Monday

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Monday, 12 March 2018 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 65 : 17-21

I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again. Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in My people.

The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more. You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.

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Monday, 5 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture reading with the story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian, who was the trusted army general and servant of the Aramean king during the time of the prophet Elisha at the northern kingdom of Israel. Naaman was searching for a way to be cured from his illness, as he suffered from terrible leprosy on his skin.

Naaman came to Israel seeking for help, as he heard that the prophet Elisha had the miraculous powers in healing many people who came to him, as God worked His wonders through His servant. In the end, as we heard from the Scripture passage, Naaman met up with the prophet Elisha, who simply asked him to go for a dip in the river Jordan seven times, and he would be healed.

Initially, Naaman refused to do so, thinking that such a menial task would not be something that could have cured him. He has expected that the prophet would place his hands on him, touched him or performed some wonders before his eyes, and he would be cured as how the other pagan priests and magicians at that time performed their supposed miracle works and wonders.

But eventually, Naaman listened to the prophet and humbled himself, doing what he was asked to do, and he was cured from all of his physical and bodily complaints. He believed in God from then on, and went home praising God for all that He had done for him. This amazing story of Naaman’s healing and conversion is something that we should take note of, as a parallel to our own conversion and healing.

Let us look at the Gospel passage today, in which we heard how the Lord Jesus was rejected in His own village in Nazareth. He has preached to them and even performed miracles before them, but the people hardened their hearts and refused to believe in Him. Why is that so? That is because Jesus hailed from that very village, where all the people likely had known Him in person since when He was very young, after He returned to Nazareth with His foster father St. Joseph and His mother Mary.

That is why they likely assumed that they knew Who He was, the mere Son of a lowly carpenter of the village. At that time, being a carpenter was truly a lowly and undesirable occupation to have, having to work very hard and yet gaining very little, and only contempt and ridicule from others who used his service. And this prejudice continued on to apply to the Lord Himself, Who was likely also a carpenter like His foster father St. Joseph.

We see here the irony of their actions, those who were at Nazareth who were in fact belonging to God’s own people, the descendants of Israel. While Naaman, the Syrian pagan and non-Israelite came to believe in God despite his earlier reservations and doubts, but he believed nonetheless, as compared to the Israelites who hardened their hearts and refused to believe, just as what happened to the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the Sadducees and their followers.

The essence of today’s Scripture readings is that all of us must not harden our hearts and refuse God’s generous offer of mercy. Otherwise we will gain nothing for ourselves, and no healing will come to us. Naaman at first also hardened his heart, but he relented in the end, and humbly submitted to God’s will as spoken through His prophet Elisha, and he received grace and healing from his illnesses.

Similarly, all of us are sick, sick in the heart, mind, body and soul. We may seem to be physically perfect and not sick, but in reality due to our sins, born of our disobedience to the Lord, have made us to be sick. Sin is a very dangerous sickness that will destroy everything. Unlike any other earthly illnesses and diseases that can be cured, the disease of the soul, that is sin, cannot be cured by any worldly means, save that of by the Lord.

It is God alone Who can forgive our sins, and He does so, through none other than His own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave us His life through the cross. Through that cross which He bore on the way to Calvary, and as He was raised up high for our salvation, all of us who believe in Him will receive the grace and forgiveness from our sins. This is what we need to realise, and which we need to take action on, especially at this good time of Lent.

Let us all open our hearts, our minds and our whole being to receive the Lord into our being. Let Him transform us, our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, that we may be turned from sickly beings of darkness, into purified beings of light, worthy to be called His children. May the Lord bless us all, and may He forgive us our sins, that we may draw ever closer to Him and receive His eternal grace and blessings. Amen.

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Monday, 5 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 4 : 24-30

At that time, Jesus said to the people of Nazareth, “No prophet is honoured in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet; and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”

On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought Him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went His way.

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Monday, 5 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 41 : 2, 3 and Psalm 42 : 3, 4

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?

Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.

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Monday, 5 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

2 Kings 5 : 1-15a

Naaman was the army commander of the king of Aram. This man was highly regarded and enjoyed the king’s favour, for YHVH had helped him lead the army of the Arameans to victory. But this valiant man was sick with leprosy.

One day some Aramean soldiers raided the land of Israel and took a young girl captive who became a servant to the wife of Naaman. She said to her mistress, “If my master would only present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.”

Naaman went to tell the king what the young Israelite maidservant had said. The king of Aram said to him, “Go to the prophet, and I shall also send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman went and took with him ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces and ten festal garments.

