Month: February 2023

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Thursday, 2 March 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Esther 4 : 17n, p-r, aa-bb, gg-hh (Latin Vulgate version – Esther 14 : 1, 3-5, 12-14)

Seized with anguish in her fear of death, Queen Esther likewise had recourse to the Lord. Then she prayed to the Lord God of Israel : “My Lord, You Who stand alone, came to my help; I am alone and have no help but You. Through my own choice I am endangering my life.”

“As a child I was wont to hear from the people of the land of my forebears that You, o Lord, chose Israel from among all peoples, and our fathers from among their ancestors to be Your lasting heritage; that You did for them, all that You have promised.”

“Remember us, Lord; reveal Yourself in the time of our calamity. Give me courage, King of gods and Master of all power. Make my words persuasive when I face the lion; turn his heart against our enemy, that the latter and his like may be brought to their end.”

“Save us by Your hand; help me who am alone and have none but You, o Lord.”

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Wednesday, 1 March 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded to turn towards God with contrite hearts and minds, to seek His mercy and forgiveness as we remind ourselves of God’s love for each and every one of us. If we only rend our hearts and turn away from our many sins and wickedness, and seek God’s ever generous and wondrous forgiveness, we can gain a lot of graces and goodness from Him, just as He has given to our ancestors and predecessors in the past. The Lord loves each and every one of us, but He despises our sins and wickedness, and it is important for us therefore to turn away from those things which have become great obstacles in our path and journey towards the Lord and His salvation and grace. This Lent is indeed the time for us to realise that each one of us are sinners in need for God’s healing and mercy.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jonah in which God sent Jonah to the great city of Nineveh and its people to proclaim to them their doom and upcoming destruction. Contextually, the city of Nineveh was the great capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire, one of the first in that region to carve a great and vast realm, conquering many smaller states and nations. However the Assyrians were also infamous for their brutality in their wars and conquests, causing many deaths and destruction all across their domains. They were also the ones that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, the part of the remnants of the once glorious David and Solomon’s old kingdom, and brought many of its people into exile in distant lands, causing much mayhem and destruction in doing so.

In their great conquests and victories, the Assyrians likely had grown proud and haughty, and their sins became even more pronounced. This was when the Lord sent Jonah to them to remind them that in the end, it does not matter what great worldly glory or successes that they had in this world, as the Lord has the final say over all matters. In the times past, history and many evidences can show us that even the greatest of kingdoms and realms can be destroyed, crushed and humbled, decimated and brought down by many reasons including natural disasters, plagues, and other things that no man could have foreseen or predicted. All of those things are truly reminders of the limits of our human power and abilities, and how in the end, all of our pride, ego and haughtiness will lead us nowhere but to our ultimate destruction and downfall.

The people of Nineveh listened to the prophet Jonah’s words and believed in him. As we heard, from the king all the way to the humblest and least of the servants, all repented from their sinful ways and showed publicly their sign of repentance and regret from their many sins, with ashes and sackcloth. The Lord saw their show of repentance, their sincerity in turning their backs against their sinful ways, and showed them His mercy. The Lord showed us through this that ultimately, even the greatest of sinners can be saved, and no one is beyond His love and mercy, unless that person himself or herself refuse to be saved. God’s love, mercy and kindness are always generously shown upon us, at all times. It is often we mankind who refused God’s generosity and love, and as a result, we end up falling further and further away from God and His grace.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus referring to the story of the prophet Jonah before the people, some of whom were constantly doubting Him, like some of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who questioned His authority and works. The Lord compared the people of Nineveh and their way of responding to the words of the prophet Jonah with how the people of the Lord Jesus’ time responded to His actions and works among them. The Lord highlighted how the Sign of Jonah would be shown to all of them, alluding to the parallel between the moment when Jonah spent three days inside the belly of a whale, with the three days of the Lord’s time in the underworld, between His suffering and death on the Cross, and His glorious Resurrection on the third day. This sign would indeed be shown to them, and many more signs in the face of the stubborn people who continued to resist the Lord.

