Divine Mercy

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Thursday, 20 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 2 : 1-9

My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, you will not discriminate between persons. Suppose a person enters the synagogue where you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a poor person enters dressed in rags.

If you focus your attention on the well-dressed and say, “Come and sit in the best seat,” while to the poor one you say, “Stay standing or else sit down at my feet,” have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two? Have you not judged, using a double standard?

Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to inherit the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? Yet you despise them! Is it not the rich who are against you and drag you to court? Do they not insult the Holy Name of Christ by which you are called?

If you keep the Law of the Kingdom, according to Scripture : ‘Love your neighbour as yourself,’ you do well; but if you make distinctions between persons, you break the law and are condemned by the same law.

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Wednesday, 19 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are called to reflect on our lives and on our attitudes towards our faith. Have we seen our faith as something that needs just to be there as a belief? Or have we seen it as something that constantly need to be kept alive by active contributions and works? That was what St. James in his letter in today’s first reading tried to tell us about the faith.

Our faith cannot be dormant or be based on mere words or letters of the word. Our faith must be supported with a strong foundation, that is the foundation of love and devotion to God. And in order to do that, we have to act, and be active in love. Remember what Christ had told us? That we ought to love one another, especially those who are least and weakest in our societies?

St. James was particularly condemned and shunned by the Protestant heretics, who held firm to their false and twisted idea of sola fide and sola scriptura, that is the firm belief that only the Holy Scriptures is correct and the only thing to be followed, and more importantly, sola fide, that means faith is sufficient, certainly by literal understanding of the words of Christ, when He said to some, that their faith had saved them.

Yet, they had truly missed the point by their extremely literal understanding of the true meaning of God’s message. Faith is important, and indeed we have to put our complete faith and belief in the Lord, but faith cannot be merely that, meaning just faith. We do not have true and living faith if we just merely say, Lord, Lord, I believe in You, and keep ourselves to reading the Holy Bible all day long without action.

Action, that is action based in love, is an integral part of our faith, and therefore, an integral part of our salvation in Jesus. We cannot separate action of love from faith in love itself, for God Himself is Love, and Jesus is the embodiment of that Love. God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son, Jesus Christ, that all who believe in Him will not die, but receive eternal life.

Faith is important, but can we believe in Love, that is the love of God, if we ourselves do not practice love in our words, deeds and actions? If our actions are instead based on hatred, prejudice, jealousy, and many other negative influences, then are we not contradicting our own faith in the Lord? And does that not mean that we have actually no faith in God?

That is precisely why the path of those who believed in salvation by faith alone is wrong, because many of them in their blind zeal to prove and fight for their version of the faith, they sowed much hatred, prejudice, and jealousy among themselves against the truth that is in God and in His Church. But again, they are not the only ones that are in the wrong, because we ourselves too often do not truly follow what the Lord wants from us.

We are often ignorant of our own faith, and we treat our faith as nothing more than a profession of the Creed and attendance at the Mass every Sundays. We do not truly practice our faith, and in our own daily habits and activities, we often do not reflect the love of God. This ignorance of our faith is something that we have to avoid at all cost, for again, I would like to remind you that this kind of faith is dead, and will do us no good before God.

Practice our faith, brothers and sisters in Christ, and put love in all of our words, actions and deeds. Put what the Lord had revealed and taught to us into real action. As Jesus had said, let all of us love one another, all of our brothers and sisters, children of the same God just as much as we care and love for ourselves. And of course, love God with all of our hearts and our strength.

But loving God does not mean for us to keep ourselves enclosed in our own world of desire for salvation, for doing that will mean selfishness. Loving God can be much more concretely professed, by following what He told us! Yes, that is to love our brethren, especially those who are the last, the lost, and the least. And Jesus Himself said that whatever we had done for them, we did them for God.

Hence, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we heed what St. James had called us to do, and indeed challenged us to do? Shall we change our perspective on our own faith in God? Shall we from now on make our faith in God truly vibrant and alive? We have to make our faith in God concrete through actions, and that is actions based on love.

May our Lord Jesus Christ guide us and bless us with wisdom and understanding, that we may realise how important it is to love, and how crucial it is towards our salvation. May God continue to be with us and walk with us, that we may continue to love Him and devote ourselves to Him with full, living faith. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 17 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These saints were the founders of a religious order which was founded so that its members may live according to the holy and religious life as espoused by many other orders at the time, including in particular the Franciscans and the Dominicans.

