Lent 2022

by

(Usus Antiquior) Passion Sunday (I Classis) – Sunday, 3 April 2022 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Violet

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

Hebrews 9 : 11-15

Fratres : Christus assistens Pontifex futurorum bonorum, per amplius et perfectius tabernaculum non manufactum, id est, non hujus creationis : neque per sanguinem hircorum aut vitulorum, sed per proprium sanguinem introivit semel in Sancta, aeterna redemptione inventa.

Si enim sanguis hircorum et taurorum, et cinis vitulae aspersus, inquinatos sanctificat ad emundationem carnis : quanto magis sanguis Christi, qui per Spiritum Sanctum semetipsum obtulit immaculatam Deo, emundabit conscientiam nostram ab operibus mortuis, ad serviendum Deo viventi?

Et ideo novi Testamenti mediator est : ut, morte intercedente, in redemptionem earum, praevaricationum, quae erant sub priori Testamento, repromissionem accipiant, qui vocati sunt aeternae hereditatis, in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro.

English translation

Brethren, Christ having come, a High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats or of calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who, through the Holy Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the Living God?

And therefore He is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of His death, for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, they who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

by

(Usus Antiquior) Passion Sunday (I Classis) – Sunday, 3 April 2022 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Introit

Psalm 42 : 1-2 and 3

Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta : ab homine iniquo et doloso eripe me : quia Tu es Deus meus et fortitudo mea.

Emitte lucem Tuam et veritatem Tuam : ipsa me deduxerunt et adduxerunt in montem sanctum Tuum et in tabernacula Tua.

Response : Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta : ab homine iniquo et doloso eripe me : quia Tu es Deus meus et fortitudo mea.

English translation

Judge me, o God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy. Deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man. For You are my God and my Strength.

Send forth Your light and Your truth, they have conducted me, and brought me unto Your holy hill, and into Your tabernacles.

Response : Judge me, o God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy. Deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man. For You are my God and my Strength.

Collect

Quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, familiam Tuam propitius respice : ut, Te largiente, regatur in corpore : et, Te servante, custodiantur in mente. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Look with favour upon Your household, we beseech You, o Almighty God, that, by Your gift, it may be governed in body and, by Your preservation, may be guarded in Spirit. 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.

by

Saturday, 2 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we draw ever closer to the end of the season of Lent and the beginning of the Holy Week which is really just over a week away, we are reminded of the things that the Lord and His faithful ones had gone through in their efforts to bring each and every one of us to the Lord and to help reconcile us with Himself. He has gone through so much opposition and hardships in His efforts to call us back to Himself and to help us to find our way to Him once again. He sent His prophets into our midst to help and assist us, only to have them being rejected and persecuted by those people.

In our first reading today we heard the passage from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah about the persecutions that Jeremiah had faced from the opposition and the enemies he had among the people of Judah. He was sent to the kingdom of Judah with the warnings and reminders of God’s judgment for the people, all that they had committed, the sins and wickedness they had committed, which would lead them to ruin and destruction. The Lord wanted to remind them all that they could still turn back and return to Him.

Unfortunately, the people remained stubborn and refused to believe in the Lord or in His prophet Jeremiah. They persecuted Jeremiah, plotted against Him, accusing him of being a traitor and sought to kill him, and they nearly managed to do so, if not for the help of one of Jeremiah’s few remaining friends who managed to keep him safe, although he had to remain hidden and suffer nonetheless for his dedication and hard works for the greater glory of God. He truly suffered a lot in walking down the path of faith, but he remained fully trusting in the Lord’s providence.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the argument and debate among the members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish High Council. That council was composed of the most influential and powerful members of the Jewish community, including the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the chief priests and the elders of the community and many other influential members, who were mostly opposed to the Lord Jesus and plotted against Him. They wanted to find ways to arrest Him and even to condemn Him to death.

