27th Week of Ordinary Time

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Friday, 11 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)

Psalm 9 : 2-3, 6 and 16, 8-9

The wicked are in power; the weak suffer harassment; the poor become victims of evil schemes. Exploiters boast in their power and greed; the covetous blasphemes and defies God.

All of them saying in their heart, “Nothing will trouble me. I am secure, powerful and happy.” YHVH is King forever and the pagans have vanished from His land.

They lie in ambush near the villages, murdering the innocent and the unfortunate, spying upon their next victim. The evil one lurks in secret, like a lion in its covert, waiting to seize his prey and drag him off in a net.

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Friday, 11 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)

Joel 1 : 13-15 and Joel 2 : 1-2

Gird yourselves, o priests, and weep; mourn, o ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, o ministers of my God! For the house of your God is deprived of grain and drink offering.

Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Summon the elders, and all who live in the land, into the house of your God, and cry out to YHVH, “What a dreadful day – the day of YHVH, that draws near, and comes as ruin, from the Almighty!”

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all dwellers in the land tremble, for the day of YHVH is coming. Yes, the day is fast approaching – a day of gloom and darkness, a day of clouds and blackness. A vast and mighty army comes, like dawn spreading over the mountain : such as has never occurred before, nor will happen again in the future.

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Thursday, 10 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God through the Scriptures speaking to us about the love which God has lavished on us all because He is indeed our loving Father and Creator, despite our constant disobedience and refusal to follow His ways, our waywardness and sins that have separated us from the fullness of His love and grace.

In the book of the prophet Malachi, part of which we have heard in our first reading today, we heard of the insolent and rude comments made by the people who were angry at God and were frustrated because they have observed His laws and commandments, and yet they still suffered all sorts of injustices, pain and sufferings in the world. And this is in the context of how the Israelites living at the time of the prophet Malachi, a few hundred years before the birth of Christ, had to endure being conquered and ruled over by many powerful nations.

And throughout those years of subjugation, they certainly cannot avoid looking back at the time of the glorious kingdom of Israel in the past, especially during the days of kings David and Solomon, from a time when the Israelites still had great dignity and being respected by the other nations. Instead, they had to endure exile and destruction under the Babylonians, ruled by the Medians and the Persians, and then under the reign of the Greek kings of Alexander the Great and his successors.

But God reassured them through Malachi that He was always with them and He would guide them through those difficult and challenging moments. God would not abandon His people to the darkness and as He Himself proclaimed through Malachi, that He would write the name of those who have been faithful to Him and they would receive the fullness of His grace and promised glorious inheritance in the end.

In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus Himself spoke of God’s love for us like that of the love a father has for his children. He was comparing it to how even wicked and sinful people know how to take care of those whom they love and the Lord would therefore take care of His beloved ones in a far greater way and with much greater love and compassion for sure. God has always loved us all, all these while and it will never change.

Rather, it is our own stubbornness and refusal to see and admit this truth that had caused us to be separated from Him and to be blind to God’s ever generous love. We hardened our hearts and closed off our minds to God Who is always constantly trying to reach out to us and embrace us with love. We become distracted by the many temptations present in this world and as our attention became divided, we turned away from God.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to reconnect ourselves with God and understand more just how much He cares for us, and just how much He has blessed us with all these while? God still loves us even when we have walked away from Him, betrayed and abandoned Him, always hoping that we will come back to Him and seek to be forgiven from our sins. But in order to do this, we have to first be humble and let go of the ego and pride in our hearts.

Yes, the ego and pride within us are the greatest obstacles that prevent us from being able to love God unconditionally and wholeheartedly and leading us to various temptations that distract us from the true and genuine love in the relationship we ought to have with God. Today we are called to rediscover and rejuvenate that love we have for God, and be more faithful with each and every passing moments of our lives.

