angels of God

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Wednesday, 16 November 2016 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Gertrude, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints and Virgins)
Revelations 4 : 1-11

After this, I looked up to the wall of the sky and saw an open door. The voice which I had first speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here and I will show you what will come in the future.”

Immediately I was seized by the Spirit. There, in heaven, was a throne and One sitting on it. He Who sat there looked like jasper and carnelian and round the throne was a rainbow resembling an emerald. In a circle around the throne are twenty-four thrones and seated on these are twenty-four elders, dressed in white clothes, with golden crowns on their heads.

Flashes of lightning come forth from the throne, with voices and thunderclaps. Seven flaming torches burn before the throne; these are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there is a platform, transparent like crystal. Around and beside the throne stand four living creatures, full of eyes, both in front and behind.

The first living creature is like a lion, the second like a bull, the third has the face of a man and the fourth looks like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures has six wings full of eyes, all around as well as within; day and night they sing without ceasing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, Master of the universe, Who was, and is and is to come.”

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honour and thanks to the One on the throne, He Who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him and worship the One Who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns in front of the throne and say, “Our Lord and God, worthy are You to receive glory, honour and power! For You have created all things; by Your will they came to be and were made.”

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Tuesday, 15 November 2016 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Albert the Great, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)
Revelations 3 : 1-6, 14-22

Write this to the Angel of the Church in Sardis, “Thus says He Who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars : ‘I know your worth : you think you live but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen that which is not already dead. For I have found your works to be imperfect in the sight of My God.”

“‘Remember what you were taught; keep it and change your ways. If you do not repent I will come upon you like a thief at an hour you least expect. Yet, there are some left in Sardis who have not soiled their robes; these will come with Me, dressed in white, since they deserve it. The victor will be dressed in white and I will never erase his name from the book of life; instead, I will acknowledge it before My Father and His Angels.'”

“‘Let anyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the Churches.'”

Write this to the Angel of the Church in Laodicea, “Thus says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation : ‘I know your works : you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! You are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold so I will spit you out of My mouth.'”

“‘You think you are rich and have piled up so much that you need nothing, but you do not realise that you are wretched and to be pitied, poor, blind and naked. I advise you to buy from Me gold that has been tested by fire, so that you may be rich, and white clothes to wear so that your nakedness may not shame you, and ointment for your eyes that you may see. I reprimand and correct all those I love. Be earnest and change your ways.'”

“‘Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My call and open the door, I will come in to you and have supper with you, and you with Me. I will let the victor sit with Me on My throne just as I was victorious and took My place with My Father on His throne. Let anyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the Churches.'”

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Monday, 14 November 2016 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Revelations 1 : 1-4 and Revelations 2 : 1-5a

The Revelation of Jesus Christ. God gave it to Him to let His servants know what is soon to take place. He sent His Angel to make it known to His servant, John, who reports everything he saw, for this is the word of God and the declaration of Jesus Christ.

Happy is the one who reads aloud these prophetic words, and happy those who hear them and treasure everything written here, for the time is near. From John to the seven Churches of Asia : receive grace and peace from Him Who is, Who was and Who is to come, and from the seven Spirits of God which are before His throne.

Write this to the Angel of the Church in Ephesus, “Thus says the One Who holds the seven stars in His right hand and Who walks among the seven golden lampstands : ‘I know your works, your difficulties and your patient suffering. I know you cannot tolerate evildoers but have tested those who call themselves Apostles and have proved them to be liars. You have persevered and have suffered for My Name without losing heart.”

“Nevertheless, I have this complaint against you : you have lost your first love. Remember from where you have fallen and repent.”

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Sunday, 6 November 2016 : 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 20 : 27-38

At that time, some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection, and they asked Jesus this question, “Master, in the Law Moses told us, ‘If anyone dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife, and any child born to them will be regarded as the child of the deceased.'”

“Now, there were seven brothers; the first married a wife, but he died without children; and the second and the third took the wife; in fact, all seven died leaving no children. Last of all the woman died. On the day of the resurrection, to which of them will the woman be a wife? For all seven had her as a wife.”

And Jesus replied, “Taking a husband or a wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die, for they are like the Angels. They are sons and daughters of God, because they are born of the resurrection.”

“Yes, the dead will be raised, as Moses revealed at the burning bush, when He called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For God is God of the living, and not of the dead, for to Him everyone is alive.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)
Luke 20 : 27, 34-38

At that time, some Sadducees arrived. These people claim that there is no resurrection.

And Jesus replied, “Taking a husband or a wife is proper to people of this world, but for those who are considered worthy of the world to come, and of resurrection from the dead, there is no more marriage. Besides, they cannot die, for they are like the Angels. They are sons and daughters of God, because they are born of the resurrection.”

“Yes, the dead will be raised, as Moses revealed at the burning bush, when He called the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. For God is God of the living, and not of the dead, for to Him everyone is alive.”

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Tuesday, 1 November 2016 : Solemnity of All Saints, All Saints’ Day (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Revelations 7 : 2-4, 9-14

I saw another Angel ascending from the sunrise, carrying the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four Angels empowered to harm the earth and the sea, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.”

Then I heard the number of those marked with the seal : a hundred and forty-four thousand from all the tribes of the people of Israel. After this I saw a great crowd, impossible to count, from every nation, race, people and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice, “Who saves but our God Who sits on the throne and the Lamb?”

All the Angels were around the throne, the elders and the four living creatures; they then bowed before the throne with their faces to the ground to worship God. They said, “Amen. Praise, glory, wisdom, thanks, honour, power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

At that moment, one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these people clothed in white, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, it is you who know this.” The elder replied, “They are those who have come out of the great persecution; they have washed and made their clothes white in the Blood of the Lamb.”

