Faithfulness and Love

Category Archives: Christmas Season

Friday after Epiphany

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Some of us would have been in active ministry for quite a while. Throughout our ministry, we would have experienced joy, sadness, challenges, difficulties, etc. If we are to continuously work and do things for others, there may come a time where we may feel tired, fed up, or burned out. This is where we ought to follow Jesus’ example. In today’s Gospel: “His reputation continued to grow, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness cured, but he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.”

Notice that Jesus wasn’t working or doing things all the time. He would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray. This shows us that we need to take time off for rest, reflection and recreation. Let us not overdo things, but take opportunities to spend time with the Lord in silence and prayer, while recharging our “batteries” as well.

Thursday after Epiphany

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For many of us, loving God seems easy. We do not actually see Him, we do not feel Him directly, and we experience His continuous care in one form or another, without us even having to ask at times. However, when it comes to loving our neighbour, that becomes a great hurdle for some. Our neighbour could be our spouse, children, parents, in-laws, out-laws, friends, associates, acquaintances, un-friends, enemies, etc. We may find it easy to love those who love us, but loving those who hurt us, belittle us, irritate us, anger us, betray us; that seems a tough thing to do.

Today’s reading reminds us that: “Anyone who says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the brother that he can see cannot love God, whom he has never seen. So this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.” Are we selective in our love towards others? Or do we genuinely love all, regardless of how they treat us? Loving indeed is not easy, but we should remember that God loved all and sent His Son to save all. Are we willing to follow Jesus’ way in loving all?

Wednesday after Epiphany

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In life, we face all sorts of challenges and obstacles. As time goes by, some of us may feel worn out, discouraged, anxious, afraid, etc. However, Jesus in today’s Gospel assures us: “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.” Jesus can help us as we struggle along in life and with Him as our guide, we do not need to fear or worry any longer. Storms may come and go, but Jesus is there to protect us and help us weather the storm. Are we willing to let Him take control and care for us? Do we really and truly trust Him with our lives?

Tuesday after Epiphany

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When we hear of some people loving others without any hidden agenda or condition, we call that unconditional love. However, we sometimes come across people loving others because it is beneficial to them, and such love would be advantageous to them in some way. What about us? What sort of love do we have and practise?

Today’s reading reminds us that love comes from God “and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” Also, today’s reading tells us of God’s unconditional love, where He “sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him…” We also see in today’s Gospel how Jesus loved the crowd by not only teaching them, but also feeding them by performing the miracle of the multiplication of five loaves and two fish. Do we really know God and are willing to love unconditionally just as God loves us unconditionally? Are we following Jesus’ example in loving all?

Monday after Epiphany

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Every once in a while we hear someone preaching something which seems to be about Christ. They appear to be gaining lots of followers and soon they have mega-churches or big buildings, property and land to be used for so called evangelisation. However, today’s reading warns us to be careful and not be easily influenced by such people. The reading tells us:

“It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God, there are many false prophets, now, in the world. You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you were warned about.”

Not everything which people do in Jesus name is true. Sometimes there is deception in what appears to be true, so we need to discern carefully and see whether these people are genuine or just trying to lure us away from the Gospel. Many tragedies, forms of cheating and other evil have been committed, under the pretext of preaching the Gospel. Let us be careful and not be so easily influenced.

Epiphany

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Some of us like to follow stars. Some like to follow movie stars, singing stars, successful stars, wealthy stars; hoping perhaps that one day we would be like the stars we follow. The wise men in today’s Gospel were also after a star. However, this star is not just any ordinary star. This star is the true star which we should follow: Jesus Christ, King of kings.

To further affirm that Jesus is the true star, even the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh which the wise men brought have great significance. The gift of gold symbolises the kingship of Christ. Jesus Christ is a king, not of this world, but one of justice, peace and love. The second gift is the gift of frankincense. This gift symbolises the divinity of Christ. Christ is no mere human person. He is God made man. He is God with us. Finally, we have the gift of myrrh which points to the passion of Christ. Christ must suffer and die to save us. We must also be prepared to follow his ways and eventually on the way to the cross.

Today, let us choose to follow the one true star that really matters: our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. All other stars come and go, but Jesus is here to stay and He is leading and guiding us to be with him eternally. Are we willing to follow Him earnestly?

3 January

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Sin and God are incompatible. So if we sin, we are distancing ourselves from God. Sometimes we find it difficult to stay sinless, because of all sorts of temptations and attractions of the world. However, we have much opportunities to cleanse ourselves from sin by going for confession. The question is: have we been regular for confession? Do we value this precious sacrament?

Today’s reading assures us that “we are already the children of God but what we are to be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is revealed we shall be like him because we shall see him as he really is.” The reading also admonishes us by reminding us that “Surely everyone who entertains this hope must purify himself, must try to be as pure as Christ. Anyone who sins at all breaks the law, because to sin is to break the law.” If we want to remain in Christ, we must make every effort to avoid sin. If we sin, we must purify ourselves by going for confession. Let us not be shy or procrastinate, as our time is short. We do not know when the Lord will call us, so we should always try to remain ready, clean and pure to meet him.

2 January

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Most of us would have been taught about the faith as children or as adults, depending on whether we were baptised as infants or as adults. However, regardless of when and how we were taught, we are reminded in today’s reading to “Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning: as long as what you were taught in the beginning is alive in you, you will live in the Son and in the Father; and what is promised to you by his own promise is eternal life.”

As we go on in life, we may face various challenges, persecution, temptation, etc. However, we should make every effort to remain faithful to Christ and to God. As the reading also reminds us: “You are anointed with truth, not with a lie, and as it has taught you, so you must stay in him. Live in Christ, then, my children, so that if he appears, we may have full confidence, and not turn from him in shame at his coming.” Have we been taking heed to these words and remain in Christ? It may not be an easy task, but let us persevere and trust in God, knowing that God will care for us and not abandon us.