The saints left everything and went to secluded place in the hills to lead a new life dedicated solely to the Lord and to the service of His people, embracing poverty, humility, and service in love. They worked hard, prayed hard, and devoted themselves to the Lord and to Mary, His mother, whom they often asked for intercession.

Despite the opposition and rejection that often faced them, and the many time of troubles that they had to endure, the Servites remained strong in their devotion and in their faith, and flourished despite all of the difficulties and challenges. They worked hard to serve the people of God, and preach to them the message of love that is from the Lord.

Their example showed to us what it means to be a disciple of the Lord and what it means to follow the Lord. We have to focus all of our attentions and we cannot be divided in our hearts. We cannot be half-hearted in our love and devotion. The Lord provides us with all, and He gives us things that we need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not doubt in the Lord and in His providence. He gave the people His love, and what He desires from us, is nothing more than our love. The Servites and their holy founders have shown us the true meaning of this devotion to the Lord. They showed love to God directly through their devotion, and through the love of their brethren in this world.

The Servites showed us that to love and serve the Lord we must first show love and compassion towards our brothers and sisters. We cannot be ignorant against those who lacked the love of God. Instead we have to embrace them with love and be always loving to them, even to our enemies and those who hate us. We have to show and practice love in all of our actions, our words and our deeds.

If we love one another, and follow the way of the Lord, we will certainly know about what God wants from us. We shall no longer doubt Him but trust always in His love. There is nothing greater and more wonderful than the love of God, and this fact is what we have to always keep in mind as we live in this world.

May the Lord through His servant the founder of the Servites remind us always of His love, and of the need to serve Him by loving Him and our own fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow mankind in this world. Let us dispel all the lies and fear spread by the devil and instead focus on the love of the Lord and His care for us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 17 February 2014 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Psalm 118 : 67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your word.

You are good, and Your works are good; teach me Your decrees.

It is good for me to have been afflicted, for I have deeply learnt Your statutes.

Your law is more precious to me than heaps of silver and gold.

I know, o Lord, that Your laws are just, and there is justice in my affliction.

Comfort me then with Your unfailing love, as You promised Your servant.

 

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Friday, 14 February 2014 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk, and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Let all who have ears listen and those who have eyes see, and those who have tongues speak of the power and the glory of God! Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we witnessed Jesus’ healing of the man who was deaf and mute, and opening his ears and tongue, Jesus revealed to us all the true authority He has over all, and the truth about Himself, that He came to open our minds and our hearts, to welcome into them the Lord.

Yes, brethren, it is imperative for all of us to open wide the doors of our hearts and sharpen the edge of our senses, that we may know when the Lord comes to us, so that we may welcome Him and bring Him to dwell in ourselves. We have to be responsive to the Lord calling for us, that we may heed His call and come to Him.

We ought to avoid the fate and punishment that fell on Solomon and his descendants, who because of Solomon’s obstinate attitude and refusal to listen to the Lord had resulted in the kingdom of Israel being torn apart, together with the community of the people of God. Solomon was wise, and was greatly blessed with wisdom, power, and authority by the Lord, but these were also the cause for his greatest undoing.

In continuation with yesterday’s reflection on the readings, Solomon fell because he put his trust more and more in his human power and glory, and gradually less and less on the Lord, unlike his father David, who constantly kept up his faith and devotion in the Lord throughout his life. Solomon was swayed by the devil, through his wives and concubines, who blinded him and deafened him from the calling of God, asking him to keep faithful the commandments his father had kep so faithfully.

That is exactly what can also happen to us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, because power, authority, worldly glamour and prestige are all the things that keep our attention away from the Lord and blinds us against His truth, and deafens us from His call, and closes our tongue that we may not call on Him. These prevent us from reaching the Lord and the Lord from reaching us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we let what had happened to Solomon also affect us? Shall we let ourselves be punished for our disobedience because we refuse to listen to the Lord as Solomon had done? Shall we let ourselves be condemned because the Lord saw wickedness in us because we refuse to obey the Lord and walk in His ways as Solomon had done?

