Month: October 2024

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Tuesday, 22 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John Paul II, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)

Psalm 84 : 9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14

Would, that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet, His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

YHVH will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Tuesday, 22 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John Paul II, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)

Ephesians 2 : 12-22

At that time, you were without Christ, you did not belong to the community of Israel; the Covenants of God, and His promises, were not for you; you had no hope, and were without God in this world.

But now, in Christ Jesus, and by His Blood, you, who were once far off, have come near. For Christ is our peace; He, Who has made the two people, one; destroying, in His own flesh, the wall – the hatred – which separated us. He abolished the Law, with its commandments and precepts. He made peace, in uniting the two people, in Him; creating, out of the two, one New Man.

He destroyed hatred and reconciled us both to God, through the cross, making the two, one body. He came to proclaim peace; peace to you who were far off, peace to the Jews who were near. Through Him, we – the two people – approach the Father, in one Spirit.

Now, you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people : you are of the household of God. You are the house, whose foundations are the Apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus.

In Him, the whole structure is joined together, and rises, to be a holy Temple, in the Lord. In Him, you, too, are being built, to become the spiritual Sanctuary of God.

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Monday, 21 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should always strive to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness for our many sins and wickedness, for all the things that have separated us from God. God has always been ever generous in showing us His love and kindness, His compassion and mercy, but we should never take His generosity and kindness for granted, and we should not think that we can do whatever we wanted in life without any consequences, as ultimately each and every one of us will have to account for our every words, actions, deeds and interactions, and even also for what we have failed to do in life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful people of God in Ephesus where the Apostle spoke of the salvation which has come from God and how this salvation has been revealed and made tangible for us all through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, the One Whom He had sent into our midst to be our Saviour and the Source of all our Hope and deliverance. God has manifested His love and compassion to us through His Son so that all of us may receive via this great grace the justification and sanctification necessary for us to enter into His eternal kingdom and to experience the fullness of His love and glory. However, it is us mankind who have often rejected this love and squandered all the many gifts and graces which God has always readily made available to us.

St. Paul also spoke of how we often followed the whim of our desires and greed, our desires and ambitions, attachments to worldly matters and things that we often crave for in our lives, in our daily actions and efforts. He reminded all the faithful people of God that they should not let those temptations from bringing them to the wrong path by drawing them away from the Lord, or by thinking that it was due to our own greatness or glory, our own ambitions and power that we were able to achieve salvation and justification in God. Without God, there could be no hope for us and there can be no salvation and eternal life. With God, and with us cooperating faithfully and courageously with Him, in our daily living, works and efforts, we can truly manifest our faith through our every actions, words, deeds and more, and hence, are worthy to receive God’s grace and salvation.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples where He told them all about the dangers of worldly desires, ambitions and all the greed and ego in our hearts, which can become significant stumbling blocks, preventing us from coming towards the Lord and embracing Him wholeheartedly. The Gospel began with the moment when one of the people in the crowd listening to the Lord asked Him to be an arbiter between him and his brother, as they were feuding about their family inheritance, presumably hoping that the Lord could help him to get a favourable outcome on that feud and disagreements. But the Lord was quick to point out that all of them must not let all these temptations and desires to lead them astray into the path of darkness and sin.

Mankind has always been drawn by the many desires we have in the world, the desire for money, wealth and material possessions, for fame and renown, for glory and power, as well as for many other things that this world has often tried to tempt us with, that we have walked ever further away from the Lord in our ceaseless pursuits for those ambitions and desires. Throughout history, many people have allowed themselves to be swayed by their desires for material wealth and goods of the world, which usually led to even more and further ambitions and desires, and not to true happiness, as all those ambitions and desires are ultimately illusory and temporary, and all the satisfaction they provide are not one that can truly satisfy our souls, which can find the true happiness and refuge in God alone.

