ad maiorem dei gloriam

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Friday, 25 March 2016 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Hebrews 4 : 14-16 and Hebrews 5 : 7-9

We have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, who has entered heaven. Let us, then, hold fast to the faith we profess. Our High Priest is not indifferent to our weaknesses, for He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sinning. Let us, then, with confidence approach the throne of grace; we will obtain mercy and, through His favour, help in due time.

Christ, in the days of His mortal life, offered His sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to Him who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His humble submission. Although He was Son, He learnt through suffering what obedience was, and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for those who obey Him.

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Friday, 25 March 2016 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 30 : 2 and 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17 and 25

In You, o Lord, I take refuge, may I never be disgraced; deliver Me in Your justice. Into Your hands I commend My Spirit; You have redeemed Me, o Lord, faithful God.

I have become an object of reproach for My foes, a horror to My neighbours, a fear to My friends. Those who see Me in the streets flee from Me. I am like the dead, unremembered; I have become like a broken pot, thrown away, discarded.

But I put My trust in You, o Lord, I said : “You are My God.” My days are in Your hand. Deliver Me from the hands of My enemies, from those after My skin.

Make Your face shine upon Your Servant; save Me in Your love. Be strong and take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

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Friday, 25 March 2016 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Isaiah 52 : 13 – Isaiah 53 : 12

It is now when My Servant will succeed; He will be exalted and highly praised. Just as many have been horrified at His disfigured appearance : “Is this a Man? He does not look like One,” so will nations be astounded, kings will stand speechless, for they will see something never told, and they will witness something never heard of.

Who could believe what we have heard, and to whom has YHVH revealed His feat? Like a root out of dry ground, like a sapling He grew up before us, with nothing attractive in His appearance, no beauty, no majesty.

He was despised and rejected, a Man of sorrows familiar with grief, a Man from whom people hide their face, spurned and considered of no account. Yet ours were the sorrows He bore, ours were the sufferings He endured, although we considered Him as One punished by God, stricken and brought low.

Destroyed because of our sins, He was crushed for our wickedness. Through His punishment we are made whole; by His wounds we are healed. Like sheep we had all gone astray, each following his own way; but YHVH laid upon Him all our guilt. He was harshly treated, but unresisting and silent, He humbly submitted. Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearer He did not open His mouth.

He was taken away to detention and judgment – what an unthinkable fate! He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for His people’s sin. They made His tomb with the wicked, they put Him in the graveyard of the oppressors, though He had done no violence nor spoken in deceit.

Yet it was the will of YHVH to crush Him with grief. When He makes Himself an offering for sin, He will have a long life and see His descendants. Through Him the will of YHVH is done. For the anguish He suffered, He will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge. My just Servant will justify the multitude; He will bear and take away their guilt.

Therefore I will give Him His portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong. For He surrendered Himself to death and was even counted among the wicked, bearing the sins of the multitude and interceding for sinners.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we begin the most important part of the entire liturgical year of the Church, as we come to celebrate the most important moments in the history of the salvation of mankind, the Easter Triduum, where we celebrate the last moments of our Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly works and ministry, in how He instituted the Eucharist, and giving up Himself to suffer and to die for our sake on the cross, before risen again in glory, resurrected from the dead.

In all this, today marks the beginning of our observation of these most important mysteries and aspects of our faith. We begin our immersion into the most intimate mysteries and the history of our salvation as we gather together to celebrate this very special occasion, beginning with this Holy Mass on the occasion of Holy Thursday, when the Lord Jesus instituted the Eucharist, His own Precious Body and Blood, to be given to us all, and to be shared for our salvation.

Today is the birthday of the Mass, the very first instance when the Holy Mass was celebrated on earth, and the One Who presided over it all, was none other than Jesus our Lord Himself. In that very important act during the last time He had the Passover meal with His disciples, He reenacted the very first Passover, when the Jews had their Passover meal as instructed by the Lord, the night of their liberation.

At that time, the people of Israel were under the tyranny of the Pharaohs and slavery under the Egyptians, when they suffered greatly and worked tirelessly and even unto death, slaving themselves under the weight of the yoke of the Egyptians. And God sent them deliverance through His servant Moses, who showed the Pharaoh and the Egyptians the might of God Who wanted His people to be free.

And after having sent plagues after plagues to strike at the Egyptians, He was to lead His people out by His own mighty hand. And He established a new covenant with them, a covenant that He established with them through the shedding of the blood of lambs, which they splashed on their doorposts as the signs to God and His Angels, sent to reap through Egypt and destroy the firstborn of the Egyptians, that those households marked with the lamb’s blood were not counted among the Egyptians.

They ate and shared the lamb amongst themselves, as the sign of God’s covenant with them, Who passed over them as the ones to be saved and rescued as He showed His wrath over the Egyptians. Thus, this was the very important symbol of their salvation and liberation, and which God instructed them to keep forever, and to be celebrated as the most important of all feasts and celebrations.

