22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Friday, 7 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 4 : 1-5

Let everyone then see us as the servants of Christ and stewards of the secret works of God. Being stewards, faithfulness shall be demanded of us; but I do not mind if you or any human court judges me. I do not even judge myself; my conscience indeed does not accuse me of anything, but that is not enough for me to be set right with God : the Lord is the One Who judges me.

Therefore, do not judge before the time, until the coming of the Lord. He will bring to light whatever was hidden in darkness and will disclose the secret intentions of the hearts. Then each one will receive praise from God.

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Thursday, 6 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Lord speaking to us, through His Apostle St. Paul, in the Epistle he wrote to the faithful in Corinth, as well as through His calling of the Apostles St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. James and St. John at the lake of Galilee. Through these words of the Scripture we are reminded that God has given us His wisdom and His truth, and He is calling on us to follow Him and put our trust in Him.

He was at the side of the lake, when He saw the boats of fishermen coming ashore without fish. He then told the fishermen, some of whom would become His disciples, to go out into the sea and cast out their net to catch the fish. St. Peter initially hesitated and said to the Lord, that they had gone out all night and were not able to catch any fishes, but he still listened to the Lord and obeyed His commands.

In the end, he and his fellow fishermen caught such a huge number of fish, that they needed help to get the fishes into their boat, that almost sunk because of the huge catch of fishes. St. Peter immediately bowed down before the Lord, begging Him for mercy and forgiveness, for he was a sinner. But the Lord was loving and kind to him and the other fishermen He called, and said that from then on, they would fish for men instead.

What do we make of this, brothers and sisters in Christ? First of all, we must understand that St. Peter and the other fishermen must have been quite experienced in their work and profession as fishermen. They were surely able to know where they could catch a lot of fishes and gather plenty of gains for themselves, but they could not find anything on that day.

We must understand the context that likely the fishermen had been going out for hours to catch the fishes, as St. Peter himself said, and they must have been tired and exhausted, disappointed and probably even angry at the lack of catch, as any one of us would, if we have done plenty of work and yet no result appeared. And for the fishermen, the last thing they needed was for someone to tell them to go and catch fishes again.

And not least the fact that such a request was made by someone, who was not even a fisherman at all, like the Lord Jesus. In their minds, they must have thought that they were good fishermen, with much skill and experience, and why they should listen to the command of a Man Who seemingly did not even know how to fish at all. Yet, they listened and did what the Lord told them to do, and they were dumbfounded by what happened, as what has been mentioned in the Gospel today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what does the readings today mean to us? First of all, linking back to what St. Paul said in his Epistle to the Corinthians, many of us if not most, tend to think that we know everything that we know in this world, in our respective areas of expertise. We think of ourselves as good, educated, intellectual and capable in the ways of the world, and we put a lot of trust in our human wisdom, intellect and power.

Therefore, what St. Peter initially said to the Lord Jesus is in fact a natural response that we mankind will often make, when the Lord speaks to us and tells us what He wants us to do. However, as we have seen and heard from the Gospel, trusting in the Lord’s words can open our eyes to the reality of the truth, that it is not our will that will be done, but the Lord’s will.

For all the wisdom, power and abilities that we have, first of all, we must realise that they all pale in comparison with the wisdom and power of God, and God alone knows what is best for us. And then, we must realise that all of our abilities, talents, knowledge, power and all ultimately came from God and were blessings that He has bestowed upon us. And He intends for us to make use of these gifts and blessings for good use.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, are we able to put our trust in God in the same way as the Apostles had done? They left everything behind and followed the Lord, and the Lord made them the fishers of men. And many souls have been saved through their hard work and commitment, their faith and dedication that they were even willing to lay down their lives for the Lord’s sake.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, it does not mean that we have to follow the exact same way as the Apostles, leaving everything behind to serve the Lord. What is important is that, we must discern what is our true calling in life, by listening to God speaking in our hearts, and by quietening ourselves from all the noise of this world, and from all the temptations of pride in our hearts.

