heavenly reward

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Saturday, 11 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady and Popes)

Galatians 3 : 22-29

But the Scriptures have declared that we are all prisoners of sin, so the only way to receive God’s promise is to believe in Jesus Christ.

Before the time of faith had come, the Law confined us and kept us in custody until the time in which faith would show up. The Law then was serving as a slave to look after us until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. With the coming of faith, we are no longer submitted to this guidance.

Now, in Christ Jesus, all of you are sons and daughters of God through faith. All of you who were given to Christ through baptism, have put on Christ. Here there is no longer any difference between Jew or Greek, or between slave or freed, or between man and woman : but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

And because you belong to Christ, you are of Abraham’s race and you are to inherit God’s promise.

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Tuesday, 26 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Thessalonians 2 : 1-3a, 14-17

Brothers and sisters, let us speak about the coming of Christ Jesus, our Lord, and our gathering to meet Him. Do not be easily unsettled. Do not be alarmed by what a prophet says or by any report, or by some letter said to be ours, saying the day of the Lord is at hand. Do not let yourselves be deceived in any way.

To this end He called you through the Gospel we preach, for He willed you to share the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of that, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold to the traditions that we taught you by word or by letter.

May Christ Jesus our Lord who has loved us, may God our Father, who in His mercy gives us everlasting comfort and true hope, strengthen you. May He encourage your hearts and make you steadfast in every good work and word.

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(Usus Antiquior) Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle (Double II Classis) – Sunday, 24 August 2014 : Offertory Prayer, Secret Prayer of the Priest, Communion and Postcommunion Prayer

Offertory Prayer

Exaltabo Te, Domine, quoniam suscepisti me, nec delectasti inimicos meos super me : Domine, clamavi ad Te, et sanasti me.

English translation

I will extol You, o Lord, for You had upheld me, and You had not made my enemies to rejoice over me. O Lord, I have cried to You, and You have healed me.

Secret Prayer of the Priest

Respice, Domine, quaesumus, nostram propitius servitutem : ut, quod offerimus, sit tibi munus acceptum, et sit nostrae fragilitatis subsidium. Per Dominum…

English translation

Look with mercy, we beseech You, o Lord, upon our homage, that the gift we offer may be accepted by You and be the support of our frailty. Through our Lord…

Communion

Honora Dominum de tua substantia, et de primitiis frugum tuarum : et implebuntur horrea tua saturitate, et vino torcularia redundabunt.

English translation

Honour the Lord with your substance, and with the first of all your fruits. And your barns shall be filled with abundance, and your presses shall run over with wine.

Postcommunion Prayer

Sentiamus, quaesumus, Domine, tui perceptione sacramenti, subsidium mentis et corporis : ut, in utroque salvati, caelestis remedii plenitudine gloriemur. Per Dominum…

English translation

By receiving Your sacrament, we beseech You, o Lord, that we may experience help in soul and body, that, being saved in both, we may glory in the fullness of our heavenly remedy. Through our Lord…

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Wednesday, 20 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 20 : 1-16a

This story throws a light on the Kingdom of Heaven : A landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay each worker the usual daily wage, and sent them to his vineyard.

He went out again at about nine in the morning, and seeing others idle in the town square, he said to them, “You also, go to my vineyard, and I will pay you what is just.” So they went.

The owner went out at midday, and again at three in the afternoon, and he did the same. Finally he went out at the last working hour – the eleventh hour – and he saw others standing there. So he said to them, “Why do you stay idle the whole day?”

They answered, “Because no one has hired us.” The master said, “Go and work in my vineyard.”

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the workers and pay them their wage, beginning with the last and ending with the first.” Those who had come to work at the eleventh hour turned up, and were each given a silver coin.

When it was the turn of the first, they thought they would receive more. But they, too, each received a silver coin. So, on receiving it, they began to grumble against the landowner. They said, “These last hardly worked an hour, yet you have treated them the same as us, who have endured the heavy work of the day and the heat.”

The owner said to one of them, “Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day? So take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last the same as I give to you. Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Why are you envious when I am kind?”

So will it be : the last will be first, the first will be last.

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Wednesday, 30 July 2014 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Matthew 13 : 44-46

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The one who finds it buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it.

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Friday, 16 May 2014 : 4th Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 14 : 1-6

Jesus said, “Do not be troubled! Trust in God and trust in Me! In My Father’s house there are many rooms; otherwise, I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. After I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall come again and take you to Me, so that where I am, you may also be. Yet you know the way where I am going.”

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

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Thursday, 6 March 2014 : Thursday after Ash Wednesday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 30 : 15-20

See, I set before you on this day life and good, evil and death. I command you to love YHVH, your God and follow His ways. Observe His commandments, His norms and His laws, and you will live and increase, and YHVH will give you His blessing in the land you are going to possess.

But if your heart turns away and does not listen, if you are drawn away and bow before other gods to serve them, I declare on this day that you shall perish. You shall not last in the land you are going to occupy on the other side of the Jordan.

Let the heavens and the earth listen, that they may be witnesses against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life that you and your descendants may live, loving YHVH, listening to His voice, and being one with Him. In this life for you and length of days in the land which YHVH swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

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Monday, 3 March 2014 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Peter 1 : 3-9

Let us praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for His great mercy. In raising Jesus Christ from the dead He has given us new life and a living hope. The inheritance that does not corrupt nor goes bad nor passes away was reserved to you in heavens, since God’s power shall keep you faithful until salvation is revealed in the last days.

