children of God

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Monday, 18 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Ezekiel 24 : 15-24

The word of YHVH came to me in these terms, “Son of man, I am about to suddenly take from you the delight of your eyes, but you are not to lament or weep or let your tears flow. Groan in silence and do not mourn for the dead; wear your turban, put on your sandals, do not cover your beard or eat the customary food of mourners.”

I spoke to the people in the morning and my wife died that evening. The next morning I did as I had been commanded. Then the people said to me : “Explain to us the meaning of your actions.”

I said to them, “The word of YHVH came to me in these terms : ‘Say to Israel : I am about to profane My sanctuary, your pride, the delight of your eyes for which you long.'”

“‘The sons and daughters you left behind will also fall by the sword, but you will do as I have done : you will not cover your beard or eat the customary food of mourners; you will keep your turbans on your heads and sandals on your feet. You will not lament or weep. Instead, because of your sin, you will waste away and groan among yourselves.'”

“‘Ezekiel will be a sign for you. Do as he did and when this happens you will know that I am YHVH.'”

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Sunday, 17 August 2014 : 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 66 : 2-3, 5, 6 and 8

May God be gracious and bless us; may He let His face shine upon us, that Your way be known on earth and Your salvation among the nations.

May the countries be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with justice and guide the nations of the world.

May the peoples praise You, o God, may all the peoples praise You! May God bless us and be revered to the very ends of the earth.

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Saturday, 16 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the essence of today’s Scripture readings that we heard is that we have to cast away our old lives and habits filled with sin. We have to seek the Lord with a faith much like that of the faith of a children. And why children? This is because, as we all know, a children’s heart, mind and soul are pure and immaculate as on the day when they were born, and they had not yet been corrupted by the many evils in the world, which had turned many people away from God and into destruction.

Jesus told His disciples to have faith like that of a children, and rebuked them for being angry with children coming towards Christ. Indeed, the faith of a child is a pure faith and one that is genuine and devoted in fullness of the heart, and also of the mind and soul. And thus, we too should also be like those children, who come and seek the Lord with true and genuine intentions, for them to come and approach the Lord with love and desire to be with Him.

It is much too often for us, for all mankind to be so engrossed with many things in our lives that we have often forgotten about God, our loving Lord and Father. And not only that, we also often forget about the laws and precepts of the Lord, and instead we grow fond of our own way of life, and how we see others live in this world, and therefore we end up defiling ourselves with sin and impurities that made us incompatible with the goodness of the Lord.

However, this does not mean that we have no hope or that we should despair over our conditions. What is necessary is that we are awakened and become aware of our shortcomings and sinfulness, so that we may know of the urgency with which we should act in seeking the Lord and asking for His forgiveness for our sins. Repentance and honesty in seeking forgiveness is the key, and this is very important for us to realise before it is too late.

God desires not our destruction, for each and every one of us are truly dear and precious to Him. We have been created as the greatest of His creations, with His own image printed on our faces and with the breath of His spirit within us, giving us life and strength. He has blessed us with much goodness and blessings, and we have been given so many opportunities to make use of whatever guidance He had provided us along the way that we may find our way towards Him.

Therefore, it is important for us to learn to use these opportunities given to us to help ourselves to escape from the trap and the temptation of sins, and look towards the light that is in the Lord. And today we celebrate the feast of a saint, who helped to bring many people, namely his people to the Lord, repenting from their great sins and come into the light of the Lord in faith.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen of Hungary, who was also the very first king of Hungary, the one who brought the faith to the people of Hungary, who was once the barbarian tribe of the Magyars who came to settle in the land of what is today’s Hungary over a thousand years ago. He was the first of the leaders of Hungary who was devoted to the Lord, and throughout his long reign, he established much of the structures of the Church in Hungary, bringing more and more people towards the faith.

St. Stephen of Hungary was truly a devout servant of the Lord, who worked hard to bring better lives to all of his subjects, and to bring them closer to the Lord through numerous initiatives designed to strengthen the faith via numerous missionary works and charitable acts, of which many were done by the king himself. The king generously donated much properties to the Church that they were able to build up a healthy and sizeable services to the faithful. More and more souls in the end were saved because of the works of St. Stephen.

Therefore, today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all invited to reflect on our current lives and the state of our souls, hearts and minds. Have we all been like those children who freely and sincerely sought the Lord Jesus without any reservations or doubts, and whether we have practiced what the Lord taught us through His disciples in our actions and in our words.

