6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Friday, 22 February 2019 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate the occasion of the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle, bringing us into focus to the Chair or the Seat of authority which St. Peter the Apostle, the leader of the Apostles has, in his position as God’s own Vicar on earth, as the one to whom God had entrusted His own Church, all the collective body of the whole faithful, the Church of God, which He has built upon the firm foundation of the Rock of faith, St. Peter, His Vicar.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what is so significant about this ‘chair’ of St. Peter the Apostle that there is a special feast day to commemorate it? This chair does not refer to any physical chair, even though in St. Peter’s Basilica, there is indeed a wooden chair installed on the apse of the great Basilica, above the Altar of the Chair, which was one of the actual chairs that St. Peter has once used as the Bishop of Rome.

The meaning of the word chair here goes deeper in the sense that, the chair refers to the authority that the Lord has granted to His Apostles, and in this case, to St. Peter, the special authority above all the other Apostles and disciples, as their leader and therefore as the leader of the entire Universal Church, as the Vicar of the true Head and Leader of the Church, Christ Himself.

Each bishops of the Church have a chair or cathedra, their seat of authority, which is located in the church called cathedrals precisely because of the presence of this seat. And each of the bishops have been given the authority over their respective dioceses, which correspond to the flocks of the faithful people of God, and that authority is presented in the seat of authority, the cathedra of the bishop.

And for the Bishop of Rome, they are the successors of St. Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, to whom a special authority has been granted, as the Gospel passage today mentioned, specifically that the Lord has entrusted His whole universal Church to the care and the leadership of St. Peter, whose name in Aramaic language means ‘Rock’, the rock of faith on which God built the foundations of His Church.

Therefore, the chair of St. Peter that the feast day today celebrates, commemorates that divine authority which has been given to the Church through its leader, St. Peter, as the one tasked, with the aid and support of all the other Apostles and leaders of the Church, with the governance and guidance of the direction of the Church, where it is moving towards and its efforts in evangelisation and in the salvation of souls.

Therefore today we are reminded of the great challenges that the Church is facing, in its numerous commitments and good works in our world today, in the evangelisation of the people of God, the spreading of the truth of the Gospel, in the salvation of souls and the works of God’s mercy, as well as the oppositions and challenges from all those who do not wish to see the work of God to be successful, especially those who are under the power and influence of Satan and his fellow deceivers.

And at the forefront of it all, is the Pope, as the successor of St. Peter, as the Bishop of Rome and the Supreme Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ and leader of the entire Christendom, of all God’s faithful people. Of course, the Pope is not alone in bearing all the burdens of his office, as at the heart of it all, the Pope is at the same time also sharing his ministry of the episcopate with all the bishops, the successors of the Apostles.

Therefore, the Pope leads the efforts of the bishops of the universal Church, as the chief of the shepherds that God has appointed over His people, to guide the people and the souls of God’s beloved ones to the right path, leading them down the path towards God, while resisting the temptations, the falsehoods, the pressures and challenges that come from the world, from the devil and all forces seeking the destruction of us all.

And in all that we have seen in our present day world and in our Church today, the works of the Church, especially that of its leader, our Pope, our Supreme Pontiff and Christ’s Vicar is definitely not an easy one. There are plenty of challenges and obstacles, one after another, are adding up in the path that the Church is taking, in its journey through the tribulations and trials of the world today.

That is why, our role as Christians, that is as all those who compose the Body of Christ, the Church, is very important, as each and every one of us have important roles to play in our respective areas and specialties, to support the Holy Father, our Pope and leader, in the efforts and works that he is driving the whole Church through, amidst all the turbulences and challenges that we are facing together as the whole Church in this journey of faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore grow in our devotion and commitment to God as Christians, as members of His Church, through our obedience to the Law and the commandments laid out by the Church, and trust ourselves to the leadership and guidance of our Holy Father, the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. Let us all do whatever we can in order to serve the Lord better, by making good use of the gifts and the talents that He had entrusted to each one of us.

May the Lord continue to watch over His Church, particularly as we are going through difficult moments and challenges, that the Church may continue to persevere through all of these difficult times, especially for the Pope, our leader, that he may continue to faithfully carry on the mission and works entrusted to him since the time of St. Peter, the first Pope. May God bless us always, and may He continue to love His beloved Church, forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 22 February 2019 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 16 : 13-19

At that time, Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. He asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They said, “For some of them You are John the Baptist, for others Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”

Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “It is well for you, Simon Bar-Jona, for it is not flesh or blood that has revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven.”

