JESUS, THE KING OF OUR HEARTS

(Last Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homily)

There was a kingdom divided into two by a river. All the shrines, temples and worship places were situated in the east coast of the kingdom.  The king of the kingdom’s palace was located in the east coast. Whereas in the west coast of the kingdom was mainly covered with hills and forests. One day the king had decided to move his palace together with his staff to the west side. This had made his people curious as to why. They insisted the king to stay on the east because there wasn’t much life in the west side. The king with humble heart expressed, “I have to move to the west side regardless if there is life or not, because there shouldn’t be another lord or king in the same place. This puzzled the people. He explained that here were a lot of shrines and temples in the east and there was already one supreme lord and who is already reigning the kingdom. He was referring to Supreme God, who was ruling the hearts of the people in the east, and he realised he was not above Him. As an earthly king, with humble heart, he decided to move to the west.

On this Solemnity of Jesus Christ, the King of Universe, invites us to reflect on the Kingship of Christ and our words and actions must reflect His Kingship and to be rich in our good works. Jesus Christ is our King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and “He exists before all things and in Him all things hold together,” (Col 1: 17), who rules our hearts and minds. 

 

The Lord Jesus, King of the Universe doesn’t rule His Kingdom through violence and wars. There is no place for violence in His Kingdom but He rules with peace, justice and love. Jesus is different from any earthly king and He doesn’t have any interest in political power but He turned His Kingship into servanthood. We are not called to be kings but to be true “servant leaders” taking the footstep of Christ the King. Jesus “served with a heart of a king but He ruled His people with the heart of a Servant,” one who has His people’s interests above His own.

 

Jesus Christ, the King of Love, rules over all the earth till today with a heart of forgiveness and mercy, compassion and love in His service. “For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed Me; sick and you visited Me; in prison and you came to see Me,” (Matt 25: 35-36). In today’s Gospel, we identify Jesus in the poor, the needy, in marginalised, homeless, the lonely, naked, prisoner, etc. Do we identify them as how Jesus does?

 

The earthly kings, and their kingships and their kingdoms are only for certain periods of time but Jesus’ Kingship and His Kingdom are for ever because He rules with mercy, forgiveness, compassion and love. Hence, every one of us will be judged when we carry out the simple works of mercy accordingly. When we recognised these people with the heart of forgiveness and mercy, compassion and love, we have found Jesus in our lives. We see the face of Jesus when we care for them.

 

In a few short weeks, we will be celebrating Christmas and as we enter the season of Advent, a season of awaiting for the coming of King, the King of peace, let us open doors of our hearts and welcome, humbly, His majesty and His glory. 

 

Christ Jesus Victor, Christ Jesus Ruler! 

Christ Jesus, Lord and Redeemer!

BRING HOPE TO OUR FAITH

We have come to the end of our liturgical year for 2019/2020, with the Solemnity of the Feast of Christ the King this weekend. The season of Advent begins on 29 November 2020, with the new liturgical year and after four Sundays of Advent, we will be celebrating Christmas. 

Looking back on these past nine months, I feel very sad and disheartened, as most of our scheduled activities and events were disrupted due to COVID-19. Over the months, we were deprived of celebrating the Sacraments and involvement in Church formations and activities. I believe this year will pass by and leave us with a lot of bitter-sweet memories.

 

This new normal way of life, wherein we have to ensure adherence to strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in everything we do, will go on until scientists and researchers find a vaccine for the virus. In fact, a few countries have predicted that a vaccine will be made available by the end of the year or early next year. We just have to wait patiently.

 

Initially, our Parish had planned quite a number of formations, activities and events for this year in line with our Parish’s Vision - “Committing Ourselves to New Evangelisation.” Sadly, everything got stalled due to the pandemic, and I guess that it has left a negative impact on our spiritual growth, as well as our physical, financial and emotional well-being.

 

We are still living in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and life has become uncertain in many ways. However, we will continue to reflect on the same Parish Vision during the season of Advent even though we have journeyed with this vision for the past three years. The Parish Council members will look into various spiritual aspects of our Parishioners, especially on formations, renewal of our family life and providing opportunity for the youth to encounter Christ. As we continue in the same direction of “New Evangelisation”, we hope Parishioners will bring the essential elements and values of the Church into their own lives. Let’s be aware of our commitment to convey the joy of the Good News during this time of trials, and at the same time, bring hope to our faith, and light into our lives. 

