Homily: April, 14, 2025, Monday of Holy Week (Silent Justice)

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“He shall bring forth justice to the nations, not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street.” 

Throughout Holy Week, we will be reading from the Book of Prophet Isaiah. 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah had prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, not in a grand arrival, neither would He leave earth in a dignified departure.

The image of Christ described by Isaiah is that of a humble suffering servant of God. His mission is to ‘bring forth justice to the nations’, by taking on injustice on Himself.

He will carry the sins of the world through pain, yet He will not cry out, nor shout, He will bear all these in a meek, mild and humble way.

Isaiah’s prophecies were all fulfilled by Jesus, particularly in the days of Holy Week. This week’s readings invite us to look to Jesus, no to pity and pain for Him, but to learn from Him, to straighten up our spirit to imitate Him, and to follow His example.

All through Jesus’ trial, His great sufferings on the way to Calvary, up till His last torturous moments on the cross, Jesus remained composed, fully accepting, even embracing His cross. He was focused on accomplishing His mission, fulfilling God’s will.

This is what we are to learn, to imitate.

Many moments in my own life, there were unfair treatment, unjust results, frustrating situations which caused me to feel distress, restless and even deep sadness. The last thing I would want to do was to accept or embrace such situations. I may not have shouted nor cried out, but I did complain to my friends. Inwardly, I rejected and struggled with suffering and hardship. It was hard for me to see how such pain would be God’s will for me.

Yet I cannot deny that as I look back, I can clearly see how those most difficult moments have strengthened my faith and brought me closer to the Lord.

Whatever you find most difficult to accept, situations which stir your anger, arrogance or pride, I invite you to meditate seriously on the Holy Week readings.

Ask Jesus for the grace to be like Him.

Jesus said, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” He brought justice through peace and transformation through love.

May we, too, bring forth peace and justice to the nations, not by shouting or crying out, but through silent but powerful love and compassion. This world needs it.

Amen.


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Homily: April 20, 2024, Easter Sunday (Witnesses)

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“…there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him.”  “Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured…” I picked out these two phrases in today’s first reading to help us reflect deeper into the significance of what we are celebrating today. God spoke these words, through prophet Isaiah, some 700 years before it was all fulfilled. It described Jesus as the suffering servant, bruised, beaten and abandoned. If we were all there at the scene, looking at Jesus, beaten and bloodied, would we be able to look at Him? Would we be attracted to Him? I am quite sure we would all feel very uneasy, uncomfortable and might even walk out if we were to witness the full condition of Jesus suffering on the cross. It is not at all a pretty sight. Condemned as a criminal, stripped of dignity, mocked as a failure - Who would be drawn to someone so humiliated, badly broken and bloodied face? Yet today, we want to look intens...
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 Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” What is ‘the leaven of the Pharisees’ and ‘the leaven of Herod’? In this passage, Jesus must have been trying to teach His disciples something very important, but they were all thinking about food, specifically about bread, such that they didn’t understand what He was teaching. Who can blame them? Like all of us, they too had practical concerns, they were worried about the lack of food on the journey. But Jesus was trying to warn them of something more worrying, something which will not just keep them hungry, but will also destroy life. Recently, during my vacation with my sister, I listened to a Bible podcast she was following. Coincidentally, that episode was discussing the significance of the unleavened bread in the Old Testament. Why did God command the Israelites in Egypt to eat unleavened bread for their Passover feast? 1. Because they had to eat in haste, to finish their m...
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Homily: June 6, 2022, Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

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 According to St. John’s gospel, Jesus’ last words before He died is: “It is finished.”  What is finished? I did my Theology and post graduate studies in Rome, at the seminary Pontificio Collegio Internazionale Maria Mater Ecclesiae, the name means ‘Mary, Mother of the Church’. Outside the chapel, there was a beautiful mosaic image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For six years I walked in and out of that place daily, I must have seen it more than two thousand times, yet all through those years, I had never stopped to appreciate that image or to reflect deeper about it. I was oblivious to Mary’s presence in my life. But now as I look back, I can see how she has always been there for me. Mother Mary must have been looking at me as I walked in and out of the college struggling through my studies and difficulties, waiting to comfort me. I was not aware, but she was watching out for me, all the time. Mary, Mother of the church, like all good and loving mothers, has always been in our l...
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 “As for the son you will conceive and bear, no razor shall touch his head, for this boy is to be consecrated to God from the womb.” As we near Christmas, the readings at Mass help us to prepare well for the season. Today we hear about two miraculous births: the birth of Samson in the first reading and the birth of John the Baptist in the gospel.  I like reading about Samson. He had tremendous strength and killed many of the Israelites' enemies easily. God blessed him with extraordinary powers on one simple condition – “no razor shall touch his head.” All he needed to do was to keep his hair, nothing else. Why didn’t God ask for something more challenging since what He is giving to Samson is something amazing? This reminds me of God’s simple instruction to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, they just could not eat the fruit of a particular tree, nothing difficult. And another situation when God rescued Abraham, Sarah, Lot, and his wife, He promised them safety with only one s...
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 "There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known." Do you have secrets? Are you worried about your secrets being revealed? Do you keep secrets for someone else? Have you been tempted to leak out the secret to another person? Something I realized growing up in a large family, is that in big families, there are no secrets, there is no way to hide any secret, not for long. Someone will somehow find out something. When I was in school, the period after exams is the secretive time. The teachers would enter our examination results in our school journal, to be shown to our parents for their signature, then return to the teachers next day. My brother and I would always get poor grades, and we would hide our school journals, with a plan to only show to our parents the next day just before leaving for school, so that there would not be much time for them to scold us, they could just sign and we would run off quickly to school. The plan never wor...
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 The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. The soul of Bill is in the hand of God, no torment shall touch him. We are here to bid our final farewell to Bill, our beloved brother, grandpa, dad, husband, friend. I feel privileged to have known Bill these last two years and honored to preside over this Mass for his sending off. Many of you would have known him much longer and much better than I. I wish I had more time with him. I was awed when I read his obituary, his life story is inspirational. I know from my encounter with him that he was a dedicated husband, a loving and caring father, the greatest fan to every one of his grandchildren, and an incredible friend to countless people here and around the world. His going would surely leave a void in our lives. It is only natural that we grieve this loss. Bill was a man of remarkable character. His love for life, his sense of humor, and his thoughtfulness for others were the hallmarks of his persona...
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Homilía: Julio 17, 2022, XVI Domingo Ordinario

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