Month: October 2016

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Tuesday, 4 October 2016 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 138 : 1-3, 13-14, 15

O Lord, You know me : You have scrutinised me. You know when I sit and when I rise; beforehand You discern my thoughts. You observe my activities and times of rest; You are familiar with all my ways.

It was You Who formed my inmost part and knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank You for these wonders You have done, and my heart praises You for Your marvellous deeds.

Even my bones were known to You when I was being formed in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth.

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Tuesday, 4 October 2016 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Galatians 1 : 13-24

You have heard of my previous activity in the Jewish community; I furiously persecuted the Church of God and tried to destroy it. For I was more devoted to the Jewish religion than many fellow Jews of my age, and I defended the traditions of my ancestors more fanatically.

But one day God called me out of His great love, He Who had chosen me from my mother’s womb; and He was pleased to reveal in me His Son, that I might make Him known among the pagan nations. Then I did not seek human advice nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me.

I immediately went to Arabia, and from there I returned again to Damascus. Later, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. But I did not see any other Apostle except James, the Lord’s brother. On writing this to you, I affirm before God that I am not lying.

After that I went to Syria and Cilicia. The churches of Christ in Judea did not know me personally; they had only heard of me : “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith he tried to uproot.” And they praised God because of me.

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Monday, 3 October 2016 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, from what we have heard in the Gospel passage, we are reminded that each and every one of us must show true Christian faith by our actions and by our deeds founded upon the principles of love and compassion, as God Himself had shown us, and not to be ignorant of the plight of our brethren who are in need, and who are indeed calling upon us for help.

Today we heard that famous parable of the Good Samaritan which Jesus told to His disciples, to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. And that parable was meant as a rebuke and a reminder to these elites in the Jewish society, that unless they acted in the way expected of them by God. The Lord meant that parable to show to His people, how those who follow Him should act towards one another, that is full of love, mercy and compassion.

The Levites and the priest described in the parable is the representation of all those whom God had chosen to be the leaders and the guide for His people, as these were the ones who were privileged as the priestly caste among the society, to be the ones chosen to be in the presence of God in His Temple. They were the ones who understood the Law and having remembered them as part of their responsibilities.

And yet, as we heard their actions in the parable that we heard today, we noticed that these people just passed by the man who was robbed and beaten, left to death on the roadside. They did not show concern and care for the one who needed their help, even though they did have the ability and the opportunity to do so. They have conscientiously ignored their brethren in need, and therefore they have sinned, not from the sin of action but for the sin of omission.

Thus what God was trying to say to them was that, no matter what position we have in the society, and how well we are respected by others, no matter what intellect or power we have, but if we have no love in us, we will not be accepted, but instead will be rejected by God. God has no placed prepared for all those who have not been merciful and loving, even if they were counted among His own people.

Why so? That is because these people despised the Samaritans and looked down on them. They were proud of their lineage and position as one counted among the chosen people of Israel, and even so as those who were entrusted to be guardians and keepers of the Law of God. The Samaritans were seen as those who were pagans, and even of the worst stock, since the Samaritans were seen as abominations and barbarians who have taken the land that rightfully belonged to the people of Israel.

And yet, Jesus shattered all these perceptions and unjust judgments and portrayals of the Samaritans and the others alike. Through that brilliant parable, Jesus showed them that God does not look at our race, background, appearance or status, but rather, He sees our actions, our deeds, and all the things which we have done, or have not done, which have broad repercussions to our fellow brethren and our community alike.

Thus, brothers and sisters in Christ, even as we listened to the Scripture passages today, are we able to discern deep within ourselves and find what we need to do from now on in order to be truly righteous in God and His presence? If we have not loved our brethren, or worse still, ignoring them when they are clearly asking for help, then perhaps we should rethink our priorities in life and learn how to devote ourselves out of love for these brethren of ours.

Indeed, we cannot help the whole world by ourselves, but from whatever little and minor things we can do, we should be able to impact our brethren around us, and when each and every one of do our part, so much more suffering and pain can be eliminated by our combined work and effort. Therefore, from now on, brethren, let us do our part to love and serve our brethren in need, as how that good Samaritan had done to his brethren in need.

May God help us in this endeavour, and may He awaken in each and every one of us, the strong desire to love with great compassion and sincerity, to care and show concern without desiring for returns, and to give our best for one another. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 3 October 2016 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 10 : 25-37

At that time, a teacher of the Law came and began putting Jesus to the test. And he said, “Master, what shall I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What is written in the Scripture? How do you understand it?”

The man answered, “It is written : You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus replied, “What a good answer! Do this and you shall live.”

The man wanted to justify his question, so he asked, “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus then said, “There was a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him and went off, leaving him half-dead.”

“It happened that a priest was going along that road and saw the man, but passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite saw the man, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan also was going that way, and when he came upon the man, he was moved with compassion. He went over to him, and cleaned his wounds with oil and wine, and wrapped them in bandages. Then he put him on his own mount, and brought him to an inn, where he took care of him.”

“The next day he had to set off; but he gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend on him, I will repay when I return.'” Jesus then asked, “Which of these three, do you think, made himself neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The teacher of the Law answered, “The one who had mercy on him.” And Jesus said, “Then go and do the same.”

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Monday, 3 October 2016 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 110 : 1-2, 7-8, 9 and 10c

Alleluia! I thank the Lord with all my heart in the council of the just, in the assembly. The works of the Lord are great and pondered by all who delight in them.

The works of His hands are faithful and just, trustworthy are all His precepts, ordained to last forever, bearers of truth and uprightness.

He has sent His people deliverances and made with them a covenant forever. His Holy Name is to be revered! To Him belongs everlasting praise.

