2nd Sunday of the year

HOMILY – Second Sunday of The Year
(16.01.2010)

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Gospel Reading: John 2:1-12
“This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee.”

This Gospel passage of John is familiar to us. And following our Christian traditions, there are so many interpretations. But what is important in this miracle is the generosity of God.

Jesus had no reason to turn so much water into wine; yet He did. He did, because He wanted His disciples to experience, to see for themselves, the generosity of God.

It is amazing how John presented this first sign - changing water into wine. This master story teller, John the evangelist, needed an occasion for Jesus to launch His public ministry. You know, nowadays we are so familiar with the launching of a brand new car: Mercedes, or Toyota, or Proton; launching of a product; launching of books, and so many things. John the evangelist, took this wedding as a launching pad for Jesus – for His public ministry.

Now, John the Baptist was gone. Jesus needed somebody to introduce Him, and John the evangelist took His own mother as the PR consultant. There are so many wonders in this little episode … why would Mary tell Jesus that they have no wine? Some scholars say that mother Mary knew Jesus and His gang through and through. Wherever they were, the wine would run out. And that is why mother Mary told Jesus. In other words, they had finished the wine.

Now, the response of Jesus is very strange. He said, “Why tell me this? My hour has not yet come”. But mother Mary, like all mothers, ignored what Jesus said, and she went straight to the attendants and said, “Do what He tells you”.

Here, Mary is not just the herald, the PR consultant of Jesus; she is also presented as the faithful follower of Jesus - a disciple. Because her role is to do ‘what He tells you’. The moment Mary uttered these words, Jesus gave the word and the miracle happened.

What is important here is the openness of the servant. Jesus asked him to fill …. You know how difficult it is to fill 20 to 30 gallons of water? Even with a pipe running, for me to fill 20 gallons is quite a task, isn’t it? In those days, I’m sure they had no pipe; they would have to run down the hill to the valley, to the stream, to take the water. They did.

This miracle is not so much about the wedding, about the bride or the groom. It is all about the generosity of God. And it’s true.

We look at our lives – we have a lot of complaint, sure ... you drive around, it’s traffic jam; if it’s not jam, you can’t find a parking lot. We have a lot of complaints. But one thing we need to be aware of is that our God has blessed us abundantly. The miracle is to open our eyes to see the wonder of God. God will never fail. What fails is that we can’t see, we can’t recognize, we can’t appreciate.

In this Holy Mass, our Lord comes to us again. Our Lord comes to us in the most spectacular way. He changes Himself into defenceless bread, powerless bread, so that we all can receive Him. But even with Jesus changing Himself into bread, do we receive Him? Do we ever appreciate this miracle of all miracles: my God becoming bread just for me! Can you imagine… God the Creator, my God, changes Himself into bread for one reason - just for me!

May the generosity of God fill us, touch us. And with this generosity of God, we are sure all of us can live our lives fully. May we experience this generosity of God in our lives. Yes, there are a lot of limitations, there are a lot of disappointments, but that does not diminish the generosity of God.

To this God who loves us, we praise and thank Him.


Rev Fr Stephen Lim
Holy Trinity Church, Kuching

1st Sunday of the Year

HOMILY - 1st Sunday of the Year
9.1.2010

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Gospel Reading: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

"While Jesus after His own baptism was at prayer, heaven opened."

God does not need baptism; we need baptism. The feast we celebrate manifests the humanity of Christ. He is so human that He needed this baptism.

What is baptism? There is nothing mysterious; there is nothing magical. You see, what happened when Jesus was baptized: the heaven was opened, the Holy Spirit manifested Itself, and God the Father spoke.

The meaning of the baptism of our Lord is centred around the words that came from the mouth of Father God. It is interesting that the other evangelists put different words into the mouth of God: John and Mathew, "This is my beloved Son"; but not in Luke. Luke is one of the evangelists who emphasizes the humanity of Christ, or the sanctity of humanity. Now, in Luke, what the Father said is crucial. The Father didn't say, this is my Son. He didn't say, listen to Him.

In Luke, the Father spoke to the Son, to Jesus Himself. It looks like Jesus was not quite sure of His purpose in life. At baptism He discovered His only purpose. At baptism our Lord is being affirmed by the Father. That is why the Father spoke to Him. And this revelation is only for Christ, not for others. Because the Father tells Jesus, "You are my Son, the Beloved; My favour rests on You".

This baptism is for Jesus - for Jesus to experience God affirming Him as the Beloved, as the Son, as the one on whom the favour of God rests. In other words, before Jesus sets out on His mission, He needs the Father to affirm Him, to reassure Him.

