15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Saturday, 22 July 2023 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 62 : 2abc, 2d-4, 5-6, 8-9

O God, You are my God, it is You I seek; for You, my body longs and my soul thirsts.

As a dry and weary land without water. Thus have I gazed upon You in the Sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.

I will praise You as long as I live, lift up my hands and call on Your Name. As with the richest food, my soul will feast; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.

For You have been my help; I sing in the shadow of Your wings. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

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Saturday, 22 July 2023 : Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle of the Apostles (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Song of Songs 3 : 1-4a

On my bed at night I looked for the one I love, I sought him without finding him; I called him and he did not answer. I will rise and go about the city, through the streets and the squares; I will seek the love of my heart…

I sought him without finding him; the watchmen came upon me, those who patrol the city. “Have you seen the love of my heart?” As soon as I left them, I found the love of my heart.

Alternative reading (Second Reading if this Feast is celebrated as a Solemnity)

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17

Indeed, the love of Christ holds us, and we realise, that, if He died for all, all have died. He died for all, so, that, those who live, may live no longer for themselves, but for Him, Who died, and rose again for them. And so, from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him, the old things have passed away; a new world has come.

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Friday, 21 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Scriptures in which we are all told of the story of the Passover in Egypt, the very first time it was celebrated in that land, where the Israelites, the people of God were being liberated from their slavery. We then also heard of how the Lord instructed His people to eat the Feast of the Passover, by preparing the unblemished lamb for the sacrifice and for the meal, and related to the words of the Lord in our Gospel passage today, in which He chastised the Pharisees who were criticising Him and His disciples for having picked the grains of wheat on the Sabbath day, a day that was considered sacrosanct and holy for the people of God. Through all of these we are reminded that we have to appreciate and understand what it truly means for us to follow and obey the Lord, that with our hearts and not only with our intellect.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Exodus we heard of the moment when the Israelites were instructed by God to prepare for their very first Passover in the land of Egypt, after God had sent nine great Plagues upon Egypt and its people because of the stubbornness and refusal of the Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go free and continue to enslave them. The Lord was about to send His tenth and greatest Plague, which would see the death and destruction of all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, while those of the Israelites were spared from the same death and destruction, just as the Lord had protected them all from the devastations of the earlier nine Plagues that affected only the Egyptians who had refused to listen to God and rejected the will of God Who demanded that they should free His beloved people.

The Lord therefore prepared His people for the final Plague, by which He would lead them all out of the land of Egypt, in which they were to prepare and slaughter an unblemished lamb, which they would eat on the night of the Passover, during the very night when God’s final Plague would visit Egypt. That night, God sent His Angels to rend the whole land of Egypt with death, destroying the firstborn sons of the Egyptians, but God’s people were spared because they have marked their houses with the blood of the unblemished Passover lamb. That is exactly the meaning of the word Passover, that is the people of God had been ‘passed over’ from death, and brought out free from their state of slavery into freedom and new life, as God brought them into the land which He has promised to them and their ancestors.

And in case we do not realise or fully appreciate it, this is a prefigurement of what the Lord will do with all of us and also what He had done, as He sent us all His Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, just as He has sent Moses to the Israelites, so that through His Son, He might proclaim His saving grace and the desire to see all of us freed and liberated from our enslavement to sin and evil. God has gathered all of us to Himself, and called on us to follow Him, and by sending to us His Son, He has also given us the perfect means to our salvation, that as the Paschal Lamb, the Lamb of God, Christ has obediently embraced His role, in being the Mediator of the New Covenant, together with being our Eternal High Priest, in offering Himself as the perfect and worthy offering for the atonement of our many sins and wickedness.

