14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Monday, 6 July 2015 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the richness of God’s tender mercy and love. God has always loved all of us from the depths of His heart, and His love and mercy is always available for us, if only that we are able to put forth the courage to go forth and seek Him with all of our hearts’ strength and might as well.

In the first reading today, we heard about how Jacob who escaped from the wrath of his brother, Esau, after he had stolen the birthright and the blessings which his father Isaac had intended for Esau, his elder brother. At a time when he encountered such great challenge and difficulty, and when his life was in great danger, when he was on the run, God appeared to him and affirmed him with His love and faithfulness.

He reaffirmed the covenant which He had established with Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham and which He had reaffirmed with Isaac, the father of Jacob. He assured Jacob that if he remained true and faithful to his part of the covenant, then his rewards will be rich, and through him, God would make true what He had promised through Abraham, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the same had also happened when the synagogue official had her daughter in suffering and sickness, on the verge of death, and when he went forth to see Jesus, he was reassured that because of his faith, his daughter would be safe and healed from whatever her issues were. And the woman with the bleeding issue also was healed by Jesus because of her faith in God, reaching out her hand to touch the cloak of Jesus.

God does not desire the destruction of His beloved ones, and He does not wish to punish us all because of all of our disobedience and sins, unless it is indeed truly necessary, such as when we refuse to repent and change our ways for the better, that is when we continue to live in our state of sin. It is we ourselves who have caused our own downfall and destruction, by our own stubbornness and inability to resist the temptations of the world.

The daughter of the synagogue official, who was gravely ill, the woman with bleeding issue, who suffered in great pain, and lastly, Jacob himself, the descendant of Abraham, who was in great distress and in the danger of death. All of them were in some sorts of dilemma and trouble, and they all represent us and our current state of sin, the sickness that afflicts the soul.

Do we realise that all of us are sick because of our sins? We may be perfectly healthy in terms of our physical bodies, our appearances and other physical parameters, but inside, many of us suffer from the sins that still dwell in us, plaguing us and keeping us from being truly worthy for the Lord our God. We are sick just as the people I have mentioned had their own troubles.

Then, we truly have to ask ourselves, what do we do then? Let the example of today’s saint be our inspiration. We celebrate today the feast of St. Maria Goretti, a martyr of the faith, a holy virgin and someone who was truly devoted to her faith in God, and someone who would not let the evils and the corruption of sin to taint her pure soul, leading to her martyrdom, but with a life that is truly pleasing to God.

St. Maria Goretti had always led a life faithful and devoted to the Lord, and she had always been charitable and loving towards others, and she devoted much of her time to the Lord, her God. One day, one of her neighbour’s son sought to commit sin with her through sexual harassment, and she refused him because doing so would taint her and him both with mortal sin.

Having been refused, the boy tried to rape her but he failed, and in his anger, he stabbed her many times, mortally wounding her. On her deathbed, St. Maria Goretti forgave her assailant, and she prayed for him and for his conversion to the way of the Lord, which he eventually did. The example of St. Maria Goretti, together with that of Jacob, his ancestor Abraham, as well as the other figures from the Gospel which we have mentioned, show us how we ought to live out our lives.

We have to stand up for our faith, and be truly devoted to Him in all of our ways. Let none of our ways be wicked and unfaithful before His presence, and let every things that we do, that we say, and that we have be pleasing to Him, and may all of us be able to seek Him with all of our hearts’ strength and commit ourselves fully to Him and walk faithfully in His ways. May God Almighty guide us on this path, and bless us always. Amen.

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Monday, 6 July 2015 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 9 : 18-26

At that time, while Jesus was speaking to the people, an official of the synagogue came up to Him, bowed before Him and said, “My daughter has just died, but come and place Your hands on her, and she will live.” Jesus stood up and followed him with His disciples.

Them a woman, who had suffered from a severe bleeding for twelve years, came up from behind and touched the edge of His cloak; for she thought, “If I only touch His cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned, saw her and said, “Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.” And from that moment the woman was cured.

When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the excited crowd, He said, “Get out of here! The girl is not dead. She is only sleeping!” And they laughed at Him. But once the crowd had been turned out, Jesus went in and took the girl by the hand, and she stood up. The news of this spread through the whole area.