The Lord also affirmed this further through what He had told His disciples and the others listening to Him with the parable detailing how a rich man was planning for the years ahead and desiring for even more places to store all of his built-up and assembled riches and wealth. The Lord used this example to point out the folly of such an action and path in life as He rightly showed that we are all ultimately mortals, no matter how great or rich we may be in this life. And no matter how much we have accumulated in wealth, power and glory in this world, the reality is such that none of those will be following us to the afterlife beyond death. From the richest to the poorest, none of us will bring along with us our worldly possessions, connections and status, and before the Lord, all of us are equal. If our preoccupation with all those worldly desires had made us to disobey God and not being faithful to His commandments, 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded therefore to stay away from all the worldly vices and attachments that can tempt and drag us away from God and His assurance of salvation and grace. We are reminded to resist the many false treasures and pleasures of life, all of which may delude us into thinking that they can give us lasting satisfaction, joy and fulfilment, all of which can also make us to be addicted and attached to them, giving in to the never-ending desire and pursuit of worldliness, which is something that all of us as Christians should not have with us. We must always keep ourselves focused on the Lord and His truth, His Good News and love, and continue to live our own lives, at each and every moments with true faith, dedication and commitment, distancing ourselves from whatever things that may corrupt us into the darkness.

May the Lord, our ever loving, compassionate and patient God, continue to show His love towards us, and help us always in guiding each and every one of us to walk ever more faithfully and with ever greater commitment in His path. May He continue to encourage us and bless our every good efforts and endeavours, in every things that we have done for His greater glory, so that by our inspirational and exemplary lives as the followers and disciples of the Lord, many more people may come to know God and be saved through them being touched by us and our own worthy examples, living as the people whose lives are truly centred on God and not on all sorts of worldly things, temptations and attachments. Amen.

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Monday, 21 October 2024 : 29th Week 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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Monday, 21 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 4, 5

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His Name.

For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.

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Monday, 21 October 2024 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ephesians 2 : 1-10

You were dead, through the faults and sins. Once, you lived through them, according to this world, and followed the Sovereign Ruler Who reigns between heaven and earth, and Who goes on working, in those who resist the faith.

All of us belonged to them, at one time, and we followed human greed; we obeyed the urges of our human nature and consented to its desires. By ourselves, we went straight to the judgment, like the rest of humankind.

But God, Who is rich in mercy, revealed His immense love. As we were dead through our sins, He gave us life, with Christ. By grace, you have been saved! And He raised us to life, with Christ, giving us a place with Him in heaven.

In showing us such kindness, in Christ Jesus, God willed to reveal, and unfold in the coming ages, the extraordinary riches of His grace. By the grace of God, you have been saved, through faith.

This has not come from you : it is God’s gift. This was not the result of your works, so you are not to feel proud. What we are, is God’s work. He has created us, in Christ Jesus, for the good works He has prepared, that we should devote ourselves to them.

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Sunday, 20 October 2024 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we all reminded clearly by the Lord that as Christians each and every one of us must not allow ourselves to be tempted and swayed by the various worldly desires, ambitions and temptations which can lead one astray in the journey towards the Lord. All of us must instead continue to focus ourselves upon the Lord, our God and Saviour, and upon all the love, attention, care and compassion which He has always lavished on us. We must always hold strongly to this assurance of the Lord’s promises and all that He had reminded us through His Son, in how He has made His love and compassion tangible for us, making Himself approachable and accessible to us, so that we may come to seek His ever patient love and mercy, and be truly reconciled with Him.

In our first reading this Sunday, we heard from the passage taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the prophet spoke about the prophecy of the Suffering Servant or Suffering Messiah, which was a premonition of what the Messiah or Saviour sent by God to His people would have to endure. This revelation of what the Lord would be doing through His Messiah or Saviour is a reminder for us that each one of us as Christians are not immune to sufferings, hardships and difficulties. If the Lord, our God Himself has suffered great challenges, been rejected, humiliated and persecuted greatly for speaking and delivering the truth that He Himself has brought into our midst, then who among us can say that we may not face the same challenges and difficulties as well?

We are reminded that sufferings, trials, persecutions, obstacles and difficulties are all parts of our ministry and journey as Christians. We may encounter moments when we may end up being in difficult position and we may have to struggle in deciding how to progress forward in life, and whether we want to continue to follow the Lord or not, or whether we follow the path of the world and what is comfortable for us instead. And this is where we need to make a strong and firm stand of our faith, to continue to hold strongly to our faith and commitment to God, despite all the various difficulties and obstacles we may encounter in our path. The Lord has always been with us, by our side, no matter what, and He has always guided us throughout all of our journey.

Then, from the second reading passage today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard about the role of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the whole world as the High Priest of all mankind and all of creation, by all that He had done in offering Himself as the perfect and most worthy sacrifice for the atonement and forgiveness of our many sins and wickedness, all the things that had prevented us from coming closer to God and His salvation. The author of that Epistle also highlighted how this same High Priest, Who has offered Himself as the perfect and worthy sacrifice, also knew our sufferings and trials, Himself having been subjected to the same temptations and coercions we ourselves faced, but He did not give in to those temptations.

