19 February 2022

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Saturday, 19 February 2022 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to words of great wisdom from the Scriptures reminding us to be careful and vigilant in our words, actions and deeds, so that we do not end up falling into the path of sin and evil. That is why we have to listen to the Lord and His teachings, His truth and love. We have to heed the teachings and all that He has given to us and revealed through His Church, so that we do not end up going down the wrong path in life and be separated again from the Lord.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle regarding the importance for all of us as Christians to be careful with our words, with our actions and deeds, for it is all too easy for us to make mistakes through our tongues and our hands, and the things that we have received and been blessed with, our words, wisdom and talents can be easily used for both things that are good or wicked, depending on our intentions.

As St. James wisely said, that we must not underestimate our words and actions, for even with the seemingly least significant and smallest of those words and actions, we can cause truly great and wonderful deeds, as well as very wicked and terrible acts that can bring about a lot of pain and suffering on others, whether directly or indirectly, or whether physically or mentally or even both. Such is the nature of our words and actions, that even in the seemingly smallest and least significant of things, we can end up causing great harm on others as well as causing great good if only we desire it and choose to do what is good instead of what is evil.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard then of the Lord Who was transfigured before the eyes of His three important disciples, Peter, James and John at Mount Tabor. At that occasion, the three of them saw the Lord glorified, revealing His true nature to them, as the Divine Word Incarnate, as One Who was not just the Son of Man, as the Saviour of the world, but also as the Son of God, the Divine Word of God, the Logos, incarnate in the flesh, showing His truly great glory and majesty at that occasion on the mountaintop.

Having seen all that they had witnessed, the three disciples were reminded by the Lord to listen to the words that His Son has spoken, and to follow Him in whichever path that He would be leading them towards. The Lord wanted all of them to trust in His words, in His wisdom, truth and love. And that is exactly how they would be able to find their way through life, and doing what the Lord had taught them to do. It is by putting God as the focus of their lives, and allowing Him to lead them and guide them in their path.

Unfortunately, brothers and sisters in Christ, more often than not, many of us prefer to trust in our own ideas and judgments, ignoring the reminders and the wisdom that God has given to us. We prefer to do things that we think is the best for us, and in doing so, we may end up causing hurt and suffering to others through our words, our actions and deeds just as I mentioned earlier. And that is because many if not most of us will tend to think about ourselves and our needs first, before even thinking about others or considering about them.

Therefore, that is why today all of us as Christians are reminded that each and every one of us need to redirect our attention and focus towards God. We are all reminded that we need to have faith and trust in the Lord, and allow Him to guide us in our actions and in all things, or else, otherwise, we may end up falling in our path towards God and His salvation, and end up in the wrong path in life, as we follow the temptations of our desires and our whims rather than following the true path towards God and His salvation.

All of us are called to be more vigilant against the many temptations all around us, and the allures of sin. We have to deepen our relationship with God, and the best way is for us to always spare some quality time with the Lord, communicating with Him, speaking with Him while at the same time, making the effort to listen to Him speaking in the depths of our hearts and minds. Too often we have been distracted by the many things that happened all around us, our ego, greed and desire among many other distractions that kept us away from finding out the path to God and His love.

Let us therefore do our best to follow the Lord and deepen our faith and relationship with Him from now on. May the Lord continue to watch over us and remain with us, guiding us through in our journey towards His grace and love. May God be with us and bless us in our every good works, efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Saturday, 19 February 2022 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Mark 9 : 2-13

At that time, six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain. There His appearance was changed before their eyes. Even His clothes shone, becoming as white as no bleach of this world could make them. Elijah and Moses appeared to them; the two were talking with Jesus.

Then Peter spoke and said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say : they were overcome with awe. But a cloud formed, covering them in a shadow, and from the cloud came a voice, “This is My Son, the Beloved; listen to Him.”

And suddenly, as they looked around, they no longer saw anyone except Jesus with them. As they came down the mountain, He ordered them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this to themselves, although they discussed with one another what ‘to rise from the dead’ could mean.

Finally they asked Him, “Why then do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus answered them, “Of course Elijah will come first, so that everything may be as it should be. But why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be despised? I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they have treated him as they pleased, as the Scriptures say of him.”

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Saturday, 19 February 2022 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

Psalm 12 : 2-3, 4-5, 7-8

Help us, o YHVH, none of the godly are left, the faithful have vanished. Everyone lies; with flattering lips they speak from a double heart.

May YHVH cut off insincere lips, every glib tongue that utters deceit. Many say, “Our strength lies in our tongue, we know how to speak, who will YHVH it over us?”

The promises of YHVH are sure and lasting – silver refined in the furnace seven times and freed from dross. Hold us, o YHVH, in Your keeping; protect us always from this generation.

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Saturday, 19 February 2022 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)

James 3 : 1-10

My brothers and sisters, do not all be teachers! You know that, as teachers, we will be judged most strictly; in fact, we make mistakes, like everybody else. A person who commits no offence in speech is perfect, and capable of ruling the whole self.

We put a bit into the horse’s mouth to master it and, with this, we control its whole body. The same is true of ships : however big they are, driven by strong winds, they are guided by a tiny rudder. In the same way, the tongue is a tiny part of the body, but it is capable of great things.

A small flame is enough to set a huge forest on fire. The tongue is a similar flame; it is, in itself, a whole world of evil. It infects the whole being, and sets fire to our world, with the very fire of hell. Wild animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures of every kind are, and have been ruled, by the human species.

Nobody, however, can control the tongue; it is an untiring whip, full of deadly poison. We use it to bless God, our Father, and also, to curse those made in God’s likeness. From the same mouth come both blessing and curse. Brothers and sisters, this should not be the case.