It is easy for us all to forget about the Lord and become engrossed in ourselves, in all the glory we have, and in all the good things that the world can offer us. As you know, especially in our world today, where more and more things are being commercialised and consumerism is getting at a dangerously high levels, it is even easier for us to be led astray by the temptations of the world than ever before.

That is why the Lord sent Jesus into the world, to send His own Son to open the eyes, the ears, and the tongues of the people, that He may resensitise them and reopen the senses of their hearts to the love of God, and to the truth that is in the Lord. Through His teachings and revelations of God’s nature and love, which He passed down through His apostles and disciples, we receive the revelations and our minds are opened.

God wants to open our minds, and to let our eyes see, and our ears hear, that we may believe in Jesus, and break free from the chains of pride and arrogance, from the shackle of desire and greed, and from the oppression of lust and anger. He wants to free us from all the distractions that burdened us and kept us away from Him, but we too need to work hard and do our best, so that we may break free and return to the Lord our God who loves us.

Today, we celebrate the feast of two saints, said to be brothers, that of St. Cyril and St. Methodius who converted many pagan nations and peoples in central Europe during the Dark Ages, and they helped to bring many people who lived in darkness into the light of God. That was why they were also known as the Patron Saints of Europe, due to their hard and zealous works in bringing so many people of that continent into the faith.

St. Cyril and St. Methodius helped to translate many works of the faith into the language of the then pagan peoples, and through their preachings and works, they truly, just as Jesus had done, opened the eyes and the ears and the tongues of those people, who then witnessed the truth about the Lord, the folly of their old ways, and the need for them to repent and follow the Lord, and that they did.

The two saints converted many souls and brought many to salvation in God. A people who lived in darkness had seen a great light indeed, that is the Light of Christ reflected in the actions, words, and deeds of both St. Cyril and St. Methodius, without whom many people would have been lost to damnation and hell.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, the example of Solomon and the two saints, as well as Jesus Himself, showed us the need for us to strongly reaffirm our faith in God and to reorientate ourselves that in all things we align with our Lord and God. And it is important for us to seek Him out in humility and ask Him for His healing and mercy, that we may have the doors of our hearts and senses opened, that we may truly experience His love and mercy.

May the Lord our God continue to bless us, empower us, and open ever wider the doors of our hearts to Him, while closing it to any influences of the devil. May He remove from us all the distractions of this world that we may then be truly faithful to Him without any hindrance. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 10 February 2014 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White (Virgins)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God loves us all so much, and this world so much, that He wanted to be involved with us, and He wanted to enter into our lives, and indeed, He came to dwell among His people in His love. He cannot deny the love He has for us, because the love He has for all of us is pure love, the purest of all love. It is not lust or desire, but a true desire and wish for all of us to be one with Him, and for us to be freed from all the chains and fetters of sin that had separated us from Him.

That was why He sent the people prophets after prophets and messengers after messengers, to reveal both the love He has for us, and the designs He had planned for each one of us. He gave them law to obey and follow, that they may walk always faithfully in His ways, and not be corrupted by the ways of this world ruled by Satan, the father of evil and sin.

And He chose to involve Himself with His own people, first by freeing them from their slavery in Egypt, and delivering them from their oppressors into the Promised Land. Through Moses His servant He gave them the true physical manifestation, in short, a proof of His love for them. He gave them His own laws, the law of love, written by Himself on the two stones as the sign of the Covenant He had made with them, a Covenant of love, that the people of God would love their God and God would love them equally back.

Yet, the people of God did not remain always faithful, and many times they rebelled against Him and His love. They followed other gods, did things wicked in  His eyes and even killed His prophets and messengers sent to remind them of the need for them to love God as part of their Covenant with Him. But God did not give up on His love for the people.

That was why He chose to even dwell among them, to dwell in the Temple which His faithful servant David had planned for Him and his son Solomon built for Him. The Temple marked yet another physical proof of God’s love for all of His people, His beloved children, and a clear proof of His desire that He wanted all of them to be with Him and He, in them.

And as the final proof of love, He gave of Himself, through Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, the Divine made Man. Jesus was the true, perfect, and complete manifestation of God’s love surpassing even the previously mentioned examples of God’s love. After all, who would have abandoned all the glory and power of heaven and all creation, to descend upon this world and become a lowly Man?

Jesus our Lord and God emptied Himself of His divinity and assumed our humanity, that He might dwell among all of us, as one of us. Yes, indeed, God who is Love was manifested in the flesh! In the flesh and blood of Jesus our Lord indeed! Through the intermediary role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, God made clear His love to all mankind.

