Marian celebrations

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Tuesday, 10 December 2024 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)

Psalm 95 : 1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12a, 12b-13

Sing to YHVH a new song, sing to YHVH, all the earth! Sing to YHVH, praise His Name; proclaim His salvation, day after day.

Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds. Say among the nations, “He will judge the peoples with justice.”

Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them.

Let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy. Let them sing before YHVH Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice, and the peoples, with fairness.

Alternative reading (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant, in her lowliness, and people, forever, will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age, His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

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Tuesday, 10 December 2024 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)

Isaiah 40 : 1-11

Be comforted, My people, be strengthened, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time of bondage is at an end, that her guilt has been paid for, that from the hand of YHVH she has received double punishment for all her iniquity.

A voice cries, “In the wilderness prepare the way for YHVH. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be raised up; every mountain and hill will be laid low. The stumbling blocks shall become level and the rugged places smooth. The glory of YHVH will be revealed, and all mortals together will see it; for the mouth of YHVH has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry.” and I say, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of YHVH blows upon it. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will forever stand.”

Go up onto the high mountain, messenger of Good News to Zion, lift up your voice with strength, fear not to cry aloud when you tell Jerusalem and announce to the cities of Judah : Here is your God! Here comes YHVH Sabaoth with might; His strong arm rules for Him; His reward is with Him, and here before Him is His booty. Like a shepherd He tends His flock : He gathers the lambs in His arms, He carries them in His bosom, gently leading those that are with young.

Alternative reading (Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Loreto)

Isaiah 7 : 10-14 and Isaiah 8 : 10

Once again YHVH addressed Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from YHVH your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.”

But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask, I will not put YHVH to the test.” Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign : The Virgin is with Child and bears a Son and calls His Name Immanuel.”

“Devise a plan and it will be thwarted, make a resolve and it will not stand, for God-is-with-us.”

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Monday, 9 December 2024 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church celebrates the occasion of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, marking the moment when Mary was conceived immaculate, full of grace and free from the taint of original sin, at the moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. This celebration is also something that is very important for our faith as Christians because they are very closely related to the crux of the story of our salvation. This is because Mary herself is the Mother of God through her motherhood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God Most High, the Divine Word of God incarnate in the flesh, becoming the Son of Man and Saviour of the world.

In order to understand the significance and reason why we Christians believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which is one of the Four Marian Dogmas, or the core teachings and beliefs of the Church on Mary, we must first look upon the historical example of God manifesting Himself in this world, as He made His appearances to us throughout history as recorded in the Scriptures, and also the nature of sin, which is why the ‘Immaculate’ or sinless nature of Mary is highlighted so prominently especially today. First of all, God created each and every one of us mankind perfect and blameless, and He intended for us all to be just as immaculate and pure as Mary has been designed. However, our inability to resist the temptations of the evil one led us to our downfall.

Sin came forth from our refusal to obey the Lord and His commandments, as we gave in to the temptations and our desire for worldly matters, ambitions, desire for knowledge and power which Satan offered to our ancestors, to Adam and Eve as we heard in our first reading today from the Book of Genesis, and as a result, the corruption of sin came and enter into our hearts, minds and bodies, corrupting us and our souls, tainting them such that we become sundered from God, our Lord, Master and Creator. And that was why mankind were cast out of the Garden of Eden as no corruption and evil can stand in God’s Presence and survive, as God is all good and perfect, and no evil can be in His Presence. That is why except for very few select ones like Abraham, Moses, Elijah and some others, no one could see God and remain alive.

When the Lord gave His Law and commandments to His people through Moses, He commanded Moses to make an Ark to carry the two tablets of the Law of God, the manna, the bread from Heaven that God had given to His people to eat, as well as the staff of Aaron by which God had performed His miracles before the people and also shepherded His people, the Israelites. All of these were placed in the Ark of the Covenant, which was made from gold and other precious materials, and according to the Scriptures, God hallowed and blessed it, and His Presence would regularly come down and rest upon the Cherubim that were carved and made on top of the Ark of the Covenant. And this Ark was so holy and blessed, that no one could touch it, and in one occasion, a priest who accidentally touched the Ark was immediately struck dead.

