Friday

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Friday, 14 June 2024 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings we are all presented with the calling of God which He called on all of us to follow Him and to do what He has entrusted to us and what He has taught us all to do in our respective lives. Each and every one of us as Christians have been entrusted with the various responsibilities and missions in our diverse commitments and vocations, in each and every parts of our lives. As God’s people and disciples, as His beloved and holy ones, we must indeed strive to be truly worthy of Him, to do whatever we must so that by our exemplary deeds and actions, by our virtues and obedience to God we may indeed become the shining beacons of His light and truth at all times.

In our first reading today, we heard from the First Book of Kings in which the prophet Elijah was called by God to the holy mountain, Mount Sinai, the same place which the Israelites had once gone to during the time of their Exodus and journey from Egypt towards the Promised Land of Canaan. At that occasion, the prophet Elijah was journeying from the land of Israel after being persecuted by the king of Israel, Ahab, and the king’s wife, Jezebel, all of whom had been wicked and refused to believe in the Lord as they should have. The prophets and messengers of God had been persecuted and killed, and Elijah himself had to flee for his life, and at the same time, the transgressions committed by the Israelite king and his people became worse and worse.

God called Elijah to follow Him, and to go where He called him to go. He protected and provided Elijah with food and nourishment in the wilderness, and eventually with that strength, he went on a long journey to Mount Sinai, which we heard about today. Elijah witnessed God coming towards him at Mount Sinai, first manifesting His coming through a great windstorm, an earthquake and a great fire, but God was not in all of them. Instead, God came with the sign of a gentle breeze, which was in fact a reminder to Elijah and to all the Israelites that while He is a truly mighty, all-powerful and fearsome God, Who destroyed His enemies and punished the sinners and the wicked ones, but at the same time, He is also always full of love, compassion and mercy.

God sent Elijah on a mission to go back to the land of the Israelites and beyond, to prepare for the coming works and missions that had been entrusted to him and those whom he would prepare and appoint to continue the great works of God. The Lord gave Elijah three tasks, all of which were meant to bring about great things for the reconciliation of the people of Israel with their Lord and God. First we heard of the appointment of Hazael as the new king over the Arameans, who then were the bitter rivals of the Israelites. Hazael would be the one to chastise the Israelites for their wickedness and sins, to remind them of the consequences of their rebellions against God, and hence, the people hopefully would turn once again back towards God.

Then we heard of the appointment of Jehu, to be the new king of Israel anointed and approved by God, who would be the one to overthrow the rule of the then king, king Ahab and his family or dynasty. Jehu would bring about God’s punishments and retribution to those who have led the people of God into ruin and destruction through sin. He would then as king of Israel be one of the few kings who obeyed God’s commandments and Law, leading the people of God once again back towards Him. Lastly, Elijah was told to appoint Elisha to be his successor, to be the one to succeed him in his mission as a prophet, to continue the good works that God had entrusted to the Elijah himself, guiding the people of God back towards their Lord and Master.

Then, in our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew, the Lord spoke to His disciples on the matter of true obedience to the Lord, to His Law and commandments, reminding each and every one of them that they should all be truly faithful to God, and to do whatever they can so that they would not fall into the temptations to sin and to disobey God. He mentioned without mincing His words, that should any of them were tempted and swayed to sin by any of their body parts, they should cut them off without hesitation, to remind them figuratively that sin is truly dangerous and if we do not keep vigilant against all the temptations to sin, we can indeed fall into eternal damnation and destruction, out of which there is no way out.

Essentially, the Lord was telling His disciples and all of us that we must truly understand and appreciate His Law, His way and His path. We cannot be those who merely carry on living our lives day after day and then not understanding what it is that He is calling all of us to do. Each and every one of us need to grow ever stronger in our relationship with God, to find out more what He wants us to be, to be holy and worthy of Him in all things. He has called us all to do His will just like how He had called the prophet Elijah to do His will. Are we willing to commit ourselves to path that the Lord has shown us? And are we willing to devote our time and attention to be ever more dedicated to God in all things, so that our every good works, efforts and endeavours will always proclaim God’s glory?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today let us all discern carefully our path in life, and how we should live our lives so that we may grow ever stronger and more committed to our Christian faith and life. We have been entrusted with various commitments and missions in life, in our different areas and various communities, that in our own distinct and unique way of living our Christian lives in the most authentic way possible, we may continue to profess our faith in the Lord and proclaim Him ever more courageously and faithfully in each and every moments of our lives. All of us are the missionaries of the Lord and in our own respective lives, we should continue to be evangelising, missionary and being vibrant in the living of our faith.

