loving God

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Thursday, 15 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of Sorrows (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, following after yesterday’s major commemoration of the triumph of the Holy Cross, we remember our Lord’s sorrowful mother Mary, also known as our Lady of Sorrows. We know Mary as the Mother of our Lord and God, but at the same time, she herself had endured such a great suffering and pain, after having brought up her Son in love, she had to witness how her own Son suffered and eventually died on the cross.

And Mary herself had known this ever since she was chosen by God to be the one to bear the Saviour of the world. God made it known to her through many means that her role would not be an easy one, but would be filled with challenges and sorrow would also fill her heart, as the prophetess Anna and Simeon the prophet would say to her that a sword would pierce her heart, even as she and St. Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple to be offered and presented to God.

She knew that her role and work in this world would not be an easy one. Many strange happenings occurred ever since the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her. Three wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to her Son at His birth, proclaiming Him as Lord and the long awaited Messiah. But no one normally would give a gift of myrrh to someone, as it is a substance usually used in the preservation of the body of the dead.

And Jesus was lost in the Temple for three days, and when Mary and Joseph found Him, He spoke of having to be in His Father’s house. All these pointed to the very unusual role that Jesus, the Son of Mary would do in order to save all mankind. And as He grew up to be a Man strong and blessed by God His Father, more and more miraculous and great deeds He had performed, to the amazement of many, and as He embarked on His mission to save the world, throngs of people followed Him.

Throughout all these, what did Mary do? If we read from the Gospels, we would see how Mary kept all of them in her heart, and put her trust in the Lord over all the things that happened, knowing fully that the Lord had His plans for her, and through her obedience and the love which she had for her Son, Jesus, she followed through everything faithfully, and eventually, walking the same path of suffering, following Jesus on His way to the cross.

A mother must have loved her child, and that could not be more true in the case of Mary, in her love for Jesus her Son. No mother should ever see or witness her child suffers, and yet there was Mary watching the whole scene of how her Son suffered at the hands of His persecutors and enemies, casted out, rejected, spit against, and tortured, and she had to bear the agony of watching the great agony of her Son Jesus as He laid hanging on the cross at Calvary.

And she bore it all with faith, with strength and courage that few if none could match. Sorrowful as she was, and filled with agony as she was, she never once lost hope in her Son, knowing that what He has done, He did in order to save all of mankind, the mission for which He had come into this world for. And as a loving and devoted mother, Mary devoted herself to the mission which has been entrusted to her, that is to love her Son with all of her heart.

How is this relevant to us, brothers and sisters in Christ? It is relevant because the sufferings of Christ are our sufferings, for He Himself had borne all of the consequences and punishments for our own sins and wickedness. And Jesus Himself had entrusted His mother Mary to us and we all to her at the same time, when He laid dying on the cross, and spoke to her and to His disciple St. John the Apostle and Evangelist.

At that moment, He entrusted Mary to John’s care and vice versa. And through that very act, He therefore also entrusted her to us as our mother as well, and all of us were entrusted to her same loving care, the very same one she had shown to her Son Jesus. And if Mary sorrowed because of the pains and sufferings that Jesus suffered which is our sins, then should we all not take heed and learn that the more we sin, the more we cause sorrow to our beloved mother?

To that extent, she has appeared many times over the centuries, in the numerous apparitions approved by the Church, foremost and most renowned of which are the apparitions in Lourdes and Fatima. And in all of these, she appeared before some of us, speaking and calling fervently for our repentance, and for us to turn our backs to sin and abandon our wickedness, that we may find our way back to the Lord and His merciful love.

