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(Usus Antiquior) Dedication of the Archbasilica of our Saviour, Feast of St. Theodore, Martyr (II Classis) – Thursday, 9 November 2017 : Gradual and Alleluia

Tradition of the Faith and Psalm 137 : 2

Locus iste a Deo factus est, inaestimabile sacramentum, irreprehensibilis est.

Response : Deus, cui astat Angelorum chorus, exaudi preces servorum Tuorum.

Alleluja, Alleluja.

Response : Adorabo ad templum sanctum Tuum : et confitebor Nomini Tuo. Alleluja.

 

English translation

This place was made by God a priceless mystery, it is without reproof.

Response : O God, before whom stands the choir of angels, hear the prayers of Your servants.

Alleluia, Alleluia.

Response : I will worship toward Your holy Temple, and I will give glory to Your Name. Alleluia.

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(Usus Antiquior) Dedication of the Archbasilica of our Saviour, Feast of St. Theodore, Martyr (II Classis) – Thursday, 9 November 2017 : Epistle

Lectio libri Apocalypsis Beati Joannis Apostoli – Lesson from the Book of the Apocalypse of Blessed John the Apostle

Apocalypse 21 : 2-5

In diebus illis : Vidi sanctam civitatem Jerusalem novam descendentem de caelo a Deo, paratam sicut sponsam ornatam viro suo.

Et audivi vocem magnam de throno dicentem : Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus, et habitabit cum eis. Et ipsi populus ejus erunt, et ipse Deus cum eis erit eorum Deus : et absterget Deus omnem lacrimam ab oculis eorum : et mors ultra non erit, neque luctus neque clamor neque dolor erit ultra, quia prima abierunt.

Et dixit, qui sedebat in throno : Ecce, nova facio omnia.

 

English translation

In those days, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, “Behold the tabernacle of God with men; and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself with them shall be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the former things are passed away.”

And He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Dedication of the Archbasilica of our Saviour, Feast of St. Theodore, Martyr (II Classis) – Thursday, 9 November 2017 : Introit and Collect

Introit

Genesis 28 : 17 and Psalm 83 : 2-3

Terribilis est locus iste : hic domus Dei est et porta caeli : et vocabitur aula Dei.

Response : Quam dilecta tabernacula Tua, Domine virtutum! Concupiscit, et deficit anima mea in atria Domini.

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

 

English translation

Terrible is this place : it is the house of God, and the gate of heaven; and shall be called the court of God.

Response : How lovely are Your tabernacles, o Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.

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

Collect for the Dedication of Archbasilica of our Saviour

Deus, qui nobis per singulos annos hujus sancti templi tui consecrationis reparas diem, et sacris semper mysteriis representas incolumes : exaudi preces populi tui, ut praesta; ut, quisquis hoc templum beneficia petiturus ingreditur, cuncta se impetrasse laetetur. Per Dominum…

 

English translation

O God, who year by year renews the day of the consecration of this Your Holy Temple, and ever bring us again in safety to the holy mysteries, hear the prayers of Your people, and grant that whoever enters this temple to seek blessings may rejoice to obtain all that he seeks. Through our Lord…

 

Collect for the commemoration of St. Theodore

Deus, qui nos beati Theodori Martyris tui confessione gloriosa circumdas et protegis : praesta nobis ex ejus imitatione proficere, et oratione fulciri. Per Dominum…

 

English translation

O God, who encompasses and protects us with the glorious testimony of Blessed Theodore, Your martyr, grant us to profit by imitating him and to be supported by his prayers. Through our Lord…

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Wednesday, 8 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Lord, Who reminded us that all of us as Christians need to be dedicated and committed to God, giving our everything to Him. Our faith in Him cannot be just mere formality or it will be meaningless. Faith cannot be just merely on paper alone, that we end up becoming Christians just by name only.

In the Gospel today, all of us also heard how Jesus mentioned with parables, mentioning how no one built a house without considering its costs and what would entail to build up the entire house, or else it could not be completed, and the builder would be humiliated for starting such a meaningless and incomplete project. Similarly, He also spoke about how kings would have planned well whether he could win against an opponent before deciding to go to war, or else, he would have been defeated.

What do all these parables show us, brothers and sisters in Christ? They show us that all of us Christians cannot be blind to our future, and we all have been surely well versed in what we will end up if we do not keep our faith in God. There are three last things according to our faith, first which is heaven, and second is Purgatory, while the third and last one is hell.

These are the last things, because eventually one of these three places will be where we end up after we die, and when we have to face the Lord and give an account for our lives. The Lord Himself will judge us based on our actions, words and deeds. And He knows everything that is in our hearts, our minds and our whole beings, nothing can be hidden from Him. And if our faith is lacking and found wanting, there will be no heaven or even Purgatory for us. There will only be hell be waiting for us.

In our lives, we cannot therefore be complacent or be ignorant of our faith, as we really have to be active in our faith, looking ahead in what we will end up in, should we fail to do what the Lord had commanded us to do. This is what each and every one of us should do, to be truly faithful in all things, to be loving as the Lord has loved us dearly and tenderly.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the first reading today, we heard about the Law of God, as what the Lord had revealed to His people through Moses, the Ten Commandments, and which Jesus had unveiled in its true meaning, that is the Law of love. Love is the most important part of our faith, and we cannot be truly faithful without love, especially, first and foremost all of us must love the Lord our God, with all of our hearts, our minds, our bodies, and all of our whole beings.

