Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 11
Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom YHVH sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.
Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To YHVH I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin; You removed my guilt.
Rejoice in YHVH, and be glad, You who are upright; sing and shout for joy, You who are clean of heart.
Liturgical Colour : White
Romans 4 : 1-8
Let us consider Abraham, our father in the flesh. What has he found? If Abraham attained righteousness because of his deeds, he could be proud. But he cannot be this before God; because Scripture says : Abraham believed God, Who took it into account, and held him to be a just man.
Now, when someone does a work, salary is not given as a favour, but as a debt that is paid. Here, on the contrary, someone who has no deeds to show, but believes in Him, Who makes sinners righteous before Him : such faith is taken into account, and that person is held as righteous.
David congratulates, in this way, those who become righteous, by the favour of God, and not by their actions : Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven and whose offences are forgotten; blessed the one, whose sin God does not take into account!
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard today from the Scriptures the words of the Lord proclaiming the salvation which He has promised to His people even from long before the Saviour came into the world. In our first reading today, we heard this in the words of the holy man and servant of God named Balaam as recorded in the Book of Numbers. And in the Gospel we heard then of the confrontation between the Lord and those chief priests, Jewish authorities and teachers of the Law who refused to believe in Him and questioned His authority.
In our first reading from the Book of Numbers we heard of the blessings and good words that Balaam, a holy man and a diviner whom the king of Moab, king Balak, recruited and asked for help in cursing the people of Israel who at that time had defeated some other kings in the region and were about to pass through the lands of Moab and the eastern part of the Jordan River from the desert during their Exodus from Egypt. King Balak was an enemy of the Israelites and saw the Israelites as a great threat. He knew that Balaam was a renowned seer and diviner, and thus, wanted him to lay a curse on his enemies.
But Balaam knew God and only wanted to obey Him and follow His commands. He initially refused to go and do what king Balak wanted as it was not in accordance to God’s will. But the king constantly coerced and forced Balaam to come, and in the end, he relented, but made it clear to the king that he would only speak of what the Lord commanded him to speak and nothing else. Hence, Balaam spoke of the Lord’s intentions for His people in our first reading today, and we heard how God would bless His people wonderfully just as He has promised.
And God also revealed briefly through Balaam, of a Figure that would come in time, in the future, a great Star that would come forth from Jacob with a staff in hand, clearly referring to One Who would shepherd and lead the people of Israel, and the other nations, to be born of the children of Israel. We all know now that this refers to Christ, the Saviour of the world, born the Son and Heir of David in Bethlehem, Whose title among many was the Star of David, and a great Star also proclaimed His coming, that was seen by the Magi or the Wise Men.
As you can see, even as early as the time of the Exodus, more than a thousand years before the coming of Christ, the Lord had in fact revealed His intentions, His plans for all of us. And He reiterated all these again and again through His prophets and messengers, through whom He told His people of the coming of His salvation, and in Christ all of His promises were fulfilled. Many believed in Him and in His message, but yet there were also many who refused to believe in Him, as we heard in our Gospel passage today.
The Lord were opposed by the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the chief priests and the Jewish authorities in the Temple as He was teaching the people. They all doubted Him and questioned Him sternly on why He acted in the way that He had done. And the Lord wisely dodged the question by asking them back on whether they considered the works of St. John the Baptist to have come from God or from man.
By asking that question, the Lord exposed the sad reality that the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities of that time had placed their own ego and desires, their jealousy and fears above that of the truth of God. They were also disapproving and were against the works of St. John the Baptist, for if they had believed in him, then they should have believed the Lord and supported Him, not working against Him instead.
But they did not dare to offend the crowd and get into trouble, and therefore, they refrained from answering and pursuing the matter any further. This nonetheless exposed just how unfortunate and sad the state of corruption of sin even among the elders and all those who had been entrusted with the guidance and spiritual leadership over the whole people of God. All these because of our inability to reject the many temptations of sin.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we see the contrast here between Balaam’s faith and the doubt of the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, and everything in fact boils down to the fact that we cannot both be faithful to God and indulge in our desires and all the worldly temptations of power, wealth and glory. If we allow all those to take root in us, then in time, we will be swayed further and further away from the path of the Lord.
