Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 131 : 1-3
Remember David, o Lord, and all his readiness, how he swore an oath to the Lord, to the Mighty One of Jacob. I will not enter my house nor get into my bed.
French saints
Saturday, 1 October 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (First Reading)
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 66 : 10-14
Rejoice for Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Be glad with her, rejoice with her, all you who were in grief over her, that you may suck of the milk from her comforting breasts, that you may drink deeply from the abundance of her glory.
For this is what YHVH says : I will send her peace, overflowing like a river, and the nations’ wealth, rushing like a torrent towards her. And you will be nursed and carried on her arms and fondled upon her lap. As a son comforted by his mother, so will I comfort you.
At the sight of this, your heart will rejoice; like grass, your bones will flourish. For it shall be known that YHVH’s hand is with His servant, but His fury is upon His enemy.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
Thursday, 25 August 2016 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the message from the Sacred Scriptures, speaking to us about the Lord Who reminded His disciples with the parable on a wise and hardworking servant as opposed to a lazy and wicked servant, and related to them what happened to them at the end, when the master discovered what each of them had done.
The good and wise servant did all that the master had asked him to do, obeyed fully the commands given to him, and when the master came back to see his works, he was pleased and rewarded the good servant richly and entrusted him with even more, with all that he had, because that good servant had proven himself to be worthy of trust.
Meanwhile, the lazy and wicked servant has not done what the master had asked him to do, but instead neglecting his duties, he did things for his own personal gain, or simply left everything undone out of laziness. As a result, the master took from him everything he had entrusted him with and more, since he had shown that he did not deserve what he had received.
This parable is a representation of our own lives in this world, brothers and sisters in Christ, showing to us the parallel between the work we have done in this life and the actions of those servants. The master represents the Lord our God Himself, while the servants are the representations of all of us, with all our imperfections, some faithful while some others are wayward.
Now let us all ask ourselves, that whether we want to be counted and considered among the good servants or among the wicked servants instead. Have we done what the Lord had asked of us all, His beloved people, His servants? Have we obeyed His laws and commandments, asking us to show love, care and concern for one another, for the least of our brethren?
Let us ask ourselves that question and look deep within ourselves, and see if we can discover within us that spirit and that desire to do what God had asked us to do. It may seem to be simple to show care and love for others, but in reality, it is not an easy one, considering how much pain, sorrow, anguish and darkness that existed in this world. Yet, if it does not begin from us, then it will never begin at all.
Today, let us all look at the examples of the two saints whose feast we celebrate today. St. Louis, the King of France was a holy and devout man born to be a king, and yet, in his high position and power, he remained a humble and loving person, who sincerely loved his people, all those whom God had entrusted under his care. He ruled with care and with wisdom, trying his best to help all those who are weak and downtrodden, and took his responsibilities and duties seriously.
St. Louis always led by example in his various actions, becoming source of great inspiration of many who came to love their ruler, their king, and from there, came to appreciate the love of God made evident through His faithful servant. This is exactly what the good servant in the parable mentioned by Jesus had done, by being obedient to the wishes of the king, he had brought much good things on himself and others.
Similarly, St. Joseph Calasanz was also a committed worker and servant of the Lord, who dedicated his life to God and His people by helping the poor and the uneducated in the society, providing them with education, teaching, help and support that they need in order to live a better life. He was known well for his works in Rome during a time when there was a great flood that affected many thousands.
He did not hesitate to give his time and efforts to help those who were less fortunate around him, and was particularly committed to help the uneducated and the poor to gain access to education, that they might be able to escape the marginalisation and the perpetual cycle of poverty that had characterised the poor at the time.
The works of St. Joseph Calasanz in establishing schools for the poor and for the less fortunate still have great impact today, when many others followed in his footsteps to help the same poor people, giving them the love they need, and the education that will help them to overcome the challenge of the societal marginalisation and poverty. Truly, these were the works of a faithful and good servant of God.
In the examples that these two holy saints, we can see indeed that they have been good servants, and God will reward them with what they deserve, that is the glory of everlasting life and the heavenly inheritance that He had promised all those who kept their faith in Him. Shall we also follow their examples? This is what we need to do in order to attain the fullness of the promise of God.
The path forward will not be easy if we decide to follow the Lord. Indeed, there will be many obstacles and challenges, temptations and difficulties, but if we persevere on, the reward for us in the end will be great, and we shall reign forever in glory with God and all of His saints. Let us all ask St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz to pray and intercede for our sake, that God will help to bring us ever closer to Him. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.
Thursday, 25 August 2016 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest (Gospel Reading)
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Matthew 24 : 42-51
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Stay awake then, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Obviously, if the owner of the house knew at what time the thief was coming, he would certainly stay up and not allow his house to be broken into. So be alert, for the Son of Man will come at the hour you least expect.”
“Imagine a capable servant, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give them food at the proper time. Fortunate indeed is that servant, whom his master will find at work when he comes. Truly I say to you, his lord will entrust that one with everything he has.”
“Not so with the bad servant who thinks, ‘My master is delayed.’ And he begins to ill-treat his fellow servants, while eating and drinking with drunkards. But his master will come on the day he does not know, and at the hour he least expects. He will dismiss that servant, and deal with him as the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Thursday, 25 August 2016 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest (Psalm)
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
Psalm 144 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
I will praise You day after day and exalt Your Name forever. Great is the Lord, most worthy of praise; and His deeds are beyond measure.
Parents commend Your works to their children and tell them Your feats. They proclaim the splendour of Your majesty and recall Your wondrous works.
People will proclaim Your mighty deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. They will celebrate Your abundant kindness, and rejoice in singing of Your justice.
Thursday, 25 August 2016 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest (First Reading)
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)
1 Corinthians 1 : 1-9
From Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and from Sosthenes, our brother, to God’s Church which is in Corinth; to you whom God has sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with those who everywhere call upon the Name of our Lord Christ Jesus, their Lord and ours.
Receive grace and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I give thanks constantly to my God for you and for the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. For you have been fully enriched in Him with words as well as with knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you.
You do not lack any spiritual gift and only await the glorious coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord. He will keep you steadfast to the end, and you will be without reproach on the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus. The faithful God will not fail you after calling you to this fellowship with His Son, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 