Month: July 2024

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Monday, 29 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of the friends and close companions of the Lord, the siblings, St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus, who were mentioned quite a number of times throughout the Gospels as the ones who have closely accompanied the Lord in His journeys and ministry. They were the people trusted and close to the Lord, and we honour their memory today to remind ourselves of how each and every one of us ought to live as God’s beloved disciples and followers, all those whom He had called and chosen from this world. All of us should be inspired by the great examples set by these holy people, and reflect upon what we have just heard from the passages of the Sacred Scriptures so that our lives may come ever closer to be truly worthy of God.

In our first reading today, we heard of the passage from the first Epistle of St. John in which the Apostle elaborated about the most generous and wonderful love which God has shown to all of us through the giving of His Son, manifested in this world, as the perfect revelation of God’s great love in the flesh. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God manifested in the flesh, God has shown us all His most perfect and generous love that He has always given to us in each and every moments, and through His Son, He made us all to be able to experience the tangible reality of His love and kindness, His compassion and mercy. And God has loved us all despite us having disobeyed and rejected Him, betrayed and sinned against Him, from the very beginning up to now.

Therefore we must not take God’s love for us for granted, and we must realise just how blessed and fortunate all of us are because we have been loved in such a manner by God. God’s love has been offered to us and has endured all these while, and He has never given up on us despite us having repeatedly failed Him and rebelled against Him. Nonetheless, disobedience and sin against God are things that are truly serious and we must not take for granted the love, compassion and kindness which He has shown to each and every one of us. And at the same time, St. John also exhorted and reminded all of us that we should practice and embody the same love in our every actions in life, so that we are truly a people filled with the richness of God’s love and grace in every occasions.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard either the account from the Gospel of St. John regarding the Resurrection of Lazarus, the same St. Lazarus whom we are commemorating today, or the account from the Gospel of St. Luke in which we heard about the moment when the Lord Jesus came to the house of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus, and we are presented with how St. Martha and St. Mary welcomed and embraced the Lord coming into their midst. Through either one of these Gospel passages, we gain more insight into what the Lord wants us all to know and remember about Him and following Him in our own respective lives, on how we all should dedicate and commit ourselves as faithful Christians in this world today.

In the first Gospel passage today, we heard about how the Lord came to the place where St. Lazarus, a dear friend of His had been buried. Earlier on, St. Lazarus had been very sick and the Lord and His disciples made the journey to Judah to the place where he and his sisters lived in, as the sisters asked the Lord for help, hoping that He could heal their brother and restore him back to good health. The Lord delayed for a while before coming down, which resulted in St. Lazarus having died before the Lord reached his place. It was at the place he was buried that the Lord went to reassure his sisters, telling them that they must not lose faith in Him and the Resurrection, because He is truly the Lord and Master of life and death, and all of us shall share in His new life if we hold strongly and faithfully to our faith in Him.

That was why the Lord raised up St. Lazarus from the dead, as how everything had been meant to be by the will of God. Through what He had done, God showed us all just how He has the power over all things, that He is in charge and He rules over every part of Creation, and we must always have this firm faith and trust in Him, not allowing ourselves to be easily swayed by those who seek to mislead and drag us down the path of destruction and downfall. We should continue to entrust ourselves in the Light of the Lord’s Resurrection and glory, reminding us all to be the bearers of God’s light, truth and hope in our world today, darkened by evil and sin.

And then, in the other Gospel passage we heard of the time when the Lord Jesus came to the house of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus where we heard how the sisters welcomed Him and brought Him into their house with two different approaches. St. Martha was very busy with all of her work in the kitchen and elsewhere, preparing everything to welcome the Lord into her house with great celebration, while St. Mary her sister was by the side of the Lord, listening closely to Him teaching to her, paying close attention to His words. And we heard how St. Martha was not happy that her sister did not help her at all, but the Lord lightly rebuked her saying that although her intentions might be good, but St. Martha in her preoccupation in trying to prepare everything for the Lord distracted her and prevented her from seeing the true blessing present before her, that is the Lord being present in her midst.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us are reminded this day through the Lord and His interactions with His dear and close friends, St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus that each and every one of us as Christians have been called to realise just how beloved we have been by God, how fortunate all of us truly are that God had been willing to reach out to us and to heal us from our sins. And we must remember that we must not take this love for granted, and appreciate His Presence in our lives, just as St. Mary put her focus and attention on Him. We should reflect upon our lives and our path, so that we may truly be faithful and worthy disciples of the Lord, in our great and ever present love for Him, our commitment to His path and our love and compassion for one another.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father, our loving Creator and Master, continue to be with us all and may He empower each and every one of us so that we may truly love Him wholeheartedly and ever more courageously, focusing our attention and whole lives on Him, and no longer on the many temptations and wickedness of this world. May God bless our every good efforts, works and endeavours, so that inspired by the examples and lives of His saints, especially the glorious St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus, holy men and women of God, we may continue to walk ever more righteously in God’s path, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 29 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 11 : 19-27

At that time, many Jews had come to Martha and Mary, after the death of their brother, to comfort them. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha replied, “I know that He will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” But Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He Who is coming into the world.”

