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Wednesday, 11 August 2021 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all called to remember our duties as Christians, to be wholeheartedly faithful to the Lord in all things. We are all called to be genuine in our faith and devotion to God, and to seek harmony and peace among us all, as members of the same Body of Christ, the Church of God.

In our first reading today we heard the account of the passing of Moses, God’s most faithful servant who was sent to the people of Israel in order to lead them out from the land of Egypt and into the land of their ancestors, the lands promised to them as the descendants of Jacob, or Israel. Moses had faithfully led the people of Israel for the entire forty years of their Exodus through the desert, enduring much sorrow and sufferings from all the stubbornness and rebelliousness of the Israelites, who repeatedly disobeyed the Lord again and again.

It was Moses who repeatedly brought peace and reconciliation to the people of God, calling on them to turn away from their sins and wickedness, to abandon their rebelliousness and stubborn attitude, and be reconciled with God, their loving Lord and Master. Moses pleaded before God not just once, but many times, to spare the Israelites when their waywardness led them to abandon the Lord and committed sins and evil deeds in God’s sight.

Moses made peace between God and His people, and exhorted the people to remain faithful to the Lord, and to be committed to the Law and the commandments of God. He reminded the people, both young and old, of the need to obey and trust in the Lord, and this is the same reminder that the Lord then told to all the people as we heard it in our Gospel passage today, when the Lord told all of them to seek peace with one another and then with God, to be reconciled in love and peace, to be forgiven their sins and trespasses.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord, we are all called to contemplate on our lives and our attitudes, on whether we have truly been faithful to Him all these while. Have we lived our lives in disobedience against God by our refusal to follow His Law and commandments? Have we allowed the temptations of our desires and the allures of worldly pleasures to misguide and mislead us down the wrong path in life, as they had done to the Israelites?

That is why today we are all called to reflect on all these, and think of how we can better live our lives that we may truly be faithful to the Lord in all things and at all times as we should. And perhaps we should also model ourselves on the inspiration and examples of the saints, one of whom whose feast day we celebrate today is a great example to follow. St. Clare of Assisi was a renowned saint and devout servant of God, who committed herself and her life thoroughly to a life dedicated to God.

At that time, St. Clare was one of the first followers of St. Francis of Assisi, as a member of the associates of the Franciscans, as she founded the Order of Poor Ladies, the female counterpart of the Franciscan order established by St. Francis of Assisi, committed to the same principles and ideals of St. Francis, and dedicating themselves to the Lord and leading a holy and virtuous life. St. Clare has been pious since early in her life, and when she gave herself fully to the Lord, she had no hesitation, embracing together with other women, a life of poverty and charity, and dedication to God.

St. Clare then became the Abbess of the monastery of San Damiano, in charge of the other religious sisters who have committed themselves to the life and the way of St. Francis. She showed exemplary leadership and faith, and inspired her fellow sisters and others by her dedication to God. And in a miraculous event often remembered about her, St. Clare defended her monastery through the Blessed Sacrament when a rogue army of the Holy Roman Emperor attacked the town of Assisi and the convent where St. Clare lived in. She prayed before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and as the soldiers came in, she lifted the Blessed Sacrament up, and it was told that great light came forth, blinding and making the soldiers to flee in fear.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, having listened to the story of St. Clare, all of us should learn to commit ourselves to the Lord in the same manner as well. We are all called to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, and we should turn towards Him with genuine faith and dedication, from now on. Let us all seek the Lord with ever greater zeal and desire to love Him and to serve Him to the best of our abilities. And may the Lord bless us all and keep us in His love, and may He guide us through the challenges and persevere through this journey of our faith in life. Amen.

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Wednesday, 11 August 2021 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

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.”

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Wednesday, 11 August 2021 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

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.

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Wednesday, 11 August 2021 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Deuteronomy 34 : 1-12

From the barren plain of Moab, Moses went up to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. And YHVH showed him all the Land : from Gilead to Dan, the whole of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, the whole land of Judah, as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, the Plains, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

And YHVH said to him : “This is the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, promising it to their descendants. I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not enter it.”

Moses, the servant of God, died there in the land of Moab, according to the will of YHVH. They buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but to this very day, no one knows where his tomb is. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. He did not lose his vigour and his eyes still saw clearly.

The children of Israel mourned for him in the plains of Moab for thirty days. But Joshua, son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him. The children of Israel obeyed him and did as YHVH had commanded Moses.

No prophet like Moses has appeared again. YHVH conversed with him face to face. What signs and wonders he worked in Egypt against Pharaoh, against his people and all his land! He displayed great power and awesome might in view of all Israel!

