11th Week of Ordinary Time

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how God taught His people that the way of revenge should no longer be practiced, and instead, they should practice mercy and love from then on. This law of strict and retaliatory justice had been practiced by the people of Israel since the days of Moses, when the Law was first revealed to men and when it was first instituted.

As with the law on divorce, which the Pharisees also made into an issue on another occasion with Jesus, these laws actually do not reflect what God truly wants with His beloved people. For God Himself is true Love, and His ways are mercy, compassion and gentleness. Why then, God gave us such a draconian and harsh law, where people who have caused someone pain in something must repay it in exactly the same way, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth and others?

That is because of how stubborn the people of God was, that they continued to repeatedly defy the will of God and committed what is wicked and evil in the sight of God, breaking the commandments of the Law in various occasions. They even broke the covenant as soon as God established it with them, by replacing Him with a golden calf, a pagan idol, whom they deemed as their god.

They constantly rebelled against Moses, His servant and made complaints after complaints, not being happy of having been liberated from their slavery in Egypt. They would rather live in the pleasures of the world and their stomachs while enslaved, rather than to be freed and to walk in the way of the Lord. And this stubborn people did not trust in the Lord and feared the Canaanites, and as a result, God punished them to wander in the desert for forty years.

In order to deal with this kind of people, as we do with people who are difficult to handle, sometimes, it is indeed necessary for us to use force and strictness in order to make things work. In the same way therefore, what God truly wants us is that, we must become more compassionate in our dealings with others. We should not seek revenge for what evil that others had afflicted on us.

Why not, brethren? That is because revenge only brings about even more pain and evil, and more often than not it brings only more revenge and destruction upon us. It is a vicious cycle that will never end if we continue to engage ourselves in the act of revenge and violence. Forgiveness and mercy is what is capable of breaking this vicious cycle, and allow harmony and peace to reign again among the parties involved.

But, we also have to take note that forgiveness should not be taken for granted, as many falsely thought that they can just do as they want and then they deserve to be forgiven. At the same time as we show mercy and forgiveness, se must also make sure that the person to whom we show mercy must also snow true and genuine desire for repentance, or otherwise, it would be false mercy that we are showing them.

It is particularly troubling that even within the Church there are those who are the proponents of this giving of false mercy, which in the end, while it shows our Christian tenderness and love, but it also at the same time does not lead people into righteousness, as it causes the people to continue to live in sin. In the end, it will only deceive the people, and in this deception, instead of bringing the people back to God, we are casting them out to hell.

Mercy must be tempered with justice, and vice versa. Compassion must be tempered with discipline, and vice versa. Therefore, we must balance our approach in everything that we do. In all of our actions, let us firstly learn how to forgive and let go, letting go of the pride and the hatred in our hearts so that we may learn to forgive, and then we must follow it up, by giving out the love from our heart, showing that we are concerned about their well-being, and seek to help and guide them to change their ways and to repent.

In this manner, not only that we stop the vicious cycle of revenge and hatred from happening, but as we heard from the first reading today, our actions will bear many fruits, by inspiring many others who witness what we have done, and practicing the same in their own actions, and in this, a small ripple of good action, will eventually become a huge wave of charity and love, and we can bring many souls towards the salvation in our Lord. May Almighty God be with us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 5 : 38-42

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “You have heard that it was said : An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you this : do not oppose evil with evil; if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other. If someone sues you in court for your shirt, give him your coat as well.”

“If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give when asked, and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you lands, make a joyful noise to the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 6 : 1-10

Being God’s helpers we beg you : let it not be in vain that you received this grace of God. Scripture says : ‘At the favourable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you.’ This is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation.

We are concerned not to give anyone an occasion to stumble or criticise our mission. Instead we prove we are true ministers of God in every way by our endurance in so many trials, in hardships, afflictions, floggings, imprisonment, riots, fatigue, sleepless nights and days of hunger.

People can notice in our upright life, knowledge, patience and kindness, action of the Holy Spirit, sincere love, words of truth and power of God. So we fight with the weapons of justice, to attack as well as to defend.

Sometimes we are honoured, at other times insulted; we receive criticism as well as praise. We are regarded as liars although we speak the truth; as unknown though we are well-known; as dead and yet we live. Punishments come upon us but we have not, as yet, been put to death.

We appear to be afflicted, yet always joyful; we seem to be poor, but we enrich many; we have nothing, but we possess everything!

