Friday

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Friday, 5 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all called to abandon our past sinful way of life and embrace from now on, God’s righteousness and virtues in our lives, in each and every one of our actions, words and deeds. We are all reminded that if we continue to walk in the path of sin and disobedience against God, and if we continue to allow the darkness of this world to mislead and bring us down the path to ruin, then in the end, we will regret our choice and path. The Lord reminded us all that we have been called by Him and given the opportunity to embrace His love and generous mercy, but we must also be willing to make the commitment and to embrace wholeheartedly this love and mercy, or else, we will continue to be separated from Him.

In our first reading today, we heard of the continuation of the passage from the Book of the prophet Amos which we have heard in the past one week or so, in which the prophet spoke of the Lord’s words to His people, the Israelites living in the northern kingdom, also known as Israel, who have disobeyed and disregarded His Law and commandments. The prophet Amos was sent to the people of Israel during the last years of the existence of the northern kingdom of Israel to bring about God’s warning and the revelation of the fate that would soon befall all those people who had hardened their hearts and acted wickedly for so many years in refusing to believe in God and persecuting the many prophets and messengers which God had sent them constantly to help and guide them in their path.

God thus spoke through the prophet Amos, chastising those same people of their many sins and wickedness, as we heard in our first reading today, stating how they had behaved inappropriately as God’s holy and beloved people by manipulating and exploiting the weak and the less privileged for their own personal benefits and ambitions, through their self-serving attitudes and actions, all of which had brought about a lot of misery and hardships for others, leading to more and more wicked actions and things that were truly unbecoming of a people whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. And the Lord also told His people that they were to be chastised and punished so that they might see the errors of their ways, and thus, hopefully that they could then turn away from those sins and wickedness before it was too late for them.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the story of the calling of Levi, the tax collector by the Lord Jesus. Levi decided to follow the Lord, leaving behind his post at the tax collector’s office and committing himself to be a disciple of the Lord. He would henceforth be known as Matthew, and as with other people who changed their names in the other parts of the Scriptures, like Abraham, Jacob, Peter and Paul, this name change indicated the new life and path which Levi had committed himself to take, by which he embraced the Lord fully, and becoming Matthew, a committed disciple and servant of God, a member of the Twelve Apostles and later on as one of the Four Evangelists.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were quick to criticise the Lord when He went to have dinner with Levi and the other tax collectors, as at the time, the tax collectors were widely seen as traitors to the nation and the people of God for their role in collecting taxes on behalf of the rulers and the Romans. They were also seen as sinners and people who were unworthy of God’s grace and salvation, and as common at the time, no one especially the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would associate themselves with those considered as sinners, like the tax collectors, the prostitutes and those afflicted with certain illnesses and diseases, because they could make them to be considered unclean as well.

But the Lord immediately pointed out that His mission and what He wanted to do is to reach out to the marginalised and those who have been lost to Him, those who have been afflicted the most by the affliction of sin. It was sinners and those who are struggling that need the most help, and it is for them that the Lord had made Himself available through His Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Whom God had sent into our midst to be Our Saviour and Hope. He is the Light and Hope for all the people of all the nations, and He shows us all that God truly loves everyone, all of His beloved children and people, without exception. Even the greatest of sinners and those whom others deem to be unworthy, God still loves and desires to be reunited with Him.

That is why all of us are called to embrace God’s love and mercy, to seek Him and His forgiveness for all of our faults and sins. The Lord wants us all to turn away from all of our rebellious ways and to be like His servant, Levi, who have committed himself thoroughly to God’s cause, and gave Himself to the glorification of God. Each and every one of us have also been called to our own respective missions and vocations in life, to do what is right and just, virtuous and worthy in each and every moments in our lives. All of us should make good use of these many opportunities that the Lord had given to us so that we may come ever closer to Him and be forgiven from our many sins and wickedness. Let us all no longer harden our hearts and minds, but humble ourselves, welcoming the Lord Himself into our midst.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a renowned servant of God whose life and commitment to God can serve as a good inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives. St. Anthony Zaccaria was born into a noble family in what is part of Italy today, and he was brought up by his mother mostly after his father died when he was just two years old. From a young age, the young St. Anthony Zaccaria had been exposed to the sufferings of the poor and the needy through his pious and devout mother, who made him as an almoner, to be the one to reach out and care for the poor in the community. He became a physician for a short while before eventually, he joined the seminary and was trained to become a priest.