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Monday, 6 July 2015 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 90 : 1-2, 3-4, 14-15ab

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who rest in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord, “My stronghold, my refuge, my God in whom I trust!”

He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions and give you refuge under His wings.

“Because they cling to Me, I will rescue them,” says the Lord, “I will protect those who know My Name. When they call to Me, I will answer; in time of trouble I will be with them.”

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Monday, 6 July 2015 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Genesis 28 : 10-22a

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran. When he reached a certain place the sun had set and he spent the night there. He took one of the stones that were there and using it as a pillow, he lay down to sleep.

While Jacob was sleeping, he had a dream in which a ladder stood on the earth with its top reaching to heaven and on it were angels of God going up and coming down. And YHVH was standing there near him and said, “I am YHVH, the God of your father, Abraham, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you sleep, I give to you and your descendants.”

“Your descendants will be numerous like the specks of dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and the east, to the north and the south. Through you and your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. See, I am with you and I will keep you safe wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land and not leave you until I have done what I promised.”

Jacob woke from his dream and said, “Truly YHVH was in this place and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How full of awe is this place! It is nothing less than a House of God; it is the Gate to Heaven!”

Then Jacob rose early and took the stone he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He named that place Bethel although before that it was called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, “If YHVH will be with me and keep me safe during this journey I am making, if He gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return in peace to my father’s house, then YHVH will be my God. This stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house.”

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, we heard about how Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth, and the people doubted Him and rejected Him, because they thought they knew who He was and where He came from, His background and family, that they refused to listen to Him. This defiance was indeed what the Lord had told His prophet Ezekiel in the first reading we has today.

The Lord sent many prophets and messengers to let the people know His will through many ages, when the people of God had walked astray from His path, and followed the ways of the world into their doom. God wanted to save them all and turn them all back to the faith, to salvation and liberation from all of the punishment that are due for their sins, but yet, in many cases, the people refused to believe.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because we mankind have been afflicted with what is called pride, and with what is called greed, desire, stubbornness, and many others. Because of all these, which we are all vulnerable from, we ended up acting like the people of Nazareth, who in their pride and refusal to acknowledge their sins, they have refused God’s salvation which He had freely offered through Jesus.

Many of us are by our nature selfish, and we like to think about ourselves first before that of others, and we like to judge others based on the standards that we set ourselves, including the standards of this world. It is in our nature to be judgmental and to criticise, and yet, while we are so concerned about others’ faults and shortcomings, we fail to see our own shortcomings and weaknesses.

Jesus rebuked all those who have acted as though they were so righteous and just, but in truth, they had no love in them. He rebuked all those who have been judging others for their little faults and yet failed to see the big flaws present in each one of them. This is the faith of the hypocrites, and the action of hypocrites do not gain much favour in the sight of God.

We ought to reflect on this, brothers and sisters, on the fact that we have also often walked in the same path as them. Look at the people of Nazareth, and why did Jesus say about them such things, such that the prophets are welcome except in their own home countries and towns? This is because of the same reason. We like to make assumptions and judgments to please our own purposes, and we are quick to get jealous when someone else have something that we do not have.

The people of Nazareth thought that it was preposterous to think of someone who apparently lived with them and walked among them for many years, the son of a mere humble carpenter could have been a great prophet and someone with such powers to heal and restore many peoples with illnesses and diseases. What do you think was it that happened inside of their hearts and minds?

Precisely, it was the devil who was at work, planting the seeds of distrust, jealousy and desire inside of them. He fanned the flames of jealousy in them, making them think that it was unfair for this mere carpenter’s Son to assume such power, and deep in their hearts, it was likely that they secretly desired the same power and authority as the one had by Jesus.

If we succumb to these wicked thoughts and behaviours, then this is where the root cause of all the sufferings and pains of this world came from. We live in a world where violence and struggle between members of families, friends, relations and peoples can happen because one covets what others possessed but not him or her. We should learn from the history of our race, to know from many occasions how mankind were willing to cause hurt to others just to satisfy their carnal desires, to possess more of this world’s goodness.

And it is our bad tendency and nature that we like to judge based on appearances. We always focus on how we appear before others, and we deem people worthy and suitable, even unto placing values on them based on how their appearances are. Unfortunately, this is reality and indeed, we often fail to realise what someone’s true worth is, as we focus on appearances but not what is inside the heart.

