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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.

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Thursday, 16 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 6 : 7-15

At that time, Jesus spoke to the people and to His disciples, “When you pray, do not use a lot of words, as the pagans do, for they believe that the more they say, the more chance they have of being heard. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need, even before you ask Him.”

“This, then, is how you should pray : Our Father in heaven, holy be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, just as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. Do not bring us to the test, but deliver us from the evil one.”

“If you forgive others their wrongdoings, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive you either.”

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Thursday, 16 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 96 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7

The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the distant islands be glad. Clouds and darkness surround Him; justice and right are His throne.

Fire goes before Him, burning His foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth watches and trembles.

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His justice, all peoples see His glory.

Shame on worshippers of idols, on those proud of their worthless images. Let all spirits bow before Him.

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Thursday, 16 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 48 : 1-15 (Greek Septuagint version Sirach 48 : 1-14)

Then came the prophet Elijah like a fire, his words a burning torch. He brought a famine on the people and in his zealous love had them reduced in number. Speaking in the Name of the Lord he closed the heavens, and on three occasions called down fire.

How marvellous you were, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! Who could ever boast of being your equal? By the word of the Most High you brought a dead man back to life; you brought kings to destruction and thrust famous men from their beds. You heard a rebuke at Sinai and sentences of punishment at Horeb; you anointed kings to be avengers and prophets to succeed you.

You were taken up by a whirlwind of flames in a chariot drawn by fiery horses. It was written that you should be the one to calm God’s anger in the future before it broke out in fury, to turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and to restore the tribe of Jacob. Happy are those who will see you and those who die in love, for we too shall live.

Such was Elijah, taken up in a whirlwind, and Elisha was filled with his spirit. During his life no leader could shake him, no one dominated him. Nothing was too difficult for him and even in death his body prophesied. In life he worked wonders, in death his deeds were amazing.

Despite all this, the people were not converted and did not turn away from sin; not until they were deported far from their country and scattered over the earth.

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Wednesday, 15 June 2016 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are reminded of what we as Christians have to do as part of our faith, and God reminds us that whatever we are doing, we should not do it for ourselves, but rather, we have to do it for the sake of the Lord our God. This is what we often tend to forget and which we also tend to overlook.

We just have to look at the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law at the time of Jesus, whose teachings do not correspond to the actions which they have taken. They preached one thing, but then in their actions they were not genuine in their faith. Jesus elaborated extensively on that matter, criticising them as hypocrites and those who sought to bring about their own personal glory.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us just see some of the examples. The Pharisees were overly concerned about their appearances and about how the people perceived them and their actions. They feared that the people would abandon them and their teachings for Jesus, Who taught with authority and with truth, and who did not just preach but also practiced what He preached.

And Jesus our Lord was right in criticising them, because their actions were not done for the sake of the Lord and His people, but instead, they were meant for themselves, to advance their own positions and to satisfy their own need and greed. They prayed in public places with a loud voice and with great appearances so that the people would see them and what they were doing, and then praise them and gave them the prestige and honour which they desired for so much.

And when they fasted, they fasted publicly, showing sad and gloomy faces, to show others that they were fasting, just as Jesus mentioned. And He pointed out that in doing so, they risked themselves, or indeed they had purposefully done so, that they again might be noticed by the people. And they gained the satisfaction when people praised them for what they have done, and they grew proud in their hearts.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what the Pharisees had done then, are also applicable to us all as well. How often was it throughout our history that we have acted in ways so as to satisfy our own personal desires and wants? And how often is it that men had been so selfish so as they forgot about others around them, or even trample at them in order to fulfil our own needs?

And the most important of all, is that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did not give glory to God and neither did they love Him or have true faith for Him when they did all the things they have done. They did it for themselves, and not for God or for His people. And that was exactly why the Lord rebuked them and condemned them harshly for it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from all that we have heard and discussed today, let us all come to the realisation that each and every one of us as Christians must have genuine and living faith in our God, and this means that we must truly have that devotion for our God, and when we do everything, let us do it for the Lord our God.

May God strengthen our faith and empower us always to be filled with faith, hope and love, so that in all the things we do, we will always be ever faithful to Him, our Lord and God, and be worthy of His life everlasting. Amen.