compassion

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Thursday, 12 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Luke 6 : 27-38

But I say to you who hear Me : Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you badly. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek; from the one who takes your coat, do not keep back your shirt. Give to the one who asks and if anyone has taken something from you, do not demand it back.

Do to others as you would have others do to you. If you love only those who love you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners love those who love them. If you do favours to those who are good to you, what kind of grace is yours? Even sinners do the same. If you lend only when you expect to receive, what kind of grace is yours? For sinners also lend to sinners, expecting to receive something in return.

But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend when there is nothing to expect in return. Then will your reward be great, and you will be sons and daughters of the Most High. For He is kind towards the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do not be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.

Alternative Reading (from the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

Luke 1 : 39-47

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit, and giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!”

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Thursday, 12 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Colossians 3 : 12-17

Clothe yourself, then, as is fitting for God’s chosen people, holy and beloved of Him. Put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience to bear with one another and forgive whenever there is any occasion to do so. As the Lord has forgiven you, forgive one another.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. May the peace of Christ overflow in your hearts; for this end you were called to be one body. And be thankful.

Let the word of God dwell in you in all its richness. Teach and admonish one another with words of wisdom. With thankful hearts sing to God psalms, hymns, and spontaneous praise. And whatever you do or say, do it in the Name of Jesus, the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Alternative Reading (From the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

 

Galatians 4 : 4-7

But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son. He came born of woman and subject to the Law, in order to redeem the subjects of the Law, that we might receive adoption as children of God. And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of His Son which cries out : ‘Abba!’ that is ‘Father!’

You yourself are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.

Alternative Reading (From the Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

 

Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing. God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us in love to be His adopted sons and daughters through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness which He granted us in His Beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

By a decree of Him who disposes all things according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.

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Wednesday, 11 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, most beloved of God. Let us listen to the Lord calling to each one of us today, that we be transformed from our old, sinful self, into the new being of love and compassion. We have to break free of the prison of worldly pleasures and temptations of evil that had chained us for so long unto sin. It is time that all of us, with the power of Christ, break free from that chain into freedom, true freedom in God.

Today, in the Gospel, we heard one of the most memorable and yet also striking from the words and teachings of Jesus, that is the sermon on the Mount, or the Beatitudes, meaning Blesseds or blessings from the Latin word, Beatus, which we also use on our blessed holy men and women in heaven. Jesus emphasized on the virtues of doing what is good as He mentioned them, and the blessings that will be poured to them who do these things.

A word of warning here is that, because just as Jesus blessed the good and the upright, and also at the same time, curse the wicked and their wickedness, we must not misinterpret what the Lord truly wants from all of us. It may seem as if Jesus condemns all those who now enjoy a happy life, a fulfilling life, and a life of wealth, and supports those who are poor in material, those who hunger for food. Yet, the Lord did not mean that we should be like the Communists, who advocate class war between the rich, the privileged class, and the poor.

What the Lord intend for all of us to do, is to be truly transformed into beings of love, mercy, and compassion, no matter what backgrounds we had or what material possessions we had with us prior to our transformation. We must be transformed from beings of apathy and idleness, and beings of wickedness and greed, into truly children of our loving God. That is what Jesus wants from us through the teachings we listened to today.

This is because, if we talk about the division between the rich and the poor, we will end up be caught in a vicious cycle of hatred and eternal division between the two worlds. Yes, I mean it when I said two worlds, because the two worlds are so distinct, that a huge gap literally is present between them. What the Lord truly wants is that bridges be built over this gap, to let the rich embrace the poor, and vice versa.

Even among the poor, there can be discrimination and selfishness, people trampling over the other because of their superior power and authority, people who think only for themselves, and if necessary, at the expense of others also in need. The same too applies to the rich, and indeed, all of God’s children without exception in many different parts of this world. Being rich does not mean that someone is evil, but it is that with that greater blessing that God had bestowed on them, they are able to do more for the sake of their brethren in need.

What the Lord condemns is the people who cared not for the wellbeing of their fellow brethren, even if these people are poor themselves. The Lord condemns those who are wicked and practice wickedness in their lives, and casts them out of His presence, if they do not repent and change. To those who had plenty and had opened the doors of their wealth and their love, that the graces given to them may reach others, the Lord will give blessing, if not even greater blessings, because they had used whatever they have, and give it to those who need them.

