Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 144 : 10-11, 12-13ab, 21
All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.
That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.
Let my mouth speak in praise of the Lord, let every creature bless His holy Name, forever and ever.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 14 : 19-28
Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and turned the people against Paul and Barnabas. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, leaving him for dead. But when his disciples gathered around him, he stood up and returned to the town. And the next day he left for Derbe with Barnabas.
After proclaiming the Gospel in that town and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and on to Antioch. They were strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain firm in the faith, for they said, “We must go through many trials to enter the Kingdom of God.”
In each Church they appointed elders and, after praying and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in Whom they had placed their faith. Then they travelled through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. They preached the Word in Perga and went down to Attalia. From there they sailed back to Antioch, where they had first been commended to God’s grace for the task they had now completed.
On their arrival they gathered the Church together and told them all that God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the non-Jews. They spent a fairly long time there with the disciples.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded of several very important things through the readings of the Sacred Scriptures that we must heed as we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, called to repentance from our many sins and wickedness, and reminded to return to the Lord, our most loving God, Who alone can heal us from our fallen state, our troubled and corrupted beings, because of the corruption and the wickedness caused by our many sins. Through the story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian from the Old Testament to the story of how the Lord Jesus was rejected in His own hometown of Nazareth in the Gospels, we are all reminded that we should put our trust in the Lord and not in the ways of the world, many of which may lead us astray and down the wrong path in life.
As mentioned, in our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Kings of Israel and Judah the story of how Naaman, a great and respected general of the Kingdom of Aram-Damascus, was afflicted with the terrible leprosy disease that was not yet easily curable at that time. That disease made one to be shunned and rejected from the community, and that must have been a really terrible blow for such a high-ranking and well-respected man. Then, we heard how Naaman came to the land of Israel hearing that there was a prophet there, the prophet Elisha, who was renowned for his many miracles and good works in ministering to the Israelites, showing God’s power and miracles to them. Naaman went to Elisha with the hope that the man of God could heal him from his conditions.
Therefore, Elisha told Naaman to go and bathe in the River Jordan seven times and then he would be healed from his leprosy. But we heard how Naaman became angry, expecting that the man of God should have come to him and perform his miracles to him in person, and not to ask him to do such trivial tasks, even arguing that there were better rivers in his own land. This was where Naaman’s servant reminded him that such a task was not really difficult to do, and if Naaman really wanted to be healed, then he should have just listened to Elisha and do ask he was asked to do. We heard how Naaman obeyed eventually and was therefore healed from his afflictions, and was restored to good health through his obedience and faith in God.
In what we have heard from our first reading today, we can see clearly how the Lord loved all of His people, including even the people who did not belong to the nation of Israel. The Aramaeans were enemies of the Israelites for much of their existence, and yet, God showed His mercy, love and healing for one of their most renowned generals. Naaman was also a representation of all of us, who are sinners and unworthy of God, and yet, through His most wonderful and generous mercy, love and compassion, Naaman was healed and therefore in the same way, all of us can and will be healed as well, as long as we allow ourselves to be healed by the Lord, healed from the taint and corruption of our many sins and wickedness, which have caused us to be separated from God and His love.
And that leprosy is a representation of our sins, which are also akin to the disease in how they afflict us. Unlike leprosy, which can ultimately still be cured by earthly means, only the Lord alone can heal us from our sins, by His forgiveness and mercy. Through God’s forgiveness and grace, we will once again be in His favour, reconciled to Him, while having those sins cleared and forgiven from us. We will therefore no longer suffer the consequences of those sins which we have committed, and we will once again be filled with God’s grace, and reassured of His salvation and eternal life. All these can only happen if we allow ourselves and are open to the mercy and kindness of God that He has shown to all of us, just as He has shown it to Naaman who listened to Him and obeyed His commands through the prophet Elisha.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Luke in which as mentioned, the story of the moment when Jesus was rejected in His own hometown of Nazareth, as the people there refused to believe in what the Lord had said and proclaimed, simply because they judged Him and thought that they knew Who He truly was, the Son of a lowly village carpenter, that is His foster-father St. Joseph. The people of Nazareth hardened their hearts and minds against the Lord and rejected Him, in contrast to how the attitude of Naaman, the Syrian general had been. This was highlighted by the Lord Himself, Who said that prophets were never respected and honoured in their own lands, and gave the example of Naaman himself, who believed in God and was healed by the prophet Elisha, while so many others in the land of Israel refused to believe in Elisha and even persecuted the man of God.
This is a reminder for all of us that once again, God’s healing, mercy and forgiveness are shared and offered freely to everyone. He did not discriminate by the origins or backgrounds of the people, because ultimately, all of mankind, all of us are His beloved children and people. He called some earlier than others, like Abraham and his descendants, the Israelites, but ultimately God desired to call everyone to His Presence and to save all of them without exception. This is why the Lord was making that point about how even foreigners and pagans were receiving God’s grace and salvation because they believed, while the people who were supposed to be called first and were faithful, were actually the ones who rejected the love and mercy of God. This is a reminder that we should not be prideful and haughty, and we must not think that we are in any way better or more worthy than others around us, and less still to discriminate against others.
