holy priests

by

Monday, 9 September 2019 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Luke 6 : 6-11

At that time, on another Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and began teaching. There was a man with a paralysed right hand, and the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees watched Him : Would Jesus heal the man on the Sabbath? If He did, they could accuse Him.

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to the man, “Get up, and stand in the middle.” Then He spoke to them, “I want to ask you : what is allowed by the Law on the Sabbath? To do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And Jesus looked around at them all.

Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored, becoming as healthy as the other. But they were furious, and began to discuss with one another how they could deal with Jesus.

by

Monday, 9 September 2019 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 61 : 6-7, 9

Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him, comes my hope. He alone, is my Rock and my Salvation; with Him as my Stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is our refuge.

by

Monday, 9 September 2019 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Colossians 1 : 24 – Colossians 2 : 3

At present, I rejoice when I suffer for you; I complete, in my own flesh, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the Church. For I am serving the Church since God entrusted to me the ministry to make the word of God fully known.

I mean that mysterious plan that, for centuries and generations, remained secret, and which God has now revealed to His holy ones. God willed to make known to them the riches, and even the glory, that His mysterious plan reserved for the pagan nations : Christ is in you, the hope for glory.

This Christ, we preach. We warn, and teach everyone true wisdom, aiming to make everyone perfect, in Christ. For this cause I labour and struggle, with the energy of Christ working powerfully in me. I want you to know how I strive for you, for those of Laodicea, and for so many who have not met me personally.

I pray, that all may be encouraged. May you be established in love, that you may obtain all the riches of a full understanding, and know the mystery of God, Christ Himself. For, in Him, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

by

Monday, 19 August 2019 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words of the Scripture speaking to us on the matter of following God and obeying His will despite the challenges and temptations that we may face throughout our lives. We heard from the Book of Judges as our first reading passage today how God’s people Israel had disobeyed Him and refused to listen to Him after their leaders had passed on, forgetting all that God had done for their sake.

They worshipped and served other gods, the pagan gods whom their forefathers have crushed and destroyed when they came to occupy the land God had given to them. They were swayed by all those false gods and idols, and were not faithful to the promises which their ancestors had made to the Lord as part of their Covenant. The people chose to follow their own desires and embracing the temptations present in this world rather than being faithful to God.

As a result, the Lord allowed their enemies and those who still stayed in the land with them, the pagans around them to rule over them and dominate them, bringing about hardships and challenges for the Israelites. It was not that God did not love His people by doing what He had done, but rather He loved them so much that He wanted to remind them and bring them into line, just like a father disciplining his children who went wayward.

In the same passage then, God sent many of His servants to the midst of His people, those whom He called to be the leaders and guides for the whole nation as He called them to repent from their sins and disobedience. Those were the Judges of Israel, who helped the people of God to rediscover their faith and to lead them back from the path of sin, freeing them at the same time from all those who persecuted them as a sign of God’s providence and faithfulness to His Covenant.

Yet, it was mentioned how every time the Judges passed on, the Israelites fell back again into their old ways, disobeying God and worshipping the pagan idols, disregarding the laws and commandments that God had put in place for them. They were not able to commit themselves to the Lord and His Covenant, and as a result, God had to sent many Judges, again and again to keep them in line, just as how He would also send prophets after prophets later on to remind His people to be faithful.

What we have heard in this first reading passage today is actually linked to what we have also heard in our Gospel passage today, when a man came to approach the Lord Jesus asking how he could receive the grace of eternal life. He said to the Lord how he has obeyed all the commandments and rules in accordance to the laws of Moses. The Lord praised him for what he has done, but then when He asked him to leave everything he had and give them to the poor and the needy, he could not do it and left in sorrow.

What the Lord wanted to show us all through this encounter is not that all of us have to abandon all worldly things and goods as what He has told the man to do, but rather, if we want to be truly faithful to God, then we must not let all those things to distract us and to prevent us from loving Him and dedicating ourselves to Him with all of our hearts and with all of our strength. The people of Israel as described in our first reading today continued to fall into their sinful ways because they did not truly love God with all of their hearts, and they kept on being distracted and tempted as a result.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. John Eudes, a famous and pious saint whose life can be inspiration for us to follow in how we should live our lives with faith that we will not end up falling again and again into sin. St. John Eudes was a French priest who was remembered for his great love and particular devotion to the Lord, especially to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. He performed numerous good works among the people, ministering to them and preaching in their midst, inspiring many to embrace God’s love and holiness.