Alternative reading

Luke 10 : 38-42

At that time, as Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He entered a village, and a woman called Martha welcomed Him to her house. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet to listen to His words. Martha, meanwhile, was busy with all the serving, and finally she said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!”

But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you worry and are troubled about many things, whereas only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.”

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Monday, 29 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11

I will praise YHVH all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in YHVH; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

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.

YHVH’s Angel encamps and patrols, to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of YHVH! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!

Revere YHVH, all you, His saints, for those who fear Him do not live in want. The mighty may be hungry and in need; but those who seek YHVH lack nothing.

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Monday, 29 July 2024 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Martha, St. Mary and St. Lazarus (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 4 : 7-16

My dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves, is born of God and knows God. Those who do not love have not known God, for God is love. How did the love of God appear among us? God sent His only Son into this world, that we might have life, through Him.

This is love : not that we loved God, but that, He first loved us and sent His Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love comes to its perfection in us.

How may we know that we live in God and He in us? Because God has given us His Spirit. We ourselves have seen, and declare, that the Father sent His Son to save the world. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them, and they in God. We have known the love of God and have believed in it. God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.

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Sunday, 28 July 2024 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we all listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are all reminded that each and every one of us are the ones whom God had loved and shown His favour to, and all of us need to realise just how fortunate we all to have been beloved by the Lord in such a way. All of us has received from the Lord Himself the generous love and kindness, forgiveness and mercy for all of our wrongdoings and evil deeds, as long as we are willing to seek Him for forgiveness and mercy. Therefore each one of us as His disciples and followers, as Christians, are all called to do our best in our lives in each and every moments so that our lives may truly be a reflection of God’s love and truth, and that we may truly be His worthy disciples and followers.

In our first reading today, taken from the Second Book of Kings of Israel and Judah, we heard of the account of the miracle that happened during the time of the prophet Elisha and his ministry among the people of the northern kingdom of Israel. At that time, as we heard, there were a hundred men assembled in that place where Elisha was. Then while they were there, a man brought the products of the first harvest to Elisha, a total of twenty loaves of bread. If we assume that each of the hundred men eat one loaf of bread each, there were not nearly enough for a quarter of their number to eat, less still for all of them. In addition, there was also a famine raging at the timeline of this event in the land of Israel. As such, if we understand the context of these events, we can see just how significant this miracle from God truly was.

As we have also heard in our Gospel passage of a similar miracle by the Lord Jesus, the prophet Elisha miraculously made the loaves of bread to be sufficient for all the hundred men to share and eat, with leftovers, just as the Lord had said it. This was the proof of God’s love for His people, that He did not just care for them spiritually, but even also physically, and ensuring that they had enough for themselves in whatever they need in the physical sustenance and requirements in their lives. He did not abandon them all and still loved them all even though many of them at that time had disobeyed Him, disregarded His Law and commandments, persecuted His prophets and messengers, among the many other evil and wicked deeds which they had done. He has always loved them and His love for them endured through all that, and He wanted them all to repent from those sins and return to Him.

As mentioned, related to what we have just heard from the first reading passage, the Gospel passage this Sunday also spoke of a similar miracle that had happened, where in the Gospel of St. John we heard of the account of how the Lord Jesus performed the great miracle of the multiplication of the loaves of bread and the fishes, which the Lord made it such that all the five thousand men and many thousands more of women and children assembled there could have their fill and still there were so many bread leftover that twelve whole baskets of them were gathered in the end. Through this account of the Gospel, which is related to the first reading’s account of the miracle of the prophet Elisha, we are all shown how God would provide for all of His beloved and faithful people. He would not abandon those whom He loved and all of them would be shown kindness and providence in God’s own mysterious ways.

God did not spare us any effort to reach out to us and to gather us all back to Himself, calling on all of us to return to Him with a lot of patience and love. He sent them His prophets like Elisha and many others to remind them of this love and of all the kindness which He has generously given to them. And He promised to all of them the One Who would save them all, the Saviour, in the Person of none other than His own Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God manifested in the flesh, that the same Christ is the One Who gave that miraculous feeding to all the thousands assembled there to listen to Him. He fed them with the bread and fishes until they were full, with leftovers like at the time of the prophet Elisha, and He also provided them spiritually through His teachings and words.

