30 January 2016

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Saturday, 30 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words from the Sacred Scriptures, beginning from how David was rebuked by God through the prophet Nathan for his unlawful and sinful seizing of the wife of one of his subordinates, and made her to be his own. As a result, God punished David for his insubordination and wayward attitude.

Then in the Gospel today we heard about the Lord Jesus Who made a storm calm and Who commanded even the wind and the waves to obey Him and to spare His boat and the disciples within it. We see the power and the authority of God being on display, where He made clear that if one is to have faith in Him, then he or she will not be disappointed, for in Him alone lies all power and all comfort.

How do these two readings match up together, brethren? It is where we see disobedience in both, in the first reading the disobedience and lack of faith due to an action that brought a faithful servant of God to sin, and in the Gospel we witnessed a lack of faith where the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ lost their faith in Him in the face of danger and certain death.

This lack of faith was what brought the people involved into a state where they would be vulnerable to the temptation of Satan, which was proven by what David had done with Bathsheba, the wife of his own subordinate, whom he took to be his own wife after he plotted to kill her husband to hide his own adulterous relationship with her. This was a moment of weakness, when faith was overcome by the lust and the desires of men.

Then, heeding the message of the Gospel today, we also should see how the storm in the lake is a mirror of our own lives. The storm is a representation of the dangers and the challenges that we face in our daily lives as we live as followers and disciples of our Lord. The boat is a representation of the Church which unites all the believers and the followers of the Lord, with the Lord Himself at the helm.

During such situation, with violent waves and strong winds, it is understandable that our human instincts would tell us and convince us to jump from the boat and abandon the boat that is taking in water and is sinking rapidly, but if everyone is to abandon the boat and jump into the water, they themselves would be swallowed by the powerful waves, be brought under and perish.

Thus, it is a lesson and a reminder for all of us, that all of us should remain faithful to the Lord our God, and cling strongly to Him in faith, and all of us should resist the temptations to abandon Him for other good things, the temptations of life, the temptations of pleasure and temporary satisfaction of either the body or the soul. Let us all heed this lesson as we continue to live our lives, so that we will always be faithful to our Lord and God.

May God bless us all in this life, and may He strengthen our resolve to live ever more in accordance with His will. Let us not be afraid or worry if we make a mistake, but let us do what king David, His faithful servant had done, in humbly seeking His forgiveness and mercy. Let us all be reunited in the Lord and become worthy once again to receive His grace and blessings. God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 30 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Mark 4 : 35-41

At that time, on the same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him.

Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!”

The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?” But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

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Saturday, 30 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 50 : 12-13, 14-15, 16-17

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will show wrongdoers Your ways and sinners will return to You.

Deliver me, o God, from the guilt of blood, and of Your justice I shall sing aloud. O Lord, open my lips, and I will declare Your praise.

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Saturday, 30 January 2016 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

2 Samuel 12 : 1-7a, 10-17

So YHVH sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan went to the king and said to him, “There were two men in a city : one was rich; the other, poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one little ewe lamb he had bought. He himself fed it and it grew up with him and his children.”

It shared his food, drank from his cup and slept on his lap. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, but he would not take from his own flock or herd to prepare food for the traveller. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for his visitor.”

David was furious because of this man and told Nathan, “As YHVH lives, the man who has done this deserves death! He must return the lamb fourfold for acting like this and showing no compassion.” Nathan said to David, “You are this man!”

“Now the sword will never be far from your family because you have despised Me and taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself. Thus says YHVH : Your misfortune will rise from your own house! I will take your wives from you and give them to your neighbour who shall lie with them in broad daylight. What you did was done secretly, but what I do will be done before Israel in broad daylight.”

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against YHVH.” Nathan answered him, “YHVH has forgiven your sin; you shall not die. However, because you have dared to despise YHVH by doing such a thing, the child that is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan left and went to his house.

YHVH struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David and it became sick. David entreated God for the child; he kept a strict fast and lay on the ground the whole night. The elders of his house asked him to rise from the ground but he refused. Nor did he join them to eat.