Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Wednesday, 3 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr and St. Ansgar, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

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.”

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate together a great feast in the memory and in honour of our Lord Jesus and His presentation at the Temple of God in Jerusalem, on the eighth day after His birth just as the Law of God had prescribed it, a compulsory matter for all the firstborn sons of Israel, just as Jesus is the Firstborn Son of Mary.

He was presented at the Temple, as a sign to all the peoples, revealed to the nation of Israel and to all others, that the Messiah of the Lord had come into the world. The servant of God, Simeon and the prophetess Anna also ensured that His coming into this world was known, and that His future good works would be known and expected by the people of God.

The expression and actions of the servant of God, Simeon showed us the kind of anxiety, the expectation and the hope that mankind had placed in the awaiting process for the coming of the Messiah. The people of God had expected the coming of God’s Messiah for a long time, and they have long awaited for His coming into the world in order to rescue them from their fated destruction.

And today’s celebration is so significant because of that fact, as the Lord today in truth, He was not just presented and consecrated to God on that day as all the firstborn of Israel were consecrated to God, but in that same way, God also presented His own Son to us, to be our Deliverer and Saviour from all of our troubles, from our fate of encountering and facing destruction in hell.

Do we remember the passage from the Holy Scriptures regarding Abraham and his son, Isaac? The promised son whom God had promised Abraham? That through that son, he would have his descendants to rule over the nations and to have them as many as the stars in the sky and as many as the grains of sand on the seashore? Then, we have to remember about the time when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own beloved son to Him as a sacrificial offering.

Anyone would have refused to do so, and they would have doubted and complained against God and His seemingly wicked request to sacrifice one’s own son, all the more that, that very son was the one whom God Himself had promised to be the son awaited for a long time by the childless Abraham and Sarah, and through whom God had promised that many nations would be his children.

But Abraham remained faithful and true to the Lord, and despite how sad that must have been for him, he went on and brought his son, Isaac to the mountain of Moria where he would sacrifice him to the Lord as He had wished for. But God was only testing Abraham for his faith, whether he would remain in faith and keep strong in his faith despite that kind of horrendous request, or whether he would sway and leave the Lord behind.

For his faith, God rewarded Abraham greatly, and He fulfilled all the promises which He had made to him, and then, interestingly, it was in the same way as Abraham had acted, that God Himself through His action made all of His promises to all mankind fulfilled in all of its perfection. It was through Jesus His Son, that God made everything whole once again.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, just as Abraham did not hold back his own son from God, neither did God hold back His own Son, His own Precious Word, from us, as He gave Jesus, to be our Deliverer, our Saviour and our Hope, through none else but another sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice of God Who loves all of His people, His beloved children, that He willingly offered Himself as the perfect and loving sacrifice on the altar of the cross.

This is the joy of the nations that the prophet and servant of God Simeon had foretold as how it would happen to the people of Israel and for the rest of the world. It was through the hard work and the toils and labours of our Lord Himself, that through His hard effort, that we all mankind, who have been scattered in the darkness by our sins, would be gathered together again and receive God’s blessings and grace.

Thus, today, as we commemorate this great feast of the Presentation of our Lord, just as we receive God’s rich and wonderful offering of His own Son, to be our Lord, Saviour, Redeemer and Hope, then let us all dedicate ourselves to Him all the more, commit ourselves to Him in love and in all of our actions and deeds, so that in everything that we do and say, we may always bring glory to Him, and help to gather more of our scattered brethren unto Him.

Let us also pray for all of those who have dedicated their whole lives to God, our religious brothers and sisters, and even more those who have committed themselves to the sacred priesthood and the episcopate, dedicating and committing their whole lives to serve the people of God. Let us pray that God will keep them faithful and dedicated in their service. And may God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 22-40

At that time, when the day came for the purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the Law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

His father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child. Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a sign, a sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four.

Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the Child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the Child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom : the grace of God was upon Him.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Luke 2 : 22-32

At that time, when the day came for the purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought the Baby up to Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord, as it is written in the Law of the Lord : Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to God. And they offered a sacrifice, as ordered in the Law of the Lord : a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

There lived in Jerusalem at this time a very upright and devout man named Simeon; the Holy Spirit was in him. He looked forward to the time when the Lord would comfort Israel, and he had been assured, by the Holy Spirit, that he would not die before seeing the Messiah of the Lord.

So he was led into the Temple by the Holy Spirit at the time the parents brought the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the Law. Simeon took the Child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Now, o Lord, You can dismiss Your servant in peace, for You have fulfilled Your word and my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You display for all the people to see. Here is the light You will reveal to the nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 23 : 7, 8, 9, 10

Lift up, o gateways, your lintels, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!

Who is the King of glory? The Lord, the Strong, the Mighty, the Lord, valiant in battle.

Lift up your lintels, o gateways, open up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!

Who is the King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory!

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Tuesday, 2 February 2016 : Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life and Closing of the Year of Consecrated Life (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Malachi 3 : 1-4

Now I am sending My messenger ahead of Me to clear the way; then suddenly the Lord for Whom you long will enter the sanctuary. The envoy of the covenant which you so greatly desire already comes, says YHVH of hosts. Who can bear the day of His coming and remain standing when He appears? For He will be like fire in the foundry and like the lye used for bleaching.

