32nd Week of Ordinary Time

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Monday, 13 November 2017 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 138 : 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10

O YHVH, You know me : You have scrutinised me. You know when I sit and when I rise; beforehand, You discern my thoughts. You observe my activities and times of rest; You are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is formed in my mouth, You know what it is all about, o YHVH. From front to back You hedge me round, shielding me with Your protecting hand. Your knowledge leaves me astounded, it is too high for me to reach.

Where else could I go from Your Spirit? Where could I flee from Your presence? You are there, if I ascend the heavens; You are there, if I descend to the depths.

If I ride on the wings of the dawn, and settle on the far side of the sea, even there, Your hand shall guide me, and Your right hand shall hold me safely.

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Monday, 13 November 2017 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 1 : 1-7

Love justice, you who rule over the world! Think rightly of God, seek Him with simplicity of heart, for He reveals Himself to those who do not challenge Him and is found by those who do not distrust Him. Crooked thinking distances you from God; and His Omnipotence, put to the test, confounds the foolish.

Wisdom does not enter the wicked nor remain in a body that is enslaved to sin. The Holy Spirit Who instructs us shuns deceit; it keeps aloof from foolishness and is ill at ease when injustice is done. Wisdom is a spirit, a friend to man, and will not leave the blasphemous unpunished, because God knows his innermost feelings, truly sees his thoughts and hears what he says.

For God’s Spirit has filled the whole world; and He Who holds together all things, knows each word that is spoken.

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Sunday, 12 November 2017 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday as we approach the ending of our current liturgical year, we heard from the Scriptures a series of passages talking about the coming of the end times. And one of the key messages today, is about wisdom, that is on whether we understand what it means for us as Christians, about the coming of the Lord our God and Saviour.

For as the Lord Himself had said and promised, He Who once had come into the world, will come again one more time into this world, at the end of time. This time, He will come in glory, unlike that of His first coming, when He was born humbly in a stable. He will come to gather together all of His faithful ones, and by reconciling them perfectly to Him, He will bring them to eternal joy and glory promised to them.

On the other hand, all those whom the Lord does not find worthy of Him, He shall also gather them together, for them to be rejected, judged for their sins, and then thrown into the torment of the eternal suffering in hell, in the lake of fire with Satan and his fellow fallen angels and demons. This is what will happen at the Last Judgement, the time when the righteous will receive glory from God, and the wicked will be humiliated and crushed in hell.

Jesus has forewarned about this a few times throughout His ministry to His disciples, which were then recorded in the Holy Gospels. He told them that the Last Judgment will be when the sheep, or the faithful people of God, will be separated from among the goats, those who have not believed in God. And in that occasion, the ones whom God had chosen, asked the Lord of why they have been chosen, and the same question was asked by those who were rejected, on why they were rejected by God.

And God answered them, saying that those who have been chosen, are righteous because they have listened to God and done His will, by showing love, compassion and concern for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and the imprisoned, all those who have been considered as the lowest, least and last among mankind. Yet, these are the ones whom the Lord said as the ones through whom the righteous had become worthy of the Lord, by the love which they showed to these brethren of theirs.

And vice versa, for those who have been rejected by God, God rejects them because they have voluntarily chosen not to love, or show care and concern for the sake of their brethren in need. As a result, just as those people had not shown love for their neighbours and fellow men, therefore, they have neglected their responsibility and obligation, and for they are without love, God will reject them and cast them into hell as their just punishment.

There are a few lessons which all of us ought to take heed of and internalise today, as we continue to reflect on the passages from the Sacred Scriptures. First of all, it is important that all of us should know what we are expected to do as Christians in our respective lives. All of us are called to love our neighbours, our brothers and sisters, just as much as we love ourselves, and also love the Lord our God in a similar way. These two are the most important part of the Law, and they are its true meaning, for God’s law is about love.

Yet, to love others as much as we love ourselves is easier said than done. Similarly, it is not easy to love God wholeheartedly, as we tend to love ourselves more, and concerned more about ourselves, in what is called selfishness. That is part of our human nature, and sometimes our upbringing in our society, and definitely in how our world today operates. According to the wisdom of the world, we ought to take care of ourselves first and satisfy our needs first before that of others.

But, if we realise, even loving ourselves is not something that we mankind have been good at doing. Let us look at how we live in the world today! There are many people out there who are ruining their own lives on drugs, on excessive alcohol consumption, on smoking and the abuse of many other things that leads to the ruin of one’s own body, if not mind, and also corrupt the whole being. Many lives have been ruined because of this.

And many of us surely know how difficult it is for us to satisfy our wants and desires in life. When we have received something, we will end up desiring more and more. We cannot be satisfied with what we have in this world, as we will be tempted to have more and more of our desires. That is why we also end up causing much sorrow in this world, amongst our brethren. There had been many instances when there were oppression, injustice and selfishness in this world, the suffering of many because certain individuals or groups seek to gain more profit and/or power for themselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the second lesson that we need to take note of today, is what the Lord Jesus had told His people through the parable of the five wise women and five foolish women. The five wise women carried enough oil for their lamps as they were waiting for the coming of the bridegroom who was delayed in his coming. They brought extra oil so that their lamps would not run out of the oil.