May the Lord continue to be our guide through life, and may He continue to bless us and love us despite the sins and wickedness we have committed. May He guide us to discover salvation and true joy that can be found in Him alone. Amen.

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Thursday, 10 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 5-13

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is travelling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.’ Maybe your friend will answer from inside, ‘Do not bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I cannot get up and give you anything.'”

“But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need. And so I say to you, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.”

“If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

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Thursday, 10 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Thursday, 10 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Malachi 3 : 13-20a

You say very harsh things about Me, says YHVH, and yet, you say : “What harsh things did we say against You?” You say : “It is useless to serve God. There is no benefit in observing His commandments or in leading an austere life for His sake. Happy are the shameless! Those who do evil succeed in everything; though they provoke God, they remain unharmed.”

Those were the very words of those who fear YHVH. YHVH listened and heard what they said. He ordered at once, that the names of those who respect Him and reverence His Name be written in a record. And He declared, “They will be Mine on the day I have already set. Then I shall care for them, as a father cares for his obedient son. And you will see the different fates of the good and the bad, those who obey God and those who disobey Him.”

The day already comes, flaming as a furnace. On that day, all the proud and evildoers will be burnt, like straw in the fire. They will be left without branches or roots. On the other hand, the sun of justice will shine upon you who respect My Name and bring health in is rays.

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Wednesday, 9 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the words of the Scripture which we heard of God’s abundant love and mercy for us all His people, as He is truly our loving Creator and Father, just as the Lord Jesus called Him Father, by virtue of Him being the Son of God. Through the sharing we have in the humanity of Christ, we all, who are His brothers and sisters, share in the same fatherhood we have in God.

Through our first reading today, which is a continuation of yesterday’s account on the mission of the prophet Jonah, who had been tasked to deliver the message and warning from God to the people of the city of Nineveh of their impending destruction, when God saw just how repentant the people of Nineveh were, and how all of them from their king to the slaves humbled themselves and mourned, He spared them all from their fated destruction.

But in our passage today we heard then how the prophet Jonah became angry with God because He spared the whole city of Nineveh from destruction. The context of this is that Jonah must have been angry and frustrated because first of all, there was a prejudice that the Assyrians who inhabited Nineveh were sinful people, wicked and godless, pagan worshippers and idolaters who did not deserve God’s love and mercy.

And then, secondly, on a more personal level, Jonah had been called by God for this particular mission, he fled from God and refused to accept the task, fleeing by a ship to a faraway place hoping to hide away from God. Yet, God made a great storm to strike at the sailing ship and Jonah had no choice but submit to God’s will and asked to be thrown into the sea. A great whale swallowed Jonah for three days and nights before he was sent ashore to continue His mission.

Jonah’s story is in fact a representation of Christ, Who would go on to bear the burden of the Cross, suffered and died, and went down into hell for three days just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale. The Lord sent His Son into this world with a mission to deliver His people from death and eternal damnation by delivering them from their sins, just as much as Jonah was sent to the people of Nineveh to bring to them the news of their upcoming doom.

The difference is such that while Jonah was angry when the Lord forgave the people of Nineveh their sins and wickedness when they sincerely repented from those sins and humbled themselves before Him, the Lord truly wanted His people, whoever they are and whatever they have done, to be saved, even the worst of sinners, as long as they are willing to make the effort to reject sin and embrace Him and His loving mercy.

God has always been willing to welcome us back because He truly loves each and every one of us, and no one is truly far away from the reach of God’s love and mercy, and as long as we are willing to open our hearts and minds to welcome God into our lives, we can be transformed, redeemed and forgiven just like what happened to the people of Nineveh. And that is why, today we are all called to seek God with a new commitment.

And one very good way for us to do it is through prayer, just as Our Lord Himself has shown His disciples in our Gospel passage today. For prayer is an intimate communication between us and God, and it can be either personal, communal or even both. Essentially, prayer opens the channel and link between us and God, allowing us to have a meaningful communication with God. But we must be careful and not end up making prayer into a channel of seeking things from God as what many of us often did wrongly with our prayer habits.