He will be as a refiner of a fuller, He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. So YHVH will have priests who will present the offering as it should be. Then YHVH will accept with pleasure the offering of Judah and Jerusalem, as in former days.

Alternative reading

Hebrews 2 : 14-18

And because all those children share one same nature of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise had to share this nature. This is why His death destroyed the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and freed those who remained in bondage all their lifetime because of the fear of death.

Jesus came to take by the hand not the angels but the human race. So He had to be like His brothers and sisters in every respect, in order to be the High Priest faithful to God and merciful to them, a Priest able to ask pardon and atone for their sins. Having been tested through suffering, He is able to help those who are tested.

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Monday, 1 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings tell us all about one thing, a very important thing indeed, of the fact that we can put our trust in the Lord our God, in Whom alone lies our salvation and redemption from evil. In Him alone lies the salvation and liberation from our troubles, and from all the allures and chains of sin that had held us back all these while.

In the first reading today, we heard about David and his entourage fleeing the city of Jerusalem at the time when his son, Absalom, was attempting a coup and trying to overthrow David to be the king over Israel. Absalom grew proud and haughty over his power and abilities, and he tried to usurp the kingship which God had rightfully given to David his father.

With most of the kingdom siding with Absalom, David had no choice but to flee from Jerusalem or else he and the rest of his entourage would be killed. And this was the opportunity for his old enemies and for those who resented him to come up and strike against him, thinking that David’s time and life is coming to an end, now that he became a fugitive, running away from his own son the usurper.

In the Gospel today, we heard about the man who was possessed by evil spirits in the region of the Gerasenes, where he lived among the tombs, rejected and cast out from the society. He was cursed, feared and persecuted for his condition, and there are many things that the people would badmouth him for. In this, can we see the link and the parallel between the case of king David and that of this possessed man?

Both of them were rejected by the people, living through a difficult period in their lives, and it seemed that everything had failed for them. It seemed that they were abandoned, rejected and cast out, but yet, we should see and realise what God had done for them both! Indeed, God rescued them from the depths of their misery and from the midst of their bad times.

God cast out the demons from within the man, and He also gave back David his kingdom, after He dealt a blow to Absalom, who was defeated and crushed in his path towards power. In this manner therefore, God brought them out of the great danger and placed them on the path towards salvation. God led them into a new hope and a new light through which He exercised His grace and blessings upon a people whom He had rescued from certain death and destruction.

Through this, God would let us all know that He will not abandon us to the darkness willingly or purposefully. He does not abandon us, but it was us who have abandoned Him. God will not lose anyone or anything unless we ourselves are the ones who wished to be lost. If we attach ourselves to Him strongly in faith and love, then surely by our devotion and commitment we shall receive the everlasting reward of eternal joy and life in God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore today devote ourselves anew to the Lord, and renew our faith in Him. He has poured out so much of His love and grace to us, and thus it is only natural that we respond in the same manner, that is with love and with fullness of faith and genuine commitment to Him. Let this day onwards be a time of grace, a time of mercy and forgiveness, and let us all draw ever closer to the love of God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 1 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 5 : 1-20

At that time, Jesus and His disciples arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. No sooner did Jesus leave the boat than He was met by a man with evil spirits, who had come from the tombs. He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him, even with a chain.

He had often been bound with fetters and chains, but he would pull the chains apart and smash the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. Night and day he stayed among the tombs on the hillsides, and was continually screaming, and beating himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell at His feet, and cried with a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? For God’s sake, I beg You, do not torment me!” He said this, because Jesus had commanded, “Come out of the man, evil spirit!”

And when Jesus asked the evil spirit, “What is your name?” It replied, “Legion is my name, for we are many.” And it kept begging Jesus, not to send them out of that region. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding on a hillside, and the evil spirits begged Him, “Send us to the pigs, and let us go into them.”

So Jesus let them go. The evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs, and immediately the herd rushed down the cliff, and all were drowned in the lake. The herdsmen fled, and reported this in the town and in the countryside, so all the people came to see what had happened.

They came to Jesus, and saw the man freed of evil spirits sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the same man who had been possessed by the legion. They were afraid. And when those who had seen it, told what happened to the man and to the pigs, the people begged Jesus to leave their neighbourhood.

When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man, who had been possessed, begged to stay with Him. Jesus would not let him, and said, “Go home to your people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”

So he went throughout the country of Decapolis, telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were astonished.

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Monday, 1 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 3 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

O Lord, how great in number are my foes! How numerous are they who rise against me! How many are they who say of my soul : “There is no help for him in God!”

But You are my Shield, o Lord, my Glory, You lift up my head. Aloud I cry to the Lord, and from His holy hill He answers me.

If I lie down to sleep, again I awake, for the Lord supports me; no fear of the thousands standing against me.