As the maids of honour attending to the groom and the bride, it would be very humiliating and inappropriate for them not to have oil for their lamp, and their lamp therefore darkened. That was why the five foolish women panicked when the bridegroom was about to come, and their oil was running out. This parable is a kind reminder to all of us that firstly, we cannot expect to know when the Lord will come, He Who is the Bridegroom of the Church.

God will come at the time of His choosing, according to His will. And no one on earth will know when the precise time, be it year, or month, or day, or even minute and second that this will be happening. As a result, many of us will be caught unaware and unprepared for the coming of the Lord. Thus, the second lesson that I want each one of us to take note is, we must always be ever prepared for the Lord’s coming, whenever it may be, and therefore, we cannot bear to wait any longer.

Yet, many of us like to delay and to take our own sweet time. We think that we have all the time in the world, and there is always time for us to repent or to be righteous. But, we will know of our folly on the day when our time is up, and we are caught unaware and unprepared, like the five foolish women who did not prepare well in advance of what is to come, that is the time of our final judgment and the coming of Our Lord.

Therefore, relating to what I have mentioned as the first lesson today, all of us as Christians are called to do what the Lord had commanded us to do, that is to love, and firstly, we must love ourselves, not by excluding the love which we must give to God and to our fellow brethren, but rather, if we can appreciate the gift of love and the blessings which God had given to us, we will be better able to give our love to God and to our brethren.

Thus, the third and last lesson is for us to go forth! Go and do what we must do as Christians in our world today, being active believers and no longer be passive or ignorant of our responsibilities. Let us stretch out our hands and help those who are in need, beginning with those who are around us, and those who we encounter in our daily interactions. Let us show them the love of God through our actions.

If we do all these, even though there will surely be those who oppose us, who ridicule us, let us remember that those depend on the wisdom of worldly and human power, that is foolishness in the sight of God. Let us instead continue to persevere on, that as Christians, we will always be wholeheartedly devoted to love God in everything we do, and share the same love with our brethren as well.

Let us all draw closer to God, our loving Father, and let us continue to strive at all times, to serve the Lord by serving His people, by loving generously without bias or prejudice, and seek to be righteous and just in all of our dealings and actions in life. May the Lord bless us always, and may He continue to guide us in our actions in life, that through His divine wisdom we will find our way to His eternal glory. Amen.

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Sunday, 12 November 2017 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 25 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “This story throws light on what will happen in the kingdom of heaven : Ten bridesmaids went out with their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were sensible. The careless bridesmaids took their lamps as they were, and did not take extra oil. But those who were sensible, took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom delayed, they all grew drowsy and fell asleep.”

“But at midnight, a cry rang out, ‘The bridegroom is here, come on and meet him!’ All the maidens woke up at once, and trimmed their lamps. Then the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, ‘Give us some oil, for our lamps are going out.’ The sensible ones answered, ‘There may not be enough for us and for you. You had better go to those who sell, and buy some for yourselves.'”

“When the bridegroom came, the foolish maidens were out buying oil, but those who were ready went with him into the wedding feast, and the doors were shut. Later the other bridesmaids arrived and called out, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered, ‘Truly I do not know you.'”

“So stay awake, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”

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Sunday, 12 November 2017 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Thessalonians 4 : 13-18

Brothers and sisters, we want you not to be mistaken about those who are already asleep, lest you grieve as do those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose; it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus. God will bring them together, with Jesus, and for His sake.

By the same word of the Lord, we assert this : those of us who are to be alive at the Lord’s coming, will not go ahead of those who are already asleep. When the command by the Archangel’s voice is given, the Lord, Himself, will come down from heaven, while the divine trumpet call is sounding. Then, those who have died in the Lord, will rise first; as for us who are still alive, we will be brought along with them, in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the celestial world. And we will be with the Lord forever.

So then, comfort one another with these words.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

1 Thessalonians 4 : 13-14

Brothers and sisters, we want you not to be mistaken about those who are already asleep, lest you grieve as do those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose; it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus. God will bring them together, with Jesus, and for His sake.

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Sunday, 12 November 2017 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 62 : 2abc, 2d-4, 5-6, 7-8

O God, You are my God, it is You I seek; for You, my body longs and my soul thirsts.

As a dry and weary land without water. Thus have I gazed upon You in the Sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.

I will praise You as long as I live, lift up my hands and call on Your Name. As with the richest food, my soul will feast; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips.

When I remember You on my bed, I think of You all through the night, for You have been my help; I sing in the shadow of Your wings.

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Sunday, 12 November 2017 : Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Wisdom 6 : 12-16

Wisdom is luminous and never tarnished; she willingly lets herself be seen by those who love her, and known by those who look for her. She hastens to meet those who long for her. Seek her in the morning and you will not be disappointed; you will find her sitting at your door.

