Day: April 8, 2020

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Sunday, 12 April 2020 : Easter Vigil Mass, Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 1 : 1 – Genesis 2 : 2

In the beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth had no form and was void; darkness was over the deep and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.

God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘Day’ and the darkness ‘Night’. There was evening and there was morning : the first day.

God said, “Let there be a firm ceiling between the waters and let it separate waters from waters.” So God made the ceiling and separated the waters below it from the waters above it. And so it was. God called the firm ceiling ‘Sky’. There was evening and there was morning : the second day.

God said, “Let the waters below the sky be gathered in one place and let dry land appear. And so it was. God called the dry land ‘Earth’, and the waters gathered together he called ‘Seas’. God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit with seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And so it was. The earth produced vegetation : plants bearing seed according to their kind and trees producing fruit which has seed, according to their kind. God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning : the third day.

God said, “Let there be lights in the ceiling of the sky to separate day from night and to serve as signs for the seasons, days and years; and let these lights in the sky shine above the earth.” And so it was. God therefore made two great lights, the greater light to govern the day and the smaller light to govern the night; and God made the stars as well. God placed them in the ceiling of the sky to give light on the earth and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning : the fourth day.

God said, “Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth under the ceiling of the sky.” God created the great monsters of the sea and all living animals, those that teem in the waters, according to their kind, and every winged bird, according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them saying, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds increase on the earth.” There was evening and there was morning : the fifth day.

God said, “Let the earth produce living animals according to their kind : cattle, creatures that move along the ground, wild animals according to their kind. So it was. God created the wild animals according to their kind, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, to Our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the wild animals, and over all creeping things that crawl along the ground.” So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God said, “I have given you every seed bearing plants which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food. To every wild animal, to every bird of the sky, to everything that creeps along the ground, to everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” So it was.

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning : the sixth day. That was the way the sky and earth were created and all their vast array. By the seventh day the work God had done was completed, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had done.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Genesis 1 : 1, 26-31a

In the beginning, when God began to create the heavens and the earth.

God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, to Our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over the wild animals, and over all creeping things that crawl along the ground.” So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God said, “I have given you every seed bearing plants which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with seed. It will be for your food. To every wild animal, to every bird of the sky, to everything that creeps along the ground, to everything that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food.” So it was.

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.

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Friday, 10 April 2020 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate the day when the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour suffered and died for our sake on the Cross at the hill of Calvary just outside of Jerusalem. We remember this day when the Lord was condemned to die and picked up His Cross, enduring all the insults and torture, all the pains and struggles on the way of the Cross to Calvary.

And we call this day Good Friday despite all the terrible events and circumstances that happened that day in Jerusalem because we do not just focus our attention on what happened during those few terrible hours during which our Lord and Saviour laboured and endured all the sufferings. We have to see it as part of the greater purpose of the Lord’s efforts for our salvation, which is why we celebrate this Good Friday as part of the Easter Triduum and cannot be separated from yesterday’s Holy Thursday celebration of the Last Supper and also from the Easter Vigil and the Resurrection of the Lord.

For without the Resurrection, ultimately the suffering and death of Christ on the Cross is meaningless and empty. Without the Resurrection of Christ, then what happened almost two millennia ago in Jerusalem that day was just of a convicted man and criminal who was punished and condemned to die, and die a most humiliating and painful death on the Cross as how other dangerous criminals were punished by the Romans for their crimes. There would then be no reason for us to celebrate at all.

Instead, we know that today is truly a ‘Good’ Friday precisely because we know that the Cross and the death of our Lord was not the end of His earthly life, but rather the beginning of the Lord’s salvation for us all mankind. It marked the moment when the veil of sin and the tyranny of death were overcome, marking the reunion and reconciliation between God and mankind as symbolised by the tearing of the veil of the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem, signifying that God’s grace and holiness is no longer hidden and denied from us.

The Lord’s Cross has become a great bridge that spans the once great and uncrossable chasm that separated us from God, due to our disobedience and therefore sins against Him. Through our disobedience, we have been separated from God and His love, but then through the obedience of one Man, Our Lord Jesus Christ, mankind have been reconciled with God, and a new hope in a new life and existence in God has been born. This is why on this Good Friday we celebrate it as a truly good and blessed day for us all.

But, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to take note that the sombre nature of today’s celebration and our emphasis on the sufferings and pains that the Lord endured on the Cross, as well as our veneration of the Cross of the Lord or the Crucifix is to remind us that Christ went through all that suffering and endured all of the pains He received for us all. We must not forget that all of His wounds and sufferings are caused by our own sins and our own shortcomings.

