Day: August 1, 2017

by

Friday, 4 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest, Patron of All Priests (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 13 : 54-58

At that time, Jesus went to His hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, "Where did He get this wisdom and these special powers? Is He not the carpenter's Son? Is Mary not His mother and are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas not His brothers? Are not all His sisters living here? Where did He get all these things?" And so they took offence at Him.

Jesus said to them, "The only place where prophets are not welcome is his hometown and in his own family." And He did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

by

Friday, 4 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest, Patron of All Priests (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 80 : 3-4, 5-6ab, 10-11ab

Start the music, strike the timbrel, play melodies on the harp and lyre. Sound the trumpet at the new moon, on our feast day, when the new moon is full.

This is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, a statute He wrote for Joseph when he went out of Egypt.

There shall be no strange god among you, you shall not worship any alien god, for I, YHVH, am your God.

by

Friday, 4 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Vianney, Priest, Patron of All Priests (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Leviticus 23 : 1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37

YHVH spoke to Moses, "Then there are appointed feasts of YHVH at the times fixed for them, when you are to proclaim holy assemblies. At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month is YHVH's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month it is YHVH's feast of Unleavened Bread."

For seven days you shall eat bread without leaven. On the first day there will be a sacred assembly and no work of a worker shall be done. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to YHVH and on the seventh day you shall hold a sacred assembly and do no work of a worker."

YHVH spoke to Moses and said, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them : When you enter the land that I will give you and you reap its harvest, you will bring to the priest a sheaf, the first fruits of your harvest and he shall wave the sheaf before YHVH for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it."

"From the day after the Sabbath, on which you bring the sheaf of offering, you are to count seven full weeks. The day after the seventh Sabbath will be the fiftieth day and then you are to offer YHVH a new offering. The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. You are to hold a sacred assembly. You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to YHVH."

"The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of Tents for YHVH, lasting seven days. The first day you shall hold an assembly; you must do no work of a worker. For seven days you must offer a burnt offering to YHVH. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and you must offer a burnt offering to YHVH. It is a day of solemn assembly in which you shall do no work of a worker."

"These are the appointed feasts of YHVH in which you are to proclaim holy assemblies for the purpose of offering offerings by fire, burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings to YHVH, according to the ritual of each day."

by

Thursday, 3 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded of God's love for us, beginning from what we have heard in the first reading, taken from the Book of Exodus, in which we heard about how Moses commissioned and dedicated the Holy Tent of Meeting, which would become the centre and focus of the community of Israel as they journeyed through the desert for forty years, and also later on once they were in the Promised Land.

For the Holy Tent of Meeting was the house of God Himself, Who have willingly come down to dwell among His people, through the Covenant He had established with them, and through the Law which He had passed onto them through Moses. He had become their God, and they had become His people. It was God's love for them which allowed this to happen, and therefore, all of us who have received such a great honour and grace should be happy and be joyful.

And yet, at the same time, we are also reminded through the Gospel passage today, that God's love for us also require us to love Him in the same manner. He has unconditionally given us all His love, by reaching out to us even when we are still sinners and unworthy of Him. He gave us the opportunities in order to redeem ourselves, and to turn away from our wickedness and rebellious ways. But, if we ourselves refuse to turn away from those sins, and close our hearts against Him, then what the Lord Jesus spoke of in the Gospel passage today will come true.

The Lord spoke of the kingdom of heaven in a parable, comparing it to a huge fishing net, gathering many fishes of all types and kinds, of all sizes and shapes. This corresponds to how the Lord wants to gather all the people, of all races and from all the nations, to come to Him and to be reconciled with Him. This is why He sent forth His Apostles and disciples with the command, 'Go and make disciples of all the nations, and baptise them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!'.

However, many of us do not remain true and faithful to our faith, and we often failed to obey the commandments of God. We put the priority to our own selfish desires and succumbing to our greed, and thus ignoring what we should have done in life, that is to be committed and dedicated to God in all of our words, actions and deeds. Instead, we let our desires to take control over us, dictating our actions, causing conflict, pain and suffering on others at times just so that we may satisfy our own needs.

As a result, we have become the bad fishes, which in accordance to the Gospel passage, will be disposed of at the time when the Lord came to judge all of us. The Angels of God would be the ones to sort out the good from the bad, and while the good ones will end up being chosen as they are considered worthy, the bad ones will be discarded and destroyed.

