Holy Scriptures

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 17 : 5-10

At that time, the Apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith, even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree, ‘Be uprooted, and plant yourself in the sea!’ And it will obey you.”

“Who among you would say to your servant, coming in from the fields after plowing or tending sheep, ‘Go ahead and have your dinner?’ No, you tell him, ‘Prepare my dinner. Put on your apron, and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink afterwards.'”

“Do you thank this servant for doing what you told him to do? I do not think so. And therefore, when you have done all that you have been told to do, you should say, ‘We are no more than servants; we have only done our duty.'”

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Timothy 1 : 6-8, 13-14

For this reason I invite you to fan into a flame the gift of God you received through the laying on of my hands. For God did not confer on us a spirit of bashfulness, but of strength, love and good judgment. Do not be ashamed of testifying to our Lord, nor of seeing me in chains. On the contrary, do your share in labouring for the Gospel with the strength of God.

Follow the pattern of the sound doctrine which you have heard from me, concerning faith and love in Christ Jesus. Keep this precious deposit with the help of the Holy Spirit Who lives within us.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 94 : 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

Come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful sound to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him giving thanks, with music and songs of praise.

Come and worship; let us bow down, kneel before the Lord, our Maker. He is our God, and we His people; the flock He leads and pastures. Would that today you heard His voice!

Do not be stubborn, as at Meribah, in the desert, on that day at Massah, when your ancestors challenged Me, and they put Me to the test.

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Sunday, 2 October 2016 : 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Habakkuk 1 : 2-3 and Habakkuk 2 : 2-4

YHVH, how long will I cry for help while You pay no attention to me? I denounce the oppression and You do not save. Why do You make me see injustice? Are You pleased to look on tyranny? All I see is outrage, violence and quarrels.

Then YHVH answered me and said, “Write down the vision, inscribe it on tables so it can be easily read, since this is a vision for an appointed time; it will not fail but will be fulfilled in due time. If it delays, wait for it, for it will come and will not be deferred.”

“Look : I do not look with favour on the one who gives way; the upright, on the other hand, will live by his faithfulness.”

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Saturday, 1 October 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of a great saint, the Patroness of Missions and a Doctor of the Church. St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also known as St. Therese of Lisieux was a great woman, very devoted to God in her prayers and devotions, and in her many works and writings, she displayed exemplary faith and commitment which became inspiration to many others who also therefore walked in her path.

St. Therese of Lisieux was a Discalced Carmelite nun, who joined the religious life from early in her youth, desiring a life wholly dedicated to the Lord. She managed to enter the religious life early at the age of fifteen despite many obstacles and difficulties in her path at that time. She was often sickly and weak in her youth, and throughout her convent life, she was still also often bedridden and sick, but these did not dampen her bright spiritual devotion to the Lord.

The sufferings she went through were painful, but on one occasion in her life, she experienced a total conversion and change, a moment of revelation from the Lord, when she was able to overcome the obstacles and obstructions of her physical and mental state, and which would govern her way of life, thinking and action from then on. She grew ever stronger in her devotion to God, and spending many hours each day in prayer and in deep communication with Him.

She lived her life in obedience to God and to her spiritual and religious superiors, writing her experiences and visions, and discussing many aspects of the faith in her works. Many of these still inspire many people even to this day. And most famous of her works and thoughts is the ‘Little Way’ which she propagated and promoted as the way to achieve the salvation in the Lord. As such she was also known as the Little Flower of Carmel.

This little way has many meanings and aspects, brothers and sisters in Christ, but essentially, it is when we use our every actions and little, small acts in life to be showcase of our love, devotion and commitment to the Lord. It is not by great strides and mighty, proud deeds that we mankind will reach to the Lord, for all these instead will tend to cause our downfall through pride and hubris. Rather, the little way of St. Therese of Lisieux encouraged us to become smaller, humbler and like that of a child in the sight and presence of our God.

This is exactly what Jesus our Lord Himself spoke to His disciples in our Gospel passage today. We are quite familiar with that passage, as we should know that God welcomes children to His presence, and on that occasion, He chided them and rebuked them for quarrelling and disagreeing with one another just over the matter of who would be the most important in the kingdom of Heaven.

That is one of our humanity’s weakness, brethren, that we often succumb to our human and worldly desires, to the temptations of power, riches, fame and greatness or glory in this world. We bicker and fight over even the smallest of things, and we often desire what others have, be it position, honour, or appreciation from others around us.

That is why many of us have not been truly faithful to the Lord, and that is why even many Christians committed many sinful deeds that are unbecoming of them. They were unable to detach themselves from the many persuasions and temptations of the world that the devil is putting on our path, in order to make us stumble and fall into sin.

Ultimately, let us all reflect on our own actions. If we have been spending so much time thinking, worrying and trying to obtain more worldly goods, power, fame, influence and all the others for ourselves, let us then ask ourselves, what is the point of all that? If we die tomorrow, if God wills it, then none of these will be carried with us into the afterlife to come. Rich or poor, strong or weak, famous or unknown, all are equal before God, and all will be judged based on their actions or lack of actions.

If our preoccupation with all those things that distract us from the Lord and His ways have made us to ignore and abandon the plights of the weak, the needy and the poor or worse, if we have even manipulated these and made them suffer in our pursuit of worldliness, then we truly need to change our ways. And the best way is to follow the little way of St. Therese of Lisieux, the advice of our Lord Jesus, making ourselves as small as possible, like that of a child.