The Cross of Christ is a reminder of our own sins and our own rebellion against God, and by that same Cross, we have also been redeemed, through every drops of Blood that was shed from the Body of Our Lord and Saviour. The Lord gave us His life that we may live and not perish because of our sins. He has done all these for us because of His enduring and powerful love for each and every one of us, the love that exceeds even the darkness of our sins.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, through the Cross we have received this assurance of Our Lord’s love and providence, that we will enjoy His love and grace forever. No longer that sin and death will have any hold over us if we put our trust in Him completely and reject those sins that we have committed all these while. However, the allure of sin and the temptations of this world are indeed powerful, and many of us can easily fall again into those same temptations by which we have fallen into sin in the past.

Today let us all spend some time to reflect on our Lord’s Passion and suffering, His great love for us and how all of us need to change our lives for the better, rejecting the sins by which we have been separated from God. We have to be thankful on this Good Friday that the Lord had been so kind towards us, giving us this great and wonderful grace although we have been rebellious, disobedient and ungrateful over His many gifts, wonders and love.

As Christians, we are also called to follow the Lord and take up our crosses, carrying it with Him. What this means is that we must be ready for the sufferings and challenges that will be in our path when we commit ourselves to the Lord and live our lives faithfully as good Christians in our daily living. We must be prepared for the challenges and be ready to endure and yet remain faithful in the Lord. Now in particular, we know how we are living through this difficult moment and suffering, and many are despairing without hope, being sick and dying, separated from their loved ones and even having lost these loved ones.

We know that most people’s attention are now focused on the current pandemic that has been raging on for many weeks so far. We know how many people are living in fear and uncertainty, worrying about themselves and their families. Many have even become irrational in their actions, causing hurt to others in order to protect themselves, in hoarding goods essential for other people, in being racist and opposed to people of certain races and groups, blaming them for the current predicaments.

We know how this pandemic among other troubles we face have led us to worry and to fear of our future. But this is because we think that we are alone in our fight and in our struggles. For all these crosses that we have to bear in life, we must not forget that the Lord is in fact carrying His Cross together with us. The Lord is suffering with us all just as we suffer now. In fact, all of our sufferings are also His sufferings, all of our pains and struggles are also His pains and struggles.

Let us today entrust ourselves, our families and our whole world to the Lord, knowing that the Lord is suffering for us and with us, picking up and enduring His Cross and being crucified that all of us may survive and live. He has offered His own Most Precious Body and Blood on the Altar of the Cross as the offering to redeem us from our sins, and His perfect obedience had been heard, and by His wounds and hurts we are healed and made whole once again. Let us entrust our whole lives to God, and commit ourselves with a renewed spirit that we may truly be the people of the Cross, all those who have hope in the Crucified Christ, by Whose Blood and Sacrifice we have been saved.

Let us all fear no longer, be it the fear of diseases or pandemics, be it the fear of darkness and evil, be it the fear of uncertainty and sin, but instead, let us all be filled with God’s hope through the triumph of His Cross. We know that the Cross is not an end, but the beginning of a new glory and a new existence, freed from sin and evil, that as long as we fix our focus and attention on the Lord crucified, we know that in Him, there is sure hope for us all. May God bless us always, now and forevermore, and may He strengthen our faith that we may welcome the coming of Easter with true joy and faith. Amen.

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Friday, 10 April 2020 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 18 : 1 – John 19 : 42

At that time, when Jesus had finished speaking, He went with His disciples to the other side of the Kidron Valley. There was a garden there, which Jesus entered with His disciples. Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place, since Jesus had often met there with His disciples. So Judas took soldiers and some servants from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they went to the garden with lanterns, torches and weapons.

Jesus knew all that was going to happen to Him; He stepped forward and asked, “Who are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said, “I am He.” Judas, who betrayed Him, stood there with them. When Jesus said, “I am He,” they moved back and fell to the ground. He then asked a second time, “Who are you looking for?” and they answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus replied, “I told you that I am He. If you are looking for Me, let these others go.” So what Jesus had said came true : “I have not lost one of those you gave Me.”

Simon Peter had a sword; he drew it and struck Malchus, the High Priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given Me?”

The guards and the soldiers, with their commander, seized Jesus and bound Him; and they took Him first to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the High Priest that year; and it was Caiaphas who had told the Jews, “It is better that one Man should die for the people.”

Simon Peter with another disciple followed Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the High Priest, they let him enter the courtyard of the High Priest along with Jesus, but Peter had to stay outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the High Priest, went out and spoke to the maidservant at the gate and brought Peter in.