And it was that same commemoration that Jesus had celebrated with His disciples. But unlike all the other Passover meals and feasts, that moment, which we now know as the Last Supper, was different. That was because instead of sealing the covenant with the blood of lambs and to remember the slavery of Israel and how God liberated them from the hands of the Egyptians, Jesus gave the moment a new meaning, by establishing through Himself, a new, perfect and eternal covenant with all of mankind.

And He offered Himself, His own flesh and blood, through which He would mark mankind anew, not just the Israelites but all those who have accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour, that these people would not be lost, but would receive the grace of eternal life and salvation in God through Jesus Christ His Son. And those who share in His Body and His Blood would not perish, but live eternally, as long as they live worthily and in accordance with what they believe in Christ.

This means that those of us who have received the Sacrament of Baptism worthily, and kept ourselves true and faithful to our God, endeavouring to keep ourselves worthy of His presence, by the means of good works and good conscience, by obeying His laws and precepts, we all have a share in the Body and Blood that He had given us all through the Eucharist, as He is really present here among us and in each one of us.

And through that, the Lord made us worthy and justified, ready to be welcomed into the glorious inheritance which He had promised to all those who are faithful to Him. God does not abandon all those who placed their trust in Him, as He will bless them and keep them safe as He is keeping all of His flock secure and safe from all harm. But those who have not kept themselves worthy of Him, acting wickedly and continuing to sin, these God will reject and cast out from His presence.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate the moment when God Himself gave us His Body and Blood to eat and drink, and that He did by transforming in reality and essence the bread and the wine He was sharing with His disciples, into the substance and essence of His own Body and His own Blood. As He gave Himself up for our sake, He bore upon Himself our sins and all of our faults, and bore them up to the cross as the perfect offering for us all before God His Father.

Through the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of our Lord that we partake and receive, we have therefore a share in the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus, and in dying to our sins, just as He died for our sins, we have left behind our past selves and gain for ourselves a new life in Christ, a life filled with grace and righteousness. Through this we have a share in His resurrection, as we share in a new life together with our Lord.

We now have to keep in mind, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are all now Temples of His Holy Presence, where He keeps His dwelling. He is in us, within us, because that bread and wine which we receive, and which our priests are offering on our behalf, have truly been united with the one singular ultimate sacrifice that our God had offered on the cross in Calvary. And that sacrifice is our Lord Himself, and Whose Body and Blood, the substance of the bread and wine transformed, we have received into ourselves.

If God is within us, then naturally we should endeavour to live righteously, justly and worthily, so that all of us will be worthy to be in His presence, for God Who is all good will not stand having wickedness and sin to be in His presence. Thus, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we come together to celebrate the Eucharist today, the gift of God made Man, and which gift He had given to ourselves, let us all be mindful of our own actions, and in how we live our lives.

If we have not been faithful to our Lord, then we should rectify that from now on. Let us make use of the time and opportunities given to us, so that we may bring ourselves ever closer to Him, and find our path to redemption and eternal life that we can find in Him alone. Let us all work together as the whole Church to help one another, that we may be able to make the best use out of this celebration of the Easter Triduum, and may these moments profoundly change us for the better. May God help us and guide us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 13 : 1-15

At that time, it was before the feast of the Passover. Jesus realised that His hour had come, to pass from this world to the Father; and as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He would love them with perfect love.

They were at supper, and the devil had already put into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Him. Jesus knew that the Father had entrusted all things to Him, and as He had come from God, He was going to God. So He got up from the table, removed His garment, and taking a towel, wrapped it around His waist.

Then He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel He was wearing. When He came to Simon Peter, Simon asked Him, “Why, Lord, do You want to wash my feet?” Jesus said, “What I am doing you cannot understand now, but afterwards you will understand it.”

Peter replied, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you can have no part with Me.” Then Simon Peter said, “Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”

Jesus replied, “Whoever has taken a bath does not need to wash, except the feet, for he is clean all over. You are clean, though not all of you.” Jesus knew who was to betray Him; because of this He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

When Jesus had finished washing their feet, He put on His garment again, went back to the table, and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call Me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet.”

“I have just given you an example, that as I have done, you also may do.”

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 11 : 23-26

This is the tradition of the Lord that I received and that in my turn I have handed on to you; the Lord Jesus, on the night that He was delivered up, took bread and, after giving thanks, broke it, saying, “This is My Body which is broken for you; do this in memory of Me.”

In the same manner, taking the chalice after the supper, He said, “This chalice is the new Covenant in My Blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in memory of Me.” So, then, whenever you eat of this bread and drink from this chalice, you are proclaiming the death of the Lord until He comes.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 115 : 12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

The Lord remembers us and will bless us; He will bless the family of Israel; He will bless the family of Aaron; He will bless those who fear the Lord, both the small and the great.

May you be blessed by the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. Heaven belongs to the Lord, but the earth He has given to humans.

It is not the dead who praise the Lord, for they have gone down to silence; but it is we, the living, who bless the Lord, from now on and forever.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Holy Thursday, Mass of the Lord’s Supper (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Exodus 12 : 1-8, 11-14

YHVH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt and said, “This month is to be the beginning of all months, the first month of your year. Speak to the community of Israel and say to them : On the tenth day of this month let each family take a lamb, a lamb for each house. If the family is too small for a lamb, they must join with a neighbour, the nearest to the house, according to the number of persons and to what each one can eat.”

