Feast of St. Vincent de Paul

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Wednesday, 27 September 2017 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Tobit 13 : 2, 3-4a, 4bcd, 5, 8

It is He Who punishes and He Who has mercy; Who makes people go down to the depths off the underworld and rise up again from the great abyss. No one can escape His hand.

Give Him thanks, people of Israel, before all the nations. Though He has dispersed you among them, He now shows you His greatness.

Exalt Him before all the living, because He is our God and Lord, our Father forever.

He punishes us for our wrongdoing but again He will forgive us. He will bring us together again from amongst all the nations among whom we have been dispersed.

I, in the land of my captivity, will return Him thanks and show His strength and greatness to My sinful people. Be converted, you sinners, and live justly before Him, certain that He will be pleased with you and show you mercy.

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Wednesday, 27 September 2017 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezra 9 : 5-9

I remained seated and dismayed until the evening sacrifice; and then, at the time for the evening offering, I rose from my fasting, and with my clothes and mantle torn, I knelt down, spreading out my hands to YHVH, my God.

I said, “My God! I am ashamed and confused, my God, I do not dare raise my eyes to You; for our sins have increased over our heads and our crimes reach up to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors to this day, our guilt has been great. We, our kings and priests have been given into the hands of foreign kings because of our crimes; we have been delivered to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and put to shame as on this day.”

“However, for a brief moment, the mercy of YHVH, our God, has been shown to us. He made a remnant of our people survive, and allowed the survivor to settle once again in His Holy Place. He has given us joy and life, though we are in bondage. We are no more than slaves, but in the midst of our slavery, God has not abandoned us, He has extended a merciful hand over us to support us before the kings of Persia. He has revived our life, enabled us to rebuild the House of our God, and to have walls in Jerusalem and in the other cities of Judah.”

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Tuesday, 27 September 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we have listened to the words of God from the Holy Scriptures, when He spoke to us about the tale of Job the holy man of God, who was tormented and troubled by the acts of Satan who brought calamities and difficulties, one after another, crushing him under the cumulative sorrow and despair.

By nature, it is normal for someone to complain and grumble about that kind of state of life, as what Job had done, when in our first reading today he spoke of how he regretted having been born, and complained why he was allowed to live on and exist in the first place. But nowhere was it that he blasphemed or cursed God for His condition. He remained true and faithful to the Lord despite of his doubts and sufferings.

What we heard from the Gospel today will then show to us how God in fact does not desire our demise or destruction, but instead, He is willing to give us opportunities and chances, one after another, encouraging each and every one of us to repent and change our ways. In that Gospel passage, we saw how a Samaritan village refusing to welcome Jesus, and His disciples asked for His permission to destroy the people there with fires from heaven itself, but Jesus refused to do so.

What we heard from the Book of Job in the first reading today is just part of the overall story. If we read the entirety of the Book of Job from its beginning to the very end, and then understood the message behind what we heard in the Gospel today, we should realise that in the first place, God is a loving and caring God. He does not want us to suffer or to perish in the darkness, but instead, His intention has always been good for us.

He showed mercy and love for His beloved ones, caring for them and encouraging them to find their way back to Him, abandoning their sinfulness and leaving behind their past lives of sin. God Himself does not bring upon us our destruction, although He is perfectly capable of doing so. It is in fact we ourselves who brought upon our own beings, the destruction and harm which we inflict upon ourselves because of our sins.

Sin leads to death, and death brought about the separation between us and the Lord our God. And that is not the fate which God wants to happen to us. He has destined us all to live forever in joy and harmony with Him, that we who are His beloved ones may live in perfect harmony and joy together with Him in paradise. Rather, our disobedience and sins brought about that painful separation and the many sufferings we now endure.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all look at the example of St. Vincent de Paul, the renowned saint and holy man of God whose feast we celebrate today. Through his examples, we will be better able to understand how to live like people who belong to the Lord our God. He is a devoted priest of the Lord, serving the spiritual needs of the people, and at the same time, he also cared for their earthly well-being, caring and giving generously to them, that he was even known as the Great Apostle of Charity.

While we mankind tend to complain about our conditions and become bitter at our situation, St. Vincent showed us all that if we keep our faith in the Lord and remain firm in our ways, devoted to the Lord our God, then the way forward is opened for us. St. Vincent de Paul himself had suffered a lot during his life, enduring difficulties when he was abducted by pirates in his youth days, who sold him as a slave to be traded with from masters to masters, regarded as a mere commodity and not as a human being.