Just as the Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptians by the hand of God, and marked by the blood of the unblemished lamb, to be spared from the death and destruction, and as mark of the Covenant that God would establish with them, thus, all of us in a similar way, had been marked by the Most Precious Blood of the Lord, freely outpoured and given for us. Christ Himself has willingly offered Himself to be slaughtered and slain, on the Altar of His Cross, and through Him, all of us who believe in Him and partake in the Most Holy Eucharist, receiving His own Most Precious Body and Blood, has become part of the New and Eternal Covenant which God has established with each and every one of us, by which all of us have been assured salvation and grace. Just like in the past, God having rescued His people Israel, thus He has now endeavoured to save all of us from eternal death because of our sins.

This is what the Lord has always intended with us, out of His ever present and most generous love, overflowing from Him and unto each and every one of us. All of His Law and commandments have always been intended with the purpose of guiding us all to Him and to show us the way to righteousness and how we can love Him better through our way of life and actions. Each and every one of us are blessed to have been so beloved by God, and today’s Gospel passage reminds us yet again of this fact. The reason why the Lord criticised the Pharisees for their uncharitable comment and criticism was because they failed to understand the true meaning and purpose of the Law of the Sabbath. The Sabbath day was meant by the Lord to be a day dedicated to the Lord, so that amidst their busy lives and schedules, God’s people may find some time to reconnect with Him and keep themselves focused on Him. But this does not mean that it must be taken so literally like what was done by the Pharisees, who forbid any kind of activities or actions on the Sabbath, even when it is for the common good and benefit of man.

Today, that is why we are reminded again that we should be truly faithful to God and be filled with love for Him as always. We should do our best so that in all things, we will continue to grow ever stronger in faith and love for the Lord, in our commitment and dedication to Him, as His beloved people. That is why today we all should also model ourselves upon the good and inspiring examples set by St. Lawrence of Brindisi, a great servant of God whose life and commitment to Him can inspire us in how we all also should live our own lives, with faith. St. Lawrence of Brindisi was a priest and member of the Capuchin religious order, remembered for his piety and fluency in many languages, who had also fought in part of a conflict and war against the forces of the oppressors of the Church, according to tradition, being armed with only a crucifix. He committed his whole life to serve the Lord, in ministering his fellow Capuchin brothers and sisters as its vicar general and highest office holder, among other works among the people of God, right up to his last days.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, can we follow the great examples of St. Lawrence of Brindisi and discern carefully how we can carry out our lives ever more worthily for the sake of the Lord? Can we listen to the Lord, obey His Law and commandments more and more, growing in our love and faith in Him, remembering ever always just how great His love is for us, that He did so much for us, on our behalf, in order to deliver us from destruction due to sin and death. May the Lord, our most loving God, be with us all His Church, that we may always be faithful to Him at all times. Amen.

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Friday, 21 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 12 : 1-8

At that time, it happened that, Jesus walking through the wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry; and they began to pick some heads of wheat, to crush and to eat the grain. When the Pharisees noticed this, they said to Jesus, “Look at Your disciples! They are doing what is prohibited on the Sabbath!”

Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did, when he and his men were hungry? He went into the House of God, and they ate the bread offered to God, though neither he nor his men had the right to eat it, but only the priests. And have you not read in the law, how, on the Sabbath, the priests in the Temple desecrate the Sabbath, yet they are not guilty?”

“I tell you, there is greater than the Temple here. If you really knew the meaning of the words : It is mercy I want, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. Besides, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

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Friday, 21 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 115 : 12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18

How can I repay YHVH for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of YHVH.

It is painful to YHVH to see the death of His faithful. I am Your servant, truly Your servant, Your handmaid’s son. You have freed me from my bonds.

I will offer You a thanksgiving sacrifice, I will call on the Name of YHVH. I will carry out my vows to YHVH in the presence of His people.

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Friday, 21 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Exodus 11 : 10 – Exodus 12 : 14

Moses and Aaron had worked all these marvels in the presence of Pharaoh, but YHVH had made Pharaoh obstinate and he would not let the people of Israel leave his country.

YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, “This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year. Speak to the community of Israel and say to them : On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a lamb for each house. If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbour, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and to what each one can eat.”