There were a few of them who were sympathetic to the Lord, His cause and His teachings, namely Nicodemus as well as Joseph of Arimathea among some others. Nicodemus stood up for the Lord and tried to defend Him, by stating to the assembly that the Lord should have been allowed to state His reasons and present His arguments before they just summarily tried to accuse Him without even listening to the other side first. But Nicodemus was easily overcome by the rest who really were not interested to listen to reason.

They were all carried by their desire to persecute the Lord, out of the fear for their loss of influence and power in the community. They saw the Lord as a great threat to their power, and they refused to let all their privileges and power to go away. They tried to do whatever they could to stop the Lord and to destroy Him, and despite everything they had seen and heard in the Lord’s works, the many miracles He had performed, and all the wisdom and truth He has spoken before them, they closed their hearts and minds to Him, hardening their hearts and being unreasonable, finding excuses to try to persecute Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, through what we have heard in our Scripture passages today, we are all reminded how pride and ego, worldly desires and temptations can mislead us down the same path as those people who had persecuted the prophets and the Lord Himself. We must never allow all those things again to distract us and to pull us away from the path towards the salvation and eternal life in God. And we have to be vigilant as we must always remind ourselves that the other destination is eternal damnation, an eternity of suffering away from God.

That is why, during this season of Lent, all of us are called to open our hearts and minds to welcome the Lord back inside, and to come back to the Lord with contrite hearts, seeking His forgiveness for all the faults and wicked things we have done. Let us all then return to the Lord with renewed faith and love, with the sincere desire to be forgiven and to be reconciled with Him. And may God continue to love us all, and continue to show us patience, for us sinners whenever we stumble and falter again in our journey of faith. May God bless us all in our every actions and deeds, and may all of us draw ever closer to Him and to His salvation. Amen.

by

Saturday, 2 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 7 : 40-53

At that time, many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? Does Scripture not say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David? The crowd was divided over Him. Some wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

The officers of the Temple went back to the chief priests, who asked them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this Man.” The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in Him? Only those cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law!”

Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, “Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.” And they all went home.

by

Saturday, 2 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 7 : 2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12

O Lord, my God, in You I take shelter; deliver me and save me from all my pursuers, lest lions tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

O Lord, my righteousness; You see that I am blameless. Bring to an end the power of the wicked, but affirm the just, o righteous God, searcher of mind and heart.

You cover me as a shield. Oh God, for You protect the upright. A righteous judge is God, His anger ever awaiting those who refuse to repent.

by

Saturday, 2 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Francis of Paola, Hermit (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 11 : 18-20

YHVH made it known to me and so I know! And You let me see their scheming. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me that they were plotting, “Let us feed him with trials and remove him from the land of the living and let his name never be mentioned again.”

YHVH, God of hosts, You Who judge with justice and know everyone’s heart and intentions, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have entrusted my cause.

by

Friday, 1 April 2022 : 4th 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 Lord in the Scriptures, we heard of the opposition that the servants and messengers of the Lord, including that of His own Son encountered in this world as the forces of those who opposed them rose up against them. There were many who stubbornly refused to follow the Lord and kept in their wicked ways, and all these led to the persecution of the servants of God, culminating in the condemnation of the Messiah and Son of God Himself, by the same people to whom He had been sent to.

In our first reading today, we heard the passage from the Book of Wisdom regarding the plots that the wicked assembled and planned against the faithful servant of God. It was essentially a highlight summarising what God’s servants and prophets had to endure during the time of their ministry among the people of God. They were often hated, rejected and ridiculed against, oppressed and persecuted. They were cast out and treated as how foreigners were treated, and even worse than that. No one would hear them even though they spoke God’s words and truth.

Those people had closed themselves against God’s words and truth, and then, as the Book of Wisdom itself also spoke of what would happen in time to come, it was also a prophecy of the Messiah and how the people would treat Him just as they had treated the prophets and messengers of God. That was what we heard in our Gospel passage today, regarding the Lord Jesus and what He experienced as He ministered among the people of God. The chief priests, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as well as members of the Sadducees, all plotted against Him and sought His downfall.

