28th Week of Ordinary Time

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Tuesday, 15 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the Scripture passages we have heard a very important reminder for us to put our focus and attention on the Lord, our God alone. We must not be distracted by other things in life and follow the foolishness of the people of the past who worshipped and focused their attentions on the created and lesser things of this world than to focus themselves to the One Who created and is the source of all things.

In our first reading today, at the beginning of his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome, St. Paul spoke up against all those who have refused to listen to the words of God and rejected the salvation which He has brought into this world through Jesus Christ, His own begotten Son. And he made this to strengthen the faith of the faithful, both Jews and Gentiles alike, amidst a community which was immersed in pagan worship and lifestyle.

St. Paul was reminding the people that for all the glamour and glories of the world, for all the displays of wealth and worldly pleasures that often accompanied pagan worship and celebrations, all of those were mere illusions and cannot be compared to the truth and glory of Christ, the one and only True God. Those people were distracted from the truth because they would not allow God to enter into their hearts and they were too full of the many temptations of worldliness.

And a parallel to this was also mentioned in the Gospel passage today, in the encounter we heard of between the Lord Jesus and a Pharisee who wondered why Jesus did not wash His hands in the prescribed manner according to the Law when the Pharisee invited Him over for a dinner. The Lord then rebuked the Pharisee for his attention to the wrong details, focusing on the external applications of the Law while failing to understand the true intent and purpose of the Law.

Essentially, the Pharisee and the pagans mentioned by St. Paul all shared the same fault, and that is they focused on the wrong focus in life. They became distracted and fell into the worship and focus on worldly things and idols, the worship of the created beings and things rather than the focus and emphasis on the Creator of all things. The Pharisee might indeed believe in God, but his preoccupation and emphasis on the petty details on the observance of the Law made him to idolise that rather than to focus on the true worship of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard of the Scripture passages and discussed all these things we have just talked about, we can see that we are all called to find our direction in life and to refocus our attention on God and not on other, worldly things that often distract us in life. We may think that unlike the pagans mentioned by St. Paul, we are Christians and we believe in God and His truth, that we have no idols with us and neither do we worship them.

But we must not forget that whatever it is that can distract us from God can in fact be an idol to us, just as the Pharisee’s example ought to show us. The Pharisee idolised the way that the Law ought to be observed according to the customs of the Pharisees, and in doing so, he was distracted and diverted his attention from truly loving God and from truly having genuine faith in Him. That was why he and many other Pharisees did not and he failed to have faith in the Lord Jesus in the first place.

Let us ask ourselves, brothers and sisters in Christ. How many of us have forgotten about God or ignored Him when we are so preoccupied with our livelihood that we ended up spending lots and lots of time trying to advance our careers, gaining more wealth, glory, fame and all sorts of things that we often desire in life. All of these things are the ‘idols’ of our worldly life that we must be aware of and that we must be careful with lest they distract us and drag us away from the path towards God and His saving grace.

On this day, perhaps, we should look upon the example of one particular saint, a holy woman and religious remembered for her great faith and dedication to God, in how we should also live our lives from now on with faith. St. Teresa of Avila, also known as St. Teresa of Jesus was a Spanish religious sister and member of the Carmelite Order, who together with St. John of the Cross were instrumental in the reform of the Carmelite Order, eventually founding the Discalced Carmelites.

St. Teresa of Avila was concerned with the deterioration and lack of discipline and faith in the Carmelite Order she was in, and therefore together with St. John of the Cross and others, they worked hard for the purification of the intention and the original call of the Order, embracing once again what the founders of the Carmelite Order had intended, living in strict discipline of faith and reemphasising the focus and commitment towards God.

St. Teresa of Avila also wrote extensively on many aspects of the faith, which still continued to inspire many of the faithful through the ages and centuries after her time. That was why Pope Benedict XVI declared her to be one of the Doctors of the Church for her dedication and contributions. We can see the strong and genuine faith in St. Teresa of Avila, her commitment and love for God which each and every one of us should have as well. We should follow in her footsteps and walk in the path she had walked before us in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore deepen our relationship and faith in God, committing ourselves more and more in each and every passing days, resisting the many temptations present in this world and focusing on God and Him alone. Let us all spend more time and effort in building a living and good relationship with our loving God from now on. May the Lord continue to bless us and guide us, and may through the intercession of St. Teresa of Avila, we are brought ever closer to God. Amen.

