30th Week of Ordinary Time

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Thursday, 1 November 2018 : Solemnity of All Saints (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 5 : 1-12a

At that time, when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain. He sat down and His disciples gathered around Him. Then He spoke and began to teach them :

“Fortunate are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. Fortunate are those who mourn; they shall be comforted. Fortunate are the gentle; they shall possess the land.”

“Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied. Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Fortunate are those with pure hearts, for they shall see God.”

“Fortunate are those who work for peace; they shall be called children of God. Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”

“Fortunate are you, when people insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you because you are My followers. Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God.”

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Thursday, 1 November 2018 : Solemnity of All Saints (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 3 : 1-3

See what singular love the Father has for us : we are called children of God, and we really are. This is why the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God’s children, and what we shall be has not, yet, been shown. Yet, when He appears in His glory, we know, that we shall be like Him, for, then, we shall see Him as He is. All who have such a hope, try to be pure, as He is pure.

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Thursday, 1 November 2018 : Solemnity of All Saints (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to YHVH, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of YHVH? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from YHVH, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Thursday, 1 November 2018 : Solemnity of All Saints (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Revelations 7 : 2-4, 9-14

I saw another Angel, ascending from the sunrise, carrying the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice, to the four Angels empowered to harm the earth and the sea, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”

Then, I heard the number of those marked with the seal : a hundred and forty-four thousand, from all the tribes of the people of Israel. After this, I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, standing before the Throne, and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice, “Who saves, but our God, Who sits on the Throne, and the Lamb?”

All the Angels were around the Throne, the elders and the four living creatures; they, then, bowed before the Throne, with their faces to the ground, to worship God. They said, “Amen, Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

At that moment, one of the elders spoke up, and said to me, “Who are these people clothed in white, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, it is you who know this.” The elder replied, “They, are those who have come out of the great persecution, they have washed, and made their clothes white, in the Blood of the Lamb.”

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Wednesday, 31 October 2018 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the eve of the Solemnity of All Saints, the All Hallows’ Eve, from which the name Halloween came from, all of us are reminded that as Christians, all of us are called to emulate the good examples of the saints, the blesseds and other holy men and women who had lived their lives virtuously and showed good Christian morality and way of life.

We are all quite familiar with the popular culture of present day Halloween, which came from centuries of distortions and twists of the truth of the Allhallowtide celebration, commemorating the three holy days of the All Hallows’ Eve itself, that is today, and the Solemnity of All Saints, and then lastly, the Feast of All Souls. In the past, certain communities and cultures celebrated the day of the dead, in remembrance of these events, which distortions led to the current secular Halloween.

This is not how we should commemorate this day, which instead should be a time of reflection and rediscovery for us, of the true calling of our Christian faith, and how each and every one of us can follow in the footsteps of the saints and martyrs, all those holy and devoted men and women who had gone before us. They have all shown us how to live as a Christian, to act and behave as a Christian, and to follow God wholeheartedly as Christians ought to do, as is also evident in the Scripture passages used today.

In the first reading today, from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the city of Ephesus, St. Paul exhorted the faithful to treat one another with respect and with proper dignity given to the other person, and he also mentioned how each parts of the community and the family ought to work with one another in establishing a loving Christian relationship with one another, between parents and children, and between masters and servants.

This came at a time when the general community treated children as insignificant persons, as immature and even easily exploitable, with a large percentage of the children population at work, mostly helping their families, but also a time when children were often not treated with love and care. And because of this lack of love in the relationship within families, between the parents and their children, that was why children also often times treated their parents with contempt.

And for the servants, livelihood was also relatively bad, as they often had to work long hours without adequate food, provisions and rest, and they were often at the mercy of their masters’ desires and will. They were often sold to the highest bidder and when they have outlived their usefulness, they would be mistreated and made to suffer, and cast out even without money or possession on them.

