6th Week of Ordinary Time

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Thursday, 20 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

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, 20 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

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, 19 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to remember the love and kindness, the grace and mercy which God has generously given to us all throughout history, by saving us from certain death and sparing the righteous ones amongst us from destruction. He also provided us all with the means to seek Him and His forgiveness, His mercy and compassion above all else. That He has done all these for our sake proved to us beyond any doubt that we are truly beloved and precious to God, and if we come to seek Him and His mercy, God will surely welcome us all most joyfully, leading us away from the precipice of darkness and destruction into a new life filled with His love and grace.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis in which the Lord ended the Great Flood that He had sent into the world at the time of Noah, allowing him and his family, and all the animals taking shelter in his Ark to gain reprieve from the Flood. Noah obeyed God’s commands and built the Ark over a period of many decades, providing the means by which to survive the great catastrophe sent by the Lord to cleanse the whole world from all the wickedness due to the sins which had come about from the children of Cain and other mankind, who had been totally bereft of good conduct and moral, and which had led to the corruption of the whole world. God truly loved all of His people, as He had created us all out of love, and yet, at the same time, He also despised the sins and the corruption of evil that we have allowed ourselves to be corrupted with.

And that was why the Great Flood happened at that time, because in all the whole world, there was no longer any good or virtue among all of mankind, save that which was found in Noah and his family. That was why God chose Noah and his family to save them all from the cleansing Flood that He would send into the world. He did not wish for the righteous to share in the fate of the wicked, those who have consistently and constantly refused to listen to Him and follow His path. He guided and protected them through that storm and flood, which lasted for a whole period of over a year, including the period of rain and when the flood covered the whole world. And we heard in today’s first reading of the account of the time when the Flood finally receded and all the occupants of the Ark could finally walk on the dry land safely once again.

After the Flood, as we heard from the Book of Genesis, Noah made an offering to God on the Altar at Mount Ararat where the Ark landed at, making a Covenant with God between Him and his descendants. God made a solemn vow and promise not to destroy mankind again with the Great Flood, after that Flood had cleansed away the whole world and wiped out all those who were wicked and evil, sparing only Noah and his immediate family. The rainbow, which usually appears after the rain as mentioned, is a reminder of God’s promise to man, that He would remember not to send another world destroying Flood again, a reminder that ultimately, we are all beloved and dear, precious and important to God. Nonetheless, this does not mean that we can then act and live with impunity, disobeying God’s commandments and Law, as it was our wickedness and sins that led to the Great Flood in the first place.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus performed a miracle at the town of Bethsaida where a blind man was, and we heard how the Lord made the blind man to be able to see again. He healed the man from his affliction, and showed the love that God has always had for each and every one of us, His desire to be reconciled and reunited with all of us. At the same time, He also showed His power and might, His authority over all things, over life and death, diseases and all, in opening the eyes of the blind, something that no one even up to today can truly do, as even there is something that our medicine and technology can do, showing the limit of our human intelligence or power, which were ultimately derived from the power of God.

No one for example could bring anyone back from death into life, as this is something that the Lord alone can do, and He Himself has shown this on several occasions, with the dead daughter of the synagogue official Jairus, with the dead son of the widow of Nain, and with His own deceased good friend Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. With the Great Flood and the Covenant that God had made with Noah afterwards, the Lord wanted to show and remind us all that He alone is the Lord and Master over all things, over life and death, and over our whole lives, our fates and existence. Therefore, it is important that we remind ourselves of how small, insignificant and weak we are, despite our many achievements, glory, fame and all the other things that we often boasted about in our lives.