Hence, brethren, let us all once again seek the Lord and help one another to reach out to the Lord. Let us also never bar anyone from reaching out to the Lord, especially not those who truly and sincerely want to find God and follow Him. Let us ask for the intercession of St. Stephen of Hungary, that we may also follow his examples in piety and charity.

May Almighty God be with us this day, open our hearts and minds, that we may grow to love Him more and more, seeking Him with every moments of our lives. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 16 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Matthew 19 : 13-15

Then little children were brought to Jesus that He might lay His hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded those who brought them.

Jesus then said, “Let them be! Do not stop the children from coming to Me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to people such as these children.”

So Jesus laid His hands on them and went His way.

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Tuesday, 12 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 18 : 1-5, 10, 12-14

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 lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

“See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you : their angels in heaven continually see the face of My heavenly Father.”

“What do you think of this? If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside, and go to look for the stray one? And I tell you : when he finally finds it, he is more pleased about it than about the ninety-nine, that did not get lost.”

“It is the same with your Father in heaven : your Father in heaven does not want even one of these little ones to be lost.”

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Monday, 11 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of a very relevant passage from the Holy Scriptures and the Gospels. We heard how a people in bondage and slavery is given a new hope, where the darkness and the chains that bound them were proven to be loose-able, and mankind gained a new hope in God.

In the first reading, we heard about the calling of Ezekiel by God in the land of exile, in Babylon where some of the people had been brought to when the king Nebuchadnezzar first invaded Judah and Jerusalem. He was called from among the group of exiled people of Judah, a people enslaved by war and conquest, and a people without hope under the chains of the Babylonians.

Yet, God made Ezekiel to be His servant and spokesperson to the people in exile and to the future generations, giving them new hope in life and assurance that God is on their side. In the Gospel today, Jesus explicitly mentioned when He spoke to Peter on the matter of paying taxes, that we are the children of God, and to those of us who are true children of God we are given special privileges as the children of our loving Father.

Jesus mentioned that the children of those who tax the people, namely the kings and rulers, need not pay the tax by common sense and rationale. That means those princes and the family members of the rulers do not need to pay the taxes because they belong to the group of those with power and wealth, and thus instead of paying taxes, they truly should be the ones who receive the taxes from the people.

In that sense, therefore, because we are children of the Most High God, Lord of all lords and King of all kings, Master of everything that exist in this Universe, we need not be bound or answer to any other powers and forces, except that of our Lord and Father of course. He is the only One whom we should be obedient to, and the only One whom we should listen to, and not any forces of this world, and definitely not Satan, the father of corruption and evil.

And yet why are we still bound by the laws of this world and obey the statutes of our countries and nations? Why are we then still bound to the earthly rules established by the rulers of this world, our leaders and rulers? It is the exact same reason as why Jesus mentioned in the Gospel, that in order not to incite outrage and opposition from the masses, the sons and relatives of kings and rulers also have to obey and pay their share of the taxes.

And thus, we all, as the children of God, do still have the need to obey the laws and statutes of this world. But we have to always remember that in doing so, we must always use our faith in God and our conscience as guidance. We must never obey those that come in direct opposition to the laws and statutes of the Lord. Obey and be faithful citizens, but we have to be children of God first before considering ourselves as children of this world.

God is our light and our guide in the darkness of this world. Indeed, there are many moments when we can easily fall into despair, such as when we are persecuted or hated because of something, especially if it is because of our faith. But as the Lord showed Ezekiel, that everything that are arrayed against us, they are all nothing compared to the infinite and great majesty and power of our God.

God had given us Jesus, His own Son to be our Saviour and Redeemer. He is the One whom we can trust and place ourselves to. There is no other option for us other than to follow the Lord whenever we lose our way in this world. We must seek the Lord and find Him, and even in greatest despair and sorrow, we must never lose hope because Christ is our hope and our light.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Clare, the founder of the Clarist religious order, also known as the Order of Poor Ladies, much inspired by the Franciscan order of St. Francis of Assisi, a contemporary of St. Clare, also known as St. Clare of Assisi. The religious order she founded became the female counterpart of the Franciscan tradition, and over the years they worked together to bring much goodness to the people of God.