He established religious orders and congregations for the benefit of the faithful, and in one particular case having seen how many prostitutes had difficulties when they wanted to escape such a destitute condition, and hence St. John Eudes founded a religious order as a refuge for those prostitutes who escaped their previous wicked lives and turned to God. He dedicated his life to serve the people of God and by being faithful and exemplary in all the things he did in his life with faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, now, are we able to follow in the footsteps of St. John Eudes? As Christians, all of us are called to live up to our calling as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen from this world, to be His own. Let us all grow in faith and love the Lord ever more wholeheartedly from now on, embracing the most generous love and compassion which He has constantly shown us all these while.

May the Lord continue to guide us all, and may He continue to empower us all to live ever more worthily in His presence from now on, and strengthened by the Holy Spirit God has given us, may all of us be more committed to the Covenant which God had made with us all, now and always. Amen.

by

Monday, 19 August 2019 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 19 : 16-22

At that time, it was then, that a young man approached Him and asked, “Master, what good work must I do to receive eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Why do you ask Me about what is good? One, only, is good. If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments.”

The young man said, “Which commandments?” Jesus replied, “Do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honour your father and mother. And love your neighbour as yourself.” The young man said to Him, “I have kept all these commandments. What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell all that you possess, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come back and follow Me.” On hearing this, the young man went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.

by

Monday, 19 August 2019 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Psalm 105 : 34-35, 36-37, 39-40, 43ab and 44

They dared not destroy the pagans, as YHVH commanded; they mingled with these nations and learnt to do as they did.

In serving the idols of the pagans, they were trapped into sacrificing children to demons.

They defiled themselves by what they did, playing the harlot in their worship. The anger of YHVH grew intense and He abhorred His inheritance.

He delivered them many a time, but they went on defying Him and sinking deeper into their sin. But He heard their cry of affliction and looked on them with compassion.

by

Monday, 19 August 2019 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Eudes, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Judges 2 : 11-19

The Israelites treated YHVH badly for they served the Baals instead. They abandoned YHVH, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt, and served other gods, the gods of the neighbouring peoples. They bowed before those gods and offended YHVH.

When YHVH saw that they had abandoned Him to serve Baal and Ashtaroth, He became angry with His people and gave them into the hands of plunderers who left them in misery. He Himself sold them to their enemies who completely surrounded the Israelites, so that these Israelites could no longer withstand them. Whenever they felt strong for an offensive, YHVH would turn against them and send evil upon them, as He had warned them and sworn to do. And this caused much distress and anguish for the Israelites.

YHVH raised up “judges” (or liberators) who saved the Israelites from their exploiters. But neither did they obey those “judges” for they still prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them. They soon left the way of their fathers who obeyed the commandments of YHVH; they did not follow the way of their fathers.

When YHVH made a judge appear among His people, YHVH was with him and saved them from their enemies. That lasted as long as the judge lived, for YHVH was moved to pity by the lament of His people who were oppressed and persecuted. But when the judge died, they again became worse than their ancestors – worshipping and serving other gods. They would not renounce their pagan practices and stubborn ways.

by

Wednesday, 14 August 2019 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the feast of one of the most renowned saints of our modern day era, one whom we may be quite familiar with, the saint of the World War II era and the NAZI Holocaust, namely St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest and martyr, who gave his life for a very noble cause, imitating the very love which God has given to all of us His beloved ones.

St. Maximilian Kolbe was a conventual Franciscan friar and priest who worked as a missionary for many years in the East, in Japan and other places such as India, where he was known for his zeal and piety, his contributions to the Church and its development in the mission regions, by the establishment of the Militia Immaculatae or the Army of the Immaculate One in his early years as a friar and then priest, through his personal strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to counter the many works of the devil and the opponents of the Church.

