Ordinary Time 2022

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Wednesday, 22 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 7 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Beware of false prophets : they come to you in sheep’s clothing; but inside, they are voracious wolves. You will recognise them by their fruits. Do you ever pick grapes from thorn bushes; or figs, from thistles?”

“A good tree always produces good fruit. A rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit; and a rotten fruit cannot bear good fruit. Any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruit.”

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Wednesday, 22 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 118 : 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40

Explain to me, o YHVH, Your commandments, and I will be ever faithful to them.

Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law with all my heart.

Guide me in obeying Your instructions, for my pleasure lies in them.

Incline my heart to follow Your will and not my own selfish desire.

Turn my eyes away from vanities and direct them to Your life-giving word.

Oh, how I long for Your precepts! Renew my life in Your righteousness.

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Wednesday, 22 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop, and St. John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Thomas More, Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

2 Kings 22 : 8-13 and 2 Kings 23 : 1-3

At that moment Hilkiah, the high priest, said to Shaphan, the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the House of YHVH.” And he entrusted the Book to Shaphan who read it. Then Shaphan went to the king and said, “We have gathered the money in the House, and this has been turned over to the caretakers of the House to make the repairs.”

And Shaphan added, “The priest Hilkiah has turned over a Book to me.” And Shaphan read the Book to the king. When the king heard the contents of the Book, he tore his clothes and commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, the secretary Shaphan, and Asaiah, his minister, to do the following, “Go and consult YHVH about the threats in this Book which you have found. Consult Him for me, for the people and for the whole of Judah, since our fathers did not listen to what this Book says nor its ordinances. This is why the anger of YHVH is ready to burn against us.”

The king summoned to his side all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. Then he went up to the house of YHVH, followed by all the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The priests with the prophets and all the people went with him, from the youngest to the oldest. When all were gathered, he read to them the Book of the Law found in the house of YHVH.

The king stood by the pillar; he made a Covenant in the presence of YHVH, promising to follow Him, to keep His commandments and laws, and to respect His ordinances. He promised to keep this Covenant according to what was written in the Book with all his heart and with all his soul. And all the people promised with him.

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Tuesday, 21 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded to entrust ourselves to the Lord and not to be easily swayed by sin, which would lead us down the path towards annihilation and destruction, and we must not let pride and hubris from affecting and influencing us or our actions in life. Instead, we should try our best to humble ourselves before God and heed His calls, listening to His words and reminders for us to turn away from our sins. We are all called to be holy and righteous in all of our words, actions and deeds, and everything ought to begin from our daily living.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Kings of Israel and Judah the account of the attack on Judah and the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians, which happened during the reign of the righteous king Hezekiah of Judah. King Sennacherib of Assyria brought his whole vast army to conquer Judah and Jerusalem, and the people of God and their king were thoroughly outnumbered and no one would have expected them to survive the attack by the Assyrians, least of all from Sennacherib himself, who proudly believed and announced that no god or deity had ever protected any other nations he had destroyed and conquered, and that the same fate would happen to Judah as well.

But Judah and Jerusalem had the Lord, the one and only True God, Who was by the side of His people, Who listened to every single blasphemous words uttered by king Sennacherib in his vain pride and arrogance. The Lord listened to Sennacherib’s prideful words as well as Hezekiah and the people of Judah’s prayers for deliverance, made through the prophet Isaiah, all of whom trusted in the Lord and His providence and help. The Lord therefore delivered His beloved people from harm, and as we heard in our first reading today, sent His Angels to crush the forces of the Assyrians, and caused massive deaths among them, which led to Sennacherib having to retreat back to his land in shame.

The Lord showed that all those who pride in themselves and refused to believe in Him, or persecute those who have faith in Him, will face defeat and destruction in the end. He has always been with those who entrusted themselves to Him, just as He proved to the people of Judah and their king, Hezekiah. Pride is indeed a very grievous and terrible sin, and is something that can easily distract and pull us away from the path towards salvation. We must not be prideful and haughty, arrogant and thinking that we are great and powerful, for as we have heard, the Lord brought low those who were proud and mighty, when they boasted of their power and glory before others.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples and followers, calling on all of them to holiness, stating to them how the path to salvation and eternal life is truly one that is narrow and difficult, and unless one makes the effort to enter the narrow gate, then many may end up not being able to enter into that desired path. And why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is exactly because of pride, hubris and arrogance I mentioned earlier, the downfall of many of our predecessors, as well as many other things such as greed, jealousy, hatred, lust among other things.