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Tuesday, 15 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 11 : 37-41

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him to have a meal with him. So He went and sat at table. The Pharisee then wondered why Jesus did not wash His hands before the dinner.

But the Lord said to him, “So then, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside yourselves you are full of greed and evil. Fools! He Who made the outside, also made the inside. But according to you, by the mere giving of alms everything is made clean.”

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Tuesday, 15 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.

No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on, throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.

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Tuesday, 15 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Romans 1 : 16-25

For I am not ashamed at all, of this Good News; it is God’s power, saving those who believe, first, the Jews, and then, the Greeks. This Good News shows us the saving justice of God; a justice that saves, exclusively by faith, as the Scripture says : The upright one shall live by faith.

For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven, against all ungodliness, and injustice, of those who have silenced the truth by their wicked ways. For everything that could have been known about God, was clear to them : God Himself made it plain. Because His invisible attributes – His everlasting power and divinity – are made visible to reason, by means of His works, since the creation of the world.

So they have no excuse, for they knew God, and did not glorify Him, as was fitting; nor did they give thanks to Him. On the contrary, they lost themselves in their reasoning, and darkness filled their minds. Believing themselves wise, they became foolish : they exchanged the glory of the Immortal God, for the likes of mortal human beings, birds, animals and reptiles. Because of this, God gave them up to their inner cravings; they did shameful things and dishonoured their bodies.

They exchanged God’s truth for a lie; they honoured and worshipped created things, instead of the Creator, to Whom be praise forever. Amen!

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Monday, 14 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callixtus I, Pope and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the faith that we must have in God and we must not doubt Him any longer, no matter what. We must trust in Him and we must not allow temptations to distract us and to pull us away from Him as what happened to the Israelites of the time of the Lord Jesus as mentioned in our Gospel passage today.

In that occasion, the Lord spoke before the people making references to both the Queen of the South as well as the prophet Jonah. And the context of this occasion was that the people especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked the Lord to perform miracles and signs before them that they might believe in Him and follow Him. Yet, the fact is that the Lord had done numerous miracles before their eyes before they asked Him, and they refused to believe.

In fact, plenty of times when they asked the Lord to show them something miraculous was meant to test Him and to find evidences against Him, as they continued to refuse to listen to Him and closed their hearts and minds against Him. They did not have faith in the Lord and they allowed pride and worldly greed and desires to overcome their rationale and wisdom, and as a result, they refused to believe even though they have seen and witnessed the wonders of God many times.

St. Paul in our first reading passage today, at the beginning of his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Rome spoke firmly and courageously of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one Whom he was serving as an Apostle, and laid before the faithful in simple and straightforward terms, who the Lord Jesus truly is, the One Whom God had promised to His people as the Saviour of the whole world and by Whose hands, mankind were to be saved.

As a significant proportion of the earliest Christians were members of the Jewish communities scattered throughout the Mediterranean including in Rome, St. Paul alluded to the Lord Jesus being the One Who fulfilled the many prophecies of the prophets of God, the One promised to bring mankind into eternal life and salvation, and by the supreme act of love on the Cross of His sacrifice, Christ brought salvation into the world.

And that was the sign of Jonah as alluded by the Lord Himself in the Gospel passage today. The Lord would descend into the depths of hell until the third day of His resurrection, just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the great whale. And just as Jonah was sent to the city of Nineveh to remind them of their wickedness that led them to repent from their sins, the Lord Jesus came into this world to call us to repent from our sins.

Through all of these, and what we have heard in the Scripture passages today, we really need to reflect deeply on our own lives and actions thus far. Have we been truly faithful to God all these while or were our faith more of the superficial kind, or just of a formality and paying lip service to God and the Church? We need to discern what we have to do from now on in our lives as faithful Christians, that is as those who truly believe in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today perhaps we should also look at the inspiring examples shown by this day’s saint, namely Pope St. Callixtus I, one of the early leaders of the Church who endured much difficulties and challenges from even his youth, as it was told that he lived formerly as a slave during his early years. When he was eventually elected as the Successor of St. Peter and leader of the Church, he lived through a difficult time of persecution of the Christian faithful.

There were challenges from both outside and from within the Church at the time, as disagreements in the Church leadership actually caused bitter division and election of a rival Pope, St. Hippolytus of Rome. And during those years, persecution of Christians would end up causing the arrest and eventual suffering and martyrdom of Pope St. Callixtus I and many other Christians of his time. Nonetheless, they lived their lives with great faith and dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore from now on renew our conviction and commitment to live as better Christians, to be more faithful in all things and to love God as well as our fellow brothers and sisters around us with ever greater love and faith. May God through the intercession of His faithful saints, especially Pope St. Callixtus I, continue to bless us in our daily lives. Amen.

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Monday, 14 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callixtus I, Pope and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Luke 11 : 29-32

At that time, as the crowd increased, Jesus spoke the following words : “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.”

“The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here, there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here, there is greater than Jonah.”

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Monday, 14 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callixtus I, Pope and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.

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Monday, 14 October 2019 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callixtus I, Pope and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Romans 1 : 1-7

From Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, an Apostle, called and set apart for God’s Good News, the very promises He foretold through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures, regarding His Son, Who was born in the flesh a descendant of David, and has been recognised as the Son of God, endowed with Power, upon rising from the dead, through the Holy Spirit.

Through Him, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and for the sake of His Name, we received grace, and mission in all the nations, for them to accept the faith. All of you, the elected of Christ, are part of them, you, the beloved God in Rome, called to be holy : May God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, give you grace and peace.

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Sunday, 13 October 2019 : Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday as we reflect back on what we have just heard being proclaimed in the Scriptures, we can see that there is a unifying theme for this Sunday’s set of readings and it is the importance of being grateful and to give thanks to God for all the wonderful blessings that He has given us all. Many times we have failed to appreciate and to thank the One Who has made everything possible for us according to His will.

We may think that giving thanks or showing appreciation to someone is something that is easily done and without the need of much effort. But through what the Scriptures are reminding us today, we are called to look deep into our own lives and realise just how difficult it is really, at times, to acknowledge, appreciate and to thank someone for the good deeds that has been done or given to us.

Let us first look at our first reading today taken from the Book of Kings, in which we heard the story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian by the prophet Elisha. Naaman was the greatest general of the King of Aram, a sworn enemy of the people of the northern kingdom of Israel because Aram had waged numerous wars for decades and centuries in contest of the lands of the northern kingdom. But this Naaman then suffered from leprosy.

We may not think that leprosy is something that is serious, but at that time, leprosy was not just a disease that can harm the body physically, but also afflict the person in mental, spiritual and in many other ways. For once, leprosy is a very highly visible affliction as it causes a visible discolouration of the skin and it affects particularly the limbs and the extremities, making it even more easily apparent.

And as leprosy can be transmitted from one person to another, although not highly contagious unlike some other diseases, the people of Naaman and Elisha’s time despised and feared leprosy a lot as a disease and even more so as a curse. For a person suffering from leprosy was often considered to be cursed by God for being sinful and for other wickedness that he or she had committed in life.

To see just how severe the affliction of leprosy was to the community, we just have to look at the numerous laws, rules and regulations listed down particularly in the Book of Leviticus where plenty of rules applied to those suffering from leprosy, those who came into contact with the lepers and even the matter of how to destroy objects and things that have come into contact with a leper. Essentially, we can see just how serious leprosy was to the community and this served its purpose right there and then when the Israelite community travelled and lived in very close quarters as they journeyed through the desert during the Exodus.

The lepers were forced to live outside the community as outcasts, and they were not allowed to return to the community until they were thoroughly clean and free from all signs of still having leprosy in their body. That was how it was even up to the time of the Lord Jesus, when He encountered the ten lepers in the wilderness as recounted in our Gospel passage today. Those ten lepers were outcasts and could not return to the community until their leprosy were healed and they proved this to the priests.

Therefore, it was in this context that Naaman the Syrian came all the way to Israel to seek healing as the name of the prophet Elisha as even though the rules regarding leprosy might have been different in his homeland, nonetheless it must have been a humiliating and difficult experience to suffer from such a disease. Thus Naaman came to Israel seeking Elisha hoping that he could be cured from his afflictions. But Naaman initially was not happy that Elisha asked him to go and bathe seven times in the River Jordan, for he thought that the prophet would have done something more amazing than such a mundane activity, and that he could have done the same in one of the rivers of his own home country.

But in the end, Naaman relented when his servant pointed out to him that he should probably better listen to the words of the prophet and do as he was asked to do in order to be healed. True enough, Naaman was healed completely right after he did all that the prophet Elisha had asked him to do. And as we heard in our Gospel passage today, Naaman wanted to thank Elisha for what he had done and insisted to give many gifts to the prophet, but Elisha rejected this offer.

In this, we can see how pride and ego often stand in the way for us to be able to appreciate what God has done for us, especially in reaching out to us and in trying to heal us from our afflictions and relieve us from our many troubles. Naaman was proud and arrogant, thinking badly at first how he could have been healed in a much better and more dramatic manner, only to realise that this attitude made him stubborn and therefore fail to recognise God’s generous offer of love and mercy.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the ten lepers who were healed by the Lord even though initially they were unaware that they were already healed by the time the Lord was with them. But among the ten, only one of them returned to the Lord and thanked Him, while the other nine lepers, probably overjoyed and too distracted by their sudden reversal of fortune, forgot completely about the Lord and did not return to thank Him.

This here is a reminder for us that, not only that we could be stubborn and refuse to accept or acknowledge something good given to us by another, but we also often forget to give appreciation, acknowledgement or thanksgiving when they are due because we are too distracted and too preoccupied with whatever it is that we are doing that we end up treating God in such an ungrateful manner. And yet, if you noticed, the Lord did not retract His healing grace from the other nine even though they did not thank Him.

Now, there are two very important things here we have to take note of, brothers and sisters in Christ. First and most important of these is that, all of us, in case we do not realise it, are also suffering from ‘leprosy’ too. And why is this so? That is because all of us, no matter how healthy we are in our physical bodies, all of us are sick inside because of sin. All of us are sinners without any exception, each and every one of us have sinned, and sin is the ‘leprosy of the soul’.

And even far more dangerous than the physical and bodily leprosy mentioned, the spiritual ‘leprosy’ that is sin cannot be healed save by the grace of God’s forgiveness alone. But as shown by the example of Naaman’s initial stubbornness and the ignorance of the nine lepers healed by Jesus, we mankind are often too stubborn and proud in refusing to admit that we have been wrong and that we have sinned.

And that is why we end up not realising just how serious our sins and our conditions are, often until it is too late for us. And God has always been generous in extending His mercy and in being compassionate towards us regardless of our rebelliousness and constant attempts in disobeying Him. Then, secondly, the second important thing I mentioned is that God’s mercy is for everyone. He extends His merciful love to all and He is not biased for or against anyone.

This may not be easily observed in today’s Scripture readings, but the fact that two person mentioned prominently in them, namely Naaman the Syrian and the Samaritan leper who returned to give thanks to the Lord Jesus, were both foreigners and were often considered as pagans and looked down upon by the Jews made it truly significant. The fact that they gave thanks to God the blessings and wonders they have received put to shame the rest of those who considered themselves as God’s chosen people and superior to the pagans.

This is a reminder for us not to ever look down on anyone or think that others do not deserve God’s love and attention as much as we do, for God truly loves every single one of His children, all of us without exception. The Lord wants all of us to be healed from this terrible affliction of sin, the ‘leprosy of our souls’. Let us all have that necessary humility in us to acknowledge first of all how we are really in need of God’s healing grace, to be forgiven from our sins. And then let us all also humbly acknowledge how great God’s love for us had been that He still cared for us all these while despite all of our waywardness and stubbornness.

May the Lord continue to guide us all through these journeys we have in our respective lives. May He continue to bless us in our every good works and endeavours as He has always done, and may He strengthen in us the courage and resolve to dedicate our lives to His cause and for His greater glory from now on. Let us also be ever thankful for His ever great love for each and every one of us, and for His ever great patience for us all, His beloved but wayward ones. May God bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 13 October 2019 : Twenty-Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 17 : 11-19

At that time, on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus passed through Samaria and Galilee, and as He entered a village, ten lepers came to meet Him. Keeping their distance, they called to Him, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

Jesus said to them, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Then, as they went on their way, they found they were cured. One of them, as soon as he saw that he was cleansed, turned back, praising God in a loud voice; and throwing himself on his face before Jesus, he gave Him thanks. This man was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus asked him, “Were not all ten healed? Where are the other nine? Did none of them decide to return and give praise to God, but this foreigner?” And Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go your way; your faith has saved you.”