Day: January 5, 2024

by

Tuesday, 9 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we all begin the time of the Ordinary Season, the first of the two Ordinary Times of this current liturgical year, which will continue on towards the Season of Lent. And then, as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to put our faith and trust in the Lord, because through Him all of us will be safe and taken care of, and we have to trust in Him as no matter what trials and challenges may befall us, or whatever troubles and hardships that we may have to endure, in the end, we shall be triumphant with God, and the Lord will guide us all and give us His strength and power, so that we will be strong throughout our journey and we will be able to persevere through those challenges as long as we keep onto that faith in the Lord.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Samuel, we heard of the beginning of the story of Samuel, the one whom the Lord sent to the Israelites to be their Prophet and Judge, as the one to lead and guide them through their lives, to keep them faithful to the Law and commandments which God had revealed and passed to them through their ancestors. Samuel was conceived and born miraculously after God has answered the prayers of his mother Hannah. At that time, Hannah was married to a man named Elkanah, who also had another wife named Penninah. Penninah had bore many children for Elkanah while Hannah could not have any child and was barren, and yet, Elkanah loved Hannah more, and this led to the jealousy of Penninah who often bullied Hannah and ridiculed her for her barren state.

As we heard in our first reading today, Hannah went to seek the Lord at His Holy Tent in Shiloh, asking for God’s help because she was already desperate and out of options, and at that time, it was indeed considered disgraceful and unbecoming for a woman to be barren and unable to bear any child at all. That was why Hannah sought the Lord, promising to Him that she would entrust her firstborn son to Him as His servant, if He would answer her prayers. The High Priest and Judge Eli was there and thought that Hannah was drunk, but Hannah told her everything that she had hoped to achieve in seeking the Lord earnestly in prayer. Thus, Eli understood her predicament and gave Hannah his blessing, and hoped that the Lord would grant her what she has asked for.

And God did indeed answer Hannah’s prayer, listening to what she has asked for, and gave her a son, which was miraculously conceived between Elkanah and Hannah, and was therefore born and named as Samuel. As Hannah has promised the Lord, she fulfilled her promise by offering her firstborn son to the Lord, to be His servant, and God made Samuel to be a great Prophet and Judge, the last one to guide and rule over the Israelites. Through Samuel, God would perform many great things among His people, and eventually He gave them kings to rule and lead them, to continue shepherding and guiding them throughout their lives, from Saul and then to David, the virtuous king who led Israel into its golden age. Throughout all these, God kept on guiding and helping His people through Samuel, His prophet and servant.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the actions of the Lord Jesus in the synagogue on a Sabbath day, when He miraculously healed an afflicted man by casting out evil spirit from him. The Lord sternly rebuked the evil spirit who was disturbing Him and His teaching, and He healed the man, freeing him from the affliction and bondage to the evil spirit. He also taught with power and authority such as have never been seen, heard or witnessed before. All these amazed everyone who witnessed the event and many believed in the Lord through what He Himself had done, through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who has come into our midst to show unto us all the love of God, manifested in the flesh.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are all reminded that God is always on our side, and we are all always beloved by Him, in all circumstances. All those who have put their faith and trust in Him shall not be disappointed, for in His time, He will move to assist and help us in His own mysterious ways, such as how He assisted Hannah, by giving her a son, and according to the Scriptures, she would go on to bear many more children, erasing the stain of shame of barrenness from her. In other different ways, thus God also helped His other faithful ones throughout history, including that possessed man, whom He Himself had liberated from the power of the evil ones, and brought back into His loving care and grace, into the community of God’s people.

What does this mean for all of us? It means that we should always strive to remain firm in our faith in the Lord, and we should always put our trust in Him, even when challenges and trials are facing us, and even when hope and prospects seem to be really dim and dark. We must not easily be swayed by other paths and temptations of worldly means, which may end up causing us to fall astray from the path that the Lord has shown us. We must resist the temptations to embrace those false paths, the allures of worldly matters and attachments, or other things that may seem to be promising and good for us, but in fact may lead us into even greater hardships and regret later on. The path of the Lord is certainly not the easiest and the smoothest one, but it is the one and only one leading to true joy and fulfilment for us.

