33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Sunday, 17 November 2019 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all finally at the thirty-third and last of the Ordinary Sundays in the year, as we approach the end of this current liturgical year. Next Sunday we shall be celebrating the great Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King, the final cap to this current liturgical year. As we reach this stage in time, we heard of the constant reminders through the Scripture of what is to come and what we should expect in our journey of faith as one of the many disciples of the Lord.

As we approach the end of this liturgical year, the readings remind us of the reality of what God Himself has promised to us and which we also believe firmly as we always repeat through every time we recite the Creed, that He will come again in glory at the appointed time, and as He comes again, He will gather us all to Himself and will judge all the peoples, all the nations for their own deeds and actions, be it good or be it bad and evil.

We do not know when is the exact moment that this will happen, but it is perfectly certain that His coming will be a surprise to everyone, at a time when everyone least expect it. It is perfectly certain that the Lord will come as He has promised. But in the meanwhile, as we look forward to His coming, and as we expect Him to gather us all into His eternal and glorious kingdom, we have to live our lives according to how He has taught us, through the way that He has shown us.

The Lord presented to His disciples in our Gospel passage today, and therefore through to us all, the reality of being a follower of His. To be a disciple of the Lord means that we have to be prepared for the trials and challenges that will likely be in our path, as we will encounter all sorts of difficulties, even as the Lord said, false prophets and guides who will try to lead us astray from the faith in God.

What the Lord had said, has actually happened throughout the long history of the Church. There had been many moments when the faithful had to endure bitter suffering and persecutions, from the Romans, the pagans, the enemies of the Church, from the worldly authorities and governments, and from many others who sought the destruction of the Church and the faith. That was how the innumerable martyrs of the Church came to be, all those who have suffered and died for the Lord.

Yet, they suffered with courage and conviction, faith and commitment to God. They went through all sorts of difficulties, torture and pain, encountering all sorts of painful deaths, because they refused to give up their faith in God. They remained true to their faith even amidst great pressure and persecution, even opposition from their own friends and families. They were faithful to the very end.

This is what the Lord Himself had said to His disciples as He prepared them all for the eventual suffering and persecution they had to encounter. Just as the world has persecuted their Lord and Master, His disciples and followers would also suffer as He had suffered. But He also then reassured them that they would not be alone, as God would be with them, suffering with them, carrying His Cross with them. He would guide them through those difficult moments and strengthen them.

That was probably how many of the holy martyrs were able to persevere through those difficult moments, and how they endured all the bitterness of the world. That was because they put their faith and trust in God, knowing that He was with them through all the way. The Lord encouraged and strengthened them through His Holy Spirit, that they remained true to their dedication even through the darkest moments.

That is why He called on His disciples to remain strong and to put their trust in Him, that no matter what, He will guide them and show them the way. And He said this because He wanted them all to do His works and to be the witnesses of His truth at all times, even at the most difficult moments, so that they would not worry about themselves or about what they would do, because no matter what, God would be with them.

That is, brothers and sisters in Christ, the essence of what we have to do with our lives as Christians. We are all called to be witnesses for Christ, for His truth and for the Gospel of His salvation. We are all called to glorify Him by our lives and be the bearers of His truth to the nations, for He has given us this Great Commission, that we go to all the nations, bearing His truth and baptise all the peoples in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Then, in the second reading passage today, taken from the Epistle written by St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in Thessalonica, we heard of how St. Paul mentioned that he and his fellow disciples worked hard for the sake of the faithful, doing all that they could to serve the people and living their lives to the best of their abilities. They did their work and laboured as an example to the rest of the faithful.

And why is that so? That is because at that time, there were those who believed that the Lord’s coming was imminent, and that therefore they needed nothing else than to wait for His coming and be idle, for they have already been saved after all. But that was not what the Lord wanted them to do, for as I have just mentioned, He sent us all into the world, to bear witness to His truth, His resurrection and to His salvation for all mankind.

How do we then bear witness to God’s truth and love? It is by doing what He has Himself done, in reaching out to our fellow men, showing our own love, care and concern for others around us, in particular those among us who have few or even none to care for them and love them. It is indeed most fitting that on this Sunday, the thirty-third one in Ordinary Time, which has recently been declared as the World Day of the Poor, we remember the poor in our midst, those who have little or none to pass the day by, and also all those who have been treated unjustly and even without basic human dignity in our society.