The Church celebrates the Feast of St. Casimir today, and on his feast day all of us are reminded of the exemplary faith and life of this dedicated man of God, so that hopefully we may also follow his good examples in our own lives. St. Casimir was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and at one time was the heir apparent to the thrones of both realms although he eventually did not succeed to both as he passed away quite early in his life. St. Casimir was renowned for his great piety and care for the less fortunate, for the needy and the sick throughout the kingdom despite his relatively young age. He lived his life humbly and with great devotion to God, and showed his piety and concern for the poor through charity and almsgiving.
The life of St. Casimir, while it might be a relatively short one compared to many others, is a great example and inspiration to many of us, as he showed all of us and many others during his time, his contemporaries how to live as true and genuine Christians, in doing God’s will, obeying His Law and commandments, in showing love for Him first and foremost while also showing great love and compassion for his fellow brethren at the same time, particularly those who were less fortunate and unloved. This is why today, I hope that his examples and inspirations can also serve as a good model for all of us to follow so that in whatever we say and do, in all of our actions and deeds, in our every interactions, we may truly be good examples for everyone.
May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to empower us all to live ever more faithfully as His disciples and followers, doing the best we can to proclaim His glory and to serve Him most faithfully at all times. May He bless us and strengthen us that we may continue to persevere in faith and remain firm in our commitments to Him, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 4 : 24-30
At that time, Jesus said to the people of Nazareth, “No prophet is honoured in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet; and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”
On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought Him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went His way.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 41 : 2, 3 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?
Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.
Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
2 Kings 5 : 1-15a
Naaman was the army commander of the king of Aram. This man was highly regarded and enjoyed the king’s favour, for YHVH had helped him lead the army of the Arameans to victory. But this valiant man was sick with leprosy.
One day some Aramean soldiers raided the land of Israel and took a young girl captive who became a servant to the wife of Naaman. She said to her mistress, “If my master would only present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went to tell the king what the young Israelite maidservant had said. The king of Aram said to him, “Go to the prophet, and I shall also send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman went and took with him ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces and ten festal garments.
On his arrival, he delivered the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I present my servant Naaman to you that you may heal him of his leprosy. When the king read the letter, he tore his clothes to show his indignation, “I am not God to give life or death. And the king of Aram sends me this man to be healed! You see, he is just looking for an excuse for war.”
Elisha, the man of God, came to know that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, so he sent this message to him : “Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stopped before the house of Elisha. Elisha then sent a messenger to tell him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash seven times, and your flesh shall be as it was before, and you shall be cleansed.”
Naaman was angry, so he went away. He thought, “On my arrival, he should have personally come out, and then paused and called on the Name of YHVH, his God. And he should have touched with his hand the infected part, and I would have been healed. Are the rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar not better than all the rivers of the land of Israel? Could I not wash there to be healed?”
His servants approached him and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had ordered you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? But how much easier when he said : ‘Take a bath and you will be cleansed.’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan where he washed himself seven times as Elisha had ordered. His skin became soft like that of a child and he was cleansed.
Then Naaman returned to the man of God with all his men.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this day we are all reminded that we should indeed free ourselves from the dominion and bondage of sins and evils, wickedness and all the temptations present all around us, all of which can become very serious obstacles that prevent us from truly attaining righteousness and grace in God. We are reminded of the need for all of us to remove from ourselves all the corruptions of sin, and all the attachments to those sins which had led to so many of us falling into the path of sin all these while. And God has always been full of kindness, mercy and compassion towards us, which is something that we really need to appreciate and be thankful for, as if not for the Lord, we would have been damned, crushed and destroyed because of our many sins and wickedness.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord spoke to His people in the southern kingdom of Judah about the matter of the repentance of the people from their many sins and wickedness, from their rebellions and disobedience, all of which had caused them to endure trials and sufferings, difficulties and humiliations because of their enemies and all those who had gone into conflict with them. At that time, the prophet Isaiah was sent to the kingdom of Judah when their northern neighbour, the kingdom of Israel that ruled over most of the ten out of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, had been subjugated, destroyed and conquered by the mighty Assyrian Empire.
That same kingdom of Israel had persecuted countless prophets and messengers of the Lord that had been sent to them in order to remind them and to help and guide them all back towards God. Despite this, the Lord still patiently reached out to all of the people, His beloved ones whom He wanted to be reconciled with. Yet, they still remained stubborn and chose to do things in their own way rather than to put their trust and faith in the Lord. The people chose to worship the pagan idols and the false gods rather than to believe in the Lord Who has delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, blessed and protected them throughout their whole journey from Egypt through the desert, defended them from their enemies and made them prosper.
