holy men

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 106 : 23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31

Those who went to the sea in ships, merchants on the mighty waters, saw the marvels of the Lord, His wonderful deeds in the deep.

For He spoke and stirred up a storm whipping up the waves of the sea. Flung upward and plunged to the depths, they lost courage in the ordeal.

Then they cried to the Lord in anguish, and He rescued them from their distress. He stilled the storm to a gentle breeze and hushed the billows to silent waves.

How glad they were! He brought them safe and sound to the port where they were bound. Let them thank the Lord for His love and wondrous deeds for humans.

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Job 38 : 1, 8-11

Then YHVH answered Job out of the storm : “Who shut the sea behind closed doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling clothes; when I set its limits with doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘You will not go beyond those bounds; here is where your proud waves must halt?'”

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Friday, 19 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings tie very closely to the lives of the saints and martyrs whose memory we are celebrating today. As such, the readings spoke about being the servants and followers of God, and what is to be expected of us, and how we ought to live our lives so that we may remain faithful and true to the Lord our God.

In the first reading today, St. Paul spoke of how he had encountered many oppositions and difficulties along the way, and how he had suffered many tribulations and torture at the hands of his enemies, rejection, been spitted on, lashed with ropes, imprisoned, and many other forms of inhuman torture which also unfortunately were the fate of many other Christians at the time.

And if we notice, Christians throughout time, even until today, including what the recent events had shown us, still encounter the same if not even worse persecution and torture. When we stand up for our faith, indeed there will be those who disagree, because they have rejected the truth which can be found only in the Lord our God.

But in the Gospel today, Jesus comforted all of us, by saying that we indeed ought to stand up for the faith and the truth. He spoke of seeking not earthly treasures but heavenly ones, and this is implying that we should not settle for the happiness and good things that can be found in the world, but we must strive for greater things, that is the true joy that only God can give, even though the world may disapprove of us.

The earthly treasures Jesus spoke of were the approval of the world, the pleasures of the world, money, wealth and possessions, sexual lust and pleasures, greed and human desires, fame, human praise and many others that we should all know about. Meanwhile, the heavenly treasures that God spoke of is the true joy and happiness that do not end, even to the end of time and beyond, for we will forever live in perfect harmony with the Lord our God.

This is exactly what the martyr saints of Vietnam, St. Philip Minh and his many companions in martyrdom had also done. They chose to remain true to their faith in God, despite the threat of persecution, torture, suffering and death by the authorities at the time, which was intensely against the Church and the Faith spreading in the country of Vietnam.

The government tried to persuade the faithful to abandon their faith, some even by offering them money, property, as well as opportunities for work and promotion in the social strata, so that they hopefully might be persuaded to abandon their faith in God and embrace what the government had provided them. But many refused to accept all these, as they fully knew that to do so means to trade the eternal and true wealth they had received and assured by the Lord, for the temporary and illusory pleasures and joy of the world.

The same thing had also been done by the Apostles and the disciples of Christ, and many of the members of the early Church, when they were faced with the oppression and persecution of the world. And even until today, many still faced persecution by the world because of their faith in the One, True God as the world is opposed to Christ and to His truth. This is why the faithful suffer such great persecutions for their faith.

May the examples of the saints and martyrs, especially that of St. Philip Minh and his companions, the Vietnamese Martyrs, be an inspiration to all of us on this day and beyond, to live our lives faithfully, so that we may truly seek the true treasures which await us in heaven despite the challenges that will come our way, rather than settling for the temporary treasures of this world that will inevitably cause us to lose forever our eternal inheritance and a prelude to eternal suffering. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 19 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 6 : 19-23

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “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 is, there also your heart will be. The lamp of the body is the eye; if your eyes are sound, your whole body will be in the light. If your eyes are diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. Then, if your light has become darkness, how dark will be the darkest part of you!”

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Friday, 19 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

Oh, let us magnify the Lord, together let us glorify His Name! I sought the Lord, and He answered me; from all my fears He delivered me.

They who look to Him are radiant with joy, their faces never clouded with shame. When the poor cry out, the Lord hears and saves them from distress.

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Friday, 19 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Philip Minh, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

2 Corinthians 11 : 18, 21b-30

As some people boast of human advantages, I will do the same. But if others are so bold, I shall also dare, although I may speak like a fool. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I begin to talk like a madman) I am better than they.

Better than they with my numerous labours. Better than they with the time spent in prison. The beatings I received are beyond comparison. How many times have I found myself in danger of death! Five times the Jews sentenced me to thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with a rod, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, and once I spent a night and a day adrift on the high seas.