Nonetheless, that did not make the Lord to cease His actions and work, as He still even went to the festival in Jerusalem, and spoke loudly in the Temple proclaiming the truth about Himself. The people doubted Him because they all assumed to know where He had come from, a backwater village in Galilee where no prophet or great man was prophesied to come, and therefore thought that He was a fraud and even a blasphemer, or that He was colluding with demons and evil spirits. All of those false accusations were untrue and were maliciously made against the Lord to discredit Him and to undermine His works.

The reason for those lies and falsehoods? It was likely the jealousy and insecurity experienced by those same people, the chief priests and the Pharisees who feared that their position and influence, their privileges and power in the community would be destroyed and lost to them. They feared that the Lord would snatch the people away from them, seeing how popular He had become, and this intense preoccupation with their worldly desires and concerns likely prevented them from allowing God to make genuine communication with them, as they closed their hearts and minds against Him.

That would explain well why those same people, the ones who should have recognised the Lord first when He came upon their midst, the same ones who should have the best knowledge of the Law and the commandments of God, the words of the prophets and the prophecies they spoke, why they refused to believe even though all the signs and things have pointed clearly to the Lord Jesus being the One Whom the prophets were speaking about. They refused to accept the truth as they gave in to the temptations of their worldly desires, the desire for power, satisfaction and glory among other things.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all ponder these events and consider carefully our own choices and paths in life. Are we going to be like the Pharisees, the elders and all the people who had persecuted the prophets and messengers of God? Are we going to follow them into their rebellion against the Lord? This is why it is important that we must resist the temptations of worldly things which often lead us down the path of ruin because of our disobedience against God, which often times we may even commit without having realised it at all, just as what the Pharisees had done.

In this season of Lent, all of us are called to seek the Lord with contrite and open hearts, with minds that are welcoming towards the Lord, and the willingness to listen to Him speaking to us and calling on us to return to Him. In this time of reconciliation and call to repentance, we are all reminded that we are sinners in need of healing and reconciliation with God. Are we willing then to make the effort and to do what is needed for us to draw ever closer to God and to receive the fullness of His mercy and compassionate love? The decision and choice is ours to make, brothers and sisters in Christ.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He empower each and every one of us to live ever more worthily in His presence, listening to Him and obeying His will in each and every available opportunities. May all of us be good examples and role models for one another from now on, in how we live our lives as dedicated Christians, now and always. Amen.

by

Friday, 1 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 7 : 1-2, 10, 25-30

At that time, Jesus went around Galilee; He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews wanted to kill Him. Now the Jewish feast of the Tents was at hand.

But after His brothers had gone to the festival, He also went up, not publicly but in secret. Some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Is this not the Man they want to kill? And here He is speaking freely, and they do not say a word to Him? Can it be that the rulers know that this is really the Christ? Yet we know where this Man comes from; but when the Christ appears, no one will know where He comes from.”

So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the Temple court where He was teaching, “You say that you know Me and know where I come from! I have not come of Myself; I was sent by the One Who is true, and you do not know Him. I know Him for I come from Him and He sent Me.”

They would have arrested Him, but no one laid hands on Him because His time had not yet come.

by

Friday, 1 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 33 : 17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23

But the Lord’s face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. Many are the troubles of the just, but the Lord delivers them from all.

He keeps all their bones intact, and none of them will be broken. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.

by

Friday, 1 April 2022 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Wisdom 2 : 1a, 12-22

Led by mistaken reasons they think, “Let us set a trap for the Righteous, for He annoys us and opposes our way of life; He reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing. He claims knowledge of God and calls Himself Son of the Lord. He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet Him is burdensome to us. He does not live like others and behaves strangely.”

“According to Him we have low standards, so He keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean. He emphasises the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as Father. Let us see the truth of what He says and find out what His end will be. If the Righteous is a Son of God, God will defend Him and deliver Him from His adversaries.”

“Let us humble and torture Him to prove His self-control and test His patience. When we have condemned Him to a shameful death, we may test His words.” This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice. They do not know the mysteries of God nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.