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Monday, 1 February 2016 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Samuel 15 : 13-14, 30 and 2 Samuel 16 : 5-13a

A messenger came to report to David that the Israelites were siding with Absalom. Then David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Let us flee, for we cannot resist Absalom. Go quickly, lest he come hurriedly and overtake us. Surely he will put the city to the sword if he can bring disaster upon us.”

David himself went up the Mount of Olives, weeping. He was barefooted and had his head covered, and all the people who were with him had their heads covered and wept as they went.

When king David came to Bahurim, a man from the clan of Saul’s family named Shimei, son of Gera, came out cursing him. He threw stones at David and his officers although the king’s men and warriors flanked the king on the right and left.

Shimei said as he cursed, “Go away! Go away! You bloodthirsty good-for-nothing! YHVH has brought down on your head all the blood of the family of Saul. You became king in his place, but God has now placed the kingdom in the hands of your son Absalom. Ruin has come upon you because you are a bloodthirsty man.”

Then Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go and cut his head off.” But the king said, “Why should I listen to you, sons of Zeruiah? If YHVH has ordered him to curse me, who shall ask him why he acts like this?”

Then David said to Abishai and his officers, “If my own son wants to kill me, how much more this Benjaminite! Leave him alone and let him curse me if YHVH has ordered him to do so. Perhaps YHVH will look on my affliction and turn to good things the curses heaped on me today.”

So David and his men went their way while Shimei, following on the hillside opposite him, continued to curse as he threw stones and flung dust at him.

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Sunday, 31 January 2016 : Fourth (4th) Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the passages from the Sacred Scriptures, which message is very clear to us. Today we are all reminded and also called to service, to the service of our brethren, our brothers and sisters around us, in our neighbourhood and society, and foremost of all, to serve the Lord our God with all of our might and strength.

In our first reading today, we heard about the calling of the prophet Jeremiah, a great prophet who preached the word of God to the people of the kingdom of Judah during the last days of that kingdom, just before the time when the Babylonian exile happened. The prophet Jeremiah was called from a humble origin, and he was called to serve the Lord even amidst the challenges.

And he did not have an easy task, as those to whom he was sent to by the Lord refused to listen to him and rebelled against the Lord all the more. They refused to abandon their wickedness and repent in sincerity to the Lord, and as a result, their fate was sealed, that is to be bereft of their rights to dwell in the land promised to their ancestors, they were scattered to the foreign lands and their properties seized by their conquerors.

In the Gospel today, we heard about our Lord Jesus Who went back to His native village of Nazareth in Galilee, where He lived and where His family lived. But the people there were also indignant and refused to believe in Him, despite certainly having heard of the great deeds that Jesus had done with the people of the surrounding towns and countryside as He ministered to the people of God there.

They did so because they thought that their human wisdom, power and intellect were better than the wisdom of God, and thinking that Jesus Who once lived among them, the Son of a simple carpenter Who now preached the Good News of God, healing the sick and performing miracles was too much for them to believe in. They preferred to remain in their preconception and their prejudice against Him, thinking that He was a nobody as He was before.

Carpenters were not highly regarded as it was seen as a menial labour, a hard job that brought about little recognition, glory and income. And many looked down on such professions, just as prophets themselves during the time of Jeremiah and the time before and after that had been treated. Many of them were thought as madmen and as crazy people who talked nonsense.

Why was this so? This is because they often spoke of doom and bad times to come, because of the failure of the people of God to obey the commandments of the Lord. We in our human nature always prefer to think of good times and we do not like to suffer or to face the ugly truth about ourselves. The truth is that all of us are sinners, and we need some help for ourselves, but many of us deny this truth.

So today, the message from the Sacred Scriptures is that all of us are also called like the prophet Jeremiah, and like the other holy prophets, saints and servants of God, to also walk in the same path, to proclaim God’s Good News to His people, and to bring His salvation closer to them all. And it does not require much for us to do, but starting from faith and from love, that is the faith and the love that we need to have for the Lord our God.

All of us who believe in God should also understand that we all have a responsibility to be witnesses for our Lord, that through our words, deeds and actions we show to the world, to all others around us, that we believe in God, in Whom alone there is truth and salvation. We have been called to be bearers of God’s salvation, so that just after we have been saved through our faith, many more will also be saved.

We have been called today to become the modern day disciples, prophets and servants of the Lord, walking with Him in faith and proclaiming His good deeds to the people, so that through our examples and works, we may help to bring many people at the edge of the precipice of darkness and damnation into salvation and eternal life in God. This is our mission, the mission which our Lord had entrusted to His Apostles, and which has been passed down to us even to this day.

There will indeed be challenges and difficulties on our path, just as our Lord Himself and His Apostles had encountered rejection and ridicule, contempt and persecution. But if we remain faithful and carry out our duties to the end with faith, our rewards in God will be truly great indeed. Let us all not be fearful or be afraid of the rejection of the world, but be courageous always in faith, carrying out the Lord’s good works to all the peoples through our own lives.

May God bless us all in our endeavours, and may He keep us in His grace, blessing us and giving us the strength and courage in heart, that we may always remain true to our mission and be committed always to our cause. May God be with us all, now and forevermore. Amen.