Election of Pope Francis

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Tuesday, 17 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 45 : 2-3, 5-6, 8-9ab

God is our strength and protection, an ever-present help in affliction. We will not fear, therefore, though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the seas.

There is a river whose streams bring joy to the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within, the city cannot quake, for God’s help is upon it at the break of day.

For with us is the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, our Refuge. Come, see the works of the Lord – the marvellous things He has done in the world.

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Tuesday, 17 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Ezekiel 47 : 1-9, 12

The Man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastwards. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the altar.

He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing the east and there I saw the stream coming from the south side. The Man had a measuring cord in His hand. As He went towards the east He measured off a thousand cubits and led me across the water which was up to my ankles.

He measured off another thousand cubits and made me cross the water which came to my knees. He measured off another thousand cubits and we crossed the water which was up to my waist. When He had again measured a thousand cubits, I could not cross the torrent for it had swollen to a depth which was impossible to cross without swimming.

The Man then said to me, “Son of man, did you see?” He led me on further and then brought me back to the bank of the river. There I saw a number of trees on both sides of the river. He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water will become wholesome.”

“Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful and the sea water will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound. Near the river on both banks there will be all kinds of fruit trees with foliage that will not wither and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.”

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Monday, 16 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are reminded by the readings of the Holy Scriptures, that if we put our trust and complete faith in the Lord, we truly have nothing to fear or be worried about in our lives. And indeed, Jesus pointed out today that many of us have to learn to be faithful and to put our trust in the Lord, instead of worrying about many things or being assailed with doubt.

The first reading today, taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah spoke about how God will bring about the creation of the new world, a new heaven and earth, one that is untainted by the filth of sin and wickedness. This is the promise and the hope which God has given us, and which will be our wonderful inheritance if only that we put our trust in Him, and put our complete faith in what He had planned for us.

The psalm today also spoke of the protection and the care which God will give all of those who have faith in Him, and who have not abandoned Him when they are in difficulty, instead praying and asking for His help. God is always faithful, and He will show His help in various ways, but all of them are meant to bring us help and bring us to relief and new hope.

In the Gospel today, we heard about the story of the official who asked Jesus to heal his son who was very ill and at the verge of death. Why Jesus said to the official in the way as He had said it is exactly because of the lack of faith in many of the people of God, that is the lack of true and genuine faith. They followed Jesus, the many multitudes of people, was because they were confused and they did not know what they are doing, other than being awed by the seemingly impossible things which He had done, by opening the eyes of the blind, making the deaf hear and the mute to speak, and even to raise people again from the dead.

This awe would not last beyond the extent of how much they were impressed by such deeds. As was to be proven by the events celebrated during the Holy Week itself. I am sure many of us are astonished and amazed at how fast the people’s opinion and support can change, when they cheered and adored Jesus as King, when He entered in glory to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and yet, the same people cried out for His death and crucifixion, and abandoned Him on Good Friday.

It is because they have no solid foundation in their faith. They did not completely trust the Lord their God, and they followed Him merely to satisfy their curiosity, to feel the thrill of seeing such wondrous things, not much different from how we are so thrilled to see a wonderful performance in theatres. But this kind of faith and following is not genuine. It is a selfish faith, because it is all truly about satisfying our wants and our desires, and not a real love which we should indeed show the Lord.

It is very clear that all of us also have the danger of having this to happen to us. Often times we have faith in God and believe in Him when things are good with us, but the moment we have difficulties and challenges facing us, and when we perceive that the Lord is not helping us, we begin to blame God and we are quick to abandon Him. Then this is indeed not true faith, but selfish desire for benefits. We truly only want to be served and to receive help from God but not return it equally with love and true devotion.

Therefore, in this season of Lent, it is a great time for us to reflect on our own lives and actions. Have we been truly faithful and devoted to God, that is to love Him without any attached conditions and want? If we are able to do this, then I can assure you that grace and blessings will never be far from us. The promised new world, the new heaven and earth will be part of our inheritance.

On the other hand, if we continue to be selfish and driven by our desires and greed, then eventually they will bring us inevitably towards destruction. The only ones who will suffer shall be ourselves. We are all reminded to be sincerely changing our ways in this time of forgiveness and grace. Let us pray to God, that He will forgive us our selfishness, our trespasses, and guide us to the right path. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 16 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 4 : 43-54

At that time, when the two days Jesus was in Samaria were over, He left for Galilee. Jesus Himself said that no prophet is recognised in His own country. Yet the Galileans welcomed Him when He arrived, because of all the things which He had done in Jerusalem during the Festival, and which they had seen. For they, too, had gone to the feast.

Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee, where He had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum there was an official, whose son was ill, and when he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked Him to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe!” The official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” And Jesus replied, “Go, your son lives!” The man had faith in the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way. As he was approaching his house, his servants met him, and gave him the good news, “Your son has recovered!”

