Day: August 25, 2015

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 25 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “This story throws light on what will happen in the kingdom of heaven : Ten bridesmaids went out with their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were careless, and the others were sensible.”

“The careless bridesmaids took their lamps as they were, and did not bring extra oil. But those who were sensible, brought with their lamps flasks of oil. As the bridegroom delayed, they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight, a cry rang out, ‘The bridegroom is here, come out and meet him!'”

“All the maidens woke up at once, and trimmed their lamps. Then the careless ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some oil, for our lamps are going out.’ The sensible ones answered, ‘There may not be enough for us and for you. You had better go to those who sell, and buy some for yourselves.'”

“They were out buying oil when the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him to the wedding feast, and the doors were shut. Later the other bridesmaids arrived and called out, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered, ‘Truly I do not know you.”

“So stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 96 : 1 and 2b, 5-6, 10, 11-12

The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the distant islands be glad. Justice and right are His throne.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His justice, all peoples see His glory.

You who love the Lord, hate evil, for He preserves the lives of His faithful, He delivers them from their foes.

He sheds light upon the upright, and gladness upon the just. Rejoice in the Lord, you who are blameless, and give praise to His holy Name.

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Friday, 28 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Thessalonians 4 : 1-8

For the rest, brothers, we ask you in the Name of Jesus, the Lord, and we urge you to live in a way that pleases God, just as you have learnt from us. This you do, but try to do still more. You know the instructions we gave you on behalf of the Lord Jesus : the will of God for you is to become holy and not to have unlawful sex.

Let each of you behave towards his wife as a holy and respectful husband, rather than being led by lust, as are pagans who do not know God. In this matter, let no one offend or wrong a brother. The Lord will do justice in all these things, as we have warned and shown you. God have called us to live, not in impurity but in holiness, and those who do not heed this instruction disobey, not a human, but God Himself who gives you His Holy Spirit.

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Thursday, 27 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate the feast day of a saint whom many of us may not be familiar with, as we are likely to be more familiar with her son, St. Augustine the Great, or known also as St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the greatest saints of the Church. But without the actions and the hard works of the holy woman, whose life was dedicated both to the Lord and to her own son, St. Augustine of Hippo would not have been great and so influential.

St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo was a very devoted mother and a faithful servant of God, and it was her tireless and continuous dedication to St. Augustine, her ceaseless prayers for his conversion that has brought about such great merits and good things upon the faithful and upon the souls that were lost but then were brought to the salvation in God.

St. Monica showed us the examples of being a good role model for the faithful, and how mothers should be, devoting themselves to the Lord and to their families, not giving up on any of them should any of them fell into sin and darkness. She continued to pray for his conversion, for St. Augustine in his youth was a great sinner, which fell into the many wicked ways of the world, engaging in debauchery and various sins horrible in the eyes of the Lord.

She prayed for him, and eventually her prayers and her faithful devotion to her son helped him to see the light and helped him to set his path on the path to righteousness and to salvation in God. And from then on, the great sinner was turned into a great tool for the salvation of many, as St. Paul had done before St. Augustine was born.

In this, as we see in the Scriptures today, especially the Gospel, when the Lord Jesus shared the parable on the wise and wicked servants and stewards, whose actions were contrasted to each other, as representative of what we are celebrating today. The master is the Lord, and the stewards represent all of us, and indeed we all have a choice, on whether we should be a faithful and wise servant, or whether we should follow the path of the wicked and lazy servant.

St. Augustine once walked in the path of the wicked servant, filling himself with all the pleasures of the world and disregarded the ways of the Lord, being lost in a world of desire and hedonism, embracing false gods and idols, and lazing himself in a world of ignorance and in pursuit of worldliness. And many of us also walk in the same path, even now, and we are truly heading for trouble, for indeed, the parable reminds us that the master, our Lord can come back at any time, especially at times we do not expect.

And therefore, we should remember that, the lesson which we can learn today, is that God shows His mercy and love in myriads of ways, and one example which He had given is the example of St. Augustine of Hippo, as great saints were once great sinners too. What matters is that, those sinners chose the right path, repented from their sins and walked once again on the path of righteousness towards the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the examples and by the dedication shown by St. Monica, we too should follow in her footsteps, in how we care for our own brethren who we see around us and beyond. Let us all be concerned about those around us who are still living in the darkness of the world, and who are still like St. Augustine in his youth.

