Day: September 6, 2015

by

Wednesday, 9 September 2015 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Colossians 3 : 1-11

So then, if you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your Life, reveals Himself, you also will be revealed with Him in Glory.

Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires and greed which is a way of worshipping idols. These are the things that arouse the wrath of God. For a time you followed this way and lived in such disorders. Well then, reject all that : anger, evil intentions, malice; and let no abusive words be heard from your lips.

Do not lie to one another. You have been stripped of the old self and its way of thinking to put on the new, which is being renewed and is to reach perfect knowledge and the likeness of its Creator. There is no room for distinction between Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, foreigner, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.

by

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a special feast and occasion, celebrating the birth of the mother of our Lord Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today’s feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a reminder to all of us, of the way how God had brought us all mankind to salvation, that through her, God brought the Saviour of the world into the world itself, in Jesus Christ, His Son.

We heard today about Bethlehem, a city seemingly without much significance throughout the history of Israel, and even more seemed to be a small village without importance, both as part of Judah and as part of the land of Israel. But it has been prophesied that one day, the Saviour would come from that city, and through that seemingly unimportant and unassuming place, God would deliver His people out of darkness and into the light.

It was likely the place where David, the famous and one of the greatest kings of Israel came from, a humble shepherd who was beloved of the Lord and who rose to be a king over all Israel. And God had renewed the promise He had made to His people, beginning from Adam and Eve, and then Abraham, and then David as well as the people as a whole, to whom God devoted Himself to them with a promise.

For God promised Adam and Eve deliverance from sin and death, and from all the harm that Satan the deceiver has brought upon them, and although for generations Satan and his allies would harm the children of mankind, but God promised that the Woman would bring about the destruction of Satan, and the Son born of the woman would be that salvation, the One to bring mankind out of their fated destruction.

And to Abraham, God renewed that promise, showing His favour to him because of his great faith. God promised that Abraham would become the father of great nations, and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as the grains of sand on the beach. God blessed him and his descendants, one of whom, David, to whom He renewed yet again the promise and the covenant He had established with men.

God told David that his descendant will rule forever and his kingdom and throne will last forever, and will never end. And all the promises God had made was fulfilled in its perfection and completeness through Jesus, God’s own Son, the Divine Word made flesh, who was born through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His earthly mother. By assuming the flesh of man and born of Mary and Joseph, God had fulfilled the promises He had made.

Firstly, that through Jesus Christ, the Son and Heir of David, God fulfilled His promises to David, as through His everlasting kingdom, God secured the throne and kingdom for the family of David forever. And by the means of faith in Jesus Christ, as all those who follow the Lord became the children of Abraham, God fulfilled also the promise made to Abraham, that he would become the father of many nations.

But the most important of all is the promise He had made to all mankind at the beginning of time, which as mentioned that when Satan brought about mankind’s fall into sin, God promised us that deliverance would come, and through Mary, our Lord made salvation a reality, by being born into this world to deliver all men from destruction of death.

The role of Mary is very important in the history of our salvation, since she alone among all mankind were prevented from suffering the same taint and corruption of sin, which we believe in the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, where she was conceived and born without the taint of the original sin of men. She had been prepared from the beginning to be the New Ark of the new Covenant of God, which is Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

And thus, Mary is the Woman prophesied and promised by the Lord, to be the one through whom Satan would face his final and irreversible ultimate defeat. That is because through Mary, the Saviour would be born, and by the action of the Saviour, Jesus, mankind would be freed from sin and death, and all those who believe in Him shall forever be brought free from the hands of the devil, who will be cast down forever and will be brought down low.

We all have to realise that in Mary, we have a very powerful ally, friend and mother, who cares for all of us just as she loves and cares for her Son, Jesus. She is special because she is the mother of our Lord, had been prepared for such since the beginning, and her birth heralded a new hope for the world. But during her life, she was also very dedicated and committed to the mission entrusted to her by God, living her life faithfully and with impeccable and exemplary faith, which should be an example to all of us.

Today, as we celebrate the birthday of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the mother of us all, let us all dedicate ourselves to her more, and seek her help ever more, and following in her footsteps let us all live righteously in the sight and presence of God, so that by our faith and action, God’s salvation will be ours and the Covenant and promise He has made with us will be fulfilled to its completion.

Mary is a great example to all of us, and a great source of inspiration, as well as our greater intercessor before God. She is the closest to her Son in heaven, and all the time, she is always interceding for us, whom her Son had entrusted to her as He looked down from the cross that day at Calvary. And as her Son had triumphed over sin and evil, she would not want to see us all to fall back into our old way of sin.

