25th Week

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Saturday, 28 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and Saints Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Mass of our Lady)

Beloved brother and sisters in Christ, today we continue to listen to the reality of the Lord’s mission in this world, that is to be betrayed by His beloved, to be forsaken, rejected, and finally to suffer death although He is innocent, that through His death, all may gain eternal life in Him.

The Lord had come to be the Saviour of all, the One who bring forth the light of God into the darkened world, and into the darkened hearts of men. Through His coming and saving works, He had brought the hopelessness of mankind in the face of death and sin, into a new dawn of hope, the hope in He who died for all that they may live.

Dear brethren, as the Lord Himself had said, He came into the world to ransom His people, to deliver them from the fate they were to suffer for eternity, all for following the devil and listening to his lies instead of the truths of God. He ransomed all of us, from the hands of the devil, our slavemaster, not through gold, silver, or any form of material possessions and money, but through His own Most Precious Blood, the Blood of the Lamb.

That Blood is blood that saves and purifies, and which washes us clean from the filth of our sins and faults, making us perfect again in the eyes of God. That once we who were unworthy of God and His kingdom, now be made worthy and ready to be accepted again. The Blood shed from the innocent and purest lamb of all, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

He did not resist at all when the chief priests and the Pharisees captured Him and tortured Him. He was indeed like a lamb being led to the slaughter, never complaining and in complete obedience to the will of God, the Father of all. Jesus is our Paschal Lamb, the One who offered Himself as the perfect and acceptable sacrifice to the throne of God.

That He was willing to suffer in place of us for the punishments intended to us, to bear that cross for our sake, and to bear all the humiliations imaginable, just that we may have hope and be saved, should have awakened us from our slumber, from our ignorance, yes, ignorance from the love of God most kind and forgiving,

Without Him, there can be no hope, and without His suffering, all of us will suffer, suffer from the consequences of our sins and of our wayward ways, away from the Lord our God. It is in the suffering of Christ that He shared our sufferings and bore it upon Himself, that we are freed from the weight of that yoke, the yoke of sin. And in His glorious resurrection, He lifted us all up from our old ways, from our old slavery to death, into a new life that He guaranteed through His own resurrection, as One who had conquered death.

Today, we celebrate the feast of several saints, first of which is St. Wenceslas or Wenceslaus, one of the first kings of Bohemia in the early Medieval era Germany, one of the first converts to the faith in that nation, which just a generation before was the nation of pagans and barbarians who ransacked many of Christendom’s countries. Even at the time of St. Wenceslaus, there were still strong pagan elements in the country, opposed to him and his rule as a Christian ruler.

Nevertheless, St. Wenceslaus remained faithful and committed to the cause of the Lord, and was known to be a good and caring ruler, who cared especially for the poor and the oppressed among his people, and worked hard to help spread the faith in the country where he ruled. This of course resulted in opposition to build up from the pagan elements in the society and among the nobles.

St. Wenceslaus was martyred for the faith, when he was murdered on his way to the church by his brother and his noble supporters. While his brother was a Christian himself, but many of the nobles who supported him were not, and they resented St. Wenceslaus’ attempts to bring the faith to them. Therefore, in the defense of his faith, St. Wenceslaus had given his life, and his blood, for the sake of the Lord, for the spreading of the Gospel and the salvation of his people.

St. Lawrence Ruiz or Lorenzo Ruiz and his companions are the other saints whom we commemorate on this day, also as martyrs of the faith, shedding their blood for the sake of the Lord. St. Lawrence Ruiz is the first saint of the Philippines, who was martyred with several others in Japan. He was born in the Philippines during the early seventeenth century, when Spain owned the Philippines. He lived a relatively normal life until he was falsely accused of a crime, which prompted him to hide in exile, which happened to be in a ship bound for Japan.

St. Lawrence Ruiz arrived in Japan at a time of very great difficulty for any of the faithful of the Lord. Although just decades before Japan was truly a ripe ground for evangelisation, which saw hundreds of thousands converted into the faith, during the time of St. Lawrence Ruiz in Japan, the new Tokugawa shogunate government had changed their policy against Christians from tolerance and warmth into an open and vicious persecution.

