holy virgins

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Saturday, 29 April 2017 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 16-21

At that time, when evening came, the disciples went down to the shore. After a while they got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea, for it was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. But the sea was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing.

They had rowed about three or four miles, when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and He was drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, but He said to them, “It is I! Do not be afraid!” They wanted to take Him into the boat, but immediately the boat was at the shore to which they were going.

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Saturday, 29 April 2017 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 32 : 1-2, 4-5, 18-19

Rejoice in the Lord, you who are just, praise is fitting for the upright. Give thanks to Him on the harp and lyre, making melody and chanting praises.

For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving-kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

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Saturday, 29 April 2017 : 2nd Week of Easter, Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 6 : 1-7

In those days, as the number of disciples grew, the so-called Hellenists complained against the so-called Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

So the Twelve summoned the whole body of disciples together and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God to serve at tables. So, friends, choose from among yourselves seven respected men full of Spirit and wisdom, that we may appoint them to this task. As for us, we shall give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.”

The whole community agreed and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and Holy Spirit : Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus and Nicolaus of Antioch who was a proselyte. They presented these men to the Apostles who first prayed over them and then laid hands upon them.

The Word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly and even many priests accepted the faith.

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Friday, 10 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, in the first reading all of us heard the well-known story of how Satan, the devil, disguised as a serpent tricked our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, into eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, which caused them to sin before God, and therefore, were cast out of the Gardens of Eden, and came under the thrall of sin and death.

It was a very important and defining moment in all of the history of humanity, as the moment when mankind turned away from God and sin entered into their hearts, making them defiled and wicked in the sight of God. It was the moment when darkness overcame us and we became rebels, delinquents, all those who have not obeyed the Lord and therefore would not have had any part in the inheritance originally promised to us by God.

Our fate would have been destruction, death, and damnation in hell, together to suffer the eternity of pain and despair with Satan and his fellow rebel angels, those who have not obeyed the Lord and instead chose to follow their own paths, succumbing to the temptations of their desires, their greed and their pride. But this was not what God intended for us when He created us, because He loved us all, and wanted us all to be freed from this fate.

That is why He sent us the deliverance through His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. He came into this world in order to deliver us from our troubles, as we witnessed in the Gospel today, in how He went around, healing the sick and those who were beset by the evil spirits, and lifting up the hearts and minds of those who were in despair and who were downtrodden.

He came to heal us all, of all our bodily complaints and diseases, all of our human and worldly afflictions, but even more importantly, He is the only One Who can heal us of our troubles in our soul, that is our sins. While all the medicines and the cures in this world are able to heal us and make us better after we take them, capable of curing even the most difficult and deadly of diseases, and new cures being discovered from time to time, nothing will ever be able to cure us from our sins, save by the grace of God.

God came offering us mercy and forgiveness, to heal us from the taints of original sin that had corrupted our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. He came offering us this healing through Christ, Who went around healing us and bringing us the revelation of His truth, God’s ways which He offers to all those who live in sin, that they may find the folly and the mistake in their current path, and therefore, hoping that they will change their ways and repent their sins.

But the problem lies in the fact that we often resist the forgiveness of God. We often run away from God’s mercy, either because we are too afraid of Him that He will be angry at us and punish us, or because we are too proud to admit that we have been wrong, and therefore, we persisted in our ways of sin, and did not repent from our faults.

All these are the common reasons why mankind often slipped further and further into sin. These are the reasons why many people were lost forever from God, because of their own reluctance, refusal and stubbornness to reject the offer of God’s mercy and love. This is what all of us Christians must take note about, and what we need to reflect on, lest we ourselves also fall to the same trap.

We should now heed the examples of the holy saint whose feast we celebrate today, namely that of St. Scholastica, a holy and devout woman, who lived in the early days of the Church. She was the twin sister of another holy saint, St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the Benedictine religious order. St. Scholastica herself led a faithful and pious life just as her brother had.

St. Scholastica dedicated her whole life to God, living in prayerful existence and it was told that she practiced many acts of charity to her neighbours and peers, and also helped many others who are in need of help, both physically and spiritually. She was an exemplary woman, whose holiness and deeds were matched by her own brother, St. Benedict, whose dedications and faith became a beacon of light leading many others to God.

As Christians, all of us should follow the example of St. Scholastica, learning to be upright and just in all of our dealings and actions. We should become examples for each other, reminding one another to remain true to the teachings of our faith in the Church, and devote ourselves day after day to the works of charity, and dedicate ourselves to those who are in need.

May the Lord help us in all of our endeavours, and may He strengthen in us our faith, and awaken the love and devotion we ought to have for Him in our hearts. May the Lord bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Friday, 10 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Mark 7 : 31-37

At that time, again Jesus set out : from the country of Tyre He passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, He came to the territory of Decapolis. There a deaf man, who also had difficulty in speaking, was brought to Him. They asked Jesus to lay His hand upon him.

Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put His fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, He groaned and said to him, “Ephphata!” that is, “Be opened!”

And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about it, but the more He insisted, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”

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Friday, 10 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.

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Friday, 10 February 2017 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Genesis 3 : 1-8

Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the wild creatures that YHVH God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say : You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said : You must not eat, and you must not touch it or you will die.”

The serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, but God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, and pleasant to the eyes, and ideal for gaining knowledge. She took its fruit and ate it and gave some to her husband who was with her. He ate it.