I have been continually in hazards of travelling because of rivers, because of bandits, because of my fellow Jews, or because of the pagans; in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea; in danger from false brothers. I have worked and often laboured without sleep, I have been hungry and thirsty and starving, cold and without shelter.

Besides these and other things, there was my daily concern for all the churches. Who is weak that I do not feel weak as well? Whoever stumbles, am I not on hot bricks? If it is necessary to boast, let me proclaim the occasions on which I was found weak.

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Saturday, 13 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate both the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of our Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, the well known preacher and saint whose devotion is widespread even until now amongst the faithful.

On this day, we commemorate the loving and sacred heart of Mary, the mother of our Lord, which is celebrated very closely to that of her Son’s Heart, for the two indeed were very, very close. Not only that she was His mother, but she had also gone through a lot of things with Him together, and she also lived with Him and followed Him during much of His earthly ministry.

It began since just a few days after Jesus was born, and Mary brought Him to present Him at the Temple. The prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna met them, and there the prophecy regarding Mary was mentioned, that a sword would pierce her heart. This is a foreshadowing of the fact that when Jesu went through His Passion on the way to Calvary, Mary was there, and she was there too on the feet of His cross, watching how her Son is dying for the sake of the world.

No mother should ever see her own child dying before her. But Mary endured all that patiently and quietly. She was truly sorrowful and anguished, but she kept everything in her heart. The same she had done when she was told of the prophecy earlier, she kept everything in her heart. She also kept everything in her heart when we heard in the Gospel today, that Jesus was left behind in the Temple of Jerusalem, He mentioned that He must be in the house of His Father.

Have we taken note, brothers and sisters in Christ? Mary and her heart is so immaculate and pure, that she does not complain or make any issue, when she encountered all these things, from the time when she received the Good News from the Archangel Gabriel, to the prophecy of her sorrow, to the time when Jesus was left at the Temple, to the time when she followed her Son in His ministry, and eventually until when she met Him on that day when He took up the cross, and followed Him to the feet of His cross.

We can imagine how strong and wonderful her heart is, for her to take everything up and endured them in her heart. She suffered in silence, in her sorrow, and she looked up to see the face of her beloved Son. And in the same way therefore she is now looking at us, for many of us are in the danger of falling into eternal damnation in hell for our sins and lack of repentance.

Jesus gave Mary to be our mother too, just as she is His mother. From the cross, Jesus entrusted Mary to John, and He also entrusted John to His mother Mary. In this manner, by the representation of John, God entrusted all of us mankind to the loving care of His mother Mary. Thus, the same pain and sorrow which she had experienced for her Son, she also experienced for us.

If we are wondering why so many of the Marian apparitions and visions occur in the world, if we understand what I had just mentioned, all of it will make perfect sense. Mary through various means continues to watch over us and she is always thinking about us. As she is the closest one to the throne of her Son in heaven, indeed we have no better person, be it men or angels, to ask for help, so that we may be freed from the depredations of evil and sin.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, a renowned preacher who lived during the High Middle Ages in what is now Italy. St. Anthony of Padua worked hard in his devotion to the Lord, to bring the truth of God to the people, casting out heresies and redeeming people who had lived in the darkness. He was also renowned for his great homilies that he was famously known for having a ‘golden tongue’.

Through his works many people found their way back to God, and many of them found the truth through him. St. Anthony never ceased working for the good of many in the Church, just as what our Blessed mother Mary had done for us, by reminding us again and again, to repent from our sinful ways and hearken ourselves to the words of truth found only in God. Let us be inspired by the examples of the works of St. Anthony of Padua.

Threfore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all today pray and ask for the intercession of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and the mother of all of us. Let us plead to her most immaculate and loving heart, which is filled with the love of a mother for her children. May our mother pray for us always before her Son, our most loving and merciful God, so that our sins may be forgiven, and may all of us be awakened to our sins, realising how great is the love that both He and His mother have for us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 41-51

Every year, the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, as was customary. And when Jesus was twelve years old, He went up with them, according to the custom of this feast. After the festival was over, they returned, but the Boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and His parents did not know it.

They thought He was in the company, and after walking the whole day they looked for Him among their relatives and friends. As they did not find Him, they went back to Jerusalem searching for Him, and on the third day they found Him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. And all the people were amazed at His understanding and His answers.

His parents were very surprised when they saw Him, and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I were very worried while searching for You.” Then He said to them, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand this answer.

Jesus went down with them, returning to Nazareth, and He continued to be subject to them. As for His mother, she kept all these things in her heart.

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Saturday, 13 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.

The bow of the mighty is broken but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone.

YHVH is Lord of life and death, He brings down to the grave and raises up. YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour.

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Saturday, 13 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

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.