24th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 15.09.2024

 Isaiah 50:5-9 / James 2:14-18 / Mark 8:27-35

When it comes to choosing a leader, there are some expectations of what a leader should be. 

A leader is one who has the ability to unite people and lead them forward into the future. 

A leader should also provide for the needs of the people, and protect them from danger. 

A leader should also be strong and is able to defeat his enemies. 

These are some of the expectations of a leader, and there can be many more. 

Also, a good leader would want to have these qualities in order to prove his leadership skills. 

When we look at the expectations and qualities of a leader, an image may come to our minds. 

The image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, would meet the expectations and qualities of a leader. 

Yes, the Good Shepherd leads His flock to green pastures, He takes care of the weak and wounded, and He protects His sheep from wolves and other dangers. 

In the gospel, when Jesus asked His disciples who do they say He is, Peter spoke up and said this: You are the Christ. 

The word “Christ” means the Anointed One of God. 

It means that Jesus is sent by God to lead the People of God towards salvation. 

Jesus came to forgive sins and to heal the wounds caused by sin. 

Jesus came so that we can hear the voice of God, a voice that speaks of peace, a voice of life and love. 

Jesus is the leader who we want to follow, because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

And Jesus has also anointed a leader for us to continue the leadership and the mission. 

During the past week, we welcomed Pope Francis in his Apostolic visit to Singapore. 

In the person of Pope Francis, Jesus came to visit us and to unite us in faith and to strengthen our hope. 

Pope Francis brought the Good News of love to our country and to the Church in Singapore. 

In Pope Francis, we see how much Jesus loves us and cares for us, especially in the joyful celebration of the Eucharist at the National Stadium. 

In his meeting with the clergy, Pope Francis urged us, the priests, to be good shepherds of the People of God. 

He said that as shepherds of the flock, we are to be at the front of God's people, as well as in the middle, and also at the rear. 

At the front, we are to hold high the Cross of Christ for the people to keep their focus on God. 

In the middle, to have the sense and the smell of the sheep, so as to understand their worries and anxieties, the struggles and the troubles of the flock. 

To be at the rear, so as to help the least and the last, the sick and the aged. 

To be at the rear, is also to listen to the echoes of the voices of those in need, and to discern the directions of the flock. 

The message of the gospel and the visit of Pope Francis tells us this: we keep our focus on the Cross of Christ, because it points us to God. 

The Cross of Christ is heavy and it calls for sacrifices to be made. 

But the priests and the People of God are to put their hands on the cross and to carry it together. 

Carrying the Cross together, we will be able to go far. 

Carrying the Cross together will unite us in hope, and God will help us with His blessings of love.

23rd Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 08.09.2024

  Isaiah 35:4-7 / James 2:1-5 / Mark 7:31-37

This church, like many other churches, has a high ceiling. 

A church, or a building, with high ceiling, makes it look grand and spacious. 

And a church with a high ceiling would make us think and reflect further and deeper.

With a high ceiling, we would likely look up and see what is at or around the ceiling. 

So, we see the triangular pediment and the cross, and the unique cornice design. 

There is a place in which we will certainly want to look up at the ceiling. 

The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City has a high ceiling with a fresco painted by Michelangelo. 

That ceiling fresco has a series of nine paintings showing God's creation of the world and man, God's relationship with mankind, and mankind's fall from God's grace.

The ceiling fresco is an awesome sight, and we would just keep looking up at the scenes in the fresco. 

Each scene has something to tell us about who God is, as well as about ourselves. 

In the gospel, when Jesus healed the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, He did some rather interesting actions. 

He put his fingers into the man's ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. 

And then before Jesus said “Ephphatha” which means “Be opened”, He did a seemingly ordinary action. 

Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed. 

Jesus looked up to heaven to tell the man that God is sending the healing grace from heaven. 

That sigh is a reminder that in the creation of man, God blew His breath into the man's nostrils and man became a living being. 

What Jesus did, that looking up to heaven, and that sigh, also teaches us something. 

We are to look up from the things of earth to what is above, to where God is. 

God sends us His blessings of healing and answer our prayers when we turn our eyes to Him. 

And that sigh of Jesus reminds us that God gives us the breath of life and sustains us with His love. 

But in Jesus Christ, we are reminded that God came down from heaven to be among us. 

This coming week, we prepare for the visit of Pope Francis to Singapore. 

As the successor of Saint Peter, the Pope is a sign of God visiting us and sending God's blessings on us. 

Indeed, the visit of Pope Francis is a wonderful gift and a marvellous blessing from God. 

We may wish to be up close to the Pope and to shake his hands, and to ask him to pray over us and to bless us. 

But just as Jesus looked up to heaven to invoke God's healing grace on the man, we too can do likewise.

With faith and with prayer, let us look at the Pope, whether it is up close, or from a distance, or on the live-stream. 

Jesus is visiting us in the person of Pope Francis. 

With the breath of prayer, let us offer to Jesus our needs, for healing, for forgiveness, for reconciliation, for peace. 

Yes, blessed be the Lord our God who is coming to visit us and to bless us. 

Let us be spiritually prepared and be open to receive God's blessings. and the answer to our prayers.

22nd Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 01.09.2024

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 / James 1:17-18, 21-22, 27 / Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

It is certainly a good thing in life to have a religion. 

Religion teaches us to live good and upright lives, so that we can have peace and happiness. 

Religion also teaches us to live in harmony with other people who do not share the same religious beliefs. 

Religion also teaches us about the truths of life, and the fundamental truth is love. 

In the Catholic religion, we believe that God gave us the 10 Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the Commandments about life and they teach us how to love. 

And God even became man in Jesus Christ to teach us how to live life with love. 

Essentially, the 10 Commandments teach us the fundamental truth, and that is to love God and to love neighbour. 

All the religious practices flow from this fundamental truth. So whether it is worshiping God at Mass, or praying the Rosary, or abstaining from meat on Fridays, all that is done to express our love for God and for neighbour. 

In the gospel, the scribes and Pharisees had a contention with some of the disciples of Jesus who were eating with unclean hands. 

The act of washing hands before eating is certainly a good practice for hygiene. But a practical hygienic practice was turned into a religious ritual and became a religious tradition. 

So, anyone who eats without first carrying out that ritual cleansing of hands is accused of not respecting the tradition of the elders. 

When the scribes and Pharisees questioned Jesus about that, He pointed out the motive of such a practice. 

Jesus said that such practices are formulated by human impositions that do not express the love for God and neighbour. 

Jesus also quoted from the prophet Isaiah, that the Commandment of God was even put aside in favour of human traditions. 

So, the fundamental purpose of the Commandment of God was blurred and even lost with the embellishment of elaborate human practices. 

There is this story that illustrates the absurdity of human practices that turned into religious rituals. 

There is an abbot of a monastery who had a pet cat. But that cat was causing a distraction to the monks during prayer time. 

So, as a solution, the abbot tied up the cat during prayer time, and it became a regular practice. 

As time went by, the abbot died, and the practice of tying up the cat during prayer time continued. 

After some time, the cat died, and the monks then found another cat to tie up during prayer time. 

As time passed, the practice of tying up a cat during prayer time became a religious practice. There was even a devotion to the string that is used to tie up the cat, and it became a religious object. 

As much as that story sounds absurd, it also makes us think about our understanding of religious practices. 

Our religious practices should express our love for God and for neighbour. 

Let us remember the fundamental Commandment of God which is love. 

May our religious practices express that love for God and for neighbour, and may it also help us to live holy lives.