4th Week of Ordinary Time

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Thursday, 2 February 2023 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Malachi 3 : 1-4

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The Envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner or a fuller. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

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Wednesday, 1 February 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the love that God has given very generously to each and every one of us, in sending to us His only begotten Son, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Through Christ, all of us have received the assurance of salvation and the path to eternal life, in which we shall be truly joyful and happy, and we have to persevere through the challenges, trials, obstacles and many hardships in this life to enter into the glorious kingdom of God. All of us are reminded not to be easily swayed and distracted by the many temptations all around us, the temptations of pride, ego, desire, worldly glory and many other things that may distract us from finding our true focus in God.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author of this Epistle spoke of the reminders for the faithful people of God to seek righteousness in God and to be good and virtuous in their lives for they have all been made the adopted children of the Lord by their sharing of the human nature of Christ, Who has borne our many sins and died for our sake on His Cross, so that we may be reconciled with God, our most loving Father and Creator. And as His children, the Lord as our loving and caring Father will chastise us according to His desire, to see us growing better in our actions and lives, so that we do not end up falling into the wrong path or into the darkness. He does not want us to be lost from Him once again, having already been reconciled with us.

Unfortunately, it is our stubbornness and often lack of faith that have led us to be rebellious and to refuse the Lord’s repeated generous and kind offer to forgive us our sins and mistakes. The Lord has given us many opportunities, assistance and reminders all these while, chastising and rebuking us, disciplining us as He saw fit. All these are not because He despised us, but on the contrary because He truly loves us very much. If He despised and hated us, He could have easily willed us out of existence and cast us all into the eternal darkness and damnation. He could have destroyed us and crushed us by the power of His will alone. But this is not what He chose to do with us. As our loving Father and Creator, Who loves us all very dearly, God wants nothing less than our redemption and complete reconciliation with Him.

But as we heard in our Gospel passage today, many among us are still stubborn, refusing to believe in the Lord and His truth, especially because of our pride and ego, our inability to accept the truth that we may be mistaken and faulty in our thinking, judgment and understanding. Like those people in the hometown of the Lord Jesus who judged and doubted Him simply because they thought they knew Him and that just because He was apparently the Son of the local carpenter, then He was unworthy of the great Wisdom and the deeds that He had carried out in the midst of the people of God. Those people presumed that whatever they had heard and witnessed must have been wrong or mistaken because it could not be feasible for this mere Son of a village carpenter to have done them all, or spoke of all the great words of Wisdom that He had spoken.

By looking down on them, those people had shown the ugly nature of their prideful existence and hearts, their stubborn minds and all that they had put in place to keep themselves from listening to God and His truth. The Lord has patiently reached out to them and showed them His love, and yet, they continued to oppose Him, rebuff Him, reject Him and His most generous offer of love and kindness. It is easy for us to dismiss those people as being rebellious and delinquent, but what we cannot forget is that, we ourselves have often shown the same attitude as well, the same stubbornness and refusal to listen to the Lord.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having often witnessed and experienced God’s most generous love and kindness, we should all be thankful for the Lord and His constant love for us and for having been ever patient with us, despite our many stubborn rebelliousness and wickedness. However, we cannot continue to walk down this path of wickedness and sin, and we have to embrace Lord’s path, His forgiveness and mercy, or else we may end up falling deeper and deeper into this path of darkness and sin. We cannot continue to let ourselves be dragged ever deeper into this trap which the Devil and all of his wicked forces are always actively trying to put in our path.

Let us all hence commit ourselves anew to the Lord, dedicating our time and effort to grow ever closer to Him, in each and every moments, and let us all continue to strive in our effort to live ever more worthily of Him, by doing our best in following the Law and the commandments of God, in living our lives well according to the precepts and ways taught to us by the Lord, and reminding ourselves of the errors and the faults that we have committed all these while in our lives. Each one of us as the children of God are expected to be like our Father, Who is good and perfect in all things. Hence, we too should be good, faithful, committed and righteous at all times.

May the Lord continue to help us and guide us in our journey of faith throughout life, and may He continue to bless us in our lives, in our actions and works, so that we may continue to what is right and just in accordance with His will. May God be with us always, and may He strengthen and empower us with His love, His Wisdom, His grace and blessings, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 1 February 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 6 : 1-6

At that time, leaving the place where He resurrected the daughter of Jairus, Jesus returned to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and most of those who heard Him were astonished.

But they said, “How did this come to Him? What kind of wisdom has been given to Him, that He also performs such miracles? Who is He but the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here among us?” So they took offence at Him.

And Jesus said to them, “Prophets are despised only in their own country, among their relatives, and in their own family.” And He could work no miracles there, but only healed a few sick people, by laying His hands on them. Jesus Himself was astounded at their unbelief.