Let us all seek to be humble and to be open to the Lord’s calling in our hearts, and learn to put our complete trust in Him. Let us no longer be proud or haughty, arrogant or be ambitious, thinking that we alone know what is best for us. May the Lord be our Guide, and may He continue to watch over us in our lives. May God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 6 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 5 : 1-11

At that time, one day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around Him listening to the word of God, He caught sight of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There He sat, and continued to teach the crowd.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if You say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both almost to the point of sinking.

Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed Him, leaving everything.

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Thursday, 6 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to YHVH, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of YHVH? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from YHVH, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Thursday, 6 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 3 : 18-23

Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you considers himself wise in the ways of the world, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s eyes. To this, Scripture says : God catches the wise in their own wisdom. It also says : The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is useless.

Because of this, let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you; Paul, Apollos, Cephas – life, death, the present and the future. Everything is yours, and you, you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.

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Wednesday, 5 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Kolkata, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded of our mission as Christians, that is to go forth proclaiming the Good News of God and to preach His truth among the people, by our words and actions. We are all reminded that unless we remember this mission given to us by God, it will be very easy for us to fall into the temptation of this world, and forget our mission and purpose of serving God.

This was presented in plain sight in the Epistle that St. Paul wrote to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth in Greece. Even at that very early stage in the history of the Church, when the community of the faithful was just being established, there were already evident divisions and disagreements among the members of the Christian communities, stemming from the jealousy, misunderstandings and disagreements between factions.

The name Paul, referring to St. Paul, was mentioned in that Epistle passage, as was the name of Apollos. If we read the entirety of the Acts of the Apostles, we will realise that Apollos was the name of a famous and eloquent preacher of Jewish origin, who converted to the Christian and originated from the city of Alexandria. He was a widely respected and popular preacher, who managed to convert many among the Gentiles and Jews in various cities.

At the same time, St. Paul was also very active in his ministry among the Gentiles and Jews alike in various places throughout the eastern Mediterranean area, including Corinth and many other important cities like Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica among many others. But as there were some variations in their teachings, it ended up with the community being divided into those who followed the teachings of St. Paul, and those who followed the teachings of St. Apollos.

This division in the community in fact created such a scandal, that St. Paul had to address this very issue in the Epistle he wrote to the Corinthian Christian community. He reminded all of them, that ultimately, so long as the people of God continued to think in the worldly terms, and as long as they were concerned about their prestige, worldly fame, ambitions, pride and greed, all sorts of worldly temptations, they would continue to be divided and became bitter against each other.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what the devil and all of his forces wanted to happen to us in the Church. He wants each and every one of us as Christians to be divided against each other, and that we have doubts and mistrust over one another, and as a result, making it very easy for him and his allies to strike at us and to claim us victoriously, as he drags many souls with him into eternal damnation.

That is why it is important that all of us must stay united and committed to the Lord, Our God, in Whom we believe in. As what St. Paul said to the faithful in Corinth, regardless of whoever it was that evangelised to them, be it Apollos, or Paul, or any other of the Apostles and disciples of the Lord, ultimately they were His ministers, tasked with the evangelisation and spreading of the Good News to all the faithful.

What made the people to bicker among themselves and disagree with one another, was likely their pride and refusal to acknowledge that they did not have the fullness of truth, or that others might have a better understanding of the faith that them. But in that process, they forgot that they were serving the Lord and must obey His will. Instead, they were focused on themselves and their own selfish desires, their desires to be praised and followed for their piety.

And the irony is that, in the Gospel passage today, even evil spirits had to acknowledge the Lord as their God and Master. Even they were bound to the Lord, for although they have disobeyed God, but it was an undeniable fact that the Lord is their God and Creator. They had to bend their knee before the Lord, no matter how painful or humiliating that would have been to them.

Unfortunately, it was often us mankind who have not shown our proper deference and respect for God, as we are often too preoccupied with the many concerns and temptations of this world. That is why many of us have ended up losing our faith and our direction in life, that instead of finding our way to God, we become lost in the darkness of this world, the darkness of desire, of pride, of ambition and vanity.

