Holy Scriptures

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Friday, 23 September 2016 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Padre Pio, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 3 : 1-11

There is a given time for everything and a time for every happening under heaven : A time for giving birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting. A time for killing, a time for healing; a time for knocking down, a time for building.

A time for tears, a time for laughter, a time for mourning, a time for dancing. A time for throwing stones, a tome for gathering stones; a time for embracing, a time to refrain from embracing. A time for searching, a time for losing; a time for keeping, a time for throwing away. A time for tearing, a time for sewing; a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time for loving, a time for hating; a time for war, a time for peace.

What profit is there for a man from all his toils? Finally I considered the task God gave to the humans. He made everything fitting in its time, but He also set eternity in their hearts, although they are not able to embrace the work of God from the beginning to the end.

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Thursday, 22 September 2016 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listen to the Sacred Scriptures and paying attention to what we have heard from the words of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Psalm and the Gospel according to St. Luke, we can hear a clear theme that speaks volumes about our mortality, and how we understand that reality, and how many of us in this world tend to fear that mortality and death, trying in vain to prevent it from happening.

Let us all spend some time to reflect on this, even as we live our lives in this world. Let us all think at all those times when we mankind tend to spend so much time and opportunities in trying to secure for ourselves a place of honour in this world, trying to attain for ourselves greater glory, honour, praise, fame and all other things which if we realise, have often occupied our minds and efforts for a long time.

How many people spend so much in order to secure for themselves position and wealth in the world, doing things that sometimes even bring harm upon others and themselves, just so that they may have a taste of more of what they wanted and desired for in this world? And some others even used methods that are dishonest and wicked to garner for themselves more of the worldly pleasures they crave for.

These are our shortcomings, brothers and sisters in Christ, the greed that exist inside each one of us, that is always tied to the temptations and persuasions that were designed to distract us and pull us away from the path towards the salvation in God. And that is what Satan is trying to pull on us too, brethren! He is trying very hard to keep us all ignorant and unaware of the reality of our lives, how the pursuit of all these things lead to no benefit at all in the long run.

But all of us who believe in Christ must wake up from all these illusions and falsehoods, and come to realise the truth about ourselves and how we all one day will reach the end of our earthly existence. We must be aware that we are not going to carry on all of our earthly possessions with us when we die, and no matter what we do, our fate is in the hands of the Lord.

Yes, brethren, we mankind may have all the plans that we have made and concocted in this world, but whatever plan it is, it is the Lord’s will that will be triumphant in the end. We will all face the end of our earthly life, and yet we do not know when this will happen, for only the Lord Himself would know exactly when that will come to happen. And He shall call us all back to Him to be judged when He deems it fit for us and it is time for us to face it.

We mankind tend to fear death because many of us do not truly know what death is. We think that death is something to be feared because it brings about uncertainty, hopelessness, despair, and ultimately, separation from all the things that we cared about and desired in this world. It is that selfish desire which lead mankind to fear, and from fear into doing things which are acts and attempts to preserve whatever we have in this world, but eventually, everything is futile without God.

Now let us all ask ourselves, what is the purpose and intention we have for our respective lives? Is it to gather for ourselves earthly treasures or heavenly inheritance instead? It is easy for us to fall into the trap of earthly and worldly desires, as we have that tendency to want and to desire all these worldliness, but if we are able to gather the resolve and resist the temptation, and begin to walk on the path towards our heavenly inheritance in God, we will find our way.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore commit ourselves to this path towards the Lord, abandoning our worldliness and resist the temptations of the devil. May all of us draw ever closer to God, and learn to love Him with all of our heart and minds, focusing all that we have in this life in order to bring greater glory to His Name and not to our own, for we are mere mortal creatures, who live at the will and grace of the Lord our God. Amen.

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Thursday, 22 September 2016 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 9 : 7-9

At that time, king Herod heard of all this, and did not know what to think, for people said, “This is John, raised from the dead.” Others believed that Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets, had come back to life.

As for Herod, he said, “I had John beheaded. Who is this Man, about Whom I hear such wonders?” And he was anxious to see Him.

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Thursday, 22 September 2016 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 89 : 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.

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Thursday, 22 September 2016 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 1 : 2-11

All is meaningless – says the Teacher – meaningless, meaningless! What profit is there for a man in all his work for which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, a generation comes and the earth remains forever. The sun rises, the sun sets, hastening towards the place where it again rises.

