Day: July 29, 2015

by

Thursday, 30 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Matthew 13 : 47-53

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish in buckets, but throw the worthless ones away.”

“That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So He said to them, “You will see that every teacher of the Law, who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old.”

When Jesus had finished these parables, He left that place.

by

Thursday, 30 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11

My soul yearns, pines, for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o Lord of hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your house, continually singing Your praise! Happy the pilgrims whom You strengthen, they go from strength to strength.

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

by

Thursday, 30 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Exodus 40 : 16-21, 34-38

Moses did this; he did exactly as YHVH had commanded him. The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts.

He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and on top of this the covering for the Tent, as YHVH had commanded Moses. He took the Covenant and placed it inside the Ark. He set the poles to the Ark in place and put the mercy Seat on it. He brought the Ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the Ark of YHVH, as YHVH had commanded Moses.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of YHVH filled the Holy Tent. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the cloud that rested on it and because of the Glory of YHVH that filled the Holy Tent. At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent the people of Israel would continue their march.

If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did. For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the House of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.

by

Wednesday, 29 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of an important persona in the Bible, a woman by the name of Martha, sister to Mary and Lazarus, and a good friend and companion of our Lord Jesus Christ. She and her siblings followed Jesus and helped Him many times during His journey, as the companions to His disciples.

St. Martha showed us by what she had interacted with the Lord at that time, when she was very busy preparing for dishes and things for the guests, including Jesus Himself, that she forgot the most important thing which she should have remembered. And that most important thing is to love and treasure our Lord and God, who has first loved us all beyond any compare.

God has shown us the ultimate love of all, by sending His own Son into the world, that through Him, all people may be saved from their fate of certain death. This was because of our own rebelliousness that had sundered us away from the Lord and His love, which caused us to suffer the consequences of sin that is death and hell. But God is love Himself, and He does not wish to see us suffer that fate, and thus, He offers us another chance through His Son, Jesus.

Jesus showed St. Martha how she is busying herself with the many things she thought to be important, but truly these are none other than distractions that keeps us away from the Lord and His teachings and ways, which truly should be our one and only true treasure in life. After all, if we reflect on this, we should know how many of us in our own lives fail to look at the real treasure that is our Lord.

How many of us seek instead the comfort of wealth, worldly pleasures and joys? How many of us worry about what we are to eat, what we are to have on every single day, what we are to wear on this day and on the other days, what we are going to do and what we are going to give another and what we are going to receive? All these are certainly constantly in our minds, filling up our minds with endless concerns.

All these are tools of the evil one to keep us away from God and to keep us from paying attention to His words and teachings. The example of Mary and Martha can give us a clue in this, as Mary listened attentively to the Lord, while her sister Martha was busied by her many chores to even pay attention to a single word or utterance of Jesus, which Mary kept close attention to and kept in her heart.

Let us look into ourselves, in terms of how many times we have placed our worldly concerns in front of the Lord? How many of us placed our worldly desires first ahead of all else? This is surely what many of us have often done, sometimes even without realising it. Do we not know that our Lord cares for us greatly in all things? He provides for us in all things so that we truly do not have to worry at all, as those who worry truly have no life in them.

May Almighty God strengthen our faith in Him, that we may grow ever more devoted to Him in all things, so that in all things we may always put our trust in Him, look up to Him and no longer be distracted by the many temptations that is present in the world. May God bless us all and be with us always. Amen.