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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 12 : 13-21

Someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your judge or your attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”

And Jesus continued with this story, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell me who shall get all you have put aside?’

This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Colossians 3 : 1-5, 9-11

So them, if you are risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on earthly things. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, reveals Himself, you also will be revealed with Him in Glory.

Therefore, put to death what is earthly in your life, that is immorality, impurity, inordinate passions, wicked desires, and greed which is a way of worshipping idols.

Do not lie to one another. You have been stripped of the old self and its way of thinking to put on the new, which is being renewed and is to reach perfect knowledge and the likeness of its creator. There is no room for distinction between Greek of Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, foreigner, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.

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Sunday, 4 August 2013 : 18th Sunday 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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My Prayer Intention for Sunday, 4 August 2013

1. For all of us. That we will always be reminded that our lives in this world are short, and the times and happiness that we have in our world is temporary. That we may use whatever time given to us in this world to the fullest, to the greatest potential, in serving the Lord and our fellow brethren, with love, compassion, and dedication. May we focus on seeking true happiness and joy in the Lord, and in the happiness and joy of our brothers and sisters, that we may share that happiness and joy with one another.

2. For people working in financial institutions and money-related careers. That they will not lose sight of their true goal in life, that is the Lord and His love, and that they will not succumb to the temptation of money and wealth, remaining faithful to their true vocation in life. May they be able to discern that the true objectives of their career is to make a difference in the lives of others through their own work in its various ways, and not to seek to increase their own personal wealth, especially not in the expense of others.

3. For our leaders and those in positions of power. That they will use their power and the authority entrusted to them by us and by the Lord with full sense of responsibility and clear understanding. That they will first seek to serve others and look for their own good before thinking about their own self. May our leaders be dedicated and loving leaders and people of justice, integrity, and love, who are dedicated to serving the people of God with zeal and commitment.

4. For all of us. That we will treasure all our loved ones, our families and friends, whom we had met in our lives, and those who had made a difference in our lives, in their own ways. May the Lord show us and open our eyes, that we still have those who love us, and we have the Lord Himself who loves us all the time, that we will begin to treasure this life we had been given, and give thanks to Him who had breathed the breath of life into us, mere dust made alive.

May the Lord accept our humble prayers, and may His saints and angels succour always in times of need, in our times of difficulties, reminding us always that the Lord is always with us, walking with us, and supporting us without ceasing. God be with us all and may His blessings and graces remain with us at all times. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings urge us to always be righteous and honest in all the things that we do, in all our dealings with others and in our relationship with the Lord our God and our neighbours, our fellow men. We are urged to always take the path of the righteous ones and avoid the path as taken by King Herod and those who try to cheat and be dishonest in all their actions.

For actions like that of King Herod shows not only dishonesty, but also giving up of oneself to the temptations of the world and the power of evil. King Herod followed his lust and desire to take the former wife of his own brother as his own. It is unlawful because it seems that the King had taken her as wife while his brother was yet still alive, and therefore committed adultery with her in the eyes of man and God.

He gave in to the temptations of the devil, the lust for human beauty and pleasures of the world, especially through his privileged position as a king at the time, surrounded by good things and other things enjoyed by the privileged class. The same was warned against the people of Israel by the Lord through Moses, that they do not let themselves be swayed by their positions and privileges so as to cheat on others on their money, their possessions or other related things.

Money, wealth, and possessions are not necessarily bad, and neither does other things that can give us happiness and pleasurable feelings. However, it is important that we do not misuse them for our own selfish purposes and intents, that we end up being controlled by these things. We have to learn to control ourselves, our desires, and our emotions. Learn to control our possessions, and do not let them control us instead.

We must always focus our attention on the Lord, and put our full trust in Him. He is the One who can give us everything that we need in our respective lives. The Lord our God is the source of our true happiness and our true joy. It is not in the world that we can find our true happiness and pleasure, not in sexual relations, human beauty, wealth, or abundance of possessions, but in the love of God, supported by our love of one another. If we do this, we obey the Lord’s commands, that is to love Him and love one another with all our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength.

If we do not love God with all our hearts and our strength, we will be more prone to the deceptions of the evil one, and eventually lead to scenarios such as the one in the Gospel, where King Herod was literally forced to behead St. John the Baptist and therefore made a great sin in the eyes of God, just because of his complete fascination in his own wife’s daughter’s beauty. Then, the same also can happen as in the scenario highlighted in the First Reading, where temptations can indeed be great for anyone to deal dishonestly with one another, and cheat on one another, particularly in monetary matters.

