Month: July 2022

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Monday, 1 August 2022 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Jeremiah 28 : 1-17

Early in the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah spoke to me.

Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon proclaimed in YHVH’s house in the presence of the priests and the people, “This is what YHVH the God of Hosts and the God of Israel says : I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the objects that king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from YHVH’s house and carried to Babylon.”

“I will likewise bring back Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all who were taken from Judah and deported to Babylon. For I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon – word of YHVH.”

Then Jeremiah replied to Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people, “So be it! May YHVH fulfil the words you have spoken and bring back from Babylon to this place the objects taken from the house of YHVH and all the exiles. Yet hear now what I say in your hearing and the hearing of all the people.”

“The prophets who came before you and me continually prophesied war, disaster and plague to many nations and great kingdoms. So the prophet who prophesies peace will not be recognised as truly sent by YHVH, until his predictions are fulfilled.”

Then Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah and broke it. Hananiah proclaimed in the presence of all the people, “YHVH says this : In the same manner, within two years, will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all the nations.” Then Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

Some time later, a word of YHVH came to Jeremiah, “Go and tell this to Hananiah : This is what YHVH says : You have broken a wooden yoke but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. For this is what YHVH the God of Hosts and the God of Israel says : I am placing a yoke of iron on the neck of all the nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.”

Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, you have not been sent by YHVH and yet you have deceived these people, giving them false hope with your lies. That is why YHVH says with regard to you : I am removing you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counselled rebellion against YHVH.”

And in the seventh month of that year Hananiah died.

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Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us heard the words of the Scriptures which essentially delivered to us one key message, and that is for us to shun and avoid excessive attachments to worldly desires and pleasures, to all the ultimately meaningless and endless pursuits of power, fame, glory, influence, riches, properties, and many other things that we often crave and desire for in our world today. All those things are obstacles and hindrances in the path of our journey towards God. That is why each one of us are reminded this Sunday of the need for us to reject the temptations for all those worldly things and desires.

In our first reading today from the Book of Ecclesiastes or Qoheleth, we heard the author exhorting the people that all of their pursuits of knowledge, of worldly matter and desires, of wealth and riches, all of those were ultimately nothing and meaningless. He pointed out how all the efforts that we put into accumulating and amassing all of them for ourselves would not last in the end, and they were really superficial at best. All of the hard work and the busy actions of the people, seeking for more profits, money, for more glory and fame, for more achievements and other worldly matters, in the end, they would not have peace.

Why is that so? That is because by our own human nature and our societal norms, we often crave for more and more of these worldly things that we desire for, and when we have gotten our hands on them, more often than not, we will not truly be satisfied. That is because those things do not provide us with lasting and true happiness and satisfaction. As soon as we are happy and satisfied with what we have gained and received, we are likely to desire for more, and we will never have enough, and the temptations to seek for more of what we desire will be great. And in the end, we spent many, countless hours in trying to gain more of those things.

The Lord is reminding us through the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes that if we continue to indulge ourselves in worldly desires and attachments, then in the end, we cannot keep all those things anyway, and nothing that we keep or gain in this world will be brought with us to the life that is to come. Whether we end up in the blissfulness of God’s presence in Heaven or whether we end up in the deepest pits of hell, our worldly possessions, status, riches, wealth, fame, and other things that often define us in this world are not brought over with us. When we pass on from this world through death, all of us shall leave it with nothing on us, just the same way as how we entered this world.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers, and also particularly to a person who asked Him to be the arbiter in their family conflict over inheritance, by asking Him to persuade his brother to share with him the family inheritance. As we all are aware of, matters of family inheritance are usually always very complicated and protracted, with the conflicting parties desiring to get more portions of what they considered themselves as being entitled to. And what usually made it difficult to resolve is because each party tend to keep making demands and no one can truly be satisfied with the arrangements made.

And not only that such conflict and struggle leads to extended suffering and hardships for everyone who are involved, but it also ruined and destroyed relationships between people, between families and relatives. In the end, no matter who received more of the inheritance or property, everyone lost. They lost precious time, relationships and love that cannot be repaired and time as we know cannot be turned back. How can all the values of the properties, the riches and the valuables that we squabble over, ever compare to the value of our relationship with one another, the familial bond and friendships among other things?