Jesus then went around the villages, teaching.

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Wednesday, 1 February 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 13-14, 17-18a

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

But the Lord’s kindness is forever with those who fear Him; so is His justice, for their children’s children, for those who keep His covenant and remember His commands.

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Wednesday, 1 February 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 12 : 4-7, 11-15

Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin? Do not forget the comforting words that Wisdom addresses to you as children : My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you and do not be discouraged when He punishes you. For the Lord corrects those He loves and chastises everyone He accepts as a son.

What you endure is in order to correct you. God treats you like sons and what son is not corrected by his father? All correction is painful at the moment, rather than pleasant; later it brings the fruit of peace, that is, holiness to those who have been trained by it.

Lift up, then, your drooping hands, and strengthen your trembling knees; make level the ways for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but healed. Strive for peace with all and strive to be holy, for without holiness no one will see the Lord. See that no one falls from the grace of God, lest a bitter plant spring up and its poison corrupt many among you.

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Tuesday, 31 January 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded yet again of the trials, challenges, difficulties and hardships that we may have to face as faithful people of God, as proven by our many predecessors and all the saints and martyrs who had shed their blood and suffered in the midst of their lives and in obeying the Lord and His commandments. Yet, at the same time we are reminded of the assurances that the Lord has provided us His faithful ones, that He will always be by the side of all those who have faith in Him, and He will heal and strengthen them once again, all those who have suffered for His sake and entrusting themselves to Him, just as we have heard in our passages of the day.

In our first reading today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard of the words from the author of this Epistle, speaking about the examples of the innumerable witnesses that had existed all around us and at the same time, also looking upon the good examples that the Lord Jesus had brought into our midst, the sufferings, hardships, trials, persecutions and humiliations that He Himself has suffered for our sake. Each and every one of us are reminded that whatever hardship we face in this world, and whatever tough things we have had to endure, all of these had been shared with us by the Lord, Who has taken upon Himself willingly, the entire burden of our many punishments and sins, which He took upon His own shoulders as He bore the heavy burden of His Cross. He carried them all to Calvary, all for the sake of the salvation of our souls.

Then as we heard from our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the moment when the Lord performed His miraculous healing and restoration of two individuals, one of the woman who had been suffering from haemorrhage problems for many years, while the other case was that of the daughter of the local synagogue official, who was very sick and eventually died before the Lord made it to her, but He healed her nonetheless and restored her back to life. Through all these that we have heard in our Gospel passage today and others, we are hence reminded of the providence that God will provide for all those who trust in Him, and that in His own good time, He will raise us all up again from the depth of our darkness and despair, leading us away from the darkness and into the light of salvation.

The woman who had haemorrhage problem had been suffering from her condition for many years, and she had no other recourse but to seek the Lord, as no matter what she had done, as mentioned in the Gospel today, and even with the help of many doctors, they only managed to make her condition worse. She therefore sought the Lord and had such a faith in Him that if only she could touch the fringe of His cloak, she would be healed and her troubles would cease, especially as she likely must have heard how many other miracles had been performed by the Lord. What matters is that she believed in the Lord thoroughly and completely, and entrusted herself to Him. Yet, at the same time, she also did not dare to seek the Lord openly, as her condition according to the Jewish Law and customs would have made her unclean, and she likely did not want to get attention on herself, or be shunned because of that.

We heard how this woman was healed by her faith, as she sought the Lord with faith, and her haemorrhage or bleeding stopped completely. The Lord praised her for her faith, and made an example of how her commitment and faith was so great, and it was by that same faith that she had been healed and saved. The same happened to the daughter of the synagogue official, Jairus as well. Jairus’ faith in the Lord allowed the Lord to come and bring His love and healing upon his daughter, and as we heard, he still believed in the Lord even though those gathered at his place mocked the Lord for saying that his daughter was merely sleeping and not dead. Jairus had faith in the Lord that He could save her, no matter how He would do it, and thus, by that faith, she was rescued.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we recall the messages of these Scripture passages, let us all hence remind ourselves that while challenges, trials, hardships, difficulties may be aplenty in our lives and in our paths, but if we have faith in the Lord and keep our sight upon Him, entrusting ourselves to Him, then we have hope and assurance with us that no matter what, we shall have that promise of true happiness, joy and eternal life through our Lord, through the salvation that He has offered each and every one of us freely. And while we suffer, we are suffering with Him and together with Him, just as He has also borne His Cross, all wounded and pained by the many rejections, humiliations, betrayals and the other wicked things that we had done to Him, despite of His love for us.

