Month: January 2018

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages relating to us about a change in life attitude necessary for us to be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and with sincerity. From the first reading today we heard about the prophet Samuel who rebuked Saul, the first king of Israel, who disobeyed the Lord’s command to follow his own way. And then, from the Gospel we heard a parable taught by Our Lord Himself, about something related to what we heard in the first reading.

Beginning with what we listened to at the first reading today, we witnessed how king Saul, the first king chosen by God to rule over Israel, His people, had not been obedient to Him, but rather, he preferred to follow his own judgments and ways. He was told to destroy the Amalekites, a longtime enemy of the people of God, without sparing anyone and without sparing any of their possessions.

Instead, king Saul chose to spare Agag, the king of Amalek, as well as the Amalekites’ numerous possessions, their wealth and animals, their riches and all of their goods. The Lord knew the disobedience of Saul, which led Israel to sin against Him, as by disobeying the Lord’s direct commands, Saul had chosen not to obey Him but rather trusting in his own flawed human judgment and ambitions.

Samuel was sent by God to rebuke Saul, and showed him how his folly had brought about his disgrace and the withdrawal of the favour and grace which God had granted to him. Saul tried to make excuses by saying that he spared the animals and flocks so that he could offer sacrifices to the Lord, by offering those animals as burnt offerings to God, as prescribed according to the Law of Moses.

But Samuel made it clear to Saul, that God’s favour has been withdrawn from him, and he would no longer be king over Israel, because not only that he had disobeyed God and not listening to His will, but he tried to justify it with false adherence to the laws of Moses, pretending to be faithful by offering animal sacrifices. In truth, Saul wanted those riches for himself and for those who are close to him, and not to praise God.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard the interaction between the Pharisees and the disciples of St. John the Baptist with the disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They criticised them and wondered why they did not do as what the laws of Moses prescribed to them to do, that is to fast and to follow the many other commandments and customs in the Jewish tradition. But the Lord Jesus explained to them, by means of parables, that His way is the truth, and not the false ways of the world.

He used the parable of the old and new wineskins and wine, and the old cloth and new clothpiece to highlight this truth to the people. What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? If we remember what we have just heard in the Gospel passage, we see how the new wine cannot be kept in an old wineskin, vice versa, and new clothpiece cannot be used to patch an old cloth, vice versa, as they are incompatible with each other.

Jesus was saying that in order for the people to truly love Him and devote themselves to Him, then they must abandon the false and wrong way of believing as advocated by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and to a certain extent, what king Saul had done at that time when he disobeyed God. Those people had advocated blind obedience to the Law, to the point that they performed the rituals and practices of the faith but without proper understanding of their meaning.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the prophet Samuel and Our Lord Jesus Himself highlighted that true obedience is more important than just paying lip service to the law. It does not mean that we should not obey the commandments of God as written in the teachings of the Church, as indeed, we must obey those laws and precepts, as God Himself has given us all of them to be obeyed and followed.

However, we must not end up following them for the sake of following them, meaning that, we do not fulfil the commandments because we truly love God above all, and worse still, we do them for the sake of our own personal ambitions and glory. This is something that we must avoid, and which we have to learn from the lessons of the Lord, as He showed the corrupt ways of the teachers of old who misused the law for their own purposes.

We have a choice, brothers and sisters in Christ, on whether we want to follow the footsteps of king Saul, or the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, in disobeying God because they did not have the Lord as the focus and the centre of their lives? Or whether we want to turn ourselves completely to Him and learn to love Him with all of our hearts and with all of our strength?

May the Lord help each and every one of us, that as Christians, we may grow to love the Lord more and more with each and every passing day. Let us all also care for one another, giving our love for our brethren in need, and not ignoring or abandoning those who are in need of our love. This is the new way which Christ has revealed to us, which is against the old ways of our worldliness and selfishness. Let us therefore cast aside the old ways and follow the Lord wholeheartedly from now on. Amen.

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 2 : 18-22

At that time, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it, that both the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast, but Yours do not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the Bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come, when the Bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.”

“No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 49 : 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My Covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. Those who give with thanks, offerings, honour Me; but the one who walks blamelessly. I will show him the salvation of God.

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 15 : 16-23

Samuel then told Saul, “Enough! Let me tell you what YHVH said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Please tell me.” So Samuel went on and said, “Though you had no confidence in yourself, you became chief of the tribes of Israel, for YHVH wanted to anoint you king over Israel. Then He sent you with this command, ‘Go. Completely crush the Amalekite offenders, engaging them in battle until they are destroyed.’”