On his arrival, he delivered the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I present my servant Naaman to you that you may heal him of his leprosy. When the king read the letter, he tore his clothes to show his indignation, “I am not God to give life or death. And the king of Aram sends me this man to be healed! You see, he is just looking for an excuse for war.”

Elisha, the man of God, came to know that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, so he sent this message to him : “Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stopped before the house of Elisha. Elisha then sent a messenger to tell him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash seven times, and your flesh shall be as it was before, and you shall be cleansed.”

Naaman was angry, so he went away. He thought, “On my arrival, he should have personally come out, and then paused and called on the Name of YHVH, his God. And he should have touched with his hand the infected part, and I would have been healed. Are the rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar not better than all the rivers of the land of Israel? Could I not wash there to be healed?”

His servants approached him and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had ordered you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? But how much easier when he said : ‘Take a bath and you will be cleansed.’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan where he washed himself seven times as Elisha had ordered. His skin became soft like that of a child and he was cleansed.

Then Naaman returned to the man of God with all his men.

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Monday, 26 February 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture readings which message to us is very clear, a call to repentance, to turn away from our sins, and for us to practice forgiveness and mercy in our own lives as Christians. This is essential especially as this season of Lent is a time for us to take stock of our lives thus far, and to reevaluate our life priorities and choices.

In the first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard how Daniel represented the people of Israel in their combined sorrow and regret for their sinful ways, for their wickedness, and for their refusal to listen to God and to the warnings and reminders which He had given to them through the prophets. They continued to sin and to disobey God, worshipping pagan gods and idols instead of the Lord their God, and as a result, they were left to the hands of their enemies.

After having their cities destroyed and the whole population brought off to the faraway Babylon, into a life of misery and exile, having experienced the destruction of the Temple which had stood since the day of king Solomon, the people of Israel longed again for the days in which God once showed great graces and blessings to His people, when they were faithful to Him and followed His ways.

Yet, despite all the sins they have done, all the repeated offences they have committed again and again, their stubbornness and hardened hearts, God did not harden His heart against them. Despite His anger against them, ultimately what He hated from them was their sins and their disobedient actions. He still loved them very much, each and every one of them as a loving Father Who created them and made them.

In the Gospel passage today, from the Gospel of St. Luke, we heard from the Lord Himself, the same truth He had shown to His people earlier on. God is merciful and forgiving, especially with us His beloved sons and daughters, as He is Our loving Father, and He provides us with opportunities, one after another, to be forgiven from our sins, providing that we are willing to do whatever is necessary to receive and accept God’s generous offer of mercy.

He led His people Israel back to the land promised to them and to their ancestors, after the time of Daniel, after they had shown remorse and regret for their sins. He renewed the Covenant He had made with their ancestors, through the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah, and they became His beloved ones once again, and He became their God, and the Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, during this time of Lent, we are called to be merciful as Our Lord and Father has been merciful to us, having forgiven us our many sins and trespasses because He loves each and every one of us, desiring greatly to be reunited with us. However, it is sad to note that it is we ourselves who refused God’s offer of mercy, by constantly and continuing to sin against Him, living in selfishness and succumbing to our human desires and wants for the pleasures of the body.

And we ourselves were not able to be merciful, showing anger and keeping grudges against each other. We easily become angry against our fellow brethren, even against our own beloved ones, our own families and relatives. How can we then show mercy against our enemies and those who hate us, if we cannot even forgive and show mercy to those who are dear and close to us?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the reason for many of these grievances and unfortunate actions are our ego, our pride and our selfishness. We live in a world where the individual reigns supreme, and the needs and wants of our individual, the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’ reign supreme above everything else. That is why when someone insults us or make us angry, we often lash out back at the person with anger and keep grudges against that person.

But that is not what all of us are taught to do as Christians. Being Christians means that we follow the example of Christ, and Christ’s example is one of forgiveness and love. He forgave the woman caught with adultery, telling her not to sin again. He forgave those who condemned Him to death on the cross, and prayed for their sake. He told His disciples to do the same, and one of His followers, St. Stephen, imitated the Lord’s examples, forgiving those who killed him with stone.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard all these as reminders for us as Christians that we need to practice mercy in our lives and show love to one another just as much as we need to love God before everything else, especially before we love ourselves and put ourselves lower in priority than God and our fellow men. Let us make this to be our Lenten resolution and commitment to be an ever better and devoted Christian.

May the Lord be with us all, that He may continue to awaken in our hearts, the strong desire to love Him and to serve Him with love, by caring for all those around us who are in need of His love. May the Lord bless us all, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 26 February 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 6 : 36-38

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”

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Monday, 26 February 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 78 : 8, 9, 11, 13

Do not remember against us the sins of our fathers. Let Your compassion hurry to us, for we have been brought very low.