We have to give our time, our effort and our entire life to God, and we cannot do this, without loving our brothers and sisters, our fellow men, with true and genuine love. What does this mean? It means that each and every one of us as Christians, we must love our brothers and sisters, and give ourselves, in love, to those who are in need of our love, care and attention, especially to the poor, the sick and the lonely.

Let us all, brothers and sisters, be true and living Christians, with living and genuine faith in God, through our acts and commitments, so that not only that we will be worthy of the Lord through our living faith, filled with actions of love towards our neighbours and ultimately towards God Himself. Let us draw ever closer to God and be more like Him through our love and dedication. May the Lord bless us always, and all of our good works and endeavours for our faith. Amen.

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Wednesday, 8 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

At that time, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Wednesday, 8 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 4-5, 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears YHVH, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

He is for the righteous a light in darkness; He is kind, merciful and upright. It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty.

He gives generously to the poor; his merits will last forever; and his head will be raised in honour.

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Wednesday, 8 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 13 : 8-10

Do not be in debt to anyone. Let this be the only debt of one to another : Love. The one who loves his or her neighbour fulfils the Law. For the commandments : Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not covet, and whatever else, are summarised in this one : You will love your neighbour as yourself.

Love cannot do the neighbour any harm; so love fulfils the whole Law.

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Tuesday, 7 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Gospel passage today the Lord Jesus reminded us of the need for all of us Christians to follow Him and to listen to His will, and not be distracted by the many temptations of life in this world. In that Gospel Jesus used the parable of the feast and its guests in order to teach the people, showing them the fact that while many have been called, but few will be chosen in the end.

The man who held the feast is none other than God Himself, Who has invited His people to come into the eternal banquet of heaven. Yet, as we heard from the passage, God’s call went unheeded, as those who were invited to the feast refused to come for the event. They came up with various reasons why they could not come to the event as we heard in the passage.

All of these represent just how stubborn we mankind can be in resisting God’s call, and how temptations can easily turn us away from God’s path and into the path to our doom. There are many of these temptations that we are all quite familiar with, the temptation of power, of wealth, of worldly glory, of pleasures of the flesh, of wickedness, and many others.

These are the obstacles that can indeed hamper us in our way towards salvation and eternal glory in God, for these things can distance us from God, and make us to be unworthy of Him. Many of us also have this misconception, thinking that God is forever merciful and loving, and that there is no way that God will cast us all who have believed in Him into the sufferings in hell. Yet, that is the reality, that even Christians may end up in hell, should they wander away from the Lord’s path.

God offers us His mercy and love freely, but should we refuse to accept that mercy and love, and stubbornly close our hearts and minds against Him, then in the end, it is we ourselves who have caused our downfall into damnation. God is always ready to forgive us our sins and trespasses, and He is always willing to welcome us back and to be reconciled with us, but are we willing to be forgiven?

And more importantly, are we willing to make the sacrifices to make changes in our lives that we may be truly reconciled with our God? It is easier said to be done, if we want to be truly faithful to God. There will be inconveniences, but that is what all of us as Christians need to be prepared to do if we are to follow God.

Then we should also heed what we heard in our first reading today, where St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome pointed out how Christians should live their lives. We should follow what St. Paul had mentioned, in our interactions with one another. What does this mean? As mentioned, we should love one another tenderly and genuinely, seeking to be compassionate to those who are in need. We should reach out to our brethren who are unloved, weak, poor or those who are hated by the world.

These will not be easy, as we have to persevere against those who disapprove of our actions and our faith in God. Yet, through our commitment to Him, if we truly love Him, we will not easily fall into temptation, just as our holy predecessors, the saints and martyrs had done. Let us all therefore draw ever closer to the Lord, and ensure that in everything we say, and we do, we always do them for the greater glory of our God.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to bless us and all of our works day after day, so that, through our efforts, and through the love which we show Him, we will be able to resist the many temptations of power, of money, of glory, of fame, of the many other things that Satan is using to bring about our downfall. May the Lord empower each and every one of us to become His committed disciples. Amen.

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Tuesday, 7 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 15-24

At that time, upon hearing the words of Jesus, one of those at the table said to Him, “Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God!”

Jesus replied, “A man once gave a feast and invited many guests. When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell those he had invited to come, for everything was ready. But all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘Please excuse me. I must go and see the piece of land I have just bought.'”

“Another said, ‘I am sorry, but I am on my way to try out the five yoke of oxen I have just bought.’ Still another said, ‘How can I come, when I have just got married?'”

“The servant returned alone, and reported this to his master. Upon hearing his account, the master of the house flew into a rage, and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly, into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'”

“The servant reported after a while, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out, but there is still room.’ The master said, ‘Go out to the highways and country lanes, and force people to come in, to ensure that my house is full. I tell you, none of those invited will have a morsel of my feast.'”

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Tuesday, 7 November 2017 : 31st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 130 : 1, 2, 3

O YHVH, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.

I have quieted and stilled my soul, like a weaned child, on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.

Hope in YHVH, o Israel, now and forever.