Catholic Church

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Sunday, 19 June 2016 : 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Zechariah 12 : 10-11 and Zechariah 13 : 1

I will pour out on the family of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of love and supplication. They will look at the One Who was pierced and mourn for Him as for an only child, weeping bitterly as for a firstborn. The mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Haddadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

On that day a spring will well up for the family of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse themselves of sin and defilement.

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Saturday, 18 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the message from the Scripture about firstly how God rewards the just and punishes the wicked ones. He gives His blessings and grace to all those who devoted themselves to Him and His ways, while bringing down His wrath and curses on all those who have disobeyed Him.

And one example given was that of king Joash, the descendant of king David, the faithful servant of God. Continuing the narrative from yesterday’s passage, when we heard how God restored Joash to his throne as the rightful king after his grandmother queen Athaliah usurped the throne from the house of David. By the virtue of the great faith and devotion of king David, king Joash’s ancestor, God restored him to the throne of David.

Joash did remain faithful for a time, that is as long as his mentor, Jehoiada the High Priest lived. But after Jehoiada passed away, Joash began slipping into the way of wickedness and doing things that are against the laws and the will of God. And thus, despite having been warned of such wrong actions by Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, Joash did not listen and continued down his path of sin and disobedience, and even plotted for the death of Zechariah.

As a result, God punished Joash by causing him to suffer the same death he has caused Zechariah. And that was indeed the reward for the wicked, that they would be cast out of God’s grace and be bereft of God’s love, and life will have no place in them. Meanwhile, He shall bless the righteous and the just, and He shall put His life into them.

In the Gospel today, Jesus our Lord spoke about the problem which is often faced by all of us, that is the division and dilemma which we mankind often have with regards to whom we should serve, be it God, or be it our possessions. It is also a dilemma, whether we should serve the Lord or serve the devil who opposes God. And many of us are often not aware that whenever we do something, we often have to make conscious decisions to choose one decision over the others.

It comes to the point of knowing that the worries and the concerns of the world are what have kept us away from the Lord and His ways. That is also the essence of what Jesus our Lord was telling His disciples on that day. We are often so concerned about ourselves, about what we are to eat, about what we are to wear, and about what we are to have and to receive, to the point that we completely forgot about the Lord and about our brethren around us.

And it is also what made we mankind to be selfish, concerned about ourselves and not about others who are around us. In our desire and attempt to gain more things for ourselves, we often even trample on the rights of others, causing harm, hurt and pain on them. And that was why we have sinned before God and before men, for we have not stopped to consider the needs of others, but instead concerned only with ourselves.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on these, even as we continue to live our lives today in these world. Let us all put our trust more in the Lord our God, and less in ourselves and in the things of this world. And as Jesus our Lord has said, we should not worry about what we are to eat or what we are to have for ourselves. God will provide for us all that we need.

When we worry, it is when we shall start to drift away from God and into the hands of the devil. We cannot serve both God and the devil, and if we want to be truly faithful to our God, then we must do our best in order to be upright and be righteous in all our deeds, and we should try our best to resist those temptations in our hearts, that we may not fall into the trap of sin, and remain true and worthy to our God.

May the Lord help us and bless us, and may He strengthen us in our faith, and renew our lives so that we may be always filled with faith, hope and love, both for our God and for our fellow brethren. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 18 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Matthew 6 : 24-34

At that time, Jesus spoke to the people and to His disciples, “No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money.”

“This is why I tell you not to be worried about food and drink for yourself, or about clothes for your body. Is not life more important than food, and is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not less worthy than they are?”

“Can any of you add a day to your life by worrying about it? Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at how the flowers in the fields grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these. If God so clothed the grass in the field, which blooms today and is to be burnt tomorrow in an oven, how much more will He clothe you? What little faith you have!”

