Day: December 2, 2016

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Tuesday, 6 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)
Matthew 18 : 12-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost.”

“It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”

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Tuesday, 6 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)
Psalm 95 : 1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12a, 12b-13

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name; proclaim His salvation day after day.

Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds. Say among the nations, “He will judge the peoples with justice.”

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them.

Let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy. Let them sing before the Lord Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Tuesday, 6 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)
Isaiah 40 : 1-11

Be comforted, My people, be strengthened, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time of bondage is at an end, that her guilt has been paid for, that from the hand of YHVH she has received double punishment for all her iniquity.

A voice cries, “In the wilderness prepare the way for YHVH. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be raised up; every mountain and hill will be laid low. The stumbling blocks shall become level and the rugged places smooth. The glory of YHVH will be revealed, and all mortals together will see it; for the mouth of YHVH has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry.” And I say, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will forever stand.” Go up onto the high mountain, messenger of Good News to Zion, lift up your voice with strength, fear not to cry aloud when you tell Jerusalem and announce to the cities of Judah : Here is your God!

Here comes your God with might; His strong arm rules for Him; His reward is with Him, and here before Him is His booty. Like a shepherd He tends His flock : He gathers the lambs in His arms, He carries them in His bosom, gently leading those that are with young.

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Monday, 5 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of hope, as we just celebrated yesterday the first aspect of Advent, that is hope. For in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we have gained a new hope in the Lord, and received from Him a new encouragement and strength, that where once our situation seemed to be hopeless.

In the Gospel today, we heard about the Lord Jesus and how He healed the man who was paralysed, through his faith and the faith of all those who lifted him and the mat up through the roof to bring him down in front of the Lord. Through this, we see how the Lord brought healing and new hope to all those who had been downtrodden, those who had been sick and afflicted.

And most importantly, through what Jesus had said, He heals all of our afflictions, not just of the bodily and physical afflictions, but even more importantly, the afflictions of the heart, mind and soul, that is sin. If sickness can be cured by doctor’s prescriptions and medicine, by certain diets and abstinences from certain unhealthy foods, sin cannot be cured except by the forgiveness from God.

And Jesus is God, His Divine Word made incarnate into flesh, taking up the shape and reality of Man. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law refused to believe this fact, despite that the prophets and messengers having declared this throughout many centuries beforehand in their messages and the Scriptures they wrote. They refused to believe that Jesus could forgive their sins, even though He forgave even them their sins from the cross.

Of all the sickness, as I have mentioned, the disease of the soul, that is sin, is the most dangerous of all. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, even though they were free from the disease of the body, but their refusal to admit their sins and their refusal to believe in Jesus have left their souls diseased with sin, and if left uncured, this will lead them into damnation in hell.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, sin has separated us from the love and grace of God, and because of our disobedience against God’s will, we have been sundered and made unworthy. Yet, God loves each and every one of us, and by His generous will, He wants to heal each and every one of us from our afflictions, our sins that separated us from Him.

And that was His coming into this world is about, that by His love, God has sent to us His only Son, so that through Him and by the works He had done, all of us may be made worthy, all who accepted His offer of love, mercy and forgiveness. In this season of Advent, all of us are given the opportunity to take a step back and reflect on our own lives as we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas.

Let us ask ourselves, how do we really celebrate Christmas? Do we celebrate Christmas by following what the secular world is always doing? Do we celebrate in revelry and in partying without end, rejoicing with our friends and families, but forgetting Who it is that we really need to celebrate about this Christmas? Christmas is about the Lord, brethren, for it is a celebration and a joyful time to remember that because He came into this world, we all have hope once again.

We should spend our time this Advent to pray, to reassess and indeed re-strengthen our relationship with God. It is a time for us to realise and understand just how sinful and wrong we have been, and prepare ourselves by seeking God with faith and devotion just as how the paralytic man and his four helpers had faith in Jesus. If we seek Him with faith and genuine desire to repent, certainly God will hear us and forgive us our sins.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all pray that each and every one of us may draw ever closer to the Lord, and be forgiven our sins and trespasses, so that we may truly rejoice and be happy with true joy this Christmas, welcoming and thanking God Who have come into the world because of His love for us, and by His love, we have been healed. Do not harden our hearts like those of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 5 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 5 : 17-26

At that time, Jesus was teaching and many Pharisees and teachers of the Law had come from every part of Galilee and Judea, and even from Jerusalem. They were sitting there, while the power of the Lord was at work to heal the sick. Then some men brought a paralysed man who lay on his mat.

They tried to enter the house to place him before Jesus, but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof, and removing the tiles, they lowered him on his mat into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

At once the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to wonder, “This Man insults God! Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus knew their thoughts and asked them, “Why are you reacting like this? Which is easier to say : ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk’? Now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And Jesus said to the paralysed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” At once the man stood before them. He took up the mat he had been lying on, and went home praising God. Amazement seized the people and they praised God. They were filled with a holy fear, and said, “What wonderful things we have seen today!”

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Monday, 5 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 84 : 9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Would that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His Glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Monday, 5 December 2016 : 2nd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 35 : 1-10

Let the wilderness and the arid land rejoice, the desert be glad and blossom. Covered with flowers, it sings and shouts with joy, adorned with the splendour of Lebanon, the magnificence of Carmel and Sharon. They, my people, see the glory of YHVH, the majesty of our God.

Give vigour to weary hands and strength to enfeebled knees. Say to those who are afraid : “Have courage, do not fear. See, your God comes, demanding justice. He is the God Who rewards, the God Who comes to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unsealed. Then will the lame leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb sing and shout. For water will break out in the wilderness and streams gush forth from the desert. The thirsty ground will become a pool, the arid land springs of water. In the haunts where once reptiles lay, grass will grow with reeds and rushes.

There will be a highway which will be called The Way of Holiness; no one unclean will pass over it nor any wicked fool stray there. No lion will be found there nor any beast of prey. Only the redeemed will walk there. For the ransomed of YHVH will return : with everlasting joy upon their heads, they will come to Zion singing, gladness and joy marching with them, while sorrow and sighing flee away.