The Lord essentially highlighted how even the pagans and foreigners were seeking the Lord, His mercy and compassion, guidance and help, as what the people of Nineveh had done, and in what the Queen of the South had done. The Queen of the South was a reference to the Queen of Sheba who came after a long journey from her homeland to seek the wisdom of King Solomon. And therefore, the Lord was referring to the many people, from all the nations who would come to seek God’s mercy and love, His wisdom and truth, through that mention of the ‘Queen of the South’. Contrary to what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law believed in, the Lord highlighted that every people has equal chance and opportunity in coming towards His salvation, and salvation is not reserved only for the elites like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law themselves.

What matters is what can be found within our hearts, and for us, that should be God and our love for Him. Unless we have this genuine and strong love for God in our hearts, it is easy for us to fall into the traps of sin and evil, and it is easy for us to slip into the path towards downfall and destruction. The Lord has always generously extended to us His love and mercy, and what we all need to do is to open our hearts and minds to welcome Him within them, and to humble ourselves that we may come to see just how much we need God in our lives in order to heal us and to bring us from the precipice of darkness all around us. This Lent is the perfect time for us to remove from ourselves, from our hearts and minds any taints of pride, ego and other things that may prevent us from truly finding our path towards the Lord and be saved through Him and His grace.

Let us henceforth do our best to turn back towards the Lord with faith, spending our time and effort to be with Him and to know Him more, deepening our spirituality and faith through prayer, fasting and almsgiving that we carry out during this time and season of Lent. Let us resist the many temptations of sin and let us be good role models and inspiring examples for our fellow brothers and sisters, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 March 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 11 : 29-32

At that time, as the crowd increased, Jesus spoke the following words : “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.”

“The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here, there is greater than Jonah.”

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Wednesday, 1 March 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 12-13, 18-19

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart, You will not despise.

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Wednesday, 1 March 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jonah 3 : 1-10

The word of YHVH came to Jonah a second time : “Go to Nineveh, the great city, and announce to them the message I give you.”

In obedience to the word of YHVH, Jonah went to Nineveh. It was a very large city, and it took three days just to cross it. So Jonah walked a single day’s journey and began proclaiming, “Forty days more and Nineveh will be destroyed.”

The people of the city believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Upon hearing the news, the king of Nineveh got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. He issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh :

“By the decree of the king and his nobles, no people or beasts, herd or flock, will taste anything; neither will they eat nor drink. But let people and beasts be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call aloud to God, turn from his evil ways and violence. Who knows? God may yet relent, turn from His fierce anger and spare us.”

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not carry out the destruction He had threatened upon them.

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Tuesday, 28 February 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, each and every one of us are called to remember that we have a truly great and most loving God by our side, our most loving Father and Creator, the Almighty God, Who has created us all out of His ever generous love. The Lord has never ceased to love us and care for us, despite our frequent stubborn attitudes and rebellions against Him. He has always reached out to us with love, caring for us in each and every possible opportunities, calling upon us to return to Him and to find our way back to Him, all because He does not desire our destruction, but wanting us to be fully reconciled with Him. That is why He even gave us all the best gift of all, the gift of Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Who is His own beloved and begotten Son.

In our first reading today, as we heard from the passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, we listened to the Lord speaking to His people regarding how He has sent His Word into this world to do His will, and how everything shall be fulfilled, accomplished and perfected through His Word, and this is in fact a prefigurement of the coming of His Saviour and the salvation that He has always promised through this Saviour. The Lord was speaking about His Son, the Divine Word Incarnate, the Son of God, Who is truly the Word through Whom the world and all of creation has been created. As St. John the Apostle highlighted it in the beginning of his own Gospel, this Word of God, Incarnate in the flesh, is the same Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the whole world, Who has given His life for all of mankind, by His suffering and death on the Cross.

And God’s will is truly to bring us all to redemption through His Son, by His perfect obedience and most selfless offering of Himself so that each and every one of us may be saved and gain new life through Him. Not only that, but the Lord Jesus Himself has also shown us by His examples and works, all that He has revealed and taught to us, so that we may come ever closer to the Lord, our most loving Father, including what we are reminded of in our Gospel passage today with the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer that the Lord Himself has taught to all of His disciples, and which I am sure that we are all well familiar with. The Lord taught His disciples this prayer so that they may know how they should be praying in a proper way, and how they should always spend some time to connect with the Lord, at every possible opportunities.