“Do not worry and say : What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Or : What shall we wear? The pagans busy themselves with such things; but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God, and all these things will also be given to you. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

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Saturday, 18 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 88 : 4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34

You said, “I have made a covenant with David, My chosen one; I have made a pledge to My servant. I establish his descendants forever; I build his throne for all generations.”

“I will keep My covenant firm forever, and My love for him will endure. His dynasty will last forever, and his throne as long as the heavens.”

“If his sons forsake My law and fail to follow My decrees, if they violate My statutes and do not keep My commandments.”

“I will punish their crime with the rod and their offences with the scourge; yet I will not withdraw My love from him, nor will I withdraw My faithfulness.

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Saturday, 18 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

2 Chronicles 24 : 17-25

After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came to pay court to the king, and the king now turned to them for advice. The Judaeans abandoned the house of YHVH, the God of their ancestors, for the worship of sacred trunks and idols and God’s anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem because of their guilt.

He sent them prophets to bring them back to YHVH, but when the prophets spoke, they would not listen. The Spirit of God took control of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, “God says this : Why are you disobeying the commandments of YHVH? You cannot prosper. You have abandoned YHVH and He will abandon you.”

They then plotted against him and by order of the king stoned him in the court of YHVH’s House. King Joash forgot the kindness of Jehoiada, the father of Zechariah, and killed Jehoiada’s son who cried out as he died, “Let YHVH see and do justice!”

When a year had gone by, the Aramaean army made war on Joash. They reached Judah and Jerusalem, and killed all the officials among the people, sending back to the king of Damascus all that they had plundered from them. Though the Aramaean army was small, YHVH delivered into its power an army of great size for they had abandoned Him, the God of their ancestors.

The Aramaeans wounded Joash and when they withdrew they left him a very sick man; and his officers, plotting against him to avenge the death of the son of Jehoiada the priest, murdered him in his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the City of David, though not in the tombs of the king.

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Friday, 17 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard firstly the tale of how Queen Athaliah, the mother of the king of the southern kingdom of Judah tried to take over power from the descendants of king David, the rightful kings. After her son died in an incident with the king of Israel, she slaughtered all the heirs of the king and took over power for herself.

But God had promised the kingdom and authority to the family of David for eternity, just as He had promised in the covenant which He had established with His faithful servant David. David was humble and just, while Athaliah was proud and filled with greed for power. David was a mere humble shepherd who was called by the Lord to lead His people as their king. But Athaliah usurped the power in order to satisfy her own ego and her own greed for power.

And therefore God raised up one of the sons of the previous king, who was indeed the rightful king, by the grace of God he had been saved from the massacre conducted by Athaliah. And when the time came for him to reclaim his throne, God was with him, blessed him, and Athaliah was overthrown and was punished for her transgressions and sins.

How does this relate to our Gospel passage today? It is indeed very related. And why is this so? That is because in the Gospel, Jesus our Lord spoke about the need for us to accumulate for ourselves not the treasures of the world that do not last and are perishable, but instead that we should seek for the true treasures found only in God, which will satisfy us to the everlasting life.

And what are the treasures of the world which we mankind often seek for? Queen Athaliah herself had shown us one of them, that is power. The desire for power, control and authority had led her to commit the sin of murder, in the massacre of the many rightful heirs to the throne, as well as many other sins and wickedness by unjustly occupying the throne of David, which God had promised to David and his descendants alone.

And if we look at our human history, surely all of us are able to see how many times was it that we have done the same things over and over again. Many wars and conflicts, many acts of evil and wickedness have been committed because of mankind’s ever sustained desire for power and all its related goodness, and many people in their pursuit for power did not hesitate to cause even hurt and injury or even death on others who they thought to be in their way.

But power is a treasure of this world that does not last. We just have to see the examples of all those mighty rulers and lords of the world. Great conquerors and Emperors, rulers and kings, mighty and great during his life, amassing vast amounts of wealth and fortune, respected by men and some were even worshipped as gods, as the Egyptian Pharaohs and the Roman Emperors had been. And yet, where did all of them go to when death comes to meet them?