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Saturday, 15 October 2016 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 8 : 2-3a, 4-5, 6-7

O Lord, our Lord, how great is Your Name throughout the earth! And Your glory in the heavens above. Even the mouths of children and infants exalt Your glory in front of Your foes.

When I observe the heavens, the work of Your hands, the moon and the stars You set in their place – what is man that You be mindful of him, the Son of Man, that You should care for Him?

Yet You made Him a little lower than the Angels; You crowned Him with glory and honour, and gave Him the works of Your hands; You have put all things under His feet.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the word of God in the Sacred Scriptures which spoke to us about the faith which all of us have to have in the Lord as His people. This is shown in the first reading, taken from the Book of the prophet Habakkuk, when the prophet in his anguish cried out to the Lord, asking Him why He had not moved His hands in order to help the people who have suffered from the persecutions and troubles in the world.

This is a common form of doubt, which we mankind often uttered in our anguish, in our moments of difficulty and suffering, as we thought that God had turned a blind eye to our sufferings and therefore did not care about us. Worse still, some and indeed quite a few among us used this to justify for their reason of abandoning the faith in God, and thinking that God does not exist. This is all in fact, what happened when we mankind try to think of the Lord in terms of human understanding.

It is often that we do not realise just how much God takes part in our own lives in His own mysterious ways, taking care of us and fulfilling our needs. We often do not realise this because firstly, we are not able to understand the way that God does things. His divine ways are often mysterious and seemingly incomprehensible to us because our human intellect and thoughts do have a limit in our ability to understand heavenly ways.

There is a story which is quite well known and is often repeated as an example to show the love which God has for each and every one of us. It might as well be a true story or adapted from one. It was told that a man was walking along the seashore with God side by side, and as they walked along that seashore, both of them left behind their footprints in the sand. There were therefore two sets of footprints, one belonging to God and the other for the man.

And then, when times went rough for the man, when difficulties and challenges came his way, he noticed that on the sand there is only one set of footprints instead of two. Then the man complained and became angry at God, whom he accused to have abandoned him when he was in his time of greatest distress and trouble. The attitude of the man in this story is no different from what we have heard from the prophet Habakkuk, and certainly not different from what we have heard in the real life. 

But God simply calmly and slowly said to him with love and concern, that when the man was having a difficult time, there was only one set of footprints because that footprints belonged to the Lord Himself, Who was carrying the man on His shoulders, helping him to shoulder and carry his own burdens. The man did not know it, but God did His works and wonders, helping the man to persevere and carry on despite the difficulties.

Thus, let us all spend some time to reflect on this, brothers and sisters in Christ? God loves us all so much, that He has given us His own Son, out of His boundless love and His never-ending desire to see us saved from harm’s way, and be liberated from our bondage to sin and to its consequence that is death. He wants us all to enjoy forever the gifts of the eternal life in bliss which He and prepared for us, and not for us to suffer damnation in hell for eternity.

He has willingly carried that burden for us, the burden and the consequences of our sins, so that by taking upon Himself our sins, we who believe in Him and put our trust in Him may die together with Him to our sins and to our past wickedness, and therefore, share also in His glorious resurrection and victory against sin and death. Just as death has no power over Him, it is therefore not going to have any power over us either.

God wants us to be well and good, and He wants us all to be saved. And to that extent, He has given us all His own Spirit, the Holy Spirit to guide us and to show us the way to reach out to Him. The Spirit that has descended down upon us Christians who believe in the Lord lives in our hearts and minds, and from there, it inflames our hearts with the strong desire to love the Lord and to follows His laws and precepts.

And today, as we celebrate together the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, we also remember all of our own guardian Angels, whom God had sent and stationed at our sides, protecting us from the machinations of the evil one, and reminded us from time to time whenever we are going towards the wrong path. These guardian Angels are always on the front line of the spiritual warfare raging around us which is waged for the sake of our souls.

Therefore today, first of all, let us reflect on our own lives and think of our actions. Have we been faithful to God in the way that He wanted us to? And secondly, let us all think, how have God been so kind to us in His love even when we do not realise it? How can we thank Him for His limitless and never-ending love for us? And last of all, let us all ask our guardian Angels to pray for us and to watch over us at all times, that we will not falter and be snared by the traps of the devil who desires only our ruination.

Let us all change ourselves and our ways from now on, if we have not been faithful and be thankful of God and all that He had done for us. All that He had done, He had done for our sake alone. Let us all imitate our Lord in all of our ways, so that in everything we do, we will always do them with love and compassion, showing care, concern and mercy for our fellow brethren, and devote ourselves wholly to the Lord our God. Amen.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 17 : 5-10

At that time, the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!’ And it will obey you.”

“Who among you would say to your servant, coming in from the fields after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Go ahead and have your dinner?’ No, you tell him, ‘Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterwards.'”

“Do you thank this servant for doing what you told him to do? I do not think so. And therefore, when you have done all that you have been told to do, you should say, ‘We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.'”

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Timothy 1 : 6-8, 13-14

For this reason I invite you to fan into a flame the gift of God you received through the laying on of my hands. For God did not confer on us a spirit of bashfulness, but of strength, love and good judgment. Do not be ashamed of testifying to our Lord, nor of seeing me in chains. On the contrary, do your share in labouring for the Gospel with the strength of God.

Follow the pattern of the sound doctrine which you have heard from me, concerning faith and love in Christ Jesus. Keep this precious deposit with the help of the Holy Spirit Who lives within us.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged Me, and they put Me to the test.