Ordinary Time 2024

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(Usus Antiquior) Quinquagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Holy Gospel

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam – Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

Luke 18 : 31-43

In illo tempore : Assumpsit Jesus duodecim, et ait illis : Ecce, ascendimus Jerosolymam, et consummabuntur omnia, quae scripta sunt per Prophetas de Filio Hominis. Tradetur enim Gentibus, et illudetur, et flagellabitur, et conspuetur : et postquam flagellaverint, occident eum, et tertia die resurget.

Et ipsi nihil horum intellexerunt, et erat verbum istud absconditum ab eis, et non intellegebant quae dicebantur. Factum est autem, cum appropinquaret Jericho, caecus quidam sedebat secus viam, mendicans. Et cum audiret turbam praetereuntem, interrogabat, quid hoc esset. Dixerunt autem ei, quod Jesus Nazarenus transiret.

Et clamavit, dicens : Jesu, Fili David, miserere mei. Et qui praeibant, increpabant eum, ut taceret. Ipse vero multo magis clamabat : Fili David, miserere mei. Stans autem Jesus, jussit illum adduci ad se. Et cum appropinquasset, interrogavit illum, dicens : Quid tibi vis faciam?

At ille dixit : Domine, ut videam. Et Jesus dixit illi : Respice, fides tua te salvum fecit. Et confestim vidit, et sequebatur illum, magnificans Deum. Et omnis plebs ut vidit, dedit laudem Deo.

English translation

At that time, Jesus took unto Him the Twelve, and said to them, “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man. For He shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, scourged, and spat upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will put Him to death, and on the third day He shall rise again.”

And they understood none of these things, and this word was hidden from them, and they did not understand the things that were said. Now it came to pass, when He drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the wayside, begging. And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant. And they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And they who went before, rebuked him, that he should hold his peace. But he cried out much more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought to Him, and when he came near, He asked him saying, “What will you want that I do to you?”

But he said, “Lord, that I may see.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith had made you whole.” And immediately, he could see, and followed Him, glorifying God, and all the people when they saw it, gave praise to God.

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(Usus Antiquior) Quinquagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Gradual and Tract

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Gradual

Psalm 76 : 15, 16

Tu es Deus qui facis mirabilia solus : notam fecisti in gentibus virtutem Tuam.

Response : Liberasti in bracchio Tuo populum Tuum, filios Israel et Joseph.

English translation

You are the God Who alone does wonders. You have made Your power known among the nations.

Response : With Your arm You have redeemed Your people, the children of Israel and of Joseph.

Tract

Psalm 99 : 1-2

Jubilate Deo, omnis terra : servite Domino in laetitia.

Response : Intrate in conspectu Ejus in exsultatione : scitote, quod Dominus ipse est Deus.

Response : Ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos : nos autem populus Ejus, et oves pascuae Ejus.

English translation

Sing joyfully to God all the earth. Serve all of you the Lord with gladness.

Response : Come in before His presence with exceeding great joy. Know all of you that the Lord, He is God.

Response : He made us, and not we ourselves, but we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

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(Usus Antiquior) Quinquagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Epistle

Liturgical Colour : Violet

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

1 Corinthians 13 : 1-13

Fratres : Si linguis hominum loquar et Angelorum, caritatem autem non habeam, factus sum velut aes sonans aut cymbalum tinniens. Et si habuero prophetiam, et noverim mysteria omnia et omnem scientiam : et si habuero omnem fidem, ita ut montes transferam, caritatem autem non habuero, nihil sum.

Et si distribuero in cibos pauperum omnes facultates meas, et si tradidero corpus meum, ita ut ardeam, caritatem autem non habuero, nihil mihi prodest. Caritas patiens est, benigna est : caritas non aemulatur, non agit perperam, non inflatur, non est ambitiosa, non quaerit quae sua sunt, non irritatur, non cogitat malum, non gaudet super iniquitate, congaudet autem veritati : omnia suffert, omnia credit, omnia sperat, omnia sustinet.

Caritas numquam excidit : sive prophetiae evacuabuntur, sive linguae cessabunt, sive scientia destruetur. Ex parte enim cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus. Cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, evacuabitur quod ex parte est. Cum essem parvulus, loquebar ut parvulus, sapiebam ut parvulus, cogitabam ut parvulus. Quando autem factus sum vir, evacuavi quae erant parvuli.

Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate : tunc autem facie ad faciem. Nunc cognosco ex parte : tunc autem cognoscam, sicut et cognitus sum. Nunc autem manent fides, spes, caritas, tria haec : major autem horum est caritas.

English translation

Brethren, if I speak with the tongues of men, and of Angels, and does not have charity, I become like a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy, and know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and does not have charity, I am nothing.

And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burnt, and does not have charity, it does not profit me anything.

Charity is patient, is kind, charity does not envy, it does not deal perversely, it is not puffed up, it is not ambitious, it does not seek her own, it is not provoked to anger, it does not think any evil, it does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoiced in the truth, bears all things, believes in all things, hopes in all things, and endures all things.

Charity never falls away, whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.

We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known. And now there remain faith, hope and charity. These three, but the greatest of these is charity.

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(Usus Antiquior) Quinquagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Introit

Psalm 30 : 3-4 and 2

Esto mihi in Deum protectorem, et in locum refugii, ut salvum me facias : quoniam firmamentum meum et refugium meum es Tu : et propter Nomen Tuum dux mihi eris, et enutries me.

In Te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum : in justitia Tua libera me et eripe me.

Response : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Be You, unto me a God, a Protector, and a place of refuge, to save me. For You are my strength, and my refuge, and for Your Name’s sake You will be my Leader and will nourish me.

In You, o Lord, have I hoped, let me never be confounded. Deliver me in Your justice, and set me free.

Response : Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Collect

Preces nostras, quaesumus, Domine, clementer exaudi : atque, a peccatorum vinculis absolutos, ab omni nos adversitate custodi. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, qui Tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

Of Your clemency hearken to our prayers, o Lord, loosen us from the bonds of sin, and keep us from all adversity. 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.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded once again that in God alone that we can have true hope and strength, fulfilment and satisfaction, and we must not allow the desires and ambitions of the world to mislead us down the path of wickedness and ruin. We must always strive to put God at the centre and as the focus of our whole lives, or else, we may end up being swayed, coerced and pushed into the wrong path in life, the path of rebellion and sin against God. We have to be firm in faith, be strong and vigilant in each and every moments of our lives that we can remain in God’s grace, and not fall into the path of evil like what the Scriptures had highlighted to us in the story of King Jeroboam of Israel.

In our first reading today, we heard the story of Jeroboam, the King of Israel, whom God had entrusted with the rule over ten out of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, after King Solomon’s disobedience had led him to sin against God. That led to the division of the kingdom of Israel after the death of King Solomon. Ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel, except that of Judah, from where the House of David hailed from, and Benjamin, rebelled against Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor as king of Israel. Hence, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were formed, led respectively by Jeroboam and Rehoboam. However, as we heard in our reading passage today, Jeroboam grew fearful of the possibility that all those under his rule might betray him and return back to their past allegiance to the House of David.

This was because at that time, the great Temple of God which King Solomon had built and established in Jerusalem as the House of God is the place where all the Israelites ought to go to worship God, and hence, despite the division of the kingdom, the people in the northern kingdom ruled by Jeroboam still went to Jerusalem regularly and periodically, which brought to the fear and jealousy of Jeroboam, who was worried that the rule of his kingdom, his power and dominion would slip from his hands because of the people being reminded of the glorious rule of King David and King Solomon whenever they went to Jerusalem and visited the City of God and the Holy Temple which Solomon had built there to worship God. Hence, as we heard, Jeroboam built his own rival temples, and set up two golden calves as idols in Bethel and Dan, at the extremities of his kingdom.

King Jeroboam promoted the worship of those golden calf idols and discouraged the people of his kingdom from going to Jerusalem to worship God there as they should have done. Not only that, but he also appointed his own priests, which according to the Scriptures and tradition, were not from among the Levites as the Law of God had dictated. These violations of the Law of God and Jeroboam’s own disobedience against God kind of mirror that of Solomon’s own disobedience and sins. And in both cases, they were all due to the inability of mankind to resist the temptations of their own desires, their ambitions and the allures of worldly glory, pleasures and power, of all the things which we have highlighted and discussed earlier on.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord miraculously fed a multitude of many thousands of people with merely seven pieces of bread. The Lord had pity on all the people who had come to listen to His teachings and to bring their sick ones for healing. After all the time they had spent in the wilderness with the Lord and His disciples, we heard how they all had become hungry and without food, and the Lord told His disciples to help provide them all with food. That was how then the Lord Jesus miraculously multiplied the seven loaves of bread given to Him, that were enough for everyone present to have their complete fill, and still having seven whole full baskets of leftovers. This is a reminder to each and every one of us that in God alone lies true satisfaction and happiness, which the world cannot truly provide us.

