What does the Gospels says....??

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What is Jesus really teaching and doing in the 4 Gospels?

Perhaps Paul provided the best summary in 1 Corinthians - Chapter 13:13 when he said “As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.”

As Jesus Himself said (in MT 22:37-40): “'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.”

Jesus reaches out to everyone (including the tax collectors and prostitutes) especially the poor and needy regardless if they believed in Him. He help and cure them because of his Love for them. Many are converted because they felt loved by Jesus and followed Him.

So, if a Christian is someone who subscribed his faith to “the life and teachings of Jesus”, then Christians must live his life based the 2 commandments for: "Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love." - 1Jn 4:8.

As Christians, we place great importance in God’s Word and keep His commandments close to our hearts. However, words amount to nothing if we do not live by them or if we do not follow God’s will in our daily living. It is easy to profess what we believe in, yet our actions are not always in line with our profession.

Jesus did not reach out to the people with words but with deeds. Through our deeds, then we are a light to the world and messengers of Christ.

Only through our deeds, we know that we have faith in Christ. As James said in James Chapter 2:
17. In the same way faith, if good deeds do not go with it, is quite dead
18. It is by my deeds that I will show you my faith
22. So you can see that his faith was working together with his deeds; his faith became perfect by what he did.
24. You see now that it is by deeds, and not only by believing, that someone is justified.

We are called to remain devoted and faithful to God’s Word in our lives. The Last Judgment account in Mt 25 reminds us that it is our actual deeds of love that matter, not mere words.
In MT 7:21-27 , Jesus also warned us that not all who call “Lord…Lord…” will enter into Heaven. It is not lips service that He wants. He said a true disciple are those who hear the words and act on it. Not those who hear but do nothing.

Why would one who believed in Him and not follow His commandments?

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up

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This week's readings are as follows:
[Exodus 20:1-17] [1 Corinthians 1:22-25] [John 2:13-25

On this 3rd Sunday of Lent, we hear Jesus saying in the Gospel: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” to the shock and disbelief of the Jews. How can that be done when it took a period of forty six years to build the temple!

Through the teaching of St. John in the Gospel we know that Jesus was speaking of his body. That is why he said “I will raise it up” and not “I will rebuild it”. His prophecy was fulfilled in his resurrection.

All that Jesus said of his body as the temple applies to us now since we have become part of him through baptism. Through Jesus, we are lifted out from the grave of sins to live a life of fullness by His grace.

So, we should realize that we have been transformed into the Church. During this season of lent, let us reflect on what is stopping us from being closer to God. Let us ask God to help us repent and change our hearts and help us get closer to God.

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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“Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine” (1 Cor 11:1)

This week's reading are as follows:

[Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46] [1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1] [Mark 1:40-45]

In the first reading today, we read how a leprous man is considered unclean and must live in isolation outside the community.

In the second reading, Paul invite us to “Take me as your pattern, just as I take Christ for mine” (1 Cor 11:1) and “Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God”

The Gospel reading today, we see how a leprous man came to Jesus and asked Him for healing. The man said “If you are willing, you can cleanse me” (Mk 1:40) which really tell us that the man knew that Jesus is God and that He can cure him of his disease.

Being a compassionate man, Jesus of course cured the man. He told the man not to tell anyone but to show himself to the priest. Instead, the man proclaim freely and Jesus was no longer able to go openly into any town but to deserted spots. People from every corner is seeking Jesus…

How ironical that the leprous man who was supposed to be insolated is now back in the community when Jesus cured him. Yet, Jesus is now forced to be isolated because the man proclaimed freely how Jesus had cured him. What a reversal of situations….

So, with Paul’s invitation in mind, are we prepared to be like Jesus and Paul to serve our communities? Do we must provide comfort and aid to others during their times of physical duress?

And like the man Jesus cured, we are also called to share our own experience of spiritual healing, and more importantly to introduce the “Great Physician,” Jesus Christ to people around us.

Our sharing of experiences and our act of love by deed will result in people everywhere corner coming to seek out Jesus……and that’s evangelizing.

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Generous in Service

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This week's reading :
[Job 7:1-4, 6-7], [1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23], [Mark 1:29-39]

Every day, news on TV, papers as well as the internet is filled with companies recording record loss, banks going bust, investment vanishes into thin air and people losing their jobs, family losing their home….all the doom and gloom.

In the first reading today, Job is complaining and lamenting about his misfortune in self pity. A picture of hopelessness is painted when he said : "I am allotted months of futility and nights of grief and misery ... Oh God, never will I see happiness again.”

In this world we are living today amid the economic crisis, the situation of Job can be very real to us too. No matter how bad is the situation, we should never give up. But to find purpose and meaning in our lives which will pull us out of the rut.

In the second reading, we see how Paul found the purpose in his life and despite being persecuted, shipwrecked and imprisoned, Paul found his fulfilment by zealously sharing his God experience with people: "In announcing the gospel I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel."