Then this maidservant on duty at the door said to Peter, “So you also are one of His disciples?” But he answered, “I am not.” Now the servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire and were standing and warming themselves, because it was cold. Peter was also with them warming himself.

The High Priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in places where the Jews meet together, either at the assemblies in synagogues or in the Temple. I did not teach secretly. Why then do you question Me? Ask those who heard Me, they know what I said.”

At this reply one of the guards standing there gave Jesus a blow on the face, saying, “Is that the way to answer the High Priest?” Jesus said to him, “If I have spoken wrongly, point it out; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike Me?” Then Annas sent Him, bound, to Caiaphas, the High Priest.

Now Simon Peter stood there warming himself. They said to him, “Surely you also are one of His disciples.” He denied it, and answered, “I am not.” One of the High Priest’s servants, a kinsman of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you with Him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at once the cock crowed.

Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the headquarters of the Roman governor. It was now morning. The Jews did not go inside, lest they be made unclean by entering the house of a pagan, and therefore not allowed to eat the Passover meal. So Pilate came out and asked, “What charge do you bring against this Man?”

They answered, “If He were not a criminal, we would not be handing Him over to you.” Pilate said, “Take Him yourselves and judge Him according to your own law.” But they replied, “We ourselves are not allowed to put anyone to death.” It was clear from this what kind of death Jesus was to die, according to what Jesus Himself had foretold.

Pilate then entered the court again, called Jesus and asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Does this word come from you, or did you hear it from others?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed You over to me. What have You done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingship does not come from this world. If I were a King, like those of this world, My guards would have fought to save Me from being handed over to the Jews. But My Kingship is not of this world.” Pilate asked Him, “So You are a King?” And Jesus answered, “Just as you say, I am a King. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth hears My voice.” Pilate said, “What is truth?”

Pilate then went out to the Jews again and said, “I find no crime in this Man. Now, according to custom, I must release a prisoner to you at the Passover. With your agreement I will release to you the King of the Jews.” But they insisted and cried out, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.”

Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged. The soldiers also twisted thorns into a crown and put it on His head. They threw a cloak of royal purple around His shoulders; and they began coming up to Him and saluting Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him on the face.

Pilate went outside yet another time and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing Him out, and I want you to know that I find no crime in Him.” Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak and Pilate pointed to Him, saying, “Here is the Man!”

On seeing Him the chief priests and the guards cried out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate replied, “Take Him yourselves and have Him crucified, for I find no case against Him.” The Jews then said, “We have a Law, and according to the Law this Man must die because He made Himself Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this he was more afraid. And coming back into the court he asked Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “You will not speak to me? Do You not know that I have power to release You, just as I have power to crucify You?”

Jesus replied, “You would have no power over Me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed Me over to you is more guilty.” From that moment Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who makes Himself a King is defying Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he had Jesus brought outside to the place called the Stone Floor – in Hebrew Gabbatha – and sat down in the judgment seat. It was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!” But they cried out, “Away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!” Pilate replied, “Shall I crucify your King?” And the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. They took charge of Him. Bearing His own cross, Jesus went out of the city to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha. There He was crucified, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read : Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews. Many Jewish people saw this title, because the place where Jesus was crucified was very close to the city; and the title was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. The chief priests said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’; but, ‘This Man claimed to be King of the Jews.'” Pilate answered them, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each of them. But as the tunic was woven in one piece from top to bottom, they said, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots to decide who will get it.” This fulfilled the words of Scripture : They divided My clothing among them; they cast lots for My garment. This was what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala, when Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “There is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Jesus knew all was now finished and, in order to fulfil what was written in Scripture, He said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of bitter wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a twig of hyssop, they raised it to His lips. Jesus took the wine and said, “It is accomplished.” Then He bowed His head and gave up the Spirit.

As it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the legs of the condemned men broken, so that the bodies might be taken away. The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man, who had been crucified with Jesus.

When they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a lance, and immediately there came out Blood and water. The one who saw it, has testified to it, and his testimony is true; he knows he speaks the truth, so that you also might believe. All this happened to fulfil the words of Scripture : Not one of His bones shall be broken. Another text says : They shall look on Him Whom they have pierced.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate, for he was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly, for fear of the Jews. And he asked Pilate to let him remove the Body of Jesus. Pilate agreed, so he came and took away the Body. Nicodemus, the man who at first had come to Jesus by night, also came and brought a jar of myrrh mixed with aloes, about a hundred pounds. They took the Body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, following the burial customs of the Jews.

There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been crucified, and, in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And therefore, because the sepulchre was nearby, and the Jewish day of preparation was coming to a close, they placed the Body of Jesus there.