And unlike the actions of King Solomon and King Jeroboam, especially that of the latter which we have discussed just earlier, the Lord Jesus acted out of love for others, humility and obedience, in doing what His Heavenly Father had entrusted to Him to do, and in not boasting about His ability and power, unlike that of the kings mentioned. The Lord did not allow the temptations of worldly glory, ambition, fame, pride, arrogance or jealousy to mislead Him down the wrong path, and He showed us all the loving nature of Our Lord and King, and how precious each and every one of us are to Him. All of us are God’s beloved people, whom He has treasured and cared for all these while, and we should not take this for granted. We should also strive to live our lives in the manner how He has taught and shown us, and not to follow the wrong examples of our predecessors.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Scholastica, a holy and devoted woman whose life and examples had inspired many throughout the history of the Church. St. Scholastica was the fraternal twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia according to Church tradition, who was another great saint of God and who was widely considered as the Father of Western Monasticism. St. Scholastica herself was renowned in her own way for her great piety and commitment to God, for her dedication and faith, which had inspired many others to follow her examples to a life of holiness and grace, resisting the many temptations of worldly glory, pleasures, fame and ambitions, and instead, seeking God wholeheartedly and turning themselves into the right path.

While the details on her early life was rather scant, but St. Scholastica eventually joined religious life much like St. Benedict, and she was credited with the foundation of the Benedictine nuns, which mirrored her brother’s role in founding the Benedictine monks and monasteries. St. Scholastica led a quiet and contemplative life in prayer, committing herself in prayer and study of the Scriptures, through which she inspired many other women of her time to follow the Lord in the same way, rejecting the excesses of wickedness and evils of the world, all the worldly temptations, pleasures and comforts, that they may all lead a holy life with the Lord, caring for one another in a holy community of the faithful consecrated ones to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the good examples, piety and faith which St. Scholastica has shown us, in all of her life and work, dedicating herself wholly to the Lord and to His path. Let us all reject the temptations of worldly power and glory, and remind ourselves that we do not end up being swayed by all those things and fall into the path of sin and evil. Let us instead deepen our relationship with God, by spending more quality time with Him, through prayer, charity and almsgiving, and by our exemplary way of life at all times. May God be with us always, and may He bless our every good works and efforts, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 8 : 1-10

At that time, soon afterward, Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So He called His disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”

His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.” Then He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, He broke them, and handed them to His disciples to distribute.

And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish. So Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well. The people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number.

Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 19-20, 21-22

We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.

They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Kings 12 : 26-32 and 1 Kings 13 : 33-34

Jeroboam thought, “The kingdom could return to the house of David. Should this people go up to offer sacrifices in YHVH’s House in Jerusalem, their heart would turn again to their master, Rehoboam king of Judah. They would kill me and go back to him.”

And so the king sought advice and made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, o Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” He put one of these in Bethel, the other in Dan. This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves.

Jeroboam also built temples on high places, appointing priests who were not from the Levites. Jeroboam also appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in imitation of the feast in Judah, and he himself offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel; and sacrificed to the calves that he had made. There he placed priests for the high places he had made.

After this, however, Jeroboam did not abstain from doing evil. Instead he made priests for the high places from among the people. He consecrated anyone who wanted to be a priest for the high places. And this became the sin of the family of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.

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Friday, 9 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded that if we do not put our trust and faith in God, in the end, we shall face the consequences of our disloyalty and lack of faith. We are also reminded that in the Lord alone is our hope and salvation, and through Him we shall receive the sure hope of liberation from our troubles and hardships. We must always seek the Lord and focus our attention on Him, and we shall find the path to freedom and grace. Each and every one of us have been blessed by the Lord, with His kindness, love and bounty, and all that He has promised to us, His kindness and compassion towards all of us, whom He had loved from the very beginning. However, we have often been distracted by the many temptations and wickedness present all around us, which can lead us astray into our downfall, away from the path towards God and His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard of how Jeroboam was entrusted by God to be the ruler over the northern half of the kingdom of Israel against the descendants of David, during the time towards the end of the rule of King Solomon because Solomon had fallen from grace, disobeying the commandments and Law of God, refusing to do as God had commanded him to do despite being faithful and obedient for the earlier parts of his reign. Solomon was swayed and tempted by his vast collection of wealth and all the fame he had accumulated and gained because of his great might, wisdom and glory. Solomon’s many wives and concubines, his ties to the foreign powers and politics also muddled his mind and judgment, which resulted in him committing blasphemy and wicked deeds in raising altars for the pagan gods of his wives and concubines, leading to the people falling into sin as well.