As this current liturgical year comes to an end, it is perhaps time for us to look upon the year that has just passed, and discern how our lives will proceed from now on, even as we look back and take note of what we have done in this past one year cycle in serving God and His people, what we have failed to do or have not yet done, and how we can proceed from now on, as we enter the new liturgical year cycle, and from then on and on again, in living the lives as true Christian disciples.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are all called to reflect on what we can do as Christians, to bear true witness to Christ and show our faith by our words and actions in life. We should love one another and share our joys and blessings if we have more of these to those who have little or none, so that all those who see us, know that we truly belong to God, because not just that we have done what God Himself had done, in seeking the last, the lost and the least among us.

We have to remember what the Lord had said, that whatever we do to the least of our brothers, we are doing it to the Lord Himself. Therefore, if we hurt or make those who are poor and needy to suffer even more, then our reckoning before God will indeed be truly terrible, while if we reach out to them in love as we should, then God too will reach out to us with the same if not even greater love. This is how the world knows that we are His disciples, when we love one another, just as He loves us, and even more so, towards those who have known little or no love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we live in a Christ-like manner, by reaching out to one another with love, especially to the poor and the needy, we will likely go against the norms and customs of this world. Indeed, as mentioned earlier, there will inevitably be frictions and inconveniences, troubles and trials ahead in our journey. But should we let all these trials and challenges to deter us, or should we rather make these as the reasons why we want to be even more determined to do what we should as Christians?

Let us all be true Christians in our lives, brothers and sisters in Christ, that our every actions, words and deeds truly breathe the very essence of our Christian beliefs, that everyone may know the Lord through us and see His love and compassion, His mercy and salvation, His truth and glory through our lives and actions. May the Lord continue to bless us all, and guide us all, His Church and His people in our journey of faith, day by day, to the end of time. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 November 2019 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 21 : 5-19

At that time, while some people were talking about the Temple, remarking that it was adorned with fine stonework and rich gifts, Jesus said to them, “The days will come when there shall not be left one stone upon another of all that you now admire; all will be torn down.”

And they asked Him, “Master, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” Jesus then said, “Take care not to be deceived, for many will come claiming My title and saying, ‘I am He, the Messiah; the time is at hand!’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and troubled times, do not be frightened; for all these things must happen first, even though the end is not so soon.”

And Jesus said, “Nations will fight each other and kingdom will oppose kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and plagues; in many places strange and terrifying signs from heaven will be seen. Before all these things happen, people will lay their hands on you and persecute you; you will be delivered to the synagogues and put in prison, and for my sake you will be brought before kings and governors. This will be your opportunity to bear witness.”

“So keep this in mind : do not worry in advance about what to say, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. But even though, because of My Name, you will be hated by everyone, not a hair of your head will perish. By your patient endurance you will save your souls.”

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Sunday, 17 November 2019 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Thessalonians 3 : 7-12

You know how you ought to follow our example : we worked while we were with you. Day and night we laboured and toiled so as not to be a burden to any of you. We had the right to act otherwise, but we wanted to give you an example.

Besides, while we were with you, we said clearly : If anyone is not willing to work, neither should that one eat. However we heard that some among you live in idleness – busybodies, doing no work. In the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord we command these people to work and earn their own living.

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Sunday, 17 November 2019 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 5-6, 7-8, 9

With melody of the lyre and with music of the harp. With trumpet blast and sound of the horn, rejoice before the King, the Lord!

Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its peoples. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy.

Before the Lord, for He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Sunday, 17 November 2019 : Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of the Poor (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Malachi 3 : 19-20a

The day already comes, flaming as a furnace. On that day all the proud and evildoers will be burnt like straw in the fire. They will be left without branches or roots. On the other hand the sun of justice will shine upon you who respect My Name and bring health in its rays.

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Saturday, 24 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the readings from the Scripture which we heard about the suffering of the faithful and the resurrection from the dead into eternal glory of heaven. And this is apt considering that today we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions, the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs who perished during the harsh persecutions against Christians in Vietnam.

In the first reading today, we heard about the moment from the Book of the Revelations of St. John the Apostle, when at the end of time, holy witnesses of God came into the world to preach the truth about God, and many would not listen to the words that they said in their midst. Those witnesses were given power and authority to oppose those who were against them until the time when the great enemy, the devil is to rise up and destroy those faithful servants of God at the end of their ministries.