Christians everywhere in Japan were threatened to abandon their faith or lose their lives through harsh torture and pain. Many recanted their faith following these threats, but equally many persevered in their faith and ended up being martyred, through various methods like crucifixion, beheading, and burning, many of them cruel and painful in nature.

St. Lawrence Ruiz and his companions were also captured and subjected to these torturous methods, and were asked to abandon their faith in God. They resisted and remained staunch in their undying faith to God. They forsake their earthly life in order to obtain the life in heaven, which is eternal, from the Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, after listening to the life stories of these courageous and faithful martyrs of the Lord, who did not shy from even risking their lives for the true faith, and recalling the very sacrifice Jesus had endured on the cross for our salvation, let us then, brethren, be proactive in our faith, no longer sitting down and let what God has given us go to waste, and instead, let us bravely take up our crosses, as the martyrs and saints had done, and go to proclaim to the whole world, the salvation of our Lord, offered to all those who believe in Him.

May the Lord continue to empower and strengthen us, in our mind, body, and speech, that we will be able to be strong and courageous bearers of His holy Gospels, the bearer of the Good News of salvation, inspired by the examples of the holy saints and martyrs, St. Wenceslaus, St. Lawrence Ruiz and his companions. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 28 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and Saints Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Mass of our Lady)

Luke 9 : 43b-45

But while all were amazed at everything Jesus did, He said to His disciples, “Listen, and remember what I tell you now : The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of the men.”

But the disciples did not understand this saying; something prevented them from grasping what He meant, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

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Saturday, 28 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and Saints Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Mass of our Lady)

Jeremiah 31 : 10, 11-12ab, 13

Hear the word of YHVH, o nations, proclaim it on distant coastlands : He who scattered Israel will gather them and guard them as a shepherd guard His flock.

For YHVH has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of his conqueror. They shall come shouting for joy, while ascending Zion.

Maidens will make merry and dance, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness, I will give them comfort and joy for sorrow.

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Saturday, 28 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, Martyr, and Saints Lawrence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Mass of our Lady)

Zechariah 2 : 5-9, 14-15a

Raising my eyes again, I saw a Man with a measuring line in His hand. I asked, “Where are You going?” He answered, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to find its width and its length.”

As the angel who spoke to me came forward, another angel met him and said, “Run and tell this to that young man : ‘Jerusalem will remain unwalled because of its multitude of people and livestock.’ For this is the word of YHVH : I Myself will be around her like a wall of fire, and also within her in Glory.”

“Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion, for I am about to come. I shall dwell among you,” says YHVH. “On that day, many nations will join YHVH and be My people.”

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Friday, 27 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today Christ revealed His identity to His disciples, after asking them whether they know who He truly was. And the prophet Haggai in the first reading, comforted the people of God who laid in ruins after they returned to the land the Lord had given them after a long exile in Babylon.

In Christ, the Son of God, the world has been given the salvation that God had promised for them. In Christ, who is not mere man but a divine made man, the world achieve a fullness of glory in the Lord, the perfection that has been taken from us when we became lost after our rebellion at the beginning of Creation.

Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise to mankind over time which He renewed through the prophets, and finally perfected in Jesus. God resolved to rebuild the destroyed mankind that they once again become His beloved ones, freed from sins and slavery to the worldly pleasures and sins.

Yet, although He is a conquering King who comes to destroy death and sin, and be triumphant over all evils, but He came as a humble King, One who is destined to suffer and die. Yes, death for our sake, that through the death, we may not die but live eternal with Him. He is the Lamb of God, the One to be slaughtered and whose Blood is to be shed, for the sake of all of us, for our salvation.

Although He is great and mighty, He faced suffering, persecution, and death, that He took in into Himself all the sins and sufferings of mankind, that we do not have to suffer them for eternity, and instead enjoy life everlasting in happiness with God. This is the renewal the Lord promised to the returned exiles of Israel through the prophet Haggai and the other leaders of the people. The renewal God had sent through His own Son, Jesus Christ.