In the same way therefore, unless we change our way of life, that we obey the Lord and His laws, we will end up leading ourselves down the way towards eternal damnation and suffering in hell, where there will be no escape or hope for salvation. The Lord might have indeed shown us all His love and mercy, unconditional and generous, but if we have closed the doors of our hearts to these, then the Lord Himself will also reject us at the time of reckoning.

What is it then, that we all as Christians need to do? All of us must be faithful to the Covenant which God had made with us all. Just as He made the Covenant with Israel with the help of Moses, He had made another, everlasting and true Covenant through none other than the loving sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. And a Covenant is a pact made between two parties, that requires both of them to be faithful to the Covenant.

Therefore, as the Lord our God is always faithful to His Covenant with us, for He cannot possibly lie or be untruthful about what He has promised us all, now it falls unto us His people, that we should do our part to fulfil the part we have in our Covenant with God. And how do we do that, brothers and sisters? It is by our showing of love to one another, by being merciful to our fellow men, forgiving one another our faults, and by showing tender care and compassion to the poor and to the sick.

Let us all not be deterred by the amount of hard work that we need to put in, in order for us to be worthy of God. For it is indeed going to be quite challenging for us to lead a life that is dedicated to God, and is considered righteous before God. Yet, if we make the effort to do so, and consciously begin to do what the Lord had taught us to do, even in small and simple things, slowly all of us will put ourselves firmly on the path towards God's salvation and grace.

May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to guide us through this journey we have in life, that we may always strive to be faithful to the Covenant which He had established with us, and so that we will be found worthy of the kingdom of heaven, and the eternal life and glory God had prepared for all those who are faithful to Him. Let us all be truly faithful, not just in mere words, but also through all of our deeds and actions in life. Amen.

by

Thursday, 3 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 13 : 47-53

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net, let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish into buckets, but throw the bad away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the Angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth."

Jesus asked, "Have you understood all these things?" "Yes," they answered. So He said to them, "Therefore, every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old."

When Jesus had finished these parables, He left that place.

by

Thursday, 3 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 83 : 3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11

My soul yearns; pines, for the courts of YHVH. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, at Your altars, o YHVH of hosts, my King and my God!

Happy are those who live in Your house, continually singing Your praise! Happy, the pilgrims whom You strengthen, they go from strength to strength.

One day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be left at the threshold in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.

by

Thursday, 3 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Exodus 40 : 16-21, 34-38

Moses did this; he did exactly as YHVH had commanded him. The Holy Tent was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year. Moses set up the Holy Tent. He fixed the bases for it, put up its frames, put its crossbars in position, set up its posts. He spread the tent over the Holy Tent and on top of this the covering for the Tent, as YHVH had commanded Moses.

He took the Covenant and placed it inside the Ark. He set the poles to the Ark in place and put the mercy seat on it. He brought the Ark into the Holy Tent and put the screening veil in place; thus he screened the Ark of YHVH, as YHVH had commanded Moses.

Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Glory of YHVH filled the Holy Tent. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because of the Glory of YHVH that filled the Holy Tent. At every stage of their journey, whenever the cloud rose from the Holy Tent, the people of Israel would continue their march. If the cloud did not rise, they waited and would not move their camp until it did.

For the cloud rested on the Holy Tent by day, and a fire shone within the cloud by night for all the house of Israel to see. And so it was for every stage of their journey.

by

Wednesday, 2 August 2017 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops or Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God in the Scriptures, beginning with what we heard in the Book of Exodus, our first reading today, when Moses descended down from the holy mountain of Sinai, where he was with God for forty days and forty nights, and where God passed on all of His laws and precepts to Moses so that he might teach them all to God's people Israel.

Then in the Gospel today, we heard the parables which Jesus taught His disciples and the people, explaining about the kingdom of heaven, the long awaited coming of the kingdom and reign of God, and what it truly means. He used common daily examples familiar to the people at the time, many of whom were farmers and fishermen, who could then associate the importance of the kingdom of heaven with the pearl of great value and the hidden treasure in a field.

The key message from these Scripture passages we heard today is the fact that God had willingly revealed Himself and all of His truths and teachings to us all, shown in the first reading, as He taught to Moses and revealed through him all of His divine laws and commandments, which He then commanded Israel to keep faithfully for all ages henceforth. In the Gospel, through Jesus our Lord, God wanted to teach all of us His truth, that we may turn away from our sinful ways and return to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Law of God, His ways and His love is the greatest gift that all of us mankind can receive in life. God gives us many gifts and blessings, all of which are nothing compared to the gift that God gave us all. For the Law of God is the guiding path which the Lord put in place to help all of us that we may find our way to Him, and that we may be saved from the destruction in hell. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that nothing that we gather in this life, be it wealth, possessions, material goods, fame or worldly glory will be able to save us from the fires of hell.

