Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 144 : 17-18, 19-20, 21
Righteous is YHVH in all His ways, His mercy shows in all His deeds. He is near those who call on Him, who call trustfully upon His Name.
He fulfils the wish of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. For those who love Him, YHVH has compassion; but the wicked, He will destroy.
Let my mouth speak in praise of YHVH, let every creature praise His holy Name, forever and ever.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 4 : 6b-15
Learn by this example, not to believe yourselves superior by siding with one against the other. How, then, are you more than the others? What have you that you have not received? And if you received it, why are you proud, as if you did not receive it?
So, then, you are already rich and satisfied, and feel like kings, without us! I wish you really were kings, so that we might enjoy the kingship with you! It seems to me, that God has placed us, the Apostles, in the last place, as if condemned to death, and as spectacles for the whole world, for the Angels as well as for mortals.
We are fools for Christ, while you show forth the wisdom of Christ. We are weak, you are strong. You are honoured, while we are despised. Until now we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and badly treated, while moving from place to place. We labour, working with our hands. People insult us and we bless them, they persecute us and we endure everything; they speak evil against us, and ours are works of peace. We have become like the scum of the earth, like the garbage of humankind until now.
I do not write this to shame you, but to warn you, as very dear children. Because, even though you may have ten thousand guardians in the Christian life, you have only one Father; and it was I who gave you life in Christ through the Gospel.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of the words of the Scriptures speaking to us regarding the matter of how we should be following God with faith, committing ourselves humbly in His service, dedicating our time, effort and attention to do His will at all times. Each and every one of us should remember that we are merely the servants of God and therefore in all the things we say and do, we should not be concerned or be focused on our own desires and ambitions, our selfish aims and wants. Otherwise, if we allow those things to distract and tempt us, then we may end up falling deeper and deeper into the path of sin.
In our first reading today we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel regarding the vision of the Great Temple in Heaven, the Sanctuary of God and His Holy Presence. Through Ezekiel, God was showing His people Who it is that they were truly following, and He showed them of His might and everything that He would do for His people, as He would live forever among them. Not only that, but when the Lord mentioned that, He really meant it, as it was truly a prelude of what He would do for them, in sending them the greatest gift of all, the gift of His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and Saviour.
In doing so, He willingly embraced our humanity, and His Divine Word being incarnate in the flesh, taking up our humble human existence, becoming manifest and tangible that now God is no longer distant from us, but approachable and reachable. He made Himself close to us, because He desires to be reunited with us and be reconciled with us. And that action is what God wants each one of us remember, how His love and commitment for us was so great that He willingly lowered and humbled Himself so that through it, each and every one of us may have hope and receive from Him the assurance of eternal life and salvation.
In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Himself spoke to His disciples and the people criticising the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law for their attitude, behaviour and way of living their faith, as they had preached loudly and boastfully of the Law of God and how they had piously followed the Lord, and yet, in truth, in their way of doing things, they actually had not truly obeyed the Lord wholeheartedly, and they were really hypocrites and those who levied and imposed very heavy expectations on the people with regards to how they ought to follow the vast extent of the rules and regulations they modified and preferred, but they themselves could not obey or follow.
Those same people prided themselves and boasted of their glory and greatness, their piety and faith before all, parading their achievement and greatness, thinking highly of themselves and not only that, but they also looked down on those whom they disapproved and disagreed with. This attitude is what the Lord disapproved of and criticised those leaders for, in their hypocrisy and in how they made it difficult for the people to come closer to God and find salvation in Him. Their pride, ego, arrogance and ambition became serious stumbling blocks in the path of their journey towards God, and in their discharge of their obligations and responsibilities as leaders of the people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to those words from the Scriptures, we are therefore reminded that we should humble ourselves before God and one another, as first of all, we are truly nothing without the grace and love of God, and it is thanks to God’s providence and mercy, His forgiveness and compassion that we even have hope for the future. His willingness to embrace us and to dwell among us, forgiving us our sins and in reassuring us of His guidance and help, showed us all that we are truly beloved and precious to Him, and because of that, we have gained much in this world.
But we often grew proud and haughty, ambitious and greedy, and we ended up abusing and misusing the opportunities, the gifts, abilities and other things that God had given to us. Instead of using them for the good of everyone, we ended up seeking our own personal glory and ambition, desiring to fulfil our own selfish wants and greed. This is why through today’s readings all of us are reminded to resist those temptations of greed and pride. We ought to restrain those and do our very best to return our focus once again towards the Lord, being truly faithful to Him and distancing ourselves from the path of sin.
Today, all of us can gain some inspiration from our holy predecessor, whose feast we are celebrating this day, namely that of St. Bernard the Abbot, also one of the great Doctors of the Church. St. Bernard was also known as St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and he was a Cistercian Abbot remembered for his role in the revitalisation of the Cistercian order and tradition, and the foundation of the famous Clairvaux Abbey. His dedication to the Lord and holy way of life inspired many others, which led to the rapid growth of the Clairvaux Abbey. More and more people, even St. Bernard’s own family came to join the abbey as well.
