Month: September 2021

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Tuesday, 28 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to words of the Scriptures, we are all called to reflect on the revelation that many people from many nations, from various places would come to glorify the Lord and to praise Him. They would come to listen to Him and to welcome Him, follow Him and worship Him. All these were the revelations of what was to come through Christ and His gathering of the people from all the nations to be His disciples and to be saved through Him.

Everything was to come true as the Lord Himself had come and dwelled in our midst, gathering everyone who have faith in Him so that we may come to know of His truth and salvation. Yet, as we heard in our Gospel passage today, there were still those who refused to believe in Him and refused to welcome Him to their place. This happened due to various reasons, and in this particular case, it was because the Samaritans who stayed in that village got to know that the Lord was on His way to Jerusalem, in the land of Judea.

Back then, at the time of the ministry of the Lord, there had been longstanding animosity between the Samaritans and the Jews especially those who were in Judea and Jerusalem. The background of this animosity and conflict was not truly well-understood, but it revolved around the misunderstandings between the two groups of people, as the Jews considered the Samaritans as heathens and pagans who took over the land of the former northern kingdom of Israel in Samaria and its vicinity, in the land between Judea and Galilee. Many of the Samaritans were descendants of the remnants of the Israelites left behind in that land intermingled with others who were brought to that land to settle in.

Then, for the Samaritans, they claimed themselves to be the natives of the land, as they claimed that they had been there earlier than the Jewish people had been, and even claimed Jacob, the father of the Israelites to be their own forefather. They claimed that their worship of God at Mount Gerizim and the mountains of Ephraim was superior than the Jewish claim for worship only at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Their mixed heritage and the long distortions of history eventually led to the strive and conflict between the two peoples. This is the background with which the rejection of the Lord took place.

All these showed us the kind of attitudes that we mankind and people of God can show in the midst of us resorting to our pride and ego, and in indulging our stubborn desire for glory and power, for influence and other things and temptations that often became great stumbling blocks in our path towards God and His salvation. If only that we can trust in Him more and allow Him to lead and guide us down the right path that we may not end up in the wrong direction in life. But the question is, are we willing to listen to Him and humble ourselves before Him and others?

Today, all of us are called to reflect on our attitude in life and in how we have lived our faith thus far. Have we been truly faithful to the Lord in all the things we do and at all times throughout our lives? Or have we allowed ourselves to be lulled and swayed by our desires and greed, by our ego, pride and ambition? Today, let us all look upon the good examples set by our holy predecessors, holy martyrs who devoted themselves to the Lord faithfully and lived virtuous lives and in the end, died as martyrs in defending their faith and the integrity of their beliefs.

St. Wenceslaus of Bohemia was the renowned Duke of Bohemia whose patronage and life is still being remembered to this day, as the patron of the Czechs and many others who looked up to his virtuous examples as a Christian and as a great ruler over his people. St. Wenceslaus took over the reign over Bohemia at a time of great change and at the crossroads of the history of his people, as Christianity had just taken its roots in Bohemia back then, and many of the people including the influential ones and the nobles were still pagans.

St. Wenceslaus ruled wisely and responsibly as a just and caring ruler, managing the many challenges that he had to face, and worked hard to benefit his people and to care for them while also advancing the cause of the Lord and the Church, establishing a firm foundation of the Church and its missions throughout his dominion. However, he had a lot of opposition which festered and sought to reverse all the gains of the Christian faith, and these eventually coalesced around the brother of St. Wenceslaus, namely Boleslaus the Cruel, who orchestrated the murder of the faithful duke and servant of God.

Then, today we also commemorate the memory of the glorious Holy Martyrs of Japan in Nagasaki, St. Lawrence Ruiz and his fellow companions in martyrdom during the great and intense persecution of Christians in Japan in the early years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. St. Lawrence Ruiz, also better known as St. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first saint of the Philippines, having actually been born in the Spanish ruled Philippine islands, and led a pretty ordinary life there until one day he was falsely accused with murder. In order to protect his life and innocence, he boarded a ship bound for Japan, in which he was arrested together with the missionaries that he had taken refuge with.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions in martyrdom were tortured and made to suffer a lot, persuaded, coerced and forced to abandon their faith in God under grim threat of more sufferings and death. However, this did not dampen his spirit and those others who were with him. Eventually he was martyred in the most painful way, and to the very end, he remained faithful, declaring before all his persecutioners that ‘I am a Catholic and I wholeheartedly accepted death for God. Had I have a thousand lives, all these I shall gladly offer to Him.’