“You will select a perfect lamb without blemish, a male born during the present year, taken from the sheep or goats. Then you will keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. On that evening all the people will slaughter their lambs and take some of the blood to put on the doorposts and on top of the doorframes of the houses where you eat.”

“That night you will eat the flesh roasted at the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And this is how you will eat : with a belt round your waist, sandals on your feet and a staff in your hand. You shall eat hastily for it is a Passover in honour of YHVH.”

“On that night I shall go through Egypt and strike every firstborn in Egypt, men and animals; and I will even bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt, I, YHVH! The blood on your houses will be the sign that you are there. I will see the blood and pass over you; and you will escape the mortal plague when I strike Egypt.”

“This is a day you are to remember and celebrate in honour of YHVH. It is to be kept as a festival day for all generations forever.”

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Chrism Mass (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this occasion of the Chrism Mass, we all gather together, all the priests with their respective bishops and superiors in the dioceses around the world. On this day, all those who have dedicated themselves to the Lord in either religious life or sacred priesthood renew their promises and vows to the Lord, and at the same time, the holy oils are blessed, the chrism, where the Chrism Mass got its name from.

All those who are baptised in Christ, and all those who have placed themselves on the path of God’s salvation, they all have received the anointing of the holy oils upon their forehead, as these holy oils have been blessed by God Himself through His holy priests. And it is these priests too who have also been anointed with the same holy oils, when they receive the sacrament of the Holy Orders, to become the dedicated and committed servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And to them the Lord has given them the same authority as He had given to the Apostles, to His disciples and faithful ones, whom He had charged with the care of the people and the flock which He had gathered in the Name of His Father. Just as David has been chosen by God to lead His people Israel as His chosen king, and he has been anointed with oil by Samuel the prophet and judge, so therefore, our priests, bishops and all who have received the Sacrament of the Holy Orders have been blessed and chosen by God. God had called them, and they have responded with faith and sincerity.

And today, all of us gather together to remember our priests and to keep them always in our prayers as they made the efforts anew, to renew together with their bishops, and also with the whole Universal Church, the vow and promise which they had made at the moment of their consecration as God’s holy and dedicated priests. And this time it is especially crucial that we pray for them and ask for our Lord’s protection over them.

Why is this so? That is because, challenges and difficulties are always out and about, seeking to challenge our Church, bringing it problems and putting obstacles in her path, and our priests and all the faithful servants of the Lord, and the workers of the fields of the Lord are at the forefront of the Church and its works, and consequently, they are the ones who are braving those challenges.

There are many difficulties facing our priests, from how they work, to what they preach to the people of God, and to even how they live their daily lives. They are in fact carrying the cross of Christ as long as they are faithful in following the commandments of God. And what is that for, brethren? It is for our own benefit and for our own salvation. They are the shepherds that God had appointed to be in charge of all of us, to lead us on the path to reach Him and the salvation in Him.

It is not easy to become a priest, and it is not easy to remain as one and staying true as one. It is just as what our Lord had said, that while the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers and workers to gather the harvest are few, and just as He asked His people to pray for the Father to send the labourers to the harvest, thus, this is what He also wanted from us, that we pray for God to send young people to join the vocation to the priesthood, to listen to God calling them in their hearts and to choose the way of dedication and commitment to God and to His people.

We too should listen to the word of God speaking deep in our hearts. It is often that we are called by the Lord to follow Him, and yet we are not willing to follow Him because of the various reasons that we have. We like to make excuses or even closing our ears and our minds, our hearts and our feelings from the Lord. And this is exactly why it is becoming ever more difficult from time to time for our Church, as there are fewer and fewer people ready to commit themselves and their lives in the service of God.

Therefore, today, as we reflect on this occasion of the Chrism Mass, let us all commit ourselves anew in our own ways. If we want to devote ourselves wholly to God, then we should take the first step and have the courage to devote ourselves and our entire beings to serving the Lord, taking up the crosses we have, and bravely enduring the challenges, to lead and guide our brethren to the Lord as His shepherds.

And if we are not to follow the Lord in the way of His chosen priests and ministers, then all of us still have our obligations as Christians, to live a good and devout life, filled with faith and obedience to God and His commandments and laws. Then, all of us who choose that path should indeed devote ourselves to help the Church and to help one another in seeking God and His salvation.

Let us all realise in each and every one of us, the role and the responsibilities we have for God and for our fellow brethren. Let us follow the Lord and do what we can to be ever obedient to Him, and to do His good works in all of our lives. May God be with us all, and bless us always. Amen.

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Thursday, 24 March 2016 : Maundy Thursday, Chrism Mass (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 4 : 16-21

At that time, when Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as He usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed Him the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written : “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He has anointed Me to bring Good News to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and to announce the Lord’s year of mercy.”

Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Then He said to them, “Today these prophetic words come true, even as you listen.”