Help us, God, our Saviour, for the glory of Your Name; forgive us for the sake of Your Name.

Listen to the groans of the prisoners; by the strength of Your arm, deliver those doomed to die.

Then we, Your people, the flock of Your pasture, will thank You forever. We will recount Your praise from generation to generation.

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Monday, 26 February 2018 : 2nd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Daniel 9 : 4b-10

Lord God, great and to be feared, You keep Your covenant and love for those who love You and observe Your commandments. We have sinned, we have not been just, we have been rebels, and have turned away from Your commandments and laws. We have not listened to Your servants, the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, leaders, fathers and to all the people of the land.

Lord, justice is Yours, but ours is a face full of shame, as it is to this day – we, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel, near and far away, in all the lands where You have dispersed us because of the infidelity we have committed against You. Ours is the shame, o Lord for we, our kings, princes, fathers, have sinned against You.

We hope for pardon and mercy from the Lord, because we have rebelled against Him. We have not listened to the voice of YHVH, our God, or followed the laws which He has given us through His servants, the prophets.

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Monday, 19 February 2018 : 1st Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture readings serve as reminders for us, especially in this season of Lent, to reexamine our actions and deeds in life thus far, and ask ourselves whether we have been truly faithful and good disciples of Our Lord, or whether we have wandered off and fallen into sinful ways. In the first reading we heard God’s reminders to His people as He delivered to them through Moses, His servant, on how to be faithful to His laws and commandments.

During that time, the people of Israel often disobeyed the Lord, and some even followed the pagan customs of the people they encountered during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. They did not know how to differentiate what was right from what was wrong, and they did what were considered wicked and sinful in the sight of God, oppressing their neighbours and those who were weaker than them.

As a result, God handed down His laws and commandments to them, through Moses, by which He expected them all to follow and to obey those laws and commandments, so that they might no longer sin but instead find a renewed life and existence in obedience to God and therefore they would be worthy to receive the fullness of God’s promises and graces.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are all also God’s people, thus we are also expected to do the same with our own lives. We should listen to the commandments which God had passed down to us, and which He reinforced through the teachings of the Church He established. What does this mean? It means that we should be just in our actions, and show love to others in our dealings with them.

We should help those who are poor and downtrodden, sharing with them the blessings we have received, the excesses and the spare that we can give to them. Are we not moved to mercy and compassion when we see someone who is suffering from hunger, from loneliness, from sorrow, from persecution and from many other unfortunate occasions? When we are in the position to help, are we doing what we can in order to help?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Gospel today, we heard about the account of the Last Judgment, which the Lord Jesus shared with His disciples and with the people who listened to Him. In that account, He foretold to them, how all of us mankind will eventually face this great judgment of all, when all of us will be judged not only by what we have done in life, but also by what we have not done or failed to do in our lives.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are often familiar with the sin caused by our actions, which are done in disobedience to God, which is the sin of action. However, do we also know that there is also the sin of omission? The sin of omission is caused by our conscious refusal and rejection of doing what we could have done, for the sake of those who are in need, while we are in the perfect position to be able to do so.

In the Gospel passage, we heard how the Lord Jesus cast out all those who have committed the same sin of omission from His presence, because they have seen Him in the least of their brethren, who were in need and who could have been helped by those who saw and knew their plight, and yet, those who were in the perfect position and capacity to help refused to do so, and turned a blind eye and deaf ear to their sufferings.

Those who refuse to do what the Lord had commanded us to do, will suffer the just rewards of their refusal, that is eternal damnation and suffering in hell. That is what the Lord had made plain before all of the people, warning them to remain true to His teachings and to do what must be done, in order for them to gain justification and to be worthy of God’s kingdom. Now, the choice is in our hands, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Shall we do our best in this season of Lent, particularly at this time of great grace, which the Church had set aside for us that we may turn away from our sins and to embrace God’s ways? Shall we do what we can, whenever we see others who are in need in our midst, not necessarily for money or worldly goods, but even for a simple care, love and attention? Shall we be more generous in giving alms and love for our brethren, that we are no longer oblivious to their need and cry for help, but instead be ready to help them with all of our hearts?

May the Lord be with us all, brothers and sisters in Christ, that He may continue to bless our works and endeavours throughout this season of Lent. May all of our good works and actions bring us ever closer and help us to realise ever more, of the responsibilities we have as Christ’s disciples. May the Lord bless our work, now and always. Amen.