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the great examples showed by these faithful holy predecessors of ours should be inspiration to each and every one of us. Are we willing and able to commit ourselves to the Lord just in the manner that those faithful martyrs had done? Can we be virtuous in life, caring and be responsible for one another just as St. Wenceslaus had done? And can we commit ourselves wholly to the Lord even in the face of great suffering and adversity in the manner of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions in martyrdom?

Let us all therefore turn towards the Lord wholeheartedly, and strive to do our best to serve Him with ever greater vigour and devotion from now on. May the Lord be with us always and may He strengthen each and every one of us, and bless us in our every great works and endeavours. Amen.

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Tuesday, 28 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Luke 9 : 51-56

At that time, as the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, He made up His mind to go to Jerusalem. He sent ahead of Him some messengers, who entered a Samaritan village to prepare a lodging for Him. But the people would not receive Him, because He was on His way to Jerusalem.

Seeing this, James and John, His disciples, said, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to reduce them to ashes?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

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Tuesday, 28 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 86 : 1-3, 4-5, 6-7

He Himself has built in in His holy mountain; YHVH prefers the gates of Zion to all of Jacob’s towns. Great things have been foretold of you, o City of God.

Between friends, we speak of Egypt and Babylon; and also Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia : “Here so-and-so was born.” But of Zion, it shall be said, “More and more are being born in her.” For the Most High Himself has founded her.

And YHVH notes in the people’s register : “All these were also born in Zion.” And all will dance and sing joyfully for You.

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Tuesday, 28 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Zechariah 8 : 20-23

YHVH, the God of hosts speaks, “Peoples will come from other nations, people from great cities. The inhabitants of one town will talk with those of another, and, say : ‘Come, let us go and implore the favour of YHVH, and I, too, will seek YHVH.’ Many great peoples and powerful nations will come, seeking YHVH, God of hosts, in Jerusalem and pray to Him.”

YHVH, the God of hosts assures you. “In those days, ten men of different languages spoken in various lands, will take hold of a Jew by the hem of his garment and say : We, too, want to go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

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Monday, 27 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we are all called to follow the Lord and to obey His will, to put our trust in Him and not to be vain in our desire to recognised and honoured, and rather, we should seek the greater glory of God in all things. We should seek to be humble and strive to resist the temptations to satisfy our own ego and personal ambitions so that we may truly be faithful disciples and followers of the Lord.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Zechariah, we have heard the words of the Lord to His people telling them and reassuring them that they were His people and He would be with them, blessing them and protecting them, as He would dwell once again in their midst in Jerusalem, the place where the Temple and House of God was. At that time, during the years following the return from the Babylonian exile, many of the Israelites were still scattered all around and Jerusalem was not yet fully rebuilt.

The Israelites had earlier on been humiliated and crushed, as their nations of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were destroyed by the Assyrians and the Babylonians respectively. Most of the people of Israel were conquered and brought into exile in far-off land away from their ancestral lands, and their cities destroyed, while the Holy Temple of God in Jerusalem was also utterly destroyed and ruined.

However, God never abandoned and forgot about His people, and they were always foremost in His mind. This was also the case despite their wayward behaviour and actions, and God still wanted to forgive them for their sins and desired to see them turn away from those sins and wickedness that they have committed earlier on. As He brought them back to the land of their ancestors through the emancipation of King Cyrus of Persia, He wanted to remind them once again that they were His people and that He would always be with them.