And these are the things and realities which unfortunately still remain in our world today. Parents and children still cannot get along, and even though child labour have been mostly eradicated from many parts of the world, but we see increasingly more and more broken families all over the world, where husband and wife cannot get along and seeking divorce, where children often end up becoming the victim of the divisions and sorrows surrounding all the conflicts.

We also see how people have often been unjustly treated both at workplace and in general livelihood. I am sure we have often witnessed those who abused their wealth, their influence and power in order to gain for themselves selfish benefits at the cost of many others who suffered because of the selfishness of those few who wanted good things for themselves and to satisfy their own wicked desires and greed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, that is why, in the Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus said it plainly, that the gateway to the kingdom of God, which is the pathway to salvation and eternal life, is a narrow one. For all the sins we mankind have committed, which many of us have not repented and regretted before God, we fall in further and deeper into even more sins, and from there, to eternal damnation.

But, the many saints of God, those deemed by the Church to be holy and exemplary in their faith and life, are bright stars of hope, amidst the darkness present in this world. And for us Christians, having this immense treasure trove of our predecessors, in all of their inspirational examples and faith, we should be inspired to live our lives more and more, day after day, to be in accordance with what we believe.

And we do not have to start ambitiously. We should start rather, from ourselves and from our families. As mentioned earlier, many of us have experienced troubles and difficulties in our family lives. Unless something is done, the devil will come in and wreak havoc in everything, and the only losers will be us alone. And we can take action by deepening our relationship with God, and also our families and communities with God and one another.

By spending more time in prayer, we attune ourselves more closely to the Lord and we will be able to know and understand His will for us better. And by showing love, care and concern, patience and temperance in our actions, we will be better able to love one another as fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord, and shun all sorts of actions that cause hurt to others and bring benefit only to ourselves.

Let us all renew our faith, and reflect on our lives thus far, thinking of what we can and should do, in order to serve the Lord more wholeheartedly, day after day. May the Lord be with us always, and may His glorious saints continue to ceaselessly pray for us sinners, still living in this world. Amen.

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Wednesday, 31 October 2018 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 22-30

At that time, Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making His way to Jerusalem. Someone asked Him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?”

And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But He will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.'”

“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ But He will reply, ‘I do not know where you come from. Away from Me, all you workers of evil.’ You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside.”

“Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”

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Wednesday, 31 October 2018 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

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Wednesday, 31 October 2018 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ephesians 6 : 1-9

Children, obey your parents for this is right : Honour your father and your mother. And this is the first commandment that has promise : that you may be happy and enjoy long life in the land. And you, fathers, do not make rebels of your children, but educate them by correction and instruction which the Lord may inspire.

Servants, obey your masters of this world with fear and respect, with simplicity of heart, as if obeying Christ. Do not serve only when you are watched or in order to please others, but become servants of Christ who do God’s will with all your heart. Work willingly, for the Lord and not for humans, mindful that the good each one has done, whether servant or free, will be rewarded by the Lord.

And you, masters, deal with your servants in the same way, and do not threaten them, since you know that they and you have the same Lord Who is in heaven, and He treats all fairly.

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Tuesday, 30 October 2018 : 30th 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 the Scripture speaking to us regarding the kingdom of God being present in our midst, within our Church and our Christian communities. In the Gospel passage, the Lord Jesus taught the people using parables in order to show them the truth of the kingdom of God, and how they ought to live in accordance with the way of God’s kingdom.

In that parable, the Lord showed the people that His kingdom is like that of a mustard seed that may first appear to be small, but then is capable of growing into a large tree, that has many branches and shows the amazing nature of how such a small seed can produce such a significant, large and important tree. This is what the Lord used, comparing the kingdom of God to that growing tree of mustard seed.