St. Anthony Zaccaria continued to minister to the poor and the needy as a priest, working in hospitals and other institutions caring for the needy at the time. He and some other like-minded clerics began living a life of love and ministry to the people who were needy and poor, eventually establishing the congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul, also known as the Barnabites, which members are devoted to the service of God’s people, delivering and encouraging the pious practices of the Forty Hours Devotion and the emphasis on the Passion of the Lord to the greater community. Through their many efforts, they helped and sustained the physical and spiritual needs of many people, bringing them ever closer to the Lord. The dedication and faith shown by St. Anthony Zaccaria and his compatriots should inspire all of us to commit ourselves to the Lord in the same way as well.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore continue to do our part in following the Lord ever more faithfully, in doing His will and obeying His Law and commandments at all times. May the Lord continue to help and guide us in our journey throughout life, to do what He has entrusted to us to do. May He continue to bless us all in out every good efforts, works and endeavours, and help us to be His faithful and committed disciples in all things. Amen.

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Friday, 5 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 9 : 9-13

At that time, as Jesus moved on from the place where He cured a paralytic man, He saw a man named Matthew, at his seat in the custom house; and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And Matthew got up and followed Him.

Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is it, that your Master eats with sinners and tax collectors?”

When Jesus heard this, He said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go, and find out what this means : What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

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Friday, 5 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 118 : 2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131

Blessed are they who treasure His word and seek Him with all their heart.

I seek You with my whole heart; let me not stray from Your commands.

My soul is consumed with desire for Your ordinances at all times.

I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart upon Your laws.

Oh, how I long for Your precepts! Renew my life in Your righteousness.

I gasp in ardent yearning, for Your commandments that I love.

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Friday, 5 July 2024 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Amos 8 : 4-6, 9-12

Hear this, you, who trample on the needy, to do away with the weak of the land. You who say, “When will the new moon or the Sabbath feast be over that we may open the store and sell our grain? Let us lower the measure and raise the price; let us cheat and tamper with the scales, and even sell the refuse with the whole grain. We will buy up the poor for money and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

YHVH says, “On that day, I will make the sun go down at noon; and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your singing into wailing. Everyone will mourn, covered with sackcloth; and every head will be shaved. I will make them mourn, as for an only son, and bring their day to a bitter end.”

YHVH says, “Days are coming when I will send famine upon the land; not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of YHVH. Men will stagger from sea to sea, wander to and fro, from north to east, searching for the word of YHVH; but they will not find it.”

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Friday, 28 June 2024 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded that if we put our trust in the Lord and follow Him, we shall gain assurance, providence and grace, and we shall be triumphant with Him in the end. Meanwhile, if we place our trust in worldly things and means, then we are likely to face disappointments and defeats handed down to us, as nothing in this world can give us the same assurance and providence as the Lord alone can give us. The examples shown in our Scripture passages today should serve as good examples for us of what will happen to us should we decide to follow the Lord and trust in Him versus putting our trust in the world and all the things it can provide us with, and the choice is ours to make on which path we want to choose in our own respective lives.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Kings of Israel and Judah in which the moments of the final defeat, downfall and destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem of the ancient Israelites came to fruition after the people of God had disobeyed Him, disregarded and refused to obey His Law and commandments for a long time, after many of the kings of Israel and Judah had led the people down a path of rebellion and sin, by following and worshipping pagan idols and foreign false gods instead of worshipping and obeying the Lord, their one and only True God, the One Who had liberated all of them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, and led them to the Promised Land where they had been dwelling in all those times.

Their disobedience and sins culminated in this tragic destruction of the lands of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the many other cities and towns of the land, echoing what had happened about a century and a half earlier on, when the northern kingdom of Israel, the northern half of the kingdom of God’s people, the Israelites, was conquered and destroyed by the forces of the Assyrians, who also destroyed Samaria, the capital of Israel and the many cities belonging to the Israelites, carrying many of its people into exile. Thus, this same fate eventually befell those in the southern kingdom of Judah as well, with this time the Babylonians who came to crush the kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem, also carrying many of its people to exile in distant lands.