The Lord loves us so much, that He was not willing to see us to suffer with the devil in eternal fire, to suffer for the consequences of our sins and faults. That was why He sent us Jesus, to be our Help, our Hope, and our Way, to return to Him, to reclaim the true joy, happiness, and the inheritance that we had forsaken when we disobeyed Him in the garden of Eden.

All that, and He was ready to endure lashes, torture, nails, and the cross itself.  The Lord Jesus walked that arduous path towards Calvary, enduring the weight of that cross, bleeding from His wounds, to die a criminal’s death on the cross, in Calvary, for our sake. Imagine the combined weight of the world’s sins, that is the sins of all mankind. That was the weight of the burden which caused Christ much pain and suffering, and He endured it.

At the same time, through that sacrifice of Himself, God had made His love for His people evident, by the giving of Himself for out sake. He gave us all new hope and light in life. Remember, before the glorious cross, the cross of Christ resurrected from the dead, there is always the cross of suffering, that is the cross taken up by the Christ suffering for our sins.

We cannot abandon the Christ, both in His glory and in His time of greatest humiliation on the cross, the humiliation that he turned into glory. That is why, brethren, we have a mission that has been given to all of us and that is to proclaim the crucified Christ to all people, to all the nations, especially to those who have yet to hear about the wondrous Christ and His works of salvation.

Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Vincent de Paul, one of the great saints in the Church, who was well known for his commitment to the Lord, especially to the weak, the poor, and the unloved. St. Vincent de Paul was born in France and was educated to be a faithful and good follower of Christ, when he was captured among many by the Algerian pirates running rampant in the region during his time, and was made into a slave.

St. Vincent de Paul was enslaved and sold to a renegade Catholic owner, until he managed to convince him to return to the faith, who then helped to get St. Vincent to be released from his slavery. He then committed the rest of his life as a worker of the Lord, caring for the last, the lost, and the least in the society, emphasizing on the need to give love to these people, and not abandon them to the darkness.

St. Vincent de Paul was particularly caring about those who were enslaved, being once a slave himself, and showed them the true nature of Christian love, that is dedication and the giving of oneself for the sake of others in need. He was truly the embodiment of who we all Christians ought to become, to be people for others, to be faithful disciples of the Lord who is Love.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us follow the examples of St. Vincent de Paul, making real our faith in this world, through our dedication and service to our brethren in need. We do not have to do big things, but what we can do is, to do even simple things to those around us, to those whom we meet along the way, giving them simple acts of love.

Even these small acts are significant, brethren, and we must not discount them for bigger and more ambitious acts of charity, as it is in these small acts that we can do daily that truly make the difference, and truly bring out the love that we have in us, and sharing it with one another. St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us always, that in all the things we do, we may be more inspired to be charitable and loving. God bless us all, always. Amen.

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Friday, 27 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 9 : 18-22

One day, when Jesus was praying alone, not far from His disciples, He asked them, “What do people say about Me?” And they answered, “Some say that You are John the Baptist; others say that You are Elijah, and still others that You are one of the prophets of old, risen from the dead.”

Again Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Then Jesus spoke to them, giving them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.

And He added, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and be put to death. Then after three days, He will be raised to life.”

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Friday, 27 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 42 : 1, 2, 3, 4

Make justice, o God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; deliver me from the wicked and deceitful.

You are my God, my Stronghold, why have You cast me out? Why should I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.

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Friday, 27 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Haggai 1 : 15b – Haggai 2 : 9

It was the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. On the twenty-first day of the seventh month of the second year of the reign of Darius, this word of YHVH was sent through the prophet Haggai, “Give this message to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest, and to all the people :

Is there left among you one of those who saw this House long ago in the time of its glory? What do they think of what they see now? Is it not a very little thing? But I say to you, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and My people : do not be discouraged. Begin to work, for I am with you, says YHVH. Do not be afraid, for My Spirit is in your midst.

Thus says YHVH of hosts, within a short while I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the continents. Then I will shake all the nations and bring in the treasures of the whole world. I will fill this House with glory, says YHVH. I will have as much silver and gold as I wish. The renown of this Temple will be greater than before, and in this place I will give peace,” says YHVH of hosts.