If we love money and possessions more than our brethren and our Lord, then we will grow to desire to possess them more and more in amount. This will lead to even greater desire, an unending cycle of desire, that will end up with us committing greater and greater sins in the eyes of the Lord. One good example would be gambling, in which many stories tell the same case, that an insatiable desire for more wealth and possessions resulting in major loss of money, and therefore, immense financial problems, which later on, tend to push people to do sinful things such as stealing, crime, or even corruption.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must stand up for the Lord, and stand up for His love, and we must dare to stand up against the temptations of wealth, material, and worldly pleasures. We have to realise and come to a full understanding, that worldly possessions are not everything for us. What we truly need is the Lord and His love, and the love of our fellow brothers and sisters, and not the love of money or the love of the world. This is what truly can fulfill our needs, especially our need for love. Money and possessions can satisfy us, but it can never satisfy us forever. We have to use it as a tool to bring love to others instead of being controlled by it.

Let us commit ourselves to our Lord and God who loves us so much that He gave us Jesus as the perfect gift, the divine love of God, given to us freely, that we may have a new hope and a new life in us, in perfect reunion with our God and Creator. He is the true love and true happiness that we should all seek in life, and put our focus on. Let us never forget His Passion and His suffering, and ultimately His death on the cross at Calvary. Let us always look at our crucified Lord with pride in our hearts. May God bless all of us, and remain with us at all times. Amen.

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Saturday, 3 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Leviticus 25 : 1, 8-17

YHVH spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai : “When seven sabbaths of years have passed, that is, seven times seven years, there shall be the time of the seven weeks of years, that is forty-nine years. Then on the tenth day of the seventh month sound the trumpet loudly. On this Day of Atonement sound the trumpet all through the land.”

“Keep holy the fiftieth year and proclaim freedom for all the inhabitants of the land. It shall be a jubilation year for you when each one shall recover his property and go back to his family. In this fiftieth year, your year of Jubilee, you shall neither sow nor reap the aftergrowth, nor gather the grapes from the uncultivated vines. This Jubilee year shall be holy for you, and you shall eat what the field yields of itself without cultivation.”

“In this year of Jubilee each of you shall recover his own property. When you sell something to your neighbour or buy something from him; do not wrong one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy it from your neighbour and according to the number of years left for harvesting crops he shall sell to you.”

“When the years are many the price shall be greater and when the years are few the price shall be less, for it is the number of crops that he is selling to you. So you shall not wrong one another but you shall fear your God, for I am YHVH, your God.”

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Friday, 2 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop; and St. Peter Julian Eymard, Priest (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord our God is great, and He is mighty. He is the ruler over all creation and has authority and power over all. From generations to generations He had shown His greatness to the people of Israel and all the other children of God. He had saved Noah from the flood by His enduring love, and brought Abraham, our father in faith into the Promised Land that He promised to his descendants.

He made his descendants into great nations, and to Jacob and his sons, he made them into His chosen people of Israel. He blessed them and protected them, and He made Joseph prosperous in Egypt when his brothers thought evil things for him. He blessed His people, made them prosper and multiply in foreign lands. When they were enslaved and persecuted, He rescued them and punished their enemies, bringing them out of the land of Egypt to the Promised Land.

It is His wonders, His infinite love, and His faithfulness that the people of Israel celebrate in the feast days appointed by the Lord and told to them through Moses, in the first reading today. The people celebrated His blessing in the Promised Land and all its wealth, by thanking Him and offering the first fruits of their labour in that blessed land, as a sign of their love and dedication to Him, their Lord and God. They also commemorate the Passover, their greatest feast, because on that day in Egypt long ago, the Lord had shown His might and saved for eternity, the people of Israel from the slavery under the Egyptians and the Pharaohs.

The Day of Atonement is also a special occasion for the Jewish people, because indeed, as much as the blessings that the Lord had given to the people, their ancestors had also rebelled and sinned against the Lord, by their disbelief and lack of faith, and by their doubt in the power and authority of the Lord, much like the people of Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, which we heard today in our Gospel Reading. The Day of Atonement reminds them that they are sinful and they are nothing in the eyes of God because of their sins, and yet, in His infinite mercy and love, He embraced them and made them whole again, forgiving them from their sins.

It is not only the people of Israel who has feast days and days of celebrations in their annual calendar, my brothers and sisters, because we, the people of God, the chosen people of God, who believe in Christ, also have our feast days, not unlike that of the people of Israel of old. We commemorate Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Messiah, who had come into the world, the Word of God made flesh, for the salvation of all mankind.

