Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
The earth and its fullness belong to YHVH, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.
Who will ascend the mountain of YHVH? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.
They will receive blessings from YHVH, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.
Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 3 : 18-23
Do not deceive yourselves. If anyone of you considers himself wise in the ways of the world, let him become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s eyes. To this, Scripture says : God catches the wise in their own wisdom. It also says : The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is useless.
Because of this, let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you; Paul, Apollos, Cephas – life, death, the present and the future. Everything is yours, and you, you belong to Christ, and Christ is of God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us continue with the Scriptural discourse on the renewal of our lives by God, and the call which God has given to each and every one of us to be His followers. He has shown us that to be His disciples, we must all follow Him and obey His Law, and if we are faithful in doing so, then in the end, a new and glorious life with God will await us in the end.
In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard about the great vision of Ezekiel in which the prophet saw a great valley filled with immense amount of dry bones, symbol of death and destruction. And then God showed Ezekiel a great miracle, as those dry bones came together and were made whole again with muscles and sinews, with skin and came back to the human forms recognisable by man. And last of all, God gave those bodies the breath of His Spirit and the entire valley which was just earlier on filled with multitudes of dry bones, were then full of innumerable multitudes of the living.
Through this wonderful vision God wants to reveal to the prophet Ezekiel that through Him, all of us mankind are to receive new life and glory, free from death, which is the consequence of sin, and which in turn is the consequence of disobedience and unfaithfulness. The Lord therefore led His people into new life, new existence and new hope in Him, as He will forgive them all their sins, cleanse them from their faults and corruptions, returning them to the state of grace they were meant to be before the coming of sin.
However, if we are looking forward to this, then we must also be aware that we must follow God’s path, entrust ourselves to Him, obey His will and His commandments. And this means that we must listen to Him and fulfil His Law, as we heard in our Gospel passage today in which the Lord Jesus answered a Pharisee who asked Him, “Which of the commandments of God is the greatest among them?”, and the Lord succinctly summarised the whole Law into two main and most important Law for us.
And that is first and foremost for us to love the Lord, our God with all of our might, with all of our capacities and capabilities, and with every possible opportunities. And then, we should also show the same love to our fellow brothers and sisters, that we love one another generously, show genuine concern and care for our fellow brethren, and we should reach out to those who need our love so that we help one another to grow ever stronger in love and devotion to God.
It is when we know of God’s love that we may also love Him, and this is why it is important that we practice genuine love in our own lives, in loving one another and showing God’s love in every moments of our lives. Today, we also have a great role model and example, whose faith may inspire us all to be more faithful and to love God with ever greater devotion. As we celebrate the feast of Pope St. Pius X, also known as the Pope of the Holy Eucharist, let us remember his life and the many good and inspiring examples that he has set.
Pope St. Pius X was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto in Riese in northern Italy, in a large family of many children. His family was poor, but his parents valued education for their children, and thus, the young Giuseppe went to school each day, walking a long distance every day to reach his school. While his family were poor, but they were happy and faithful to God. The young Giuseppe studied Latin and eventually advanced further in his studies, and was ordained a priest and became the chaplain and parish priest of several parishes.
It was told how the future Pope St. Pius X helped to restore the dilapidated and poorly managed parish, causing many parishioners who had lapsed from the faith to return, thanks to his efforts and dedication in reaching out to those who were in need of guidance and those who who have been lost to the temptations of sin. He did his best to bring education to the poor and the marginalised, likely remembering his own hardships in attaining education in his early years.
He also spent a lot of time ministering and preaching the faith to the people with carefully crafted homilies and sermons, and spent a lot of time in catechising the young, which was told to be so popular that he had to begin evening classes in addition to his daytime classes as they were all fully filled up. For his energy and enthusiasm, his dedication and hard work, his Bishop appointed him as Chancellor and entrusted him with many important work in the diocese.
Eventually he was appointed and ordained as the Bishop of Mantua in northern Italy, in which capacity, he continued to minister passionately to the flock of the Lord placed under his care. He also remained a filial son to his parents, and after his father died, helped to take care of his aged mother, who managed to see her own son honoured and entrusted with the position of the Patriarch of Venice and also elevated to the Cardinalate by the Pope. When his elderly mother passed away, it was her son, Cardinal Sarto who presided over her Requiem.