Today‘s Gospel reading in Mark coupled with last Sunday’s reading, provide a composite of Jesus’ many acts of gracious healing. Jesus showed us that despite being the Son of God, He knew His mission and purpose which is to serve by preaching the Gospel and healing.

Another example was Peter's mother-in-law. Instead of lying back to recuperate after being healed, she immediately began to serve Jesus and the others with him.

Therefore whenever we feel down and feel the impulse to complain, the best cure for that is to go out and render service to others, especially the less fortunate.

And we should pray a lot like Jesus who went away to a quiet spot to pray to His Father. Only through prayers that we can communicate with our Father and be able to do what He command us to so.

Jesus's authority......

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This is the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time and the readings are as follows:

[Deuteronomy 18:15-20] [1 Corinthians 7:32-35] [Mark 1:21-28]

One of the things about this week’s reading that strike me is how Jesus teaches with authority. His authority came from within, from who He was, Emmanuel, God with us, and from the truth he taught. He communicate the truth using parables and reinforced His teachings by His miraculous power to heal and do good. His exemplary life of love and charity made Him friends of all people including lepers, tax collectors and even prostitutes.

Jesus attracted followers by preaching the truth and living a life of love and charity. Love and charity that is consistent to all – no exceptions.
As followers of Jesus, do we strive to live our lives like Him..with love and compassion for people around us?

We must try to be more and more like Jesus in our thoughts, words and deeds, in how we relate to people and react to the various situations we face in life.

“Evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless zeal” – By Pope Paul VI.

Are we really true Christians and followers of Christ? Reflect on our lives and there lies the answers….

Willing servants of the Lord

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This is the 3rd Ordinary Sunday and the readings are as follows:
[Jonah 3:1-5, 10], [1 Corinthians 7:29-31], [Mark 1:14-20]

Firstly, Gong Xi Fa Cai !

This week, we celebrate the conversion of St Paul and we are challenged to ask ourselves – are we willing servant of the Lord?

Christ died on the cross for us so that we can receive salvation of God. Jesus died with open arms because He wants to embrace the entire human race….to save as many people as possible…in fact everyone.

In Christ, we are united as one family of God with Christ as our head and we need to bring more people to Jesus. This week’s reading tell us how Jesus invited the apostles to follow Him…and they did so immediately.

How about us? Who invited us to follow Him? Perhaps, our parents or loved ones….

Do we invite others around us to follow Christ?

We need to remember that Jesus call on us to share His Word with everyone. We need to do so immediately and not like Jonah who was reluctant to do his mission. Let us be willing servants of the Lord. Let us go that extra mile for the Lord to bring God’s peace to people who need it. We thank God for giving us the strength and grace to do His work.

And once again, Gong Xi Fai Cai to those who celebrate Chinese New Year which explains why this post came late....

First Sunday of Advent

Image via WikipediaThis past week-end marks the start of a new liturgical year for the Catholic Church. This week's reading are as follows :
[Isaiah 63:16-17, 19] [1 Corinthians 1:3-9] [Mark 13:33-37]

The readings this week has special meanings for me after reading the many postings on the various forums. The debate on salvation, second coming of Christ, the end of the world etc..

The Gospel that Jesus teaches us is "pretty simple" and that is to love our neighbour and I truly believed that Christians can make our home a better place by following Christ and loving our neighbour just as God has loved us.

Then we should just "stay awake and be alert" waiting for the coming of Christ. When? It doesn't really matter because we really don't know as only the Father does. What is more important is : Are we ready for His coming?

Are we ready to receive Him and are we ready to answer Him when he asked:
- Did you feed me when I am hungry?
- Did you give me water when I am thirsty?
- Did you clothed me when I am naked?
- Did you visit me in hospital when I am sick?
- Did you visit me in prison when I am lonely?

In conclusion, did we love our neighbour and be a true disciple of Christ? Or are we still talking about our how much faith we have and how other faith (even denominations) are false etc...?

This first Sunday of Advent is a waking up call for us and a time for us to start thinking what we have done for the past year, to confess our sins and pray to God to help us be his true disciple.

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Image via WikipediaThis week, is a dedication of the lateran Basilica in Rome and readings are as follows:
[Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12] [1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17] [John 2:13-22]

This week's reading saw Jesus telling the people to "stop using my Father's house as a market" and chasing them out of the temple....Indeed, the temple is for doing the business of the Father and not an avenue for making money.

Jesus stood up against the people who are trying to destroy the temple and we too must stand up when faced with the same.

Personally, it is sad to see how some pastors (who don't even have proper training) sugar coat their preaching and using the Church to make money. They are making use of people's trust in God and one day, they too will be chased out by Jesus.

Let us continue to preach the true Gospel and overcome any obstacles to help lead our brothers’ and sisters’ towards our beloved Jesus.