But he did not lose his resolve and his faith, and instead, through his faith and examples, even his last master would eventually come to his senses and repented from his sinful ways, and he came back to the faith after many years as a lapsed Christian. And St. Vincent de Paul was set free, and eventually devoted his life serving the Lord and His people as a priest.

He gave generously to the poor, encouraging others to do the same, caring for the needs of the poor farmers and workers who had little or none with them to sustain themselves. He founded several religious congregations dedicated to a life of service to God and to the Church, especially those sharing his charitable approach and examples. He helped many younger priests and many others to develop their calling to be good and devoted Christians, who know how to love others generously as he had done.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all devote ourselves to the Lord in the same manner as St. Vincent de Paul had done. When calamities, difficulties and troubles come our way, let us all learn to persist and to devote ourselves instead to help one another, as St. Vincent de Paul and the other holy saints of God had done, that those who have more may share with those who have less, and everyone may have enough for themselves.

May God bless us and help us in our endeavours. May He strengthen our faith and our dedication to the Lord, giving us all in order to love Him and in the same manner, loving and caring for our fellow brethren with genuine love. May the Lord be with us always. Amen.

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Tuesday, 27 September 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 9 : 51-56

At that time, as the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, He made up His mind to go to Jerusalem. He sent ahead of Him some messengers, who entered a Samaritan village to prepare a lodging for Him.

But the people would not receive Him, because He was on His way to Jerusalem. Seeing this, James and John, His disciples, said, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to reduce them to ashes?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

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Tuesday, 27 September 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 87 : 2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8

O Lord, my God, I call for help by day; before You I cry out by night. May my prayer come to You; incline Your ear to my cry for help.

My soul is deeply troubled; my life draws near to the grave. I am like those without strength. Counted among those going down into the pit.

I lie forsaken among the dead, like those You remember no more, cut off from Your care.

You have plunged me into the darkest depths of the pit. With Your wrath heavy upon me, You have battered me with all Your waves.

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Tuesday, 27 September 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Job 3 : 1-3, 11-17, 20-23

At length it was Job who spoke, cursing the day of his birth. This is what he said : “Cursed be the day I was born, and the night which whispered : A boy has been conceived. Why did I not die at birth, or come from the womb without breath? Why the knees that received me, why the breasts that suckled me?”

“For then I should have lain down asleep and been at rest with kings and rulers of the earth who built for themselves lonely tombs; or with princes who had gold to spare and houses stuffed with silver. Why was I not stillborn, like others who did not see the light of morn? There the trouble of the wicked ceases, there the weary find repose.”

“Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the embittered? To those who long for death more than for hidden treasure? They rejoice at the sight of their end, they are happy upon reaching the grave. Why give light to a man whose path has vanished, whose ways God blocks at every side?”

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Sunday, 27 September 2015 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy day, we heard the readings from the Holy Scriptures about the importance of maintaining one’s purity and obedience to the Law of God, doing good and avoiding all sorts of wickedness and sin. And then it is also important that we help one another in the mission that God had given to us, that is to evangelise to the peoples of the nations, and bring to many the revelation of truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is important that we heed what we heard in the first reading today from the Book of Numbers, where Moses chided Joshua fro protesting against two men who received the Holy Spirit of God even when they were not gathered among the other elders. And the way he spoke to Joshua made it clear to us that we should not see each other as rivals and enemies in our effort to spread the words of the Gospel to the nations.

Indeed, what the Lord is trying to warn us, as He once again repeated the same effort with His disciples, when they tried to stop someone else from healing and curing the sick, and casting out demons using the Name of Jesus, is that we should not give in to our own selfishness and the desire to preserve ourselves or to aggrandise ourselves over that of others, which is unfortunately our human nature.

It is in our tendency to fall into the trap of our own vanity and pride, thinking that we are better than others, and we have that tendency to defend our own actions and deeds, trying to explain the reason why what we have done were justifiable even though they were truly wrong and mistaken. And we all know that it is not easy for us to admit that we have been mistaken or made an error. No one would readily admit that he or she is wrong, before someone pointed it out to them plainly.

And how is it relevant to what we have heard in the Scripture readings today? That is because Joshua as well as the disciples of Jesus were affected by what we know as jealousy, by the desire to not be outshone by others, and therefore, they despised the fact that someone else got what they also desired, but did not get. This is the heart and the root of jealousy, when someone covets what another has, so that they may have it for themselves.

When Joshua saw the two men getting the glory and power of the Holy Spirit, deep down in his heart, he too desired such blessing and grace from God. Similarly, the disciples of Jesus also had in their hearts the desire for the power to heal the sick, and as they have it, they do not want anyone else to share in what they thought as their own prerogatives to give.