There is cause for joy, then, even though you may, for a time, have to suffer many trials. Thus will your faith be tested, like gold in a furnace. Gold, however, passes away but faith, worth so much more, will bring you in the end praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ appears.

You have not yet seen Him and yet you love Him; even without seeing Him, you believe in Him and experience a heavenly joy beyond all words, for you are reaching the goal of your faith : the salvation of your souls.

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Wednesday, 1 January 2014 : Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God – Theotokos, World Day of Prayer for Peace (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Galatians 4 : 4-7

But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son. He came born of woman and subject to the Law, that we might receive adoption as children of God. And because you are children, God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of His Son which cries out : ‘Abba!’ that is, ‘Father!’

You yourselves are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and yours is the inheritance by God’s grace.

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Tuesday, 24 December 2013 : 4th Week of Advent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brethren! Tomorrow is Christmas, when we will celebrate the first coming of our Lord in Jesus Christ His Son, the Word made flesh. And we should all rejoice, and break into songs of joy and praise, because our Lord and God was willing to come upon us and deliver us from sin and death. That was the promise He had made to our ancestors, ever since the day of Adam, and which He reiterated again to David, the king of Israel and His chosen one.

And in Christ and His arrival into the world, God’s promises to mankind was fulfilled. That was why Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, was joyful and exuberant, singing what is now known as the Canticle of Zechariah, which is the Gospel reading today. Such is the joy that we all should have, that in the coming of the Lord, we are saved and have hope anew.

After waiting for four weeks and preparing for the day of glory and rejoicing, during the Advent season, we can now finally see the light, that is the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. We have long expected the coming of our Saviour, and here He is, at our doorposts, as the fulfillment of salvation promises long given by the Lord.

In Christ our Lord we rejoice, and that is the joy we experience at Christmas, the joy of seeing our Saviour among us, as God who dwells with His people, incarnate as one of us. Through Christ, God professed His eternal and undying love for all of us, willing to forgive our past trespasses, rebelliousness and disobedience, even to the point of taking the burden of our sins and die for our sake, that through His death, as a worthy sacrifice for our sins, we who believe may receive life eternal.

God came into the world not for some trivial things, and neither did He do this for leisurely purposes. He came to liberate us, from our bondage to sin, and to seek the lost ones among us, looking for them in the greatest depth of darkness, offering them the light, and a new opportunity to live in the Light. Yes, the light of God indeed, the true Light of the world.

Are we all ready to welcome the Lord when He comes again? Just as He had once came into the world? Remember that Jesus promised that He will come again at the end of time, at the end of everything, when God will raise up all those who remain faithful to Him, and reunited them all with Himself, and when all taints of sin and evil will be purified and cast out of the world forever.

When He first came into the world, Jesus was not welcomed, and He was rejected by the innkeepers who did not want to receive the poor family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. They reasoned that the inns were full, and hence the king of kings and Lord of all creations have to spend His first night in this world in a humble and dirty stable fit only for animals.

And when He went forth to teach and reveal the nature of God and His coming kingdom to the people of God, He was not well-received either. While some listened to Him and followed Him, many rejected Him, booed Him, mocked Him, and even sought after His death. Chief among these were the Pharisees and the chief priests, who saw Him as a rival, and wanted to bring doom to Christ, by arrest or death.

They did not welcome Christ when He first came into the world. Instead of rejoicing, they condemned Him to death, and called Him a blasphemer and a false Messiah. They truly lacked faith in the Lord and His saving power. Their hubris and human flaws had prevented them from understanding the truth. However, how about us? Do we also welcome Christ when He comes? Or do we join the Pharisees in mocking and rejecting Christ and His love?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many of us professed our faith to the Lord, and we had proven it many times, and yet, are we able to truly call our lives as blessed by God? Are we able to realise that we have to put Christ in our Christmas and Christ in our lives as Christians? Christ must be the centre of our lives and He must be at the centre of our Christmas joy.

If we do not place Christ to be at the centre of everything, and especially in this Christmas, then we are just like those Pharisees and the chief priests who rejected Jesus. We often pay too much attention to the glamour of Christmas, that is the joy of exchanging gifts, the wonderful decorations and musics, as well as the secular and commercialised nature of Christmas, with the figure of father Christmas, better known as Santa Claus, to lure many away from God and from His ways.

We have to reorientate our celebrations of Christmas, that it does not just revolve or focus around ourselves, our desires, wishes and needs. Instead, let us make Christmas truly a joyful one, not only for us, but also for everyone. Share the joy of Christmas with one another, especially with the poor around us, those who do not even have enough to celebrate Christmas on their own. It is sad that many too want to join in the festivities but they could not.

It is not wrong for us to enjoy Christmas, and to celebrate it with parties and revelries, but it should not be overdone, and indeed when we rejoice, we have to keep Christ at the centre of our joy, as the reason for our joy. Let us all therefore make this Christmas, and the next Christmas celebrations henceforth, a joyful one for everyone, a joy because Christ our Lord has come, to be one of us and dwell among us, that through Him we once again have hope of life eternal. God bless us all. Amen.