent its front legs and knelt in adoration! 

When the man saw this miraculous change of events, he immediately knelt down and professed his belief in the truth of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

For us who believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, let us not think of coming for Mass as an obligation.

If animals can sense the divine presence, may we have utmost love and reverence for Jesus who comes to us in the humble Sacred Host.

Trinity Sunday, Year A, 04.06.2023

 Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9 / 2 Cor 13:11-13 / John 3:16-18

There are many things in life that we think we know and understand quite well. 

But it is only when we encounter difficulty that we begin to think deeper about it. 

Then we may realize that there is so much more to discover and to learn. 

For example, the English language is something that we use daily. 

We use it to converse, to read and to write. We use it to express ourselves and to communicate with others. 

So, we know how to use the English language and may even know how to use it effectively. 

But can we say that we understand it well, or that we are an expert on it? 

For example, how do we explain eggplant which has no egg in it, or pineapple that does not have any apples, or hamburgers that don't have any ham? 

Or, why is it said that the nose runs, and the feet smell? It should be the other way around, isn't it? 

When it comes to singular and plural, if more than one tooth is teeth then why is more than one booth not beeth? Or if more than one mouse is mice, then why is more than one house not hice? 

So, we speak, read and write English everyday, but we may not really understand the language that well. 

Today the Church celebrates Holy Trinity Sunday. We know that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

But we may not really understand why God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

In fact, it would be easier to understand and believe that God is just One. 

Of course, there are many ways to explain that God is Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

But the mystery of the Holy Trinity cannot be understood just logically or rationally. 

What we need to believe is that God loves us, He wants to save us and to bring us back home to heaven. 

So, God the Father loves us, He sent His only beloved Son to save us, and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to unite us in faith, hope and love. 

So, as much as the Bible did not explicitly mention that God is Trinity, yet in the same Bible, God also revealed the intimate relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

The key to the understanding of the mystery of the Holy Trinity is in the intimate relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

To believe in God the Holy Trinity is to believe that God wants to have an intimate love relationship with us. 

And just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are intimately connected with each other in love, we too are called to love like God, and to be united with each other in love. 

To be like God is like how the 1st reading puts it: to be tender and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness. 

To be like God is also to be like Moses, who pleaded with the Lord God to forgive the people for their faults and sins. 

And in the 2nd reading, St. Paul urged us to be united in love and live in peace with each other so that God of love and peace will be with us. 

So, when we are united in love and peace, we are also reflecting the intimate relationship of love and peace between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 

To refuse to believe in God is to refuse to accept love from others and also refuse to love others. 

But, when we, who believe in God, strive to live in love and peace with each other, we are already professing our belief in God who is Father, Son and Holy spirit. 

By our unity in love and peace, we will witness to others that God also loves them, and wants to give them the peace and joy of salvation.