That is why, today all of us have the perfect role model to follow as Christians, in St. John of the Cross, the great reformer of the Carmelite Order, who together with St. Teresa of Avila, helped to reform the Carmelite Order and returned it to the true and pure intentions of its original foundation as a religious order. St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila were both taken aback by the lack of spiritual discipline and the many excuses and shortcuts taken by the members of the Carmelite Order that brought in worldly corruption.
Both of them worked hard to restore spiritual discipline and to renew the Carmelite charism, that the many members of the Order may rediscover their true calling and vocation as those whom God had called and entrusted with the holiness and sanctity of their lives, as inspiration and role models for all their fellow Christian brothers and sisters as well as for many others who had not yet known God.
They encountered many difficulties and challenges throughout those many years they laboured in the reform of their Order, as well as in their contributions to the reforms that were then happening as part of the Counter-Reformation, also aimed at purifying the Church and the Christian community from the corrupting influences of the world. But they never gave up and did their best to achieve their goals, and as a result, many lives were changed by their works.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have been called this Advent to focus our attention on the same Star that Balaam had proclaimed all those years ago, the Star of David, Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And we are all called to renew our faith in Him and to rid ourselves of the corruptions of sin, of pride, ego, desire among others. Through the examples shown by St. John of the Cross, let us all turn towards the Lord with renewed faith and conviction to live a life truly blessed by God. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 21 : 23-27
At that time, Jesus had entered the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities came to Him, and asked, “What authority have You to act like this? Who gave You authority to do all this?”
Jesus answered them, “I will also ask You a question, only one. And if you give me an answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. When John began to baptise, was it a work of God, or was it merely something human?”
They reasoned out among themselves, “If we reply that it was a work of God, He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ And if we say, ‘The baptism of John is merely something human’, we have got to beware of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”
And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what right I do these things.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.
Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.
Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.
Liturgical Colour : White
Numbers 24 : 2-7, 15-17a
Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping, tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered this song : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, and beholds the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled.”
“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your encampments, Israel! Like valleys stretching far, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes planted by YHVH, like cedars beside the waters. His buckets are overflowing and His seeds are always watered. His king becomes stronger than Agag, and His kingdom grows.
Then Balaam pronounced his oracle : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, who has the knowledge from the Most High, and sees the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled. I see a Figure, but not really. I behold Him but not near. A Star shall come forth from Jacob, He rises with a staff in His hand.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the promises of God’s salvation which He made to His servant Isaiah, in our first reading passage today, with the comforting words that God will once again cherish and bless His people, which by the time of Isaiah had faced much difficulty and many trials, and how God will bless them all and make them whole again.
And the fulfilment of these prophecies had been made through Christ, the Saviour of the world, of whom Isaiah spoke extensively about. And God has called on all of us to come to Him and to gather in His presence and receive from Him grace and peace forever. But unfortunately, many of us rejected Him, ignored His call and turned a deaf ear to His pleas to seek our reconciliation with Him.
That is why, in our Gospel today, we heard the Lord gathering little children to Himself and told all of His disciples that unless they were to be like those little children in their faith and in their lives, they would have no place in the kingdom of Heaven. And this came right after the disciples were arguing and debating among themselves on who was the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven and amongst Christ’s disciples and followers.
The Lord therefore reminds them all that to be His followers we must be humble, make ourselves small and insignificant, for it was our hubris and ego that had led us to our downfall. It was our desire for power, influence, worldly glory, fame, wealth that led us to a path of disobedience and wickedness, and thus these made us to commit sin against God.
And it is not easy for us to be faithful as the Lord had called us to be, to be like little children in our faith, whose faith are pure and without strings attached to worldly desires and temptations. Often, we have too much in mind to be able to focus our attention on God, unlike those little children, whose attention can be wholly centred on Him, as they have not yet been affected by all sorts of worldly matters and concerns.