That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, it is right and just for us to follow the Lord once again more wholeheartedly, and learn to commit ourselves to Him once again, to the best of our abilities. Today, we can model ourselves based on the great examples which our holy predecessor, St. John Bosco, a great priest of the Lord and holy man of God, whose feast we celebrate today, have done. St. John Bosco was remembered greatly for his great piety, love and dedication to God, as well as for his great love and compassionate care for those whom he encountered in the midst of his missions and works, as a priest and most well-known in his role as one who initiated and was in charge of an outreach to the underprivileged youth, those juveniles and teenagers who had none to lead and guide them to the right path.

St. John Bosco helped to get them proper education and place to stay for those who were orphaned and homeless, and cared for their spiritual, mental and material needs. He dedicated much of his time to touch the lives of the underprivileged, and inspired many others to begin similar initiatives, resulting in the blooming of many institutions of Christian education that benefitted especially the underprivileged youths, and in particular underprivileged girls. The faith, dedication and commitment which St. John Bosco has shown us should inspire us all as well in our lives so that hopefully we may also become good sources of inspiration and hope for many others whom we encounter and all those who have witnessed our actions and works.

May the Lord continue to guide us all and bless our many good works and efforts, and may He continue to strengthen and empower us all to be the beacons of His light and truth, and to be the fearless and most faithful ambassadors of His love and grace in our world today. May God be with us all, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 31 January 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 5 : 21-43

At that time, Jesus then crossed to the other side of the lake, and while He was still on the shore, a large crowd gathered around Him. Jairus, an official of the synagogue, came up and, seeing Jesus, threw himself at His feet, and begged Him earnestly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may get well and live.”

Jesus went with him, and many people followed, pressing from every side. Among the crowd was a woman, who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot at the hands of many doctors, but instead of getting better, she was worse. Because she had heard about Jesus, this woman came up behind Him and touched His cloak, thinking, “If I just touch His clothing, I shall get well.” Her flow of blood dried up at once, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her complaint.

But Jesus was conscious that healing power had gone out from Him, so He turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched My clothes?” His disciples answered, “You see how the people are crowding around you. Why do You ask who touched You?”

But He kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, aware of what had happened, came forward trembling and afraid. She knelt before Him, and told Him the whole truth. Then Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be free of this illness.”

While Jesus was still speaking, some people arrived from the official’s house to inform him, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Master any further?” But Jesus ignored what they said, and told the official, “Do not fear, just believe.” And He allowed no one to follow Him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James.

When they arrived at the house, Jesus saw a great commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly. Jesus entered, and said to them, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.” They laughed at Him. So Jesus sent them outside, and went with the child’s father and mother and His companions into the room, where the child lay.

Taking her by the hand, He said to her, “Talitha, kumi!” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got up at once and began to walk around. (She was twelve years old). The parents were amazed, greatly amazed. Jesus strictly ordered them not to let anyone know about it; and He told them to give her something to eat.

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Tuesday, 31 January 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 21 : 26b-27, 28, 30ab, 30c-32

I will fulfil my vows before all who revere You. The lowly will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!

The whole earth will acknowledge and turn to the Lord; the families of nations will worship Him.

Before Him all those who rest in the earth will bow down, all who go down to the dust.

My soul will live for Him. My descendants will serve Him and proclaim the Lord to coming generations; they will announce His salvation to a people yet unborn, “These are the things that He has done.”

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Tuesday, 31 January 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 12 : 1-4

What a cloud of innumerable witnesses surround us! So let us be rid of every encumbrance, and especially of sin, to persevere in running the race marked out before us.

Let us look to Jesus the Founder of our faith, Who will bring it to completion. For the sake of the joy reserved for Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then sat at the right of the throne of God. Think of Jesus Who suffered so many contradictions from evil people, and you will not be discouraged or grow weary.

Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin?

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Monday, 30 January 2023 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to the words of the Scriptures today, we are all reminded that God gave strength to His people, His servants and followers, granting them the courage and power to endure challenges, trials and tribulations in their paths, and enabling them to follow Him with faith and commitment. God has given them all His strength, wisdom and guidance, and empowered them to serve Him and His people in great and mighty ways, in various means throughout history, by using the examples that is contained within the Scriptures to remind us of how He has blessed us and our predecessors so much, and how He has also sent His own Beloved Son, into our midst, to be our Saviour and as the One to deliver us from the hands of Satan and his evil forces.

In our first reading today, we heard from the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the author spoke of the examples of the Judges and Kings, the faithful servants of God who had served the Lord in the past, including the famous King David himself, and pointed out to his targeted audience, the Jewish people or the Hebrews living in Judea, Galilee and elsewhere, that the Lord had called ordinary people, who were from unassuming, unknown background, as shown by where those Judges and King David himself were called from, and the circumstances in which they were called, in which they were empowered by God to carry out magnificent deeds for the glory of His Name and for the good of His people. The Lord had called on the ordinary to do extraordinary deeds on His behalf in this world.