St. Clare was born into a rich and privileged background, and she was destined to be married off to another rich man and heir of other Italian noblemen and wealthy peoples, and yet, God had another plan for St. Clare. St. Clare was very devoted and faithful to God since when she was still very young, and she was adamantly opposed to any plans to marry her off to a rich suitor. She ended up running away from home and sought refuge with St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Clare then devoted herself fully in prayer and to the works related to her religious order, and together with her sisters in service to God, they served the people who are poor and weak, those who are marginalised and bring them new hope in life. She was also well known for her defense of her convent, when an invading force by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was about to ransack the place.

With the monstrance containing the Holy Eucharist inside lifted high above her head, she repelled the invaders, who were scattered in great fear by a blinding light that came out from the Real Presence in the Eucharist. This is a sign of God’s devotion to mankind, to release them from their bonds, just as He released St. Clare from her bonds in her family, Ezekiel and the exiles of Israel from their Babylonian exile and slavery, and eventually all of mankind from the slavery of sin through the loving sacrifice of Jesus, His Son.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the life and works of St. Clare, we all should from now on put our complete trust in God. We should no longer doubt Him but believe in Him completely, that in Him we have our hope, and our only hope against the forces of darkness and evil arrayed against us, seeking to bind us with the chains of sin, in order to drag us with them into hell.

Therefore, let us all put our trust in God, and strengthen our faith in Him. Let us all no longer fear Satan and his darkness, for God is with us, and He will always be with us, and His light will dispel the darkness of our sins. What we need to do now is to truly repent, change our ways and follow Him. God be with us all. Amen.

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Monday, 11 August 2014 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 17 : 22-27

While Jesus was in Galilee with the Twelve, He said to them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. But He will rise on the third day.” The Twelve were deeply grieved.

When they returned to Capernaum, the Temple tax collectors came to Peter and asked him, “Does your Master pay the Temple tax?” He answered, “Certainly.”

Peter then entered the house, and immediately Jesus asked him, “What do you think, Simon? Who pay taxes or tribute to the kings of the earth : their sons or the other people?”

Peter replied, “The other people.” And Jesus told him, “The sons, then, are tax-free. But so as not to offend these people, go to the sea, throw in a hook, and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. You will find a coin in it. Take the coin and let it pay for you and for Me.”

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Tuesday, 5 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of a Basilica)

Jeremiah 30 : 1-2, 12-15, 18-22

This is another word that came to Jeremiah from YHVH : YHVH, God of Israel says, “Write in a book all that I have communicated to you. YHVH says, ‘Your wound is incurable, your injury is grievous. There is no one to plead your cause. There is a remedy for an ulcer but no healing for you!'”

“‘All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you. For I struck you as an enemy does, with a cruel punishment, because of your great guilt and the wickedness of your sin. Why cry out now that you are hurt? Is there no cure for your pain? Because of your great crime and grievous sin I have done this to you.'”

YHVH says, “I will restore My people into Jacob’s tents and have pity on his dwellings. The city will be rebuilt over its ruins and the palace restored on its proper place. From them will come songs of praise and the sound of merrymaking.”

“I will multiply them and they shall not be few. I will bestow honour and on them and they shall not be despised. Their children will be as before and their community will be established before Me. I will ask their oppressors to account.”

“Their leader will be one of themselves, their ruler shall emerge from their midst. I will bring Him close to Me for who would dare to approach Me? You shall be My people and I shall be your God.”

Alternative reading (Mass for Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major)

Revelations 21 : 1-5a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and no longer was there any sea. I saw the new Jerusalem, the holy city coming down from God, out of heaven, adorned as a bride prepared for her husband.

A loud voice came from the throne, “Here is the dwelling of God among mortals : He will pitch His tent among them and they will be His people. He will be God-with-them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death or mourning, crying out or pain, for the world that was has passed away.”

The One seated on the throne said, “See, I make all things new.”

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(Usus Antiquior) Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (II Classis) – Sunday, 3 August 2014 : Epistle

Lectio Epistolae beati Pauli Apostoli ad Romanos – Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Romans

Romans 8 : 12-17

Fratres : Debitores sumus non carni, ut secundum carnem vivamus. Si enim secundum carnem vixeritis, moriemini : si autem spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis. Quicumque enim Spiritu Dei aguntur, ii sunt filii Dei.

Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timore, sed accepistis spiritum adoptionis filiorum, in quo clamamus : Abba (Pater). Ipse enim Spiritus testimonium reddit spiritui nostro, quod sumus filii Dei. Si autem filii, et heredes : heredes quidem Dei, coheredes autem Christi.