Remember the words of the Lord, that to those who had been given much, even more will be given. That is why, to those among us who had been more privileged, it is an impetus for us to take up the challenge God had presented all of us today, to share a part of our joy and happiness with others, especially those who lack them and those who long for them.

What the Lord lamented was because most of the rich, the powerful, and the influential ones at His time on earth, did not care even at all for the least of the society. They made merry, celebrate parties and revelled in abundance. They ate, drank, danced, and slept in joy and happiness, and never has the rest of the beloved people of God, appeared in their mind. It is exactly this lack of love and action that infuriated God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as today we are called to throw far, far away our old selves, our former sins, and our iniquities, and instead wear the armour of love and compassion, likened to the urging of St. Paul to the Colossians in the first reading. Let us be brave and have resolve to be loving and embracing to our brethren in need, to our brethren who needs our love, care, and attention, that we may be blessed by the Lord and be received into His kingdom of love and glory, instead of being cursed and condemned for our failure to do action.

Let us not point mistakes at others, and demand that others who disregarded the needs of the needy to change their lives and their decisions to work for the less fortunate. Instead, begin from ourselves, and take a proactive approach to follow what God told us through Christ today. Be a man of peace, of hope, of compassion, and of undying and eternal love. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we realise that the Lord our God loves us and He is willing to call us from the depth of our sins and the depth of our iniquities, to be with Him and to rejoice with Him in salvation. He did this through Christ His Son, who had descended into the world to be among us and to be the source of our salvation.

He cares for us and wants us to leave behind our world of sin that leads to death and damnation. That was why He offered all of us His enduring love, love that He carried through all the way to the cross on Calvary. He willed us to live, and that was why He did not hesitate even to give His own life for us that we may live.

He called the Apostles, the chosen twelve among His disciples, to be the primary helpers of His good works during His ministry in this world and even after He had departed it. They helped Him to administer the people and become the listening ear to His many teachings, through which He revealed much about Himself and God’s plan of salvation for mankind.

He offered them and all, a new hope in Himself, that all those who believe in Him and place their trust in Him will not suffer death and punishment for their sins and iniquities. Instead, it was indeed Christ who had undergone much suffering, pain, and eventually death in our place. The Body and Blood He offered us, through His pierced Body and the Blood outpouring from His wounds on the cross, become the gate into this new life.

Yes, brethren, and those who walk through this gate, will receive eternal life in God. The Body of Christ we receive in the Communion bread and the Blood in the wine bring Christ into ourselves, and thereafter, He dwells within us, becoming a light within our hearts. However, not everyone can just receive the Lord without due consideration.

We must first be welcomed into the Church of God, that is the entire community of the faithful ones in God, and become one body with all the faithful, as part of the one living Church, that is through the waters of baptism. Baptism marks that clear break between us and our past, the sinful lives and idol worshipping lives we had once led, and be purified in the Lord, to be made worthy to receive the salvation offered freely by the Lord.

That was why those who had not yet been received into the Church, may not receive the Lord because they are unworthy and had not yet placed their hearts and their beliefs fully in God. For those of us who had been received into the Church and receive the Lord into ourselves, we have accepted the Lord as our Lord and Saviour, just as the Apostles had done before.

However, it is not that we must be stagnant and be idle after we have been received into the Church. Otherwise we would be condemned by the Lord, just as He had done to the Pharisees, who had not done what was asked of them, and instead slandering the prophets and the Lord Himself. Constant vigilance and cultivation of that opportunity God has given us is therefore necessary and indeed, expected of us.

The Apostles themselves did not remain idle, even though after their baptism of fire, they can be certain of salvation. Yes, the Apostles received their baptism of fire by the Holy Spirit, on the day of the Pentecost, that truly marked the beginning of their ministry after the departure of Jesus from this world. The Apostles. They faced much opposition and rejection, just as they were received by many. Yet they did not fear, for God is with them, and they even gave their lives in the end, for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, today we are also called, to be the apostles of our modern day world. Let us therefore strive to follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, we who had been called and received into the Church. We must never be idle but we must be proactive and take the initiative to be the active disciples of Christ, spreading the Good News to all the people.