St. Maximilian Kolbe served the Lord faithfully for many years and dedicated his life to bring about the greater glory of God and the salvation of His people. He returned to Poland where he was born in, and continued to serve the Church afterwards in the years just immediately preceding the Second World War. He stayed on when the forces of NAZI Germany overran the entire nation of Poland and beyond.

Eventually, his opposition to the NAZI regime and constant passive resistance through the publications and works his monastery produced led to him being arrested and brought to the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz. Even there, he continued to serve the people who were in despair and suffering in the worst conditions imaginable in the concentration camp. As a priest and servant of God, he inspired many of the inmates in the camp to remain strong in their faith and in their hope.

And St. Maximilian Kolbe was especially remembered for his courageous and most selfless love, when he offered himself in exchange for another inmate who was about to be executed when an attempt in escaping was foiled. The faithful saint offered himself because the man was in despair over his family that he was to leave behind if he was to be executed. And thus, St. Maximilian Kolbe in fact followed in the example of Christ, in offering himself to suffer for the sake of others.

And through all of these, the good examples of St. Maximilian Kolbe, and the words of the Scripture we heard today, we are all reminded to be exemplary in our lives, living our lives with genuine and strong faith. In our first reading today, we heard the account from the Book of Deuteronomy in which Moses, the one whom God appointed to be the leader of His people Israel in order to rescue them from the tyranny of the Pharaoh and slavery in Egypt finally went to the end of his earthly life at Mount Nebo.

Moses was not able to enter the land promised by God to the children of Israel, although he was allowed to have a glance at the whole land before he died. It was because of the disobedience that Moses performed out of anger, when he did not do as the Lord commanded when the people pressed hard on him and complained against him and God. But regardless of that and besides that unfortunate occasion, Moses was truly a very faithful servant of God, much as St. Maximilian Kolbe had been.

Moses devoted his life to the Lord and tirelessly served God for many, many years, guiding and leading the people of Israel through to the right path, despite their constant bickering, disobedience and stubbornness in refusing to listen to God and His will. He persevered through all of the challenges and remained true to the very end, serving God with all of his heart and with all of his strength, and therefore, now counted as one of the great saints and elders of the faith.

All of us are reminded today therefore to walk in the footsteps of these holy predecessors of ours, Moses, the many other faithful and holy prophets, the holy Apostles, saints and martyrs of all the ages, and St. Maximilian Kolbe, the martyr of our more recent times. We are called to be true Christians in how we live our lives from now on, that just as those saints and martyrs have been faithful in theirs, and reflect the glory and love of God, we too may do the same with our lives.

In the Gospel passage today, the Lord also reminds us that we all have been given responsibilities as members of the Church, the Body of the faithful people of God. In that passage, the Lord exhorted His disciples to take care of one another and pay attention to those who have erred in the practices and beliefs of their faith, and to bring them back to the Lord and to reconcile them with Him in love.

Are we able to what the Lord has commanded us, brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we able to do what our holy predecessors had done? Let us all ask for the intercession of St. Maximilian Kolbe and the holy saints of God, that through their prayers God may give us the strength and courage to live faithfully in His presence, from now on and till the end of time. Amen.

by

Wednesday, 14 August 2019 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Matthew 18 : 15-20

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “If your brother has sinned against you, go and point out the fault to him, when the two of you are alone; and if he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen to you, take with you one or two others, so that the case may be decided by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

“And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembled Church. But if he does not listen to the Church, then regard him as a pagan, or a tax collector. I say to you : whatever you bind on earth, heaven will keep bound; and whatever you unbind on earth, heaven will keep unbound.”

“In like manner, I say to you, if, on earth, two of you agree in asking for anything, it will be granted to you by My heavenly Father; for where two or there are gathered in My Name, I am there, among them.”

by

Wednesday, 14 August 2019 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 65 : 1-3a, 5 and 16-17

Shout with joy to God, all you on earth; sing to the glory of His Name; proclaim His glorious praise. Say to God, “How great are Your deeds!”

Come, and see God’s wonders; His deeds, awesome for humans. All you, who fear God, come, and listen; let me tell you what He has done. I cried aloud to Him, extolling Him with my tongue.