And this is what happens to us at our baptism. This is so important for us, and we need to experience this reality that we are God's children every day of our lives. You know, that's why it is so difficult to tell, especially traditional Catholics including cradle Catholics, that it is not going to church that makes us Catholics.

I know I said many times before - going to church does not make you and I a Catholic as much as us entering a garage. The garage won't turn us into a car. Isn't it true? I sent my car for servicing many times. I came out, and I didn't appear like a car.

What makes us Catholics is what God is doing for us. And what God is doing for us is making us into His own beloved ones - His own beloved children, beloved sons, beloved daughters.

On this feast of The Baptism of our Lord, may you like Christ hear God telling you personally, you are my son, you are my daughter, the beloved; my favour rests on you.

This is what makes us Christians. And because we are Christians, that is why we come to church. I send a car to a garage because it is a car. I come to church because I am a Christian. It is not true to say that I come to church, therefore, now I am a Catholic. I am a Catholic because my God loves me. He calls me beloved, and He assures me that all His favours rest on me. Because this is what God has done, or is doing for me, I am a Catholic. And because God is doing all these things, that is why I'm here.

I can preach until all the cows come home and we will remain sleeping Catholics - until something happens; until we ourselves experience God relating with us, assuring us, affirming us as the beloved. You are my beloved daughter; you are my beloved son; all my favour rests on you.

This is the truth that its meaning is not just meant to be known. It is meant for all of us to experience. And it is important that we experience this, especially right now.

You look at our country. What is sad is not just three churches being burnt or being attacked, or the hostility, but the trust among us has just vanished. As Catholics, can we take pride in that we won when the high court passed the decision that it is not against the Constitution for us to use the word "Allah" in our Catholic Herald? Sure we won, but what is use of this winning when so many would feel that they lost. There is no victory, isn't it, when there is so much unhappiness?

Yes, we can give all the reasons there is for this tension, for this conflict. And we have all the reasons to blame it on extremism, on militancy. But let us get real. Faith is obedient, and obedience is more than just knowledge. It has to do with our emotion. Now those people who go around throwing fire-bombs - I don't think they are happy. I don't think they are even free.

You know, when we talk of criminal law - let's say I'm a lover. I see my girlfriend going with this man, and I kill that man. This is a crime of passion. Why do they call it a crime of passion? It means at that moment I'm not free.

What I want to say is that, as Catholics, even when we insist on our rights, let us remember that even though laws and rights are inalienable, there are other things we need to look at. Sure, we can go around insisting on our rights, but isn't it true that in the words of the Master to us, we let others grow and we decrease. Isn't it true that, like St Francis, we need to seek more to understand rather than insisting that we must be understood at all costs? Isn't it true that, because we are God's children, we are prepared even to loose our rights rather than insisting on our rights at the expense of so much hatred and violence?

The baptism of our Lord speaks to us in volumes of our true calling. As God, Jesus needs not go through that baptism, but He willingly embraces baptism. I think if we were to allow Christ to touch us with His whole life, there is one clear signal at His birth, at His baptism, at His crucifixion, at His resurrection and ascension; there is one clear message in the whole life of Christ.

We live in a very unfair world. We want to change many things, isn't it? I went through this patch where I had problem with God, and since I can't have my way, I changed my God. Can you imagine I changing God? We can change God. We can change the Constitution. We can change the Prime Minister. We can change everything. But, let us get one thing straight - everything remains the same.

The birth, the baptism, the death and the resurrection of our Lord have this vital message of life for us, especially in our country: For things to change, it's not the constitution, it's not the police, it's not the court, it's not the PM, it's me! God needs not change; Jesus needs not change. He needs not be baptized but He willingly received baptism.

What is He trying to tell us? God being baptized, God being born, God dying... can God die? If God can die, He is not God. But He willingly died. Why? The message is this: for things to change I must change first. As Christians, we know God, but what is the use of knowing God when we become the source of so much hatred and violence.

Sure you can say we have the right. You know, we look at Islam today... If there is any religion that can have an insight or to understand Islam, it is Christianity. Because what Islam is going through today, the Catholic church went through eight hundred years ago. We see all the things, especially the extremism - militant extremism - killing; taking of life in the name of God and religion. We Catholics are the first. You pick any history book - let it be Inquisition; let it be Crusade - we have been through that path of hell. If there is anyone on earth that can understand them, it's us. Because we have been through that dungeon; we have been through that hell. But what is the use of being through that dungeon when we are so proud.