Hence, that was why they ended up in their downfall, as they continued to put their trust in their own strength and their own power, in their false idols and all their worldly power and glory rather than to listen to God. They allowed their pride, ego, ambition and desires to be stumbling blocks and obstacles in the path of their return towards the Lord. This was why the Lord sent Isaiah amidst His people to remind them to turn away from this foolish path, which was also affecting the people of Judah, so that they would not end up facing the same fate of destruction and hardships. Those who lived in the northern kingdom were not humiliated just because they have lost their kingdom and nation, but also because many among them were forcefully brought out of their lands and exiled in the lands of Assyria, scattered in far and distant places, while pagans and foreigners were brought in to dwell in the lands which the Israelites had lived in earlier. Something like this unfortunate fate will be ours as well, if we fail to believe in the Lord and keep our faith in Him.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord calling to Levi, the tax collector, in which He gained a new and close follower and confidant, as Levi willingly left behind everything that he had in order to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. The Lord had come and saw Levi at his tax collector’s booth, and He called on the latter, knowing the faith which this man had for God, and all the great things which he would do later on for the sake of God, His glory and His people. At that time, many of the people, especially among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, they had a rather negative view and strong prejudice against the tax collectors, whom they considered as wicked, unworthy of God and sinful, because of their actions and work in collecting the taxes on behalf of the Roman overlords and also that of the local kings and rulers like the Herodians.
Hence, this prejudice led to the tax collectors being persecuted and ostracised from the general community, as they were generally disliked and even hated because of the work they carried out, and some even considered them as traitors to the people for having colluded and worked with those who conquered the lands and the nation of the Israelites. Yet, this led to those same Pharisees and the teachers of the Law commonly having a self-righteous and selfish personality, in thinking that they were superior, better and more worthy than those whom they deemed to be inferior, sinners, corrupt and wicked, like the tax collectors and prostitutes. Nonetheless, the Lord called one of His Twelve Apostles from among these tax collectors, recognising that such prejudice was nonsense.
In fact, as the Lord Himself mentioned elsewhere, that the tax collectors and the prostitutes were closer to the Lord and His salvation than the self-righteous and arrogant Pharisees as the former were aware and repentant over their sins and wickedness, and desired to seek the Lord for forgiveness and for reconciliation with Him, and through God’s generous mercy and love, they were all indeed forgiven and empowered to live and enter into a new life blessed by Him. But the latter persisted in their sins because they were too proud and haughty to realise and recognise their errors and mistakes, and thus, continuing to persist in their waywardness and lack of true and genuine faith in the Lord. This is a reminder for all of us that we ourselves have to be humble and willing to listen to God, and get rid from ourselves all pride, haughty and self-righteous attitudes.
Today, the Church also celebrates the occasion of the Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These seven Holy Founders of the Servites, namely Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta, all of whom were men from the city of Florence that were called by the Lord and they all bound themselves in strong and lasting spiritual friendship that eventually became the foundation of the Servite Order, in their strong faith in the Lord as well as in the intense devotion which they all had for the Blessed Mother of God. All of them led holy and devout lives, committed wholly to God, and they all became great source of inspiration for their fellow men and women, many of whom were drawn to follow their examples as well.
Through the examples shown by those holy men of God, the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, all of us are shown what it truly means for us to be genuine and faithful Christians in all things, in all that we say and do, and at all opportunities. We should be inspired by their good role models and examples, their actions and deeds in doing what God had told and commanded them all to do. Let us all be the worthy and faithful bearers of God’s light and truth, His Good News and His teachings, so that like Levi, who would later be known as St. Matthew the Apostle, a great evangelist and servant of God, and like the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, we too may live our lives in each and every moments ever more faithfully and that we may draw ever closer to God.
May God be with us always and may He continue to guide and strengthen us in the path which we are walking in, in doing what is right according to His teachings, ways and to our Christian beliefs and faith. May God bless our every good efforts, endeavours and our faithful observances and actions in this blessed penitential season of Lent, so that we may continue to do what God had entrusted to us to do, and be ever more worthy and faithful, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 5 : 27-32
At that time, after Jesus healed a paralytic man, He went out, and noticing a tax collector named Levi, sitting in the tax office, He said to him, “Follow Me!” So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus.
Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house, and took their places at the table with the other people. Then the Pharisees and their followers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it, that you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. I have not come to call the just, but sinners, to a change of heart.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 85 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Listen, o YHVH, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy. Preserve my life, for I am God-fearing; save Your servant who trusts in You.
Have mercy on me, o YHVH, for I cry to You all day. Bring joy to the soul of Your servant; for You, o YHVH, I lift up my soul.
You are good and forgiving, o YHVH, caring for those who call on You. Listen, o YHVH, to my prayer, hear the voice of my pleading.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 58 : 9b-14
If you remove from your midst the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word. If you share your food with the hungry and give relief to the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark, your night will be like noon.
YHVH will guide you always and give you relief in desert places. He will strengthen your bones; He will make you as a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fall. Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, the age-old foundations will be raised. You will be called the Breach-mender, and the Restorer of ruined houses.
If you stop profaning the Sabbath and doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the Sabbath a day of delight and keep sacred YHVH’s holy day, if you honour it by not going your own way, not doing as you please and not speaking with malice, then you will find happiness in YHVH, over the heights you will ride triumphantly, and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of YHVH has spoken.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 