Mary is our greatest intercessor and help before God, for she alone stood nearest to the throne of God’s Mercy, as she is His mother, who have interceded for our sake for a long, long time, praying for the sake of each and every one of us. Shall we then appreciate what our beloved mother Mary had done for us? She has loved us all just as she loved her Son Jesus, and she wants all of us to be saved, and not to suffer as her Son had suffered, which He did for our sake.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ask Mary, our Lady of Sorrows, to pray for us, while we ourselves do our best and commit ourselves to repent from our sinful ways. Sorrowful and with grief we walk through this life, that one day our sorrow and sadness may be lifted from us, and that God will replace these with the joy and happiness of His everlasting grace. Mary, o our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 September 2016 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the great feast day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, also known as the feast of the triumph and glory of the Cross, the Cross on which was hung the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. Today we revel in the glory of that sign upon which hung many of our hopes and wishes, as the new light that had penetrated the great darkness surrounding us all in this world.

The cross was once a symbol of shame and defeat, a symbol of humiliation and punishment, as the favourite method for the Romans to punish those whom they deemed to be enemies and threats to the state. And thus similarly, they have used the same method to punish Jesus, Whom the Pharisees, the elders and the leaders of the Jewish people have sent to them with the false charges of treason and rebellion against Rome.

But that symbol of the cross, the symbol of defeat and humiliation by which Satan tried his best to end the works of the salvation of mankind, had been transformed by Christ Himself, Who triumphed over all of His adversaries, conquering sin and death, which by His crucifixion, death and ultimately resurrection from the dead had freed all of the race of mankind from the bonds of their original sin, and showed them a new hope for them to escape their fate that is eternal death.

There is that clear parallel that is always drawn between what happened in the Old Testament during the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when God sent fiery serpents to punish His people for their sins and rebelliousness, with the moment of the Passion and the Crucifixion of Jesus. Rightly, Jesus Himself mentioned the link and comparison in His discussion and meeting with Nicodemus the Pharisee.

The sins of the people of Israel made God angry at them, and they have condemned themselves because of their actions. St. Paul once mentioned in his letters that the sting of death is sin, and sin has caused mankind to drift away and to reject the love of God, the only One through Whom they can be saved from certain destruction. Unfortunately, as the Israelites had shown, it is all too easy for men to fall into sin.

Those serpents represented the consequences of mankind’s sins, our own sins, that is separation from God and death. They bit the rebellious people and these suffered and died. But when they asked for God to show mercy to them and regretted all the wrongs that they had done, God instructed Moses to build up a bronze serpent on high pole and raise it up high that all who were bitten by the serpents may see it and live.

When Jesus was raised on the cross on Calvary for all the people to see, it was essentially the same as what happened that day in the desert between Moses and the people of Israel. All of us mankind have suffered grievously from our sins and from our rebellion against God and His will, and unless something is done, we shall all perish and meet our eternal damnation and fate in hell. But God had a different plan for all of us.

After all, He Who created us all out of love has no desire at all to see us perish and be destroyed in the darkness. He did not create us all to see us meet our end in that manner, and to that extent, that is why He sent us our hope, our salvation and our opportunity at liberation through His own Son, Jesus Christ, Who is the Saviour of all of us, and He had done the same to us all as well as what He had done for the people of Israel that time.

To that end, He was willing to shoulder the heavy and unimaginable burden of the cross, bearing upon Himself the burden of the punishments and consequences of our collective sins and wickedness. And that is why, while many of us know the cross as the sign of our faith, but how many of us do know that it is also a sign of hope for all? A hope in the midst of the great darkness and uncertainty, a sure hope in the midst of the troubles of this world.

And ultimately, the cross is not just a sign of faith and hope, but also a sign of love, that is God’s ultimate love for us all, for each and every one of us. Every time we look at the cross, and on the crucifix where was hung the body of Christ, when we look at the crucifixes we have with us, do we have that feeling and understanding deep inside us that God loves each and every one of us? If we do not, then perhaps we should begin to do so from now.

God’s love for us is evident from the cross, and without that love we would have perished in despair because of our sinfulness and wickedness. Yet, our devoted and loving Father decided that it should be otherwise for us. The cross of Christ has triumphed over sin and death, and what was once seen as a symbol of shame, humiliation and defeat has been transformed by Christ’s act into the symbol of victory and hope.