Not only that, but all those things that we often spend a lot of time worrying and being concerned about, in the end, can be lost and destroyed within merely short amount of time. What can be destroyed by fire, by water, by moth, decay or any other worldly means, are not true treasures, brothers and sisters in Christ. And even if what we have are not destroyed or overcome by those, in the end, death is the ultimate end of all of them. As the Lord’s parable in our Gospel passage today may show us, each one of us are reminded not to be blinded and misled by our attachments to the world and our desires.

The Lord told the disciples and the people a parable in which He mentioned how a rich man who had a vast holding of farms and estates had so much harvest that he was planning on how to extend his already vast possessions even more, planning to build more granaries and storage barns and spaces to contain more of his harvest and wealth, thinking of the bounty and prosperity that he was to enjoy for many more years to come. The Lord then ended the story with a bitter anticlimax and reality for the rich man, as He said that the rich man was about to die and to leave behind everything that he had worked so hard for, accumulated and assembled, as was his fate.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as what we have heard from the Scriptures revealed to us, all of us have to keep in mind and be vigilant that we do not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations and attachments we have to worldly things and matters. The Lord warns us not against having worldly possessions or for gathering money or other things that we may need in the world. What He warns us against is the excessive attachments and obsessions for those things which can lead us down the path to ruin, distracting us from the path that we should be taking towards God and His salvation.

In our second reading today, we heard from the Epistle that St. Paul wrote to the Church and faithful in the city of Colossae, the Colossians, we heard of the reminder that we should put our focus and attention on things that are above, and not on worldly things and matter. St. Paul exhorted the faithful to get rid from themselves the immoral and improper attachments to worldly desires and vices, all the things that have always kept us all back from finding our way to God. All that made us to continue to be stubborn in refusing to listen to God and His calling, which He had repeatedly made for us. We are all reminded and called to holiness, and to be rid of excessive attachments to worldly desires and pursuits.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all live our lives from now on as faithful and genuine Christians, no longer enslaved or burdened by our many unhealthy attachments to worldly desires and temptations. All of us should do our best to focus on the right things in life, and not to be distracted by all those things that can lead us down the wrong path. We have to heed what we have heard today from the Scriptures and what we have just discussed earlier on, so that we can be living our lives as Christians as good role models and inspirations to one another, in our lives that are focused on God and His truth, following His ways and not being overly and excessively obsessed on worldly matters and things.

Let us all instead seek to serve the Lord and to live our lives to the fullest, loving God and loving our fellow brothers and sisters, appreciating all the blessings we have received, sharing whatever love and joy we have, and not to be greedy, selfish or filled with greed. Let us all dedicate our time and effort therefore to do what we should do as Christians, in being generous with love and kindness to one another, building up for ourselves the true treasures that we can find in God alone, and not the illusory and temporary treasures of this world. May the Lord be with us always, and may He give us the strength and the courage to persevere through the hardships in life, the challenges and trials, the temptations that we may have to face, in each and every moments of our lives. Amen.

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Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 12 : 13-21

At that time, someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your Judge or your Attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”

And Jesus continued, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.'”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell Me, who shall get all you have put aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”

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Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Colossians 3 : 1-5, 9-11

So then, if you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, Who is your life, reveals Himself, you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires and greed, which is a way of worshipping idols. Do not lie to one another. You have been stripped of the old self and its way of thinking; to put on the new, which is being renewed, and is to reach perfect knowledge, and the likeness of its Creator. There is no room for distinction between Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, foreigner, slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all.

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Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 89 : 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, a dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o YHVH? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of YHVH be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.

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Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) 1 : 2 and Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) 2 : 21-23

All is meaningless – says the Teacher – meaningless, meaningless! For here was a man who toiled in all wisdom, knowledge and skill; and he must leave all to someone who has not worked for it. This is meaningless and a great misfortune.

For what profit is there for a man in all his work and heart-searching under the sun? All his days bring sorrow; his work, grief; he has not, moreover, peaceful rest at night : that, too, is meaningless.

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(Usus Antiquior) Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : Green

Offertory

Psalm 17 : 28, 32

Populum humilem salvum facies, Domine, et oculos superborum humiliabis : quoniam quis Deus praeter Te, Domine?