This is where perhaps we should look upon the examples set by our famous saint of the day, whose life and philosophy embody exactly this call for us to be ‘childlike’ in our faith. St. Therese of Lisieux, also known as St. Therese of Child Jesus and as the ‘Little Flower of Carmel’, was a Discalced Carmelite nun who has been very popular during her life and especially more so after her passing. She inspired many people by her virtuous life and was renowned for her ‘Little Way’.
St. Therese certainly did not have an easy life or vocation as a religious, as she was often sickly in her youth, although she was indeed brought up in a loving and devout family. Family tragedy struck early as her mother passed away when she was still a very young child. And St. Therese was also bullied and often suffered in school. She endured all these patiently and with faith.
When one of her elder sister joined the Carmelite nuns, St. Therese was devastated but this in itself led her to desire to join the Carmelites as well. She was often told that she was still too young and her poor health also made it difficult. St. Therese also began to experience spiritual visions which would be more frequent later in her life. It was then on the Christmas Eve of the Year of Our Lord 1886 that she experienced a complete conversion of her soul.
From that point onwards, St. Therese began a new journey of faith, overcoming her sensitivities and self desires, a victory over the desires of the flesh and body, and dedicating herself ever more to God. As she eventually entered the Carmelite monastery after several more years of trials and struggles, and throughout her later time as a postulant and novice religious sister, being devoted and dedicated to the Lord.
And the hallmark of her faith and idea is known as the ‘Little Way’ in which St. Therese put forward the view that in order for us to follow God, what we really ought to do is to be faithful to Him in all things, even in the simplest and smallest of actions. We are called to be faithful through simple and little actions in life. This is what we all need to do, in order to be faithful as Christians.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, from what we have just heard about St. Therese of Lisieux today, and from the reflections of the Scriptures, all of us are reminded to be faithful to God at all times, and to do this through our lives, each and every day of them. Often we have ignored these as we are too busy pursuing worldly ambitions and desires, and by temptations we faced, we have been lured away by desire to walk down the wrong path in life.
This is why we are called to be like little children in our faith, to be genuine in our faith and dedication in God, be more humble and reject all the temptations of ego, pride, ambition, greed and desire among others. This is not something easily done as we are often surrounded by all these every moment of our lives, and unless we make a concerted effort to resist those temptations we will falter and fall into sin.
And in addition to that, we often remain passive and inactive in our Christian life because we thought that we cannot do anything significant in the matter of our faith. And this is where we are wrong, as even little actions and commitments are part of that journey of faith, and all of our little actions and contributions combined together, will become a great effort indeed. That is why we really have to embrace God’s call to be witnesses of our faith and as missionaries to spread the Good News of God by our dedication and actions in life.
Let us all therefore strive to be faithful to God at all times, in every little actions we do in our lives, that by following the examples of St. Therese of Child Jesus, the Little Flower of Carmel, we may indeed become truly committed to God and no longer ensnared by the temptations in life. May God help and guide us in this journey, and bless us in our every good endeavours for His greater glory, now and always. St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us all! Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 18 : 1-5
At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you, that, unless you change, and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble, like this child, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child, in My Name, receives Me.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 131 : 1-3
O YHVH, my heart is not proud nor do I have arrogant eyes. I am not engrossed in ambitious matters, nor in things too great for me.
I have quieted and stilled my soul, like a weaned child, on its mother’s lap; like a contented child is my soul.
Hope in YHVH, o Israel, now and forever.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 66 : 10-14
Rejoice for Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Be glad with her, rejoice with her, all you who were in grief over her, that you may suck of the milk from her comforting breasts, that you may drink deeply from the abundance of her glory.
For this is what YHVH says : I will send her peace, overflowing like a river; and the nations’ wealth, rushing like a torrent towards her. And you will be nursed and carried in her arms and fondled upon her lap. As a son comforted by his mother, so will I comfort you. At the sight of this, your heart will rejoice; like grass, your bones will flourish.
For it shall be known that YHVH’s hand is with His servant, but His fury is upon His enemy.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 