We celebrate His birth on Christmas, the day when the Lord stooped down from His divine throne in heaven, and came down to be one of us, one like us, save for sin, so that we may have a new hope for salvation and deliverance from evil and death. We celebrate His ministries in this world in our daily and weekly Sunday Masses, when we listened to the readings of the Gospels, highlighting His good works and mission in this world, the teachings He had given to His apostles and from them, to us.

We celebrate daily and weekly, His most Glorious death on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice of the divine, the death of our own Lord and God, on the cross, for our sake, that we who believe in Him will not taste death but life. We celebrate this every time we have the Mass, when the ultimate sacrifice of Christ is brought closer to us, through the Eucharist, the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of Christ, that Jesus Himself had given us and His disciples, that He will live in us, and we in Him.

During the time of the Holy Week and Easter, we celebrate the greatest works He had done in His mission, that is the Passover of the Lord, the Great Passover, not unlike the Jewish Passover of old. This time, however, the Lord did not just pass over the people of Israel and brought death to their Egyptian oppressors, but this time, the Lord passed over the judgment of death from those who have their faith in Him, and brought them, not just into any Promised Land, but into the eternal happiness and blessing of the Promised heaven, which Christ promised to all those who put their complete trust in Him.

That is why, brothers and sisters, we ought to take greater attention and commit ourselves more strongly and more vigorously to our Lord, by putting greater effort on our own part, to fully participate in the celebrations and feast days of our Lord, celebrating the memory of His wondrous work for our sake, celebrating the mysteries of His birth, His ministry, His suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead, for in Him lies our only hope and our salvation.

Today, we celebrate the feast of both St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard. St. Eusebius of Vercelli was the bishop of Vercelli who lived in Italy in the late Roman Empire at the fourth century after the birth of Christ. St. Eusebius faced much difficulties during his ministry as the servant of God’s Gospel, facing many divisions in the early Church, between the various heretical factions trying to subvert the truth of the Lord’s Good News.

St. Eusebius persevered and despite the difficulties, he professed his faith and adherence to the true teachings of Christ reflected in the orthodoxy of the Church magisterium. He defended the faith against heresies and promoted reconciliation between the different factions of the faithful, and also urged people who had veered away from the true faith to return once again to their Lord and their God.

St. Peter Julian Eymard also did not have an easy time in his ministry, as he faced challenges in the increasingly secular France, at the start of the nineteenth century, just decades after the horrors of the French Revolution. Yet, he persevered and continued to do great works for the sake of the people of God, ministering to them with love. He championed the cause of the children receiving the Holy Communion at a young age, which would be approved by the Church through Pope St. Pius X in the early decade of the twentieth century.

St. Peter Julian Eymard established the order of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, members of whom are devoted to the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord Himself, and in the service of His people, leading a prayerful and contemplative life filled with joy of the Lord. St. Peter Julian Eymard continued to serve the Lord in the best way he could, and he gave glory to God, the Lord who had come down from heaven to save us from death, and give us a new hope of eternal life.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, inspired by the examples of St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Peter Julian Eymard, we should also glorify the Lord our God and give Him our thanks, by devoutly following His teachings and proclaiming His life, death, and resurrection, particularly to those who had yet to hear the Word of God and thus the words of salvation.

May the Lord guide us in this journey through life, that we will always persevere regardless of the difficulties, and let us always remember of the love our God has for all of us, that He even was willing to suffer and die for us all, that we may live, and not just any life, but an eternal life of bliss and happiness with Him in heavenly glory. God bless us all. Amen.

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My Prayer Intention for Thursday, 1 August 2013

1. For nations and people around the world. May the Lord inculcate in His beloved people, the spirit of obedience and support, that the people will love and support those who had been entrusted with power and authority in their respective societies, that the leaders may effectively exercise their power and authority for the good sake of the Lord’s people, and may the people of God become more committed to serving their society, to the least, the abandoned, and unloved of their neighbours.

2. For the leaders of the nations and the people. May the Lord inflames in them the fire of love for the people they have been entrusted with, like a shepherd loving his own sheep and flock. May He empower them to take an extra mile in their service and their work, as well as a strong commitment to sincerity and honesty in their work, that they will not resort to underhanded measures for their own sake. Instead, may they be more committed to serving the people God had entrusted them with.

3. For all of us. May we grow to understand God’s love for us, and His love for everyone, without exception, that we will not inculcate any feelings of hatred, jealousy, or the similar vices in our hearts. Instead, may they be more dedicated to the plight of their unloved, their forsaken, and their poor brothers and sisters, who are without food, without love, and without care. Let us not be selfish individuals but be individuals for others.