Even as Cardinal, and later on as the Supreme Pontiff and Pope, Pope St. Pius X remained humble and ever dedicated to his work, in reaching out to the poor and the less fortunate, to the education of young children and to the spiritual growth of the Church and the faithful of all ages and backgrounds. And as Pope he was deeply loved and remembered for his many reforms, in his institution of liturgical reforms especially in the encouragement and expanded use of the Gregorian Chant as the primary sacred music of the Church.
Pope St. Pius X also lowered the age for the reception of Holy Communion that children can be taught to love God and brought closer to Him from the youngest possible age, with proper preparation and catechesis, which is why he is also widely known as the Pope of the Holy Eucharist. He also opposes the heresy of modernism, in attempting to change Church teachings to suit the changing world, and championed the return to the true faith and to restore all things in Christ as how his motto, ‘Instaurare Omnia in Christo’ shows us.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Pope St. Pius X has shown us all how we should live our lives with faith, loving God first and foremost, and also loving our fellow brothers and sisters, our parents, our brethren, our family and relatives, our friends and even strangers, all those whom we encounter and interact with. Are we able and willing to live as genuine Christians from now on if we have yet to do so, following in the footsteps of Pope St. Pius X, holy man and servant of God?
Let us all trust our lives to the Lord, and allow God to bless our lives that each and every one of us may grow ever closer to Him and that we will grow ever more righteous and committed in faith, from now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 22 : 34-40
At that time, when the Pharisees heard how Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together. One of them, a lawyer, questioned Him to test Him, “Teacher, which commandment of the Law is the greatest?”
Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and the most important of the commandments. The second is like it : You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The whole Law and prophets are founded on these two commandments.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 106 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Let the redeemed of YHVH say this, those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Some strayed in the wilderness and were lost, far away from the city. They wandered about hungry and thirsty, their lives ebbing away.
Then they cried to YHVH in anguish, and He rescued them from their distress. He led them by a straight way, to a city where they could dwell.
Let them thank YHVH for His love and wondrous deeds for humans. He quenches the thirst of the soul and satisfies the hunger of the heart.
Liturgical Colour : White
Ezekiel 37 : 1-14
The hand of YHVH was upon me. He brought me out and led me in spirit to the middle of the valley which was full of bones. He made me walk to and fro among them and I could see there was a great number of them on the ground all along the valley and that they were very dry.
YHVH said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live again?” I said, “Lord YHVH, only You know that.” He then said, “Speak on My behalf concerning these bones; say to them : Dry bones, hear the word of YHVH! YHVH says : I am going to put spirit in you and make you live. I shall put sinews on you and make flesh grow on you; I shall cover you with skin and give you My Spirit, that you may live. And you will know that I am YHVH.”
“I prophesied as I had been commanded and then there was a noise and commotion; the bones joined together. I looked and saw that they had sinews, that flesh was growing on them and that He was covering them with skin. But there was no spirit in them.”
So YHVH said to me, “Speak on My behalf and call on the Spirit, son of man! Say to the Spirit : This is the word of YHVH : Spirit, come from the four winds. Breathe into these dead bones and let them live!” I prophesied as He had commanded me and breath entered them; they came alive, standing on their feet – a great, immense army!
He then said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all Israel. They keep saying : ‘Our bones are dry, hope has gone, it is the end of us.’ So prophesy! Say to them : This is what YHVH says : I am going to open your tombs, I shall bring you out of your tombs, My people, and lead you back to the land of Israel.”
“You will know that I am YHVH, o My people! When I open your graves and bring you out of your graves, when I put My Spirit in you and you live. I shall settle you in your land and you will know that I, YHVH, have done what I said I would do.”
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day all of us are reminded of God’s wonderful love and mercy, and just how fortunate and blessed each and every one of us are that God has extended to us His forgiveness and reached out to us to show His love and compassion. We have sinned against God by our disobedience, our wickedness and constant failure to resist the temptations of the devil, and we should have been crushed and destroyed if not for God’s mercy and love.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel in which the prophet spoke of the Lord’s premonitions and words regarding the downfall of the sinful and all those who have disobeyed and refused to believe in Him. The Lord told Ezekiel to do as He said, to show all those who had been carried off into Babylon in exile, that the final days of the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem were at hand.
