Day: August 22, 2014

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Sunday, 24 August 2014 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Lay Apostolate Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 16 : 13-20

After that, Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. He asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They said, “For some of them You are John the Baptist, for others Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “It is well for you, Simon Bar-Jona, for it is not flesh or blood that has revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven.”

“And now I say to you : You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church; and never will the powers of death overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven : whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven.”

Then He ordered His disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ.

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Sunday, 24 August 2014 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Lay Apostolate Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 11 : 33-36

How deep are the riches, the wisdom and knowledge of God! His decisions cannot be explained, nor His ways understood!

Who has ever known God’s thoughts? Who has ever been His adviser? Who has given Him something first, so that God had to repay him?

For everything comes from Him, has been made by Him and has to return to Him. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

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Sunday, 24 August 2014 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Lay Apostolate Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 137 : 1-2a, 2bc-3, 6 and 8bc

I thank You, o Lord, with all my heart, for You have heard the word of my lips. I sing Your praise in the presence of the gods. I bow down towards Your holy Temple and give thanks to Your Name.

For Your love and faithfulness, for Your word which exceeds everything. You answered me when I called; You restored my soul and made me strong.

From above, the Lord watches over the lowly; from afar, He marks down the haughty. Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of Your hands.

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Sunday, 24 August 2014 : 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Lay Apostolate Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 22 : 19-23

You will be deposed, strongman. I will hurl you down from where you are. On that day I will summon My servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe, I will strengthen him with your girdle, I will give him your authority, and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the people of Judah.

Upon his shoulder I will place the key of the House of David : what he opens, no one shall shut; what he shuts, no one shall open. I will fasten him like a peg in a sure spot, and he will be a seat of honour in the house of his father.

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Saturday, 23 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about how the Lord spoke to the people on the need for us all to be humble and true in our faith, and that a question is actually posed to us, namely, whether we are able to realise if what we do in this life truly serve the Lord or to serve our own purposes, and whether these bring benefits to our salvation through the good intentions we had, or if we merely feed the sense of our own ego and pride.

And in the first reading we read about the vision of Ezekiel who saw the glory of God in heaven, to whom God had granted His favour, allowing him to see the marvels of the Lord, and the true nature and glory of God, who is Almighty and All-Powerful. After all, He is the Lord of all, and the Creator of all things, living and non-living. Therefore, it is only right that He and His majesty ought to be praised, honoured and worshipped.

That comes therefore to the point when Jesus pointed out the contrast between this and the behaviours and attitudes of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the elders of the people. They wore elaborate garments and ornaments, praying loudly and visibly in public places, not because they had God in their hearts and minds, but instead, they were truly serving their own glory, their own ego and their own desires.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is easy for us mankind to be tempted by the goodness around us, and it is easy for us to be tempted to bring goodness and glory to ourselves. However, we should neither be quick to judge others, in particular when this concerns what we have in the Church. Many these days do not truly understand what the Church had done, and what we especially used to commonly do in the past, before the flaw-filled implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

We are often quick to judge when we look at the past and saw the greatness and opulence of the celebration of the Mass of the Ages, that is the Usus Antiquior or the Ancient Use of the Mass according to the rites approved by the Council of Trent. We who live in this modern world and time are often not aware of the tradition of our faith, and we end up accusing those who remain faithful to the rites of our fathers in the same way they accused the Pharisees and the elders of Israel.

However, if we understand the true beauty of the celebration of the Mass as it was according to the rite of the Council of Trent, we will realise how much honour, praise and adoration this way of worship offers to the Lord. All the beauty and the honours present in the celebration of the Mass, all of them are not for men, but for the sake of God. On the other hand, the Pharisees and the elders of Israel, when they pray and work, they do them to gain the praise and adoration from men, and therefore their hearts are not filled with God, but instead with the desire and greed of men.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Rose of Lima, or St. Rosa of Lima, the first saint of the Latin American region and in fact the very first saint which was born in the Americas or the New World. She was a very beautiful woman, who out of great piety and love for the Lord, refused to listen to the will of their parents who wanted her to marry, and despite many suitors who chased after her, she purposefully splashed dust and pepper on her face to make herself look ugly to deter her numerous suitors.

St. Rose of Lima had such a great devotion to the Lord, that she wanted to join the religious life to dedicate herself completely and fully to God. This was opposed by her father, but she did not give up. Instead, she continued to grow stronger in her faith and love for God, and took up a perpetual vow of virginity to show her total dedication towards the Lord.

St. Rose of Lima even resorted to wear a heavy silver crown with thorns in the memory of the suffering of Christ as He wore the crown of thorns on the way to Calvary. She remained pious and holy, and she received visions throughout her short life, and many were inspired by her great zeal and faith for God. In her, we see an exemplary model, who showed us that human beauty, greatness and ego should have no place or value at all. Rather, we should all be humble, and do not flaunt or be proud of our achievements and greatness.

If we have a good trait or something that God had given us, then all the more we should humbly use them for the benefit of others around us, and dedicating them to the greatness of the Lord, just as St. Rose of Lima and many other saints of God had done. Let us all work hard for the Lord and for all of us ourselves, helping one another to reach our Lord and God. May Almighty God bless us all in everything we do and guide us to Himself. Amen.

