4th Week

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Friday, 8 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (Psalm)

Psalm 26 : 1,3,5,8b-9abc

The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fail; though war break out against me, I will still be confident.

For He will keep me safe in His shelter in times of misfortune; He will hide me beneath His roof, and set me high upon a rock.

I seek Your face, o Lord. Do not hide Your face from me nor turn away Your servant in anger. You are my protector, do not reject me; abandon me not, o God my Saviour!

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Friday, 8 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, and St. Josephine Bakhita, Virgin (First Reading)

Hebrews 13 : 1-8

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to offer hospitality; you know that some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember prisoners if you were with them in chains, and the same for those who are suffering. Remember that you also have a body.

Marriage must be respected by all, and husband and wife faithful to each other. God will punish the immoral and the adulterous.

Do not depend on money. Be content with having enough for today for God has said : “I will never forsake you or abandon you”, and we shall confidently answer : “The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me?” Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Consider their end and imitate their faith. Christ Jesus is the same today as yesterday and forever.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

The Lord in today’s reading sent out His disciples to begin spreading His work across broader spectrum of the society of Israel. This is also the base of the authority that our priests and bishops today have, since the Lord has commissioned the Apostles to heal the sick and cast out demons, with authority that came directly from Himself. Through the Apostles, in an unbroken chain of succession, this authority is passed down to our bishops today, and thus to all our priests. It is in this authority that our priests today exercise many of the similar faculties as those of the Apostles.

Our priests are also important in the Church, since they administer to us spiritual healing of our soul, they listen to our sins and by the authority given to them by our Lord through the Apostles, our sins can be forgiven in the confession, if we truly repent and vow to change our sinful ways. They also can cast out demons with the authority of the Lord, in what we know as exorcism. Although this rarely happen today, but it does still happen, and we must always keep each other strong in faith that we do not allow evil to dwell within us, and exploit the absence of light in our hearts.

Sadly, despite the good works that Christ has commissioned the Apostles to, and therefore, the missions that our priests and missionaries have, many still reject the approaches that the Lord has made. Ironically, even many of these rejections also come from ourselves, from those who believe in the Lord. It does not mean that once we are baptised and in the Church, that we no longer need to listen to the Word of God, and receive God’s good graces and work through the priests. We still need these, and indeed, it is important that we read the Scripture and reflect on it daily, in order to gain our daily ‘food’ of the Word of God.

The priests too, by the same power and authority, conduct the Transubstantiation, which is the turning of the bread and wine into the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same Sacrifice that the Lord made once and for all in Calvary, the very blood that Christ, the Lamb of God, poured down on us, and being a blood more worthy than all others, even that of Abel’s, this perfect offering is accepted by God, and thus, also the Precious Body and Blood on the Altar at the Mass, for our salvation and redemption from sin.

Therefore, let us strive to regularly and frequently receive the Lord into ourselves, and make ourselves always ready and worthy to receive Him into ourselves. That Jesus will be in us, and we in Him, and through Him, we are justified in our faith. Let the Lord to reside in us, and keep ourselves also nourished always with the words of the Holy Scripture, keep ourselves holy, and anchor all our actions in love, in the love that is of the Lord.

Let us pray together too, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Lord will ignite the hearts of those whom He called, to be priests of the Lord, and ministers to all the faithful in Christ. Remember that while the harvest is truly plentiful, but we do not have good labourers and workers to harvest them. We need holy, young, and faithful young men blessed and called by the Lord to be His missionaries, just like how Jesus sent the Twelve Apostles. We pray for all the seminarians and those who are on their journey towards the priesthood, that God will bless them and keep them holy and faithful in their journey.

We also pray for ourselves, that all of us can also increase further in faith, in love, and in our dedication to God and to the mission that has been entrusted to all of us. Help one another, and support one another in faith, through love. May God bless all of us, and bless His most holy Church, all the priests, religious, and our Pope, Benedict XVI. Amen.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Mark 6 : 7-13

He called the Twelve to Him, and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over evil spirits. And He ordered them to take nothing for the journey, except a staff : no food, no bag, no money in their belts. They were to wear sandals and were not to take an extra tunic.