And thus, as we all rejoice in the triumph and victory of the cross, let us all make the effort to remember that we are all called to do the same as Christ had once done, not in terms of dying on the cross or maybe to suffer as He once suffered, but certainly all of us have been called to love as He has loved us all. And this means that we ought to know what love is, what it means and what it is about, and then practice it in our own lives through our own deeds and act filled with genuine love, both for God and for each other.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are people of the cross, those whom the Lord had saved through His ultimate love on the cross. Thus all of us who belong to the Lord should not just rejoice at the glory and the triumph of the cross, but also to make ourselves to embody the cross of Christ in our own lives. After all, did Christ not ask His disciples to take up their crosses and follow Him? If we are the disciples and followers of Christ, then we too ought to learn to love as He has loved us, that is our cross in this life.

May all of us from now on seek to draw ever closer to God’s mercy and grace, that through Him we may receive the everlasting gift of life, that all of us may be saved from the danger of death, and by the sign of the cross, win and triumph against our own shortcomings, our sins and all the other things that held us back, preventing us from attaining true salvation in our God. May God help us all, and may He bless us each and every day of our lives. Amen.

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Wednesday, 14 September 2016 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red
John 3 : 13-17

At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “No one has ever gone up to heaven except the One Who came from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.”

“Yes, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through Him the world is to be saved.”

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Wednesday, 14 September 2016 : Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Psalm 77 : 1-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38

Give heed, o My people, to My teaching; listen to the words of My mouth! I will speak in parables, I will talk of old mysteries.

When God slew them, they repented and sought Him earnestly. They remembered that He was their Rock, the Most High their Redeemer.

But they flattered Him with their mouths, they lied to Him with their tongues, while their hearts were unfaithful; they were untrue to His covenant.

Even then, in His compassion, He forgave their offences and did not destroy them. Many a time He restrained His anger and did not fully stir up His wrath.

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Tuesday, 13 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the messages from the Sacred Scriptures, talking to us about the gifts which God had imparted upon His disciples, the Apostles and all others who devoted themselves to Him. To each and every members of the Church were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which manifested differently among the members of the Church, which is the united communion of all the faithful in the Body of Christ.

How do we understand this, brethren? We are all members of the Church, and we are the Church of God. The Church is not just its buildings and edifices, but also all of us, the faithful people of God. And in the Church there are many parts just as a body has many parts. We know that in a body, different parts and organs have different functions and purposes. Things will not work well if every parts are doing the same job and function.

Thus even in the Church, we have different people who have different calling, different missions and actions, but all with the same purpose, that is to bring greater glory to God, and to preach and deliver the Good News to as many people as possible. But everyone cannot be preachers at the same time, nor can everyone be those who are in the priestly and religious order, or otherwise, how can the Church support itself in that way?

There are many people who misunderstood the purpose and the workings of the Church. Some are even thinking that the laity has no role in the Church or has no part or participation in it. And some others are also thinking that the Church and its matters are the sole domain of the priests and the religious alike, and others have no interest or business in them. They cannot be further mistaken than this.

The fact is that the laity must work in tandem with the priests and the religious, all working together to support the good works of the Church for the sake of the Lord and for His people. In fact, the laity are the ones who contributed much of the Church’s effort for the help of the poor, the needy and all those who are in need of help. It is the contributions from the people, mostly from the laity, which enabled the Church to perform its extensive and numerous charitable activities.

Meanwhile the priests and the religious help to guide the Church and the faithful in their journey to God, providing them with the necessary spiritual guidance and help along the way. Thus, all the different parts of the Church working together in tandem and harmony is very important in ensuring that the works of the Lord made through His Church will be successful and feasible.

That said, we should be working to encourage vocations in the Church, that many more people whom God had called and chosen will be willing to join Him in a life of service and total commitment to Him and to His Church. In this world today, one of the greatest challenges facing the Church has been its lack of sufficient priests and also the dearth in the number of seminarians preparing themselves to be priests and also among the religious vocations as well.