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Friday, 23 July 2021 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today from the passages of the Scriptures that we have received, we have heard how the Lord revealed and passed down His Law to the people of Israel during the time of their Exodus from Egypt, in what we now know well as the Ten Commandments. Then, we also heard from the Gospel passage on the explanations that the Lord gave on His own parable of the sower, as He explained to His disciples what He meant by each of the symbolisms found in that parable.

In our first reading today, we heard of the Lord speaking to Moses on the details of the Commandments which He was giving them, as He made His Covenant anew with them. Those set of Ten Commandments served as the basis and the core of the Law which He gave to His people as the foundation and solid bedrock of faith, and as the guide for them all to follow so that they would not lose their way and remain true to the path that He has shown to them. Those commandments reminded them and also all of us first and foremost, that God is our Lord and Master, and as the One and only One to Whom we ought to give honour and glory, and love with all of our might.

That in essence is the meaning and purpose of the first three Commandments, from the First to the Third one, to love the Lord with all of our heart and with all of our strength, and then to have no other god or idol beside Him, and honouring His Name and His holy day, as God’s beloved people and as those who truly had faith in Him. Then, the other seven Commandments refer to the love that each and every one of us then ought to have for our fellow brothers and sisters, our fellow men and women, all those who we encounter in life, even strangers and acquaintances.

All of these God has given to us so that by our faith and dedication, by our actions and commitments to the Lord, through our righteous deeds, we may grow ever stronger in our love for God, and that the seeds of faith, the Law and Commandments of God, that have been sown in us may grow wonderfully and bountifully on the rich and fertile ‘soil’ that is our souls. This is what the Lord had referred to in our Gospel passage today, as He explained the meaning of the parable of the sower to all of them.

The Lord is reminding all of us just as He reminded His disciples at that time, of the great importance for us to be open to the words of the Lord, to His Law and Commandments being spoken and delivered to us, and placed within our hearts. And we cannot forget that each and every one of us are the recipients of God’s most generous gifts of love, of faith and of hope. He has given us all these so that we may grow ever stronger in our devotion and commitment to the way of the Lord. We have to nurture and cultivate this faith we have, and allow ourselves to be guided by the Lord in walking down this path.

We are all called to resist the temptations of the world, all those things that kept us away from the Lord, from His truth and love, as those seeds that landed by the roadside, amongst the thistles and brambles, and on the rocky grounds had shown us, and which the Lord said that all those cases were due to people having failed to resist the many temptations present in the world, and all the allures and false promises made by the devil that led us further away from the Lord and His salvation. As long as we lack the true faith in the Lord, we shall falter and fail to bear rich fruits in the Lord.

How do we then become fruitful and bountiful in the Lord? It is by internalising and truly understanding the Law of God, His Commandments and all that He had taught us and revealed to us. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law have all claimed to uphold the Law and in zealously defending them and imposing its strict rules and regulations on the people, and yet, they failed to realise how they had not been able to understand the true meaning and intention of the Law, and instead, being enslaved by their own desires and ambitions for power, fame and worldly glory.

Today, all of us are called to follow the examples of one of our holy predecessors in faith, namely that of St. Bridget of Sweden, a holy woman and religious whose faith and commitment to the Lord was truly renowned throughout Christendom. She was remembered for her deep piety and devotion to the Lord, while at the same time, showing great compassion to the poor and the needy, and did her best to establish a congregation of like-minded people, to serve the people of God and care for the poor, those who would eventually be known as the Brigittines, after their founder, the Order of the Most Holy Saviour.

It was told that St. Bridget of Sweden went on several pilgrimages to Rome, the Holy See, caring for others in need along the way, at the time when much of Christendom were suffering from the Black Death pandemic that claimed numerous lives. She led a group of priests and others who went about doing the works of the Lord and His Church in the various communities of the faithful they encountered. It is through all these that we can see what it means to bear rich and bountiful fruits of our Christian faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect therefore on our lives, in how we have walked in the path we have trodden thus far. Let us all be ever more faithful, and be ever more attuned to the Lord’s will, obeying His Law and Commandments, not just for the sake of obeying them, but rather, understanding and appreciating them fully, with all of our strength and might, that we may bear rich spiritual fruits and be ever closer to God. May the Lord strengthen us and give us the courage to follow Him with all of our commitment, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 23 July 2021 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Matthew 13 : 18-23

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Now listen to the parable of the sower. When a person hears the message of the kingdom, but does not take it seriously, the devil comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed that fell along the footpath.”

“The seed that fell on rocky ground stands for the one who hears the word, and accepts it at once with joy. But such a person has no roots, and endures only for a while. No sooner is he harassed or persecuted because of the word, than he gives up.”

“The seed that fell among the thistles is the one who hears the word, but then, the worries of this life and the love of money choke the word; and it does not bear fruit. As for the seed that fell on good soil, it is the one who hears the word and understands it; this seed bears fruit and produces a hundred, or sixty, or thirty times more.”