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Sunday, 14 June 2015 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard how God used stories and comparisons with the real world to teach His people about Himself, about the love He has for us all, and ultimately, on how we ourselves ought to live our lives and carry out our lives so that we will ultimately be found worthy of Him and be saved.

In the first reading, God through the prophet Ezekiel had revealed to the people what He intended to do with us. In the comparison with trees and plants growing in a field and on a mountain, He taught us that God intends for us to be good and have goodness within us. The plants and trees represent all of us mankind, whom the Lord had planted and nourished that they may grow tall and great, just like how God nourished us and planted the seeds of His Spirit in us.

We know that a plant needs good care and nutrients in order to grow big and strong. Therefore God has also given us tender care and love, to nurture within us the gifts which He had granted us, so that they may grow strong within us, and the gifts God has given us may extend to all others around us, and thus the comparison which God used, that like a tree with its large branches sheltering many animals and birds in them.

And God also likened this to the growth of a mustard seed, which Jesus used as a parable. A mustard seed is a very small seed, smaller than ever a grain of rice. And yet once it grows to its full height as a plant, it becomes a large tree, bigger than many other plants. Its roots firm, its branches wide and extensive and it is strong and majestic to be viewed.

Thus the same will be with us and our faith once it has been nurtured properly and well. Our faith will then not just remain as a seed, but it will grow and expand to become something that is great and all-encompassing, that all who see us will know that God had done His great works in us. Remember that Jesus Himself said that even if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains? That means once we have the faith in us and we cultivate it, then everything truly is possible for us.

The problem is indeed that many have lost the faith, or that the same faith is simply nonexistent or covered beneath layers of worry, corruption and desires of this world. To better understand this, we have to look back at yet another of Jesus’s parables. This is the parable of the sower and the seeds, where the sower threw the seeds that fell in various locations.

We should be quite familiar with this parable, where some seeds fell on the roadside, and the birds ate it up. This represents just how vulnerable we are to the works of Satan and his evil agents, the seducers and tempters that try at all times to keep us away from righteousness and from the path of God. And also those seeds that fell on the rocky ground, unable to form deep roots and died being scorched by the sun.

And also the seeds that became choked by the thistles and weeds growing around them. Both these examples showed how it will not be easy to build up, nurture and maintain our faith, since not only that Satan will try his best to keep us away from God’s salvation, but he has so many tools with which to destroy us, namely by the many worldly goods and desires that has often distracted us and kept us away from the One who should be our focus, that is the Lord our God.

But we know that the seeds that fell on the rich soil grew big and strong, healthy and great, to bear fruits in the thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold and even more. This is in perfect tandem with what we heard through the prophet Ezekiel in our first reading today, that a great tree with wide and extensive branches, where birds and other creatures came to dwell in them.

Thus, if our faith is strong, then it will truly grow to massive and epic proportion, not in terms of how great we will become, but in terms of our reach to others around us. The birds and the creatures are like those around us who are lost and who need our help. If we can grow stronger in faith, it does not benefit just ourselves, but also many others who by our help and by our examples also find themselves needing to be saved, and thus repent and change their ways. And indeed how much fruit that will bear us!

Truly, Jesus used His parables to make things more understandable by making the things divine explained in human terms, and more often than not, they are all connected together, as all of them explain the single theme that God wants to tell us, that is believe! Repent! And change our ways to be like the ways taught by the Lord!

Therefore, today, as we reflect on what we have heard from the Sacred Scriptures, let us all come to realise the great potentials that lie within each and every one of us, that is the potential of our faith, and also therefore of the gifts that God had placed in each and every one of us. We have a clear choice here, either to let the seeds of faith in us to remain as that, or to allow it to grow in a rich foundation to grow into a great and fruitful tree of faith.

God who sees the fruits of faith in us will then bless us and welcome us into His kingdom. He will strengthen us and grant us the eternal life which He had promised all of us. Remember, God is ever loving and ever faithful. Therefore, should we not truly seek Him in all things and become ever more faithful, remembering to do what He wants from us in all of our actions? May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 14 June 2015 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 4 : 26-34

At that time, Jesus also said, “In the kingdom of God it is like this : a man scatters seed upon the soil. Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The soil produces of itself : first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when it is ripe for harvesting, they take the sickle for the cutting : the time for the harvest has come.”

Jesus also said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall we compare it? It is like a mustard seed which, when sown, is the smallest of all the seeds scattered upon the soil. But once sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of the plants in the garden, and even grows branches so big, that the birds of the air can take shelter in its shade.”