Jesus showed God’s infinite love for us by ministering to us, being a servant to His people, healing them from their afflictions, and empowering them with the revelations of God’s love. Jesus shared the love of God to His disciples, and from them we receive God’s love as well as the revelation on its nature. Yes, Christ showed His ultimate love for all of God’s creations by becoming the Lamb of sacrifice, hung on the cross and died for the sake of all of us.

There is no love greater than for someone to give up his life for his friend. Indeed, this was what Jesus meant, and He showed it by His own action. He died to save us, and through His glorious resurrection, He picked us up, and made us to stand up again, now on the solid foundation of faith and on the solid foundation of hope of eternal life, and on the solid foundation of love. This is the new Covenant of love that Jesus had made with all of us, sealed with the outpouring of His own Blood.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Scholastica, who was a renowned religious figure, and the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the order of the Benedictines. Together, the siblings founded the order, and helped many to find their way to love God and dedicate themselves to Him. St. Scholastica was known for her great piety and dedication and she often spent long hours in prayer.

The dedication and devotion that St. Scholastica had for the Lord is an example for all of us in how we should respond to the love that God had shown to us. Just as the Lord had loved us so much, then we too should respond in the same way and respond to Him with our own love. We should dedicate ourselves to the Lord following the example of this pious and holy saint.

Brethren in Christ, let us therefore pray for one another, that we all may grow in love, and grow to love our Lord more and more, that we may be able to fulfill our part of the Covenant God had established with us, that we love Him just as He had loved us. May our Lord continue to love us, watch over us, and bless us. Amen.

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Friday, 7 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 47 : 2-13

As fat is selected from the peace offering, so David was chosen from among the Israelites. He played with lions and bears as if they were lambs or young goats. He was still young when he slew a giant to restore the honour of his people; with a sling he aimed a stone that killed the arrogant Goliath.

He invoked the Lord Most High, who gave him strength to slay a mighty warrior, and so exalt the power of His people. So they glorified him for his ten thousands and praised him as a blessing from the Lord when he was chosen king. For he wiped out his enemies on all sides and annihilated his adversaries, the Philistines, crushing their power forever.

In all that he did he gave thanks to the Most High, and showed his love for his Maker by singing with all his heart. He placed singers accompanied by harps before the altar to make beautiful music; he gave splendour to feasts and even greater magnificence to the more solemn occasions, exalting the Holy Name of the Lord and having the sanctuary ring with his praises from early morning.

The Lord forgave David’s sins and established his power forever; He made a covenant with him for the benefit of the kings and gave him a glorious throne in Israel. A wise son succeeded him and fared well because of him. Solomon reigned during times of peace, and God gave him rest from war to enable him to build a House for His Name, a sanctuary that would stand forever.

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Thursday, 6 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings and the saints we commemorate today match very nicely, in that today, we talk about mission, and about spreading the Good News of the Lord, in evangelisation and mission. Jesus sent His disciples to many places, to bring forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit in many through their works.

And today we commemorate the feast of St. Paul Miki and his companions, the martyrs of Japan, who lived during the late Sengoku era Japan, when the earlier tolerant and welcoming attitude of the Japanese turned into one of open hostility and persecution, not unlike the persecutions of Christians during the Roman Empire.

And much like those saints and martyrs who died during the Roman persecutions, they were tortured, punished, and forced to reject their faith and embrace the pagan faith of their oppressors. Some of them relented and turned their back on the Lord, but many kept strong their faith in God, and did not give up the faith.

The example of St. Paul Miki and his companions showed us the reality of serving the Lord, particularly those who had chosen to dedicate themselves to a life of mission work, by becoming His priests and missionaries, all over the world, spreading the Good News via various means to different groups of people. And this reality is still true, even to this day.

They have no need to fear, because God Himself will provide for them and protect them. This is what David, the king of Israel, before he died, told his son Solomon, who would succeed him as king. Those who keep God’s commandments and keep their faith in God, shall have great rewards, and as Jesus and His disciples had taught us, that these rewards not necessarily mean a worldly reward, because an even greater reward awaits us in heaven.