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Friday, 23 July 2021 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 11

The law of YHVH is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of YHVH is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.

The precepts of YHVH are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of YHVH are clear : they enlighten the eyes.

The fear of YHVH is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of YHVH are true, all of them just and right.

They are more precious than gold – pure gold of a jeweller; they are much sweeter than honey which drops from the honeycomb.

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Friday, 23 July 2021 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bridget of Sweden, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Religious)

Exodus 20 : 1-17

God spoke all these words. He said, “I am YHVH your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Do not have other gods before Me. Do not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”

“For I, YHVH your God, am a jealous God; for the sin of the fathers, when they rebel against Me, I punish the sons, the grandsons and the great-grandsons; but I show steadfast love until the thousandth generation for those who love Me and keep My commandments.”

“Do not take the Name of YHVH your God in vain for YHVH will not leave unpunished anyone who takes His Name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you will labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for YHVH your God.”

“Do not work that day, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals, nor the stranger who is staying with you. For in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested; that is why YHVH has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

“Honour your father and your mother that you may have a long life in the land that YHVH has given you. Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false witness against your neighbour. Do not covet your neighbour’s house. Do not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.”

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Monday, 21 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard the words of the Scripture speaking to us about the story of Abraham, our father in faith and the father of many nations, who was the faithful and dedicated servant of the Lord, as we heard how he embarked on the journey from his homeland and followed the Lord’s call, and leaving everything behind, leading a new life entrusted to the Lord alone. He listened to the Lord and obeyed Him, and for his faith and dedication, God blessed him and made His Covenant with him.

Abraham, then named Abram, put his life in the hands of the Lord, and despite all the wealth and power he had, he allowed the Lord to lead the way for him, and to guide him through the challenges that he would face throughout life. He allowed the Lord to make him into His most worthy servant, that through him and his exemplary actions, he might indeed inspire so many people, many among his own descendants and others to believe in the Lord as well, which includes each and every one of us, who can call Abraham as our father in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the story of Abraham and his faith and dedication to the Lord is a reminder to each and every one of us that as Christians we have to be like our father in faith in the way we carry on our own lives and actions. It means that we should be genuine in how we believe in the Lord and in fully entrusting ourselves to Him, and truly mean what we believe, being wholehearted and sincere in following Him and not being hypocrites as Christians, that is as those who profess to have faith in God.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard the Lord Jesus telling His disciples not to be hypocrites in how they lived their faith, and not to be judgmental towards others, in the sense that they sought to look down on others and glorifying oneself just because they thought that they were better than others, superior or more worthy than their fellow brethren. The Lord told them all that often they failed to realise that the same things that they accused others of wrongdoing, these they themselves had been doing, even without them realising it.

It is therefore important for all of us to recognise that we are all sinners, unworthy and wicked, and we have no right to look down on others or to despise others just because we think that we are in any way better than them. Instead, on the contrary, we should seek our fellow brethren and show concern and care for them. If we see someone who is struggling with their faith and life and who is falling into the path of sin, instead of looking down on them or judging them, we should instead help them and support them, showing them care and concern instead of despising them.

Today we also celebrate the feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, whose faith and commitment to the Lord should be inspiration to all of us in how we should be role model ourselves in living our faith wholeheartedly in the manner that he and the other saints had done, and in how Abraham, our father in faith had done in his life. Today, we are all called to look upon the examples set by this holy member of the Society of Jesus who devoted himself completely to the Lord even since such a young age.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born into a noble family, as the eldest born no less, and he was expected to succeed to his father’s titles and inherit his possessions. However, as he experienced and became exposed to the brutality and wickedness of the society of his time, gradually he turned to the Christian faith and to the life of saints which then slowly began to lead him to walk down a path of commitment to the Lord, abandoning eventually all of his inheritance and status, and joined the Society of Jesus.

He dedicated himself to the Lord and to the ministry of those whom he gave himself, his time and efforts to, such as the sick and the poor, which at that time were particularly affected by a great epidemic spreading in the community. And he kept on doing his best to care for all those people despite himself eventually succumbing to the disease, and dying at a very young age, faithful to the Lord and loving towards his fellow brothers and sisters to the very end.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all be inspired by the examples showed by St. Aloysius Gonzaga that in everything that we say and do, in our every actions in life we will always be exemplary and strive to do our best in loving God, in caring for our fellow brothers and sisters. Let us all trust the Lord more and grow ever deeper in our faith and devotion from now on, that we can become ever more genuine in our Christian faith from now on. May God bless each and every one of us, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 21 June 2021 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 7 : 1-5

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not judge; and you will not be judged. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged; and the measure you use for others will be used for you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, and not see the plank in your own eye?”

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ as long as that plank is in your own? Hypocrite, remove the plank out of your own eye; then, you will see clearly, to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.”