 

Many of our Parishioners have enquired as to how this pandemic will affect the Church in the future. We truly cannot predict the enforcement of restrictions, but we need to remain hopeful and vigilant, preparing for the reopening of our Church doors, hopefully before Christmas. We have to keep our momentum going. I believe that as Advent approaches, we should keep our focus on the themes of each week - HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE - and that will lead us with confidence and conviction towards Christmas. When we do that, we may be able to experience a new birth, new spirit, and a renewed spiritual life, family life and community life, as well. We should not lose our enthusiasm, and instead, we should continue to pray for the courage to grow and glow in the spirit. Let’s continue to pray the Rosary, asking Our Mother Mary, with whom God prepared the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ, to intercede for us and for our Church.

BE THAT ENTHUSIASTIC STEWARD

(33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Homily)

After the passing of our beloved late Cardinal Soter Anthony Fernandez, many Catholics and non-Catholics conveyed their tributes expressing their happiness, feelings, emotions, note of appreciations and praising of his accomplishments, etc. In fact, on November 1^st, 2020, Herald: The Catholic Weekly, our local publication has published on the front page with the headline - “We Have A Great Intercessor In Heaven”. In this issue, many of his works and deeds were highlighted, and also his faithfulness and fruitfulness in his ministry as a priest, Bishop, Archbishop and finally as a Cardinal since 1966.

He had fulfilled his mission that God had entrusted to him as His servant and fellow worker in His vineyard for 54 years. I remember once when I came back from overseas, and I met him at a Monthly Clergy Recollection, he congratulated and quietly whispered to me, “I don’t have any degree or qualification, but I have completed faithfully the mission that Christ entrusted to me in His Church.” He had retired as an Archbishop then.

 

Yes! No doubt, he faithfully carried out the mission of God and mission of the Church in Peninsular Malaysia which had been entrusted to him till the end of his life as a true fellow servant of God in His vineyard. Without any tertiary qualification in education, he recognised and acknowledged God given talents, gifts, charism and the part that he had to play throughout His ministry. Today, the Church and the World can put our two thumbs up together and say, “Well done, you good and faithful servant!”

 

In today’s Parable of the talents (Matt 25: 14-30), Jesus illustrates that we each have a different part to play in the Kingdom of God. God has entrusted us as His servants to serve one another and His Kingdom on Earth as good stewards by using our talents, gifts and charism. In the Gospel, we see the three of them with different talents and each was given according to their capabilities and use them till their Master returns.

 

In our life, talents are referred as skills, gifts or capabilities. Some of us claimed that God did not give us any gift or talents. This is absolutely not true. All of us have been blessed with an enormous amount of talents and gifts to use in our lives. We need discover and rediscover those talents and gifts and invest them in our lives and ministries. We should not be afraid of using them in the way that God has led us to and invest them lavishly in serving the Kingdom of God. That’s what those gifts are actually for.

 

As a follower of Christ, we must be sincere in our stewardships by using our talents, gifts and potential into God’s plan. When the Lord arrives, he will praise us for our enthusiasm, faithfulness and efforts. We should not like the third servant who received one talent did not succeed because he didn’t utilise his potential instead he showed his wickedness and laziness.

 

The talents are not only for our own use but for benefit of others and for the growth of Kingdom of God. When we use them faithfully and successfully, surely on the last day, when God returns He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” 

 

Let us not compare ourselves with others or we bury the gifts within ourselves but let’s together be committed to use them for our families, in our work places, communities or nation. We go and play our different roles, and parts, for the greater Glory of God

OUTSTRETCHED HANDS

In 2017, Pope Francis declared the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time as World Day of the Poor (WDP). This year the Church will observe its fourth WDP on 15 November 2020. The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has chosen the theme: “Stretch Forth Your Hand to the Poor” (Sir 7:32) and in his message, the Holy Father invites everyone “to keep their gaze fixed on the poor, especially during this global crisis.”

Pope Francis reminds us that “time devoted to prayer cannot be a reason for us to neglect our neighbour in need.” In relation to this, I remember reading about St Vincent De Paul (whose feast day falls on 27 September) saying that service to the poor has to be performed without any delay. When we set time for prayer and a poor man in need knocks at our door, do not hesitate to reach out to him. Rest assured that God is actually not neglected, nor our prayers interrupted, by our service to the poor. When we abandon our prayer session abruptly in order to assist the poor, our outreach is a continuation of that prayer. In other words, charity should always take precedence over anything else in our lives. That is why the Holy Father says “prayer to God and solidarity with the poor and suffering are inseparable.” In whatever circumstance, we should not neglect our service to the poor and we should always be in solidarity with them, especially during this pandemic.