Solomon depended so much on his power and glory, and on all the political and diplomatic connections that he had established that he had become proud, arrogant and haughty, and God wanted to remind him that in the end, no matter what plans and things he had prepared, Solomon’s glory and greatness came from the Lord and depended on Him. His disobedience and lack of commitment to God would eventually cause the division of the kingdom of Israel, which the same Jeroboam would become the first king of the independent northern kingdom of Israel, while Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, would only rule in the southern kingdom of Judah over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This is a lesson for all of us that we should not allow worldly temptations, glory and all those wickedness from misleading us down the path of ruin.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus healing a person who had been deaf and mute, and miraculously allowed the man to speak and hear well again, by His power and grace. In this miraculous healing, when the Lord placed His hands on the man’s ears and tongue, proclaiming ‘Ephphata’, or ‘Be opened’, the Lord showed everyone who were there Who He truly was, the One promised by God to all of us mankind to be the source of His salvation and grace, and to show unto us the wonderful and ever present love of God, which He has always shown and presented to us. The Lord Jesus showed each and every one of us that God is always ready to welcome us back to His Presence, and through what He has done for us, He has brought us all back to His embrace, offering unto us the assurance of His love and compassionate mercy.

Those actions which the Lord Jesus did for the deaf and mute man used to be done in the past, during the Sacrament of Baptism in which the one to be baptised also symbolically had their ears and tongue opened and loosened, in what was known as the ‘Ephphata Rite’. This is a reminder for all of us that, while it is no longer commonly done today, but each and every one of us, through Christ Himself and His outreach to us, God has opened for us the path to Heaven, to the assurance of eternal life and true joy through His Son. All of us have been made ‘deaf and mute’ to the Lord’s truth and ignorant of His ways and His Law, because like Solomon, we have often been swayed and tempted by many worldly desires and attachments, through which we have been brought into the wrong path, into the path towards downfall and sin.

This is why we should always put our faith and trust in the Lord, that through Him, His help and grace, all of us may be freed and liberated from all the wicked snares of the evil one, and be strengthened and encouraged in our constant and daily struggles against the temptations and all the wickedness being present all around us. We must not allow the evils and temptations of this world from enslaving us once again to sin. We must always focus our attention towards God and put Him once again at the centre of our lives, and not our many desires, ambitions and attachments to worldly things and matters, as what many of our predecessors had done. We have to be the good examples and inspiring role models for our fellow brothers and sisters around us, by living our lives worthily as Christians in our world today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect upon these readings we have received and heard from the Sacred Scriptures and see in what way we can live our lives better as Christians, so that by our every actions and efforts, and in each and every one of our daily moments, we will always be the faithful and worthy bearers of God’s truth and love, which He has always constantly shown and presented to us. It is through our lives, actions and works that the Lord will make His love and truth shown to all the whole world, and if we are truly faithful and committed to the Lord in all of our whole lives, then we should really show it through each and every moments of our lives, by our every words, every interactions and commitments to one another.

May the Lord continue to strengthen us in faith and may He empower and encourage all of us so that we may always do our best in each and every moments of our lives, in striving to live with righteousness and virtue, and resisting the many temptations to disobey and therefore sin against God. Let us all remind and help one another so that we may grow ever more faithful in all things, and be good role models and examples for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us. May through our good and worthy actions continue to lead more souls towards the Lord. Amen.

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Friday, 9 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 7 : 31-37

At that time, again Jesus set out : from the country of Tyre He passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, He came to the territory of Decapolis. There, a deaf man, who also had difficulty in speaking, was brought to Him. They asked Jesus to lay His hand upon him.

Jesus took him apart from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, He said with a deep sigh, “Ephphata!” that is, “Be opened!”

And immediately, his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about it; but the more He insisted, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”