As He said through the prophet Zechariah, He would gather the scattered people from all over the world and from all the nations, to gather them back once again into His presence. God would gather His people and bless them again in His presence, all reunited as one flock, and this is what He has promised to them. He even sent them His own Son to be born into the world as their Saviour. He gave them all His promised inheritance through Christ, Who opened for us all the path to eternal life and true glory with Him.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are called through Christ to embrace God and to do His will wholeheartedly in our lives, as we heed His words in our Gospel passage today, that all those who welcomes the Lord faithfully and sincerely, and opens themselves to the Lord shall be great in His kingdom and shall be the first to be saved. All of us are called to partake in the efforts and great works to glorify the Lord through all that we do and through our contributions.

Today, all of us ought to reflect on the good examples of St. Vincent de Paul, whose feast we are celebrating today. We are all called to emulate the great life of this great saint, whose dedication to the Lord and actions were truly exemplary in helping so many people to find their way to the Lord, either by his direct actions or through the efforts whom he had gathered and inspired to follow in his footsteps. St. Vincent de Paul was very widely remembered for his role in founding the Congregation of the Mission also known after their founder as the Vincentians, as well as the inspiration in the establishment of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul after his passing, all inspired by his generosity and humility.

St. Vincent de Paul himself had a very eventful early life during his youth, as he was ordained a priest in his early years after being educated in a seminary, only to be taken captive by Barbary pirates and enslaved. He suffered in slavery for two years passing from master to master, before finally coming to the possession of one Guillaume Gautier, a former priest who had been enslaved himself and apostatised in order to be freed from slavery. Through the acts of one of Gautier’s wives, who was intrigued by St. Vincent’s Christian faith, eventually that led to St. Vincent de Paul returning to Christendom together with his former master.

St. Vincent de Paul thereafter continued his ministry and later on founded congregations and societies of Apostolic life inspired by his previous experiences including that of his capture and enslavement. He ministered to the poor, the captives and slaves, the weak and those who were oppressed and marginalised. Through the aforementioned Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentians, St. Vincent de Paul inspired many people to reach out to the least among their brethren and made many people to become aware of the plight of their fellow brethren.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how about us? Are we able to follow in the footsteps of this faithful servant of God, Whom the Lord had led and guided to become great inspiration for so many including that of ourselves? Shall we not learn to love the Lord and commit ourselves to Him just as He has been so kind and generous to us? Let us all be generous and charitable in giving just as St. Vincent de Paul had done, in giving his time, effort and attention to those who need them. We should love one another just in the same way that the Lord Himself has loved us.

Let us all reflect carefully on everything that we have discussed thus far today. May the Lord help us in discerning our path, that we may find our way amidst this world, amidst all the challenges and temptations that we may be facing daily in life. May God be with us always and may He strengthen us to be ever faithful to Him, at all times. Amen.

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Monday, 27 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 9 : 46-50

At that time, one day, the disciples were arguing about which of them was the most important. But Jesus knew their thoughts, so He took a little child and stood him by His side. Then He said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in My Name, welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me, welcomes the One Who sent Me. And listen : the one who is found to be the least among you all, is the one who is the greatest.”

Then John spoke up, “Master, we saw someone who drives out demons by calling upon Your Name, and we tried to forbid him, because he does not follow You with us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him. He who is not against you is for you.”

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Monday, 27 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 101 : 16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23

O Lord, the nations will revere Your Name, and the kings of the earth Your glory, when the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in all His splendour. For He will answer the prayer of the needy and will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for future ages, “The Lord will be praised by a people He will form.” From His holy height in heaven, the Lord has looked on the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and free those condemned to death.”

Your servants’ children will dwell secure; their posterity will endure without fail. Then the Name of the Lord will be declared in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship Him.

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Monday, 27 September 2021 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Zechariah 8 : 1-8

The word of YHVH, the God of hosts was directed to me in this way, “I am intensely jealous for Zion, stirred by a burning anger for her sake. YHVH says : I will return to Zion and live in her midst. Jerusalem shall be called the city of faithfulness and the mountain of holiness.”

YHVH, God of hosts speaks, “Old men and women will again sit in the squares, each with a stick in hand on account of their great age. The squares of the city will be filled with girls and boys playing.”