Many of us mistook prayer as a means for us to gain something quickly through God, and we mistook God as someone that can be at the whim of our desires. No, brothers and sisters in Christ, for the true essence and meaning of prayer is for us to be more attuned to God and be more understanding and knowing what God, Our loving Father has willed for us and wanted us to do with our respective lives.

That is why today perhaps we should look at the examples shown to us by the saints whose feast day we celebrate today. St. Denis, holy martyr and bishop and the Patron Saint of France, as well as St. John Leonardi, a holy priest of God. St. Denis was martyred during his mission as bishop at the time of great persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire, while St. John Leonardi was remembered for his establishment of the religious order known as the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God.

St. Denis worked hard in ministering to the people of God, the small yet growing community of Christians in the region now known as Paris, the capital of France. He was persecuted, arrested and condemned to death during the reign of the Roman Emperor Decius, who carried out a brutal persecution of Christians. He was sentenced to death by decapitation or beheading.

Yet, miraculously, St. Denis continued on preaching after he was beheaded, picking up his head and walking for many kilometres while preaching before he eventually died and was buried. Many people and pagans who witnessed such a miraculous occasion believed in God and became Christians. The faith and commitment of St. Denis in loving God should be an inspiration for all of us to follow.

Meanwhile, St. John Leonardi was remembered for his great love for God and pious devotion, his courage and dedication in serving God even when he was faced with great odds and opposition from the local secular authorities who disliked his works in establishing the religious congregation among others. Yet, all these obstacles did not stop this courageous saint from continuing his ministry and works.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on what we have just discussed earlier, and let us all discover in our hearts that deep and strong, genuine love that each and every one of us should have for God, just as He has loved us all so much and so great a compassion that He is willing to forgive us our many sins if we repent wholeheartedly. Let us all thus turn towards the Lord with renewed faith, hope and love from now on. Amen.

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Wednesday, 9 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Luke 11 : 1-4

At that time, Jesus was praying in a certain place; and when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples.”

And Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say this : Father, may Your Name be held holy, may Your kingdom come; give us, each day, the kind of bread we need, and forgive us our sins; for we also forgive all who do us wrong; and do not bring us to the test.”

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Wednesday, 9 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Psalm 85 : 3-4, 5-6, 9-10

Have mercy on me, o YHVH, for I cry to You all day. Bring joy to the soul of Your servant; for You, o YHVH, I lift up my soul.

You are good and forgiving, o YHVH, caring for those who call on You. Listen, o YHVH, to my prayer, hear the voice of my pleading.

All the nations You have made will come; they will worship before You, o YHVH, and bring glory to Your Name. For You are great, and wonderful are Your deeds; You alone, are God.

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Wednesday, 9 October 2019 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Jonah 4 : 1-11

But Jonah was greatly displeased at this, and he was indignant. He prayed to YHVH and said, “O YHVH, is this not what I said when I was yet in my own country? This is why I fled to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and full of love, and You relent from imposing terrible punishment. I beseech You now, YHVH, to take my life, for now it is better for me to die than to live.”

But YHVH replied, “What right have you to be angry?” Jonah then left the city. He went to a place east of it, built himself a shelter and sat under its shade to wait and see what would happen to Nineveh. Then YHVH God provided a castor-oil plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade over his head and to ease his discomfort. Jonah was very happy about the plant.

But the next day, at dawn, God sent a worm which attacked the plant and made it wither. When the sun rose, God sent a scorching east wind; the sun blazed down upon Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. His death wish returned and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

Then God asked Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the castor-oil plant?” Jonah answered, “I am right to be angry enough to wish to die.” YHVH said, “You are concerned about a plant which cost you no labour to make it grow. Overnight it sprang up, and overnight it perished. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish right from left and they have many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned for such a great city?”