The message of The Baptism of our Lord is this: because God loves us, because we are His children, we are different; and we can make all the difference there is in this world. It is up to us: we can go to the court; we can insist on our rights - at all cost, at all expense. But does that enrich life? Isn't it true that our world will be better if we just take the steps of Christ?

For things to change, I must change first. In this Holy Mass, we entrust to God our nation - a nation that is wounded; a nation that is hurt, that is hurting, that is in misery and suffering. And we ask God to allow us to be the instruments of healing for the nation. We can, because we are God's beloved children; we have the favour of God.

To this God who loves us, we praise and thank Him.

Rev Fr Stephen Lim
Holy Trinity Church, Kuching

Epiphany

HOMILY – EPIPHANY
(04.01.2010)

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Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:1-12
“We came from the east to do the king homage.”

This story of Jesus, told by St Matthew, is very familiar to us.

You know, the star is something that is natural. What Matthew wants us to realize is that natural wisdom, human wisdom and human knowledge cannot reveal God. Let it be human wisdom; let it be natural sciences - all these do not contradict faith, but they do not lead to the nature of God.

That is why these three wise men, when they were in Jerusalem, couldn't see the star. They were lost, and that is why they had to consult King Herod. But it is very strange that these wise men would walk into the palace of Herod and ask where is the new born King, because whenever the palace has a new born child, the whole world will know. It was the scribes, the priests who revealed the messiah to these three wise men. And the moment they came out of the palace, they saw the star there, and this star led them to the manger.

You know, we can know God not because we are diligent or we are intelligent. We can know God because it is the delight of God to reveal Himself. Now, for example, I just can't walk out to the bus-stop outside, and seeing a few people there, ask: Can you tell me you're happy or not? Or, I can't know the truth by forcing someone to tell what is inside: whether you're sad, whether you're happy. People will reveal what is inside only when they love, isn't it?

Likewise with God revealing Himself. God revealed Himself to us because He loves us. And because He revealed, we can know Him. Otherwise we can never know Him. And we see how Matthew concluded this episode. Epiphany in Greek means revelation - God unfolding Himself; God unfolding Himself as Emmanuel, 'God with us'. These three wise men, after doing homage to the newborn King, did not go back to the path where they came from. They did not return to Herod. They went back another way.

This Christmas, God reveals Himself to us; He reveals Himself to us as a defenceless child. God comes to us in a manner that does not threaten us. Having received this revelation, we can never return to our old life, because when God reveals, we are being transformed. In this Holy Mass, our Lord comes to us. He comes because He loves us, and that is why we can never know God without love. It is only in love that the birth of the Saviour makes sense.

It is only in the context of love that the Eucharist has meaning. You take this love away, the Eucharist is just bread and wine, nothing more, nothing less... bread and wine. But in the context of love, everything changes. This bread becomes our Saviour - our Saviour giving Himself to us.

In this Holy Mass, our Lord comes to us. He comes not because we are good Catholics. He comes not because our prayers are powerful or our faith is powerful. There is nothing we can do to make God present. He is present simply because it is His delight to be with us - to reveal Himself, to give Himself. And that is why we can never experience His presence without love, especially gratitude, because gratitude or thanksgiving will open our being to this God who gives Himself, who reveals Himself.

On this feast of Epiphany, may you discover this love. May you discover Him being with you. You know, when we think of God being with us... He comes to us with His abundance. He is a generous God. Everything we need, everything we long for, is in Him. When He comes … God never comes to us empty-handed... The Eucharist and the Epiphany have the same message: we have a God who comes, and when He comes, He gives – He gives all, He gives the best to all of us.

In this Mass, as we receive Him, we ask Him to open our life, our heart, our whole being to Him and receive His abundant blessing. In experiencing Him being with us, may we live our life fully. And we all can; we all can because our God is a God who loves, who empowers us in giving Himself to us. With this God who loves us, we all live our life fully, especially throughout this new year.

To this God who loves us, we praise and thank Him.

Rev Fr Stephen Lim
Holy Trinity Church, Kuching

Feast of Epiphany (03.01.10)

Homily by His Grace, Archbishop John Ha

Stars are fascinating bodies of light in the universe. In a place where there are no city lights, one could gaze into the sky in a clear night and be captivated by the countless stars in the sky. In days of old, stars played an important role in night navigation. In today’s Gospel story we have an instance of this guiding role of a star: magi from the East were guided by a star to Bethlehem – to the place where Jesus, the infant king of the Jews, was born.