And then, He also used the example of flour and yeast, in which when the yeast is placed within the flour mixture in the dough, and then left standing, the dough will rise and become wholesome, from ordinary flour into life-giving and sustaining bread as we are familiar with. This is yet another example that the Lord used, comparing the process of the making of bread with the coming of the kingdom of God.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, both parables did not mention it, but in the minds of the people who heard it, many of whom were farmers and also were involved in the making of bread for their living, they must surely have been aware of what are the necessary conditions that will allow the mustard seed to grow and for the dough to rise and become a bread. Without the right conditions in place, none of those will happen.

The mustard seed needs to be placed in a rich and fertile soil, just as another parable, the parable of the sower mentioned. Only on rich and fertile soil, will the mustard seed grow well into a large and healthy tree, and also with all the right conditions and needs required by any green plants, that is water, sunlight, minerals, the right temperature and level of humidity, and in the right kind of environment and conditions.

Similarly, the yeast that is put in flour needs to be activated first by placing them in warm water, or otherwise, the yeast will remain dormant, as yeast is a microorganism that requires the right temperature to function properly. And then, yeast will only catalyse the formation of leavened bread when the yeast and dough mixture is placed in the right place and given the right conditions, that is in the absence of oxygen. That is why, the mixture must be sealed to allow all the oxygen surrounding the mixture to be used up, and yeast can do its work.

How are these relevant to us, then, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is exactly how we welcome the kingdom of God into our lives, and how we allow the kingdom of God to grow and prosper within us, through the providence of the right conditions and the right environment for the kingdom of God to prosper in our midst, and that is, first and foremost, within the most important unit and part of the Church, that is our families.

In the first reading today, St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city of Ephesus, spoke about the important framework of the Christian families, which God has made and blessed, by the union between a man and a woman, in the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony, through which the man and the woman are joined in a holy and indivisible union blessed by God, the core of the Christian family.

And St. Paul told his message to the Christians of Ephesus and also for others, with the intention of reminding them all to remain true to their Christian matrimony and family bonds, and each husbands ought to respect their respective wives, and vice versa. This message was quite revolutionary in the midst of a society where adultery and sexual promiscuity were very common, at a time when there were plenty of wickedness within the society.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what all of us need to realise, that we must make sure that the foundation of our Christian families are strong, and founded upon the firm foundation of God’s love and truth. And how do we preserve that love within our families, that we do not end up having broken relationships and families? It is by ensuring that we stay together as a family, praying together and placing God at the very centre and as the very focus of our lives and our actions.

The devil knows this fact, and that is why he is constantly on the attack to try to destroy the institution of marriage and the family, by tempting us with various worldly temptations, the temptations of sexual perversion and immorality, adultery and other persuasions, in order to break apart our families and societies. When we are broken, then it is the right time and condition for the devil to strike at us. That is why, we need to deepen our relationship with God, within our families and ensure that our families are always centred on God and in prayer, at all times.

That is also how we provide the best and optimum environment for us Christians to grow in faith, and in love and devotion towards God. The family is like a miniature Church, and indeed, is its important subset, through which the whole Church rises together and grows in faith, through the correct nurturing of faith in our every Christian generations. As we pass on the faith, we also help to gain more and more souls saved for the Lord.

That is how the kingdom of God exists in our lives, within our families and within our society. God truly works in His mysterious ways, and now, brothers and sisters, are we willing to commit ourselves to continue the good works that the Lord has started in our midst, and allow the kingdom of God to flourish in our midst, and bring more souls to the salvation in God. Let us all redouble our efforts to serve the Lord and to love God with all of our hearts, minds and our whole being. May God be with us all, and may He bless us in our endeavours. Amen.

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Tuesday, 30 October 2018 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 13 : 18-21

At that time, Jesus continued speaking, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? Imagine a person who has taken a mustard seed, and planted it in his garden. The seed has grown, and become like a small tree, so that the birds of the air shelter in its branches.”

And Jesus said again, “What is the kingdom of God like? Imagine a woman who has taken yeast, and hidden it in three measures of flour, until it is all leavened.”