“You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs and take some of the blood to put on the doorposts and on top of the doorframes of the houses where you eat.”

“That night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat the meat lightly cooked and boiled in water but roasted entirely over the fire – the head, the legs and the inner parts. Do not leave any of it until the morning. If any is left till morning, burn it in the fire.”

“And this is how you will eat : with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily for it is a Passover in honour of YHVH. On that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, YHVH! The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.”

“This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honour of YHVH. It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.”

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Thursday, 20 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the love and kindness of God, Who has always loved us all, His beloved ones. Through the examples highlighted in our reading passages today, and by the Lord’s own words, we are reminded of God’s ever gracious kindness and love, in caring for the needs of His people, and in delivering them out of the hardships and challenges that they are all facing in this world. We heard from the Book of Exodus of the sending of Moses to the Israelites in Egypt, in order to deliver them all out of the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, while the Gospel today reminded us of the love of God Who wanted us all to come to Him and receive rest in Him, to share our burdens and sufferings together.

In our first reading today, from the Book of Exodus as mentioned, we heard of the moment when God reassured Moses, His servant, as He called him at Mount Horeb through the miraculous burning bush. God introduced Himself clearly as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Whose Name is I AM WHO AM (YHVH), the God of Israel and God of all mankind, the Creator and Master of all the whole universe. Moses believed in the Lord and wanted to do what he has been asked to do, but he was still uncertain as he was afraid that he would not be well-received among the Israelites, and that he was not eloquent in speech or charism. But God reassured Moses and told him that He would guide him in everything that he would be doing for the sake of His people, and told him how He has endeavoured to bring all of His people, the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt.

Back then, the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had been living in Egypt for about four centuries, where they had spent many generations building their lives and grew rapidly in numbers, being blessed bountifully by God, which brought about fear, jealousy and opposition from the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, the one reigning then who did not know of the great deeds of Joseph, who had once led Egypt as Regent in avoiding great disasters due to the extensive famine that happened during his time. The Lord has blessed Joseph and his whole family, keeping in mind what He has promised to his father Jacob and his ancestors, in blessing them and providing for them, and thus in the land of Egypt, the Israelites prospered and multiplied greatly in numbers, which led to the persecution and oppression of God’s people by the Pharaoh and the Egyptians who enslaved them.

God did not forget about His people, and through Moses, God was delivering them all from their darkness and suffering into the new light and hope that He reassured all those who have kept their faith in Him. God did not wish to see the suffering of His faithful, which was caused by the wickedness of man’s evil desires, their jealousy, greed and fears, which manifested in such acts of tyranny and evil, in how the Egyptians and their Pharaoh treated the Israelites, as slaves and less than human beings. Therefore, God reassured Moses and sent him into Egypt so that He might rescue the Israelites through him, and bringing them all out of the land of Egypt by His great power, God proved ever true and faithful to the Covenant that He had made and renewed again and again with us, showing us just how patient and enduring His love for us has been.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples telling all of them and all the people to come to Him, all those who are heavily burdened, troubled and are in suffering, and that He will give them all rest in Him because His yoke is light and He is truly filled with love for each and every one of His beloved ones, whom He was willing to gather from all the far corners of the whole world. Through all of these words, just as the Lord reassured Moses and His people Israel of His salvation, thus, the Lord Jesus manifested God’s love and compassion towards us in an even more perfect manner, being the Love of God manifested in the flesh, as God Himself came into our midst, descending from His heavenly Throne, to come and dwell with us. He gathers us all to Himself and reminds us all of the love He has for us, through which He willingly leads us to freedom from our sins, which has enslaved us all.