Magi were originally members of the Persian priestly caste. Persia was east of the Promised Land. Magi were people associated with supernatural knowledge and power. In the Old Testament (Num. 24:17), a “magus” from the east was asked to curse the people of Israel but instead blessed them. He said, “A star shall rise from Jacob, and a scepter from Israel.” In the light of this background, the magi in our Gospel story were people of supernatural knowledge and power. They came from the east to look for the “infant king of the Jews”.

In this search of theirs, these magi were guided by a star which took them to Jerusalem where it seemed to disappear. This left them in a lurch and they needed another form of guidance – guidance from the scriptures. This guidance came from the chief priests and scribes of the people whom King Herod consulted. All these were the scripture scholars of the day. They knew from the prophet that this infant leader was to be born at Bethlehem in Judea. And when the magi had received this information, there in front of them was the star they had seen rising. It went forward and halted over the place where the child was.”

The magi with all their supernatural knowledge needed a star – a cosmic body of light – as a guide for direction. The supernatural knowledge associated with them could not dispense with this natural knowledge provided by science. Now that they were privileged to have a star for their guide – that is, science for their direction, they found themselves coming to a standstill in Jerusalem. The star had apparently disappeared. Natural science, however advanced, can only do so much to lead us to God. Beyond it, there is a need for revelation to know God more. It was with that revelation that the magi could proceed to find the infant king of the Jews. When they came before Him, “they fell to their knees and did Him homage”. This gesture expresses worship – an activity properly rendered to God. So they actually acknowledged the baby Jesus as God-with-us – that is, the Emmanuel.

There are a couple of points from today’s feast that I would like to draw attention to. The first has to do with the relationship between reason and scientific knowledge on the one hand and faith and revelation on the other. There is no contradiction between the two sets of knowledge. Science does not disprove God. In fact, it points to God. The more science discovers the whole complex of nature, its laws and its inexhaustible potential through interactions among its components, the more it affirms that there is God and He is the one sustaining all these mysteries of nature. Just take the human body as an example. It is a world by itself. The complexities of the cells, tissues, organs and nerve systems of the body, where they are located in the body, how they interact are such that each organ and function require their own specialists to unfold the wonders behind them or to treat them when they become defective. No matter how science explains all these complexities and how they work together, it has to come to terms with God – the one who created the human body as a living body and sustains all the whole net work of complexities in it. Take God away from all these, the body collapses and returns to dust or even to nothingness.

Faith and revelation are needed for us to go beyond reason and science to know more about the God who created the universe and every being in it. More than that, faith and revelation bring us into a personal relationship with God. Revelation is given in the scriptures as well as in the living tradition of the Church. Revelation endorses all that science and reason tell us about God, and leads us beyond. It tells us who God is – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It unfolds God’s loving plan of salvation for us. St. Paul in today’s second reading acknowledges this revelation: “It was by a revelation that I was given the knowledge of the mystery. This mystery has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.”

One of the things the scriptures revealed to the magi was that the baby born in a manger in Bethlehem was the infant king of the Jews. Then when they had found Him, revelation told them that He was God-with-us, the Emmanuel. That was why they fell to their knees and did Him homage – they worshipped Him. He was God coming to save us from sin. Surely, in the story of the magi, the close relationship between scientific knowledge provided by the cosmos and revelation given in the scriptures is asserted.

The second point I would like to highlight from today’s feast is that God’s salvation, while coming to the Jews and taking place in their midst, was no less meant for the Gentiles represented by the magi from the east. This would be given endorsement later on when the risen Lord just before ascending to His Father’s right hand commissioned His apostles to go out into the whole world and make disciples of all nations (Mt. 28:18-20). They were to do this by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them all Jesus had commanded them. In giving this commission, Jesus assured His apostles, “I am with you to the close of age.” This assurance had obviously to do with the Emmanuel – God-with-us.

We thank God that because of the apostles’ fidelity to this commission followed by that of the missionaries, we have come to receive the scriptures. Like the magi we have come to believe in Jesus the Emmanuel, God-with-us, through reason and science as well as through faith and revelation in the scriptures as expounded by the Church. Like the magi we have come to worship the Emmanuel in Christ, the infant king of the Jews. There is one other thing we need to imitate the magi. The Gospel story tells us, “They were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.” We need also to take a different way in our lives – that is, to change our lifestyle if this has been directed by a godless mentality and fraught with sinful tendencies. We need to convert – to turn to the Lord.

We are still in Christmastide as well as the beginning of the year. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you and your dear ones at home: A BLESSED CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR, abundantly filled with God’s choicest blessings.

Archbishop John Ha

Saturday, 02 January 2010

(at Holy Trinity Church

for the Installation of Rev Fr Augustine Jepy

as rector of Holy Trinity Church)