That is why as Christians each and every one of us are called and challenged to remove from ourselves, our hearts and minds, all these obstacles of pride, greed, jealousy, hatred, gluttony, wrath, envy, sloth and all other things that often prevented us from finding our way towards God. We cannot allow those things to distract or tempt us to fall into the path of sin, again and again, as many of us had experienced throughout life. We are all called to be better Christians in actions, words and deeds, and we cannot be hypocrites who act in the way contrary to what our faith had shown and revealed to us.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, one of the renowned young saint of the Church, who despite his young age at death and relatively short life, managed to inspire many people who were touched by his dedication to God, his faith and contributions, in his commitment and personal holiness. St. Aloysius Gonzaga can become our inspiration in how we can be better disciples and followers of Christ, as even though he was born into an aristocratic noble family, and as firstborn son was in fact also the heir of his family titles and fortunes, he chose to leave it all behind to become a religious and priest.

Despite his father and family’s resistance and efforts to dissuade him from doing so, St. Aloysius Gonzaga would not be deterred, and after a lot of effort and persistence, he was finally allowed to join the religious life, and he chose to surrender all rights to inheritance, power and glory. He became a member of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits, and began his instructional period and training. He devoted himself thoroughly to his calling, even serving and caring for the poor and the sick around his community, and which caused him to be falling ill with the disease. Nonetheless that did not stop St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who continued with his labours until he passed away in his good works.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we can see from the example of the faith of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, his commitment and virtuous way of life, his humility and willingness to abandon the pursuit of worldly power and glory, each and every one of us are also called and challenged to be better Christians following his examples, to rid ourselves of unhealthy attachments and obsessions for worldly things and matters, and instead refocusing our attention on the Lord. Let us all seek the Lord from now on with renewed faith and zeal, at all times. May God bless each one of us, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 21 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 7 : 6, 12-14

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, or throw your pearls before pigs. They might trample on them, and then turn on you and tear you to pieces.”

“So, do to others whatever you would that others do to you : there, you have the Law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the road, that leads to destruction, and many go that way. How narrow is the gate that leads to life; and how rough, the road; few there are, who find it.”

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Tuesday, 21 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 47 : 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 10-11

Great is YHVH, most worthy of praise in the City of God, His holy mountain. Beautifully elevated, it is the joy of all the earth.

Mount Zion, heavenly mountain, the City of the great King. Here, within her lines of defence, God has shown Himself to be a sure fortress.

Let us recall Your unfailing love, o God, inside Your Temple. Let Your praise, as does Your Name, o God, reach to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is ever victorious.

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Tuesday, 21 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

2 Kings 19 : 9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36

Again Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with these words, “Say to Hezekiah, king of Judah that his God in Whom he trusts may be deceiving him in saying that Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands they have destroyed! And will you be spared?”

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, and when he had read it he went to the house of YHVH; where he unrolled the letter and prayed saying, “O YHVH, God of Israel, enthroned above the Cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made the heavens and the earth. Give ear, YHVH, and hear! Open Your eyes and see! Listen to all the words of Sennacherib who has sent men to insult the living God!”

“It is true, YHVH, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries of the earth. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not true gods but gods made of wood and stone by human hands. Now, o YHVH our God, save us from his hand and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that You alone, YHVH, are God.”

Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent word to Hezekiah : “You have called upon YHVH and He has heard your prayer regarding Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This is what YHVH has spoken against him : ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and scorns you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.”

“For a remnant will come from Jerusalem and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of YHVH of Hosts will accomplish this. That is why YHVH has said this concerning the king of Assyria : ‘He shall not enter this city nor shoot his arrows. He shall not raise a shield to oppose it nor build a siege ramp against it. He shall leave by the way he came and he shall not enter the city, word of YHVH. I will protect this city and so save it for My own sake and for the sake of David, My servant.”

It happened that the Angel of YHVH went out that night and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, returned home and lived in Nineveh.

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Monday, 20 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord, we are reminded of our obligation and calling as Christians to be righteous and to obey the Lord, following His Law, commandments and ways. Otherwise, we shall face the retribution and the consequence justly meted for our sins. In the end, we must realise that while God is loving and merciful, as long as we distance ourselves from Him and refused to be reconciled to Him, even though He offered us generously His kindness and compassionate mercy, we shall still be suffering the consequences of our sins, that is the possibility of eternal damnation in hell, should we continue to be stubborn and refusing God’s love and mercy.