The wicked people rejoiced at the death of the two servants of God, and continued to walk in sin, not repenting from those sins that they have committed. But God will not abandon those who have been faithful to Him, and after three days, in the same manner as He Himself has risen from the dead, He raised the dead servants into glory, and they rose to heaven at the plain sight of those who had rejected and persecuted them.

This is related to what has happened throughout the history of the Church, of the challenges and persecutions that occur in various parts of the world, and at different periods and times in the history of the Church, when the faithful were subjected to varying persecutions and oppressions, be it from individuals, or from state governments and holders of power and authority.

Many missionaries and followers of Christ have encountered difficulties and challenges, rejections and oppositions throughout their ministries in the attempt and effort to preach the truth and the word of God among the people who have not yet heard of them. They had to suffer prison, torture, indignation, and even death just because of their determination and commitment to remain faithful to the Lord.

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Vietnamese Martyrs as mentioned, celebrating the memory of those who have perished through the many years of persecution of Christians in the land of Vietnam. There are both missionaries and local Christians amidst these martyrs, whose life and stories spanned over a century of the history of the early years of Christian faith in Vietnam.

At that time, the state government of Vietnam viewed the Christian faith with great suspicion, and suspected the missionaries to be agents of Western influence and of their effort to colonise their country. As a result, they placed strict regulations and restrictions on the propagation of the Christian faith among the local population, and persecuted the Christian communities harshly.

Yet, the Christian communities continued to grow, and many more local populace converted to the faith despite the strong oppression and persecution by the government. That is because the Christian faithful held fast to the promise that God has made in today’s Gospel passage, when the Lord Jesus reiterated what He meant by the resurrection of the dead, when those faithful departed will be raised once again to life, to enjoy forever the eternal glory with God.

The saints and martyrs of Vietnam, St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions resisted the sufferings and the many temptations through which the enemies of the Lord wanted to lead the Christian faithful to abandon their faith. Putting their trust completely in God, they did not fear the pain of death and chose rather suffering and death rather than to abandon their hard-won faith and commitment to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we ought to reflect on our own lives, on our actions in life thus far on whether we have been truly faithful to God in everything, or whether we have allowed ourselves to be swayed by the temptations and to be intimidated to give up our faith and the Christian way of living. We need to reflect on this, so that we may be able to find our way to the Lord, and follow in the footsteps of the holy martyrs.

Let us all ask for the intercessions of the Holy Martyrs of Vietnam, St. Andrew Dung-Lac and his companions, that we may continue to strive to reach righteousness in God, to be able to courageously stand up for our faith amidst trials and tribulations we face. May the Lord be with us always, and may He be our guide in everything we do, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 24 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 20 : 27-40

At that time, some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection, and they asked Jesus this question, “Master, in the Law Moses told us, ‘If anyone dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife, and any child born to them will be regarded as the child of the deceased.'”

“Now, there were seven brothers; the first married a wife, but he died without children; and the second and the third took the wife; in fact, all seven died leaving no children. Last of all the woman died. On the day of the resurrection, to which of them will the woman be a wife? For all seven had her as a wife.”

And Jesus replied, “Taking a husband or a wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die, for they are like the Angels. They are sons and daughters of God, because they are born of the resurrection.”

“Yes, the dead will be raised, as Moses revealed at the burning bush, when He called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For God is God of the living, and not of the dead, for to Him everyone is alive.”

Some teachers of the Law then agreed with Jesus, “Master, You have spoken well.” They did not dare to ask Him anything else.

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Saturday, 24 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 143 : 1, 2, 9-10

Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, Who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.

My loving God, my Fortress; my Protector and Deliverer, my Shield where I take refuge, Who conquers nations and subjects them to my rule.

I will sing a new song to You, o God, I will make music on the ten-stringed harp, for You Who give victory to kings and deliver David, Your servant.

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Saturday, 24 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Revelations 11 : 4-12

These are the two olive trees and the two lamps which are before the Lord of the earth. If anyone intends to harm them, fire will come out of their mouths to devour their enemies : this is how whoever intends to harm them will perish. They have the power to close the sky and hold back the rain during the time of their prophetic mission; they also have the power to change water into blood, and punish the earth with a thousand plagues, any time they wish.

But when My witnesses have fulfilled their mission, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war upon them, and will conquer and kill them. Their dead bodies will lie in the square of the Great City which the believers figuratively call Sodom or Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. And their dead bodies will be exposed for three days and a half to people of all tribes, races, languages and nations who will be ordered not to have them buried.