English translation

You will save the humble people, o Lord, and will bring down the eyes of the proud, for who is God but You, o Lord?

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Suscipe, quaesumus, Domine, munera, quae Tibi de tua largitate deferimus : ut haec sacrosancta mysteria, gratiae Tuae operante virtute, et praesentis vitae nos conversatione sanctificent, et ad gaudia sempiterna perducant. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Receive, we beseech You, o Lord, the gifts which out of Your own bounty we bring to You, that these most holy mysteries may, by the operation of the power of Your grace, both sanctify us in the conduct of our present lives and lead us unto everlasting joys. 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

Psalm 33 : 9

Gustate et videte, quoniam suavis est Dominus : beatus vir, qui sperat in Eo.

English translation

Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. Blessed is the man who hopes in Him.

Post-Communion Prayer

Sit nobis, Domine, reparatio mentis et corporis caeleste mysterium : ut, cujus exsequimur cultum, sentiamus effectum. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Let the heavenly mystery be to us, o Lord, the restoration of soul and body, that as we perform its worship, we may experience its effect. 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.

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(Usus Antiquior) Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

Luke 16 : 1-9

In illo tempore : Dixit Jesus discipulis Suis parabolam hanc : Homo quidam erat dives, qui habebat villicum : et hic diffamatus est apud illum, quasi dissipasset bona ipsius. Et vocavit illum et ait illi : Quid hoc audio de te? Redde rationem villicationis tuae : jam enim non poteris villicare.

Ait autem villicus intra se : Quid faciam, quia dominus meus aufert a me villicationem? Fodere non valeo, mendicare erubesco. Scio, quid faciam, ut, cum amotus fuero a villicatione, recipiant me in domos suas.

Convocatis itaque singulis debitoribus domini sui, dicebat primo : Quantum debes domino meo? At ille dixit : Centum cados olei. Dixitque illi : Accipe cautionem tuam : et sede cito, scribe quinquaginta. Deinde alii dixit : Tu vero quantum debes? Qui ait : Centum coros tritici. Ait illi : Accipe litteras tuas, et scribe octoginta.

Et laudavit dominus villicum iniquitatis, quia prudenter fecisset : quia filii hujus saeculi prudentiores filiis lucis in generatione sua sunt. Et ego vobis dico : facite vobis amicos de mammona iniquitatis : ut, cum defeceritis, recipiant vos in aeterna tabernacula.

English translation

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable, “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods, and he called him, and said to him, ‘How is it that I hear this of you? Give an account of your stewardship, for now you cannot be steward any longer.'”

“And the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do, because my lord takes away from me the stewardship? To dig I am not able, to beg I am ashamed. I know what I will do, that when I shall be put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'”

“Therefore calling together every one of his lord’s debtors, he said to the first, ‘How much did you owe my lord?’ But he said, ‘A hundred barrels of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much did you owe?’ Who said, ‘A hundred quarters of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.'”

“And the Lord commended the unjust steward, for as much as he had done wisely, for the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. And I say to you, make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Gradual and Alleluia

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 30 : 3, Psalm 70 : 1 and Psalm 47 : 2

Esto mihi in Deum protectorem, et in locum refugii, ut salvum me facias.

Response : Deus, in Te speravi : Domine, non confundar in aeternum.

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Response : Magnus Dominus, et laudabilis valde, in civitate Dei nostri, in monte sancto Ejus. Alleluja.

English translation

You are unto me a God, a Protector and a place of refuge, to save me.

Response : In You, o God, have I hoped. O Lord, let me never be confounded.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Response : Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 31 July 2022 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Green

Lectio Epistolae Beati Pauli Apostoli ad Romanos – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans

Romans 8 : 12-17

Fratres : Debitores sumus non carni, ut secundum carnem vivamus. Si enim secundum carnem vixeritis, moriemini : si autem spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis.

Quicumque enim Spiritu Dei aguntur, ii sunt filii Dei. Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timore, sed accepistis spiritum adoptionis filiorum, in quo clamamus : Abba (Pater).

Ipse enim Spiritus testimonium reddit spiritui nostro, quod sumus filii Dei. Si autem filii, et heredes : heredes quidem Dei, coheredes autem Christi.

English translation

Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you shall die, but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.

For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry Abba (Father).

For the Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God, and if sons, heirs also. Heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ.