2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Thursday, 24 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the works that the Lord had performed among the people, fulfilling what the Lord Himself has promised to His people, that He would send upon them His salvation and deliverance, His light amidst the darkness of this world, which He fulfilled through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of all mankind.

He came into this world, fulfilling the promises that God had made all of throughout history, bringing the salvation and light of hope into our midst, and what we heard in the Gospel passage today is the fulfilment of what He had promised through His prophet Isaiah, as well as many other prophets, the promise of the healing from God, where the blind would see again, the deaf would hear again, the mute would speak again, the paralytic would walk and move again, and more.

And even the evil spirits and demons recognised Who He is, the One God had sent into this world to be its Saviour. All the works that the Lord had done, all of them were possible because God Himself was behind those actions, revealing to the whole world the coming of the salvation which He has promised, and fulfilling those words He had spoken to His people earlier, the Covenant He has made and renewed with His chosen people.

And the means by which He did this, once and for all, was revealed in today’s first reading, in the passage taken from the Epistle written by St. Paul to the Hebrews. In that passage, St. Paul explained how the Lord Jesus has embraced the role of our one and true High Priest, linking to the Jewish tradition and the Torah, where the role of the priests of God were highlighted and kept to the time of Jesus. The Lord Jesus is the one and ony perfect Priest far surpassing any others.

That is because, as St. Paul explained, the priests of the time of old Israel up to the time of Jesus’ life offered the sacrificial offerings at the Temple, of the blood of animals, of lambs and goats, and others, for the temporary atonement of the sins of the people. But because the people continued to sin, again and again, disobeying God’s laws and commandments, many times, then the offerings and sacrifices need to be done frequently.

But the Lord Jesus is special unlike all the other priests, because He did not offer the offering of the blood of animals, which although have been chosen from among those that were unblemished, but those were nothing compared to the truly perfect and worthy offering of the Blood of the Lamb of God, Our Lord Jesus Himself. The Lord as our High Priest has offered Himself willingly on the altar of the cross, bearing upon Himself our many sins and wickedness, so that we may be forgiven from those sins and gain eternal life with Him.

And He is willing to go through all the pain and sufferings for this because of the great and boundless love that He has for each and every one of us. He Who created us out of love will not abandon us to destruction, but will do whatever He can do in order to save us and prevent our annihilation. That was why, He did what He had done, bearing the painful cross of suffering for the sake of our salvation.

We have seen how great the love of God is, and therefore now, it is only then right that we, as His beloved ones, should also love Him in the same manner as He has loved us. And today we should emulate the examples shown by one of the Lord’s faithful followers, St. Francis de Sales, a holy bishop and Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Salesian religious order, whose life is truly an inspiration for each one of us on how we should live up to our faith.

St. Francis de Sales devoted much of his life to the service of God, educating the faithful through his sermons and writings, and by leading a virtuous and prayerful life, through which he convinced many to return to the true Christian faith at the time when many abandoned the Church due to the so-called ‘reformation’. He also helped to reorganise the Church clergy and structure of the local Church where he has been appointed as bishop.

St. Francis de Sales devoted his time and effort, out of the great love that he has for God and for His people, those who has been entrusted to him as their shepherd. Not only that he showed his great faith to the Lord, but even more importantly, he followed the example of Christ, in the role of priesthood that he has embraced, as the representative of the Lord among His people.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we then also able to love and serve the Lord as St. Francis de Sales and the many other holy men and women of God had done? Let us all do the same with our own lives, and dedicate ourselves to love the One Who has given us His all, for our salvation, that He was willing to bear the painful cross of our sins, for our sake. May we grow ever more in our love and dedication for Him, day after day, each and every days of our life, from now on. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 3 : 7-12

At that tine, Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the lakeside, and a large crowd from Galilee followed Him. A great number of people also came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, Transjordan, and from the region of Tyre and Sidon, for they had heard of all that He was doing.

Because of the crowd, Jesus told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him, to prevent the people from crushing Him. He healed so many, that all who had diseases kept pressing towards Him to touch Him. Even the people who had evil spirits, whenever they saw Him, they would fall down before Him and cry out, “You are the Son of God.” But He warned them sternly not to tell anyone Who He was.

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Thursday, 24 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 39 : 7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

“As the scroll says of me. To do Your will is my delight, o God, for Your law is within my heart.”

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

But may all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and may all who love Your saving grace continually say, “The Lord is great.”

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Thursday, 24 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 7 : 25 – Hebrews 8 : 6

Consequently Jesus is able to save for all time those who approach God through Him. He always lives to intercede on their behalf. It was fitting that our High Priest be holy, undefiled, set apart from sinners and exalted above the heavens; a Priest Who does not first need to offer sacrifice for Himself before offering for the sins of the people, as high priests do. He offered Himself in sacrifice once and for all.

And whereas the Law elected weak men as high priests, now, after the Law, the word of God with an oath appointed the Son, made perfect forever. The main point of what we are saying is that we have a High Priest. He is seated at the right hand of the Divine Majesty in heaven, where He serves as minister of the true Temple and Sanctuary, set up not by any mortal but by the Lord.

A high priest is appointed to offer to God gifts and sacrifices, and Jesus also has to offer some sacrifice. Had He remained on earth, He would not be a priest, since others offer the gifts according to the Law. In fact, the ritual celebrated by those priests is only an imitation and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary.

We know the word of God to Moses with regard to the construction of the holy tent. He said : You are to make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain. Now, however, Jesus enjoys a much higher ministry in being the Mediator of a better covenant, founded on better promises.

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Wednesday, 23 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Lord which remind us of His love for each and every one of us as our loving High Priest, in His ministry and work among us, as shown in the Gospel passage today, by the healing of the man with the paralytic hand. At that time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law argued that the Lord Jesus had disobeyed the Law by healing someone on the Sabbath day. But the Lord rebuked them as they failed to understand the true meaning and purpose of the Law of God.

The Lord was angry at them, and at the same time also sad, as mentioned in the Gospel, because He saw such stubbornness and injustice being present among His own people. He saw how the people were being very selfish and arrogant, thinking that they were righteous and great, mighty and powerful, and others were less deserving of God’s grace and love than the rest. The Lord gave His people His laws and commandments with the intention to bring them closer to Him, and unfortunately, those had been misused and misunderstood.

Instead of becoming a pathway for the people of God to come closer to Him, those laws and commandments have become great obstacles and barriers, imposed by those in power and influential positions on those who were weaker, less fortunate and less intellectual. The laws of God became a great burden for the people to bear, who followed and obeyed them not out of true love for God, but out of fear of being punished and damned into hell.

And worse still, many among the Pharisees and the chief priests who claimed to obey the laws and fulfil the commandments the most, those people did so not out of love for God, but for their own personal benefits and convenience, that is to satisfy their own personal greed and worldly desires, the desire for power, for influence, for prestige and for their own ambitions, that they imposed such a difficult situation for the rest of the people of God.

That is why the Lord was so angered by what He had seen, all the hypocrisy and the lack of faith among those to whom the guardianship and the leadership of the people and flock of God had been entrusted to. The Lord rebuked them directly before the people, as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been adamant in their constant opposition to His works, especially on the matter of His miracles and healing on the Sabbath.

He reminded the people that the law of the Sabbath did not mean that the people of God could not do anything, even things that are good and done in obedience to God. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were understanding the Law in the literal manner, without understanding the true purpose and intention of those rules and commandments. As a result, they caused others to also interpret the Law in the wrong way, and walk down the wrong path in practicing their faith.

And the Lord Himself showed the example by His own commitment and obedience to the true intention and meaning of the Law. As He Himself mentioned, the whole Law and commandments of God can be summarised into two main parts, that is first of all, the love for God, our Lord and Creator, and then, the same love which we must have for our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow men, be it our family members, our friends, or even strangers and those who do not love us, or even hated us.

He, Our Lord and High Priest, as mentioned in our first reading passage today, the one and true Eternal High Priest of us all, in the line of the High Priest Melchizedek, offered Himself for the atonement of our sins, and therefore for our salvation. He showed us what it truly means for us to have faith in God, not in empty and meaningless show of obedience as the hypocrites had shown in the past, but through real love and commitment for God, and for the love which He had for each one of us, that He willingly bore the burden of the cross for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now each and every one of us are called to love God and to serve Him much in the same way as He has shown us, by His loving sacrifice on the cross. We are called and challenged to follow His examples, in truly devoting ourselves to Him and in giving of ourselves to the greater glory of God. Let us all therefore turn towards Him wholeheartedly, and do our very best to live up to our faith from now on. Amen.

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Wednesday, 23 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 3 : 1-6

At that time, again Jesus entered the synagogue. A man, who had a paralysed hand, was there and some people watched Jesus : would He heal the man on the sabbath? If He did, they could accuse Him.

Jesus said to the man with the paralysed hand, “Stand here in the centre.” Then He asked them, “What does the Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To do good or to do harm? To save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Then Jesus looked around at them with anger and deep sadness, because they had closed their minds. And He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was healed. As soon as the Pharisees left, they met with Herod’s supporters, looking for a way to destroy Jesus.

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Wednesday, 23 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Wednesday, 23 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 7 : 1-3, 15-17

Scripture says that Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, came out to meet Abraham who returned from defeating the kings. He blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

Let us note that the name Melchizedek means King of Justice, and that king of Salem means king of Peace. There is no mention of father, mother or genealogy; nothing is said about the beginning or the end of his life. In this he is the figure of the Son of God, the Priest Who remains forever.

All this, however, becomes clear if this Priest after the likeness of Melchizedek has in fact received His mission, not on the basis of any human law, but by the power of an immortal life. Because Scripture says : You are a Priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek.

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Tuesday, 22 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (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 that reminded us of the need to understand what God wants each and every one of us to do as His followers and disciples, in particular given the context of today’s Scripture passages. We are called to love Him and to serve Him, as part of the Covenant which He has made for us. But ultimately, God also desires for our well-being and salvation.

In the first reading today we heard of the many favours and wonders that He has bestowed on those who have been faithful to Him, focusing on the persona of Abraham, the righteous man who has devoted himself to the Lord such that God Himself made a Covenant between Himself and all of his descendants. And the Covenant He made was such that, He has been faithful to what He has promised to Abraham, that He will bless his descendants and make them His own beloved people.

As Abraham became the father of many nations, and by virtue of our Christian faith, we have also become the spiritual children of Abraham, all of us are part of the same Covenant that God has established with him, and which He has renewed again and again throughout the centuries and ages past. He has always been faithful even though many of us mankind have been wayward and disobedient.

That was why He also gave us His laws and commandments, all with the purpose of getting us all to love Him and to put our focus on Him, and not on all the various distractions we often have in life. And one such law, as mentioned in our Gospel passage today, is the law of the Sabbath, which regulated the way the people of God should act and behave on the seventh day in the week, the Sabbath day, a day that the Lord had made holy.

The Scriptural basis of the law of the Sabbath is related to the works of the Lord Himself, Who created the universe and all the world, only to rest on one of the days, at the last day. Thus, the same day in the Jewish law and tradition is meant for the people of God to ‘rest’ from their various activities and to focus their attention on God, and God alone. That is the true intention and purpose of the Sabbath day and its related laws.

Unfortunately, the purpose and the intention of the Law had been forgotten and misunderstood by the people and their elders, as the Gospel passage had shown us. What had been given with the good intention of realigning men and their focus and attention towards God, instead became a source of great obstacle and suffering for many among the people, as the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law enforced them on the people.

Those people enforced a very strict observation of the Sabbath law to the point that the people could not do anything, even anything good and productive, and even in the matter of feeding oneself, as the disciples of the Lord did when they were hungry and picked on the grains of the wheat in the field. They have forgotten that by doing so, what they did was in fact observing the Law in the letter, but not in the spirit.

This means that they knew what the Law is, but they failed to understand and appreciate what the Law is truly about, its meaning and purpose. The Law of God is meant to bring us closer to God, to help us to focus on Him and His way, and not to distance us and make it difficult for us to follow Him. This is why, the Lord rebuked the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their shortsightedness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we should turn towards the Lord with a new spirit and commitment to love and to serve Him with all of our strength, obeying Him by understanding that all of His laws and commandments are meant to redirect our attention and focus on Him, and away from all things that can end up causing us to fall into temptation and damnation. And today, we should model ourselves based on the examples shown by the holy servant of God, St. Vincent, holy deacon and martyr.

St. Vincent was a deacon who served the people of God in what is today Spain, in the city of Saragossa, during the difficult years of terrible persecution by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He dedicated himself so much to his service and his faith, that even when he was arrested and forced to reject his faith, he refused to do so. His defence of his faith was so resolute and strong that it made his enemies even angrier and he suffered grievously for his dedication.

Nonetheless, St. Vincent continued to be faithful and dedicated himself to the service of God. He remained firm in his dedication, and was martyred in good faith. His examples and his courage continued to inspire many of the faithful throughout the ages. And we can also follow his good examples, by devoting our own lives to the Lord, and by knowing how much love He has given to each and every one of us.

Let us all from now on, turn towards the Lord, spending day after day of our lives with faith, doing our very best to serve the Lord. Let us devote ourselves with a new spirit and strength, from now on, each and every days of our life. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 22 January 2019 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Mark 2 : 23-28

At that time, one Sabbath Jesus was walking through grainfields. As His disciples walked along with Him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”

And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did in his time of need, when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the house of God, when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Master even of the Sabbath.”