Fourth Week of Lent

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Wednesday, 18 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Isaiah 49 : 8-15

This is what YHVH says : “At a favourable time I have answered you, on the day of salvation I have been your help; I have formed you and made you to be My covenant with the people. You will restore the land, and allot its abandoned farms. You will say to the captives : Come out, and to those in darkness : Show yourselves.”

“They will feed along the road; they will find pasture on barren hills. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the scorching wind or the sun beat upon them; for He who has mercy on them will guide them and lead them to springs of water. I will turn all My mountains into roads and raise up My highways.”

“See, they come from afar, some from the north and west, others from the land of Sinim. Sing, o heavens, and rejoice, o earth; break forth into song, o mountains : for YHVH has comforted His people and taken pity on those who are afflicted. But Zion said : “YHVH has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child of her womb? Yet though she forget, I will never forget you.”

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Tuesday, 17 March 2015 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Patrick, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the memory of the well known bishop of Ireland, and also its patron saint, St. Patrick, whose life some of us may be familiar with, but most of us may not be aware of, beyond the common perceptions of the world, in who St. Patrick was and what he had done to the benefit of the people of God.

St. Patrick was a Romano-British missionary, who went to Ireland, first as a slave during his youth, when he was assailed by pirates, and later on, after his freedom, he went there as a missionary of the Faith in his elder years, during the time after the ending of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. Many lands at that time were still having pagan practices and many people were still ignorant of the Lord and the Faith, and it is to these people that St. Patrick had been sent to.

He was himself once one of the pagans, but his experiences during his slavery years and the liberation that came henceforth, pushed him on to be converted to the true Faith in God. When he went to Ireland to preach about the true Faith, the experiences of his conversion years and the years of his growth in the Faith empowered him in his mission, and he converted many thousands to the cause of the Lord.

He explained the concept of the Lord and the Faith using examples and clear messages, and sometimes even using comparisons such as the three-leaf clover, which is now one of the symbols of the Holy Trinity, because it was St. Patrick who once used the same leaf to explain the concept of the Trinity, three Godhead but united as One and inseparable, to the kings and to the people of Ireland.

Now that many people from Ireland had migrated all over the world, the great Irish diaspora and the contributions they made to the Faith is considerable. The fact why St. Patrick was so well known and devotions to him are abundant is largely because of this. These migrants too, indeed walked in the footsteps of St. Patrick, bringing the faith to all those who have not heard of the Lord, and also to those who have erred and become wayward in their faith.

Today we heard in our first reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, the reading used at the consecration of churches and holy places, as it shows the Temple of God in heaven, shown in a vision to Ezekiel, from where life-giving water comes forth, and this represents the purity and the holiness of the place, as the holy dwelling of the Lord Himself.

And in the Gospel, we heard about how Jesus healed the person who had been sick for thirty-eight years, healing him from his afflictions so that he was able to walk once again. Jesus healed the sick person and by that He had mercy on him. Yet, the Pharisees were angry at what He had done, and they criticised Him for having done the healing on the Sabbath day, the holy day according to the laws of Moses, where one was supposedly not allowed to do any work.

What our Lord wanted us all to understand, through the readings of the Holy Scriptures today as well, is that all of us are sick, sickened and afflicted with the disease of sin inside each one of us. We are like the sick people lying down at the galleries beside the pool of Bethzatha, waiting for the Lord’s salvation and healing. And it shows us the nature of how we deal with our sin. Just as some of the sick were faster and the others, and some took their time to get to the pool to be healed, therefore, we too come to realise our sinfulness and repent at different moments in our lives.

But the Lord shows that forgiveness itself, while it comes through effort, it also definitely requires His grace. God forgives all of us freely, and He is willing to let go of our sins, and He wants us indeed to be made pure and holy, that we are no longer sinners but truly His children and His disciples. We make the effort to change ourselves and sin no more, and all the good works we are doing are proof of our love for God, but we cannot say that our works saved us, but rather that, God’s grace and mercy made its work in us, which we manifested through our good works.

This means that, while God forgives us our sins, but we cannot continue to live in sin. Jesus always said that, “Sin no more” whenever He healed sinners and afflicted people. This means that our faith in God cannot be one of stagnant faith, or that of one-off faith. We must continue to live up to our faith and do things as commanded by our Faith, so that the faith we have within us will justify us before the Lord, because it is supported by the concrete evidence of our hard and good works, done in fulfillment of that same faith.

Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we are all God’s Temple and Holy Residence, for God Himself dwells in us. This Lent is a time for us to reflect on this, and on whatever actions we have taken in this life which had brought about defilement and filth to the Holy Temple of God. It is a time for us to change our ways and be converted, and truly be converted as what had happened to St. Patrick, and also as those whom St. Patrick had preached to.

Thus, we have two tasks to do. First, we have to reevaluate ourselves and our actions, so that we may truly be reflections of who we are, namely the children and followers of our Lord. And then, and only then, secondly, that we are able to go forth and preach to the nations, asking the people of God to return to Him and be converted from their sinful ways, and as we lead by our own examples, let us inspire more and more people to be saved, and to receive God’s grace and mercy. God bless us all this day. St. Patrick, pray for us sinners. Amen.

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

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 5 : 1-16

At that time, after Jesus healed the son of an official, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people : blind, lame and paralysed.

(All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter the pool, after this movement of the water, would be healed of whatever disease that he had.)

There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and because He knew how long this man had been lying there, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me.”

Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk!” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and the Law does not allow you to carry your mat.”