YHVH, God of hosts declared, “If that seems impossible in the eyes of those who have returned from exile, will it be impossible for Me as well?” – word of YHVH. YHVH, God of hosts says, “See, I am going to save My people, bringing them from the east and from the west; and they will live in Jerusalem. They will be My people and I shall be their God, in truth and in justice.”

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Sunday, 26 September 2021 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of Migrants and Refugees (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we are all called through what we have received in the Sacred Scriptures, to reflect on our every actions in our own respective lives, on whether we have been good and faithful in exercising the gifts that God has given us, the gifts of His Wisdom and the Holy Spirit that He has sent to us. We have to distance ourselves from sin and from all things that are wicked so that our lives may be inspiration and good models for our fellow brothers and sisters in the same Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Numbers about the time when the Lord sent His Spirit down to the seventy elders appointed to be the leaders of the people of Israel in their Exodus from Egypt. The Spirit of God that was upon Moses also came upon the seventy elders who began to prophesy in the Name of God, having received the gift of wisdom from the Lord. And it was then told that two men in the assembly who were not among the seventy elders, named Eldad and Medad also received the Spirit of God and began prophesying amongst the people.

When Moses then chided those who complained and tried to stop the two men’s actions, his words were truly prophetic at that time, as he wished that every single one of God’s children and people could also receive the same gift of the Spirit and has the same wisdom and ability to prophesise. And all these, brothers and sisters in Christ, have in fact came true during the Pentecost. For at Pentecost, God sent down His Holy Spirit on the disciples, which consists of the Twelve Apostles and Mary, but may also number seventy or seventy-two in total, symbolic of the seventy elders of the Israelites.

Then, these disciples of the Lord, having received the Holy Spirit, went forth from that day onwards and proclaimed the truth of God, His Good News and salvation without any more fear, but with great joy and conviction, with the strong desire for the salvation of many souls.

Many people came to believe in the Lord through them, through the efforts of the Apostles and the disciples, and they accepted baptism in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and becoming the members of the Church of God. And in becoming Christians, they received through baptism the same Holy Spirit that God had sent to His disciples.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we ourselves as Christians have also therefore received the same Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit having come down and dwelled within us through the gift of our baptism, and then affirmed for those of us who have also received the Sacrament of Confirmation. As we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, we too have been entrusted by the Lord with the wisdom and the responsibility to make good use of the various gifts and opportunities He has given us to do whatever we can to serve Him and to glorify His Name by our various deeds in life.

Yet, that is not what many of us had done, as St. James in his Epistle which we heard as our second reading today, spoke of the ways in which we have misused and abused the various gifts and talents that we had been given. He detailed how many among the rich and the powerful abused their wealth and power to exploit others and to enrich and make themselves more powerful over the suffering and hard labours of others. He mentioned how the poor and the weak were deceived and exploited by those who held sway and power over them, and implied that such an action was most unbecoming of Christians.

The Lord was not against the rich or the powerful. In fact, was it not by God’s grace and blessings that they had received their riches and opportunities in the first place? But they had chosen to use those for their own selfish purposes and even sought to get more of what they had already possessed a lot of. That is why they exploited others especially those who could not stand for themselves and are vulnerable to exploitation and extortion. This is also the reason for the many sufferings present in our world today, as we misuse the blessings and the opportunities that God had given to us.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and to the people about doing the works for the glory of God, saying that they should not hinder anyone doing the good works of God even if those people did not belong to the same group as them. At that time, the disciples of the Lord saw some people who were doing works in the Name of the Lord, casting out demons and healing in His Name, wanting to stop them for doing so? Why were they doing this, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because they felt that having received the gift of power and miracle from the Lord, they wanted to keep these exclusive to themselves.

Such was a selfish action showed by the disciples which the Lord then calmly rebuked by saying that they must not have such a mindset, and that all with the desire to do the work of God, regardless of their affiliations are part of the Lord’s greater work and plans. At the same time, it is also a reminder that we should not aim to use these gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities God has given us for our own selfish purposes, and worse still if we make use of them to exploit others and causing sufferings to those who are less fortunate than us.