Let us all hence renew our faith in the Lord today, and affirm our trust in Him, and let us all do our very best so that we may always endeavour to put ourselves in the hands of the Lord, and believe that in Him, we can be strengthened and made firm, amidst all the trials and challenges of the world. May the Lord continue to guide us through this life, so that our every day moments, our whole lives, and how we live them, will always ever be inspirational and be great role models for others in our Christian virtues and ways. May God bless us, now and forevermore. Amen.

by

Tuesday, 9 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 21b-28

At that time, Jesus taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. The people were astonished at the way He taught, for He spoke as One having authority, and not like the teachers of the Law. It happened that, a man with an evil spirit was in their synagogue, and he shouted, “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are : You are the Holy One of God.”

Then Jesus faced him and said with authority, “Be silent, and come out of this man!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and, with a loud shriek, came out of him. All the people were astonished, and they wondered, “What is this? With what authority He preaches! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey Him!”

And Jesus’ fame spread throughout all the country of Galilee.

by

Tuesday, 9 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.

The bow of the mighty is broken, but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread, but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone.

YHVH is Lord of life and death. He brings down to the grave and raises up. YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour.

by

Tuesday, 9 January 2024 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 1 : 9-20

After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah stood up not far from Eli, the priest whose seat was beside the doorpost of YHVH’s House. Deeply distressed she wept and prayed to YHVH and made this vow : “O YHVH of Hosts, if You will have compassion on Your maidservant and give me a son, I will put him in Your service for as long as he lives and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she prayed before YHVH, Eli observed the movement of her lips. Hannah was praying silently; she moved her lips but uttered no sound and Eli thought Hannah was drunk. He, therefore, said to her : “For how long will you be drunk? Let your drunkenness pass.”

But Hannah answered : “No, my lord, I am a woman in great distress, not drunk. I have not drunk wine or strong drink, but I am pouring out my soul before YHVH. Do not take me for a bad woman. I was so afflicted that my prayer flowed continuously.”

Then Eli said, “Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you asked for.” Hannah answered, “Let Your maidservant deserve Your kindness.” Then she left the Temple; and when she was at table she seemed a different woman. Elkanah rose early in the morning and worshipped before YHVH with his wives. Then they went back home to Ramah.

When Elkanah slept with his wife, Hannah, YHVH took compassion on her, and she became pregnant. She gave birth to a son and called him Samuel because she said : “I have asked YHVH to give him to me.”

by

Monday, 8 January 2024 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, in which we recall the moment when the Lord Jesus was baptised at the River Jordan marking the beginning of His period of ministry in this world. This occasion today marks the last day of the liturgical season of Christmas, although traditionally in some forms, Christmas is still commemorated for a whole forty days period up to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord or Candlemas on the second day of February. This day is the moment when the Christmas celebrations pass over to the Ordinary Time again, before in a few weeks’ time we are going to enter into the season of Lent in preparation for the Holy Week and Easter. However, this upcoming Ordinary Time is far from being ‘ordinary’ as we often understand it.

Instead, the word ‘Ordinary’ here comes from the word ‘Ordinal’ or numbered, named as such because the Sundays are numbered from the first one to the last one, the thirty-fourth one on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe at the end of the liturgical year cycle. And this reminds us that, just as at His Baptism, the Lord began and embarked on His ministry and works, therefore each and every one of us too are called to proceed with whatever works and good things which Our Lord and God had entrusted to each and every one of us. All of us have been given the mission and the vocation in our respective capacities and areas of life, that we should live our lives worthily and well as Christians, in any way we can.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which God spoke to His people through Isaiah regarding the salvation which God had promised to all of us, and which He would send to us in fulfilment of all that He has promised, through the coming of His Messiah, or Saviour, the Word of God, sent to the world to carry out and accomplish everything that God had planned for us all. God promised that through His Saviour, He would gather all of His people to Himself, getting them, reaching out to them and helping them on their path and journey, calling on everyone to embrace His salvation and path, gathering all of us from the darkness of this world so that we may find the joy of God’s love, providence and care.

All those promises have been made by the Lord to us His people, and He fulfilled them all through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Whose Baptism and beginning of earthly ministry we recall and celebrate today. In our Gospel reading today, this is highlighted by St. Mark in the short account about the Baptism of the Lord, where St. John the Baptist baptised the Lord Jesus, as foretold, and hence, the Lord’s truth and ministry that He was to embark on, was all revealed to us, and to St. John the Baptist himself, as we heard of the Heaven itself being opened, and then the voice of the Father speaking, revealing that the One Whom St. John the Baptist had just baptised, is the Son of God, with the words, ‘You are My Son, the Beloved, the One I have chosen.’ This is also the same truth referred to by St. John the Apostle in his Epistle, which was mentioned in our second reading today.