While St. Bernard had gained much success and gave a lot of inspiration to his contemporaries, at the same time he also suffered trials and challenges, not least from his own fellow monastic monks in the abbey, who resisted his leadership and criticised his way of promoting the Cistercian charism and way of life. Nonetheless, St. Bernard remained resolute in his efforts, and he was also deeply involved with other important Church matters at the time, being involved in the resolution of conflicts and reconciliation of various Church and even secular parties, through his efforts at negotiation and skilful diplomacy. Through his many writings and works, which made him later to be declared as one of the Doctors of the Church, St. Bernard continued to exert great influence and became inspiration for many throughout the many centuries after his passing and till this very day.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard of the examples set by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, holy Abbot and Doctor of the Church, let us all realise that each one of us are called to follow the Lord and to dedicate ourselves to Him humbly in the way that St. Bernard had done. One of his motto and saying is that of ‘the three most important virtues are humility, humility and humility’ highlighting just how important it is for us to be humble and to be willing to listen to God and to allow Him to guide our path instead of us stubbornly trying to forge our own path in life. Let us reflect on this and see in what ways we can be ever better disciples and more devout followers of God.
May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to empower and strengthen each one of us so that we may live ever more closely attuned to God and follow Him in all things, and be dedicated to Him all the days of our lives. May God bless each one of us in our every good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 23 : 1-12
At that time, then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe all they say, but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even raise a finger to move them.”
“They do everything in order to be seen by people : they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first places at feasts and reserved seats in the synagogues, and they like being greeted in the marketplace, and being called ‘Master’ by the people.”
“But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father because you have only one Father, He Who is in heaven. Nor should you be called Leader, because Christ is the only Leader for you.”
“Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 84 : 9ab and 10, 11-12, 13-14
Would, that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet, His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His glory will dwell in our land.
Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.
YHVH will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.
Liturgical Colour : White
Ezekiel 43 : 1-7a
He took me to the gate, facing east. Then I saw the glory of the God of Israel approaching from the east, with a sound like the sound of the ocean; and the earth shone with His glory. This vision was like the one I had seen when He came for the destruction of the city, and like the one I had seen on the bank of the River Chebar. Then I threw myself to the ground.
The glory of YHVH arrived at the Temple by the east gate. The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court : the glory of YHVH was filling the house. And I heard someone speaking to me from the Temple while the Man stood beside me. The voice said, “Son of man, you have seen the place of My throne, where I will place the soles of My feet, and live among the Israelites forever.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are presented with the words of God’s truth and the sufferings that we may have to face as those who faithfully follow and obey God. We are all reminded that the Lord is always and will always be with us, but often we may have to endure difficulties and challenges along the way if we are to follow Him. God shall provide what we need, and if we trust in Him and believe in His providence then in the end, we shall be triumphant with Him, and will share in the glory that He has promised to all of us.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Jeremiah of the clash and competition between that of Jeremiah and Hananiah, one of the false prophets in the court of the king of Judah. Before the assembly of the people of Judah, Hananiah proclaimed that God would break the yoke of the king of Babylon which the latter had imposed on them, and that God would return everything that the people had lost, a happy resolution of their then predicament. Back then, the kingdom of Judah was in its last days, threatened from all sides, and especially from the forces of the Babylonians.
Jeremiah was the only one who had consistently and persistently spoke the truth of God, reminding the people of the upcoming calamity and destruction, as the sins and disobedience of the people had led them into that fate. Judah and Jerusalem would be destroyed and conquered, and the people would be exiled to Babylon, just as the prophets before Jeremiah had foretold, and which Jeremiah himself had also spoken of. But that did not mean that God did not love His people. Rather, they still had to suffer the just consequences of their own choices and actions, in persistently and continuously disobeying God and living wickedly for so long.
Hananiah was not speaking the truth when he was speaking about what would happen to the kingdom and people of Judah. He was pandering to the popular sentiments and desires, and like that of the many other so-called false prophets and officials, they all tried to please the king and the people as naturally nobody liked to hear any bad or negative news or prophecies. Historically, there was also pressure by those people to push the king and the people to side with the Egyptians in the regional power struggle between Egypt and Babylonia, in which the people and kingdom of Judah were caught right in the middle of.