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Monday, 3 October 2016 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Galatians 1 : 6-12

I am surprised at how quickly you have abandoned God Who called you according to the grace of Christ, and have gone to another gospel. Indeed, there is no other gospel, but some people who are sowing confusion among you want to turn the Gospel of Christ upside down.

But even if we ourselves were giving you another gospel different from the one we preached to you, or if it were an Angel from heaven, I would say : let God’s curse be on him! As I have said I now say again : if anyone preaches the Gospel in a way other than you received it, fire that one.

Are we to please humans or obey God? Do you think that I try to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel we preached to you is not a human message, nor did I receive it from anyone, I was not taught of it but it came to me as a revelation from Christ Jesus.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God in the Sacred Scriptures which spoke to us about the faith which all of us have to have in the Lord as His people. This is shown in the first reading, taken from the Book of the prophet Habakkuk, when the prophet in his anguish cried out to the Lord, asking Him why He had not moved His hands in order to help the people who have suffered from the persecutions and troubles in the world.

This is a common form of doubt, which we mankind often uttered in our anguish, in our moments of difficulty and suffering, as we thought that God had turned a blind eye to our sufferings and therefore did not care about us. Worse still, some and indeed quite a few among us used this to justify for their reason of abandoning the faith in God, and thinking that God does not exist. This is all in fact, what happened when we mankind try to think of the Lord in terms of human understanding.

It is often that we do not realise just how much God takes part in our own lives in His own mysterious ways, taking care of us and fulfilling our needs. We often do not realise this because firstly, we are not able to understand the way that God does things. His divine ways are often mysterious and seemingly incomprehensible to us because our human intellect and thoughts do have a limit in our ability to understand heavenly ways.

There is a story which is quite well known and is often repeated as an example to show the love which God has for each and every one of us. It might as well be a true story or adapted from one. It was told that a man was walking along the seashore with God side by side, and as they walked along that seashore, both of them left behind their footprints in the sand. There were therefore two sets of footprints, one belonging to God and the other for the man.

And then, when times went rough for the man, when difficulties and challenges came his way, he noticed that on the sand there is only one set of footprints instead of two. Then the man complained and became angry at God, whom he accused to have abandoned him when he was in his time of greatest distress and trouble. The attitude of the man in this story is no different from what we have heard from the prophet Habakkuk, and certainly not different from what we have heard in the real life. 

But God simply calmly and slowly said to him with love and concern, that when the man was having a difficult time, there was only one set of footprints because that footprints belonged to the Lord Himself, Who was carrying the man on His shoulders, helping him to shoulder and carry his own burdens. The man did not know it, but God did His works and wonders, helping the man to persevere and carry on despite the difficulties.

Thus, let us all spend some time to reflect on this, brothers and sisters in Christ? God loves us all so much, that He has given us His own Son, out of His boundless love and His never-ending desire to see us saved from harm’s way, and be liberated from our bondage to sin and to its consequence that is death. He wants us all to enjoy forever the gifts of the eternal life in bliss which He and prepared for us, and not for us to suffer damnation in hell for eternity.

He has willingly carried that burden for us, the burden and the consequences of our sins, so that by taking upon Himself our sins, we who believe in Him and put our trust in Him may die together with Him to our sins and to our past wickedness, and therefore, share also in His glorious resurrection and victory against sin and death. Just as death has no power over Him, it is therefore not going to have any power over us either.

God wants us to be well and good, and He wants us all to be saved. And to that extent, He has given us all His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit to guide us and to show us the way to reach out to Him. The Spirit that has descended down upon us Christians who believe in the Lord lives in our hearts and minds, and from there, it inflames our hearts with the strong desire to love the Lord and to follows His laws and precepts.

And today, as we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, we also remember all of our own guardian Angels, whom God had sent and stationed at our sides, protecting us from the machinations of the evil one, and reminded us from time to time whenever we are going towards the wrong path. These guardian Angels are always on the front line of the spiritual warfare raging around us which is waged for the sake of our souls.

Therefore today, first of all, let us reflect on our own lives and think of our actions. Have we been faithful to God in the way that He wanted us to? And secondly, let us all think, how have God been so kind to us in His love even when we do not realise it? How can we thank Him for His limitless and never-ending love for us? And last of all, let us all ask our guardian Angels to pray for us and to watch over us at all times, that we will not falter and be snared by the traps of the devil who desires only our ruination.

Let us all change ourselves and our ways from now on, if we have not been faithful and be thankful of God and all that He had done for us. All that He had done, He had done for our sake alone. Let us all imitate our Lord in all of our ways, so that in everything we do, we will always do them with love and compassion, showing care, concern and mercy for our fellow brethren, and devote ourselves wholly to the Lord our God. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 17 : 5-10

At that time, the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!’ And it will obey you.”

“Who among you would say to your servant, coming in from the fields after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Go ahead and have your dinner?’ No, you tell him, ‘Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterwards.'”

“Do you thank this servant for doing what you told him to do? I do not think so. And therefore, when you have done all that you have been told to do, you should say, ‘We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.'”

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Timothy 1 : 6-8, 13-14

For this reason I invite you to fan into a flame the gift of God you received through the laying on of my hands. For God did not confer on us a spirit of bashfulness, but of strength, love and good judgment. Do not be ashamed of testifying to our Lord, nor of seeing me in chains. On the contrary, do your share in labouring for the Gospel with the strength of God.

Follow the pattern of the sound doctrine which you have heard from me, concerning faith and love in Christ Jesus. Keep this precious deposit with the help of the Holy Spirit Who lives within us.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged Me, and they put Me to the test.