This truth according to St. John the Apostle, witnessed by St. John the Baptist and other people who were present, has been affirmed and acknowledged through the three testimonies of Water, Blood and Spirit. Each one of these testimonies confirmed that truly Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the One Whom all the prophets had been proclaiming and prophesying about, the One Who has brought God’s love and compassion into our midst, unveiling to us the fullness of God’s ever generous mercy and kindness, His love and care for all of us, His beloved ones. The Lord has shown us that He was not merely just making empty promises and big words without action, but truly putting all of His love for us into real action, loving us generously at all times.

Firstly, the testimony of Water is also referred to in our Gospel today, at the moment when the Lord Jesus was baptised at the River Jordan by St. John the Baptist. At that moment, according to the testimony of St. John the Baptist, when the Lord had been baptised and emerged from the waters of the River Jordan, Heaven itself opened and the Holy Spirit descended on the Lord like the Dove, and the voice of the Father came upon all, speaking His will and revealing Who Jesus truly was, as the Incarnate Son of God in the flesh, with the words ‘You are My Son, the Beloved, the One I have chosen.’, which highlighted everything that He had done for us, in sending us His own beloved Son, so that through Him, all of us may be saved, and gathered through the same water of baptism, into eternal life.

Then, the testimony of Blood refers to the Blood which the same Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, had shed for all of us mankind, from the Altar of His Cross. He was offered, willingly enduring for us the worst of punishments and sufferings, trials and tribulations so that by all of His wounds and hurts, all of us may be healed. His Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood had been broken and poured down upon all of us mankind, freely offered and freely given to us, so that through this sharing of Himself, all of us may partake of the same Paschal Lamb, the Bread of Life, and hence enter into the eternal life which He has promised to all of us who partake upon His heavenly banquet, the Most Holy Eucharist that He has instituted and given to all of us, as yet another testimony of the truth about Him.

Lastly, the testimony of the Spirit mentioned by St. John can mean both the Holy Spirit descending on the Lord Jesus at the moment of His Baptism, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit descending upon the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, and hence upon the Church, on the Pentecost. The Lord has promised the Advocate, the Helper, that is none other than the Holy Spirit, Who would come to strengthen all the faithful and holy people of God, and the Holy Spirit did indeed come, ten days after the Lord ascended gloriously to Heaven and fifty days after His glorious Resurrection from the dead. All these testimonies were proofs and evidences enough for all those who have witnessed them, and which they had taught and passed on to us through the Church.

Therefore, as we have heard and discussed above, the moment of the Lord’s Baptism and the testimonies of faith, of Water, Blood and Spirit surrounding it, are affirmations for each and every one of us of God’s Love, and also a call for us all to remember everything that He had done for us, in embracing the Cross, all the burdens, punishments and sufferings that He had to endure despite Him having the choice of not having to go through them all. The Lord has called us all to follow Him, in walking down the same path that He had walked, in carrying our crosses with Him, and in following the path that He has led us through, in the Church of God and in our respective calling and ministries entrusted to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through our own baptism, when we were welcomed into the Church, be it as infants or as adults, each and every one of us have been made part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the same Body of Christ, the united assembly of all the people who are faithful in God, and counted among the flock of those whom God had called and chosen. Each and every one of us has professed our faith in the Lord, and renewed them every time we renew them ever since at Easter. Now, the question is, are we all truly aware of what we have been called to do as Christians? Are we aware of the missions and vocation which God has entrusted to each one of us in calling us all to walk in the path of righteousness and grace?

Baptism is not the end of the journey of faith, especially for all those of us who have gone through the period of catechism and catechumenate, leading to our baptisms as adults. Baptism is the beginning of this new phase in our lives, as we enter into a life of holiness, free from the bondage and the tyranny of sin, evil and death. However, we can always fall back again into sin, and be corrupted again by the many temptations present all around us. Hence, it is important that we remain vigilant, and strive as always to live our lives as worthily as possible, in obeying the Law and commandments of God, and in ensuring that our whole lives, our every actions, words and deeds are always full of faith and grace of God.

Let us all therefore recall the moments when we were baptised, and initiated into the Church and in receiving this Christian faith, and hence let us all recall the promises and commitments we have made at our baptism, and heed the Lord’s call for us to follow Him and walk in His path. Let our lives be truly faithful and full of Christian virtues, at all times, and each one of us become the shining beacons and examples of our faith to others around us. May the Lord our God be with us always in this journey of faith, and may He continue to bless our every works, good efforts and endeavours, done for His greater glory, now and always, forevermore. Amen.