Does God look at appearances? No, such thing is superficial. What God sees is what lies inside each of our hearts and minds. And under His gaze, nothing even hidden deep inside men’s hearts and minds can escape His sight. What God values most is what is the contents of our hearts, whether they are filled with love, tenderness, care and concern for one another, and with love for Him, or whether they are filled with greed, desire, pride, arrogance and selfishness.

God created each one of us with our own strengths and weaknesses. No one is made perfect. Therefore, it is important for us to realise how we need to open up our eyes, and not just the physical eyes that we have to perceive the world and others as they appear around us, but even more importantly, we need to open up the eyes of our hearts, which allow us to see one another in a new light.

I assure you that if we do so, then we will be able to perceive the world around us in a different, and in a much better way. And we will then be able to see our true goal in life, that is to seek the Lord with all of our might and strength, and therefore carry out all of His will, which is for us to love each other, especially those who are least among us, the poor, the lonely, the downtrodden, the oppressed and many others who are not as fortunate as us.

Do we ignore the plight of these people when we look at them? Do we just focus on the appearances and externals, and fail to open our eyes, the eyes of our heart to see and understand the truth of what we can do to help them? Let us all reflect on what Jesus had told His disciples about what will happen at the last judgment of the living and the dead.

Jesus told them that those who have loved those who are least among them, helped them and gave them love, will be worthy of the kingdom of God, while those who have ignored those who need our love, will be rejected and cast out of God’s presence forever. Thus all of us ought to be aware that if we do not realise what we ought to do to vindicate our faith and devotion to God, then what awaits us will certainly be something that we do not desire.

Therefore, let us from now on learn how to live faithfully this life which we have received from God, and learn to open the eyes of our heart, to see the plight and suffering of others around us, that we may realise how earthly goods and possessions are not everything for us, and there is indeed a greater goal in our lives, namely to seek God our Lord, with all of our strength and might.

And let us all grow stronger in our humility before the Lord knowing that we are sinners who ought to be forgiven despite the sins and faults which we have committed, and for that forgiveness to take place, we ourselves too must die to ourselves, to our pride and desire, to all of our earthly desires and wants. Let us all remind one another to live righteously and justly in the presence of God, and making ourselves available to help others who are in need of help. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 6 : 1-6

At that time, leaving that place, Jesus returned to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and most of those who heard Him were astonished.

But they said, “How did this come to Him? What kind of wisdom has been given to Him, that He also performs such miracles? Who is He but the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and the Brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here among us?” So they took offense at Him.

And Jesus said to them, “Prophets are despised only in their own country, among their relatives, and in their own family.” And He could work no miracles there, but only healed a few sick people, by laying His hands on them. Jesus Himself was astounded at their unbelief. Jesus then went around the villages, teaching.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 12 : 7-10

However, I better give up lest somebody think more of me than what is seen in me or heard from me. Lest I become proud after so many and extraordinary revelations, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a true messenger of Satan, to slap me in the face. Three times I prayed to the Lord that it leave me, but He answered, “My grace is enough for you; My great strength is revealed in weakness.”

Gladly, then, will I boast of my weakness that the strength of Christ may be mine. So I rejoice when I suffer infirmities, humiliations, want, persecutions : all for Christ! For when I am weak, then I am strong.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 122 : 1-2a, 2bcd, 3-4

To You I lift up my eyes, to You whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master.

As the eyes of maids look to the hand of their mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till He shows us His mercy.

Have mercy on us, o Lord, have mercy on us, for we have our fill of contempt. Too long have our souls been filled with the scorn of the arrogant, with the ridicule of the insolent.

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Sunday, 5 July 2015 : Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezekiel 2 : 2-5

A Spirit came upon me as He spoke and kept me standing and then I heard Him speak, “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have sinned against Me to this day.”

“Now I am sending you to these defiant and stubborn people to tell them, ‘this is the Lord YHVH’s word.’ So, whether they listen or not this set of rebels will know there is a prophet among them.”

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Sunday, 6 July 2014 : 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord has entrusted this world to His Son, Jesus Christ, including all of us who live in this world. And in Him He bore salvation to us all, and remade us anew in light. As the possessions of Christ we have been liberated from this world and the darkness that is in it. We have been made anew in Christ and we ought to be grateful for it.