Blowing to the south, turning to the north, the wind goes round and round and after all its rounds it has to blow again. All rivers go to the sea but the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers come from, there they return again. All words became weary and speech comes to an end, but the eye has never seen enough nor the ear heard too much.

What has happened before will happen again; what has been done before will be done again : there is nothing new under the sun. If they say to you, “See, it is new!” know that it has already been centuries earlier. There is no remembrance of ancient people, and those to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

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Wednesday, 21 September 2016 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate together the feast day of St. Matthew the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ our Lord, His principal disciples, who was also one of the four writers of the Holy Gospels as St. Matthew the Evangelist. Today we glorify the memory of this holy Apostle of God, who have worked hard and contributed so much to the advancement of the cause of the Lord, and through whom many souls have been saved.

But as we all should notice in the Scripture readings and in what we knew of the history of St. Matthew, which he wrote himself in his own Gospel, is that he was once a great sinner and even was rejected by his own people. He was known also as Levi, a tax collector, whose task in those times was to collect the taxes on behalf of the Romans, who have come to rule over the land of Judea and Israel. And many resented him and his fellow tax collectors for this very reason.

The tax collectors were seen as people of greed and money, and they were resented and despised by many because they were seen as collaborators and even traitors to the nation of the Jews, as they served the needs and wishes of the Roman conquerors, and even collected taxes on their behalf. No one certainly like to pay taxes, and not least to those who have been seen as pagan overlords by the Jews who that time had strong desire to be free.

And the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law in particular resented them and looked down on them because they saw these tax collectors as sinners beyond the mercy of God. They scorned and treated these tax collectors with contempt, thinking that they alone deserve salvation from God because of their piety and faith in observing all the commandments of God in the laws of Moses.

And yet, God through His Apostle St. Matthew and his other disciples, including St. Mary Magdalene wanted to show these people, that His salvation is extended to all peoples, and all who desire to be forgiven and to be redeemed from their sins have equal chance in gaining the eternal life and grace promised to mankind by God. He wanted to let us know that as long as we are willing to change ourselves, the way will always be open for us.

We have to realise, brothers and sisters in Christ, that even great saints were once great sinners too. There is no man who has been born without sin, save for our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for He is God ever perfect and good, and His mother Mary, whom the Lord had prepared specially to be the bearer and Ark of the New Covenant in Christ our Lord. All others have sinned in their lives, be it small or major.

What matters is that they, that is all of us as well, have to change our ways, that we sin no more and commit no more abhorrent and wicked things in the sight of God. St. Matthew was once a tax collector named Levi, but once the Lord called him as He passed by his booth, he left everything behind, his workplace, his work, his money, possessions, and even his old name, taking up for himself the greater reward found in the Lord alone.

We too can follow in his footsteps, and in our own way, dedicate ourselves to help the Lord and His cause in His Church. St. Matthew used his great intellect and the gift given to him by the Lord, the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to write the account of the life and the works of Jesus and His Apostles, which we now know as the Gospel of St. Matthew, through which many have been saved and brought to the justification in God.

We ourselves can devote our time, effort and attention to serve the Lord and His people, evangelising His Good News to the whole world, through our own words, actions and deeds. And in this, it is imperative that all of us take heed that our own actions and deeds matter a lot, since how else would people believe in what we are preaching and teaching to them about the Lord, if we ourselves do not practice and do what the Lord had asked us to do?

Therefore, brethren, as we rejoice in the glory of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, and in all of God’s holy saints and people, let us all follow the Lord with all of our heart and minds, following the example of St. Matthew who left everything in order to follow the Lord his God, giving his all to the new cause to which he has been called.

Let us all renew our faith and commitment to God, and devote ourselves ever more to help the works of the Church, caring for the less fortunate and the needy, loving those who have been ostracised and hated, and showing mercy on our brethren, forgiving those who have brought us pain, misery and suffering. May the Lord help us in these endeavours. Amen.

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Wednesday, 21 September 2016 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Matthew 9 : 9-13

At that time, as Jesus moved on from where He cured a paralytic man, He saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom house, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And Matthew got up and followed Him.

Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is it that your Master eats with sinners and tax collectors?”

When Jesus heard this, He said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and find out what this means : What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

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Wednesday, 21 September 2016 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.

No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.