At the same time, we are reminded of how fortunate we are that God, Who is our Lord and Master, great beyond our imagination, is also our loving Father, Who is always ever concerned about us, seeking to be reconciled and reunited with us, ever being patient in leading and guiding us all towards His eternal Kingdom and the salvation which He has repeatedly promised and reassured us. He has given us so many opportunities and paths for us to reach Him, and it is indeed sad to see how many people spurned these opportunities and chances that the Lord has generously provided to them, preferring instead to remain in the state of corruption, in wickedness, darkness and sin. Many among us had fallen into the temptations of worldly pleasures and desires, all of which had distracted us from God and His love, and from everything that He had done for us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to do our best in living our lives in each and every moments most faithfully and strive to be righteous, worthy and good in our every words, actions and deeds so that we may truly be worthy to be called as Christians, as God’s own beloved and holy people. May the Lord bless us in our every good works and endeavours, in our every efforts so that by His blessings and guidance, we may continue to grow ever stronger in our love, faith and dedication to God, and be ever closer to the eternal kingdom of glory, everlasting life and true happiness that God Himself has promised us, distancing ourselves from the taint and corruption of sin that can lead us astray into our downfall and destruction. May God be with us always in our respective journeys. Amen.

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Wednesday, 19 February 2025 : 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.”

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Wednesday, 19 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 115 : 12-13, 14-15, 18-19

How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the Lord.

I will fulfil my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. It is painful to the Lord to see the death of His faithful.

I will carry out my vows to the Lord in the presence of His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, o Jerusalem.

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Wednesday, 19 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 8 : 6-13, 20-22

At the end of the forty days Noah opened the window of the Ark that he had built and let the raven out. This went off and kept flying to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

Then Noah let out the dove to see if the waters were receding from the earth. But the dove could not find a place to set its foot and flew back to him in the Ark for the waters still covered the surface of the whole earth. So Noah stretched out his hand, took hold of it and brought it back to himself in the Ark.

He waited some more days and again sent the dove out from the Ark. This time the dove came back to him in the evening with a fresh olive branch in its beak. Then Noah knew the waters had receded from the earth. He waited seven more days and let the dove loose, but it did not return to him any more.

In the year six hundred and one, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the waters dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the Ark and looked out and saw that the surface of the earth was dry. Noah built an altar to YHVH and, taking some of all the clean animals and all the clean birds, he offered burnt offerings on it.

YHVH smelled the pleasing aroma and said to Himself : “Never again will I curse the earth because of man, even though his heart is set on evil from childhood; never again will I strike down every living creature as I have done. As long as the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease to be.”

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Tuesday, 18 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us as Christians to be virtuous and righteous, good and filled with the love of God in all things. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed and tempted by the many wickedness around us in this world which can lead us astray into the path of evil and damnation, or else, we will find it difficult to reject the allures and the strong pull of sin. If we are not careful, we may end up being distracted and pulled away from the path towards God’s grace and salvation, and falling into the eternal suffering and damnation, if we allow ourselves to be swayed by sin. 

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the Book of Genesis when God proclaimed to Noah, His faithful servant about the coming calamity and destruction which He would bring upon the whole world because of the great wickedness and sin which mankind had committed in their lives. Their sins had become so great that while God loved each one of His children, but His displeasure at the sins which the people had committed eventually led to Him deciding to wipe away all the lives in the world with the sole exception of Noah and his immediate family, as well as those animals that had come into the Great Ark that God had commanded Noah to build before the time of the Great Flood. The Lord spared those who were in the Great Ark, and their descendants became the ancestors of all those who live in the world today.

From this story of the Great Flood and the salvation through the Noah’s Ark, we are all reminded that first of all, God loves us all and wants nothing less than to forgive us and to be reunited with us all, to free us from the bondage to our sins and wickedness, all the evils and other things that had kept us away from Him. But at the same time, we must not ignore the fact that God also despises our wickedness and evils, and none of those corruptions can or should be found in us or else we will be judged and condemned by those sins which we fail to repent from and continued to commit in our lives. We must always remind ourselves that while God is all merciful and generous with His love to us, but if we continue to harden our hearts and reject His generous offer of mercy and love, it is by our own conscious rejection and rebuff of God’s mercy and love that we shall be judged by.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the moment when the Lord told the disciples to be wary of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod, which they misunderstood as the Lord chiding them for having no bread with them during their trip on the boat. This ‘yeast’ of the Pharisees is a reference to the corruption of the sins of their hypocrisy and the pride, arrogance and the desires which many of them had in them, in desiring for the glory and greatness of the world, in taking pride and being arrogant over their supposed superiority in intellectual understanding, knowledge and observance of the Law of God. They, who were entrusted with the guardianship and enforcement of the Law of God became conceited, and were obsessed with the details and rituals of the Law instead of understanding their true meaning and purpose.