English translation

Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die, but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry Abba (Father). For the Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God; and if sons, heirs also. Heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

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Sunday, 3 August 2014 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the story of the feeding of the multitudes by Jesus is the often repeated and heard story in our faith life. We always heard how Jesus out of His great pity and love for His people, fed them with bread and fish that He multiplied with His power. He did not want them to be hungry and physically affected after having followed Him for so long to listen to His words.

This story is something that we often know and remember, but we fail to realise the true significance and importance behind this story. This historical memorial of Jesus and His wonderful miracles often lull us on His greatness and wonders, but we fail to know that we are in truly the same position as those people that day who were seated on the open fields with Jesus, hungry and weak.

And Jesus took pity on us, because He loves us very dearly. It is not just to those whom Jesus had ministered to and performed miracles on, that He gave them His love, but even all of us this day also receive the fullness of His bountiful love and grace. And His disciples whom He asked to minister to the people, have their successors in our world today, and they are our priests and bishops who continue to minister to us in the Name of the Lord.

Today, in the second reading, in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, St. Paul spoke of how nothing can ever separate mankind from God and His love, and no power be it on earth, in heaven or hell is capable of such a feat. Yes, that is except God Himself. He loves us very much and very dearly, and yet we are the ones who continue to elude Him, and continue to reject and spurn His love, preferring the love of Satan and the things of this world to His love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is merciful and loving, but He also hates sin and disobedience of sin to the very core. Sin has no place in His presence and sinners has no place either in His place. That is why, while He gives us many, many opportunities, again and again to repent and change our ways, there is a limit to what He can allow us. Eventually, if we continue to reject Him, and our time is due, we will be sundered forever from His mercy and love, and as a result, we will be condemned for eternity.

In the first reading today, from the prophet Isaiah, we heard how generous God is, and how we have no need to fear at all when we are dealing with God. He knows everything we need, and He will provide for us all of them. Yet, mankind had no faith in Him and did not trust in Him, and rather trusting in their own strength and intellect which failed them.

God knows our needs, and as those people lay hungry in the field, their biological needs dictates that they have the physical need to be satisfied, or otherwise, the spiritual needs will not be optimally addressed. Yes, I refer to how men and women, that is all of us, will find it hard to listen and adhere to the word of God if our stomachs are growling within us, and the pain of hunger gets the better part of our minds.

That is why Jesus fed the people with the bread, and through His own might He turned those bread into a feast for all the faithful. He fed them until satisfied with the physical bread, that they may witness and see for themselves, what He had fed them in the spiritual food of the Word of God. Jesus who is the Son of God is the Word of God made flesh, incarnate into a human being. Thus, every word that Jesus said is truly indeed the Word of God, which is our spiritual food. Remember what Jesus said when He rebuked Satan of asking Him to turn stones into bread.

In the same way, therefore, the Lord will provide for us, and in no better form than the perfect and the best of all foods. He gave nothing else other than His own Body and His own Blood. Yes, this is the Most Holy Eucharist, the Precious Body and Blood of our Lord, which we receive every time we celebrate the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.

Through this bread and through the wine we drink, we receive into ourselves not just physical food, but also spiritual food, for we take in the Lord Himself into us, the Word who had become flesh, and then offered that flesh to us, that we who partake them may become one with Him and be saved. The Lord shows us His love by the giving of Himself, which He made concrete through His sacrifice on the cross, out of love for all of us sinners and desiring nothing else than our redemption.

Let us all today use this opportunity to ponder and realise how great is the love that God has for us, and how many opportunities we have been given, that we may appreciate how fortunate we are of having such a loving God to care for us. We should not think of the feeding of the five thousand multitudes as something separate from us, but instead, find in it the love which God shows to men, and therefore come to a greater realisation of our part in God’s plan for salvation.

We all should revere our Lord more in the Eucharist, and come to the point where we come to the Holy Mass, fully prepared and expecting to receive the Lord with fully prepared body, mind, heart and soul. Let us follow the example of those five thousand men and many other women and children with them, who came all the way just to follow Jesus and listen to Him intently. We too should also make the same effort to be closer to our God and follow Him.

May we all come ever closer to God through His most Precious Body and Blood, which we receive in the Holy Eucharist, that He may dwell in us, and we dwell in Him. May Almighty God guide us on this journey of life, providing us as always with His grace and love along the way. And may we persevere in our own journey as well, helping each other to reach our ultimate goal in life, that is God. Amen.