Being a follower of Christ almost always means to be in constant odds with the ways of the world, simply because the world does not recognise the Lord, but instead it recognises Satan as its master. That is why being a follower of Christ often means to be rejected by the world, to be an outcast, and at the times of persecutions in the past, and even in the present, many had to brave death to defend their faith in God.

The world which does not know Christ, does not know us. But our Lord knows us and He loves us all equally. He knows us all by name, and He knows all about us. And He cares about all mankind, even those who had done evil things and even those who had persecuted His chosen ones and His faithful. He wants all to be reunited to Him, particularly those who are deepest in darkness and those who are far from His salvation.

Our Lord had offered us salvation in Jesus, His Son, through His own death and resurrection, that all who heard of Him and believe in Him, are promised the promise of eternal life and redemption in Jesus, gaining for eternity the glory God had intended for mankind since the beginning of time. That was what the martyrs gained for their constant and undying faith for the Lord. In death, they received the glory of heaven as saints of the Lord.

St. Paul Miki was born in Japan in Nagasaki, and he was converted to the faith by the missionaries of the faith, who introduced the faith to Japan, by their hard work and preaching. St. Paul Miki himself followed suit and joined the Jesuit order, preaching about the faith to many of his fellow countrymen.

At first, the faith was welcomed in Japan by the local rulers, but with ulterior motive of gaining the European technologies such as guns and other weaponries in exchange for tolerance of the faith. Some of those local lords even converted to the faith, some did it genuinely. However all this changed after a warlord named Hideyoshi Toyotomi managed to reunite Japan under his rule.

The warlord was always suspicious of the faith, and the reunion of the country under his rule gave him the excuse to persecute the faithful. Many Christians including St. Paul Miki and his many fellow faithful were arrested and tortured under threat of death to recant their faith. But they remained faithful and preferred death to apostasy.

He and his fellow companions were forced to march on foot from Kyoto the capital of Japan at that time to Nagasaki, a journey of almost a thousand kilometres, and they did so while praising the Lord and singing the hymn Te Deum. They were then crucified and martyred in Nagasaki, the centre of the faith in Japan at the time. Intended by the enemies of the faith as an example, they instead served as an inspiration to the faithful both in Japan and abroad.

Yes, brethren, we too should be inspired by their tale, and what they had to go through, and their perseverance and persistence for the sake of the faith in God. We must not let their sacrifice and perseverance to go to waste, brethren. Tell of this among many, and tell of their faith to all peoples, that they too may be inspired as we are inspired by them.

And let us seek to be part of God’s mission, which He indeed entrusted to us, that is to bring His Good News to all nations, and to bring all peoples to Him. Let us continue the good works of St. Paul Miki and his companions, and let us all keep our faith in our Lord alive and strong! St. Paul Miki and companions pray for us all! Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

Prophets are despised in their own country and were not well accepted at the place of their birth. That was the reality that Jesus brought up in front of His very own neighbours and fellow countrymen in the Gospel reading today. Jesus Himself was doubted and rejected by the people of His hometown, the small village of Nazareth.

Why so? That is because we mankind, in our own distorted way of perceiving the world around us, including that of our friends and relatives, our fellow men, we tend to focus on things of the world, in the glory and power of the world, and adhere to the many prejudices and preconceptions that existed in the world.

The reality of life in the time of Jesus, just as it was before that and after that, even until this day, was indeed harsh. The poor has nothing and suffered a lot under the rich and the powerful, who had everything they need and want. The rich oppressed the poor and they showcased their power with brilliant displays of wealth and affluence.

This created the mentality and prejudices among the people, especially one who was accustomed to a very hierarchical societal nature. The society of Israel, even though distinctions between peoples were not as severe as some other cultures, such as the caste system in India among others, was still quite bad. The priests and the kings and the lords were at the top of the society, respected and feared for their power, while the poor peasants lay at the bottom of that same hierarchy.

The prophets and the Messiah were imagined by the people of Israel as people of great power and wisdom, as well as learning, which was well out of the league of the poor, who could barely even afford to have a comfortable and decent living. Therefore, that is why, because in reality, many of the prophets were people called by God to live a completely devoted life to God, and abandoning all privileges, they were often poor.

In the mind of the people, those who lived with the prophets, coming from the same village, town, or neighbourhood as the prophets, those people cannot be a genuine prophet of the Lord. Simply because they assume that they know who these prophets were! Yes, such was human arrogance and assumption! The same therefore also happened to Jesus as He preached to His own neighbours in Nazareth.