But Jesus reminded them, that all of these human frailties and human emotions were detrimental in their path to salvation, just as Moses chastised Joshua with words in similar meaning and purpose. That was why Jesus spoke about cutting one’s own hands if the hands had brought them to sin, and cutting off one’s eye out if these eyes had brought them to sin.

What Jesus meant is not that we literally have to do what He had mentioned. He did not mean that we should really literally cut off our hands and feet, or our eyes and our tongue, should any of these lead us into sin. He spoke figuratively, to show the people the true meaning which He tried to convey to them through parables. What He truly meant is that we have to really make the effort to carve out that part of ourselves which had hindered us on the path towards salvation.

And what are these parts that He was referring to? It is our ego, our pride, our desire, our selfishness, all those that had made us to be blind to our own faults, our own vulnerabilities, and to others’ needs and thoughts, and all these made us to look solely into ourselves, and trying to satisfy ourselves and our needs, becoming selfish and unloving in our actions and attitudes towards others.

It is all these that had brought about so much misery in the world through time and history. If we look back at history, then we certainly should realise how often it was that wars and conflicts were fought over the ambition and pride of men, when one or more people desire to have more of something, be it gold, wealth, land, praise, fame and many other worldly forms of pleasure and recognition.

We should realise how often it was too for oppression and injustice, for pain, suffering and sorrow to be born from the selfishness of men, where the rich and those who have more refused to share what they had and refused to help those who had little or none. And then, even greater misery were born out of the jealousy and the desire of those who have less to possess more, if need by force from those who have more.

This is the great obstacle that barred our path towards salvation in God. That is why Jesus said to His disciples, that unless we mankind die to ourselves and carry up our cross, then we would not have any part with Him, and we would not receive the everlasting grace of our Lord. It is important to take note that what Jesus meant was that we must first die to our pride, our ego, and our selfish desires, crush these and carve these out of our hearts and minds.

This was what Jesus meant when he said in the Gospel today when He said of cutting off the parts thar brought us to sin. What He meant is that we have to carve out those selfish things and thoughts from deep inside us, that the hindrance and obstacle to our salvation may be removed. Our limbs and our flesh did not bring us to sin, for all these are controlled by none other than our heart and our mind, the desires in them which lead us to either do good or to commit evil.

Yes, in fact, our limbs and body can be used for doing good things beneficial for others who are around us. If we cut them off hastily without understanding, then we would lose the potential that they have in bringing good things upon others. What we have to cut out is indeed instead all the dark things that lie inside our hearts, namely selfishness, pride and greed.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today shall we all reflect deep into ourselves and think of our own actions, words and deeds, all the things we have said and done in the past, remembering whether we have done what is right and just, helping others who are in need, helping and loving those who were unloved and lonely, or whether we have dwelled in our pride and arrogance, and in our reluctance to do anything for the benefit of others.

Let us all grow smaller and weaker in our pride and selfish attitudes, and grow more in our loving attitude and care upon one another. May the Lord help us and guide us on our way, so that we may know the way to seek Him is through humility and commitment to love, loving both the Lord and our brethren around us, and not to put ourselves above them.

Let us cast out our ego and pride, and with humility, let us approach the Lord, and love Him with all our might. Let us be charitable and loving in all our actions, helping especially those who are poor, sick and dying, those rejected by the society, that through us and our works, we may bring each other closer to God our Father. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 September 2015 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 38-43, 45, 47-48

At that time, John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon Your Name, and we tried to forbid him because he does not belong to our group.”

Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My Name can soon after speak evil of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear His Name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward.”

“If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck. If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand, than with two hands to go into hell, to the fire that never goes out.”

“And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out.”

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Sunday, 27 September 2015 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

James 5 : 1-6

So, now for what concerns the rich! Cry and weep for the misfortunes that are coming upon you. Your riches are rotting and your clothes eaten up by the moths. Your silver and gold have rusted and their rust grows into a witness against you. It will consume your flesh like fire, for having piled up riches in these the last days.

You deceived the workers who harvested your fields but now their wages cry out to the heavens. The reapers’ complaints have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You lived in luxury and pleasure in this world thus fattening yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have easily condemned and killed the innocent since they offered no resistance.

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Sunday, 27 September 2015 : Twenty-Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 18 : 8, 10, 12-13, 14

The Law of the Lord is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of the Lord is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The fear of the Lord is pure, it endures forever; the judgments the Lord are true, all of them just and right.

They are a light to Your servant, in keeping them they win a great reward. But who can discern one’s own errors? Forgive the failings of which I am unaware.

Preserve me from wilful sin; do not let it get the better of Your servant. Then shall I walk blameless and innocent of serious sin.