They became proud in putting themselves ahead of others, thinking that they could not be mistaken, and hence, refusing to believe in the Lord and His words, even though they themselves had frequently seen and witnessed many of the Lord’s works and ministries among the people of God, all the miracles that He had performed in their own midst, all the words, the Wisdom and truth, the Good News which He had spoken and proclaimed in their midst. They had witnessed all those things and yet, they still refused and failed to believe because they could not allow themselves to accept that what the Lord had brought unto them is the truth, and that their way of observing the Law and the commandments of God had been mistaken all those while.

Then, regarding the ‘yeast’ of Herod, it is likely a reference to the hedonistic and excessive extravagance which Herod and his fellow royals and nobles, the rulers of that time, and their courtiers and followers had carried out in their daily living. This also included his immoral behaviour and actions in marrying the wife of his own brother Philip, for which King Herod had been chided and rebuked by St. John the Baptist earlier on. All these immoral and improper behaviour were not good examples for the people who lived under his dominion and rule, and hence, the Lord also warned His disciples and followers, as well as all of us, to resist the temptations of these worldly pleasures, glory and ambitions, all of which could lead us to our downfall.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our part in whatever way we can so that we may distance ourselves from the path of wickedness and evil. We must not allow sin and corruption it causes to harm us any longer, and we should strive to resist the many temptations to disobey and sin against God. This is of course easier said than done, as many of our predecessors had failed to follow the path of the Lord faithfully and slipped into the path of disobedience, sin and darkness. Many times we may also be faced with great trials, challenges and obstacles, temptations, coercions and pressures, all of which may persuade or convince us to give up the struggle against sin and evil. But if we do not make the effort to resist sin, and depend and trust in the Lord, how can we be triumphant against sin then? Remember that only the Lord alone has the power over sin and death, and we should continue to put the Lord at the centre of our lives and existence.

May the Lord our most loving God continue to help and guide us in our journey, and may He empower each and every one of us so that in everything that we say and do, we will always be ready to face all the challenges and obstacles in our path towards Him. May He continue to bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, so that we may be strengthened in all things and will be fruitful in our efforts and works, for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 18 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 8 : 14-21

At that time, the disciples had forgotten to bring more bread, and had only one loaf with the in the boat. Then Jesus warned them, “Keep your eyes open, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.” And they said of one another, “He saw that we have no bread.”

Aware of this, Jesus asked them, “Why are you talking about the loaves you are short of? Do you not see or understand? Are your minds closed? Have your eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves among five thousand? How many baskets full of letfovers did you collect?”

They answered, “Twelve.” “And having distributed seven loaves to the four thousand, how many wicker baskets of leftovers did you collect?” They answered, “Seven.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

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Tuesday, 18 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 28 : 1a and 2, 3ac-4, 3b and 9b-10

Give the Lord, o sons of God, give the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in great liturgy.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the Lord thunders over vast waters. How powerful is the voice of the Lord, how splendorous is the voice of the Lord.

The God of glory thunders, the Lord strips the forests bare, and in His Temple all cry, “Glory!” Over the flood the Lord was sitting; the Lord is King and He reigns forever.

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Tuesday, 18 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 6 : 5-8 and Genesis 7 : 1-5, 10

YHVH saw how great was the wickedness of man on the earth and that evil was always the only thought of his heart. YHVH regretted having created man on the earth and His heart grieved. He said, “I will destroy man whom I created and blot him out from the face of the earth, as well as the beasts, creeping creatures and birds, for I am sorry I made them.” But Noah was pleasing to God.

YHVH said to Noah, “Go into the Ark, you and all your household, for I see that you are just in this generation. Of all the clean animals, you are to take with you seven of each kind, male and female, and a pair of unclean animals, a male and a female. In the same way for the birds of the air, take seven and seven, male and female, to keep their kind alive over all the earth, for in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will blot out from the face of the earth all the living creatures I have created.”

Noah did all as YHVH had commanded. And after seven days the waters of the flood were over the earth.