Month: November 2020

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 16 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptised will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned.”

“Signs like these will accompany those who have believed : in My Name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took His place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 116 : 1-2

Alleluia! Praise the Lord, all you nations; all you peoples, praise Him.

How great is His love for us! His faithfulness lasts forever.

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Thursday, 3 December 2020 : Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Patron of Missions (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 9 : 16-19, 22-23

Because I cannot boast of announcing the Gospel : I am bound to do it. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel! If I preached voluntarily, I could expect my reward, but I have been trusted this office against my will. How can I, then, deserve a reward? In announcing the Gospel, I will do it freely without making use of the rights given to me by the Gospel.

So, feeling free with everybody, I have become everybody’s slave in order to gain a greater number. To the weak I made myself weak, to win the weak. So I made myself all things to all people in order to save, by all possible means, some of them. This I do for the Gospel, so that I too have a share of it.

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Wednesday, 2 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of God in the Scriptures, all of us are reminded of the wonderful love of God for each and every one of us, of all that He has planned for us and also promised to us, since the very beginning, that all of us are to enjoy forever the true happiness and great prosperity and joy with Him in His heavenly glory. This is what the Lord has always intended for us, and He will lead us to that.

In our first reading today we heard the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah regarding the coming of God’s salvation and grace, the promise He made of the liberation and rejoicing of all the faithful, freed from their bondage and their shamefulness, and returning to God’s loving embrace, they shall not be sorrowful or suffer any longer. And this prophecy if we note, is remarkably similar to what we have also heard in the Book of Revelations of St. John the Apostle.

In the Book of Revelations, the Lord showed His Apostle St. John the vision of what will happen in the future, at the time that the Lord Himself had appointed, for the end of the world as we know it, the judgment of all the living and the dead, and the final defeat of Satan and his forces of evil and wickedness. The Lord revealed that in the end, all the faithful shall suffer no more, shed tears no more, and not be sorrowful any more, for their Lord and Master is with them, and they are to enjoy forever the fruits of their labours and faith.

This is the completion of what the Lord had revealed first through Isaiah and the other prophets, which had been affirmed by His Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Although at the time of His first coming, He did not bring all of us mankind into eternal happiness and joy, but all these are part of God’s plan, and He revealed that, He shall return in the end, to complete perfectly all that He has revealed and promised to us.

That is why, in this season of Advent, we prepare ourselves in heart, mind and body, especially in our spiritual readiness to celebrate the occasion of Christmas. And as we prepare ourselves, we have to take special attention and care not to fall into the trap of celebrating just the materialistic and secular Christmas as how the world celebrates it, with lots of merrymaking and joy, lots of gifts and lavish celebrations and feasts, and yet, without Christ at the centre of it all.

We all ought to know that we rejoice in this season and expectation of Christmas not just because we celebrate the Lord’s coming as it had happened a long time ago. Indeed, we rejoice because we have seen the salvation of Our God, coming in the flesh, in the Son of Man, the manifestation of God’s perfect love and compassion for us, as we have also heard in our Gospel passage today, in how He showed pity and love for the people who followed Him for many days and were hungry, miraculously feeding them all with just a few loaves of bread and several fishes.

Through that show of love, the Lord wants us all to know just how beloved and precious we are to Him, and we are indeed so fortunate because of this. And that is why, in Advent, we also look forward and rejoice because of our expectation of the Lord’s return, His second coming, when He will come again as a triumphant and conquering King, and He will gather us all together, His people, and if we remain faithful, righteous and just, in the end, we shall be deemed worthy of the Lord’s eternal glory and true joy with Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, too many of us are too distracted with our busy lives and other preoccupations that we end up getting ourselves ever more distanced and further away from God. And we have given little time and attention for the Lord, despite all that He had done for us, all the love He has shown us. Instead, we kept ourselves busy trying to attain for ourselves worldly glory, satisfaction, wealth and all other false sources of happiness that kept us away from being able to find our true happiness in God.

In this season of Advent, let us take some time to reflect on our lives, our actions and how we have lived our lives thus far. Have we been faithful to God, or have we instead taken His love and compassion, His kindness and grace for granted, brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us all discern in what way we can be better disciples and followers of God from now on, and let us all make best use of this time of Advent in order to renew ourselves and our faith.

May the Lord help us and guide us throughout this season of Advent, that we may grow ever deeper in faith and will be able to prepare and celebrate the true joy of Christmas together as one Christian community, all of God’s beloved people. Let us all share our joy with each other, and inspire one another to live ever more faithfully in Christ. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 2 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 15 : 29-37

At that time, from the place where Jesus healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman, He went to the shore of Lake Galilee, and then went up into hills, where He sat down. Great crowds came to Him, bringing the dumb, the blind, the lame, the crippled, and many with other infirmities. People carried them to the feet of Jesus, and He healed them.

All were astonished when they saw the dumb speaking, the lame walking, the crippled healed, and the blind able to see; and they glorified the God of Israel. Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “I am filled with compassion for these people; they have already followed Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away fasting, or they may faint on the way.”