May the Lord guide us and protect us as we embark on this journey of evangelisation, that we may be fruitful and great, in our works for the sake of the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 10 September 2013 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 144 : 1-2, 8-9, 10-11

I will extol You, my God and King; I will bless Your Name forever. I will praise You day after day and exalt Your Name forever.

Compassionate and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we learnt an important lesson of our lives, and on the nature of God Himself. We are mortals brethren, and one day we will all die, and that is an important thing that we all will have to realise at one point of time in our life.

The Lord our God has His plans for all of us, ever since He created us and this universe. The way that God thinks is not in short moments or days or weeks in our human perception. He thought of things far before things happen, and He formed in His thoughts the plan He had for all of us His creation.

Our transgressions and disobedience against Him, starting from Adam and Eve our ancestors did not disturb His plans for us at all, for everything truly moved as how He desired it, and in His great love for us, He planned a rescue mission for all of us, long before it was executed. That all because He cares for us, and just as He had planned since the very beginning, that He wanted us to be in His presence in true joy and happiness forever.

That was why He prepared for us the salvation in the form of Christ, Himself incarnate into man like us in Jesus. Long before Christ was even born unto this world, He had made His preparations, to prepare this world and its people to be ready for the coming of the Saviour.  That was why He sent the prophets into this world, that they delivered to the people of God for the eventual coming of the Messiah.

He sent Moses to liberate His people, Israel, from bondage and slavery by the Pharaohs and the Egyptians. Through Moses too the people of God had received the very Laws of the Lord and His commandments. These laws were meant not to limit the people of God nor oppress them with even more burdens. In fact, these laws were meant to help us in our path towards God, towards freedom, freedom from evil, freedom from the burdens of sin.

God did not leave us behind without any help. If the prophets were rejected and murdered, then He would send even more, for our sake, that eventually was born through the Lord Jesus. With the arrival of Jesus, the new hope for this world had arisen. In Christ lay the perfection of all the prophecies of the prophets, the teachings of the elders of Israel, and ultimately the love of God.

But Jesus did not come into this world to enjoy a happy life and to just zap out our sins automatically. He had much work to do, and He had to endure rejection, pain, suffering, and mockery by others throughout His life. Even His hometown relations mocked Him in the synagogue when He revealed the truth about Himself, seeing Him as a mere carpenter’s son.

Yet all of these are within God’s divine and long-prepared plans for us and for our salvation. He endured all of that with the greatness of His love for us, and the love and obedience Jesus always has for His Father in heaven. So much so that even when His disciples abandoned Him, betrayed Him to the authorities and to His enemies, and despite facing such a great challenge of the monumental task of having to endure the sins of the entire mankind, He endured it with love, for us.

Through Christ’s suffering, pain, and Passion on the way to Calvary, and through His crucifixion unto His death, He had broken the hold of sin over mankind, by rising from the dead in glorious resurrection, He snatched us all away from the hands of Satan forever, if we embrace the salvation He had offered us through His death and resurrection.

All indeed are part of God’s plan, formed long ago since He created us from dust. Remember that after our ancestors fell into sin, He did not shun us or abandon us, even though He did punish them for their transgressions. He promised our ancestors, that One will be born of the woman, who will in a sense , enact revenge on Satan, the snake, the deceiver. That One to be born was truly Christ, born of the woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Through the death and resurrection of Christ, He had dealt a crushing blow on Satan, as promised by God Himself at the beginning of time, showing how far the Lord’s foresight and plans had been. In Christ too, the promise God had first made to Abraham was fulfilled in its completion, that the descendants of Abraham would be great. He also fulfilled the promise made to David, that one of his descendants would rule forever, that is in Christ, the descendant. of David, also Son of God Most High, who is King of all Kings for all eternity.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having seen truly the greatness of the love, the might, and the wisdom of our Lord, let us therefore realise the great love and care He has for all of us, planning from very early on, for our welfare and for our wellbeing. He did not even fear death for our sake, that He died for us, that we may live.

Let us thus not harden our hearts as our ancestors had done, and instead humble ourselves before Him, opening our hearts to His divine love. Let us also realise our mortality, of the nothingness we are compared to the all wonderful God. It is not to degrade ourselves or to make ourselves feel inferior. It is important for us to understand and take note of our shortcomings, that we will be able to seek to be better, that is to seek God, in whom we can find true wisdom and true enlightenment.

