5 August 2015

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Wednesday, 5 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate a great feast of the Church, particularly that of the Church of Rome, the Eternal and Holy City, the heart of Christendom. For not only that on this day we celebrate the commemoration of the dedication of one of the four Papal Basilicas, that is the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major or Santa Maria Maggiore, but we should also learn the reason behind why this great edifice of worship and House of God was built.

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore was built on a site where about over a thousand and five hundred years ago, a noble family in Rome prayed for help and blessing, because they had no children, and they vowed to dedicate their possessions to the Blessed Virgin, mother of our Lord and God. They prayed for her intercession, so that she might guide them on how to dispose their properties for the sake of the Lord.

As a sign, for their prayers had been heard, there happened that in the midst and during the peak of the summer season, at a site on where the great Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore now stands, there happened that snow was falling on that site, as the clear sign of the Lord’s favour and blessing on those who have given themselves and dedicated what they had for the Lord’s sake.

The Pope at the time, Pope Liberius also received a vision about what had happened, and when he and the aforementioned noble couple went to the site, they gave thanks to the Lord and His Blessed Mother, who had shown their grace and love for all those who were faithful. And the great Basilica dedicated in the honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known thereafter also as our Lady of Snows, in reference of what had happened, was built on that site, and the memory its dedication and consecration we celebrate on this day.

On that site also, there is a very famous and very venerated image of our Blessed Mother, known as the Protector of the City of Rome and the Roman people, or Salus Populi Romani, an icon of the Mother of God, who had been invoked again and again from time to time as the defender of the faithful. And we can see indeed the great veneration and honour which we have accorded to the mother of our Lord.

Why is this so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is precisely because, she is a great role model to all of us. It was her faith and devotion to the Lord, who is also her Son, in how she brought up Him from His birth and how she walked with Him and accompanied Him on His journeys, and how she endured the bitter agony of seeing her Son suffer for the sake of all mankind.

And we know the fact, which I have often reiterated, that our Lord who loves us and cares for us all greatly without exception, have given us a great gift, in His own mother, whom He had given to us as someone whom all of us can treat and indeed should treat as our own mother. This is just as she had been entrusted with all of us, through St. John, the Lord’s Apostle, that He had entrusted to her.

What does this mean? This means that we have such a great helper and we have been blessed with such a great assistance, that the very mother of our Lord is with us and guiding us, as well as aiding us on our way. Indeed, the saying is true, that we ought to go to the Lord, seek Him out and reach out to Him, through Mary, His mother. Ad Jesum per Mariam, or to Jesus through Mary.

Thus, on this great feast in memory of the dedication of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore or St. Mary Major, let us all dedicate ourselves to a new life, one that is filled with the love of God, and strive to live our lives as faithfully as our mother Mary had lived her own life, in full and total dedication to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, brethren, she is the one closest to her Son in heaven, and whatever we ask her Son through her, surely it will be heard.

May Almighty God bless us all and guide us, and let us give Him thanks for the gift of His mother Mary, our greatest intercessor and protector against the wickedness and evils of this world. Let us be forevermore faithful to Him. God be with us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)

Matthew 15 : 21-28

At that time, leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Now a Canaanite woman came from those borders and began to cry out, “Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But Jesus did not answer her, not even a word. So His disciples approached Him and said, “Send her away! See how she is shouting after us.” Then Jesus said to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel.”

But the woman was already kneeling before Jesus, and said, “Sir, help me!” Jesus answered, “It is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to the puppy dogs.” The woman replied, “That is true, Sir, but even the puppy dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”

Then Jesus said, “Woman, how great is your faith! Let it be as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)

Luke 11 : 27-28

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”

Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”

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Wednesday, 5 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)

Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 13-14, 21-22, 23

We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.

But soon they forgot His works and did not wait for His counsel. They gave way to wanton craving and tempted God in the desert.

They forgot their Saviour God, who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.

Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)

Judith 13 : 18bcde, 19

My daughter, may the Most High God bless you more than all women on earth. And blessed be the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has led you to behead the leader of our enemies.

Never will people forget the confidence you have shown; they will always remember the power of God.

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Wednesday, 5 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)

Numbers 13 : 1-2, 25 – Numbers 14 : 1, 26-30, 34-35

YHVH then spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to explore the land of Canaan that I am giving to the Israelites; send one man from each of the ancestral tribes, all of them leaders.”

After forty days of exploration, they returned. They went and met Moses, Aaron and the whole community of Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They gave an account to them and the whole community and showed them the fruit of this land.

And they said, “We entered the land where you sent us, truly a land flowing with milk and honey and here is the fruit. But how strong are the people who inhabit the land! The cities are fortified with walls and bars, and we even saw there descendants of the Anakites. Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; the Canaanites are by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

Caleb then quieted the people who rose up against Moses and said, “We should go up and take over the land, for we shall surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot advance against these people for they are stronger than we are.”

And they spread an unfavourable report about the land that they had explored, saying to the Israelites, “The land we went through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants and all the people we saw there are men of great size. We even saw giants (these giants were the Anakites). We felt like grasshoppers before them, and to them we must have seemed the same.”

Then all the community broke out in loud cries and wept during the night. Then YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel against Me. Say to them : As truly as I live, it is YHVH who speaks, I will do to you what you have said in My hearing.”

“All of you of twenty years or more, numbered in the census, who grumbled against Me, your corpses will fall in the desert. You will not enter the land where I swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh and Joshua, son of Nun. According to the number of days spent in exploring the land – forty days, for every day a year – for forty years you shall bear the guilt of your sins and you shall know what it is to oppose Me.”

“I, YHVH, have spoken. Surely this is what I will do to this wicked community that has conspired against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed and this is where they shall die.”

Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)

Revelations 21 : 1-5a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and no longer was there any sea. I saw the new Jerusalem, the Holy City coming down from God, out of heaven, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband.

A loud voice came from the throne, “Here is the dwelling of God among mortals : He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people; He will be God-with-them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out of pain, for the world that was has passed away.”

The One seated on the throne said, “See, I make all things new.”