May the Lord continue to bless us all and be with His Church, so that we may continue to be strengthened and encouraged to overcome whatever challenges and difficulties that may come our way. May He continue to empower us so that we may truly be ever closer to Him and be ever more willing to dedicate ourselves to His cause, for the salvation of the whole world, like that of the prophet Elijah and those holy predecessors, the holy saints, holy men and women of God who had gone before us. Amen.

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Friday, 14 June 2024 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 5 : 27-32

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “You have heard that it was said : Do not commit adultery. But I tell you this : anyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

“So, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body, than to have your whole body thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to lose a part of your body, than to have your whole body thrown into hell.”

“It was also said : Anyone who divorces his wife, must give her a written notice of divorce. But what I tell you is this : if a man divorces his wife, except in the case of unlawful union, he causes her to commit adultery. And the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

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Friday, 14 June 2024 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 26 : 7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14

Hear my voice when I call, o Lord, have mercy on me and answer. My heart says to You, “I seek Your face, o Lord.”

Do not hide Your face from me nor turn away Your servant in anger. You are my Protector, do not reject me.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Friday, 14 June 2024 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Kings 19 : 9a, 11-16

On reaching the place, Elijah came to the cave and stayed in it. Then YHVH said, “Go up and stand on the mount, waiting for YHVH.” And YHVH passed by.

There was first a windstorm, wild wind which rent the mountains and broke the rocks into pieces before YHVH, but YHVH was not in the wind. After the storm, an earthquake, but YHVH was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, a fire, but YHVH was not in the fire; after the fire, the murmur of a gentle breeze.

When Elijah perceived it, he covered his face with his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then he heard a voice addressing him again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I am burning with jealous love for YHVH, the God of Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken Your Covenant, thrown down Your altars and slain Your prophets with the sword. No one is left but myself, yet they still seek my life to take it away.”

YHVH said to him, “Take the road back through the desert and go to Damascus, for you must anoint Hazael as king of Syria. You shall also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king over Israel. And Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel Meholah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place.”

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Friday, 7 June 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the great Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, celebrating the great love of God which has been manifested by the coming of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour. And this day, all of us commemorate this love manifested not just in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but also in His Most Sacred Heart, His bleeding and wounded Heart, pierced for our salvation, from which poured out the most wonderful, selfless and perfect love, and He truly wants to share with us this ever patient and enduring love that He had for us from the very beginning, for He had indeed created us all out of His most generous love.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Hosea in which the Lord spoke to His people, the Israelites through the prophet Hosea telling all of them that He truly loved all of them, and even though He had chastised and punished them for their many sins, rebellions and wickedness because of their unfaithfulness, but God continued to love all of His beloved people nonetheless, and He also mentioned to them everything that He had done for them throughout history, how He led them all the way, and brought His salvation upon them, patiently guiding them all so that they might find their way towards Him and follow Him faithfully and worthily.

At that time, the prophet Hosea was sent by the Lord to the people of the kingdom of Israel, the northern half of the once united Kingdom of Israel, consisting of the ten northern tribes that broke away from the rule of the House of David. For much if not most of its history and existence, this kingdom and its people had been rebellious against God, refusing to obey His Law and commandments, worshipping pagan idols and gods despite the many messengers, prophets and guides whom the Lord had sent to them in order to help them to find their way back to Him. Instead, they shut their ears and hearts against those servants of God, persecuted and silenced them, killing many of them in refusing to believe in God and in stubbornly refusing to repent from their many sins.

Yet, God still loved them and all of us nonetheless. He is patient and full of love, and He still wants us all to come back to Him, repenting from all of our sins. God is always ever generous with His mercy, and His Most Sacred Heart has been manifested to us with the fullness of His love personified and made approachable to us, the love that is truly warm and wonderful, the love that conquered even sin and death. Yes, that is what we heard from our Gospel passage today, in which we heard of the account of the Passion of the Lord, at the very moment when He died after having suffered most greatly and painfully for our sake and salvation. We heard how the Son of God Himself had truly died, emptying Himself of all glory and embracing all of us with His most perfect and selfless love.

We heard how the soldiers were told to break the legs of those who were crucified with the Lord that they might not continue to hang on the Cross through to the Passover day, but the Lord had already passed away, and one of them was told to prove and check that the Lord had indeed died. We heard how this soldier, which tradition stated to be one St. Longinus, pierced the side of the Lord with his spear, just as the Scriptures had predicted, and immediately Blood and water rushed out. This was the moment when the Lord’s love has been fully given to us through His loving sacrifice on the Cross, the moment when all of us were united to His death, to die to our past sins and wickedness, and to open for us all the path to everlasting life and salvation, by the means of His Church.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, this was the moment when the Church of God was born, when the Blood and water pouring forth from the Lord’s Body, from His own Most Sacred Heart, came down upon us all in this world. His perfect and most worthy offering had been completed and accepted by the Lord, His heavenly Father, as the most worthy offering for the atonement of all of our sins. Through this act of supreme love and kindness, compassion and forgiveness, God has united us all to Himself, our humanity and human nature to His own human nature and self, truly suffering and truly died on the Cross, the Lamb of God, persecuted and slain for the sake of our salvation.