God lifted us up from the despair and hopelessness caused by sin, and bringing new hope into our hearts, with the coming and the life and death of Jesus Christ, who had knocked down the gates of hell and broken the chains that enslaved us to sin and death. He gave us a burden, yes, that is a burden to be the disciples and followers of Christ, but this burden is a temporary one, and one far better than the eternal burden we are to bear if we choose to forsake God and His ways.

As the Lord had said, that we ought to cast away our old ways, the ways and the pleasures of the flesh which corrupts us and makes us unclean before the Lord. We ought to be rid of our corrupted habits and lack of control over ourselves, and instead following the way of the Lord and resolve in our hearts that we will be faithful forever to the Lord who made all things possible, and who awakened in us a new hope and gave us a new life.

If we rely on the power of men and the power of this world, we are at risk brethren, for the power of men is limited and flawed, while the power of God is never exhausted and never fails to satisfy. The way of the Lord is not an easy one, but it is better than the path that seems to be easy, that is the path of Satan, but which leads to eternal damnation and destruction to all who are caught in his snares.

This world has always been against us and all the Lord’s creation, since it belongs to the evil one and lays in the dominion of the evil one, ever since mankind tainted the world by their rebellion against God’s will. It is founded on evil and therefore evil is strong in the world, but that does not mean that we are hopeless under the dominion of the evil one. Instead, as we all know, our Lord had liberated us through Jesus Christ His Son, whom He had sent into this world in order to save it.

And it is through Jesus, His life, His teachings and His works, and ultimately through His death, that God gave hope and life to mankind, and brought us a way to escape the bonds and chains of death and sin. But this is only if we repent and change our sinful ways, and follow the Lord with all of our hearts and with complete and total devotion. That means we must no longer rely solely on ourselves but on the divine providence and love of our God.

Do you all remember the parable which Jesus told His disciples? The one comparing those who built their houses on sand and those who built their houses on solid rock? This is a clear reminder to us by our Lord, how we cannot rely on our own strengths and powers in life, for it will be indeed like building up our houses on sand, which will not last against the forces of evil arrayed against us.

Instead, depending on God is indeed like those who built their house on solid rock. Remember, brothers and sisters! Even our Church is built on the foundation of the solid rock of faith, on the faith of Peter, whose name was given by Jesus, and which means ‘rock’. We all know that Peter’s own faith was not perfect, and he fumbled a few times during his time of following Jesus, culminating in his three-times denial of the Lord during His Passion.

It was not in his own human power and greatness that Peter eventually depended on, and it was not for the sake of human praise and worldly glory that he sought to do in the world. Rather, he surrendered himself completely to the Lord, just as all the other Apostles had done, and in that way, allowing the Lord to use him to do great things in the world and strengthening the faith of many others.

Therefore, our Church was founded by our Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, who founded it on the faith of Peter, His disciple, whom himself depended on the Lord as his foundation, and thus, we all in the Church draw our strength from God, who had entrusted it all in His Son, Jesus Christ. Those who placed their trust and faith in Him will not be disappointed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as mentioned, the path of following the Lord is not an easy one. Satan, the evil one, is bound to do all within his ability and cunning mind in order to draw us away from the Lord, the source of all our salvation and strength. And as mentioned, we know that this world does not match us, and we stand out in contrast to the ways of the world if we choose to follow Jesus our Lord. However, does this mean that we should conform to the world and follow its decadent ways at the price of our very own soul? It is not worth it. Truly.

We have to be more proactive in our faith from now on, brethren, that is to truly proclaim the Lord as our Guide and our Saviour in all of our words, actions and deeds from now on. If we believe, we should not hesitate, and we must indeed be courageous no matter how things will turn up for us. Let us begin to put our trust in Jesus and follow Him all the days of our life.

If live turns difficult and problems spring up along the way, then it is best for us to help one another and be there for one another, just as Christ Himself is always with us to guide us and protect us. And it is very important as always, for us to pray and pray fervently, that we may always be close to our Lord and remain always in His love. May the love of our Lord Jesus Christ enfold us and bring us to His eternal peace and happiness. God bless us all. Amen.