Ezekiel showed what would happen to the prince of the city of Jerusalem and the rest of the people, as how king Zedekiah, the last king of Judah would flee from the besieged city of Jerusalem after years of siege, and tried to flee from the Babylonians, only to be caught and humiliated, and the rest of the people enslaved and brought into exile. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple of God, long defiled by the sins of the people, was torn down in the conquest, its many vessels and goods brought into Babylon as spoils of war.
And this is the consequence of the sins that the people of God had committed, as they abandoned God for the pagan idols and for their futile pursuits of worldliness, to satisfy their ego, greed and ambitions. They lost everything, their pride and their land, their livelihood and all that they had, humiliated and treated less than men, to serve the needs of their masters and conquerors. Yet, they lived, and this showed that God still loved them, cared for them, regardless of their many sins.
This is then what the Lord told His disciples in our Gospel passage today as He spoke of them on the matter of forgiveness when the Apostle St. Peter asked Him how many times we must forgive our enemies and those who have wronged us, and the Lord said, ‘seventy times seven times’. The connotation of seven and seventy was in fact a reference to the need for one to be constantly forgiving, as seven is a number of perfection, and seventy times seven show complete perfection, meaning forgiveness without end in this case.
The Lord also used the parable to highlight this matter to His disciples, as He spoke of a rich lord who had many servants, and whose servants owed him quite a fair amount of money, and they were supposed to pay back what they owed or face the consequences. One of the servants who owed ten thousand pieces of gold, a relatively large amount that time, begged his lord and master to give him more time to be able to pay back the debt, and not to levy punishment on him or his household.
The lord, moved with pity, did not just listen to what the servant asked and begged for, but even more, he cancelled out his entire debt, which means that the servant did not have to pay off the entire huge debt of ten thousand pieces of gold. The servant, definitely being happy, then went off and then, met another servant who owed him money, a sum of a hundred pieces of silver. This is a much, much smaller amount than what the servant once owed his lord and master and had been forgiven from.
Yet, the servant forced the other servant to pay him back and threatened him, and even when the other servant begged for him to forgive him or at least give him more time to pay back his debt, the servant refused and sent the poor other servant into prison. And this came to the knowledge of the lord, who became very, very upset at the servant, who showed complete ingratitude at what he had been so fortunate and blessed with. He was forgiven his massive debt and yet, could not forgive a much smaller debt owed him.
This was representative of what God, our Lord and Master has done for us and what He is expecting all of us to do in our own lives. The lord in the parable represents the Lord Himself, and the servants of the lord being each and every one of us. The debts represent the sins and faults, the mistakes and hurt we have caused one another, the large debt represents the debt we have towards God, our sins caused by our disobedience and wickedness, while the smaller debt represents the faults and hurts we committed to one another, to our fellow brothers and sisters.
The essence of today’s Scripture readings therefore is to point out to us that, if God has been able to forgive us our sins, just as how enormous and incomprehensibly large the extent of those sins are for each one of us, then why can’t we forgive one another our sins and faults, our mistakes and hurts we have caused each other? That is because we are often too filled up with ego and pride that we cannot see ourselves humbling and stepping down to forgive, seeing forgiving others as a sign of weakness.
And our desires made the better of us, by tempting us to seek for satisfaction and good things for ourselves, for things we want and crave like money and material possessions, often at the expense of others. That is why we get angry at others, or demand others to give in to what we want, and not forgiving them their debts and mistakes, not realising that we have been forgiven even greater debts by the Lord.
The Lord wants us to do the same with our fellow brothers and sisters, to forgive them their debts and mistakes, their sins and faults to us, just as He has forgiven us all our sins and trespasses. Isn’t this what we always pray for in the Lord’s Prayer? ‘Forgive us our trespasses just as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.’ And in order to do this, we need to get rid from ourselves the taints of pride and ego, the temptations of greed and worldly desires among other things.
Are we able to do so brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we willing to commit ourselves to be forgiving to one another and also accept God’s forgiveness in our lives? We are called to devote our time, effort and attention to serve the Lord faithfully and to be loving just as He is loving, forgiving and be compassionate just as He is forgiving and compassionate. And today, let us all also gain the inspiration from our holy predecessors, namely Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus, whose feasts we celebrate today.