Temptations of this world are hard to resist, and for many to let go of many of these in order to serve the Lord and His Church may be quite a difficult task for them. Therefore we have to help each other, and help to support the works of the entire Church so that the Church as a whole will be great and efficient in how it administers its functions and works.

Perhaps the example of the great saint, St. John Chrysostom will help to inspire us all in our faith and in our commitment to the Church. He was an important figure in the early Church, very important in his role in establishing the role of the Church and its members in the society. As the Archbishop of Constantinople, the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, his works and commitments had far-reaching effects in inspiring many others to follow in his footsteps.

Based on his name suffix title, he was known as the golden-mouthed, due to his many and constantly inspiring and encouraging homilies and sermons, through which he had called many people into repentance and into the salvation in God. He was hardworking and was thoroughly dedicated to help the people to find their way to the Lord. Many were inspired by his hard work and many respected him for his many contributions.

We too can follow in his footsteps, and we can commit ourselves to help the Church as its members, spending our time, effort and even money to help its works. Let us all devote ourselves and no longed be hesitant in contributing to the Church and to the works of God. May the Lord help us and bless us, and may He keep us in His grace at all times. Amen.

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Tuesday, 13 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 99 : 2, 3, 4, 5

Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God; He created us and we are His people, the sheep of His fold.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His Name.

For the Lord is good; His love lasts forever and His faithfulness through all generations.

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Tuesday, 13 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 12 : 12-14, 27-31a

As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

The body has not just one member, but many. Now, you are the body of Christ and each of you individually is a member of it. So God has appointed us in the Church. First Apostles, second prophets, third teachers. Then come miracles, then the gift of healing, material help, administration in the Church and the gift of tongues.

Are all Apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Can all perform miracles, or cure the sick, or speak in tongues, or explain what was said in tongues? Be that as it may, set your hearts on the most precious gifts.

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Monday, 12 September 2016 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Most Holy Name of Mary)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we commemorate together the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, where we celebrate together the gift of God for us in His own mother Mary, the one through whom the Saviour of this world had been born and entered the world. Her role in our salvation is so great that she is truly worth of her title as the Ark of the New Covenant and as the Mother of God.

Satan and his allies tremble at the mere mention of the name of Mary, just as they tremble even more at the Name of Jesus her Son. Satan knows full well that it was through Mary which his final defeat has been confirmed and completed in all its perfection. Through Mary, Jesus our Lord was born into this world, and a world that has stayed in the darkness for long had now seen a great new light.

We cannot separate Mary from her Son, just as we cannot separate Christ from His own mother. And that is the joy that we all should have, knowing that God through Mary had made known to us all His will, that He may be in us and we all may be in Him. Through Mary, by the works of the Holy Spirit and by the will of the Father, the Divine Word has become flesh, and took up our own form, that the Son of God is also the Son of Man.

St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians emphasised that communion which all of the faithful have with God, and that is the true and real meaning of Communion, that all of us who have received worthily the gift of baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and finally the gift of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, may be united with one another and with Him through that same Eucharist.

And God made this possible by the coming of Himself through Mary, the faithful woman who had devoted her whole life to God, to her own Son, following Him through many of the important events and moments especially during His mission and works in order to save the whole world and all mankind. And in that, Mary yet again and again not only revealed to us the greatness of God, but also her own exemplary attitudes which all of us can and should emulate as well.

Even though the news handed down to her through the Archangel Gabriel must have come as a surprise, but she took it upon herself with faith and commitment, knowing that God has a plan for her, and she needs only to trust Him in that matter. And that is the example which many of us can also learn from her. While our ancestors disobeyed the Lord to satisfy their own greed and desire for knowledge, eating from the forbidden tree, and while Satan disobeyed the Lord for his pride, Mary was obedient all the way throughout her life.