May the Lord who is ever loving, kind, and caring, continue to provide for us, protect us, and guide us to Himself that we will not fall into damnation with Satan and his angels. God be with us and bless us with abundance of graces forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 14 : 25-33

One day, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, He turned and said to them, “If you come to Me, unwilling to sacrifice your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not follow Me, carrying his own cross, cannot be My disciple.”

“Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, if you, have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you : ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'”

“And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent? And if not, while the other is still a long way off, he sends messengers for peace talks. In the same way, none of you may become My disciple, if he does not give up everything he has.”

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Sunday, 8 September 2013 : 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Philemon 9b-10, 12-17

The one talking is Paul, the old man, now prisoner for Christ. And my request in on behalf of Onesimus, whose father I have become while I was in prison.

In returning him to you, I am sending you my own heart. I would have liked to keep him at my side, to serve me on your behalf while I am in prison for the Gospel, but I did not want to do anything without your agreement, nor impose a good deed upon you without your free consent.

Perhaps Onesimus has been parted from you for a while so that you may have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but better than a slave. For he is a very dear brother to me, and he will be even dearer to you. And so, because of our friendship, receive him as if he were I myself.

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Saturday, 7 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard and be reaffirmed today, of the love our God has for all of us. That the Lord in His love, has given all of Himself through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. He gave to us an outpouring of His love, and in His strong desire to bring us and reunite us back to Himself, He had sent us prophets and messengers to deliver His will to the people and to guide them to return to Him.

In the same way, through Moses His servant, He had revealed to His children about Himself, how He cares very much for their wellbeing, and showed them His love even when they constantly rebelled against His love, worshipping other gods instead of Him. He even gave them a set of law, the Law He gave to His people through Moses, as a guide for them in their lives that they will always remain ever faithful and ever loving, and stay in the grace of God at all times.

Yet, despite this, the people of God did not remain faithful, and they still rebelled constantly against the Lord, defying His laws and commandment, shutting out prophets and murdering them for showing the truth about their sinful ways, and for nagging them to return to God their Father who loves them. But the Lord did not give up on them, and continued to show His love without end, even when His children often did not love Him back.

The Lord in His anger and wrath could easily have wiped us out because of our rebelliousness, our sins, and our stubbornness, but He kept His faith in all of us, and willing for us to repent our sinful ways and return to the Lord. That was why, He gave His all and become one of us through Jesus, incarnate of the Blessed Virgin His mother, and through that, become a source of hope and salvation for all mankind.

Christ came into this world as the Messiah, the awaited Saviour, but He is also a prophet and a teacher, who explained the true meaning and intention of the Law and rules that God had given mankind through Moses and His other prophets and messengers. He showed that the Law does not exist to lord over the people of God, and neither should it become a yoke to burden the people.

The Pharisees did obey the Law, indeed, they appeared to be pious and obedient people of the Law. However most of them, and the teachers of the Law obeyed the Law in a perverted manner, in a twisted version of their own ‘Law’. Their love for the Law is superficial, and they enslaved themselves and the people they led without having the Lord at the centre of their lives.

That is why, brothers and sisters, today we are reminded of the need to truly love God and give of our whole self to Him, just as He had loved us and gave us His entire being to us, and He was not even shy to shed His own Body and Blood that we may live. Let us not love our Lord and God only superficially as the Pharisees had once done.

Yes, we need to obey rules and laws, but we must not be enslaved to them. Rather, let us make use of the Law of God as a way for us to better control and coordinate ourselves that we will be able to stay true to the Lord and remain firmly in God’s love and favour, that we will not fall into the temptations of the evil one. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 6 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Colossians 1 : 15-20

He is the image of the unseen God, and for all creation He is the firstborn, for in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible : thrones, rules, authorities, powers… All was made through Him and for Him.

He is before all and all things hold together in Him. And He is the head of the body, that is the Church, for He is the first, the first raised from the dead that He may be the first in everything, for God was pleased to let fullness dwell in Him.

Through Him God willed to reconcile all things to Himself, and through Him, through His blood shed on the cross, God established peace, on earth as in heaven.