All these as mentioned, happened because of the disobedience and sins which were committed by the people of God, in their refusal to follow the path and the Law which the Lord had provided to them, refusing to listen and to heed the words and reminders, the guidance and the help from the many prophets and messengers that God had sent to them to help them in their path. They also chose to trust in man’s power, in worldly powers and means instead of trusting in the Lord, their God. The prophet Jeremiah had warned the king and the people of Judah of the impending destruction, and not to rebel against the King of Babylon, or else Judah and Jerusalem would be destroyed.

Yet, the false prophets and the nobles all encouraged and forced the king to side with the Egyptians to free themselves from the dominion of the Babylonian kingdom, and this led to the rebellion as we heard in our first reading today, and its aftermath, after the King of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar brought his mighty force to besiege and destroy Jerusalem, and how the city was taken, the Temple and its hallowed halls were destroyed, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared, and the last King of Judah and his sons were captured, the former blinded while the latter were killed. All these things happened because of the lack of faith by those Israelites in God and His Divine providence and protection, choosing instead to trust in the worldly powers and false idols.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew of the account of the moment when the Lord Jesus healed a leper who asked Him to help and heal him from his condition. Leprosy was a condition which was then feared and those who suffered from it were ostracised and cast out from the community, forced to wander off into the desert. This was interestingly the fate of the Israelites after both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah had been conquered and destroyed by Assyria and Babylon respectively, and many of the people of God had to wander off in exile, away in distant lands and cast out from the Promised Land of their ancestors and inheritance.

The Lord healed the leper and made him whole again, and told the leper to follow the customs of the Law, by showing himself to a priest as prescribed so that he could be readmitted once again into the community. Through this and what we have just discussed from our first reading passage today, all of us are reminded that first of all, in God we have the sure hope of salvation and liberation from all the troubles and trials facing us, from the corruption and depredation of sin and evil, represented by the leprosy that afflicted the man. And then, we are also reminded that if we allow worldly temptations and allures, corruptions and distractions to affect us, we will end up suffering like what the people of Israel had suffered in the past. But if we put our faith and trust once again in God, then we can have the sure path out of the darkness and into the light of God’s salvation and grace.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Irenaeus, one of the early Church fathers whose life and works, dedication and commitment to God can help inspire and strengthen us in our own paths in life so that we may continue to live worthily and faithfully in God’s Presence. St. Irenaeus lived during the second century, about a century or so after the time of the Lord’s ministry during the height of the Roman Empire and at a time when the Christian faith began to spread widely throughout the Empire, while facing persecutions from the Roman authorities at certain times. He was a priest in the area of Lyon in today’s southern part of France, and eventually became a bishop there. At that time, there were several heresies facing the faithful which threatened the unity of the Church and the salvation of the souls.

Some of these heresies include Montanism, Gnosticism, among others, which did not correspond or adhere to the true teachings of the Lord and to the deposit of faith handed down through the Church from the Apostles. St. Irenaeus spent a lot of time and effort combatting those heresies among his flock and wrote extensively on the matter, especially in his renowned treatise, Adversus Haereses, which literally meant ‘Against Heresies’, reminding the faithful throughout Christendom of the dangers of heresies and falsehoods which could mislead them into the wrong and sinful paths, and encouraging them to remain true to the Holy Mother Church and the true Christian faith. Eventually St. Irenaeus himself also faced martyrdom like many other early Christians of his time, but his many contributions continued to affect the Church for many centuries to come, even to this day.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard the inspirational examples and commitment of St. Irenaeus in living a holy and worthy life in God, and in devoting himself to oppose all the false teachings and heresies that threatened the unity of the Church and the salvation of souls, therefore, all of us should be reminded that we too should also do the same in our own respective lives, in living a truly holy and worthy life centred on God, putting our faith and trust in Him, and helping to lead others around us by example so that more and more may come to know and recognise God and His truth, His love and salvation through us and our lives. Let us all continue to seek God’s grace, mercy and love, asking Him to strengthen us all in our every good efforts, endeavours and works for His greater glory.