To meditate on Wisdom is understanding fully grown; whoever is on the watch for her will be free of anxiety. She goes in search of those who are worthy of her, graciously meets them on the way and is present in their every thought.

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Saturday, 12 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard in the Scripture readings the about the need for us to seek the Lord without cease, asking Him for help on this journey of life we have in this world, as He made it clear through the parable of the evil judge and the old widow.

In that parable, the old widow continued to ask the evil judge to help with her case, and even though that evil judge continually refused to do so, but eventually, faced with an adamant woman who refused to back down, he relented and did so, even if that was to end the torment she was causing him.

From here we can see that God our Lord and Master will never abandon us on purpose and He will always take care of us because of His love, but it is often that we never ask for His help in the first place. In that parable, the evil judge relented to the old widow because of her persistent demands for him to oversee her case, and as Jesus said, that if the evil judge who did not care for her, eventually wanted to help her in the end, even though for different reason, then should not the Lord be moved to help us if we have asked Him?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all remember what Jesus said in another occasion, ‘Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened for you, and ask, and it shall be given to you?’ God our Father knows all of our needs and wants, He knows all the moments of our life, our every actions and deeds, all that we are doing in this world, but we ourselves need to be proactive in looking for Him, asking Him for His grace.

Too many of us are lukewarm with our faith, having our faith as just a passive observance, and for some of us, we are counted among the faithful even only on paper, meaning that while we call ourselves or label ourselves as Christians, but we do not truly believe in the Christian teachings and the ways of our Lord, and our actions and deeds are often contrary to what is expected of us Christians.

We live in a time when many of us think that faith is not important to us, and we can live in whatever ways we like, even if against the Lord’s ways. But do we realise that if we do so, we are actually bringing about scandal for our faith, for the Church, for our fellow faithful brethren and ultimately against the Lord? And the consequences for us will not be a light one.

Rather, let us today reflect on our actions and how we have lived our lives, and be inspired by what St. Josaphat Kuntsevych had done about four hundred years ago, the holy saint and martyr whose feast and memory we celebrate today. St. Josaphat Kuntsevych was once a holy man and a bishop serving the faithful of the Eastern Orthodox communion, specifically among the Ukrainians and the Russians.

At that time, the churches in Eastern and Southeastern Europe has been separated from the Mother Church in Rome for approximately five hundred years, due to the schism and separation that happened because of the unfortunate disagreement and misunderstanding between the Church of the Eastern Christendom which was centred in Constantinople, and the rest of the Universal Church under the jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome.

As a result, the communion between the two sides broke down, and the Eastern churches did not recognise the Church of Rome as the valid Church, seeing themselves as the righteous successor of the Apostles. And much grief and bitterness arose between the two Churches because of the misunderstanding and the false division among them.

And this conflict is the most difficult in places where the two Churches meet and mingle, at the region now known as Lithuania, Belorussia and Ukraine. And this was where St. Josaphat Kuntsevych led his flock, and in the occasion where an olive branch was extended between the two Churches in the Union of Brest, St. Josaphat was among those bishops who agreed to come under the true leadership of the successor of St. Peter in Rome while preserving their unique Eastern Christendom traditions.

St. Josaphat worked hard two reunite the two factions among the sheep entrusted to him as their shepherd. There were much grief and numerous difficulties in this, and many resisted the decision to reunite with the Church of Rome, resulting in violence and destruction, in killing and murder, and in much pain for the Lord and for His Church.

But St. Josaphat did not give up and continued to persevere, calling all those who have walked the wrong path to repent and to return to the truth in the Church, and for which he was martyred, when those who refused to follow his example, attacked him and murdered him in cold blood, and threw his body into the river while ransacking his church, property and all of the faithful gathered in that place.

From the examples of St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, we can see how we Christians should live our lives, filled with faith, courage and strength to live that faith genuinely and with devotion. And how do we do so, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is by asking the Lord our God for His daily grace and help, that we feeble men may be able to live with zeal and strength, and with courage even when we are faced with great challenges against us.

Let us today therefore ask the Lord our God, through the intercession of the holy saint and martyr, St. Josaphat Kuntsevych, that we may grow ever stronger and more devoted in faith, and let us also pray for the eventual union of the churches and all the faithful under the rightful jurisdiction of the Vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter, Prince of Apostles, which is our Pope in Rome. May the Lord help us all, His beloved Church. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Luke 18 : 1-8

At that time, Jesus told His disciples a parable, to show them that they should pray continually, and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge, who neither feared God nor people. In the same town there was a widow, who kept coming to him, saying, ‘Defend my rights against my opponent!'”

“For a time he refused, but finally he thought, ‘Even though I neither fear God nor care about people, this widow bothers me so much, I will see that she gets justice; then she will stop coming and wearing me out.'”

And Jesus said, “Listen to what the evil judge says. Will God not do justice for His chosen ones, who cry to Him day and night, even if He delays in answering them? I tell you, He will speedily do them justice. But, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

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Saturday, 12 November 2016 : 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 111 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are for his family, there his integrity will remain. He is for the righteous a light in darkness, he is kind, merciful and upright.

It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.