Then the inhabitants of the earth will rejoice, congratulate one another and exchange gifts among themselves because these two prophets were a torment to them. But after those three and a half days, a Spirit of life coming from God entered them. They them stood up, and those who looked at them were seized with great fear. A loud voice from heaven called them, “Come up here.” So they went up to heaven in the midst of the clouds in the sight of their enemies.

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Friday, 23 November 2018 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr and St. Columban, Abbot (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Abbots)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture reminding us on the importance for us to keep our faith alive in our lives, by listening to what the Lord has reminded each and every one of us today, particularly in what we heard in our Gospel passage today, on the moment when the Lord Jesus drove out the merchants and money changers from the Temple of God.

In that passage, we heard of what the Lord did when He saw all the corruptions and wickedness that were present amidst the people of God, all their corrupt dealings with money and cheating of the Temple visitors and pilgrims, for their own selfish benefits and other corrupt purposes that were totally unbecoming of the place as the location for divine worship and praise.

That is why the Lord chased them all out of the Temple for their blatant wickedness and refusal to follow the Lord’s commandments. And this is actually symbolic of what we need to do with our own lives. The Temple is referring to our own bodies, hearts, minds, and all of our whole beings. That is because God Himself is truly present in us, through His Spirit and the Body and Blood which He has given to us through the Eucharist.

And because God Himself is fully present in us, within us and in our midst, then each and every one of us must be truly exemplary as God’s Holy Temple and House. Otherwise, through our actions, by our disobedience of God’s commandments and by our failure to obey the Lord’s will, through our sins, we are putting wickedness and sin in the midst of this Temple of God, that is our body and being, much like the merchants and money changers that corrupted the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

God loves each and every one of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. And that is why, He is doing so much in order to bring us back to Himself, calling on us to change our ways and to repent from our sins. However, all of the wicked things and evil deeds we perform in our lives are things that have no place in God’s presence. For God is all good, and disobedience through sin is a great obstacle in the midst of our efforts to reach out to God.

Today, we should reflect on our every actions in life, and see if we have truly been faithful to God or whether we have veered off on the way in our journey towards Him, by the many temptations present in this life. We should think and reflect on all these things, and perhaps also take note of the examples shown by two saints, whose feast day we celebrate today, that is of Pope St. Clement I and St. Columban.

Pope St. Clement I was the Pope and leader of the Universal Church during some of its earliest years, as one of the first successors of St. Peter the Apostle, the first Pope. It was told that St. Peter himself consecrated Pope St. Clement I as bishop, and later on, the latter succeeded the second successor of St. Peter as Pope and Bishop of Rome. And Pope St. Clement I was remembered widely throughout the Church at that time and later on, as an influential Church and Apostolic father, the first among many of those who would continue the good works began by the Apostles in the building of the Church.

He wrote extensively to the various Church communities at the time, some of which were preserved as the collective writings of the Church fathers, and he helped to continue the growth and the stabilisation of the Church at the time, and many of the latter Church fathers and communities looked up to the piety and the good examples set by Pope St. Clement I in following Christ. He was martyred during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan, during one of the many Christian persecutions.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Columban, a holy man and abbot of the Church, who was an Irish missionary noted for his great many works among the regions of what is now France and Italy, establishing many monasteries and communities in those regions. At the same time, St. Columban also helped to evangelise the faith among the people, especially among those who have not followed the Lord in the right manner, affected by fallacies and heresies of the time.

St. Columban inspired many people through his works, and by his monastic rule, the Rule of St. Columban, mirroring the more famous Rule of St. Benedict, many people turned towards God and reorientate their lives towards God through prayer and upright life. Some of them joined the monasteries St. Columban founded, and many others became missionaries as how St. Columban was.

Today, by looking upon the examples set by these two holy and devoted servants of God, Pope St. Clement I and St. Columban, let us all turn towards God with a renewed love and faith for Him, and let us always be mindful, that we are all the Temples and Houses of God’s Holy and Real Presence, and as such, we should strive to be holy and free from sin, and repent from those sins if we have indeed fallen into the temptations and sins.

May God be with us all in this journey, and may we continue to devote ourselves and become ever closer to Him, day after day, in our every lives. May God bless us all and our good endeavours, now and forevermore. Amen.