Month: November 2016

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Saturday, 3 December 2016 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

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Saturday, 3 December 2016 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 116 : 1, 2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

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Saturday, 3 December 2016 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 9 : 16-19, 22-23

Because I cannot boast of announcing the Gospel : I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preached voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted this office against my will. How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the Gospel, I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel.

So, feeling free with everybody, I have become everybody’s slave in order to gain a greater number. To the weak I made myself weak, to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people in order to save, by all possible means, some of them. This I do for the Gospel, so that I too have a share of it.

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Friday, 2 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all reminded that everything we need will be provided to us by the Lord our God. He will provide for us and bless us, and relieve from us the oppression and pressure by those who have harassed and persecuted us. But we must stand firm by the Lord and put our complete faith in Him.

In this world today, there are many occasions where people no longer put their trust in God. They were drawn away by all the distractions and temptations that the devil laid on their paths, so that they lacked faith and trust in the Lord. These are those who have slipped away from the faith and from the Church. Many of them no longer regularly attended the Mass, and some of them even stopped going to church altogether.

This is a problem which all of us in the Church must realise and understand, so that we will not fall into that dangerous and slippery path, to lose our faith and commitment to God because of oppression that brought fear to us, of persuasions and temptations that pull us away through distraction, and for some others, because of laziness and inertia, the refusal to move away and wake up from our slumber to be true disciples of our Lord.

That is why this season of Advent, is a very important time for us, as a time to prepare and to get ready for what we know as going to be a challenging time and finally the moment of joy and relief when our Lord comes again to save and liberate His people from destruction. We must learn to have hope and trust in our Lord, despite all the challenges and other matters that tend to distract us.

We live in a time where people tend to seek convenience, the easy way out of their troubles. We live in a time when what matters to us is our own convenience, always looking to take care of our own needs first and to advance our cause first, fulfilling what we need and want before anything else. That is why many of us slip and fall into the temptation of the devil who seeks our downfall and destruction.

He is offering us many tempting and more convenient ways, those that are easier, less troublesome and more appealing for us. He offers us what seems to be a better path, because it seems to be less difficult, more appealing, and it seems to satisfy our wants and needs more. He is trying to play and make advantage of our weaknesses, as we crave for worldly things, and he therefore lures many to our downfall.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is important therefore, during this season of Advent, we should prepare ourselves carefully for the preparation of our interior outlook, that in our hearts and minds, and deep within our souls, we are drawing closer to the salvation of God by preparing ourselves spiritually through prayer and devotion.

Many of us slipped away from the faith and fell into temptation because we were unable to resist the devil and his many advances through the world. Many of us do not have a strong relationship with God because we do not pray and spend our time in contemplation with our Lord. Through prayer we are connected to our God in our hearts, and it is through prayer made with sincerity that we will be able to listen to the will of God, as He speaks in our hearts, and we also may speak to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all spend this time of Advent meaningfully, and help one another to persevere the challenges of this world to our faith, so that not only we can be prepared and ready to celebrate Christmas meaningfully, but we may also get ready for the eventual coming of our Lord, and so that at the end of time, we will be judged to be worthy of God and His inheritance. May the Lord bless us and keep us in faith to Him. Amen.

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Friday, 2 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 9 : 27-31

At that time, as Jesus moved on from the place where He resurrected the daughter of the official, two blind men followed Him, shouting, “Son of David, help us!” When He was about to enter the house, the blind men caught up with Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do what you want?” They answered, “Yes, Sir!”

Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, “As you have believed, so let it be.” And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus gave them a stern warning, “Be careful that no one knows about this.” But as soon as they went away, they spread the news about Him through the whole area.

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Friday, 2 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Friday, 2 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 29 : 17-24

In a very short time, Lebanon will become a fruitful field and the fruitful field will be as a forest. On that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of the dark and obscurity the eyes of the blind will see. The meek will find joy and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the tyrant will be no more and the scoffers gone forever, and all who plan to do evil will be cut down – those who by a word make you guilty, those who for a bribe can lay a snare and send home the just empty-handed.

Therefore YHVH, Abraham’s Redeemer, speaks concerning the people of Jacob : No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will his face grow pale. When he sees the work of My hands, his children again in his midst, they will sanctify My Name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who err in spirit will understand; those who murmur will learn.

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Thursday, 1 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard a reminder from God through His parable of the wise man who built his house on solid rock foundation and the foolish man who built his house on the shaky foundation of sand. It is a reminder for us on how we should live out our faith, not just by words or empty promises alone but also through real dedication, action and commitment.

Brethren, we are in the midst of the season of Advent, a time of preparation for us to prepare for the coming of the season of Christmas, when we will commemorate the anniversary of the Nativity, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world. The season of Advent is a time of discernment, of spiritual preparation and also of anticipation, because we are preparing for Christ, not just in the memory of His first coming, but also of His future and promised Second Coming at the end of time.

When someone builds a house, there are a lot of considerations to be made. If we want that house to be long lasting and strong, then many things must be carefully considered, calculated and prepared beforehand. We cannot just put brick upon brick, or wood upon wood and hope that all those will make up into a strong house that will stand and last again rain and wind.

Architects and designers need to be brought into the picture, especially if the building is larger in scale. Even so, no building can last and remain strong, no matter what material it was made from, if the foundation is weak and unstable. Even if the building is made from the strongest marble, or the hardest wood, or even from solid metal, but the foundation is weak, the whole building will eventually collapse.

What our Lord Jesus spoke about in the parable is actually about our faith. Our faith is the foundation of our life, for if we have no faith, then we have no foundation at all in this life. God is the foundation of our lives, for He created us and gave us life out of His love for us. Without God, we are nothing, and without God, we cannot survive.

And yet, if we look at our world today, we may realise that it is indeed sad to notice how many people are distracted away from their focus on the Lord, and instead, they put their trust in various worldly distractions instead. They put their trust in money, in fame, in human and worldly glory, and in all sorts of other things they made to be the foundations of their life.

And that is why, even many of the faithful were not able to survive and persevere when times of difficulty and when tribulations came to them. When they were challenged to be true to their faith, they gave up and made excuses, because their faith in God was not firm. They put rather their trust in other things and not in God, in Whom they should have depended.

Thus, on this day, let us ask ourselves, how have we lived our lives so far? Have we practiced what we believed in our own daily lives, in how we interacted with each other thus far, and in how we look upon our less fortunate brethren around us? Have we shown love, mercy and compassion to those who need them? Have we done anything to bring happiness and joy to each other? Or have we instead acted in our own self-interest and bring about sadness and division?

In this time of Advent, we have to prepare ourselves for the eventual coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Thus, we should spend more time in prayer and in quiet conversation with our God. Be with Him, and devote ourselves to Him. We should spend more time to talk with Him and do more good in order to help those who are in need of our help and attention.

May God bless us all in our works and may He empower us to be better disciples and better Christians, that in all the things we do, we always do it for the sake of the Lord and for His people. Amen.

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Thursday, 1 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 7 : 21, 24-27

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father.”

“So then, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts accordingly, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock.”

“But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”

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Thursday, 1 December 2016 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 117 : 1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in the help of humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in the might of princes.

Open to me the gates of the Just, and let me enter to give thanks. “This is the Lord’s gate, through which the upright enter.” I thank You for having answered me, for having rescued me.

Save us, o Lord, deliver us, o Lord! Blessed is He Who comes in the Lord’s Name! We bless You from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God; may His light shine upon us.