Let us ask our Blessed Virgin, whose birth we celebrate this day, that we may be always preserved and protected by her Son, from all forms of malicious and evil influences that threaten to tear us away from the salvation that God had given us. Let us change our lives for the better, and commit ourselves to do what the Blessed Virgin Mary had done in her life, keeping faith and righteousness in everything we say and do.

May Almighty God be with us always, protect us and deliver us from all harm and from all evil, and may His blessed mother Mary always intercede for our sake, praying and beseeching for our redemption and deliverance, that God may remind us in our hearts to repent whenever we sin. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 1 : 1–16, 18-23

This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.

Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife. Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings : Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.

Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ – the Messiah.

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : ‘The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means : God-with-us.'”

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Matthew 1 : 18-23

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to discredit her.

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ for He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : ‘The virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means : God-with-us.'”

by

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 12 : 6ab, 6cd

But I put my trust in Your unfailing love, my heart will rejoice on seeing Your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me!

by

Tuesday, 8 September 2015 : Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Micah 5 : 1-4a

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, so small that you are hardly named among the clans of Judah, from you shall I raise the One who is to rule over Israel. For He comes forth from of old, from the ancient times.

YHVH, therefore, will abandon Israel until such time as she who is to give birth has given birth. Then the rest of His deported brothers will return to the people of Israel. He will stand and shepherd His flock with the strength of YHVH, in the glorious Name of YHVH, His God. They will live safely while He wins renown to the ends of the earth. He shall be peace.

Alternative reading

Romans 8 : 28-30

We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called according to His plan. Those whom He knew beforehand, He has also predestined to be like His Son, similar to Him, so that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And so, those whom God predestined He called, and those whom He called He makes righteous, and to those whom He makes righteous He will give His Glory.

by

Monday, 7 September 2015 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the salvation which God had brought upon us all mankind, and how He healed us from our afflictions, the sickness and the shackles of sin, which He cast away from us and brought us to freedom with Him. In the first reading, St. Paul in his epistle and letter to the Church and the faithful in the city of Colossae reminded them about the Lord who revealed the truth about His salvation through Jesus Christ, His Son.

God can just abandon all of us and leave us all to be destroyed by our own foolishness, by our own disobedience and sins. Instead, He chose to reveal to us His infinite and everlasting mercy, through which He had brought is out of our misery and despair, from our fate of annihilation and suffering, into the new assurance and certainty of His love, and the everlasting life He had promised to all those who keep their faith in Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Gospel today, this message is reiterated even more strongly, as we can hear how Jesus healed the paralytic man’s hand and made it whole and healthy again. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law tried to use that opportunity to find fault with Jesus, to criticise Him, to accuse Him and eventually to bring Him down and remove the One whom they have considered as a rival to their teaching authority.

In this alone, we can see how we behave in our own lives with regards to sin and with regards to God’s loving offer of mercy and forgiveness. Whenever we sin, we often act like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who refused to listen to God, and preferred to listen to their own heart’s desires, and closed themselves up against the Lord.

They acted high and mighty, appearing to be pious and also zealous guardians of the faith and the Law of God, criticising and condemning all those who did not follow the tenets and words of the Law as they prescribed. And they thought of themselves as righteous and just, as arbiters of God’s law among men. But they themselves had not acted and done things in the way the Lord had wanted them.

How many of us when we were accused to be wrong, or found ourselves to be in the wrong, went forth and tried to place the blame on others instead? Instead of trying to look at and contemplate our own faults and mistakes, we tried to come up with reasons to cover up our faults. We do not want to be blamed for something, worst of all is if the mistake is our own mistake.

But that is exactly what the problem is. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were too adamant that they were righteous and without fault, and they were unable to comprehend that the problem lies with them, the pride that is in their hearts and minds, the hubris which prevented them from seeing the truth about their own sin. Just as Jesus spoke about this in another parable, when He rebuked the Pharisees also for not being able to see their own faults while pointing out the faults of others, likening it to those who could see a splinter in the eye of another and yet a plank in their own eyes, they could not see it.

If we want to be forgiven, then all of us ought to be sincere and make the effort to seek the Lord and love Him with all of our hearts. God will see our love and devotion, and He who is loving and merciful will show His tender mercy upon us. But we have to really look deep into ourselves and discern what is the problem that we have with us.

Let us all seek to be forgiven for all of our faults, and let us all commit ourselves to changing our lives for the better. Let us all walk in the path of our Lord and be righteous in all things. May Almighty God, our Father, bless us all and keep us all in His grace and love. May He heal us from our afflictions and help us to remain always humble and dedicated to Him, that we may be able to help one another to repent our sins and find our way to the Lord. Amen.