What does it mean? It means that rather than being swallowed by our ego and pride, we should be like a child in our faith, innocent and true, and just as a child will believe completely and strongly in something that he or she believes, we too should be pure and total in our dedication to the Lord, and not be distracted by the many concerns of the world surrounding us.

May the examples of St. Therese of Lisieux be our inspiration and guide, and may God help us in our effort to reach out to Him and to His salvation. May we all die to our greed and desires, and be reborn in our renewed faith and dedication to the Lord, that we may finally leave the temptations and the pleasures of this world aside, and commit ourselves wholly to the Lord our God. Amen.

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Saturday, 1 October 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 18 : 1-5

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the midst of the disciples, and said, “I assure you that, unless you change and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever receives such a child in My Name receives Me.”

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Saturday, 1 October 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 131 : 1-3

Remember David, o Lord, and all his readiness, how he swore an oath to the Lord, to the Mighty One of Jacob. I will not enter my house nor get into my bed.

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Saturday, 1 October 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Missions (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 66 : 10-14

Rejoice for Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her. Be glad with her, rejoice with her, all you who were in grief over her, that you may suck of the milk from her comforting breasts, that you may drink deeply from the abundance of her glory.

For this is what YHVH says : I will send her peace, overflowing like a river, and the nations’ wealth, rushing like a torrent towards her. And you will be nursed and carried on her arms and fondled upon her lap. As a son comforted by his mother, so will I comfort you.

At the sight of this, your heart will rejoice; like grass, your bones will flourish. For it shall be known that YHVH’s hand is with His servant, but His fury is upon His enemy.

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Friday, 30 September 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today from the Holy Scriptures we have received the message that each and every one of us ought to be serious and sincere in our faith and devotion to the Lord, and not to be lukewarm and ignorant as what the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum had done. These were the cities in the region of Galilee where Jesus did most of His works and ministries in, healing people from their diseases and performing many other miracles among them.

And yet, these people found it difficult in themselves to believe in what Jesus had come to say to them. They were adamant in their lack of faith in Jesus, and in true commitment to His ways, as many of them came to follow Him because of what they saw in Him, as a miracle worker and wonder bearer, Who was able to made them to be awed and satisfied, but yet, when difficult times came, they abandoned Him readily and walked away from Him.

God had done so much for our sake, and yet, we often are ignorant of His love. He has blessed us with so many blessings and graces, even to the point of giving to us the greatest of His gifts, that is the gift of His perfect love, in His own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus came into this world in order to save it, and to bring forth into the world the truth which He was telling them, that God has come into the world to dwell among His people, and be saved together with His glorious resurrection.

For He had given His all to heal us mankind from our injuries and wounds, He had voluntarily given up Himself to be the One to bear the burden of our sins, disobedience, wickedness, all of which should have led us to be punished and to fall into eternal damnation. Instead, He had decided to willingly bear those burdens upon themselves, that we may survive and not perish, and that all those who have accepted their salvation in God may find the way to be reunited with Him in eternal life.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, all of us are called to reflect on our own lives, and see what we have done thus far in order to be a true and good Christian, for each and every one of us. Have we been truly devoted and be committed to Him in our own way of life? Have our actions show love, care and concern for our brethren just as Jesus Himself had cared for us and loved us?

It is important that we should heed the examples of the holy saints and all those who have committed themselves to the Lord, that we know the path that we ought to undertake in order to proceed forward towards the Lord. These people have tried their best to make use of whatever God had given them and blessed them with, and use these for the benefit of their brethren.

St. Jerome was a great saint of the Western Christendom, who lived at the time of the Roman Empire after the Christian faith had been legalised in its existence, and the faith itself was spreading very rapidly among the people. St. Jerome was a convert to the faith, who then came to embrace the calling which God had made for him, following the Lord with all of his heart and effort as a priest and as a monk, who worked hard to evangelise to the people of God, particularly through his many writings.

He wrote extensively on many matters regarding the faith, and was most renowned through his work on the translation of the Greek Septuagint Bible into the Latin Vulgate Bible. As many of the people in the western part of Christendom did not speak or read Greek, the translation was crucial in providing the basis from which the word of God in the Sacred Scriptures were then on accessible to the people of God through the Church.

From his contributions, many souls have received the word of God, understood what God’s intentions were for them, and many of these have repented their sins and left behind their old ways of worldliness, greed, hatred and wickedness. They have therefore been saved through the good works of St. Jerome and his many successors, all those who have devoted themselves and their lives as true and genuine Christians.

We too, brothers and sisters in Christ, are able to do the same. Indeed, we have been given the same gifts as those that God had given His holy saints. But now the choice and the decision lie in our hands alone, whether we want to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others, by doing what God had commanded us to do, by giving ourselves to the cause of the Lord through our dedication to help His Church and by generously giving to our brethren in need.

May God help us in our endeavours, as well as in our journey to become ever closer to Him, that we all may draw ever more righteousness and justice from our deep and personal relationship with our God. May St. Jerome and the many other holy saints of our God pray for us all, that each and every one of us may be saved and may find righteousness and justice in the presence of God. Amen.

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Friday, 30 September 2016 : 26th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 10 : 13-16

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! So many miracles have been worked in you! If the same miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would already be sitting in ashes and wearing the sackcloth of repentance.”

“Surely for Tyre and Sidon it will be better on the Day of Judgment than for you. And what of you, city of Capernaum? Will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be thrown down to the place of the dead. Whoever listens to you listens to Me, and whoever rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me, rejects the One Who sent Me.”