Year: 2019

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Thursday, 7 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 15 : 1-10

At that time, tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what He had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, “This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable :

“Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and seek the lost one till he finds it? And finding it, will he not joyfully carry it home on his shoulders? Then he will call his friends and neighbours together, and say, ‘Celebrate with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner, than over ninety-nine decent people, who do not need to repent.”

“What woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, will not light a lamp, and sweep the house in a thorough search, till she finds the lost coin? And finding it, she will call her friends and neighbours, and say, ‘Celebrate with me, for I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way, there is rejoicing among the Angels of God over one repentant sinner.”

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Thursday, 7 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

YHVH is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? YHVH is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of YHVH, 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 YHVH in the land of the living. Trust in YHVH, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in YHVH!

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Thursday, 7 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 14 : 7-12

In fact, none of us lives for himself, nor dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Either in life or in death, we belong to the Lord; It was for this purpose that Christ both died and came to life again, to be Lord, both of the living and of the dead.

Then you, why do you criticise your brother or sister? And you, why do you despise them? For we will all appear at the tribunal of God. It is written : I swear by Myself – Word of the Lord – every knee will bend before Me, and every tongue shall give glory to God. So each of us will account for himself before God.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard a very clear message from the Scriptures, reminding us all that to be a disciple of Christ we must be prepared for everything, even difficulties and challenges, that we will have to be prepared to endure what Christ Himself had endured in being rejected, ridiculed and being humiliated at times, even from those who were close and dear to us.

We have to know that this is the full reality of becoming a Christian, which means that we dedicate ourselves fully to God, and because we believe in Him, it is only right that we walk in His path and obeying His laws and commandments. But as the Lord’s parable in our Gospel passage today ought to remind us, we must be ready for all sorts of things that are to come as we commit ourselves to God and His way.

In that parable the Lord spoke of how anyone who wanted to build a house would have considered all the costs that are going to be incurred and add them up together to see if they have enough resources and money in order to build the house until its completion without being lacking in anything. And then in another example, the Lord used the comparison with kings who were about to go to war, and how they would have planned for everything before deciding to go to war or to seek for peace.

In using these examples and comparisons from the world, the Lord wants us to do the same with our own lives and how we proceed on in life knowing that what lies ahead of us is nothing less than a very important choice we need to make between following God and following the ways of this world or the way of Satan in contradiction with God. If man can think through and discern for the less important matter of the world like building of houses and planning for war, then all the more important that we make the effort to discern the path for the salvation of our souls.

There are two path lying ahead of us, one of following God, which means that we follow His commandments and laws, obeying Him and His will through the teachings and the commandments preserved through His Church, or instead we can choose to ignore Him and forge our own path in life, doing things in life according to our own preferences and desires, doing things with the primary intention of gaining benefits and good things for ourselves.

In the end, the path of the Lord will lead to eternal life and glory together with Him, which He has promised to all those who remain faithful to Him and hold on to His commandments. On the other hand, disobeying Him and remaining in a state of sin without the desire to be reconciled with God will lead us down a different path, one that will likely end up in an eternity of suffering and regret, the damnation in hell.

Do we want to follow the Lord or to walk away from Him? The choice is clearly ours to make, and we have been given many opportunities, again and again to make the conscious choice for ourselves. God has presented to us what will be our fate if we choose to be with Him and what will happen instead if we abandon Him and choose the way of this world, the way of Satan and his many temptations and falsehoods.

The path that God has shown us indeed will not be easy and convenient for us. If we expect that becoming a Christian means that we will enjoy the bounties and wonders of life in this world then we do not know yet what being a Christian truly entails. To be a Christian as I mentioned earlier means that not only we will share in the joy of Christ, but also in His many sorrows, sharing the cross He has borne for our sake, and suffer with Him.

Are we ready to make the commitment to follow Christ and to carry up our crosses with Him? Let us all dedicate ourselves to Him anew and spend our best efforts to love Him and to commit ourselves to Him from now on. May the Lord help us all to resist the temptation to move away from the path He has shown us, and reject all the false pleasures and joys that the Satan and the forces of this world are bound to show us to detract us from reaching towards God and His salvation. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

At that time, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 4-5, 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.