The author of this Epistle also wanted to remind the people of God, mainly the Jewish people, whether converts to the faith or not, and even those who were Gentiles that became believers in the Lord, that each and every one of them had been called to the same mission and path in life as their holy and great predecessors, not withstanding and regardless of their background and origins. What matters is not how great they were or how powerful and influential they were in this life, but rather, how faithful, committed and trusting they are in God’s power and providence, and how faithful they are to His commandments, His Law and teachings. Without all of these and without God to guide and lead us, we are nothing, and we will easily fall prey into the assaults of those who seek to destroy us, Satan and all of his fellow fallen angels and evil spirits, all seeking our downfall and doom.

Each and every one of us as Christians are called to the same mission and calling as those whom the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews had mentioned, to serve the Lord and to follow His path faithfully in our own lives, allowing God to lead us and to guide us to wherever and whatever He wants us to do with our lives in each and every possible moments. He wants each one of us as Christians to be good and righteous, worthy and dedicated to Him, as role models and inspirations to each other in how we live our lives so that we may help one another to remain firm in our faith, and we cannot be idle in living our lives with true, genuine and strong Christian faith, with God as the centre and focus of our lives, and with us always ever caring about the needs of others, our fellow brethren all around us.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard the famous parable of the Lord driving the evil spirits out of a man possessed by many evil spirits in the region of the Gerasenes. He has been living in the wilderness for a long time because of his possession by those same evil spirits, and the people feared him because of that. He could not return to the community because of his condition, shunned and cast out from the rest of the community. But the Lord willingly came to him and approached him, wanting this man to be healed from his affliction, and authoritatively ordered those evil spirits to get out of him, and sending them to the flock of pigs that were there, grazing for food. The man was therefore healed from his troubles, and could return to his community. But the herders were afraid of him, and with the local populace, begged Him to depart from their lands.

The significance of this account of the exorcism of the possessed man and the casting out of the demons into the pigs are plenty, but first of all, it highlighted the love that God has for each and every one of us, in reaching out even to the most abandoned, ostracised and rejected ones among us, and showing us that even the most ordinary and seemingly unworthy ones among us, like that of the possessed man, is worthy of God’s salvation and grace. We must not give up or thinking that leading a good and holy life is impossible simply because we think that we are not good enough for God, or that others are doing way better than us, and that we are less worthy than they are. God does not judge us based on all that. What is important is our love and desire for ourselves to return to Him, and to love Him, and this is a process that each one of us are going through right now in our lives, together with the Lord by our side.

Then, the symbolism of the evil spirits being cast out into the herd of pigs is also significant in that, in the end, our human lives and existence, even just a single one, is far more worth than any other worldly and material things. Those pig herders and others rightfully feared the Lord and begged Him to leave their lands because He had just caused them a lot of monetary losses. However, all these happened so that the man, who had been cast out, abandoned, rejected and feared by everyone else in that area, could be saved, and could be returned to his community, and not wander off in the wilderness, treated way less than even those animals and herds. It is a reminder that our human existence and lives, each and every one of us are important and precious in the eyes of the Lord.

That moment was also a symbolism that in the end, Satan and all of his wicked forces, the evil spirits and demons, all will face their downfall and ultimate defeat just as the pigs were all running down the cliff and perished. It is a reminder for all of us that no matter how challenging and tough our lives may be, and how difficult it may be for us to remain faithful to the Lord, in the end, if we remain truly faithful to Him and remain committed in Him, we shall be triumphant with Him in the end, and we should not worry about the persecution, trials and challenges from the world, and from all those wicked forces and evil spirits. Again, that is because all of us are truly precious to the Lord, and each one of us are important to Him. We must never underestimate ourselves and our capacity and the opportunities we have been given for conversion and forgiveness for our sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now what matters in the end is our desire to live our lives worthily of the Lord and the drive in our hearts and minds to obey the words of the Lord and to walk in His path at all times. We are reminded that all of us are truly precious in the eyes of the Lord, and all of us will be strengthened and guided by God if we continue to put our trust in Him, and if we allow Him to lead the way for us, and if we steadfastly continue to follow Him despite the many pressures, temptations and challenges that try to keep and distract us from following the Lord faithfully and wholeheartedly. Let us all assist each other and help one another in doing our best to keep us all aligned and rooted in the path that God has led us through, and may all of us continue to strive to do our best in living our lives faithfully, in each and every moments of our lives.

May God be with us always and may He continue to bless us in our every good efforts, works and endeavours, all for His greater glory. May He help us to grow ever stronger in our faith and devotion, in our righteousness and virtues, and in all of our qualities as good and faithful Christians, at all times. May God be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.