Then their eyes were opened and both of them knew they were naked. So they sewed leaves of a fig tree together and made themselves loincloths. They heard the voice of YHVH God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, and they, the man and his wife, hid from YHVH God among the trees of the garden.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we listened to the Lord Jesus teaching the people with parables, telling them that the kingdom of God is like a growing seed, which is sown by man, and then when it lands on a rich and fertile soil, it grows to be a mighty and great plant, even though it might be small as a seed. It is the same therefore with the kingdom of God, according to Christ, which is inside each and every one of us who belong to Him.

We are all given the gifts from the Lord, Who sowed in each of us the seeds of faith, the seeds of hope and the seeds of love. But all of these gifts were dormant in us, and they are not going to grow unless we place them in the right conditions, just as plants will not germinate from their seeds and grow unless they are placed under the right conditions.

And just as plants take a long time to grow from a seed, into a sapling and then into a growing young plant, into maturity and finally laying out flowers and then fruits, therefore it also takes a lot in order to make those seeds in us grow inside us, and transform us to be true beings of the kingdom of God. Our faith requires great patience for us to develop and to persevere through this life. To live faithfully according to the way of the Lord is never an easy one.

As mentioned in the first reading today, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer of this Epistle, likely to be St. Paul, wrote about the hardships which the first and earliest Christians had to endure, many of them being Jews, who were then often torn between their obedience to the laws that governed the Jewish society, and their newfound love and loyalty to the Lord which they had discovered through Jesus their Lord.

But even though they were once a small group of people, often shunned and rejected by others, reviled and ridiculed by their own countrymen for following Jesus the crucified Lord and Messiah, they eventually triumphed through the end, as the Church gradually grew stronger, larger and ever more vibrant even though there were many moments of difficulties and challenges along its path.

Yes indeed persecutions came their way, and many had to suffer for many years because of their faith, but as many did not give up their faith and helped one another to persevere in their faith, that is why the Church was able to persevere through and why the faithful were able to stay strong amidst the challenges and the difficulties. In the same manner therefore, all of us Christians must also stay together and help each other, that we may remain ever faithful.

We should also follow the examples of St. Angela Merici, the holy saint and woman whose feast we are celebrating today. Since her youth, she had devoted herself to God, particularly when her sister died, and we were told that she died without having the chance to receive the Last Rites from a priest. A distraught St. Angela Merici prayed fervently before the Lord, asking Him to forgive her sister and allow her to enter heaven. Later on, it was told that she received a vision, in which she saw her sister in the company of the saints of heaven.

She grew stronger in the faith through prayer, and she resisted the temptation of worldly pleasures and desires, and when suitors came to her attracted by her great beauty, she chose to dress herself in soot and dust, so as to detract her suitors and to remain committed to God. She taught others how to be close and spiritually devoted to God, and became a source of inspiration of many others.

Through the examples of the faith of St. Angela Merici, all of us are called to also grow in our faith, by giving it the most suitable conditions in order to grow, so that what God had planted inside each and every one of us may grow well. It is through deep and fervent prayer, made sincerely and with devotion that we provide this optimum condition. And then we also show our love, care and concern to others around us, giving ourselves to our brethren who are in need of our love.

It is when we have done all of these that we have truly become like the kingdom of God, when all of us Christians work together in love, showing hope to those who are in darkness, and having genuine faith in God, that the seeds of faith, hope and love God had sown in us no longer remains just as seeds, but grow together, interlocking with one another, until everything become a great tree, that is the Church of God, living and vibrant, filled with hope, with love and with faith. That is what the kingdom of God in this world is truly like.

Let us all work together in order to realise this, and be committed to do what we have been called to do, to serve God with all of our strengths and abilities. May God help us in this journey, and may He strengthen the faith in our hearts, awaken in us the desire to help our brethren in need, and make us to become light for those who are still in the darkness and ignorance in the world. God bless us all and our endeavours. Amen.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Mark 4 : 26-34

At that time, Jesus also said, “In the kingdom of God it is like this : a man scatters seed upon the soil. Whether he is asleep or awake, be it day or night, the seed sprouts and grows, he knows not how. The soil produces of itself : first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when it is ripe for harvesting, they take the sickle for the cutting : the time for the harvest has come.”

Jesus also said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall we compare it? It is like a mustard seed which, when sown, is the smallest of all the seeds scattered upon the soil. But once sown, it grows up and becomes the largest of the plants in the garden, and even grows branches so big, that the birds of the air can take shelter in its shade.”

Jesus used many such stories, in order to proclaim the word to them in a way that they would be able to understand. He would not teach them without parables; but privately to His disciples He explained everything.

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Friday, 27 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Angela Merici, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)
Psalm 36 : 3-4, 5-6, 23-24, 39-40

Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and live on it. Make the Lord your delight, and He will grant your heart’s desire.

Commit your way to the Lord; put your trust in Him and let Him act. Then will Your revenge come, beautiful as the dawn, and the justification of your cause, bright as the noonday sun.

The Lord is the One Who makes people stand, He gives firmness to those He likes. They may stumble, but they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

The Lord is the Salvation of the righteous; in time of distress, He is their refuge. The Lord helps them, and rescues them from the oppressor; He saves them for they sought shelter in Him.