28 July 2025

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Monday, 28 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the sins that we have often committed against God in our disobedience and refusal to follow His ways and paths, and the potential of what we have been provided by the Lord, in the gift of reconciliation, forgiveness and atonement which He has generously laid out before us all so that we may be truly reconciled with our loving God by the forgiveness of our many sins, wickedness and evil deeds. That is what the Lord wants each and every one of us to do in our lives, to return once again to Him and to embrace fully the love which He has for each one of us, to be truly worthy of everything that God has promised and guaranteed for us, eternal life and true joy with Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Exodus the account of the rebellion of the people of God, the Israelites against their own Lord and God with their choice to establish for themselves at Mount Sinai, at the Mountain of God no less, a golden calf idol that they called as their ‘god’ and as the one who led them out of the land of Egypt. And moreover, this happened shortly after the Lord Himself had just established His Covenant with all of them through Moses, if we recalled the reading from last week’s Book of Exodus, where Moses led the Israelites to God’s holy Mountain and gathered them there, and God made His Covenant with the Israelites with the blood of the slaughtered animal sacrifices offered on the Altar that they built there.

Instead of remaining faithful, the Israelites complained and grumbled when Moses then went up the mountain to speak with God and to receive His Law and commandments. This happened for a period of forty days, and many among the people complained and thought that Moses might have been dead. That was why they pushed or even rather forced Aaron, Moses’ brother who had been his spokesperson to make a golden calf idol to be their god over them, and why a golden calf? That was because by that time, the Israelites had been living in Egypt for a period of four hundred and thirty years, and in those more than four centuries living in Egypt, they certainly were very well accustomed to seeing Egyptian gods and idols, one of which was the Apis bull associated with the Egyptian gods Ptah and Osiris.

We saw how little faith that the Israelites had in God even though they had witnessed firsthand everything that God had done for them, in all the works and wonders He had done before them, all the Ten Great Plagues that God had sent against the Egyptians on their behalf, how they had spared all of them from the plague of death afflicting all the firstborn of the Egyptians, how He opened the sea itself before them and allowing them to pass through the sea unharmed and protected, while crushing the armies and chariots of the Pharaoh behind them as He made the sea to return once again to its position. God had done so many things for His people, and yet, this was how they treated Him, betraying and abandoning Him for a pagan idol that they made to be a ‘god’ over all of them when things were hard and uncertain for them.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the Lord Jesus telling His disciples using parables to teach them about the kingdom of Heaven or the kingdom of God. Using these parables the Lord wanted all of them to know that the kingdom of Heaven that has in fact materialised itself in this world through what He has brought into this world, in the community of believers that He has established, and eventually would firm up through the establishment of His Church. Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, the Church of God, the same One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that exists today is that Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven in this world, this tangible union of all the faithful people of God, all united by the same faith and purpose, and by the Communion of all the believers through the Eucharist.

Using the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the flour and yeast, the Lord wanted to tell all the people who were listening to Him that even though faith might be small and weak at first, but given the right conditions and guidance, this kind of faith can truly grow mightily and result in truly many wonderful deeds, by which one can impact so many others positively in the faith. And the Lord liked to use parables to reach out to even the most marginalised and the poorest in the society, those who were uneducated and yet knowledgeable in the manner of agriculture and production of bread, by which the two parables made very good sense and meaning for them, and therefore, making it clear to them what God had intended for them to know. This also made what the Lord Himself had said true, that it was in fact the most knowledgeable and intelligent ones like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who hardened their hearts and refused to believe in God.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us need to provide for ourselves an environment where we can truly nurture our Christian faith and way of life, so that by nurturing this faith in us, we may grow ever stronger in our faith and dedication to God. Just like the mustard seed that require the right conditions to germinate and then grow, to flourish into the large mustard tree, and just like the yeast placed within the dough made with flour must have the right condition in order to allow the dough to rise therefore, there is also the need for the right condition for our faith to grow stronger within us. Each and every one of us as Christians should always strive to live our lives worthily in the manner that God has shown and taught us, His Law and commandments, and not be distracted and tempted as the Israelites had done in the past. Let us always be faithful and committed to the Covenant which God had made with us.

May the Lord, our most loving and compassionate God and Father, continue to help and guide us all in our journey through life, helping us to remain strong and courageous amidst the challenges in life and the struggles that we may be experiencing in each and every moments. We should continue to have faith in the Lord, no matter how tough or difficult things may be for us, so that we ourselves may be good inspirations and examples for everyone around us. Let us all be truly faithful and worthy beacons of God’s light, truth and Good News, showing His love and compassion to everyone we encounter in life. Let us all bring the hope of salvation in the Lord to everyone, and through our examples, lead more and more towards Him, ever being faithful and committed to God at all times, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 28 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 13 : 31-35

At that time, Jesus offered His disciples another parable : “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it is fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.”

He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast than a woman took, and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole mass of dough began to rise.” Jesus taught all these things to the crowds by means of parables; He did not say anything to them without using a parable. This fulfilled what was spoken by the Prophet : ‘I will speak in parables. I will proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world.’

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Monday, 28 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 105 : 19-20, 21-22, 23

They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.

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Monday, 28 July 2025 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Exodus 32 : 15-24, 30-34

Moses then returned and came down from the mountain carrying in his hands the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets written on both sides, back and front. These tablets were the work of God and the writing graven on the tablets was the writing of God.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people who were shouting he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But Moses answered, “It is not a victory song, nor the cry of defeat that I hear, but the sound of singing.”

When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burst forth and he threw down the tablets he was holding, shattering them at the foot of the mountain. Then he seized the calf they had made and burnt it in the fire, grinding it into a powder that he scattered over the surface of the water, and this he made the Israelites drink.

Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin on them?” And Aaron said, “Do not let your anger be roused. You know these people and how evil they are. They said to me : ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf!”

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very grave sin, but now I am going up to YHVH; perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.” So Moses went towards YHVH and said, “Ah! These people have committed a very great sin; they made a god out of gold. And now please forgive their sin… if not, blot me out of the book You have written.”

YHVH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out from My book. Go now! Lead the people where I told you. My Angel will walk before you and on the day of punishment I will punish them for their sin.”