Month: June 2017

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(Usus Antiquior) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (I Classis) – Friday, 23 June 2017 : Gradual and Alleluia

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 24 : 8-9 and Matthew 11 : 29

Dulcis et rectus Dominus : propter hoc legem dabit delinquetibus in via.

Response : Diriget mansuetos in judicio, docebit mites vias suas.

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Response : Tollite jugum meum super vos, et discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis Corde, et invenietis requiem animabus vestris. Alleluja.

 

English translation

The Lord is sweet and righteous, therefore He will give a law to sinners in the way.

Response : He will guide the mild in judgment. He will teach the meek His ways.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Response : Take up My yoke upon you and learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (I Classis) – Friday, 23 June 2017 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : White

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Ephesios – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians

Ephesians 3 : 8-12, 14-19

Fratres : Mihi, omnium sanctorum minimo, data est gratia haec, in gentibus evangelizare investigabiles divitias Christi, et illuminare omnes, quae sit dispensatio sacramenti absconditi a saeculis in Deo, qui omnia creavit : ut innotescat principatibus et potestatibus in caelestibus per Ecclesiam multiformis sapientia Dei, secundum praefinitionem saeculorum, quam fecit in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro, in quo habemus fiduciam et accessum in confidentia per fidem ejus.

Hujus rei gratia flecto genua mea ad Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ex quo omnis paternitas in caelis ei in terra nominatur, ut det vobis, secundum divitias gloriae suae, virtute corroborari per Spiritum ejus in interiorem hominem, Christum habitare per fidem in cordibus vestris : in caritate radicati et fundati, ut possitis comprehendere cum omnibus sanctis, quae sit latitudo, et longitudo, et sublimitas, et profundum : scire etiam supereminentem scientiae caritatem Christi, ut impleamini in omnem plenitudinem Dei.

 

English translation

Brethren, to me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to enlighten all men, that they may see what is the dispensation of the mystery which had been hidden from eternity in God, who created all things, that the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places through the Church, according to the eternal purpose, which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him.

For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man, that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts, that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth, to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.

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(Usus Antiquior) Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (I Classis) – Friday, 23 June 2017 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : White

Introit

Psalm 32 : 11, 19

Cogitationes Cordis Ejus in generatione et generationem : ut eruat a morte animas eorum et alat eos in fame.

Exsultate, justi, in Domino : rectos decet collaudatio.

Response: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

 

English translation

The thoughts of His heart to all generations : to deliver their souls from death and feed them in famine.

Rejoice in the Lord, o all of you who are just, praise becoming of the upright.

Response : Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

 

Collect

Deus, qui nobis in Corde Filii Tui, nostri vulnerato peccatis, infinitos dilectionis thesauros misericorditer largiri dignaris : concede, quaesumus; ut, illi devotum pietatis nostrae praestantes obsequium, dignae quoque satisfactionis exhibeamus officium. Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

 

English translation

O God, Who in the Heart of Your Son, wounded by our sins, had designed mercifully to bestow infinite treasures of love upon us; grant, we beseech You, that as we offer Him the faithful service of our devotion, we may also make worthy reparation. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray. He told them and taught them what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer, the perfect prayer composed by none other than our Lord Jesus Himself. It was a prayer of pure intention and faith showing obedience, the desire to glorify God and to thank Him for all the blessings and graces He had given to us His beloved ones.

We may think that it is kind of unnecessary for the Lord to teach His disciples how to pray, but this is in fact His way to show us all, His people, how to truly pray from the heart, to be able to communicate with the Lord, that is the essence of what a prayer is. That is important because, many of us Christians, might have forgotten what it truly means for us to pray.

At that time, the people of God followed the ways that were shown to them by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in the way they themselves prayed before the Lord. Those people prayed long prayers in the public places, making themselves seen by everyone, who praised them for their piety and devotion. Yet, their long prayers were empty and meaningless, since the focus of their prayers were upon themselves, upon their own vanity, and not upon God.

That is how we ourselves also might have often done with our prayers. We pray for the purpose of our own selfish desires, wishing to gain something for our own benefit. And many of us have that mistaken concept that God is One Who we can depend on for everything, and that whatever we ask of Him, He will give them to us. But that in fact is making God as if He is a servant to us, and we are demanding Him to do something for us, which is not right.