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Thursday, 26 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the story on Jesus, and on who Jesus truly is. Yes, Christ is the Son of God, God incarnate into man, the Word of God made flesh, but what is the significance to us? What is the significance of the coming and the revelation of this Man, who made even Herod tremble, hearing about His Name and His deeds?

That is because, dear brethren, Christ is the bringer of new hope, the new hope in God, in the same way as how we heard in the first reading today, on the prophet Haggai admonishing the people of Israel for not taking their part in the rebuilding of the House of God in Jerusalem. Through Christ, the House of God long forgotten and which laid in ruins, was rebuilt, in all its new splendour and glory.

That new House of God is us, brothers and sisters in Christ, that is the Body of Christ, that is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Through Christ, we had been brought together into one, as one people, and towards God. The old, ruined house had been rebuilt, and a new hope arose for all mankind and for all creation marred by sin.

The first physical House of God, that is the First Temple of Jerusalem, the Temple King Solomon had built, was truly magnificent and mighty, and yet, it faltered and was destroyed, when Jerusalem and Israel were both given over to their enemies, to the Babylonians who enslaved them for years. The Temple, as the symbol of the unity of the people of God was destroyed and the people of God was scattered, because they themselves had rejected the Lord and His love.

The prophet Haggai criticised the people and rebuked them, because they seemed to become lax in their faith, in how they showed no concern and general ignorance on the need to rebuild the House of God in the midst of His people. All these while they themselves lived well and had had a good life. They lived according to the world and gave in to the temptations of the world. Sin still held mastery over them, and enslaved they were to it.

The Lord sent His own Son, Jesus the Christ as the One who would reestablish that Temple, and not just any Temple like that of Solomon, but an eternal Temple, the renewed House of God, of all the people of God, reunited once again as one people, united by Christ the Lord, through His sacrifice on Calvary. That Temple is the new Temple, also known as the Temple of the Holy Spirit, that are our physical bodies, all of us who had accepted Christ and He dwells in us.

Just as the Temple of Jerusalem housed the Lord residing among the people in the Holy of Holies, we too house the Lord within each one of us. That is why we have to keep ourselves pure and holy, and therefore worthy of His presence within us. Not only pure and clean in physical terms, but even more importantly, the purity of our soul, our spiritual being, from any kind of sins or fornication.

Today, we celebrate the feast of two saints, St. Cosmas and Damian, who are well-known martyrs of the Church, and they were martyred for their faith at the last great persecution against the faithful ones of God, during the late Roman Empire. St. Cosmas and Damian were twin brothers who were doctors and faithful servants of the Lord living in the late third century after the birth of Christ.

St. Cosmas and Damian worked hard for the good of the people of God and even performed miracles on the sick, bringing them back to good health, even in impossible cases. Yet, the Roman Emperor at the time, Diocletian, was staunchly against the faithful of the Lord, and ordered a vicious persecution on them, killing and capturing many, torturing them to abandon the faith in God.

St. Cosmas and Damian were also among those who were imprisoned for their faith, and despite attempts, persuasion, and even torture to make them recant their faith went nowhere, and they stayed ever faithful and did not budge even in the face of suffering and death. They were crucified, shot with arrows, and finally beheaded. They spilled their blood defending their faith, keeping their purity, the purity of their souls from the taints of sin.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, following the example of Saints Cosmas and Damian, let us also strive to strengthen ourselves, our faith in God, and our love, that we will be ever holy and worthy for our God, that we, as the Temples of the Lord, where He resides, will be found worthy and that God will reside in us, and we in Him, that we will be welcomed into His kingdom on the last day.

Pray for us, St. Cosmas and Damian, that we will be always inspired by your examples and strive to keep our faith strong and alive in Christ. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 26 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red

Luke 9 : 7-9

King Herod heard of all this, and did not know what to think, for people said, “This is John, raised from the dead.” Others believed that Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets, had come back to life. As for Herod, he said, “I had John beheaded. Who is this Man, about whom I hear such wonders?” And he was anxious to see Him.