What the Scripture passages wanted to remind us today is that our priority in life should be for us to love the Lord and to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to Him. For He is the greatest treasure of all, and by right should be the focal point of all of us and the knowledge of God's love is that greatest treasure that all of us can gain, far beyond and far surpassing all the other gifts which we can gather from the world. There is nothing more precious than God's law, that shows us how we ought to love Him just as He has loved us, because in God we can find the sure and perfect assurance of eternal and true joy.

But, in reality, many of us do not obey what the Lord had commanded us all to do. We prefer to follow our own path, and do what the world had shown us all to do. The Lord commanded us to honour and worship Him alone above all other things, for He is the One and only God, and yet, many of us are so busy and so distracted in our pursuit of more wealth, more worldly possessions, or fame and glory, that it is as if we worship and adore these things much more than we love the Lord, Who had made all these things possible for us.

We conveniently often forget the fact that all of our blessings have been given to us by the grace of God, that for some, we may have received more of the blessings, and while for others, we may have received less. And yet, the trait that many of us share is that it is very difficult for us to satisfy our wants and desires. And it is in our human nature that we often desire for more when we have something, and we quickly become indulged in the pursuit of worldly pleasures and satisfaction.

We have to realise that many of us have veered away from the path which God had shown us, and this is often caused by our greed and desires, and our inability to restrain and control those desires. We ended up ignoring the Lord's commandments and laws, because we are so busy gathering for us all of those things mentioned which brought about temporary worldly satisfaction, but one that will not last forever.

After all, it does not matter how much money we have, how many material possessions and goods we have, and it does not matter how much worldly glory, status, prestige or fame that we have in this life, but none of these will avail us on the day of our reckoning, when the Lord calls us to Him, to be judged for all that we have done in our lives. Are we then able to confidently show before the Lord all that we have done, knowing that we have obeyed Him and done His will?

Let us then follow in the footsteps of the holy saints, whose feast day we celebrate today, hoping that by following their examples, we may be able to refocus our lives to God, and find the way to be His faithful followers and people. St. Eusebius of Vercelli was a holy bishop and a devout servant of God who lived during the early days of the Church during the height of the Arian heresy, while St. Peter Julian Eymard was a French priest and founder of the religious congregations, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament Fathers and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Eusebius of Vercelli lived during a troubled time for the Church and the faithful, at the time when the Christian faith has been tolerated and welcomed in the Roman Empire, but at that same time there were also plenty of divisions and disagreements in the Church. At that time, the Arian heresy, which had been formally condemned by the Church, in their denial of the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, was still widespread among the people and the clergy alike.

There was great conflict and tribulations facing those who were faithful to the true teachings of the faith. St. Eusebius refused to condemn his fellow bishop, another holy man, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, who stood firmly in his orthodox, Nicaean faith, in which both of them affirmed the faith they had in the divinity of Christ, against those who followed the false teachings of Arianism.

He was persecuted and tortured by many, even by among those in power, as those people had been influenced by the same heresy. And yet, he did not give up his attempts and hard work to convince many and more people to return to the true faith through his sermons and writings. He continued to persevere through those challenges, doing what the Lord had called him to do, to be His servant among His people.

Meanwhile, St. Peter Julian Eymard was a renowned priest who dedicated his life to the Lord, and inspired many others to do the same, by his revitalisation of the places and parishes he worked at, by encouraging the active and strong devotion to the Lord, particularly in His Most Holy Presence in the Eucharist. To that extent, he encouraged the faithful to participate in the Forty Hours devotion to the Eucharist, and established two religious orders devoted to the Lord.

Through his works, St. Peter Julian Eymard helped to bring more and more people closer to the Lord, and turning away from their sinful lives and attachment to the world. He brought the Lord closer to those people, and as a result, many more souls received salvation from God and were put on the path towards the eternal life and glory promised by the Lord to all who are faithful to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the example of these two holy saints showed us that as Christians, there are many areas in which all of us will be able to contribute to, in order to bring ourselves and our fellow brethren closer to God. Let us all turn away from all of our selfishness, from all of our greed and worldly desires, and let us all no longer be tempted by all these, but instead focus ourselves on the Lord alone, and renew our commitment to live in accordance with His will and obeying His laws.

May the Lord bless us all in our endeavours, and may He strengthen in us the faith that we may be ever committed in our respective lives. May St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard, faithful and holy servants of God intercede for us all and pray for us always. Amen.