May the Lord continue to inspire and strengthen us each day and at every moments of our lives, to be faithful to Him at all times, much as how His great servant, St. Irenaeus, holy bishop and martyr, great Doctor of the Church, had lived his life and inspired so many people after his lifetime. May God be with us all His beloved people and flock, with His Church, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 28 June 2024 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 8 : 1-4

At that time, when Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. Then a leper came forward. He knelt before Him and said, “Sir, if You want to, You can make me clean.”

Jesus stretched out His hand, touched him, and said, “I want to, be clean again.” At that very moment, the man was cleansed from his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone; but go to the priest, have yourself declared clean, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as evidence for them.”

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Friday, 28 June 2024 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 136 : 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6

By the streams of Babylon, we sat; and then wept, as we remembered Zion. When, on the poplars, we hung our harps.

Our captors asked for song. Our tormentors wanted songs of joy : “Sing to us one of the songs of Zion!”

How could we sing YHVH’s song in a strange and alien land? If I forget you, o Jerusalem, may my right hand fall useless!

May my tongue cleave to my palate if I remember you not, if Jerusalem is not the first of my joys.

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Friday, 28 June 2024 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop, Martyr and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

2 Kings 25 : 1-12

In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched with his entire army and laid siege to Jerusalem. They camped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was under siege up to the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah.

On the ninth day of the fourth month famine became a serious problem in the city, and throughout the land there was no bread for the people. When the city was opened by a breach in the wall, the Judean army fled through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were still around the city; and they fled towards the Arabah. The Chaldeans followed in hot pursuit of king Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plains of Jericho. All his army deserted him and scattered.

The Chaldeans seized the king and led him away to Riblah in the territory of Hamath and there the king of Babylon passed sentence on him. There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah in his presence. He then put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with a double bronze chain and took him to Babylon.

On the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, commander of the captain of the royal guard and servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem and set fire to the House of YHVH and the royal palace, as well as to all the houses in Jerusalem. The Chaldean army under the commander of the bodyguard completely demolished all the walls around Jerusalem.

Nebuzaradan, commander of the bodyguard, carried off into exile the last of the Jews left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the remainder of the artisans. But he left those among the very poor who were capable of working in vineyards and cultivating the soil.

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Friday, 21 June 2024 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Lord in the Sacred Scriptures, each and every one of us are reminded that we are all called to focus our attention and our whole lives upon the Lord our God, Who should be the sole focus and reason of our existence. We should not easily allow ourselves to be swayed by the many temptations, coercions, pressures and desires present all around us that we lose our focus and sight on what is truly important, and forgetting that as Christians, we are God’s holy and beloved people, and we should always strive to be worthy of Him at all times, in all of our words, actions and deeds, in our every interactions and commitments in life.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Second Book of Kings of Israel and Judah in which the story of the usurpation done by Queen Athaliah of Judah was told to us, at the time when the Queen Mother Athaliah attempted and successfully managed to seize power in the kingdom for herself after her son, King Ahaziah of Judah was killed by Jehu, the new King of Israel appointed by God. King Ahaziah perished partly because of his sins, in his failures to bring the people of God to obey God’s Law and commandments, but his mother Athaliah committed an even greater sin and wickedness before God and man alike, as we ourselves had heard in our first reading passage today, in how she attempted to eradicate the entirety of the descendants of her son, and the extended family in order to secure power for herself.

Through all of that, Athaliah had committed a truly grave sin before God, for the murders that she had carried out not just one but so many innocent people, not sparing even women and children on this. Why did Athaliah do so? While the full reason and details were not highlighted in the records in the Scriptures but based on other comparable events and similar actions by other figures throughout history pointed to greed and desire for worldly power, glory, fame, ambition for more personal gains among other things. It was likely that Athaliah had one of these as her motive to carry out such heinous acts and wickedness. But through what we heard in these series of events today, we are all reminded that God would always be with His beloved and faithful ones, and while challenges might come upon them, but they would be triumphant in the end.