He answered them, “The One who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk!'” They asked him, “Who is the One who said to you : Take up your mat and walk?” But the sick man had no idea who it was who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place.

Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, “Now you are well; do not sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus because He performed healings like that on the Sabbath.

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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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Sunday, 15 March 2015 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the fourth Sunday of Lent, and by tradition, it is also called Laetare Sunday, from the first word in the Introit or the opening theme of the Mass, ‘Laetare, Jerusalem’ or ‘Rejoice, o Jerusalem’. Thus, just as during the season of Advent we celebrate the Gaudete Sunday, in this season of Lent, we also have this short intermezzo or ‘break’ from the penitential nature of this season, and we reflect for a while on the theme of ‘joy’.

That is why, today the vestments used are of rose colour, similar as that of Gaudete Sunday, to represent the more uplifting and cheerful nature of this celebration as compared to the much more sombre and humble nature of the rest of this Lenten season. And from this, we should indeed ask ourselves, what is this joy that we are celebrating today, and why now, in the middle of this season of penitence and preparation for Easter?

That is because it is part of the preparation of our minds, hearts and bodies for the coming of the celebration of the greatest mysteries of our Faith, that we should know of the outcome of our penitence and repentance, that is the joy of the liberation from all the harms and the threats that await us as long as we remain in the state of sin. And this has been aptly summarised and shown through the readings of the Holy Scriptures chosen for this day.

In the first reading we have from different years the readings that represent hope that triumphed over despair, and the dawn of a new hope for the people of God afflicted and living in darkness and in lives filled with troubles. They told of how the people of Israel, who have been destroyed and defeated by their enemies, and with the Babylonians razing even Jerusalem, destroying its Holy Temple, have been succoured by God who never forgot about them.

God sent them salvation through the person of Cyrus, the first King and ruler of the Persian Empire who defeated the Babylonians and liberated the people of Israel after having spent many years and decades in bitter exile away from their homeland.  They were sent back and led back to their ancestral land, and they were reestablished there in great joy and happiness.

Them we also heard how the prophet Samuel, the prophet and judge of Israel anointed David to be the king over all of Israel, to replace the first king, Saul, who had erred from his ways and who did not keep faithful the commandments of the Lord, and who had led the people in error as well, causing them to sin. Thus, God also sent a deliverance to His people through David, liberating them from their troubles and suffering into joy and happiness.

With the anointing of David, the golden era of Israel would come, where after the Israelites had often been troubled and even enslaved by their enemies around them, and after Saul the first king himself was slain by the Philistines, David would lead Israel to defeat all of their enemies and rule over them, and peace and prosperity would last throughout the rest of his reign and that of Solomon, his son.

And all these led to the ultimate help and rescue which our Lord had given us, the true joy and happiness that surpass any other joy and happiness. For there is no greater joy than for us to be reunited with our loving God and Father. We have been long separated from Him because of our sins and wickedness, and because of that we too have been doomed to destruction and despair, but because God loves us so much that He was willing to come Himself to help us overcome that sin and despair, and because of that hope and joy arise within us, not to be quelled by despair anymore.

Christ Himself mentioned to Nicodemus, the righteous and faithful Pharisee, that just as Moses once lifted up the bronze serpent high on a staff to save those people who had been bitten by fiery serpents, that all who have seen it would not not die and live, then the same was also done by our loving Lord, who allowed Himself to be raised up on the cross, hung between heaven and earth, surrendering it all, so that all of us who believe in Him will not die but receive everlasting life, as well as true joy and happiness.

Such indeed is the great love that our Lord has for us, that He was willing to endure so many things and so great a suffering, mockery and torture, even unto a humiliating death on the cross, in order to save all of us, unworthy and rebellious as we are. Therefore, it is imperative that we all understand God’s love for us, and we have to know what is true joy, and what our aim should be in this life.

In this season of Lent, it is a perfect time for us to stop our hectic life schedules for a moment, that we will be able to find a time to look deep into our own lives, and reflect upon our actions and deeds. It is a time for us to reevaluate our lives’ priorities and focus. What is true joy and happiness for us? What is it that all of us should aim for in life? Is it power, wealth, worldly happiness and pleasures? Or is it true and genuine love, that is the same love which our Lord had shown us?

Many of us are not happy in our lives. We are not able to attain true happiness because we do not know what it is really. Many of us think that money can bring us happiness and good life, and so we slaved ourselves to working many hours and pushing ourselves so hard in order to earn more money, but at the end of the day, can we buy love and attention with money? Most likely not, and even if we manage to get these, it is likely that these would not last.

Thus, as we reflect on the joy that we ought to celebrate today, we have to realise that our true joy come with our salvation by God, who had devoted Himself so much for our sake, so that we are given a new hope in our great despair. While once it has looked very bleak for us, that we have been condemned because of our sins, but now we know that through Christ, there is hope for a new life that is what God intended for us.

Let us all therefore dedicate ourselves to change our way of life, changing the focus we have in life, that instead of seeking for temporal joy, and happiness that would not last, we instead seek eternal joy and happiness. Money, fame and all worldly things cannot give us real joy, but real joy is when we love one another, helping those who are in need of something, be it basic needs of life, or even love, care and attention.

As we continue to prepare ourselves during this Lenten season, let us pray that our loving God may help us to find our way in this life, so that we may endeavour to seek our joy in the Lord. Let us focus our attention on the Lord and not be distracted by the concerns of this world, and by all the temptations of the flesh and of the world, all of which promise us temporary joy but risk us everlasting despair and sorrow. Do not seek what does not bring us true satisfaction, which only God can give. God bless us all. Amen.