Yes, this means that just as the Israelites had been freed from their enslavement by the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, thus all of us in the similar manner have also been liberated and made free from the tyranny of sin and the evil one and his forces seeking our destruction and damnation. At the same time, if we pay more attention to what we have heard from the Lord’s words, He is also reminding us all that to follow Him does not mean that we will immediately be freed from all sufferings and that we will immediately enjoy eternal bliss and joy. Much like the Israelites who have endured forty years of journey in the desert after their Exodus from Egypt, due to their stubbornness and continuous failures to resist the temptations of sin, thus all of us in our own lives, we are also called to be prepared for what may be an arduous journey of faith and life, in striving for the glory of God and His salvation.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Apollinaris, a great saint and man of God whose life and works, whose actions, words and more things about him may hopefully inspire more and more amongst us to be ever more faithful to the Lord and to be more worthy of Him. St. Apollinaris, also known as St. Apollinaris of Ravenna was the Bishop of Ravenna and one of the earliest Church fathers being according to the sacred traditions, a contemporary of the Holy Apostles. St. Apollinaris was probably also one of the disciples of the Lord, and at least was a disciple of St. Peter the Apostle, the first Pope. According to Church traditions and martyrology, St. Apollinaris was a dedicated bishop and servant of God, who devoted his life to the care of his flock, much like how the Lord Himself has sought His lost sheep as we heard in our Scriptures today.

Consequently, he cared for them and remained firm in his faith and dedication to God despite the challenges that he had to face throughout his ministry, amidst the many persecutions and oppressions against the early Christian communities, the Church of God by the Roman authorities. St. Apollinaris did what he could to protect those under his care, hid many of the Christians including those who have been banished, exiled and punished for their faith in God. Eventually, he himself was persecuted and martyred for everything that he had faithfully done for the Lord’s sake and in defiance against the orders from the Roman state itself, and to the very end, he remained firmly faithful, and prophesied that eventually the Church would triumph against all of its oppressors, which indeed did come true.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all hence follow the examples of St. Apollinaris of Ravenna and remind ourselves of all of his dedications and works for the glory of God and for others, just as we also recall the great love and kindness that God has shown us. Let us all remember that each one of us as Christians have important duties and responsibilities, in proclaiming the truth and Good News of God to the whole world. May the Lord continue to guide us in our path, and empower us so that we may continue to strive to do our best in faith, in persevering strongly despite the many trials and challenges we may have to face in our path. May God bless us all and our every good efforts and endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 20 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 11 : 28-30

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest. For My yoke is easy; and My burden is light.”

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Thursday, 20 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 104 : 1 and 5, 8-9, 24-25, 26-27

Give thanks to YHVH, call on His Name; make known His works among the nations. Remember His wonderful works, His miracles and His judgments.

He remembers His Covenant forever, His promise to a thousand generations, the Covenant He made with Abraham, the promise He swore to Isaac.

YHVH made His people fruitful and much stronger than their foes; whose hearts He turned, to hate His people, to deal deceitfully with His servants.

Then He sent Moses His servant and Aaron whom He had chosen. They performed His signs among them, His miracles in the land of Ham.

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Thursday, 20 July 2023 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Exodus 3 : 13-20

Moses answered God, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them : ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ they will ask me : ‘What is His Name?’ What shall I answer them?”

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO AM. This is what you will say to the sons of Israel : ‘I AM sent me to you.” God then said to Moses, “You will say to the Israelites : ‘YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me.’ That will be My Name forever, and by this Name they shall call upon Me for all generations to come.”

“Go! Call together the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘YHVH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob appeared to me and said : I have seen and taken account of how the Egyptians have treated you, and I mean to bring you out of all this oppression in Egypt and take you to the land of the Canaanites, a land flowing with milk and honey.'”

“The elders of Israel will listen to you and, with them, you shall go to the palace of the king of Egypt and say to him : ‘The God of the Hebrews, YHVH, has met with us. Now let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to YHVH our God.'”

“I well know that the king of the Egyptians will not allow you to go unless he is forced to do so. I will therefore stretch out My hand and strike Egypt in extraordinary ways, after which he will let you go.”