His disciples said to Him, “And where shall we find enough bread in this wilderness to feed such a crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They answered, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

Jesus ordered the people to sit on the ground. Then, He took the seven loaves and the small fish, and gave thanks to God. He broke them and gave them to His disciples, who distributed them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the leftover pieces filled seven wicker baskets.

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Wednesday, 2 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

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Wednesday, 2 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 25 : 6-10a

On this mountain YHVH Sabaoth will prepare for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, meat full of marrow, fine wine strained. On this mountain He will destroy the pall cast over all peoples, this very shroud spread over all nations, and death will be no more. The Lord YHVH will wipe away the tears from all cheeks and eyes; He will take away the humiliation of His people all over the world : for YHVH has spoken.

On that day you will say : This is our God. We have waited for Him to save us, let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For on this mountain the hand of YHVH rests.

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Tuesday, 1 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we enter into the season of Advent and begin this month of December, we are all called to take a step back from our usual busy schedules, and think of how we can make best use of this season of Advent. The time of Advent is a time for reconciliation with God, a time for redirection and reorientation of our lives. As we enter into this time of Advent, we are all called to find more time for God, and to prepare ourselves for His coming.

Yes, brothers and sisters, as we all should know that the essence of Advent itself comes from name, ‘Adventus’ which means the coming and appearing, with the connotation of expecting the coming of something, and in this case, what most of us probably knew is that Advent is the season of expectation for the coming of Christmas. However, Advent itself also has another connotation as a reminder for each one of us, that this expectation of the Lord’s coming is not just one of our commemoration of His past birth in Bethlehem in Judea, but even more importantly, that we also await His future second coming.

The Lord has revealed all of these to us through His disciples, He, the ‘Root of Jesse’ as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah, as the descendant and heir of King David, the son of Jesse, to be the One to rule over the Israelites and the people of God forever. And God revealed that His plans and His promises were to be fulfilled through Christ, Who was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the city of David two thousand years ago, the Son of Mary, and the Son of God Most High.

But what we have heard in that passage from our first reading today is in fact a prophecy of not what had happened two thousand years ago, but it is a prophecy that is yet to be completely fulfilled, and which will be fulfilled at the Lord’s second coming, which is going to happen at a time that is preordained and determined by the Lord. As we have read from the Book of Revelations of St. John, part of what is about to happen have been revealed to us in that vision of the end of time.

Some among the Jews refused to believe in Jesus as the Messiah, because to many of them, the Messiah as prophesied and foretold by the prophets like Isaiah was like a powerful, conquering King that will liberate the people of God and restore peace and harmony to the whole land, and indeed, to the whole world. This did not happen when the Lord Jesus was betrayed, arrested and condemned to death at the hands of the Romans, handed over to be crucified.

However, the reality and truth is that, the Lord shall complete everything and all that had been prophesied when He comes again, to gather all of His faithful ones and judge all the living and the dead, all of creation at the Last Judgment. He shall come as a conquering and triumphant King, defeating Satan and all the enemies of God and His faithful ones in one final victory. And this is what each and every one of us are looking forward to in our lives.

By His coming in the historical past, the Lord had brought the His salvation into this world, and revealed His truth and love, restoring hope to us all who have lived in darkness all these while, thus, showing us all the path out of the darkness and into the light. And by His promise of His return, and the New Covenant which He had made with us by His ultimate and most loving sacrifice on the Cross, He showed us all the sure path to eternal life and true joy with Him.

This is what we are all truly celebrating, brothers and sisters in Christ, the hope that we have in Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world and all mankind. Christmas is not about our own selfish happiness and desires, or about our ego and pride, just as we often see how people bicker over Christmas celebrations and trying to outdo each other in making a grander celebrations. Who is it that we celebrate? It is Christ, and the Light of Hope that He has brought into our midst.

In this season of Advent, we are called to purify ourselves and to reorientate our lives, our thoughts and actions, so that we may properly celebrate Christmas, with faith and devotion, and appreciating fully just how important Christmas is to us, because through Christmas, God Himself has dwelled among us, Emmanuel, as He has revealed to us through His prophets. And let us all make ourselves truly worthy of Him, for the sake of His love for each and every one of us. Let us be true and genuine Christians in our every actions and deeds, at all times.

May the Lord help us to journey faithfully through this blessed season of Advent, and may He strengthen our faith and conviction to live our lives with ever greater commitment to serve Him and to glorify Him by our lives. May our Advent season be fruitful and may we all be sources of hope and inspriation to one another, through our faithful observation of this blessed time and season. Amen.

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Tuesday, 1 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 10 : 21-24

At that time, Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and made them known to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. I have been given all things by My Father, so that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”

Then Jesus turned to His disciples and said to them privately, “Fortunate are you to see what you see, for I tell you, that many prophets and kings would have liked to see what you see, but did not see it; and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

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Tuesday, 1 December 2020 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

God, endow the King with Your justice, the royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

Justice will flower on His days, and peace abound, till the moon be no more. For He reigns from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted, with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor; He saves the lives of the poor.

May His Name endure forever; may His Name be as lasting as the sun. All the races will boast about Him; and He will be praised by all nations.