Friday

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 8-9, 11-12

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, abounding in love and slow to anger; He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

James 5 : 9-12

Beloved, do not fight among yourselves, and you will not be judged. See, the judge is already at the door. Take for yourselves, as an example of patience, the suffering of the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s Name. See how those who were patient are called blessed. You have heard of the patience of Job and know how the Lord dealt with him in the end. For the Lord is merciful and shows compassion.

Above all, my beloved, do not swear either by heaven or by earth, or make a habit of swearing. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, lest you become liable for judgment.

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Friday, 13 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we celebrate together the feast of our Lady of Fatima, commemorating that moment on this day, the thirteenth day of May, ninety-nine years ago in the year 1917, when during the height of the World War I and at the beginning of the time of great difficulty and persecution that would face Christian Russia, at the beginning of the Bolshevik Communist revolution, that the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, appeared to three young children in the village of Fatima in Portugal.

Our Lady appeared to them and asking them to devote themselves and pray to the Holy Trinity daily, and pray the Rosary regularly for the sake of the peace of the world, the end of the war and the return of love, compassion and harmony into the world. She asked the children to spread the devotion to their fellow countrymen and all those that they had encountered, so that hopefully many people would walk in the path of repentance towards the redemption in God, and that they may seek Him through her help.

She also passed on words of advice, and many revelations to the children, including three secrets which would contain the things that were to come to the world and to the faithful people of God. She foretold of the great tribulations that would come upon the world, as we could see in the rise of Communism in Russia and in many other countries which engulfed much of the twentieth century and even until today, where those who refused to believe in God persecuted the faithful and the Church, making even many martyrs out of them.

Through the revelations of our Lady of Fatima, indeed all of us should be able to see and to feel just how much love God is showing us all His beloved ones. He has shown us His great love through His mother, who is also our mother, and that is why she is always busy at work both at the side of her Son in heaven, praying and interceding for our sake, or in the world, to stir the hearts of mankind that they may repent and turn away from their sins.

Each Marian apparitions, most famous of which were in Fatima and Lourdes spoke about the need for mankind to change their ways, repenting their sins through acts of faith and devotion, that our faith in God may be strengthened, and we may receive the grace, the strength and the courage to live our lives with faith, and to reject and resist whatever temptations that come our way, trying to pull us away from the path towards God.

And one of the advice which the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus gave us was that we should pray the Rosary often with devotion and pure intentions, to help us in this spiritual warfare that is happening daily about us. And if we think praying the Rosary is repetitive and meaningless, that means, first of all, we may not be praying it right, and we in fact may not have gotten what prayer is all about, and we may also not realise the gravity of the spiritual battle happening around us and involving us.

Many of us when we pray, we do not pray in right way. We tend to think, wrongly, that prayer is a way for us to get help from God, and it is like a request booth through which we can plea, beg, ask and even demand grace and blessings from God. And that is why our prayer becomes less of that crucial conversation and interaction which we have with God, and became instead the litany and long list of wishes, requests and demands that do not do justice to what a prayer is truly about.

Instead, all of us should come to realise that prayer is a very powerful tool indeed, and not for us to merely get gratification and to satisfy our desires by asking the Lord all that we wished and wanted. Prayer is not just a unidirectional conversation where we do all the talking and expect the Lord to listen to us and to our petitions, as sadly most of us often believed. But rather, prayer is the time for us to spend a quiet and precious moment together with God, that we may speak with Him through the silence of our hearts, and that He too may speak to us deep in our hearts and minds.

As we honour our Blessed mother, Mary, the Lady of Fatima, and as we rejoice together knowing that the Lord had given us His own mother to be our mother as well, caring and loving for us, let us heed therefore her advice, as she had reiterated many times through her many apparitions including at Fatima, of the need for us all to undergo that tremendous change that begins from the heart. And the best way to that is through prayer and discipline.

Praying the Rosary regularly and meaningfully is a great method for us to quieten down our hearts and minds, allowing us to condition ourselves and tune ourselves away from the busy things of this world, shutting out all the noise, the temptations and all the distractions that often kept us away from truly being able to realise the way that God is reaching out to us, by speaking in the silence of our hearts.

Rather, let us all, in this month of May, which we should know as the month of the Holy Rosary, devote ourselves ever more to pray and pray the Rosary in many occasions with zeal and devotion, so that we may grow ever spiritually stronger. Remember, brethren, the devil and his fellow angels are out there like lions prowling about waiting to prey on us and to devour us, the sheep of the flock of the Lord, especially when we are distracted and lost our focus in the midst pf our busy lives.

Let us ask our blessed mother to intercede for us all, so that she may ask her Son to send His Angels to us to guard us against the enemy, and that we may be able to realise the gravity and the dangers of our sins, and thus make the conscious effort to change ourselves, repent and seek God’s forgiveness for our sins. May our Lord Jesus Christ, with the help of His Blessed mother Mary, our Lady of Fatima lead and guide us on the way to salvation and eternal life. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 13 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 21 : 15-19

At that time, after Jesus and His disciples had finished breakfast, He said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” And Jesus said, “Feed My lambs.”

A second time Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” And Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Look after My sheep.” And a third time He said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

Peter was saddened because Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.” Jesus then said, “Feed My sheep! Truly, I say to you, when you were young, you put on your belt and walked where you liked. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will put a belt around you, and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

Jesus said this to make known the kind of death by which Peter was to glorify God. And He added, “Follow Me.”
Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

Luke 11 : 27-28

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!” Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”

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Friday, 13 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.

The Lord has set His throne in heaven; He rules, He has power everywhere. Praise the Lord, all you His Angels.

Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

Psalm 44 : 11-12, 14-15, 16-17

Listen, o daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation. And your beauty will charm the King, for He is your Lord.

All glorious as she enters is the princess in her gold-woven robes. She is led in royal attire to the King, following behind is her train of virgins.

Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the King. Forget your fathers and think of your sons, you will make them princes throughout the land.

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Friday, 13 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 25 : 13b-21

As king Agrippa and his sister Berenice were to stay in Caesarea several days, Festus told the king about Paul’s case and said to him, “We have here a man whom Felix left as a prisoner. When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews accused him and asked me to sentence him. I told them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over a man without giving him an opportunity to defend himself in front of his accusers.”

“So they came and I took my seat without delay on the tribunal and sent for the man. When the accusers had the floor, they did not accuse him of any of the crimes that I was led to think he had committed; instead they quarrelled with him about religion and about a certain Jesus Who has died but Whom Paul asserted to be alive.”

“I did not know what to do about this case, so I asked Paul if he wanted to go to Jerusalem to be tried there. But Paul appealed to be judged by the emperor. So I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

Isaiah 61 : 9-11

Their descendants shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a race YHVH has blessed.

I rejoice greatly in YHVH, my soul exults for joy in my God, for He has clothed me in the garments of His salvation, He has covered me with the robe of His righteousness, like a bridegroom wearing a garland, like a bride adorned with jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord YHVH make justice and praise spring up in the sight of all nations.

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Saturday, 7 May 2016 : Sixth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the works of St. Paul in continuing his evangelisation of the peoples, spreading the Good News of God, and how an inspirational preacher, Apollos, who although lacking somewhat in the full knowledge of the faith, but he has a great courage and energy, as well as charisma in proclaiming the truth of God, and as a result, many people turned to God because of his works and his inspiring sermons.

He was helped by the other disciples who explained to him in greater detail the fullness of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, and because of that, his works became ever more instrumental in helping to establish the strong foundations of the Church in the cities where he ministered in, especially in Ephesus and Corinth. Many of the people in those places became believers of Christ.

If you think that these people were great men and women who were very capable in all things, you are mistaken. God did not choose the great, the mighty and the powerful to be those whom He had chosen to be the extension of His mighty works on earth, but instead He chose the simple and normal people, just like each and every one of us, and He blesses those whom He had chosen to be His followers.

God will give all that the ones He blesses, granting them the authority over many things, even over sin and death. He will not leave those whom He had blessed alone. But the problem is that, it is so often that we are afraid to ask for help, and we are reluctant to ask our Lord for what we need and for what we want. In our reluctance, we do not gain what we needed, and therefore, we missed the opportunities for us to implement whatever good we have within us.

Sometimes we are afraid because we tend to view God as someone Who is exacting and wanting many things from us, and we do not therefore dare to seek for the Lord when we are in need, and we keep our hearts and minds closed against God. Or it may be that we also do not know that God is able to help us, either because we do not truly believe in Him, or that because we tend to ignore His words speaking in our hearts simply because we are too busy with matters of this world.

Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door shall be opened to you. Such is the very generous words and terms which our Lord has given us. After all, which other gods or beings would do the same? God Who loves us all wants us to listen to Him, to accept His path and to welcome His ways. And to that extent, He even sent us His own Son, Jesus to be our Saviour and as our Deliverer to free us from the bonds of our sins.

God has blessed us with many gifts and many graces. But it is really up to us how we ought to use them. As Christians we have to realise that we cannot be passive and inactive. It is such inactivity and passivity which has prevented us from seeking the Lord our God and asking Him for the graces and help which He is willing to give to us.

Christians must stand up and be active in making the effort to bring forth the gifts of God, of love, hope and faith, and share these with one another. This means that we should reach out to our brethren and love them through our actions, showing our genuine care and love for them, that through that same love, we may find true love in each other, and help one another in reaching out to God, and having shown love, we may therefore be found worthy by the Lord, and be welcomed into eternal life.

May God help us all in this journey of life, and may He strengthen the faith in each and every one of us. May all of us find the courage and the strength to always walk in the path of righteousness and justice. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 7 May 2016 : Sixth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 23b-28

At that time, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the Last Supper, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give you. So far you have not asked in My Name; ask, and receive, that your joy may be full. I taught you all this in veiled language, but the time is coming when I shall no longer speak in veiled language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.”

“When that day comes, you will ask in My Name; and it will not be for Me to ask the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and you believe that I came from the Father. As I came from the Father, and have come into the world, so I am leaving the world, and going to the Father.”

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Saturday, 7 May 2016 : Sixth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 46 : 2-3, 8-9, 10

Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.

God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a hymn of praise. For God now rules over the nations, God reigns from His holy Throne.

The leaders of the nations rally together with the people of the God of Abraham. For in His hands are the great of the earth. God reigns far above.

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Saturday, 7 May 2016 : Sixth Week of Easter, Eleventh Anniversary of the Enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI, Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pontiff (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 18 : 23-28

After spending some time at Antioch, Paul left and travelled from place to place through Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the disciples.

A certain Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived at Ephesus. He was an eloquent speaker and an authority on the Scriptures, and he had some knowledge of the way of the Lord. With great enthusiasm he preached and taught correctly about Jesus, although he knew only of John’s baptism.

As he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, Priscilla and Aquila heard him; so they took him home with them and explained to him the way more accurately. As Apollos wished to go to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him.

When he arrived, he greatly strengthened those who, by God’s grace, had become believers, for he vigorously refuted the Jews, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.