 

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase across the world, we are constantly being challenged economically, financially, politically and socially. In this time of trial, it is really tough to keep our gaze fixed on the service to the poor. The Holy Father stresses that we should not be selfish, but instead he reminds us that “generosity that supports the weak, consoles the afflicted, relieves suffering and restores dignity to those stripped of it, is a condition for a fully human life.” We should not be indifferent towards the poor. Our eyes should always become capable of gazing at the goodness in them.

 

Pope Francis acknowledged the many “outstretched hands” in the form of front-liners (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, priests, volunteers, etc.) who have been caring for patients day and night during this difficult time. The Holy Father reminded us that “now is a good time, as we need each other to be an “outstretched hand” and “revive our sense of responsibility for others and the world.”

 

As we reflect on the WDP theme for this year, the Holy Father “challenges the attitudes of those who prefer to keep their hands in their pockets and to remain unmoved” instead of stretching out their hands to the poor. He warned against all those who have their hands outstretched, only to accumulate money in wrong and unpleasant ways. 

 

Pope Francis concludes his message by saying that our ultimate goal in life, is to love, and nothing should distract or separate us from this. He added that the outstretched hands can be enriched by “a smile, which is something that we can share with the poor and is a source of love and a way of spreading love,” as Christ’s disciple. Mary, the Mother of the Poor, always understands the difficulties and suffering of the poor. We too, are called to pray for them and to pray for the grace to enable us to outstretch our hands for their needs.

 

(Extract from the Holy Father, Pope Francis’ message on the 4th World Day of the Poor 2020)

Photo: 2019

BE READY FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE BRIDEGROOM - JESUS

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Homily)

We were all together five of us started our Initiation Year in the seminary in 1995. One day one of our lecturers, Rev Fr. Moses Lui, who was teaching us Salvation History subject, arrived in our class. Without much say he immediately gave us an pop examination without informing us ahead. We were unprepared, unexpected, unanticipated and surprised with this stance of his. We immediately requested to postpone it but he insisted on this and went on with this test. The examination was over and one week later he returned our written test papers. What surprised us, all five of us failed in the test. He warned us that we must always be prepared for exams any time at any moment in the future. This is a lesson for us to always be always prepared, vigilant all the time for other examinations and lessons.

In today’s Gospel (Matt 25: 1-13), Jesus illustrates a parable about the ten bridesmaids. There were five sensible bridesmaids and five foolish ones. The sensible bridesmaids were prepared to meet the bridegroom’s arrival because they “took flask of oil as well their lamps.” whereas the foolish bridesmaids did not prepare and was not ready to meet Him as the “door was shut” to them because “they took no oil with them.” The rejected bridesmaids were left standing outside the door asking for admission. The wise ones are safely inside. The foolish bridesmaids negligence and unprepared, were like how my ex-classmates and I, being negligent and not prepared, as he gave us that first exams.

The parable teaches us that we need to be vigilant, alert, ready and be prepared every moment of our lives.  We do not know when the Lord will come as Jesus said, “stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.” God does not delay and if He ever delays, there is a purpose in it. He probably wants to test our patience and our readiness. Hence, we must wait patiently and enthusiastically, with hope and prayer at all times. The mysterious Lord of ours, comes at the most unexpected hours. God has His time and He comes according to His time and season. He comes and makes all things wonderful and beautiful, as in the hymn, “In His time He makes all things beautiful.” 

 

St. Paul invites us in today’s Epistle (1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18) that we must be “alive for the Lord’s coming.”  We do not know when He will return.  In this shortness of our lives, we must not lose our enthusiasm and attentiveness in preparing ourselves to meet the Lord when He arrives. His return is certain and He will come back to establish His Kingdom.

 

Let us not fall asleep. The Church is alive and Christ is alive in us. Hence, we must be alive in the Spirit. Let us firm in our faith and let our spirituality be awake with the Holy Spirit as St. Paul says, “the moment is here for you to stop sleeping and wake up…, and throw off everything that belongs to the darkness and equip ourselves for the light,” (Rom 13: 11-12).  The day is at hand and the time to prepare for that day is now, as always.