Today, the Church celebrates the life of the holy and renowned saint, St. Teresa of Kolkata. She was remembered fondly in life as Mother Teresa, an Albanian religious who came to India to minister to the poor and the needy in the community, eventually establishing the religious community of the Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the care and the need of all those who are the least, the poorest and the smallest in the community, providing them the love and the dignity they deserved.

St. Teresa of Kolkata was remembered for the great love and compassion she showed to all the people, the poorest and the weakest among the people, including all those who were abandoned on the streets and dying. She established a house dedicated to the care of all these sick people and the dying, providing for them the example of true Christian charity and love.

And she was also remembered for her great humility and devotion to God. She spent much time in prayer, and enforced to all of her Missionaries of Charity members to do the same. When she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution and works, she uttered the now famous words of, ‘I am just a pencil in the hands of the Lord’. This phrase summarised her great humility and commitment as God’s servant, entrusting herself completely to what God wanted her to do.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow in the footsteps of St. Teresa of Kolkata and that of many other holy saints, holy men and women who have devoted themselves to God? Are we able to let go of our pride, our desires and resist the temptations of this worldly life? Are we able to turn to the Lord, Our God, with all of our focus, attention and desire to love Him and serve Him wholeheartedly?

May the Lord be with us and may He guide us on our way, that we may truly be able to become true disciples and followers of His, in each and every action we take, and do our best to serve Him with all of our abilities, in complete humility and desire to love Him. May God bless us all and all of our endeavours. Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Kolkata, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Luke 4 : 38-44

At that time, leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the house of Simon. His mother-in-law was suffering from high fever, and they asked Him to do something for her. Bending over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately, she got up and waited on them.

At sunset, people suffering from many kinds of sickness were brought to Jesus. Laying His hands on each one, He healed them. Demons were driven out, howling as they departed from their victims, “You are the Son of God!” He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, for they knew He was the Messiah.

Jesus left at daybreak and looked for a solitary place. People went out in search of Him, and finding Him, they tried to dissuade Him from leaving. But He said, “I have to go to other towns, to announce the good news of the kingdom of God. That is what I was sent to do.” And Jesus continued to preach in the synagogues of Galilee.

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Wednesday, 5 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Kolkata, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Psalm 32 : 12-13, 14-15, 20-21

Blessed is the nation whose God is YHVH – the people He has chosen for His inheritance. YHVH looks down from heaven and sees the whole race of mortals.

From where He sits, He watches all those who dwell on the earth – He Who fashions every heart, observes all their deeds.

In hope, we wait for YHVH, for He is our help and our shield. Our hearts rejoice in Him, for we trust in His holy Name.

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Wednesday, 5 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Kolkata, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

1 Corinthians 3 : 1-9

I could not, friends, speak to you as spiritual persons but as fleshly people, for you are still infants in Christ. I gave you milk, and not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and, up to now, you cannot receive it, for you are still of the flesh. As long as there is jealousy and strife, what can I say, but that you are at the level of the flesh, and behave like ordinary people.

While one says : “I follow Paul,” and the other : “I follow Apollos,” what are you, but people still at a human level? For what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are ministers; and through them, you believed, as it was given by the Lord, to each of them. I planted, Apollos watered the plant, but God made it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God, Who makes the plant grow.

The one who plants and the one who waters work to the same end, and the Lord will pay each, according to their work. We are fellow-workers with God, but you are God’s field and building.

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Tuesday, 4 September 2018 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings presented to us a deep mystery of our faith and an issue which often comes into our minds, whenever we try to understand the Lord and His works in the midst of our lives. In our attempt to perceive God and His presence, we are often frustrated because we cannot seem to feel or to understand His works amongst us.

In the first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city of Corinth, he explained in great detail how the Spirit of God is in work in all, and it is through the Spirit of God, that is the Holy Spirit, that we have received the revelation of God’s truth, and even then, only the Spirit Himself has the fullness of revelation and truth, such that even for us Christians, we are still not yet endowed with the fullness of truth.