That was why Jeremiah was sidelined, ostracised and persecuted against as most of the officials and the people favoured siding with the Egyptians in their struggles against Babylon, instead of listening to God and repenting from their sinful ways. They trusted more in man’s ways and worldly means to resolve their problems and troubles. They deluded themselves into thinking that they could do anything they want, and that they could imagine life and everything the way they wanted it to be, and not heeding the Lord’s words and reminders, His constant calling and persistent desire to be reunited and reconciled with His people.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord’s famous miraculous feeding of the five thousand men and thousands of other women and children with merely just five loaves of bread and two fishes. In that occasion, the Lord showed His great providence and love for His people, caring for the needs of those who had chosen to follow Him and devoted themselves to Him, and who had become hungry after following Him. He also wanted to highlight to us that despite our many infidelities and lack of faith in Him, our constant rebelliousness and disobedience, but He has always cared for us and for our well-being.
The Lord fed His people with His own hands, and gave them sustenance both in physical and spiritual manner, strengthening them with miraculously multiplied loaves of bread and fishes, as well as with the words of His wisdom and truth. He calls on us all to follow Him, the Bread of Life and the Hope of all mankind, so that we do not delude ourselves anymore with false expectations and temptations of the world, but instead, turn towards the Lord, our Saviour and King, with full and genuine faith. All of us are called to return towards the Lord and to trust in Him once again, rather than to allow ourselves to be deluded and swayed by worldly temptations and concerns.
Today, all of us should be inspired by the examples of faith and dedication which our holy predecessors had shown us, the saints, the holy men and women of God, and especially that of St. Alphonsus Liguori, whose feast we are celebrating this day. St. Alphonsus Liguori was the famous founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Redemptorist Order. He was a committed bishop and loving shepherd to his flock and community, who dedicated himself to his mission which he later on shared with his Redemptorist Order, to go and brought the truth of Christ and to teach this to the people, guiding them amidst the heretical teachings and ideas that were rampant at that time.
Much as the prophet Jeremiah had laboured against those who brought about false prophecies and messages in the kingdom of Judah, St. Alphonsus Liguori and his fellow Redemptorists spent a lot of effort in reaching out to the people of God, especially those who have been falling off the path towards God’s redemption, with the particular focus towards the marginalised and all those who had no means to reach out to God and His salvation. The charism and the efforts of the Redemptorists were focused in particular towards revealing God’s most wonderful redemption and His mercy to all His people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, having been reminded of God’s ever patient love and His great mercy and compassion towards us, let us all therefore renew our commitment to Him. Let us all draw ever closer to God and seek Him with ever greater conviction and love from now on. May God be with us always and may He bless us always with His love. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 14 : 13-21
At that time, when Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, He set out by boat for a secluded place, to be alone. But the people heard of it, and they followed Him on foot from their towns. When Jesus went ashore, He saw the crowd gathered there, and He had compassion on them. And He healed their sick.
Late in the afternoon, His disciples came to Him and said, “We are in a lonely place and it is now late. You should send these people away, so that they can go to the villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” But Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fishes.” Jesus said to them, “Bring them here to Me.”
Then He made everyone sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fishes, raised His eyes to heaven, pronounced the blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to the disciples to distribute to the people. And they all ate, and everyone had enough; then the disciples gathered up the leftovers, filling twelve baskets. About five thousand men had eaten there, besides women and children.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 118 : 29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102
Keep me away from deceitful paths; be gracious and teach me Your Law.
Take not the word of truth from my mouth, for I would also lose my hope in Your word.
Let those who fear You, turn to me; they will understand Your statutes.
May my heart be blameless in Your decrees, that I may not be ashamed.
The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I look to Your word for salvation.
I have not departed from Your decrees, for You, Yourself, have instructed me.
Liturgical Colour : White
Jeremiah 28 : 1-17
Early in the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah spoke to me.
Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon proclaimed in YHVH’s house in the presence of the priests and the people, “This is what YHVH the God of Hosts and the God of Israel says : I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the objects that king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from YHVH’s house and carried to Babylon.”
“I will likewise bring back Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all who were taken from Judah and deported to Babylon. For I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon – word of YHVH.”
Then Jeremiah replied to Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people, “So be it! May YHVH fulfil the words you have spoken and bring back from Babylon to this place the objects taken from the house of YHVH and all the exiles. Yet hear now what I say in your hearing and the hearing of all the people.”
“The prophets who came before you and me continually prophesied war, disaster and plague to many nations and great kingdoms. So the prophet who prophesies peace will not be recognised as truly sent by YHVH, until his predictions are fulfilled.”
Then Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of Jeremiah and broke it. Hananiah proclaimed in the presence of all the people, “YHVH says this : In the same manner, within two years, will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all the nations.” Then Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.
Some time later, a word of YHVH came to Jeremiah, “Go and tell this to Hananiah : This is what YHVH says : You have broken a wooden yoke but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. For this is what YHVH the God of Hosts and the God of Israel says : I am placing a yoke of iron on the neck of all the nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.”
Then Jeremiah said to Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, you have not been sent by YHVH and yet you have deceived these people, giving them false hope with your lies. That is why YHVH says with regard to you : I am removing you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counselled rebellion against YHVH.”
And in the seventh month of that year Hananiah died.
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