May the Lord receive these prayers we offer Him in humility, in our sinfulness. May His angels bring these sweet incense to His presence in heaven. God bless us all. Amen.

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Thursday, 1 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflection)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we again listened to the continuation of the story of how the kingdom of God is like, of how the reign of Christ will be like, as it will be at the end of times. He will separate those who are wicked from those who are righteous, those who had followed faithfully the will and commandments of the Lord from those who rebelled against the Lord, and those who had shown love as opposed to those who had instead shown hatred for their brothers and sisters.

Yes, brethren, that is how the Lord will separate us from His seat at the throne of judgment, the Great Judge of all creation. And like a fisherman, He will separate the good fish from the bad fish, the fresh ones from the rotten ones, and like a shepherd, He will separate the sheep and lambs from the goats, the unblemished lambs from the blemished ones. He will differentiate those who had been His and had accepted Him as their Lord and God from those who had disobeyed Him and disregarded Him and His offer of salvation.

But our Lord cares for us, and He loves us, in the same way that He had once loved and cared for Israel, His people in the desert and beyond. He wants us to be reunited with Him, and that was why, throughout the history of mankind, He had approached our ancestors, from Noah and how He saved him by instructing him to build the Ark, and Abraham, our father in faith, with whom the Lord had made a covenant with, the first covenant of God and man.

The covenant which God had renewed by bringing His people, the children of Abraham out of Egypt with His mighty hand, and brought them to the land He had promised their fathers. He cared for them so much that He sent them many prophets and leaders to continue guiding them towards the right path, despite their constant rebellions and disobedience against His will and His words, and despite that they slaughtered His prophets and messengers.

Yes, those prophets who were slaughtered proclaimed God’s ultimate method in saving all of us, that is through His own Son, Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, and became the source of all hope and salvation, through His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus Christ who suffered for our sake and be lifted up high between the heaven and the earth for our sake, has bridged the infinite chasm between God and us sinners. He is the way through which the lost children of God may pass to return to their loving Father.

When Christ died on the cross, the veil covering the Holy of holies of the Temple of Jerusalem was torn into two pieces, revealing the most sacred interior of the location where the Ark of the Covenant used to be located at, and also where the Lord was supposed to reside in this world. The death of Christ marked the end of the separation that existed ever since we have rebelled against the Lord at the time of Adam and Eve, our first ancestors. The veil that separated us from the Lord had been cast aside, and now there exists a direct highway to God, that is through Christ, His Son, and the new covenant He had created with mankind, with the Precious Blood He shed on the cross.

Today, brothers and sisters, we commemorate the memory of St. Alphonsus Liguori, a well-known Italian bishop who lived during the early modern period. He was most renowned for being the founder of the Redemptorist religious order, many of which members now minister to us, the people of God daily in our own respective societies.

St. Alphonsus Liguori founded the Redemptorists as a congregation of missionaries and brothers dedicated to saving the souls of mankind, through their service, especially to the last, the lost, and the least in the society, to the poorest, both in material and in spirit, that is to give them the love of God, and enkindle in them the fire of the Holy Spirit, for those whom the fire had been dimmed by the world. St. Alphonsus Liguori stressed the importance of a strict and yet reasonable discipline in the faith and in life to be practiced by everyone, so that one would remain faithfully on the path to salvation.

St. Alphonsus Liguori was well-known for his powerful sermons and speeches, which so touched many people, that many of those who had been drifting away from their faith in God, returned devotedly into the Church, and therefore were once again ensured salvation in Christ. The same too was tasked upon the Redemptorists, which St. Alphonsus Liguori had founded, to seek more souls lost in the darkness of the world, and bring them to Christ, who had made the path to God our Father open, by piercing through the veil of separation and bridging through the chasm of separation, through His death on the cross.

Let us today also play our part, following the example of St. Alphonsus Liguori and the Redemptorists, to help one another in our reach for the Lord and for our salvation. Let us help one another to grow stronger in the faith, to grow more devout in our love for the Lord, and to be more courageous to stand up for our faith and for our God. St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us sinners and intercede for us before our Lord Jesus Christ, whose death had reconciled man with God, that we all too may share with you, the eternal glory and bliss of heaven forever and ever. Amen.

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Thursday, 1 August 2013 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Matthew 13 : 47-53

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish in buckets, but throw the worthless ones away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just, and to throw the wicked into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. So He said to them, “You will see that every teacher of the Law, who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who can produce from his store things both new and old.”

When Jesus had finished these parables, He left that place.