Let us all today find some time to reflect on this matter, and look back into our own respective lives, in how we carry out our actions and how we live these lives God had given to us. Have we been faithful to Him in all of our words, deeds and works? Have we shown love to one another as He has loved us, and as Mary had loved her Son, following Him all the way even to Calvary?

Have we all been righteous in our deeds, shunning all forms of evil, wickedness and fornications? Have we all put our trust in God in the way that Mary had done? Or did we rather put our trust in ourselves and in our own human abilities? Through Mary, the mother of our Lord we can learn many things, especially on how we can be better disciples and followers of our God.

Let us all ask Mary, our greatest intercessor before God, as she constantly and continuously pray for us all, whom God from the cross had entrusted as her own children as well, that she may plead for our case, we who are unworthy and great sinners, so that God may show His mercy on us, and with our repentance, He may lead us into the new life everlasting promised to all the believers.

May God bless us all and help us that we may live our lives with the same devotion and commitment that Mary has shown in her own life. May He keep us in His grace always and may He empower us all to become His beloved children, living together with Him in eternal bliss, our hope for our own future in the world that is to come. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 September 2016 : 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this holy day of our Lord we heard the very compelling message and reminder from the Scripture passages we have listened to, that is about mercy, forgiveness and God’s everlasting grace and love for all of us, His most beloved ones. That we all should really come to appreciate the vastness of God’s great and boundless mercy, and understand His desire to bring us all into His loving embrace.

In the first reading, this is shown by the exchange that happened between Moses and God, Who was angry at the people of Israel for their sins and disobedience. To put it into context, we have to understand what had transpired and occurred before this event. At that time, the people of Israel had just left the land of their slavery, Egypt after God has freed them with His mighty hand, delivering them from the hands of the Egyptians and their Pharaoh.

They have been delivered with great miracles and wonders. God Himself showed pity on His beloved people who have been made to suffer and labour in great pain for many years, bringing them out and leading them through the desert, even opening up the sea in front of them and destroying the forces of their oppressors, casting the sea itself upon them. And yet, despite all these, the people of God disobeyed Him and spurned His love.

We all know what happened, brethren, how the Israelites rejected God and abandoned Him for the golden calf which they forced Aaron, the brother of Moses to make for them. They worshipped that golden calf as their god, even though God had done so much for them, showing His miraculous deeds in liberating them from their oppressors and casting out their chains.

Is it not thus just for God to be angry at His people? He has given them so much, and that was what He got back in return. Well, if God thinks as we humans do, then probably He would be angry at us, showed His wrath and destroyed us. But no, for God loves us all just as He hates our sins. It is a reminder to us all that, first, God is not happy with our sins, just as He showed His anger to His people through Moses, but it does not mean that He is also considering our destruction without reason either.

Rather, it is we ourselves who have chosen to bring the destruction and the troubles upon ourselves. God gave His people His love unconditionally and yet they refused to obey Him and listen to Him, much like what we also heard in the Gospel passage today, the well-known parable of the lost sheep, the lost silver coin, and finally that of the prodigal son.

Through those parables and stories Jesus our Lord wanted to make it clear to all those who listened to Him, and indeed, to all mankind, how great is God’s love that He is willing to forgive our sins and disobedience, and willing to welcome us back into His loving embrace once again, that is His great and boundless mercy. That great love is shown by the joy that comes about when a shepherd discovered a lost sheep, and when someone found the lost coin, and when someone beloved was thought to be lost, but found again.

It is all too easy for us to think that God is all merciful and ever forgiving, that He will always overlook our sins and wickedness in these lives we are living now in this world. We should not forget that He is our Father and Lord, Who is responsible for us and Who truly cares for us from His heart. Which father will want his children to grow up wrongly or to become a bad and wicked person? A good father will want to guide his children to become good people, and God is no exception to this.