As mentioned in our first reading passage today from the Book of Kings, we heard of the account of the downfall and destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, as the Assyrians and their king brought their full force and bringing destruction upon Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. That destruction was presented as the culmination of the many years, decades and centuries of the stubbornness of the Israelites in refusing the love and mercy of God, and in them rejecting the prophets and all those who had been sent their way, like the prophets Elijah, Elisha and many others, to call them to be reconciled with God, returning to the true faith.

Their wickedness and evil led then to the punishment justly deserved by those who actively and consistently refused to listen to the Lord and His mercy. For their constant transgressions and refusals to believe in God, the people of the northern kingdom of Israel faced the just retribution and consequence, of being scattered all around the world, cast aside and humiliated for having lost their homeland and forced to wander off in the foreign and distant lands. They had refused God’s ever generous mercy and kindness, handed to them and given to them freely, through the ministry of the prophets and messengers that God had sent to them, again and again over the centuries, only for the people to reject them and persecute.

But the Lord still loved His people nonetheless and continued to send His servants to call on them and to remind them to return to Him. He did so even though the people kept on stubbornly refusing His outreach and compassionate love. He kept on giving them chances, one after another, until the time of reckoning and judgment, when the sins of the people finally caught up with them. The fate of the Israelites, their capital in Samaria and what happened to the northern kingdom ought to be a lesson and reminder for us to heed the calling of the Lord, as He calls on us to be His followers and disciples.

In our Gospel passage today, all of us are presented with the Lord speaking to His disciples with regards to the matter of judgment and of what His followers ought to do with regards to reminding one another about our respective obligations and way of life. He told us all not to be judgmental towards others and to be righteous in our deeds. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations to be self-righteous and self-aggrandising in our attitudes, and that was what we heard in our Gospel passage today, as the Lord told the disciples not to be hypocrites in their faith, and to be genuine Christians in all opportunities.

The Lord told His disciples not to judge others not because He does not want us to judge or criticise others at all. On the contrary, what He actually meant was that each and every one of us must not judge with the wrong intention and spirit, and we must not judge others thinking that we are in any way better or superior compared to others around us. The problem is that, just as what many among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done, they often considered themselves as superior to others, especially to those whom they disagreed with and were biased against, such as those they deemed as sinners and unrepentant. They deemed themselves as the moral compass of the people and refused to listen to reason, thinking that they could have done no wrong, and that those who disagreed with them were walking in the wrong path.

That kind of attitude was what prevented them from listening to God and His reminders, much as their ancestors and predecessors had done. Just as the Israelites of old had continuously disobeyed the Lord and refused to listen to His prophets, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law also continued to show disobedience and lack of willingness to listen to God and His truth, as He had delivered into our midst through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And what the Lord wanted to highlight to us is the fact that, all the things that led those people into sin, was all their pride and arrogance. Such was indeed the dangers of pride, one of the greatest of the sins that afflicted us mankind. It was pride that brought down Satan in the past, and it was pride that brought down innumerable other children of God throughout history.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all henceforth be willing to listen to the Lord and open our hearts and minds to reason, be willing to humble ourselves before the Lord and our fellow men, and realising that each one of us are sinners in need of God’s healing and mercy. WIthout the Lord and His mercy, we will not be able to get out of our predicament, the tyranny of sin and darkness surrounding us in the world today. That is why, each and every one of us are reminded today to stop hardening our hearts and minds, and turn once again towards the Lord with renewed faith and zeal, so that by all that we may be inspiration to one another in leading a new life of virtue, as well as a life that is filled with care and concern for our fellow brethren in faith.

Let us all help one another on our way towards the Lord, and may the Lord continue to help us in our journey as well, in our perseverance to resist the temptations of sin, especially that of pride, and help remind one another to seek the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy, turning away from the path of sin and evil, darkness and destruction, remembering the lessons of the Israelites and that of the prideful Pharisees and teachers of the Law, so that we will not end up walking down the same path that they had walked. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 20 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 7 : 1-5

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “Do not judge; and you will not be judged. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged; and the measure you use for others will be used for you.”

“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, and not see the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ as long as the plank is in your own?”

“Hypocrite, remove the plank out of your own eye; then, you will see clearly, to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

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Monday, 20 June 2022 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 59 : 3, 4-5, 12-13

O God, You have rejected us and have broken our defences; You have been angry; but now turn back to us.

You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its cracks, for it totters. You have made Your people suffer; You have given us wine that makes us stagger.

Have You not rejected us, o God? You no longer go with our armies. Give us aid against the foe, for human help is not worth a straw.