And St. Paul mentioned in the same Epistle passage that a spiritual experience is required for the faithful to be able to understand and to appreciate what God has done in our midst. A spiritual experience and conversion is required, and not just on the intellectual or psychological level. Those who do not have the spiritual experience and understanding, will not be able to understand the great depth of God’s mysteries and truth, unless they receive this experience, that is faith.

We see in our world today, plenty of skepticism and even opposition against God, as many of us mankind are focused on what exists on the material world and on the tangible plane, and ignoring what exists on the spiritual plane and existence. That is why we have many people who tried to use evidences and misusing scientific knowledge and discoveries in order to disprove the existence of God. But the Lord, Our God cannot be proven in existence just merely on the physical, psychological and intellectual areas alone, for in order to understand Him, and know Him, we must delve deeper into the depth of our spirit.

For our spirits were given to us by God, placed in us as part of the gift of life we have received from Him. While our physical flesh and existence are mortal and temporary, but our spiritual existence and self is eternal. While our physical self can be destroyed and erased from existence by earthly forces and by death, nothing can destroy our existence in the spirit and in our soul.

That is why, now, we should look upon what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, of the moment when the Lord Jesus cast out a demon inside a possessed person while He taught in the synagogue in Capernaum. This happened right after He was chased out of His own village of Nazareth, as mentioned in yesterday’s Gospel reading, when He proclaimed to the people of Nazareth that all the prophecies of the prophets were fulfilled in Him, as the Messiah of God.

By comparing the two occasions, we can see a great irony in how, the people of God, even those who knew Him the most, the people of His own hometown in Nazareth, could not recognise Him and even rejected Him, refusing to listen to Him or to obey Him, but an evil spirit, a demon, possessing a person, immediately recognised Him for Who He is, and spoke openly before the people of the true identity of Jesus Christ, not just the Messiah, but also the Son of God.

Why is this so? That is because the man recognises someone based on what his eyes can see, and what his ears can hear, and what his senses can perceive, but the spirit recognises by what the spirit itself understands, for all things were created by God, and were all good and perfect in the beginning. All the Angels and even fallen angels and demons were created by God, together with all of creation. But the fallen angels and demons fell from grace, and through their disobedience against God, were cast out of heaven.

Yet, they still have to recognise God for Who He is, and regardless of their rebellion and prideful disobedience, they cannot go against the power of the Lord, Who is still their true Lord and Master. Even Satan himself, the great enemy, has to bend his knee at the Holy Name of Our Lord, and at every mention of Our Lord’s Name, Jesus Christ, even Satan has to submit to God’s will and power. That is why the evil spirit recognised and acknowledged the Lord’s power at that time in Capernaum.

Why was it then that the people failed to recognise God in their midst? That is because their hearts and minds were too full of pride and other distractions which prevented them from truly being able to recognise God’s presence among them. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were distracted by their pride and their desire to maintain their teaching authority, that they refused to allow the Lord’s truth to enter their hearts, seeing Jesus as a Rival instead of as the Teacher.

The others were too distracted by the many temptations in life, by misinformations of the Pharisees, or by their inability to internalise what they have seen in order to recognise the presence of God in their midst. They did not yet have faith in them, and that was why, they failed to recognise Him even though they have seen all the miracles that God had performed in their midst. They have closed their hearts and minds to Him, and they did not allow Him to have place in their hearts.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what shall we do with our lives then? Are we going to follow the examples of the people in Capernaum and all those others who have not been able to realise the presence of God in their midst? Are we going to be so distracted with the many distractions in this life, that we end up not being able to recognise God being present in our midst? Let us all reexamine our lives and think of what we should have done from now on, that we will become true disciples and followers of Our God.

Let us all deepen our spiritual relationship with the Lord, and spend more time to develop a genuine and true faith in Him, by the means of prayers and devotions, through which we may communicate with God, allowing Him to reveal to us the truth and the knowledge about His love and His will for us. Let us all draw ever closer to the Lord, and may all of us come to know the Lord more closely day after day.

May the Lord continue to watch over us, protect us, and guide us. May He allow us all to see the fullness of His loving works in our midst, and that we may grow ever deeper in holiness and love for Him and for our fellow men. May God bless us all and all of our works and endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.