St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians in our second reading today summarised all these in emphasising yet again the role which Christ, Our Lord and Saviour had played in the fulfilment of everything which God had planned for our salvation, to liberate each and every one of us from the power and dominion of sin and death. Through His perfect obedience and loving sacrifice, He has undone the disobedience and the corruption of sin and evil, which had separated us all from the fullness of God’s grace and love. Through Christ, we all have received a new hope and a new life, a new reality and existence that is filled with God’s grace and love, as we become part of His one Body, the Church, sanctified and made one by the outpouring of His Blood, which overflowed from His wounded and broken, Most Sacred Heart.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the most popular and oldest devotions in the Church, and it is understandable because it is through gazing upon the most loving and most holy, most worthy and most wonderful Sacred Heart of Our Lord Himself, that we are constantly being reminded yet again of His immeasurable love and compassion towards us. Through His Most Sacred Heart, pierced and wounded for us, we are reminded of every single wounds that we ourselves have caused upon the Lord, Who has loved us all so selflessly and tenderly, so patiently and generously from the very beginning of time, from the moment when He first created this world and all of us.

We must understand and realise that it is our sins and wickedness, our faults and evils, our disobedience against God that had made Him to bear the consequences and punishments for all those that were meant for us. We should have been destroyed and perished because of our many faults and sins, and yet, God willingly took it up upon Himself to bear the burden of those sufferings and pains, all the wounds we have inflicted on Him, so that by His wounds, and through His Most Sacred Heart, full of ever burning and passionate Love for each one of us, we may have the hope and assurance of everlasting life through reconciliation and reunification with God, our Lord and Master.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore renew our commitment to the Lord, by recalling His love for us and remembering everything that He had done for us, all the love that came forth outpouring from His Most Sacred Heart. Let us continue to put our trust in Him and the love that He has constantly shown us, and do our best so that in our own respective lives in this world, our lives will continue to be full of love, both for the Lord our God and for our fellow brothers and sisters around us, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 7 June 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 19 : 31-37

At that time, as it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the legs of the condemned men broken, so that the bodies might be taken away.

The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man, who had been crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water.

The one who saw that, has testified to it, and his testimony is true; he knows he speaks the truth, so that you also might believe. All this happened to fulfil the words of Scripture : Not one of His bones shall be broken. Another text says : They shall look on Him Whom they have pierced.

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Friday, 7 June 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 3 : 8-12, 14-19

This grace, was given to me, the least, among all the holy ones : to announce to the pagan nations, the immeasurable riches of Christ, and to make clear to all, how the mystery, hidden from the beginning, in God, the Creator of all things, is to be fulfilled.

Even the heavenly forces and powers will now discover, through the Church, the wisdom of God in its manifold expression, as the plan is being fulfilled, which God designed from the beginning, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. In Him, we receive boldness and confidence to approach God.

And, now, I kneel in the presence of the Father, from Whom, every family in heaven and on earth has received its name. May He strengthen in you, the inner self, through His Spirit, according to the riches of His glory; may Christ dwell in your hearts, through faith; may you be rooted and founded in love.

All of this, so that you may understand, with all the holy ones, the width, the length, the height and the depth – in a word, that you may know the love of Christ, that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled, and reach the fullness of God.

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Friday, 7 June 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 12 : 2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

He is the God of my salvation; in Him I trust and am not afraid, YHVH is my strength : Him I will praise, the One Who saved me.

You will draw water with joy from the very fountain of salvation. Then you will say : “Praise to the Lord, break into songs of joy for Him, proclaim His marvellous deeds among the nations and exalt His Name.”

“Sing to the Lord : wonders He has done, let these be known all over the earth. Sing for joy, o people of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

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Friday, 7 June 2024 : Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hosea 11 : 1, 3-4, 8c-9

I loved Israel when he was a child; out of Egypt I called My Son. Yet, it was I Who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; yet, little did they realise that it was I Who cared for them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with leading strings of love, and I became for them as One Who eases the yoke upon their neck and stoops down to feed them.

My heart is troubled within Me and I am moved with compassion. I will not give vent to My great anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not human. I am the Holy One in your midst: and I do not want to come to you in anger.