Let us all pray for them, and let us also show them the path to the Lord by our action. May our loving God and merciful Father forgive us all our sins, and help us all to find our way to Him. May God bless us all in our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 27 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 24 : 42-51

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.”

“Imagine a capable servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time. Fortunate indeed is that servant, whom his master will find at work when he comes. Truly I say to you, his lord will entrust that one with everything he has.”

“Not so with the bad servant who thinks, ‘My master is delayed.’ And he begins to ill-treat his fellow servants, while eating and drinking with drunkards. But his master will come on the day he does not know, and at the hour he least expects. He will dismiss that servant, and deal with him as with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Thursday, 27 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 89 : 3-4, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.

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Thursday, 27 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Monica (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Thessalonians 3 : 7-13

What a consolation for us, brothers and sisters, in the midst of our troubles and trials, this faith of yours! It is a breath of life for us when you stand firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for all the joy that we feel before God because of you? Day and night we beg of Him to let us see you again, that we may complete the instruction of the believers.

May God our Father and Jesus our Lord prepare the way for us to visit you. May the Lord increase more and more your love for each other and for all people, as He increases our love for you. May He strengthen you internally to be holy and blameless before God, our Father, on the day that Jesus, our Lord, will come with all His saints.

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Wednesday, 26 August 2015 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we hear in the Scriptures about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and their attitudes which went contrary to the will of God, and then contrasting these with the works and actions of the disciples of the Lord, as shown by St. Paul and his co-workers in faith, as they laboured and toiled hard in many cities during the early years of the Church.

What is shown here is the contrast between faith that is superficial and faith tat is true and deeply rooted in the heart and soul. The faith of the Pharisees was of the former type, as they put great importance in the external applications of the faith, including the observances of the laws that emphasised on the purity of the exterior, and if we look at the examples found in the Gospels, we see how they criticised Jesus and His disciples because they did not wash their hands, purify themselves before certain events, and many other things, such as the observance of the sabbath law.

Indeed, it is good for one to follow and obey the Law of God in all of its forms, as obedience to the Law helps one to straighten his or her own path, so that in all things, they may always stay close to the way of the Lord. However, when the obedience of the Law becomes an obsession and twisted from its true nature, that is where the danger lies, as fulfilling the Law itself no longer something that is fulfilling inside our hearts, but rather becomes a chore and a mindless and repeated meaningless actions.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were criticised and rebuked by Jesus, because they did all of their actions for show, and for self-glorification, surrendering themselves to the whims of their desires and wants. They had power and influence in the society, and people looked up to them, putting their trust in them. But these so called leaders and shepherds had themselves gone astray, because in their actions they wanted to fulfil what they wish first, even at the expense of others if necessary.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, they sinned because through their actions, not only that they had not been humble before the Lord, and not just that they had shown great wickedness in their selfish actions and behaviours, but also that because in their positions of power and privilege, they have abused these and misled the people of God into sin themselves.

Contrast this to the Apostles and the disciples of Christ, as they did not pursue things for their own greatness and glory, and instead they worked and laboured hard for the greater glory of God. They did not seek to satisfy their own desires and wishes, but instead gave it all to fulfil the will of God, which through all their works were made true in this world.

They showed by great examples, the way to be followers of the Lord, and even though they were persecuted and rejected, they continued to work hard in service to God and to His beloved people. They persevered through all the difficulties and sustained themselves through all the challenges and oppressions, and by their work, they showed forth the true faith they had in them, and many people heeded their call for repentance and conversion to the faith in the Lord.

It is something for us to learn, that just as the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord did not forsake their faith and their Lord in times of difficulty, and as they gave themselves completely to the service of their Lord and God, we too should follow in their footsteps and walk righteously and justly in the presence of our Lord. God rewards all those who are righteous and just, and He will bless all those who remain faithful to Him and have true love and dedication for Him in their hearts, and not just external devotion or appearing to be faithful.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be faithful to the Lord our God in all things, and let us all seek Him with all of our heart’s strength and might. May we all be closer and closer to His heart and be filled forever with His wondrous love. God bless us all. Amen.