That most perfect and wonderful prayer that the Lord Himself has taught us is the combination of thanksgiving and gratitude that we ought to express to God, for all the blessings and wonders that He had provided for us, in every opportunities we have. We also hear the great adoration and glorification of God, which prayers should also entail, as we glorify the Lord Who is our great Master and Creator, the One through Whom everything has been made possible for us. The Lord has blessed each one of us wonderfully, and we often ignored this truth and fact, and we often overlooked and forgot about Him, until the time when we have need for Him, and that is when we started looking for Him, seeking His help and guidance, and even, demanding that He must take action to help us and to give us what we wanted or asked for.

This is why many of us are reminded today as we progress through the season of Lent, so that in this time of recollection and reconciliation with God, we may come closer to the Lord through genuine prayer and quality time spent with Him. We should not be like those who only remember the Lord in the time of their need and then forgot about Him whenever they had no more need for Him. The Lord is not One Who we can demand for action, or One Whom we consider as a convenience for our own selfish desires and greed. We must also not be like those hypocrites who outwardly confessed to be faithful to the Lord or profess obedience and faith in Him, and yet, in their hearts, they did not have any true and genuine love for Him.

That was what many of us had done, and many among us lacked that true faith and commitment which we should have for the Lord. This is why, we should first of all begin by reorientating and redirecting our focus in life from ourselves and our own desires back to the Lord. The Lord, our God and Master should always be the focus and emphasis of our whole existence, and we should do whatever we can in order to walk in His path and righteousness, turning away from whatever sinful and wicked things that have often separated us from the wonders of His love and grace. Each one of us have been given this perfect opportunity during this season and time of Lent to rediscover the love we ought to have for God, and the path of righteousness that we should all be following.

We should hence spend more quality time with the Lord, in prayer, fasting and almsgiving during this time of Lent. Through prayer, we all should come ever closer to the Lord and spend the time to communicate with Him, so that we may truly listen to Him speaking in our hearts and minds, knowing His will and His calling for each one of us. Through fasting, each one of us are called to restrain the desires of our flesh, and the many temptations all around us so that we do not end up falling into the wicked ways of this world and becoming ever more entangled in the traps of sin. And lastly, through almsgiving, all of us are called and reminded to be ever always filled with love for one another, remembering that everyone is our own brothers and sisters in the same Lord, our loving Father.

Let us always be generous in giving from our hearts, giving our time, effort and attention to the Lord and to our fellow brethren, spending more time to live our lives with faith and devotion. May the Lord continue to guide us in our journey, and may He empower each and every one of us so that we may always persevere and remain strong in our faith and commitment to Him, despite the many challenges in the world that we may have to face, in our journey towards the Lord and His salvation. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 28 February 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do; for they believe that, the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom, come, Your will, be done on earth, as in heaven. Give us today, our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are in debt to us.”

“Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one. If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you.”

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Tuesday, 28 February 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 33 : 4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19

Oh, let us magnify YHVH; together, let us glorify His Name! I sought YHVH, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, YHVH hears and saves them from distress.

The eyes of YHVH are fixed on the righteous; His ears are inclined to their cries. But His face is set against the wicked, to destroy their memory from the earth.

YHVH hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles. YHVH is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught.

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Tuesday, 28 February 2023 : 1st Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 55 : 10-11

As the rain and snow come down from the heavens and do not return till they have watered the earth, making it yield seed for the sower and food for others to eat, so is My Word that goes forth out of My mouth : it will not return to Me idle, but it shall accomplish My will, the purpose for which It has been sent.

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Monday, 27 February 2023 : 1st Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Gregory of Narek, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, each one of us are reminded of our calling as Christians to be truly obedient of the Law, the commandments and thoroughly the ways of the Lord, in all the things we say and do, in our every actions and deeds so that we may truly be worthy of the Lord, and not just Christians in name and outward appearance only. We must be true disciples of the Lord in all things, and do whatever we can to proclaim Him, His truth and Good News through every moments that had been granted to us in this life on Earth. The Lord has called on us all to follow Him wholeheartedly, dedicating our time and efforts to glorify God in our every opportunities, and this season and time of Lent is the perfect opportunity for us to begin if we have not begun or embarked on a path towards true holiness in God.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Leviticus, we heard of the Lord speaking to His people, the people of Israel during the time of their sojourn and time in the desert, as they made their way from the land of Egypt, the land where they were enslaved for many decades by the Egyptians to the land promised to them and their ancestors by God. In that period of the Exodus, the Lord guided His people lovingly and patiently, even as they rebelled and refused to believe in Him, and they truly hardened their hearts and minds against the Lord, continuing to make complaints after complaints, one after another, refusing to listen to Him and the patient words of His guidance, showing just how shallow their faith and trust in Him was, and which therefore led them down the path towards their downfall, and many perished during that journey, when the Israelites spent an entire period of forty years in atonement of their rebellion and sins.