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Wednesday, 21 September 2016 : Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Ephesians 4 : 1-7, 11-13

Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love. Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace. Let there be one body and one spirit, for God, in calling you, gave the same Spirit to all.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, the Father of all, Who is above all and works through all and is in all. But to each of us divine grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. As for His gifts, to some He gave to be Apostles, to others prophets, or even evangelists, or pastors and teachers.

So He prepared those who belong to Him for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the fullness of Christ.

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Tuesday, 20 September 2016 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Laurent Imbert, Bishop, St. Jacques Chastan, Priest, and St. Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions, Martyrs, Martyr Saints of Korea (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words of the Gospel and the Scriptures, urging us all to obey the Law and the commandments of God, as how He had given all these to us as the instruments and helpers for us all as we walk on this path towards salvation and eternal life. He has given all of them to us so that these may guide as we encounter challenges and difficulties on our way.

And yet, as we heard from the Book of Proverbs, our first reading of today, we saw how many people persisted in their wicked ways and refused to follow what the Lord had instructed and shown them. And that is because in their hearts, they do not have the Lord in their hearts. They were so full of themselves and their ego that they did not see how much God had done for them and blessed them in their lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us as Christians are expected to live in accordance with the ways of the Lord, devoting ourselves to God and all the things that He had taught us to do. And just as Jesus said, those who have done the will of God, He will consider as His brothers and sisters. Why is this so? That is because He Who is God has made Himself to be a Man like ourselves, so that all those who have obeyed the Lord as He had obeyed His Father may be like Him in all things, and be worthy to be considered as His brethren.

And perhaps, the best example for that obedience is our Lord Himself, Who have obeyed the will of the Father to the very end. He was willing to shoulder the burden of the cross, so that by bearing that cross, on which has been laid the burdens of our sins, we may be saved from certain death and destruction due to those sins. He is our Good Shepherd, Who truly loves us and cares for us, showing us the love and concern with which He guides us to the right path.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps we should also heed the examples of St. Laurent Imbert, St. Jacques Chastan, St. Andrew Kim Taegon and all the many other holy saints and martyrs, who have suffered and died defending the faith in the land of Korea. These saints were missionaries and local Christians who have endured difficulties, tribulations, oppressions and persecutions in their faith and in their belief in God.

At that time, the government of Korea was very hostile to the Christian faith, openly opposing the evangelisation of the faith in its territory, and were very staunch in their stance against the missionaries of the faith. And many of those who have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Saviour were arrested, tortured, and forced to choose between great suffering and pain or to recant their faith and return to their old beliefs.

But amidst this very difficult and turbulent time, many brave and courageous members of the faithful, together with the missionaries stood up against the tide of persecution, and became living examples of how faith should be like in us Christians. They refused to abandon the Lord and their faith in Him, and even while knowing that such a stance would lead to great difficulties and persecution, they pressed on nonetheless.

And in particular St. Laurent Imbert, a French missionary appointed as the first Bishop of Korea, as the Vicar Apostolic there, was exemplary in his actions, which showed many the same example as Christ Himself had shown the world. At that time, as the persecution of the faithful and the Church intensified, the authorities were trying to destroy the Church by striking at its leadership. St. Laurent Imbert, the Bishop of Korea and his priests were then hiding from the authorities.

An offer went out from the authorities, that if the bishop and the leading priests were to surrender themselves, then they would spare the rest of the faithful from further persecution. While this was most likely a trap, and no guarantee could be ensured from trusting the words of the authorities, St. Laurent Imbert nonetheless decided to surrender himself, while encouraging his fellow priests to do the same.

In doing so, as was explained in his writings, St. Laurent Imbert had followed the example of the Lord, the Good Shepherd. Jesus said that the Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep, and there, St. Laurent Imbert laid down his life for the good and the benefit of the flock entrusted to him by God. He showed us all by action, true Christian love, devotion and commitment, both to God and to His people, his fellow men.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we too should follow in the footsteps of St. Laurent Imbert, St. Jacques Chastan, St. Andrew Kim Taegon and all the saints and martyrs of Korea, all of whom bravely and courageously defended their faith even with their life. They have lived truly as Christians, and showed the meaning of commitment, faith, and true love for God and for their fellow men, by their unfailing faith and devotion.

Let us all imitate them in their examples, and be brave and courageous in our faith as well. Let us all not be intimidated by the challenges of this world, but instead put our full trust in the Lord, knowing that God will always be with all those who are faithful to Him, for He will always love us all, and will never abandon His beloved ones to the darkness. May God bless us all, always. Amen.