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Saturday, 23 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Matthew 23 : 1-12

Then Jesus said to the crowd and to His disciples, “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe all they say, but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even raise a finger to move them.”

“They do everything in order to be seen by people : they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first places at feasts and reserved seats in the synagogues, and they like being greeted in the marketplace, and being called ‘Master’ by the people.”

“But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father, because you have only one Father, He who is in heaven. Nor should you be called Leader, because Christ is the only Leader for you.”

“Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”

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Saturday, 23 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Psalm 84 : 9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Would that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His Glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Saturday, 23 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Ezekiel 43 : 1-7a

He took me to the gate, facing east. Then I saw the Glory of the God of Israel approaching from the east with a sound like the sound of the ocean, and the earth shone with His Glory.

This vision was like the one I had seen when He came for the destruction of the city, and like the one I had seen on the bank of the river Chebar. Then I threw myself to the ground.

The Glory of YHVH arrived at the Temple by the east gate. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court : the Glory of YHVH was filling the House. And I heard someone speaking to me from the Temple while the Man stood beside me.

The voice said, “Son of man, you have seen the place of My throne.”

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Friday, 22 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if last week we celebrated an important feast and part of our faith, that is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary, brought body and soul into the glory of heaven, then today, exactly a week after that day, after the completion of the Octave of the Assumption, today we celebrate the great honours given to Mary herself, as a Queen, by the virtue of her being the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore as the Mother of God or Theotokos.

Yes, Mary is a Queen, and she has been blessed with many titles that many had attributed to her over the ages. Indeed, she is truly blessed as the greatest among all that God had created, as the most beautiful jewel amongst God’s creation, conceived and born without the taint of sin, prepared special for the accommodation of the coming of the Saviour of the world, to be the very Mother of God herself, by virtue of herself as the mother of the living Word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ.

Through her, what had been prophesied by the prophet Isaiah in the first reading today came true, that a people in darkness has truly seen a great light, and this light brought new hope to countless peoples who had long lived in the darkness of sin and evil. Through the actions of Mary, this salvation of God came to mankind, a liberation that many had long sought for.

Mary is Queen, not by the virtue of her birth or her status in life. She was born to St. Joachim and St. Anne, her parents who were simple people, not having status or wealth, but they had faith and devotion to the Lord. It was under their care that Mary grew both in body and spirit, and she eventually came to be the one, the young virgin whom the Archangel Gabriel, God’s messenger, came to visit on that one day in the quiet village of Nazareth.

Mary’s faith in God was truly remarkable, because even though the Archangel revealed to her something too great for her understanding and too good to be true, she entrusted herself completely to the will of God, and allowed herself to be used for the works of the Lord, through which God exercised His greatest work ever, that is the accomplishment of the long awaited salvation of mankind, God’s most beloved creation.

Any other woman or person would have doubted such message and plan that the Lord has for them. But not Mary, and she was truly suited for her role, and the Lord had groomed her since her very conception to be the one who would bear the Christ within her, to be the physical vessel of our Lord Himself, to bring the Saviour into this world.

And as I had mentioned during the Assumption celebration, this is why death has no power over her, as she was truly without sin, and as the Mother of God, the one who bore Christ within her, she was truly the new Ark of the new Covenant in Christ, and therefore, the Lord raised her body and soul into heaven, as it is not fitting for someone as pure and great as her to suffer the consequence of sin that is death.

Mary is the greatest and the foremost of all the saints, because in all of her ways in life, she was exemplary, pure and immaculate in all things. She represented all the things that are expected by God from us in life, and she is our role model in faith, as when we follow how she lived her faith, we will certainly realise how truly faithful she was to her mission and calling to live her life in fully attuned manner to the will of God.

Mary is the greatest of all mankind, and according to the tradition of our faith, by virtue of her faith and devotion to God, which was so complete, the Lord rewarded her not just by bringing her body and soul into heaven, but also, as the Mother of God or Theotokos, she was crowned by the angels in heaven as the Queen of heaven, because indeed, her Son, Jesus our Lord is King of all kings. As such, that is why we celebrate Mary’s queenship on this day, in honour of this holy woman and virgin who had dedicated it all to the Lord.

Mary is known by many titles, some of which include Queen of All Saints, Queen of Angels, Queen of Peace, and many others, as in her role both when she still walked on this world and in the heavenly glory of her queenship, she is our greatest help and intercessor before her own Son, our Lord. Yes, Mary is the closest person to Jesus, as she is His mother after all. In her position as the Queen of heaven, she helps and advises her Son in many things, and certainly she prays for us sinners who still roam this world.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate the Feast of the Queenship of Mary, the Mother of our God, let us all reflect on our own lives, and strive to be able to follow in the footsteps of Mary, whose faith and total devotion was plain for all to see, and for whose part to play in the plan of salvation, God had brought His salvation to all through Jesus.

Let us all ask for the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, our Queen and our role model. Let us ask her to beseech on our behalf before the throne of her Son in heaven, that He may take pity on us sinners, and provided that we change our ways and seek Him, may we all be reunited with Him and His mother Mary, in the glory of heaven promised to all of us. Mary, our Mother, bring us to your beloved Son, our Lord! Amen.