That was how we heard of the survival of Joash, one of the descendants of the late king and helped him to survive the massacre when all the other relatives and members of the royal family were purged and massacred. Joash was protected by God, saved and helped to be prepared as future king under the guidance of the priest Jehoiada, whom we heard then eventually orchestrating the return of the House of David to power. Through the support of the people and others who disliked Queen Athaliah’s authoritarian rule, that was how Queen Athaliah met her ignominious end, overthrown and punished to death for all the wicked deeds which she had done all those years ago. King Joash of Judah ascended to the throne and restored the rule of the House of David just as God intended it.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew in which the Lord told and warned His disciples not to seek and gather for themselves the treasures of this world, but rather to gather the heavenly and true treasures which they should instead be aiming for. The Lord reminded all of His disciples because some if not many among them might have the wrong idea and aim in following Him, thinking that by walking in His path and gathering around Him, they could gain worldly glory, fame and power, greatness and pleasures of the world. The Lord told them that all the glory, pleasures and ambitions of this world, all of the allures of greatness and wealth cannot truly satisfy us, and they will not last forever, as they will eventually be destroyed and we will not bring them to the life that is to come for us.

It is why each and every one of us should seek to reevaluate our lives and reconsider how we have focused our lives thus far. If we have not been truly faithful to the Lord, and if we have allowed the allures of worldly glory, of pleasures of the flesh and other ambitions to tempt and mislead us, then perhaps it is time for us to abandon all those wicked and evil pursuits, and instead renewing our commitment to live our lives once again worthily of the Lord, by embracing God’s Law and commandments wholeheartedly, and by doing whatever we can so that we may come ever closer to God, and to avoid all those things which had misled and tempted so many of our predecessors, like that of Queen Athaliah, that they all ended up falling into sin and destruction. This is what we must not end up doing, and we must always strive to be ever more faithful to God.

Today, the Church also celebrates the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a great servant of God whose life and faith, while may be relatively short compared to many of us, but he has shown us and many of our predecessors what it means for us all to live for the Lord and to be truly faithful to Him. St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born into an illustrious cadet branch of the powerful and famous House of Gonzaga in the area of what is now northern part of Italy, and as the eldest son of the family, he would have been guaranteed to gain the great inheritance of his family’s assets, fortune and titles, which were indeed quite substantial. But God had a different plan for St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who was called by God since his rather young age, being touched and inspired to follow the path of the Lord rather than all the wickedness and decadence he had witnessed while he was growing up.

He was increasingly called to be a missionary and to embrace God’s calling, living a righteous and virtuous life amidst the commonly practiced way of life among those of his background and class at the time. St. Aloysius Gonzaga spent his time teaching catechism and guiding the younger boys in the faith. He met lots of opposition especially from his father regarding his decision to join a religious congregation, particularly that of the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits. Despite the many pleas, persuasions, coercions and pressures, none of these could dissuade the young St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and even the tempting promise of secular priesthood and even episcopate, to be a bishop with all of its worldly riches and glory, those things could not change the mind of St. Aloysius Gonzaga.

And thus, St. Aloysius Gonzaga chose to abandon and sign-off his inheritance and all worldly glory, and became a member of the Jesuits. During his formation years as a Jesuit, St. Aloysius Gonzaga continued to life a virtuous and holy life, and was committed to care for the sick and the poor, which eventually led to his early death at the young age of twenty-two. At that time, there was a plague raging in Rome, and St. Aloysius Gonzaga got sick from the plague while he was ministering to the sick. And even so, he still pushed himself and forced himself to continue to care for the sick despite his own condition. Eventually his condition worsened, he was administered the Last Rites and passed away. His courageous actions and love for others have truly shown all of us what it truly means for us to be Christians.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best so that our lives may truly be holy and worthy of God, focusing on Him and not on the many temptations of worldly pleasures and all the other things which may tempt and distract us away from the path towards salvation and eternal life in God. Many of our predecessors had fallen into this path, as the earlier example of Queen Athaliah of Judah had shown us. God has given us all the means and the help to lead us towards righteousness in Him, and we should therefore follow the examples of our holy predecessors, like that of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, so that we may truly be good role models and inspirations for one another in our Christian faith and life. May the Lord be with us always, and may He bless our every efforts and endeavours in life, and grant us His grace, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 21 June 2024 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 6 : 19-23

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “Do not store up treasures for yourself here, on earth, where moth and rust destroy it; and where thieves can steal it. Store up treasures for yourself with God, where no moth or rust can destroy it, nor thief come and steal it.

For where your treasures are, there, also, will your heart be. The lamp of the body is the eye; if your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light. If your eyes are diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!