“Why then did you not obey the voice of YHVH but instead swooped down on the spoil, doing what was evil in His sight?” To this, Saul replied, “I have obeyed the voice of YHVH and have carried out the mission for which He sent me. I have captured Agag, king of Amalek and completely destroyed the Amalekites. If my men spared the best sheep and oxen from among these to be destroyed, it was in order to sacrifice them to YHVH, your God, in Gilgal.”

Samuel then said, “Does YHVH take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to His command? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness like holding onto idols. Since you have rejected the word of YHVH, He too has rejected you as king.”

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Sunday, 14 January 2018 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we gather together and we listened to the Word of God in the Scriptures, telling us all about the importance and the meaning of discipleship, meaning what it means to become a follower of God. We heard this through the calling of Samuel, prophet and judge of Israel, when he was still very young, and then also the calling of the first Apostles, at the side of the River Jordan.

In the first reading today, from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the moment when God called Samuel in his sleep, which the young Samuel misinterpreted as Eli, his guardian, calling him to his place. This happened three times, as Eli denied calling upon Samuel and asked him to go back to sleep, before Eli realised that it was God Who called the young boy.

At that time, the people of Israel had wandered off from the path which God had shown them, and instead, they followed the path of the pagan worship of idols, following the customs of their neighbours, and neglecting the obligation to follow and obey the Lord. And even the leaders of the people became corrupt and wayward. Hosni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli the judge led the people as priests, but they disobeyed the Lord and committed wicked corrupt acts before Him.

That was when God sent His servant, Samuel, whom He had chosen from among His people. He set him aside to be the instrument through whom He would liberate His people Israel from their sinfulness and wicked ways. And Samuel was dedicated to the Lord from a very young age, and today in our first reading, we heard of the moment when the Lord called him and began to work His wonders through him.

Samuel might be very young at that time, and he was truly innocent and pure, not knowing Who was the One calling him in the middle of the night. Yet, he was obedient to Eli, his guardian, and listened to him. And he responded to the Lord’s call, listening to whatever He told him. God spoke to Samuel about His anger at the current state of Israel, and foretold that Eli and his two sons would meet terrible end for their disobedience, and that Samuel would be the one through whom God would work His wonders.

Ever since then, God worked wonders through Samuel, who went about from place to place, delivering God’s will and His words to many people, calling them to repent from their sinful ways, and even opposing the will of the people of Israel at times, because they refused to obey God and were rebellious. God was with him, and he worked many good wonders, even as he opposed the king of Israel, Saul, when he disobeyed God and chose to follow his own ways rather than God’s ways.

Samuel was called by God to a mission and to a vocation that is neither easy nor pleasant. He was not called to a leisure and enjoyable life, but to one that is filled with constant challenges and difficulties. He had to endure the scorn of many people, each with their own demands and desires, and their constant rebelliousness and stubbornness against God’s will, and he had to still love them and care for them, as the judge and leader of the people.

In the same manner, God called His disciples in the Gospel passage we listened to today. He called His first Apostles at the banks of the River Jordan just right after He was baptised by St. John the Baptist. St. John the Baptist was another one of God’s tireless servants, who devoted himself wholly to do God’s will, baptising many people and calling them to repentance, and even stood up against the Pharisees and king Herod, rebuking them for their wickedness.

St. John the Baptist revealed to all of his disciples that Jesus is the Messiah and the Lamb of God, long awaited and long prophesied by the prophets. And some of those disciples followed Jesus, including St. Andrew the Apostle, first among Christ’s Apostles, who then called his brethren, all fellow fishermen of Galilee. They listened to the Lord Jesus calling them as He made His way along the river banks, and they followed Him.

Similar as the calling made by the Lord to the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament, the Apostles in the New Testament were called not to a life of pleasure or to a glamorous and glorious vocation. They were called to follow a King, but He is a King not like the other kings and rulers of the world, for they were called mostly from among the poor, and after their calling they remain poor, and even they have to leave behind everything they had in order to follow the Lord.

They were called to a most noble mission of all, one that is filled with challenges and tribulations. Yet, it was thanks to the hard work of the Apostles that there had been so many souls, countless millions upon millions, billions upon billions of souls, who have received the assurance of God’s salvation, by their preaching and by their loving actions, which they then passed on to their successors. Ultimately, their mission as the ‘fishers of men’ continues today through the Church that God has established, through our bishops and priests, even today.

And what is our calling as Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is the same! It is the same calling which God had made to us, as He had called Samuel and then His disciples in the past. When He called them, ‘Follow Me!’, Samuel answered with faith, and listened intently, and followed Him to wherever He led him to do His wonderful works. The Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord also followed Him, and went with Him wherever He went. Are we able to do the same as well?