When they died, none of the good things which they have accumulated in life would be carried over by them to the afterlife. Indeed, if they had been wicked in life, and if they had accumulated those earthly treasures by causing harm and hurt on others, then surely, the accumulation of their sins would bring them not to glory but to the eternal suffering in hell fire.

This is where what the Lord had said come true, as even the greatest earthly rulers would have to come and meet their judgment in the hand of God. And when He comes to judge us all, I am sure that none of us would want to have the Lord reject us because of our sinfulness and wickedness. And therefore, what we need to do is from now on, we have to build up for ourselves the everlasting treasure in heaven.

And just how do we do that? We have to do what is right and just, and care for one another as what our Lord Jesus had told us. We have to walk in the path of righteousness, and be as selfless as possible. We have to get rid of our greed and our selfishness which are the reasons for our downfall into sin. Instead, let us all devote ourselves more, our time and our efforts to help our brethren who are in need of our help and love.

May God help us in this endeavour, and may He bless all of our works that we may be found worthy and righteous by the Lord our God. May He strengthen us and give us the courage to move on and to reach out to Him and attain His salvation. God bless us all always. Amen.

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Friday, 17 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 6 : 19-23

At that time, Jesus spoke to the people and to His disciples, “Do not store up treasures for yourself here on earth, where moth and rust destroy it, and where thieves can steal it. Store up treasures for yourself with God, where no moth or rust can destroy it, nor thief come and steal it.”

“For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be. The lamp of the body is the eye; if your eyes are sound, your whole body will be in the light. If your eyes are diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. Then, if your light has become darkness, how dark will be the darkest part of you!”

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Friday, 17 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 131 : 11, 12, 13-14, 17-18

The Lord swore to David a promise, and He will remain true to it : “I will keep your descendants on your throne.”

“If your sons keep My covenant and the decrees I have taught them, their sons, too, will sit forever upon your throne.”

For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling. “This is My resting place forever; this I prefer, here will I dwell.”

“From here a Saviour shall come forth, a Son of David; here shall shine forever the lamp of My Anointed. In shame will I clothe His enemies, but upon His head a crown shall shine.”

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Friday, 17 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Kings 11 : 1-4, 9-18, 20

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son had died, she was determined to wipe out all the descendants of the king. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, her nephew, and brought him away from among the king’s sons who were about to be killed, and put him with his wet nurse in the bedroom.

Thus she hid him from Athaliah, so that the boy was saved. And Joash remained hidden in the House of YHVH for six years while Athaliah reigned over the land. In the seventh year, Jehoiada the chief priest, summoned the officers of the royal guard and of the Carites to the House of YHVH. After concluding a pact with them under oath, he showed them the king’s son.

The commanders of the guards did what Jehoiada the priest had told them to do and they showed up with all their men, those who were to go off duty on the sabbath as well as those who were to come on duty on that day. Jehoiada entrusted to the officers the spears and shields of king David which were in the House of YHVH.

And the guards stood from the southern corner of the house to the north, surrounding the altar and the House of YHVH. Then Jehoiada, the priest, brought out the king’s son, crowned him and put the bracelets on him, then proclaimed and consecrated him king. All clapped their hands, shouting and crying out, “Long live the king!”

When Athaliah heard the noise of the people, she approached the crowd surrounding the House of YHVH. The king was standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the officers and the trumpeters were with him. The people were filled with joy and they were blowing trumpets. On seeing this, Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, “Treason, treason!”

Jehoiada the priest commanded the officers, “Surround her and bring her out to the courtyard, and kill anyone who tries to defend her.” He gave this order, because he thought, “She should not die in the House of YHVH.” They brought her out, and when they reached the palace of the king by the horses’ entrance, there they killed her.

