12 January 2018

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Friday, 12 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages, telling us about what had happened at the time when the people of Israel asked Samuel, prophet and judge of Israel, to ask God to give them a king to rule over them. And then, in the Gospel passage, we heard about the time when Jesus healed a paralytic man who was brought to him, and how He confronted the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who disapproved of His actions.

In the first reading, to provide us with the historical contexts of what happened during the time of the judge Samuel, Israel had been led by the judges appointed by the Lord, to be the leaders of His people, between the time when they arrived in the Promised Land after their Exodus from Egypt, to the time of the judge Samuel, the last one of the judges.

The people wanted to have a king to rule over them, much as their neighbours had, as each of those peoples were ruled by their own kings. The judges differ from the traditional kingship in that, they did not pass on their rule as judge to their descendants, unlike the traditional kingship and monarchy where the ruler passes on his or her rule to the descendant in a dynasty.

And ultimately, a judge was appointed by God Himself, called from among His people and granted the strength and wisdom to lead the people of Israel. They were not perfect or blameless, as some of the judges did fall astray from their intended mission, for example, Samson as well as Gibeon and his family. But they remained true to the mission entrusted to them to the very end.

They gained their authority from God, and they ruled over the people as the representatives or vicars of God’s will. Ultimately, that is also what a king ought to be doing, as the rule of the judges made way for the rule of the kings. However, eventually, as is evident in the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, mentioning the kings that followed after Saul, David and Solomon, the first kings of Israel, we can see how the kings grew to be corrupt and wicked, and disobedient against God.

That is because they gradually placed their own interest, the interest of their families and clans, their personal ambitions and worldly desires ahead of their obligations and responsibilities as the kings and leaders of Israel, as those whom the Lord had entrusted to lead His people Israel to the right path. As a result, they misled the people into sin, and many sorrowful events happened because of the disobedience of the people of God.

And that is linked to what happened in the Gospel today, as we listened to how the Lord Jesus healed the paralytic man because of his faith, and the faith of those men who had braved climbing up to the roof to bring the paralytic man towards Jesus. He forgave him his sins, and he was healed at once. Yet, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law criticised Jesus severely, and rebuking Him for claiming to be like God, as according to them, only God is capable of forgiving sins.

They have been entrusted with the leadership and guidance over the people, and they ended up misleading the people due to their narrow-minded and prejudiced attitude, in their flawed interpretation of God’s laws. They ended up resisting and challenging the good works of the Lord, which He performed before the sight of many people, in order to reconcile them to Himself. They refused to accept and acknowledge Him, and they even persecuted Him and His disciples.

What is the lesson that each and every one of us can learn from this? All of us are called to serve the Lord with all of our hearts and with all of our strengths and capabilities. And we have to learn to put our trust in God and in His plans for us. Our predecessors have erred because they have allowed worldly temptations of power, glory and many other forms of persuasions, which became distractions for us.

Let us all learn from the mistakes of our predecessors, and begin to put our trust in God, and renew our faith in Him. Let us not harden our hearts against Him as they had done, but instead let us all seek to follow His examples in mercy, by showing our brethren the same love and compassion which God has shown to His people, by His healing of the sick and the downtrodden, and by His constant companionship for each one of us, in our daily living.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to bless us and all of our works, each and every day, that we may draw ever closer to Him, and continue to walk faithfully in His path, all along towards eternal life and salvation in Him. Amen.

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Friday, 12 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 2 : 1-12

At that time, after some days, Jesus returned to Capernaum. As the news spread that He was in the house, so many people gathered, that there was no longer room even outside the door. While Jesus was preaching the word to them, some people brought to Him a paralysed man.

The four men who carried him could not get near Jesus because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above the room where Jesus was and, through the hole, lowered the man on his mat. When Jesus saw the faith of these people, He said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.”

Now, some teachers of the Law, who were sitting there, wondered within themselves, “How can He speak like this, insulting God? Who can forgive sins except God?” At once, Jesus knew in His Spirit what they were thinking, and asked, “Why do you wonder? Is it easier to say to this paralysed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your mat and walk?’ But now you shall know, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And He said to the paralytic, “Stand up, take up your mat and go home.” The man rose and, in the sight of all those people, he took up his mat and went out. All of them were astonished and praised God, saying, “Never have we seen anything like this!”

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Friday, 12 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 88 : 16-17, 18-19

Blessed is the people who know Your praise. They walk in the light of Your face. They celebrate all day, Your Name and Your protection lifts them up.

You give us glory and power; and Your favour gives us victory. Our king is in the hands of YHVH; the God of Israel is our shield.

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Friday, 12 January 2018 : 1st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 8 : 4-7, 10-22a

Because of this, all the chiefs of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel in Ramah. They said to him, “You are already old and your sons are not following your ways. Give us a king to rule over us as in all the other nations.”

Samuel was very displeased with what they said, “Give us a king to rule us,” and he prayed to YHVH. And YHVH told him, “Give to this people all that they ask for.” So Samuel answered those who were asking him for a king. He told them all that YHVH said to him, “Look, these will be the demands of your king : he will take your sons and assign them to his chariot and his horses and have them run before his chariot.”

“Some he will assign as commanders over a thousand men and commanders over fifty. Others will till his ground and reap his harvest, make his implements of war and the equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters as well to prepare perfumes, to cook and to bake for him. He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards and your olive orchards and give them to his officials.”

“He will take a tenth portion of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, the best of your cattle and your asses for his own work. He will take the tenth of your flocks and you yourselves will become his slaves. When these things happen, you will cry out because of the king whom you have chosen for yourselves. But by then, YHVH will not answer you.”

The people paid no attention to all that Samuel said. They insisted, “No! We want a king to govern us as in all the other nations. Our king shall govern us, lead us and go ahead of us in our battles.” Upon hearing all that his people said, Samuel repeated it to YHVH. But YHVH said to him, “Listen to them and give them a king.”