That is exactly why many people in fact had turned away from the Lord, because they were unable to get rid of their human ego, their desires which they had allowed to lead their way. When they prayed, they said litany of requests, desires and even demands, asking God to grant them what they wanted. I am sure that many of us had done something similar to this, at one or more points in our respective lives. And when He did not grant what we wanted, we became angry at Him and turned our back from Him.

How many of us will be able to realise that what many of us had done might not have been right? Many of us have placed ourselves, our desired and our selfish wants above that of our obligation to love and to serve the Lord our God. It is often that we are not able to let go of our desires, or to lie down our human pride, and as a result, we ended up doing what is disgraceful and sinful in the sight of God and men alike.

That was what the actions and examples of the holy saints and martyrs whose feast we celebrate on this day ought to show us the way forward. St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were the saints and martyrs of the English reformation, at which time, the persecution was against all the faithful when the faithless king of England, Henry VIII, for his own personal reasons and refusal to obey the will of God through His Church, broke the communion between the churches in England from the Holy Mother Church.

St. Thomas More was the Chancellor of the King, the position akin to that of Prime Minister in our present day world. He was a person of great influence and power, having a position of great prestige and honour. And yet, when the king asked for all of his officials, advisers, and members of the English Church to declare their oath of obedience to him and break away from the obedience to the Holy Mother Church, St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, who was one of the holy bishops of the Church, refused to do so.

Even though the king lavished worldly honour and privileges on all those who would recant their faith and devotion to the Church, and especially on St. Thomas More, who was the trusted Chancellor and chief adviser to the king himself, but St. Thomas More chose to remain true to his faith and did not get swayed by all the temptations and pressured heaped on him to make him change his mind.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the saints and martyrs had given us their examples for us to follow, in their devotion and zeal, and in how they lived their lives in accordance with the will of God, and not according to their own human desires. Had they succumbed to their desires, their pride and ego, they would have given up their faith and betrayed the Lord for worldly happiness instead.

This is what all of us Christians must do, from now on, that all of us become true disciples and followers of the Lord, not just in name or formality only, but through real action, commitment and work. Let us all follow in the footsteps of our good and holy predecessors, and strive to do our best in our everyday life, to be good and worthy children of our God. Let us all have a genuine and healthy prayerful life, that we are always in constant communication with God, knowing what it is that He wants us to do in our respective lives. May the Lord bless us all in our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom, come, Your will be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are in debt to us. Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one.”

“If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.”

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 110 : 1-2, 3-4, 7-8

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

Glorious and majestic are His deeds, His righteousness endures forever. He lets us remember His wondrous deeds; YHVH is merciful and kind.

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

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Thursday, 22 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)
2 Corinthians 11 : 1-11

May you bear with me in some little foolishness! But surely you will. I confess that I share the jealousy of God for you, for I have promised you, in marriage, to Christ, the only Spouse; to present you to Him, as a pure virgin. And this is my fear : the serpent that seduced Eve, with cunning, could also corrupt your minds, and divert you from Christian sincerity.

Someone, now, comes, and preaches another Jesus, different from the One we preach, or you are offered a different spirit from the One you have received, with a different gospel from the one you have accepted – and you agree! I do not see how I am inferior to those super Apostles. Does my speaking leave much to be desired? Perhaps, but not my knowledge, as I have abundantly shown to you in every way.

Perhaps my fault was, that I humbled myself, in order to uplift you, or that, I gave you the Gospel free of charge. I called upon the services of other churches, and served you with the support I received from them. When I was with you, although I was in need, I did not become a burden to anyone. The friends from Macedonia gave me what I needed. I have taken care, not to be a burden to you in anything, and I will continue to do so.

By the truth of Christ within me, I will let no one in the land of Achaia stop this boasting of mine. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

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Wednesday, 21 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture, which in essence is calling us to be sincere and true in our faith, that is not by putting a farce or falsehood in our devotion to God in our life. It is telling us that unless we are sincere in our devotion, by genuine actions that came from the heart, we cannot call ourselves as true Christians.

In the Gospel today, Jesus told the people to do their good deeds for the right intentions, that is to really serve the people of God, our fellow brethren, and therefore to glorify God and serve Him, and not our own personal desires and interests. He used the examples of prayers and fasting, which the Jewish people according to the laws of Moses were obliged to do, especially during certain times and periods in the year.

However, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, who strictly enforced the application of the rules on prayers and fasting, they themselves did so not because they truly do them for the sake of God, but instead, it was to fulfil their own vanity, their own desire to be praised and adored for their piety and commitment to the laws of Moses. They showed their prayers and fasting in order to be looked favourably upon by other men and women.

