Homily: December 23, 2024 Monday of the Fourth Week in Advent (Purification)

-

 "He will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver, that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD."

There are usually five steps to refine gold or silver. The very first step is to melt it in a hot furnace, then the molten gold is cast into molds to separate it from base metals and other impurities. It is further refined through electrolysis and other refining processes.

Today’s first reading tells us God will purify His people like refining gold. Isn’t it a lot of hard work for God the refiner and such painful process for us, the refined? Yes, but it is so that we will all shine bright and flawless.

Yesterday, after Sunday Mass, I was standing near the baptismal font, talking to a parishioner who informed me that Afaf Bakal, a Sudanese parishioner, had just passed away. Two years ago, I baptized her at that very same font and administered her Confirmation and First Communion.

I remember her baptism vividly because she was already very weak at the time. I offered to go to her home to baptize her, but she insisted on coming to church despite her frailty. She was so full of joy after her baptism, but that was also the last time she came to church because thereafter, she was often in the hospital.

Afaf came to this country from Sudan, to be free from war and poverty, with hopes of peace and a better life. However, she became ill, suffered and died too soon.

Is this the refining process by which we will be purified?

Jesus too came to this world to bring us peace and a better life, through enduring poverty, suffering and death. His sacrifice on the cross perfected our imperfection, making us shine.

Afaf accepted a God who suffered and died on a cross, she accepted to be refined and purified through the conditions of her life, and so she shines like refined gold in the heavenly kingdom now.

When we adore baby Jesus on Christmas day, let us remember to be grateful for the poverty, suffering and death He embraced and endured to live with us. May we also embrace and endure our life conditions, so that we can one day live with Him. Amen.


Comments

Post a Comment

Read

Homily: September 27, 2022, Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time (Memorial of of St. Vincent de Paul)

-
“Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born, the night when they said, “The child is a boy!”  Job was so upset that he wished he was never born! I can fully understand how Job felt. He had been faithful, he had lived right but he had lost everything in his life, including his own health. He had nothing left. He had every reason to curse, to complaint. Recently I visited a mom whose son took his own life. She was lamenting and crying her heart out to God. She cursed her life, complained to God and questioned Him why He allowed this tragedy to happen. In my own troubled moments when nothing is going right, I too wonder, “Why did God create me?” Why send me to this world to go through hardship then bring me back again? He could have just kept me in heaven. When everything go wrong, won’t we also think that life is meaningless? Even though I don’t have the perfect explanation, I find my consolation in the cross of Christ, looking...
Read more

Homily: September 10, 2024, Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time (Deception).

-
 “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.” In Christian theology, there is something known as the Last Things, which are namely these four: Death, Judgement, Heaven, Hell. Death is the event at the end of this life when our mortal body is separated from our immortal soul. At that moment of death, each person is judged by God based on our faith and conduct in this life, and our soul will either be rewarded or punished. The reward is heaven, eternal bliss and joy when we come face to face with God, our Creator. Some will go through purgatory, a temporary state of purification in preparation for heaven. The punishment is hell, eternal torment and condemnation for our rejection of God. Heaven is real. Hell is also real. Once, during a talk for priests, the speaker asked us, “When was the last time you preached about eternal punishment?” I tried to think of a recent homily or message where I spoke about it, and there was none. I realised ...
Read more

Homily: December, 22,2024, Fourth Sunday in Advent (Mother- Peace)

-
 "His greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace." The prophecy of Micah proclaimed 700 years before the birth of Jesus, had already foretold the extent and essence of our Lord’s greatness – it shall reach to the ends of the earth, and He shall be peace. Now 2,700 years later, Christianity has indeed spread to every corner of the world and for everyone who truly knows and follows Christ, will experience His peace. Here we are, celebrating the Fourth Sunday of Advent, just days away from Christmas, are you at peace? Almost every society throughout the world is celebrating Christmas, albeit with commercial overtones, but is there peace around the world? During this holiday season, in the confessionals and from conversations, I hear the same issues brought up - stress, worries, anxieties about the preparations, the family gatherings, the expectations. Shopping, cleaning the house, buying and wrapping gifts, writing cards, getting new clothes - all these ta...
Read more

Homily: February 17, 2023, Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

-
“Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says." If that did not happen at Babel, we would all be speaking the same language, I would not need to learn Spanish and you would understand me perfectly, right? Did you wonder, what was so wrong with building a high tower in Babel which would reach up to the sky? If we look around the cities in the world, we will see many huge and tall buildings. And many are so iconic, making the city they are located at famous and well known. Like the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, Petronas Twin Tower in Malaysia, Burg Khalifa in Dubai, Taj Mahal in India, just to name a few. Possibly, the question should be, why do people need to build such mammoth buildings? In the first reading, we are told that the people in Shinar wanted to make a name for themselves. So, it was pride. Their plan would need to use up lots of time and resources to build something which would ...
Read more

Homily: December 28, 2024 Feast of the Holy Innocents (Suffering).