We as God’s children have often become wayward and lost our way. Just as sheep that became distracted by its surroundings, went its own way and became lost, or like that younger son, the prodigal son, who followed his own desires and the wishes of the world, and therefore became lost to his father. And when these are separated, they are in danger, the danger of death and destruction.

Wolves and danger are always around, threatening to strike at the lost sheep, which is without protection and guidance from the shepherd. Alone and separated from the herd, wolves and other predators have an easy time to pick on the lost sheep. Similarly, the prodigal son suffered in the foreign land, having squandered off all of his money on worldly pleasures and desires, and had to even wanting to eat the waste food and scraps that were fed to the pigs.

Let us all think and internalise all of these as we remember the passages which we have just heard. Let us look at our own actions, our own words and how we have interacted with others around us. Have we been acting like that of the prodigal son ourselves? Let us remember all the times when we turned our backs to the Lord and chose to follow our own desires and wants. Let us all remember all the times and moments when we have stumbled in our faith, in our lack of faith and commitment to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Gospel is a reminder for us all that God is merciful, is kind, loving and compassionate, especially towards each and every one of us. However, if we do not act on His offer of mercy, forgiveness and love, then there is no way forward for us, as God’s mercy and love is a two-way thing, that is between us and Him. After all, let us ask ourselves, if someone loves another and yet another person do not return the same love, then is there real love there?

And accepting God’s mercy and forgiveness require us to make a profound change upon ourselves, on our way of life, on our attitude and interactions with one another, that we are like the prodigal son, who truly did not remain prodigal and lost but instead he chose to return to his father, despite fully knowing the great extent of his unworthiness as he had sinned and committed wickedness against his own father.

Let us all think carefully about this, and think of what we can do from now on if we have not started yet on our path to seek God’s merciful heart. First of all, we must not be afraid to seek out the Lord, for fear and doubt are often what prevented many people from being able to discover that path upon which they ought to walk on in order to attain the salvation in God.

Then, we must be able and we must be ready to commit ourselves a hundred percent into a thorough and complete change of ourselves, our lifestyle and our way of interacting with one another. If we are ready to do all these, then we are on our way to receive the Lord and His mercy. Otherwise, we are still far away, and the danger is there that we will not reach the Lord’s mercy at all, because we ourselves are barring our own path to that salvation.

Mercy without repentance does not exist, as God’s mercy is offered freely to all, but only those who respond to it positively, and with genuine and sincere intention from the heart will receive the grace and the forgiveness from God, and returned to be one in His embrace. Let us all consider these even as we embark on this journey to reach out to the Lord and His mercy.

Then, let us all each and every one of us, members of the Church, through our Christian faith, help one another and devote ourselves to help each other to find our way to the Lord, by showing in our own actions, how we can love instead of hate, how we can forgive instead of keeping grudges and seeking vengeance, and how to bring peace and harmony instead of conflict and war. God is always ready for us, but are we ready for Him? Do our actions show that we are ready?

Today, let us all also spare some thoughts to all those who are victims of violence and conflict. The tragedy of the terrorist attack fifteen years ago today, followed by many other related miseries and sufferings for many should show us all how important it is for us to truly bring ourselves closer to God, seek to bring peace and harmony in all things. Let us all not be swayed by the temptations of the world, but instead renew that special relationship we have with our God.

May God help us and keep us in His love, that His mercy will be extended to us and that we may be ready to welcome that same mercy, willing to be forgiven and to repent from all of our faults and sins. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 September 2016 : 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Exodus 32 : 7-11, 13-14

Then YHVH said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a molten calf; they have bowed down before it and sacrificed to it and said : ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of Egypt.'”

And YHVH said to Moses, “I see that these people are a stiff-necked people. Now just leave Me that My anger may blaze against them. I will destroy them, but of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses calmed the anger of YHVH, his God, and said, “Why, o YHVH, should Your anger burst against Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with a mighty hand?”

“Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the promise You Yourself swore : I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land I spoke about I will give to them as an everlasting inheritance.”

YHVH then changed His mind and would not yet harm His people.