And in solidarity with us, by sharing in our humanity and our nature, He has united each one of us to Himself, and helping us all to realise what God has wanted from us, that is for us to embrace the salvation and love that He has shown to us so generously through His Son, that by following the example and having faith in the same Son of God, our one and true High Priest, Jesus Christ, all of us may receive and attain the fullness of God’s promise and assurance of eternal life, of true joy and happiness which He has always intended for us from the very beginning. We might have been separated from Him because of our disobedience and sins, but God’s love is far greater than any of those obstacles, temptations, pressures and all the other distractions and things that we may encounter in our path towards our salvation in God.

From the Gospel passage this Sunday, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the time when the Lord was confronted with two of His disciples, the sons of Zebedee, namely St. James and St. John, who came with their mother to Him, asking for special favours and position from Him, to sit on His right and left. If we do not understand the significance of this request, we should know that it is a great honour to sit by the side of the King, and those two disciples sought to be honoured above the rest through such a request. Indeed, the Lord did show His favour to the two of them as He usually often brought the two sons of Zebedee, St. James and St. John together with St. Peter on the several important occasions throughout His ministry, but this did not mean that they should seek personal glory and ambition in their ministry as the disciples and followers of Christ.

The Lord told the two disciples that there are sufferings, challenges and sufferings that they would have to endure, and they would have to drink from the same cup of suffering which He Himself had to drink. What He wanted to tell them is that, following Him as a disciple is not about seeking the glory and satisfaction of the world but about service, to serve God wholeheartedly and to follow Him ever more faithfully and courageously despite the many challenges and trials we may encounter in life. All of us must not think that we will be rewarded with status, power and glory as many of us might have thought that we deserve for having followed the Lord and obeyed Him. Many of the disciples had the ambition and desires in their heart for all those things, and that was why they were unhappy at the actions of the two sons of Zebedee, and why they often bickered and quarrelled with one another over this matter.

As we have heard from the readings of the Sacred Scriptures and discerned from the earlier discussions and discourses we had, all of us are reminded that as Christians we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by the temptations and pressures of the world around us, and by the allure of desire and worldly glory. We are all called to be more humble and focused on the Lord, to distance ourselves from the trap of ambition, hubris and pride, all the things which can lead us astray and distracted in life, to walk down the path of disobedience and rebellion against God because we may be swayed by those temptations and desires, and all the falsehoods of the evil one, who would likely tempt us to think that we cannot be wrong in our ways and ideals, and end up getting further and more distant from the true path towards God. We should instead follow the examples of the Lord Himself, Who has humbled Himself, to be offered as a worthy sacrifice and offering for our salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore remind one another that as Christians, as the disciples and followers of our Lord and God, we must always strive to be humble in all things, and to be ready and willing to listen to the Lord speaking to us, reminding and helping us to remain truly faithful to Him, and to restrain ourselves from all the pride, ego, ambition, hubris, greed, desires and all the things which may bring us away from the Lord and His grace. May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God continue to help us to stay true to our faith and commitment in Him, and may He encourage and strengthen us to remain firm in our faith and devotion despite all the challenges that we may have to face in our journey and life, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 20 October 2024 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 10 : 35-45

At that time, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to Him, “Master, we want You to grant us what we are going to ask of You.” And He said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They answered, “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, when You come in Your glory.”

But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptised in the way I am baptised?” They answered, “We can.” And Jesus told them, “The cup that I drink, you will drink; and you will be baptised in the way that I am baptised; but to sit at My right or at My left is not Mine to grant. It has been prepared for others.”

On hearing this, the other ten were angry with James and John. Jesus then called them to Him and said, “As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations behave like tyrants, and those in authority oppress the people. But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all.”

“Think of the Son of Man, Who has not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Mark 10 : 42-45

At that time, Jesus then called His disciples to Him and said, “As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations behave like tyrants, and those in authority oppress the people. But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all.”

“Think of the Son of Man, Who has not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”

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Sunday, 20 October 2024 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 4 : 14-16

We have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, Who has entered heaven. Let us, then, hold fast to the faith we profess. Our High Priest is not indifferent to our weaknesses, for He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sinning.

Let us, then, with confidence approach the throne of grace; we will obtain mercy and, through His favour, help in due time.

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Sunday, 20 October 2024 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 32 : 4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22

For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

In hope we wait for the Lord for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.