So he asked them at what hour the child began to recover, and they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday, at about one o’clock in the afternoon.” And the father realised that that was the time when Jesus had told him, “Your son lives!” And he became a believer, he and all his family.

Jesus performed this second miraculous sign when He returned from Judea to Galilee.

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Monday, 16 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 29 : 2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

I extol You, o Lord, for You have rescued me; my enemies will not gloat over me. O Lord, You have brought me up from the grave, You gave me life when I was going to the pit.

Sing to the Lord, o you His saints, give thanks and praise to His holy Name. For His anger lasts but a little while, and His kindness all through life. Weeping may tarry for the night, but rejoicing comes with the dawn.

Hear, o Lord, and have mercy on me; o Lord, be my Protector. But now, You have turned my mourning into rejoicing. O Lord my God, forever I will give You thanks.

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Monday, 16 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 65 : 17-21

I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again. Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more.

You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.

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Saturday, 14 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard of the attitude of the Pharisee versus the tax collector in their respective prayers and interactions with God. The Pharisee was very proud of all his achievements and piety, and he looked down on the supposedly very sinful tax collector, who on the other hand, so humbled himself before God that he did not even dare to look up to Him.

At that time, being a tax collector is considered to be a great sin and a great dishonour and stain on the person’s character, much as the prostitutes and lepers were also reviled. They were seen as traitors to their fellow countrymen and considered as servants and slaves of the Roman overlords, which at that time ruled Judea where the descendants of Israel lived.

On the other hand, being a Pharisee endowed the person with great prestige and honour, and they were greatly respected if not feared by the society, for they wielded influential positions of power both in state and in terms of the religious leadership at the time. They were the ones who strictly observed the commandments and the entirety of the religious laws crafted since the days of Moses.

They were supposed to be the guardians and the shepherds of the people of God in order to lead them to the right paths. But they themselves did not act righteously before the Lord and committed all forms of wickedness and vices, and thus were not good examples for the faithful people of God. They misled the people to also disobey God’s will and they thought they were righteous while they were actually not.

They missed the point of God’s repeated efforts to call them and turn them back to the path of righteousness. They were unable to comprehend that what God wanted from them was not external obedience and show of faith, but instead true devotion and love which comes from the heart. That was what the tax collector had shown but not the Pharisee. The tax collector truly loved the Lord and because of that he was ashamed of the sins which he had committed, while the Pharisee loved and cared only about himself.

At the end of the day, the one who will be judged good and righteous will be the tax collector who was humble for his sinfulness. He recognised his faults and sins, and he repented from all of them, committing himself to change his ways and do good from then on. Meanwhile, the Pharisee continued in his own ways, and he in his pride certainly would not come to realise the extent of his own sins. He was blinded to his own sin by his pride and arrogance.

He will be cast down in his pride and brought down low. Pride is often the undoing of many of us, as pride and arrogance prevent us from recognising our faults. In the end, we enter a state of denial, where we refuse to recognise that we have sinned. And when we do so, we are often desensitised from our sins, and end up committing even more sin. We no longer feel the shame and guilt from sin.

This season of Lent, we are all called to conversion and change. We should all change our ways so that while once we were sinners and adulterers, we can change all into worthy children and followers of our Lord, justified and blessed with much grace. Shall we all take heed of this and be changed, in all of our actions and deeds? It is an opportunity which had been given to us, and we should not waste it.

May Almighty God therefore give us a heart filled with humility and love for Him, and also for us to be able to love our fellow men. May He guide us on our path and help us to reach our destination, that is His everlasting glory and happiness in Him. Be like the tax collector who humbled himself and was forgiven so that our sins removed from us, we may truly shine as the children of the Light and be glorified. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 14 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 18 : 9-14

At that time, Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.”

“The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give the tenth of all my income to the Temple.'”

“In the meantime, the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'”

“I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Saturday, 14 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 50 : 3-4, 18-19, 20-21

Have mercy on me, o God, in Your love. In Your great compassion blot out my sin. Wash me thoroughly of my guilt; cleanse me of evil.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

Shower Zion with Your favour : rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in fitting sacrifices, in burnt offerings and bulls offered on Your altar.

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Saturday, 14 March 2015 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Hosea 5 : 15 – Hosea 6 : 6

YHVH said, “Then I will go away and return to My place until they admit their guilt and come back to Me, for in their anguish they will earnestly seek Me.”

Come, let us return to YHVH. He who shattered us to pieces, will heal us as well; He has struck us down, but He will bind up our wounds. Two days later He will bring us back to life; on the third day, He will raise us up, and we shall live in His presence.

Let us strive to know YHVH. His coming is as certain as the dawn; His judgment will burst forth like the light; He will come to us as showers come, like spring rain that waters the earth.

YHVH said, “O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? O Judah, how shall I deal with you? This love of yours is like morning mist, like morning dew that quickly disappears. This is why I smote you through the prophets, and have slain you by the words of My mouth. For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.”