Jehoiada made a covenant between YHVH and the king and the people so they would be the people of YHVH. All the citizens went to the temple of Baal and destroyed it. They broke the altars and the images into pieces, and killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, before his altar. Then Jehoiada, the priest, posted guards over the House of YHVH.

All the citizens were happy and the city was at peace. Now regarding Athaliah, she had died by the sword in the king’s palace.

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Thursday, 16 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard the words of the Scriptures speaking to us regarding the examples of faith which the prophet Elijah and our Lord Jesus had shown us. In the first reading, we saw how the prophet Sirach spoke about Elijah, to whom God had granted His power and authority, that by his hands and works, he performed many miracles and good deeds among the people of God.

And he preached repentance and forgiveness for the sins which Israel and its people had done, urging them to turn their back on their sinful ways and be converted wholly to the way of the Lord. He worked tirelessly among the people of God, and persevered on even though he faced rejection, opposition and even outright hostility from those to whom God had sent him.

And God rewarded Elijah with the gift which He had granted to only a few, those whom He deemed to be worthy enough so as to avoid the taste of death, as what happened first with Enoch, the descendant of Adam, who was so righteous and just that God took him up to heaven, and also probably Moses, who could not enter the Promised Land because of his sin, but his faith and devotion in leading the people of God through the Exodus, and having seen God face to face, like Elijah had done, it is probable that God also took Moses up with Him to the glory of heaven.

And in Jesus our Lord, we then heard about the way which we as the faithful people of God should pray, and how not to pray, as what the pagans had done. And that was where Jesus taught His disciples the Lord’s Prayer, the perfect prayer which came from the very words of our Lord and Saviour. And from the Apostles, they passed down the teachings to us, so that we all also learnt and knew the truth which God wanted to show us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus taught us that when we pray we should not pray with many words, as what the pagans do, and that our prayer should come from our heart, a true expression of ourselves rather than an empty and meaningless prayer. Unfortunately, I am sure that if we look at our own way of praying, and how each of us pray, we can see that there are many occasions when we did not pray in a proper way.

It is very common that when we pray, we make it into a litany of requests, wishes and even demands. And for many of us, the reality is that, we have that tendency to equate prayer to asking or begging the Lord to do us a favour, and that prayer is like a hotline for us all to contact the Lord when we are in need of help. That is where we were wrong, brothers and sisters in Christ, as prayer is not just for us to speak to God and have the airtime for our own only, but also as a venue for God to speak to us in the depths of our hearts.

And this is where we as Christians should learn to improve ourselves, and change our ways where it had not been right before. The problem with our way of prayer and with our works is that, it is too often that these are done with regards to ourselves, for ourselves, and to satisfy our ego. Our ego stood in the way of our true faith in the Lord, for the ego or our beings led us to do things in the way that we had done them.

But that is not what it is supposed to be, brethren, as we have been called to a greater purpose, rather than to serve just ourselves and our needs, which is selfishness, and embrace the way of selflessness, where we ought to learn to care and love one another, and show mercy, forgiveness and love in the way we interact with each other.

In the first reading, the prophet Elijah showed us how we should act as a follower of our God. Rather than being overly indulged into ourselves, we should go forth and work in order to bring our brethren, especially those whom we know, and those in our societies and communities, closer to the Lord our God, and persevered to preach to them the Good News of God as Elijah had done, through our own actions.

But no action can be complete without prayer and correct spiritual dimension. Prayer and work complements each other, and prayer and work are essential components of our Christian faith. When we pray, we should let go of our desires, wants and ego, and we should instead open our hearts, keeping the silence in our minds and hearts that the Lord our God may speak in them, and show to us the path to move forward.

Let us all from now on become renewed Christians, devoting ourselves, our effort and our time to do the good works of God, spreading His Good News and salvation to ever more people and bring to Him ever more souls. And let us all also keep ourselves close to God through prayer, talking with Him and communicating regularly with Him, so that we may listen to Him and know what is His will for us. May God be with us all always, now and forever. Amen.