Many of them had to endure rejection and persecution, the same one that had happened to their Lord and Master. They had to face opposition, even from loved ones and relatives, and many of them were persecuted, imprisoned, and many had to lay down their lives for the sake of the Lord and for their faith in Him. Yet, they did so willingly, never once giving up on their faith, and their dedication was the reason why all of us have the faith as we have it today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the Scripture and remembering how Samuel the prophet and the disciples of Our Lord have given their lives to the Lord, committing themselves to Him, let us all reflect on our own lives, and how each and every one of us can devote ourselves to Him in our own way, and giving to Him whatever we can give Him in our own capacities.

Let us all renew our faith to Him, and let us rededicate our efforts, that from now on, all of the things we say and do, we do not do them for ourselves, but rather, first of all, for the sake of God, and for the sake of His people. Let us all be examples for one another, and helping one another in faith, that each and every one of us, eventually, will be able to find our way to the Lord and receive worthily His saving grace, the grace of eternal life and glory. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 14 January 2018 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

John 1 : 35-42

At that time, John was standing at the River Jordan, with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked at Him and said, “There is the Lamb of God.” On hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. He turned and saw them following, and He said to them, “What are you looking for?”

They answered, “Rabbi (which means Master), where are You staying?” Jesus said, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where He stayed, and spent the rest of that day with Him. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard what John had said, and followed Jesus. Early the next morning, he found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah (which means the Christ),” and he brought Simon to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John, but you shall be called Cephas (which means Rock).”

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Sunday, 14 January 2018 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 6 : 13c-15a, 17-20

Yet the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord is for the body. And God, Who raised the Lord, will also raise us with His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

On the contrary, anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Avoid unlawful sex entirely. Any other sin a person commits is outside the body; but those who commit sexual immorality sin against their own body.

Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit within you, given by God? You belong no longer to yourselves. Remember at what price you have been bought, and make your body serve the glory of God.

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Sunday, 14 January 2018 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 39 : 2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

With resolve I waited for YHVH; He listened and heard me beg. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this, You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

As the scroll says of me. To do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your Law is within my heart.

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o YHVH, I did not seal – You know that very well.

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Sunday, 14 January 2018 : Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 3 : 3b-10, 19

Samuel also lay in the house of YHVH near the Ark of God. Then YHVH called, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel answered, “I am here!” and ran to Eli saying, “I am here, did you not call me?” But Eli said, “I did not call. Go back to sleep.” So he went and lay down.

Then YHVH called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel stood up and went to Eli saying, “You called me; I am here.” But Eli answered, “I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.” Samuel did not yet know YHVH; and the word of YHVH had not yet been revealed to him. But YHVH called Samuel for the third time; and he went again to Eli saying, “I am here for you have called me.”

Eli realised that it was YHVH calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if He calls you again, answer : ‘Speak, YHVH, Your servant listens.’” Then YHVH came and stood there calling “Samuel! Samuel!” as He did before. And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant listens.”

Samuel grew. YHVH was with him and made all his words become true.

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(Usus Antiquior) Second Sunday after Epiphany (II Classis) – Sunday, 14 January 2018 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : White

Offertory

Psalm 65 : 1-2, 16

Jubilate Deo, universa terra : psalmum dicite Nomini Ejus : venite et audite, et narrabo vobis, omnes qui timetis Deum, quanta fecit Dominus animae meae, Alleluja.

 

English translation

Shout with joy to God, all the earth, sing all of you a psalm to His Name. Come and hear, and I will tell you, all who fear God, what great things the Lord had done for my soul. Alleluia.

 

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Oblata, Domine, munera sanctifica : nosque a peccatorum nostrorum maculis emunda. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

 

English translation

Sanctify, o Lord, the gifts we offer, and purify us from the stains of our sins. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

 

Communion

John 2 : 7, 8, 9, 10-11

Dicit Dominus : Implete hydrias aqua et ferte architriclino. Cum gustasset architriclinus aquam vinum factam, dicit sponso : Servasti bonum vinum usque adhuc. Hoc signum fecit Jesus primum coram discipulis Suis.

 

English translation

The Lord said, “Fill the waterpots with water, and carry to the chief steward of the feast.” When the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, he said to the bridegroom, “You have kept the good wine until now.” This first miracle Jesus had done before His disciples.

 

Post-Communion Prayer

Augeatur in nobis, quaesumus, Domine, Tuae virtutis operatio : ut divinis vegetati sacramentis, ad eorum promissa capienda, Tuo munere praeparemur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

 

English translation

May the working of Your power, we beg You, o Lord, be increased in us, that, being nourished by divine sacraments, we may by Your grace be prepared to obtain that which they promise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.