He is for the righteous a light in darkness; He is kind, merciful and upright. It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty.

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

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Wednesday, 6 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 13 : 8-10

Do not be in debt to anyone. Let this be the only debt of one to another : Love. The one who loves his or her neighbour fulfils the Law. For the commandments : Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not covet, and whatever else, are summarised in this one : You will love your neighbour as yourself.

Love cannot do the neighbour any harm; so love fulfils the whole Law.

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Tuesday, 5 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the messages from the Sacred Scripture reminding us of putting God first and foremost in our lives, and not to be distracted by our many worldly temptations and concerns in life but instead seek for the love and grace of God, which He has generously and freely given to us all, as He truly loves us all very much without reservation.

If we look at our Gospel passage today, we can see just how God has lavished on us all kindness and compassion, and yet, it is we who have often ignored Him, abandoned Him and not being thankful at all the things He has done for our sake. God, represented as the master in the parable which Our Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples, invited many guests to His banquet, but many of those guests refused to attend the banquet.

Those guests claimed that they were busy with their many works and concerns in life, despite having been graciously invited to the rich banquet prepared for them. And the master in his anger, instead decided to extend the invitations to all the others who were more willing to come and join in the banquet. The Lord Jesus was making the examples of cripples, lame people and all the poor by the roadsides for a good reason.

He was using this comparison to highlight how we mankind are often easily tempted by many worldly temptations of money, material possessions, glory, fame, status and influence, among many other things. We are often lured in by these things and become distracted from the rich generosity of God’s love and grace in our lives, symbolised by how those guests refused or ignored the invitation by the master of the banquet to come to the banquet generously prepared for them.

This is a reminder for each and every one of us how in our own lives we often fall into these same temptations, being pulled in by the weakness of our flesh and by the desires in our hearts and minds. And as a result we end up distancing ourselves from God and become estranged from Him, which then open up the door in our hearts and minds for sin to enter even deeper into us and dominate us even more.

How then, we as Christians resist these temptations and proceed from now on? It is now that we must heed what the Apostle St. Paul had spoken to us through our first reading passage taken from the Epistle he wrote to the Church and the faithful in Rome. In that segment of his Epistle, St. Paul exhorted the faithful to keep their faith in God and to be righteous and true to their faith in all things and to hate whatever is evil and wicked in the eyes of God.

He also exhorted the faithful to serve one another and the Church according to the various gifts God has given to His people. This is our calling as Christians because we are all called to be role models and examples for each other in living our lives with faith. By our faith and obedience to God’s will, by our rejection of sin and by our righteousness in life we become inspiration for each other and beacons of God’s light in our darkened world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have received today from the Sacred Scriptures let us all be reminded of our obligations and indeed what we need to do as Christians, by our faith and dedication to God. We have to follow Him with all of our strength and with all of our hearts, or else we are merely having a formal faith without substance and meaning, and are hypocrites by nature.

Let us all seek to devote ourselves ever more to God through our regular little contributions in our daily lives. May God give us the necessary strength, courage and perseverance to continue living our lives from now on with genuine faith and dedication. May God bless us all and our good endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 15-24

At that time, upon hearing the words of Jesus, one of those at the table said to Him, “Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God!”

Jesus replied, “A man once gave a feast and invited many guests. When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those he had invited to come, for everything was ready. But all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘Please excuse me. I must go and see the piece of land I have just bought.'”

“Another said, ‘I am sorry, but I am on my way to try out the five yoke of oxen I have just bought.’ Still another said, ‘How can I come, when I have just got married?'”

“The servant returned alone, and reported this to his master. Upon hearing his account, the master of the house flew into a rage, and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly, into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'”

“The servant reported after a while, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out, but there is still room.’ The master said, ‘Go out to the highways and country lanes, and force people to come in, to ensure that my house is full. I tell you, none of those invited will have a morsel of my feast.'”

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Tuesday, 5 November 2019 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 130 : 1, 2, 3

O YHVH, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.

I have quieted and stilled my soul, like a weaned child, on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.

Hope in YHVH, o Israel, now and forever.