They would not believe in Jesus because they always had thought of Him as a mere carpenter and a carpenter’s Son, that is the Son of Joseph the carpenter, His foster-father. A carpenter, even though a respected job for its hard work, but a carpenter is often considered low in the society’s eyes, and certainly not determined for greatness.

This lens of unbelief prevented the people from knowing and understanding the truth that was in Jesus, that He is the Messiah, the very Divine incarnate, who had come to bring salvation and new hope to all of them. If only they would believe in Jesus, they would have received salvation directly from the Lord. Instead, they cast Him out of His own village and rejected Him.

In our first reading, the scenario is a bit different, but it is in the same spirit. King David of Israel, having his reign made secure by the Lord after numerous insurrections, civil wars, and conflicts, had been lax in his faith, and through the veil of lens of power and human glory, king David did things despicable in the eyes of God.

It might seem a trivial issue that David asked his officer Joab to conduct a census of the people of Israel and Judah, seeing how many people capable of being drafted to his ever growing kingdom and army. Yet, in this precisely, David, the faithful servant of God, was taken in by the allures of Satan, who deceived mankind with false promises of glory and power.

In doing what he had done, David seemed to be unsatisfied with all the glories that God had given him. In counting the number of his subjects, it seemed that David desired even more power and glory, forgetting that all of that had been possible because of the Lord and His grace, which He had poured generously upon David.

That was why, God taught David a lesson through His punishment, to remind him of that all of his glory came from the Lord and he could never do or gain anything without God his Lord. We too should learn the same lesson, that we should not depend solely on our human power or wisdom, but instead seek to follow and trust the Lord, from whom all goodness came.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of St. Agatha, also known as St. Agatha of Sicily. St. Agatha was very dedicated to the Lord and was very faithful, despite temptations of the world and attempts to turn her to the debauched ways of the pagan world of her time.

St. Agatha devoted herself to God and vowed to maintain her virginity. A Roman centurion was allured by St. Agatha’s beauty and tried many times in vain to persuade her to be his bride. Angered by her rejection, the centurion used the fact that St. Agatha was a Christian against her, and in the midst of a brutal persecution against the faith, she was arrested and tortured.

St. Agatha endured the persecutions and the sufferings that she had to go through in prison, and she even went through a brutal removal of her breasts as one of her executioners’ punishments. She remained true to her faith to the end and did not walk away from the way of the Lord. St. Agatha and her zealous faith showed us all, that we have to put our trust in God, and place our faith in Him, for in Him, we secure our heavenly inheritance.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today therefore seek to love God ever more, and dedicate ourselves in faith to Him and to His ways. Let us always walk faithfully in His ways, and following what He had taught us through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. May our Lord continue to be with us and guide us, as we walk through this darkened world, that we may not succumb to temptations of the evil one, but remain ever faithful to Him to the end. Amen.

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Wednesday, 5 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red (Martyrs)

2 Samuel 24 : 2, 9-17

The king said to Joab and the commanders of the army who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and count the people that I may know how many they are.”

Joab gave the total count of the people to the king : eight hundred thousand sword-wielding warriors in Israel and five hundred thousand men in Judah. But after he had the people counted, David felt remorse and said to YHVH, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now, o YHVH, I ask You to forgive my sin for I have acted foolishly.”

The following day, before David awoke, YHVH’s word had come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, “Go, and give David this message : I offer you three things and I will let one of them befall you according to your own choice.”

So Gad went to David and asked him, “Do you want three years of famine in your land? Or do you want to be pursued for three months by your foes while you flee from them? Or do you want three days’ pestilence in your land? Now, think and decide what answer I shall give Him who sent me.”

David answered Gad, “I am greatly troubled. Let me fall into the hands of YHVH whose mercy is abundant; but let me not fall into human hands.” So YHVH sent a pestilence on Israel from morning until the appointed time, causing the death of seventy thousand men from Dan to Beersheba.

When the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, YHVH would punish no more and said to the angel who was causing destruction among the people, “It is enough, hold back your hand.” The angel of YHVH was already at the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel striking the people, he spoke to YHVH and said, “I have sinned and acted wickedly, but these are only the sheep; what have they done? Let Your hand strike me and my father’s family.”