Friday

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Friday, 25 December 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Midnight Mass (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.

Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy.

Let them sing before the Lord Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

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Friday, 25 December 2020 : Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Midnight Mass (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 9 : 1-7

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.

For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, You have broken it as on the day of Midian. Every warrior’s boot that tramped in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire.

For a Child is born to us, a Son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon His shoulder, and His Name is proclaimed : “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

To the increase of His powerful rule in peace, there will be no end. Vast will be His dominion, He will reign on David’s throne and over all his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever. The zealous love of YHVH Sabaoth will do this.

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Friday, 18 December 2020 : 3rd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in our Scripture readings today as we are getting closer to the celebration of Christmas, we are being reminded of the Lord’s promise of salvation, and how He would lead His people with love once again just as He has once saved them with great might. We heard of the promise of liberation and rescue that the Lord has given His people through the prophet Jeremiah, and its fulfilment in our Gospel today, as the Lord proclaimed the Good News of His salvation through His Angel, Gabriel.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the Lord Who would once again save His people from their predicament and sufferings, from their humiliations and downfall, and He would raise them up once again, bless them and lead them down the right path. This promise was indeed significant because at that time, the people of God had been scattered, and many of them had been exiled from their lands, first for most of the ten northern tribes by the Assyrians, and then many among the people of Judah when the Babylonians came and carried out many of the prominent members of the community into exile.

At that time, the people’s morale had been at an all-time low, as they had fallen deep into darkness and despair. They had disobeyed the Lord and refused to believe in Him and in the prophets that had been sent to them to call them to repent. And thus the Lord spoke to them yet again through Jeremiah, reminding them that He would save them all still, despite their disobedience, for ultimately, we all must realise that God truly loves each and every one of us, His beloved people.

Jeremiah was persecuted and opposed because of all that he spoke of, of the ruin of Jerusalem and Judah because of the people’s sins, and everything came to be true, as the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem, its Temple and the whole kingdom of Judah, and led the rest of the people into exile just as the Lord had spoken and revealed through the prophets earlier on. And then, as He has promised, He brought them all back to their lands once again, rescuing them and leading them back to their homeland, and allowing them to regain their honour.

But that did not actually mark the end of what God had revealed through Jeremiah. Instead, it was just a preliminary action and precursor to what He would then do, not just to save the people of Israel, but even more importantly, He would save all of mankind, all the children of Adam and Eve, all those who had been beloved by Him. Just as He has liberated the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, and just as He has liberated their descendants from the slavery in Babylon, thus God wanted to liberate all of His beloved children.

Thus, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, Whose coming was proclaimed in our Gospel today by the Archangel Gabriel to Joseph, the descendant of David, all of us have been saved and have seen the salvation of God. The Lord through His Angel has reassured St. Joseph when he found out that Mary, his fiancee had been with a Child before their marriage, that he had nothing to fear and that all that happened was because of the fulfilment of His promises to save His people through the Son to be born of Mary.

And that Son is the reason why we celebrate joyfully in Christmas. We rejoice together because Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, the Son of God Most High has come into the world and manifested God’s great love and wonders, and thanks to Him, we can hope and be glad and joyful once again. Once we have to endure the humiliation and the horrible consequences and effects for our sins, but through Christ, we have a real solution and way out of the darkness and into the light.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, having seen the Lord’s salvation and His genuine love for us in Christ, His beloved Son, what are we then going to do in order to prepare ourselves well for the proper and appropriate celebration of Christmas? Are we going to just continue to celebrate it like just every other year, and like how the world often observe and celebrate it? Or are we going to elevate our celebration by rejoicing in the true joy of Christmas that we find in Christ alone?

Let us all prepare ourselves well for the joyful celebration of Christmas that our joy may truly be complete and full in Christ. Let us all share this same joy with one another, especially with our less fortunate brethren, all those who have suffered and been sorrowful, and strengthen them with the love and hope of Christ. Let us all be the bearers of the true Light of Christmas in our society, through our every faithful actions and deeds. Amen.

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Friday, 18 December 2020 : 3rd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 1 : 18-24

This is how Jesus Christ was born : Mary His mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to disgrace her.

While he was pondering over this, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, she has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a Son. You shall call Him ‘Jesus’ fo He will save His people from their sins.”

All this happened in order to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet : The Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be called Emmanuel, which means : God-with-us. When Joseph awoke, he did what the Angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.

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Friday, 18 December 2020 : 3rd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 71 : 1-2, 12-13, 18-19

God, endow the King with Your justice, the royal Son with Your righteousness. May He rule Your people justly and defend the rights of the lowly.

He delivers the needy who call on Him, the afflicted, with no one to help them. His mercy is upon the weak and the poor; He saves the lives of the poor.

Praised be YHVH, God of Israel, Who alone, works so marvellously. Praised be His glorious Name forever; may the whole earth be filled with His glory! Amen. Amen.

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Friday, 18 December 2020 : 3rd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 23 : 5-8

YHVH further says, “The day is coming when I will raise up a King Who is David’s righteous successor. He will rule wisely and govern with justice and righteousness. That will be a grandiose era when Judah will enjoy peace and Israel will live in safety. He will be called YHVH-Our-Justice!”