That was why Jesus rebuked them and were angry at these people, who made their faith as if they were showpieces for their own personal benefits. He was angry because the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were not doing what they preached, and yet, they burdened the people to obey the same rules to the suffering of the people. They misled the people by their actions, and were not showing true discipleship as those whom the Lord had entrusted with the leadership and guidance over His people.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, the same response of the Lord will be ours if we ourselves do not love Him, serve Him and be faithful to Him in a way that is much more than the way the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done. That is, if we live our lives in this world, but we do not do what we believe, we do not act in the manner that we have preached and claimed to have faith in.

What are some of the examples, brethren? First of all, many of us Christians go to the Mass in the Church, not because we want to really be with the Lord and spend our time with Him. Rather, some of us wanted to outdo each other in piety, and showing our fellow friends or relatives just how devout we are, by our prayers and devotions. We turn our focus inwards upon ourselves, upon our ego and desires instead of what we need to focus on, that is our love and devotion for the Lord our God.

And then, we grumble and we put up grumpy faces when we fast, because we do not truly understand what it is that we fast for, or that as the Pharisees had done, we wanted to be praised for our piety. This is not what the Lord wants from us, brothers and sisters in Christ. What He wants from us is our sincere and genuine love, devotion and commitment, through our prayers and fasting, as well as through many other ways of how we can love Him, but which must be done with true desire from our hearts.

Let us all look at the examples of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the holy saint whose feast we are commemorating today. St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born into a noble, rich and powerful family of the Gonzagas in the late Renaissance era Italy, a few hundred years ago. He was born as the firstborn of the noble family, a position of extreme honour, as the rule was that he was to inherit all the titles, prestige, wealth and properties that his father as an influential nobleman had possessed.

But as he grew up, even though he received numerous education and preparation of a typical nobleman of his era, St. Aloysius Gonzaga slowly grew to seek and long for the Lord, by all the experiences and the readings he had done, especially on the missionary activities of the Jesuits in the faraway lands. As his desire to serve the Lord grew, eventually, things came to the point when he openly declared his intention to become a Jesuit and thus, had to renounce all that he stood to inherit.

He encountered stiff opposition from his family, particularly from his father, who tried all he could to dissuade him and stop him from joining the religious order. Nevertheless, St. Aloysius Gonzaga remained firm in his commitment and was adamant in his desire to serve the Lord through what He had called him to be. In the end, he prevailed and he became a Jesuit.

He lived his life with devotion and commitment, serving the people of God through words and action, caring for the poor, the sick and the dying, even in the midst of a deadly plague which eventually took his life. St. Aloysius Gonzaga, his strong devotion and desire to love the Lord and to serve Him by serving His people, as well as his ability to resist the temptation of human glory, desire and all the other obstacles should be our inspiration in how we ourselves ought to live our lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all now therefore renew our commitment to live our lives full of faith, genuine faith to the Lord, just in the same manner as St. Aloysius Gonzaga and the many other holy saints and martyrs of God had done. May the Lord help us in our journey, so that we will be able to give our all to serve Him with all of our lives, with all of our might and all of our commitment. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 6 : 1-6, 16-18

At that time, “Be careful not to make a show of your good deeds before people. If you do so, you do not gain anything from your Father in heaven. When you give something to the poor, do not have it trumpeted before you, as do those who want to be noticed in the synagogues and in the streets, in order to be praised by people. I assure you, they have their reward.”

“If you give something to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift remains really secret. Your Father, Who sees what is kept secret, will reward you. When you pray, do not be like those who want to be noticed. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues or on street corners, in order to be seen by everyone. I assure you, they have their reward.”

“When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father Who is with you in secret; and your Father Who sees what is kept secret will reward you. When you fast, do not put on a miserable face, as do the hypocrites. They put on a gloomy face, so that people can see they are fasting. I tell you this : they have been paid in full already.”

“When you fast, wash your face and make yourself look cheerful, because you are not fasting for appearances or for people, but for your Father, Who sees beyond appearances. And your Father, Who sees what is kept secret, will reward you.”

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Wednesday, 21 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 111 : 1-2, 3-4, 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears YHVH, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are for his family; there, his integrity will remain. He is for the righteous a light in darkness; he is kind, merciful and upright.

He gives generously to the poor; his merits will last forever; and his head will be raised in honour.