-
"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you." Just three days ago, we celebrated Christmas - a joyful commemoration of the day God came to live among us in our world, it is a when divine light entered human darkness, it is a day for rejoicing. The Christmas season continues for the Church up until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. However, if we read and reflect on the details of Christ’s birth and events surrounding this season of joy, we see poverty, simplicity and suffering. Just before our Lord was born into this world, His earthly parents went through hardship just to find a place to rest, He was then welcomed into physical and material poverty, the day after His birth, we celebrated the death of the first martyr, St. Stephen, followed by the feast of St. John the Evangelist who suffered persecution and isolation till a ripe old age. And now today, we observe the feast of the Holy Innocents — a sorrowful event when hundreds of...
Read more

Homily: December 24, 2024, Christmas Mass (Swaddling clothes )

-
"She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger..." This Gospel scene brings me back to one special day when I was in grade eight. My eldest sister was back at home from college for summer vacation. The rest of my family were out of the house for a parish event, and so it was just the two of us at home. Before leaving the house, my mother had pre-empted us that one of our she-goats on the farm was ready to give birth, although she did think it might happen in a few more days. However, shortly after my parents and other siblings left the house, the she-goat or doe went into labor and gave birth to three babies: two males, one female. The baby doeling was very weak and looked unhealthy, my sister and I did not know what to do. So we called our grandmother on the phone, and she explained to us how to take care of the newborn kids. Following her instructions, we used iodine to treat the navel cords to prevent infection, cleaned up the birth site, made a nice bed of...
Read more

Homily: December 27, 2022, Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist

-
“We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.” Today’s first reading ended with these words. To St. John the Evangelist, his joy would never be complete if he didn’t write down all that he had seen, heard and learnt from Jesus. Imagine him heaving a deep sigh of relief and satisfaction when he was done writing these texts. What is the one thing that would complete our joy? What gives us joy in the first place? St. John the Evangelist is my patron saint. My baptism name is John. I have always wished I could be like St. John, the beloved Apostle of Jesus, to love the Lord and Mother Mary with the same devotion and affection.  He was the only disciple who was at the foot of the cross and stayed with Jesus in His dying. He was the one appointed with the responsibility to care for Mary. Other than Peter, John was the other disciple who ran to the empty tomb after Jesus was resurrected. He was the only apostle who lived long into old age. However, it was not a life of comfort. He...
Read more

Homily: November 1, 2024, All saints day (Holy family School Mass )

-
 Did you hear this question in the first reading? "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" St. John the Apostle had a vision of heaven and asked the angel regarding the many people he saw who were praising and worshipping God. I think you might know some of those people. Let’s see. Do you know who this is? Yes, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, we affectionately call her Mother Teresa.  Do you know where she was born in? She was born in Skopje, where it is now Albania. And where did she spend most of her life? She spent her life in India, taking care of the very poor, sick and dying. Who’s this man? Yes, he is Saint Joseph. Where was he born? In Nazareth. What was his job? He was a carpenter. And he was chosen by God to be the foster father of Jesus. St. Joseph cared for and protected Jesus and Mary as a family, serving God in his own humble way. Who is this woman? That’s right, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Do you know where she was born? She was born in New Yor...
Read more

Homily: July 13, 2022, Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

-
 “Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike.”  What does it mean to be childlike? One of my sisters has three children, a 5-year-old son, a three-year-old girl and a 4-month-old baby girl. One day, her older children were playing with her husband. He was lying on his tummy while they were having so much fun jumping on his butt and sliding off the blanket. My sister then jokingly told the children, “If you keep jumping, daddy’s butt will be gone!” The three-year-old girl suddenly lifted up the blanket and reported, “Daddy’s butt is still here!” How simple. How un-inhibited. How innocent. That’s how children are. They do not think too much, they do not complicate life with unnecessary thoughts and concerns. They respond spontaneously and purely. They wonder but not doubt. They may be ignorant but they trust. They may not know so much but they believe. They may not be capable of big things but they are wise in lit...
Read more

Homilía: 3 Julio, 2022, XIV Domingo Ordinario

-
 “Pónganse en camino; yo los envío como corderos en medio de lobos. No lleven ni dinero, ni morral, ni sandalias”. Jesús está enviando a sus discípulos a proclamar la buena nueva de la salvación a todos. Sin embargo, su instrucción suena como si los estuviera enviando a morir, a una misión peligrosa. En lugar de avisarles que traigan todas las necesidades y recursos para ser autosuficientes e independientes, les está diciendo que sean indefensos y vulnerables. ¿Pueden manejar? Jesús es el cordero de Dios. Su misión es dar Su vida por Sus ovejas. Él es totalmente dependiente sólo de Dios. Él no necesita nada más de este mundo para cumplir Su misión. Y ahora Él está enseñando a Sus discípulos a hacer lo mismo. Él nos está diciendo que hagamos lo mismo. ¿Podemos manejarlo? Parece difícil, ¿no? Tengo un muy buen amigo, Doctor Samuel Thomas. El es un ministro pentecostal también presidente de una organización internacional llamada Hope Givers que da esperanza de un futuro mejor a los ni...
Read more