Jesus used many such stories, in order to proclaim the word to them in a way that they would be able to understand. He would not teach them without parables; but privately to His disciples He explained everything.

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Sunday, 14 June 2015 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 5 : 6-10

So we feel confident always. We know that while living in the body, we are exiled from the Lord, living by faith, without seeing; but we dare to think that we would rather be away from the body to go and live with the Lord.

So, whether we have to keep this house or lose it, we only wish to please the Lord. Anyway we all have to appear before the tribunal of Christ for each one to receive what he deserves for his good or evil deeds in the present life.

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Sunday, 14 June 2015 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 91 : 2-3, 13-14, 15-16

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to Your Name, o Most High, to proclaim Your grace in the morning, to declare Your faithfulness at night.

The virtuous will flourish like palm trees, they will thrive like the cedars of Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will prosper in the courts of our God.

In old age they will still bear fruit, they will stay fresh and green, to proclaim that the Lord is upright, “He is my Rock,” they say, “He never fails.”

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Sunday, 14 June 2015 : Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezekiel 17 : 22-24

Thus says YHVH : “At the top of the cedar I will take one of its uppermost branches, a tender twig and plant it. On a lofty, massive mountain, on a high mountain of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches and bear fruit and become a magnificent cedar.”

“Birds of all kinds will nest in it and find shelter in its branches. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am YHVH, I who bring down the lofty tree and make the lowly tree tall. I will make the tree that is full of sap wither and the dry tree bloom. I, YHVH, have spoken and this will I do.”

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Saturday, 21 June 2014 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are reminded yet again today that we should put our trust in God and leave all things to Him who cares for us. We do not need to worry or think about what we are to do today and what we ought to have in our lives. As I have often mentioned, in this life, we often confuse between our needs and our wants, between the things that we truly need in life and things that is in our desire and greed.

Yes, we also often confuse between things that are truly precious and dear to us, and things that are what form our desire and our greed. In our world today filled with materialism and consumerism, this is becoming more and more out of hand, and instead of doing what the Lord wants us to do, we are getting more and more separated from Him by committing things unworthy in His sight.

What are some of the examples? We always worry about the latest gadgets and newest inventions that are marketed to us as things that we need to have so that we look ‘cool’ and acceptable to the society, and we also often beg and seek these things to fulfill our own feeling of inferiority and need for acceptance, but we fail to look beyond that, to find what we truly want and need in life.

God is with us, brothers and sisters, and He knows perfectly all the things that we need at all the moments of our lives. I am sure many of us did not realise this, but if we do take some time to think and reflect, have you realised that actually in many moments of our lives, we have been blessed by God who intervened in His own way and in His own time to help us and to be with us? God never left us alone.

We have to learn to let go of the many desires and egoistic feelings that we have in us. We cannot succumb to our desires and wants, as this will inevitably lead to more and more desire and more and more wants. Mankind are inherently greedy and desire pleasure, hence, we are predisposed to seek pleasures and comfort in life, forgetting what we truly need to do in life.

Today we commemorate the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a holy man and a dedicated worker of the faith and servant of God, who was born in the late Renaissance Italy, into a noble and wealthy family, one of the most influential and powerful families of that era in Italy. He was destined for greatness, both in inheritance and great wealth. However, the heart of St. Aloysius Gonzaga turned somewhere else.

Instead of dwelling in his privileged status and in his material wealth, of which he had so much that he need no more, St. Aloysius Gonzaga wanted to become a priest and a missionary, working to spread the Good News to the lands which were still in the darkness without the knowledge of God. As such, he wanted to join the Jesuits, but his family was adamantly against his choice.

However, despite persuasions and negotiations, his family failed to convince St. Aloysius Gonzaga to do otherwise. Eventually, St. Aloysius Gonzaga fulfilled his desire and became a Jesuit, and he committed himself totally to God, and even during a plague, when many died from the sickness, he did not fear and continued to commit himself to the patients and the sick in love, eventually succumbing to the disease himself. But in dying, he had shown us all, the power of love and faith that is lived in that love.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to live like St. Aloysius Gonzaga had done? Are we able to get our eyes and our minds away from our continuous desire for more and more goods and pleasures? We must really make the effort to do good for others as St. Aloysius Gonzaga had done for others. Let us really live our faith and be faithful to God, practicing our faith with love. May God be our guide and our strength. Amen.