And He added, “In whatever house you are welcomed, stay there until you leave the place.” If any place doesn’t receive you, and the people refuse to listen to you, leave after shaking the dust off your feet. It will be a testimony against them.”

So they set out to proclaim that this was the time to repent. They drove out many demons and healed many sick people by anointing them.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Psalm 47 : 2-3a, 3b-4, 9, 10-11

Great is the Lord, most worthy of praise in the city of God, His holy mountain. Beautifully elevated, it is the joy of all the earth.

Mount Zion, heavenly mountain, the city of the great King. Here within her lines of defense, God has shown Himself to be a sure fortress.

As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, the city God founded forever.

Let us recall Your unfailing love, o God, inside Your temple. Let Your praise as does Your Name, o God, reach to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is ever victorious.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Hebrews 12 : 18-19,21-24

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses : nor heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and storms, blasts of trumpets or such a voice that the people pleaded that no further word be spoken.

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said : I tremble with fear. But you came near to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable angels. You have come to the solemn feast, the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven. There is God, Judge of all, with the spirits of the upright brought to perfection.

There is Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, with the sprinkled blood that cries out more effectively than Abel’s.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Mark 6 : 1-6

Leaving that place, 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 offense 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, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

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.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

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, 5 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Today, the readings showed us that to God, nothing is impossible. For He has all the authority on this world and beyond. All lives lay under His power, and even death could not escape Him. This is because Christ Himself would conquer death, through His own death on the cross. His resurrection proved that death no longer has power over mankind. Christ bought us with His priceless and precious Blood from the enslavement of death and sin.

It is through His suffering on the cross, that Christ made all of us, especially those who believe in Him, pure and worthy of God’s Kingdom. It is through faith, that we are saved, just like the woman with the bleeding, whom out of her great faith, dared to push on and approached Jesus to be healed. Her effort paid off when the Lord healed her and also praised her for her great faith. Jairus, too, in his great faith, knowing that the Lord can save his daughter, reached out to Jesus, humbly asking Him to be willing to heal her.

Can we also be as humble and as faithful as they are? Many of us in this modern world, are particularly too proud to admit that we had erred, and that we had made mistakes in our lives. If we are so proud and unwilling to admit our faults to our fellow man, then even more so we are unwilling to admit our sin to God, and even to ask for forgiveness with great humility. Let us be not like the people in Jairus’ house, who laughed at Christ, and did not believe in Him, and His mastery over even death.

However, again, let us not be mistaken, that faith alone can save us fully and entirely, without any action in the practice of our faith. Our faith is not an instantaneous matter, since it takes action to nurture our faith in God, and our love of others. Just like Jairus who went all the way to seek for Jesus to heal his daughter, and the woman, who braved through the immense crowd to reach Jesus to touch His cloak. Can we also strive to do this extra effort to bring our faith into practice, to reach out to one another, and therefore in the end able to reach the Lord? Remember that Christ told us that whatever we do for those who are the least and weakest in our society, that we do it to the Lord, and in doing so, the Lord knows us and recognises us, as those worthy of Him and His Kingdom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_of_Sicily

Today, we also commemorate the feast day of St. Agatha, a well known martyr of the third century AD, who was martyred by the then still pagan Roman Empire. St. Agatha dedicated her virginity to God, and God alone, in a similar way to the nuns and religious today do. She was also very firm in her faith and deeply against paganism and idol worship in the Roman society at the time. When a pagan Roman prefect named Quintianus made approaches to her, she rejected him firmly, and this eventually led to her martyrdom, in defense of her faith, and of her virginity that she dedicated to God.

St. Agatha’s deep faith and practice of her faith through her martyrdom should be a great example to all of us the faithful in Christ. Not to follow her into martyrdom, but in always ensuring that our faith remain strong and alive, that when temptations and challenges come, we will be able to stand fast to our faith, and did not falter, even when faced with suffering or death. Let us live in accordance with the example made by St. Agatha and other holy saints of God, so that we too are found worthy to God and worthy of life eternal.

St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us. Amen.