As Christians, all of us are called to reflect on the Lord’s words to us in our Sacred Scriptures today. When the Lord told His disciples that if their eyes caused them to sin, and they ought to tear them out, or if their hands and feet had caused them to sin and make them to fall into wickedness that they ought to cut them off, He was in fact calling on all of us to turn away from sin and to resist the temptations to sin to the best of our abilities. He did not literally mean for us to tear out our eyes, or cut off our limbs if they had led us all into sin. Otherwise, everyone would have been without eyes and limbs as inevitably, these would have tempted us to sin.

Our body, our organs and senses are all gifts from God to us, and they can be used for good purposes just as they can also be used for wicked purposes. The matter lies with how we make use of these gifts and how we make use of the other talents and opportunities that God has given to us. We have been given various gifts that are distinct from one another, and yet, many of us are still ignorant of them, or we deliberately did nothing at all to make use of them for the good of all. This is where we need to reflect and see in what way we can do to contribute our efforts for the good of humanity, for all those whom we encounter in life.

That is why, as Christians, we are all called to make good use of our gifts and talents for the benefit of all, to reach out to others around us so that whenever we see someone who is need of help, or hear the pleas and cries of the suffering and sorrowful, we may reach out to them and in various ways offer our help or do something even in the smallest ways to lighten their load, or to cheer them up and support them. We may be surprised just how much this can help in making them feel better and just how much this can benefit them in ways that we ourselves may not realise at first.

This Sunday, we also mark the occasion of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, paying particular attention on all those who have left their homeland or place of birth behind in search of a better life, or for a place of refuge especially for those who have been displaced by famine, by war or by persecution either because of their faith, their race or their background, as diverse as these reasons may be. We remember our fellow brothers and sisters out there who are still suffering daily and having no true place to be called home, especially the refugees.

Many of these unfortunate circumstances came to be because of our own human greed and pride, our egoistic behaviours and our desires, unchecked and unbridled which led to the exploitation of the weak and the poor, as well as the persecution of peoples based on their backgrounds, races and all things that led them to flee their homeland or for various other reasons that made them to wander around. For some who were lucky, they would end up finding a new home and integrate well, but many are still out there, some even after many generations, waiting to find a home that will welcome them and which they can call as home.

Sadly and unfortunately, quite a few among those who have caused these sufferings were those who call themselves as Christians. And not few among us are also biased against these migrants and refugees, and not few among us are also perpetuating these biases and prejudice against those unfortunate people. Let us not forget, brothers and sisters in Christ, that they too are our fellow brothers and sisters, the same children of God, having the same Father as us, Who loves them just as He loves all of us. If we shut the doors of our hearts to them, then how do you think God will react to His children being treated in this manner?

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are called and challenged to live our lives in a more Christian manner, to be more genuine in our Christian love and way of life, and not be hypocrites in faith. We are all called to embrace one another with love and in whatever we do, we have to show God’s love and truth to each other. Are we willing to do this, brethren? Are we willing to commit ourselves to the way of the Lord, and if we are given the opportunity to do more for the benefit of others around us, and more so if we have the chance to encounter migrants and refugees in our midst, to be welcoming towards them and to show them God’s generous love, that they may be strengthened and reminded that God never leaves them but remains with them with us, their own brothers and sisters.

Let us all do whatever we can to be less selfish and be more generous in giving to others, in touching the lives of others and in influencing one another to be more loving and caring especially to the weak and the oppressed, to those who are suffering and unloved, to those who need our care and attention. Let us all do our part, as members of the Church of God, having received the Lord’s Spirit and the commission to love, to be faithful to our calling and mission and to be good brothers and sisters to one another, at all times. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 September 2021 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of Migrants and Refugees (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 38-43, 45, 47-48

At that time, John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon Your Name, and we tried to forbid him, because he does not belong to our group.”

Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My Name can soon after speak evil of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”

“If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear His Name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward. If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck.”

“If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand, than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell.”

“And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out.”