That is why, we heard the Lord speaking to His people, that if they continued to live in the way they had been living, they would end up in the path towards destruction, and hence, He reminded them of the Law, commandments and precepts that He had delivered to them, placed among them and taught them so that they might indeed live their lives full of faith in the Lord, with no more things and actions that kept them in their selfish and wicked ways which prevented them from truly being His followers and beloved people. He essentially called on all of them to be filled with love for Him and for their fellow men and women, and not to be selfish in their actions and interactions with one another. The actions of the people in rebelling against God and in being stubborn and obstinate were all due to their selfish love for themselves, and in rejecting God’s love for their own unbridled desires and attachments to worldly matters and temptations.

In the same way therefore, each and every one of us must not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of this world, and of selfish love that will lead us nowhere but to the downfall that had been faced by those people who had hardened their hearts and minds against God, and allowed worldly vices, evils and temptations to sway them and to lead them down the path towards destruction. In this season of Lent, each and every one of us are reminded that as long as we ignore the plight of all those who are around us, and continue to focus only on ourselves, and our own benefits and happiness, while others suffer either by our ignorance or even worse still, by our own actions, then, just as we heard it in our Gospel passage today, we have to know that, our every actions and deeds, as well as our inactions and lack of effort, all do matter in the eyes of the Lord.

In the Gospel, we heard the well-known passage in which the Lord Jesus told His disciples about the end of times, the time of the Final and Last Judgment of all the people, past, present and future. We heard from the Lord how He Himself will come at the end of time, to be the Judge of all, to judge everyone for their deeds and actions, for everything that we had done, and also even those things that we failed to do in our lives. We shall be judged by the great and just Judge, Who will reward and punish each one by their deeds, and all of us will have to face this at the end. Unless we have done things that truly make us worthy of the Lord, all of us will likely be cast out into the eternal darkness and damnation, reserved for all those who have rebelled against God, against Satan and all the other forces of evil, and all those who have rejected God’s love and compassionate mercy.

The Lord made it clear to us what all of us as the faithful people of God had to do in order to gain the justification and entry into the eternal glory and happiness with Him. Essentially, it is to love God and others more than we love ourselves, especially to those who are lacking in love, those who are the last, the lost and the least in our communities. It is also not just what good things we can do for them, but also what things that we have done for them even without us realising that those had benefitted them. Whenever we can do it, we should do what we can to care for those who have been placed in our path and even in our care, so that all of us may show them the most generous and wonderful love of God. This is our calling as Christians, and one that we should take heed of, as we continue to progress through our lives, distancing ourselves from sinful ways and from worldly temptations that had led to the downfall of so many people before us.

This Lent, all of us are called to deepen our relationship with God and come closer to Him. All of us should spend more time in prayer and in contemplation, discerning carefully what we should and what we can do for our less fortunate brethren all around us. And we can also look upon the good examples set by our holy predecessor, the great saint, St. Gregory of Narek, a holy Abbot and Doctor of the Church. St. Gregory of Narek was a great monk, theologian and servant of God, whose life truly embodied great Christian faith and charity. He dedicated much of his life in service to God, following Him wholeheartedly and spending a lot of time writing many great works that inspired many throughout the Armenian Church that he was a part of. He lived a holy and devout life, giving his time and efforts solely for the greater glory of God and for the good of other people, and not indulging in his own desires and wants, unlike many others of his time.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the examples set by St. Gregory of Narek and also many of the other great saints of God should inspire each and every one of us as we enter into this holy and blessed season of Lent, so that we may come ever closer to the Lord, seeking Him and His path, and doing whatever we can to make our lives truly worthy of the Lord, as good and devout Christians. Let us all no longer be ignorant of our Christian calling and mission, and let us all do whatever we can to reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters around us, especially those who are in need of our help and our love. May God bless us all, now and always, in our every good works and efforts, and help us to become ever closer to Him, especially during this time of Lent. Amen.