Again, this highlighted how sin and evil has no place in the Presence of God, and sin would have obliterated us in His Presence. And how is this related to Mary and her Immaculate Conception? That is because Mary is the vessel through whom God would bring forth His salvation into this world, as He sent unto us all His Son, the Son of God Most High that had willingly embraced our humanity and our human nature, that God Himself, the Lord and Master of all the whole Universe and existence became manifested in the flesh in the womb of Mary, who therefore became God’s Mother. If the Ark of the Covenant itself has been made so holy and inviolable, then all the more the one to bear God Himself in the flesh should also be made holy, and this is where it is indeed important that Mary should be made ‘Immaculate’, free from all taints of original sin.

That is because mankind have been tainted by the taint of original sin due to our rebellion against God, and just as mentioned, sin has made us defiled, corrupted and unworthy of God. How can then God be born through a woman who had been defiled and corrupted by sin and evil? How can He spend nine months in the womb of Mary if Mary herself is suffering the same corruption of sin and evil? If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, the Divine Word of God incarnate, truly God and truly Man, then we must also believe that God, by His power and will, He Who does things that may seem impossible for us, can keep Mary from being corrupted by the taint of sin. That is what the Church teaches us, that by the singular grace of God, Mary, the Mother of God, was conceived without sin, and remained pure and full of grace all her life.

That is further affirmed in our Gospel passage today from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the account of the Archangel Gabriel announcing the coming of the Saviour to Mary was told to us. The Archangel Gabriel greeted Mary with the words that we are surely familiar with, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace.’, and for someone to be in the state of fullness of grace means that she truly enjoys the complete favour of God and no sin is found in her at all. This affirms the Church teachings that had been preserved from the days of the Apostles that Mary, the Mother of God has indeed been conceived without sin, and remained pure and blameless throughout all of her life, and this made her to be fully worthy to bear the Lord and Saviour Himself in her, and to be the Mother of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed earlier and remembered from the Scripture readings today, let us all therefore celebrate and rejoice greatly in commemorating the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, who is also our loving Mother. We rejoice in her great faith and commitment to the mission which she has embraced and accepted with great love and commitment. And in Mary, conceived without sin we have seen a great role model and inspiration for all of us to follow in our own lives and faith, to do what God has entrusted to us to do, and to be truly faithful and striving to be free from sin and wickedness of this world in our respective lives. In Mary, in her fullness of grace, we see the inspiration and model for us to follow, in aspiring for this state of grace and obedience to God.

Ultimately, all of us are called to be reconciled with God and to be reunited with Him, and in order for that to happen, we should repent from our many sins and reject the temptations of sin and evil. We must no longer be stubborn and resist God’s calling for us all to follow Him. We must embrace God’s ever generous love and mercy, His kindness and compassion which He has always presented to us, loving and forgiving us our sins whenever we come back to Him with sorrowful and contrite hearts. May God, our ever loving Father and Creator, Our Lord and Saviour continue to love us and show His mercy on us, and may His Blessed Mother, Mary, conceived without sin, continue to intercede for us always. Amen.

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Monday, 9 December 2024 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 26-38

In the sixth month, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

The Angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the Angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”

Then Mary said to the Angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the Angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”

Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the Angel left her.

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Monday, 9 December 2024 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ephesians 1 : 3-6, 11-12

Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord, Who, in Christ, has blessed us from heaven, with every spiritual blessing. God chose us, in Christ, before the creation of the world, to be holy, and without sin in His presence.

From eternity He destined us, in love, to be His adopted sons and daughters, through Christ Jesus, thus fulfilling His free and generous will. This goal suited Him : that His loving-kindness, which He granted us in His beloved might finally receive all glory and praise.

By a decree of Him, Who disposes all things, according to His own plan and decision, we, the Jews, have been chosen and called, and we were awaiting the Messiah, for the praise of His glory.

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Monday, 9 December 2024 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3bc-4

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.

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Monday, 9 December 2024 : Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 3 : 9-15, 20

YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”

The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

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Thursday, 21 November 2024 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Lord in the Scriptures, we are reminded of the great and most loving Mother of God, Mary, who is also our Mother on this day, when we are celebrating the Feast of her Presentation at the Temple and House of God. On this day we remember the time when Mary, when she was just born into this world, she was presented to the Lord at His Temple following His instruction in the Law and commandments that all the firstborn children were to be offered to Him. According to Church and Apostolic tradition, Mary, the Mother of God was presented at the Temple of God by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, as their firstborn and only daughter, dedicating her for the purpose which they then had not known or realised yet.