From our second reading passage taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Ephesus, the Apostle spoke about the calling and mission of all Christians, of God’s holy and beloved people to be truly faithful and worthy of the Lord in all the things that they do and carry out in their lives. He reminded all of us through this Epistle that all of us ought to always strive to do what God had taught us to do, to be righteous and faithful in all things, being committed to God and His ways, and to be loving and compassionate to one another, showing our generous love and kindness to everyone around us. As Christians, each and every one of us must always exude the love and grace of God in all of our lives, in each of our actions and at every moments.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all have heard from the Scripture passages we received this Sunday, we are all reminded yet again as we have constantly been reminded, of God’s ever present and enduring love for us. We should no longer take God’s love and generosity for granted, and we should also share this same love in our own lives, by being generous and kind, what we give out of generosity from our hearts, we shall be blessed manyfold more by the Lord, just as we have seen how God multiplied the loaves of bread. It is also a lesson to remind us all not to worry about our lives and not to lose our trust and faith in God. We must always remember that in the Lord and with Him, all of us will eventually be triumphant with Him, and it is in Him alone that we can find true happiness and joy in life, and not in all the pleasures of the world, all of which are fleeting and illusory in nature.

May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God, Who has always watched over us and remembered us even when we have sinned against Him, continue to love us ever more generously, and may He continue to shine His love, kindness and mercy on us, especially when we come to Him seeking for His mercy and forgiveness. Let us all continue to do our part in our respective lives so that by our renewed dedication and commitment to God, we may grow ever stronger in our relationship with Him, and we may continue to bear witness to His love and kindness at all times. May He bless us in all of our works and efforts, all of our deeds, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 28 July 2024 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

John 6 : 1-15

At that time, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias, and large crowds followed Him, because of the miraculous signs they saw, when He healed the sick. So He went up into the hills and sat down there with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Then lifting up His eyes, Jesus saw the crowds that were coming to Him, and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” He said this to test Philip, for He Himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish, and gave them as much as they wanted.

And when they had eaten enough, He told His disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, that is, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

When the people saw the miracle which Jesus had performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the One Who is to come into the world.” Jesus realised that they would come and take Him by force to make Him King; so He fled to the hills by Himself.

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Sunday, 28 July 2024 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ephesians 4 : 1-6

Therefore, I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you, to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you, the unity of spirit, through bonds of peace. Let there be one body, and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God, the Father of all, Who is above all, and works through all, and is in all.

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Sunday, 28 July 2024 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 144 : 10-11, 15-16, 17-18

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

All creatures look to You to be fed in due season; with open hand, You satisfy the living, according to their needs.

Righteous is YHVH in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.

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Sunday, 28 July 2024 : Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Kings 4 : 42-44

A man came from Baal-shal-ishah bringing bread and wheat to the man of God. These were from the first part of the harvest, twenty loaves of barley and wheat. Elisha told him, “Give the loaves to these men that they may eat.”

His servant said to him, “How am I to divide these loaves among one hundred men?” Elisha insisted, “Give them to the men that they may eat, for YHVH says : ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’” So the man set it before them; and they ate and had some left, as YHVH had said.

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(Usus Antiquior) Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 28 July 2024 : Offertory, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Post-Communion Prayer

Liturgical Colour : Green

Offertory

Psalm 24 : 1-3

Ad Te, Domine, levavi animam meam : Deus meus, in Te confido, non erubescam : neque irrideant me inimici mei : etenim universi, qui Te exspectant, non confundentur.

English translation

To You, o Lord, have I lifted up my soul. In You, o my God, I put my trust, let me not be ashamed, neither let my enemies laugh at me, for none of those who wait on You shall be confounded.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Tibi, Domine, sacrificia dicata reddantur : quae sic ad, honorem Nominis Tui deferenda tribuisti, ut eadem remedia fieri nostra praestares. 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 sacrifices dedicated to You, o Lord, be rendered back, since You have given them to be presented for the honour of Your Name, so that in them You might afford us a remedy for all our ills. 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 50 : 21

Acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes et holocausta, super altare Tuum, Domine.

English translation

You will accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and holocausts upon Your altar, o Lord.

Post-Communion Prayer

Quaesumus, Domine, Deus noster : ut, quos divinis reparare non desinis sacramentis, Tuis non destituas benignus auxiliis. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

O Lord, our God, we pray that in Your loving kindness You will not deprive of Your assistance those whom You do not cease to restore with divine sacraments. 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.