“The days are coming,” says YHVH, “when people shall no longer swear by YHVH as the Living God Who freed the people of Israel from the land of Egypt. Rather, they will swear by YHVH as the Living God Who restored the descendants of Israel from the northern empire and from all the lands where He had driven them, to live again in their own land!”

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Friday, 11 December 2020 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listened to the words of the Scripture in which we heard of the Lord reminding His people to follow His ways, to obey His laws and commandments, and not to be swayed by falsehoods and temptations to sin. The Lord wants us to walk in His path, be righteous in all things and to put our trust in His wisdom, and not in our own biased judgments and wisdom.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah of the Lord chiding and reminding His people to put their trust in Him and follow Him, rather than persisting in their stubborn attitude and refusal to follow His laws as they had done. This was a reference to how throughout the history of the people of Israel, through the time of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah right up to the time of Isaiah, had been disobedient many times.

They refused to believe in God and in His prophets, ignoring the reminders given to them on multiple occasions, and the Lord still continued to send reminders after reminders to them, regardless of how they had treated the prophets and messengers sent to them. The same stubbornness can be seen in our Gospel passage today, when we heard of the Lord Jesus and His frustrations at the people who refused to believe in Him or in His herald, St. John the Baptist.

And all of that was because they refused to let go of their ego and trust in their own power, their own intellect and capabilities. They refused to acknowledge that they could be wrong and mistaken, and that was why they judged the Lord and St. John the Baptist by their own flawed ideals and thoughts, wisdom and intellect. They hardened their hearts and minds against the truth that the Lord and His prophet had brought and revealed before them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, such is indeed the cause for mankind’s fall into sin and why so many of us have not been walking faithfully in the path that God has shown us. We have been swayed by the many temptations of the world that led us down the wrong path, in disobeying God and focusing on our selfish desires and wants. And this is why in this season of Advent, we are all called to reflect on our state and way of life.

We are all called to rethink how we have lived our lives thus far if we have been too focused and engrossed on worldly matters and temptations. Have all these brought true happiness for us? We must remember that all the pleasures of the world are merely temporary and do not provide us lasting happiness. Only in the Lord alone that we can find true joy, by entrusting ourselves in His hands.

Today, all of us can also look upon the good examples set by Pope St. Damasus I, in how he dedicated his life to the Lord as a righteous and committed Christian. Pope St. Damasus I lived at the time when the Christian faith were no longer persecuted by the Roman Empire and became increasingly adopted by many. However, during that same time, divisions and internal struggles faced the Church and threatened to bring about the downfall of many souls.

Pope St. Damasus I was an Archdeacon of Rome under the reign of Pope Liberius, and he had been quite involved in the governance of the Church since then. And when he was elected as Pope, there was also division and disagreements as an opposing party rejected his election and authority as Pope. He had to contend with those who rejected his authority as Pope and leader of the Church.

Pope St. Damasus I dedicated his life and reign as Pope with great energy, actively resisting the many heresies which at that time threatened to divide the Christian faithful, and he was influential and crucial in his efforts in compiling the Scriptural canon through St. Jerome, who compiled the Latin translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible. Through his many efforts, Pope St. Damasus I helped to steer the Church through difficult times and moments of challenges, and kept the faith in countless souls.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we willing to follow in the footsteps of someone so faithful like Pope St. Damasus I, dedicating our lives to the Lord rather than for our own selfish purposes, aims and desires? As we remember his faithful dedication to the Lord, we are all called to turn with all of our hearts and minds to God, especially at this time of Advent, reconsidering our path in life.

Let us all seek the Lord with a renewed zeal and faith, brothers and sisters in Christ, and harden our hearts no more. Let us all be open to welcome the Lord into our hearts, and allow Him to enter into our lives and transform us for the better. May the Lord strengthen us all, and may He empower us all to live ever more faithfully in His presence, now and always, forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 11 December 2020 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Matthew 11 : 16-19

At that time, Jesus said to the people, “Now, to what can I compare the people of this day? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, about whom their companions complain : ‘We played the lute for you, but you would not dance. We sang a funeral song, but you would not cry!’”

“For John came fasting, and people said, ‘He is possessed by a demon!’ Then, the Son of Man came. He ate and drank; and people said, ‘Look at this Man : a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet, wisdom is vindicated by her works.”

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Friday, 11 December 2020 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Psalm 1 : 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Blessed is the man who does not go where the wicked gather, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit where the scoffers sit! Instead, he finds delight in the Law of YHVH and meditates day and night on His commandments.

He is like a tree beside a brook producing its fruit in due season, its leaves never withering. Everything he does is a success.

But it is different with the wicked. They are like chaff driven away by the wind. For YHVH knows the way of the righteous but cuts off the way of the wicked.

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Friday, 11 December 2020 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Isaiah 48 : 17-19

Thus says YHVH, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel : I, YHVH, your God, teach you what is best for you; I lead you in the way that you must go. Had you paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Your descendants would have been like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, their names never cut off nor blotted out from My presence.