For Mary has been specially set aside by the Lord Himself to be the one to bear His Presence in the flesh, as He became incarnate in this world, assuming our human nature by the will of the Father and power of the Holy Spirit, that the Son of God might be present in our midst, as the Son of Man, to be carried and born from Mary, who therefore would hence be known as the Mother of God. And because she herself is to bear the Divine Son of God, hence, the Church teaches that through the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary that she had been conceived free from the taint of original sin and had been in the state of fullness of grace throughout all of her life. This means that Mary has been completely obedient to the Lord and having also therefore been presented to God at the Temple, it also symbolically marked how she has been prepared for the important role she was to have in the story of our salvation.

In our first reading today taken from the Book of the prophet Zechariah we heard of the reassurance of God’s salvation and His providence to His people which He delivered to them all through His prophet, amidst all the hardships, challenges and difficulties that they had all endured because of their own disobedience and refusal to obey God’s words and will. The Lord has never forgotten or abandoned them all despite their disobedience, wickedness and stubbornness in refusing to follow His Law and commandments. And He has kept on promising His salvation and deliverance to all of them, all throughout the time, encouraging and strengthening them, guiding and helping them through His many prophets and messengers, including that of Zechariah himself.

All these would hence be fulfilled in due time, a few centuries after the time of the prophet Zechariah, when as mentioned, when Mary came to be in this world, set aside by God to be the faithful servant and the woman through whom His salvation, the long awaited Saviour would come into this world. God has not forgotten about His people and He proved it all through the sending of this woman, preserved and kept from all the taints of sin and evil so that the Saviour may come through her into this world, bringing forth the light and hope that had long been dimmed by a world filled with sin and darkness. Through Mary, and her willingness to follow the Lord and to do what she has been entrusted to do, all of us have received the assurance of salvation and eternal life, the straight path back towards the Lord and the glory of Heaven that has always been intended for us.

For Mary is indeed the New Eve, the one who directs us all to the New Adam, that is Christ Himself, her beloved Son and our Saviour. While the first and old Adam had disobeyed God and sinned against Him, the New Adam, Our Lord and Saviour as the New Man obeyed perfectly the will of His Father and became for us therefore the source of salvation and eternal life. And this is mirrored by the examples of His own Mother Mary, who as the New Eve obeyed the Lord and refused to follow the path of sin done by the first and original Eve, who gave in to temptation and disobeyed the Lord’s words and command, choosing to follow the whim of human desire and ambition rather than to follow and trust in the Lord. Mary obeyed perfectly when she was entrusted with the most important mission of bearing the Saviour in her.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we heard of the occasion when the Lord was teaching the people and then some of them were telling Him that His Mother, Mary and some of His relatives, brothers from His family but not the sons of Mary, were there waiting on Him, as they commonly followed Him in some of His ministries and works. But the Lord seemed to rebuke them when He said that His mother and brothers are those who have listened to the Lord, obeyed His will and commandments, and followed Him wholeheartedly. Indeed, if we only read His words at face value and did not truly understand His intentions, those words might seem to be very rude, but this was not what the Lord intended.

In fact, the Lord was highlighting His own Mother’s perfect and most exemplary faith, shown through her total obedience to the will of God and her commitment to the mission entrusted to her. It was at the same time also a reminder to everyone including each one of us that the Lord has no favouritism, unlike those commonly practiced by the people of His time and even that of ours. It does not mean that being related to Him or being a close disciple of His would guarantee that one would be honoured more and praised, or receiving more rights to salvation than others who did not have such a connection. All of us are equally beloved by God and we all have equal opportunities to come to the Lord and be reconciled to Him. And Mary herself has also shown her most wonderful faith by example, and we truly honour her not just because she is the Mother of God, of Our Lord and Saviour but also by her most wonderful and exemplary faith in God.

As we have heard from our Scripture passages today, we are therefore reminded to be like Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, whose faith and dedication to God, whose love for her Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and also her love for us are truly wonderful and beautiful to behold. We are all called to dedicate ourselves and our lives to the Lord, and to follow Him wholeheartedly at all times, in all the occasions and circumstances of our lives. May the Lord continue to bless us all and our every efforts, and through the constant intercession of His Blessed and most loving Mother, who is also our Mother, we may continue to be encouraged and strengthened to allow us to follow our Lord faithfully and ever more courageously in each and every moments of our lives. May God be with us always and may He continue to guide in our journey in life, together with His most loving Mother Mary, our own beloved Mother. Amen.

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Thursday, 21 November 2024 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 12 : 46-50

At that time, while Jesus was talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”

Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

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Thursday, 21 November 2024 : 33rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant, in her lowliness, and people, forever, will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age, His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.