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Friday, 31 May 2024 : Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorating the moment when Mary, the Mother of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and God, visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was the mother of St. John the Baptist, the Herald of the Messiah, at the moment when Elizabeth was already heavily pregnant with her son, and when Mary herself was just visited by the Archangel Gabriel who told her of everything that God had entrusted to her, that she would become the Mother of the Son of God Most High, and hence becoming the Mother of God. Through what had happened at that time we are all reminded of the great love of God for us and all the things that He had done for our sake, just as He had done to Mary and Elizabeth.

This celebration takes place on the last day of the month of May, which is commemorated in the Church as a Marian month, celebrating the important role that Mary has played in the history of our salvation, by bearing within her the Saviour of the world Himself. Today as we conclude this Marian month of May, it is appropriate and fitting therefore that we commemorate it once again with this Feast of the Visitation, to remind ourselves ever more of the importance of Mary in our faith and even more importantly, of how Mary, the Mother of God and our loving Mother, can be the great inspiration and role model in how we all ought to live our own lives as Christians. Mary is indeed our surest and straightest path towards our Lord, her beloved Son, to Whom she always directed us to.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Zephaniah and from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, in which the former spoke about the coming of God’s salvation to His people and how everyone ought to rejoice because God would lift up from them the shame of their predicament and sufferings, as He remembered His love for them, and how He would restore them to His fullness of grace and love through the salvation that He has promised to them. St. Paul echoed this hope and also reminded the faithful people of God to live worthily of the Lord and to do what God had taught and asked them to do, shunning all forms of wickedness and evils which had once sundered them from His love and grace.

Both of these readings spoke to us about living our lives faithfully as Christians in the manner that we have been shown by the Lord, and in how His disciples and followers have lived, full of love firstly for the Lord and then also love for one another, our fellow brothers and sisters. To be Christians is indeed a calling for us to embrace our Lord’s path, in being full of love and compassion for everyone, to be kind and compassionate for those who are around us and those whom we encounter in each and every moments of our lives. Love is the important characteristic in our faith, and one which Mary is also full with, as she loved us all her children, just as much as she has loved and devoted herself thoroughly to her Son, and in how she showed love for her relatives, like that of Elizabeth.

This moment of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth as described in our Gospel passage today also happened because Mary must have loved and cared for Elizabeth, her cousin, upon hearing from the Archangel Gabriel that she had been pregnant with a child even in her old age. Mary made the journey to where Elizabeth lived in, in the mountainous region of Judea, which was not exactly near the town of Nazareth that she lived in, to visit her and to show her solidarity with her. All these showed just the kind of loving woman that Mary was, who was willing to go all the way to reach out to those whom she has loved and cared for like Elizabeth, as well as for her own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom she had dedicated her whole life, from the womb to the cradle and to the Cross, where she even witnessed her Son dying before her very own eyes.

In all of these things, Mary has continued to be faithful to the Lord, devoting herself thoroughly to Him and allowing God to lead her in whatever He had entrusted to her to do. In that way therefore, the Lord had blessed her indeed to be greater than all other women, and all of the children of Adam and Eve. This was not just because she is the Mother of God and the Ark of the New Covenant, hallowed and blessed by God, Immaculate and free from the taint of original sin, but also because she is and remained full of grace throughout her whole life, committing herself out of perfect and pure love for her Son and to all those who have been entrusted to her loving care, namely all of us, whom she has been entrusted with as her own children.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we have all been reminded of the great faith and examples showed by Mary, Most Holy, Mother of God and our Mother, who have been our great role model in faith and our inspiration, let us all remember our calling and respective missions and vocations in life, to be a truly holy and loving people, filled with the holiness and love of God just as Mary our Mother herself has been filled with holiness and love that radiated from her. All of us are called to be loving to one another and to show care and compassion for our brethren, especially the less fortunate among us, and ultimately to love the Lord our God, with all of our strength and might at all times. We must truly be God’s holy and beloved people in all things.

May our lives continue to inspire everyone around us in the manner that Mary, our Mother and the Mother of Our Lord and Saviour has always inspired us. Let our lives be truly holy and worthy of God in all the things that we say and do, in our every efforts and endeavours, in our every works and interactions with everyone whom we encounter and meet in our lives. Let us all entrust ourselves anew to the Lord, and do our best to be the shining beacons of His light, hope and truth in our darkened world today, that the Light of Christ and the great love that He has shown us, as is the love that His Mother Mary has shown, her faith and devotion to God may dispel the darkness surrounding us all, and lead us all into the eternal life that has been promised to us. Amen.