At that time, Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus were rivals in the influence within the Church, with St. Hippolytus apparently having been elected as the ‘Antipope’ in opposition to several Popes, as the former accused the latter of heresies and infidelities. St. Hippolytus was supported by the Greek-speaking Christians in Rome while Pope St. Pontian and his immediate predecessors were supported by the Latin-speaking Christians. The division lasted for quite a few years, and in the meantime new round of persecutions against Christians occurred.
It was then that the Roman Emperor and the government imposed a new persecution that led to the arrest of both Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus, who were sent into exile and hard labour in Sardinia, and it was there that both of them were reconciled to each other, forgiving one another what had transpired and happened between them for the sake of unity in the Church. St. Hippolytus likely gave up his contention as an ‘Antipope’ while Pope St. Pontian also resigned from the Pontificate to allow for the election of a new Pope to commence, as his arrest meant that it was unlikely that he would ever be able to resume his duties.
Both saints eventually died in martyrdom, defending the truth of their faith, but not before showing all of us the power of forgiveness and reconciliation, of forgiving each other no matter how bitter we may have been over the disagreements and divisions we have between us. Ultimately, we must remember that God forgave us all and is still forgiving us even when we have committed so many sins against Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all turn towards the Lord with a new heart of love and hope, and seek for forgiveness from Him for our every sins and weaknesses. Let us all be loving as He has been loving, and be inspired by the story of forgiveness of Pope St. Pontian and St. Hippolytus, forgoing their differences and embracing a new existence in love through God. May God be with us always, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Matthew 18 : 21 – Matthew 19 : 1
At that time, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive the offences of my brother or sister? Seven times?” Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
“This story throws light on the kingdom of Heaven : A king decided to settle accounts with his servants. Among the first of them was one who owed him ten thousand pieces of gold. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, his children and all his goods, as repayment.”
“The servant threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.’ The king took pity on him, and not only set him free, but even cancelled his debt. When this servant left the king’s presence, he met one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the throat and almost choked him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!'”
“His fellow servant threw himself at his feet and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’ But the other did not agree, and sent him to prison until he has paid all his debt. Now the servants of the king saw what had happened. They were extremely upset, and so they went and reported everything to their lord.”
“Then the lord summoned his servant and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed me when you begged me to do so. Were you not bound to have pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ The lord was now angry. He handed the wicked servant over to be punished, until he had paid the whole debt.”
Jesus added, “So will My heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.” When Jesus had finished these sayings, He left Galilee and arrived at the border of Judea, on the other side of the Jordan River.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Psalm 77 : 56-57, 58-59, 61-62
But they challenged and rebelled against God the Most High, and disobeyed His decrees. They were unfaithful, like their ancestors, deceitful and crooked, as a twisted bow.
They angered Him with their high places; they aroused His jealousy with their idols. Filled with wrath, God rejected Israel.
He lead His glory into captivity, His Ark, into the hand of the enemy. He gave His people over to the sword, so furious was He at His inheritance.
Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)
Ezekiel 12 : 1-12
This word of YHVH came to me, “Son of man, you live in the midst of a house of rebels : they have eyes for seeing but do not see; they have ears for hearing but do not hear; for they are a house of rebels. Because of this, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage in their sight, as an exile does; and go as an exile, to another place, in their sight. Would that they might understand, because they are a house of rebels.”
“You will gather your things, an exile’s baggage, by day, to be seen by them; and you will leave in the evening, as for a departure of deportees. While they look on, dig a hole in the wall and leave from there. As they look on, shoulder your baggage and leave in the dark. Veil your face and do not look at the land, for I have made you a sign for Israel.”
I did as I was ordered, gathering my things by day, an exile’s baggage, and, in the evening, I made a hole in the wall with my hand. I left in the dark, in their presence, shouldering my baggage. In the morning, the word of YHVH came to me : “Son of man, did not the Israelites, these rebels, ask you, ‘What are you doing there?’ Answer them on behalf of YHVH : This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites remaining in the city.”
“Say, ‘I am a sign for you,’ for what I have done will happen to them : They will be deported, exiled. The prince among them shall shoulder his baggage in the dark and depart. They will dig a hole in the wall to let him leave by it. He will cover his face because he must not see the land with his eyes.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 