“And now I say to you : You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church; and never will the powers of death overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven : whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven.”

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Friday, 22 February 2019 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

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Friday, 22 February 2019 : Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Peter 5 : 1-4

I now address myself to those elders among you; I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, hoping to share the Glory that is to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock which God has entrusted to you, guarding it not out of obligation but willingly for God’s sake; not as one looking for a reward but with a generous heart; do not lord it over those in your care, rather be an example to your flock.

Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will be given a crown of unfading glory.

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Thursday, 21 February 2019 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of God in the Scriptures speaking to us regarding the salvation which God has given to all of His people, the Covenant which He has made with all of us mankind, through which He restored us all from the state of disgrace and sin, into a renewed existence in grace and beloved by God.

God has brought Noah and his family, who alone were faithful among the many wicked and unrepentant sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, safely through the Great Flood that destroyed everything in the world, and through the Ark, brought them all into a new life on a renewed earth. And God made a new Covenant with Noah and his family, with him and all of his descendants, that include all of us living here today.

The Covenant that God has made is a Covenant of love, the promise of love between God and His beloved people, in which the two parties involved entered into a most solemn and honourable agreement and binding decision, to be committed to each other, to be devoted and to love each other with sincerity and genuine desire. And God loved His people as He has always done, not desiring their destruction but salvation and liberation from sin.

And because a Covenant is contracted between two parties and is binding between them, therefore, if God Himself has entered into the agreement with us all, and willingly committed Himself to us, then we mankind, who are also part of this same Covenant, must therefore also love God in the same manner, and commit ourselves to a loving relationship with Him. If we love God, then we must be willing to walk in His ways, and change our way of life to do what He has taught and shown us to do.

And God renewed His Covenant as we have heard in our Gospel passage today, through none other than Jesus Christ, His own beloved Son, sent into the world for this very purpose, that is to renew the Covenant He had once made with His people, with a new and everlasting Covenant that surpasses every previous Covenants, sealed with nothing less than the pure sacrifice and the Most Precious Blood of Christ, flowing down from the cross.

Yet, are we able to love Him as He has loved us so dearly? Many of us have not been able to commit ourselves in the same manner as our Lord as loved and devoted Himself to us. He has loved us so totally, so as to give everything for our sake. Many of us love instead the many tempting things in the world, not even giving our attention and time for God. We look for things such as worldly glory, fame, prestige, wealth and power.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as we are distracted by all of these temptations, we will not be able to give ourselves totally and wholly to God, and we will always end up failing and falling into sin again and again. We need to make the conscious effort to resist those temptations to sin. Otherwise, we will easily be swayed by the devil and all those who have always been trying to tempt us, day after day, at every moments.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Peter Damian, a holy and devout servant of God who should become our inspiration in life. St. Peter Damian was a renowned Benedictine monk who eventually rose to the rank of Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, as one of the closest confidants of the Pope, for his vigorous reforms and commitment to the renewal of the Church at the time, in which corrupt practices were rampant.

St. Peter Damian dedicated much of his life to the eradication of the wicked practices and sins present within the Church, both among the clergy and the laity at the time, when the Church members and officials were deeply embroiled in scandals pertaining their worldly ambitions and ways. St. Peter Damian led the effort to eradicate all of these excesses and wicked practices, helping the Pope at the time to steer the Church through the difficult times.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to follow the examples and the commitment shown by St. Peter Damian in living an upright life dedicated to God. We are called to abandon our past attachments to sin, and repent from our past disobediences. Indeed, this is not something that can be easily done, but unless we make the conscious effort to do so, we can see how the devil’s wickedness have once again struck at our Church, both among the clergy and the laity alike.

We have seen all sorts of scandals involving the clergy as well as those counted among the laity, and how all of these are causing hurts and difficulties to the efforts of the Church to bring more souls to the salvation in God. Let us therefore begin from ourselves, the effort to purify our lives and to bring about a renewal of the Covenant of love that God has made with us, through Christ, His Son, our Lord and Saviour.

Let us all turn once again wholeheartedly towards the Lord, loving Him and placing Him at the very centre of our lives. Let us all seek to walk faithfully in His ways, and do our best to obey Him from now on. May the Lord our loving God continue to love us and bless us, each and every days of our lives. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 February 2019 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Mark 8 : 27-33

At that time, Jesus set out with His disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” And they told Him, “Some say You are John the Baptist; others say You are Elijah or one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And He ordered them not to tell anyone about Him. Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed, and after three days rise again.

Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took Him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus turning around, and looking at His disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”

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Thursday, 21 February 2019 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Psalm 101 : 16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23

O Lord, the nations will revere Your Name, and the kings of the earth Your glory, when the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in all His splendour. For He will answer the prayer of the needy and will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for future ages, “The Lord will be praised by a people He will form.” From His holy height in heaven, the Lord has looked on the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and free those condemned to death.”

Your servants’ children will dwell secure; their posterity will endure without fail. Then the Name of the Lord will be declared in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship Him.

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Thursday, 21 February 2019 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Genesis 9 : 1-13

God blessed Noah and his sons and he said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Fear and dread of you will be in all the animals of the earth and in all the birds of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. They are given to you. Everything that moves and lives shall be food for you; as I gave you the green plants, I have now given you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood.”

“But I will also demand a reckoning for your lifeblood. I will demand it from every animal; and from man, too, I will demand a reckoning for the life of his fellow man. He who sheds the blood of man shall have his blood shed by man; for in the image of God has God made man. As for you, be fruitful and increase. Abound on the earth and be master of it.”

God spoke to Noah and his son, “See I am making a covenant with you and with your descendants after you; also with every living animal with you : birds, cattle, that is, with every living creature of the earth that came out of the Ark. I establish My covenant with you. Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I make between Me and you, and every animal living with you for all future generations. I set My bow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.”

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Wednesday, 20 February 2019 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the wonders of God’s love for us all, His beloved people. God has blessed all those who are faithful to Him, and provided for the needs of those who trusted Him and placed their focus on Him. The Lord saved Noah and his family through the great Ark and He also saved the blind man from His predicament, by restoring the sight which that man had lost earlier.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, first of all we heard from the Book of Genesis, the account of how the Great Flood wiped all lives from the whole earth, except for all those that Noah and his family gathered in the great Ark. The Lord kept them safe from harm and protected them from danger. The Ark floated through the storm and the flood until the flood started to recede, and all of the survivors went on to repopulate the earth. This was God’s promise of love and salvation to all those who have been faithful to Him.

God then promised His people that He will never destroy them with flood again, and showed His promise with the rainbow, that appeared every time a great rain falls on the earth. Ultimately, this reminds us of the fact that God loves each and every one of us, and He does not wish or desire for our destruction and suffering. All those who have perished during the Great Flood was caused by their own disobedience against God, their wickedness and sins.

God did not condemn the people to hell and destruction, but instead, the people of God themselves have consciously rejected God’s love and His generous offer of mercy and forgiveness. God has given all of them many opportunities, chances after chances for them to repent from their sins and to turn away from their disobedience. However, they still chose to be tempted and to disobey God regardless of the consequences of their sinful ways.

Yet, even with all of those attitudes, God still wants to help us all, out of His ever great love for each and every one of us. He extends His mercy and love, and He wants to touch us and heal us, in body, mind and soul, just as He stretched out His hands in order to heal the blind man. The blind man, who must have suffered from his blindness, was completely cured from his condition, and he could see once again.

We can only imagine just how joyful the man must have been, at the very moment when he was able to see light once again, in a world once filled with darkness and despair, that light piercing through his vision, allowing him to see clearly once again must have been such an unimaginably joyful experience for the blind man. That is exactly what each and every one of us experience when we are freed from sin, and receive from God the gift of faith and everlasting life.

Once, we have been sinners and we have disobeyed God, but God in His rich and wondrous mercy gave us a new lease of life, and a new hope when we were in the depth of darkness. He has blessed us with all these things because He loves each one of us very tenderly and greatly, that He has given us His only begotten Son, as Our Saviour, and Christ has suffered and died for us all on the cross, for the sake of our salvation.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, the question for us is that, are we able to love God and dedicate ourselves in the same manner as God has done for us all these while? Are we able to commit ourselves to love God with all of our hearts, minds and with all of our strength just as He has done, in His great patience and compassion, although we have constantly sinned against Him? We are called to love God and to serve Him, from now on. Let us all turn towards Him, and devote ourselves to Him with all of our abilities from now on, and always. Amen.

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Wednesday, 20 February 2019 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 22-26

At that time, when Jesus and His disciples came to Bethsaida, He was asked to touch a blind man who was brought to Him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When He had put spittle on his eyes and laid His hands upon him, He asked, “Can you see anything?”

The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I see people! They look like trees, but they move around.” Then Jesus laid His hands on his eyes again and the man could see perfectly. His sight was restored and he could see everything clearly. Then Jesus sent him home, saying, “Do not return to the village.”