Monday

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Monday, 11 December 2017 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Luke 5 : 17-26

At that time, one day, Jesus was teaching, and many Pharisees and teachers of the Law had come from every part of Galilee and Judea, and even from Jerusalem. They were sitting there, while the power of the Lord was at work to heal the sick. Then some men brought a paralysed man who lay on his mat.

They tried to enter the house to place him before Jesus, but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof, and, removing the tiles, they lowered him on his mat into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

At once the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees began to wonder, “This Man insults God! Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus knew their thoughts and asked them, “Why are you reacting like this? Which is easier to say : ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Get up and walk’? Now you shall know, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”

And Jesus said to the paralysed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” At once, the man stood before them. He took up the mat he had been lying on, and went home praising God. Amazement seized the people and they praised God. They were filled with a holy fear, and said, “What wonderful things we have seen today!”

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Monday, 11 December 2017 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Psalm 84 : 9ab-10, 11-12, 13-14

Would, that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints. Yet, His salvation is near to those who fear Him, and His glory will dwell in our land.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

YHVH will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.

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Monday, 11 December 2017 : 2nd Week of Advent, Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, Pope (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Popes)

Isaiah 35 : 1-10

Let the wilderness and the arid land rejoice, the desert be glad and blossom. Covered with flowers, it sings and shouts with joy, adorned with the splendour of Lebanon, the magnificence of Carmel and Sharon. They, My people, see the glory of YHVH, the majesty of our God.

Give vigour to our weary hands and strength to enfeebled knees. Say to those who are afraid : “Have courage, do not fear. See, your God comes, demanding justice. He is the God Who rewards, the God Who comes to save you.”

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unsealed. Then will the lame leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb sing and shout. For water will break out in the wilderness and streams gush forth from the desert. The thirsty ground will become a pool, the arid land springs of water. In the haunts where once reptiles lay, grass will grow with reeds and rushes.

There will be a highway which will be called The Way of Holiness; no one unclean will pass over it nor any wicked fool stray there. No lion will be found there nor any beast of prey. Only the redeemed will walk there. For the ransomed of YHVH will return : with everlasting joy upon their heads, they will come to Zion singing, gladness and joy marching with them, while sorrow and sighing flee away.

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Monday, 4 December 2017 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard that story from the Gospel passage, relating to us the moment when the Lord Jesus healed the sick servant of an army centurion, and the Lord was impressed at the faith he has in Him. In order to appreciate this story better, let us all understand the context and situation in which the interaction between Our Lord and the centurion took place.

At that time, the land of Judea, as well as Galilee and Samaria, the places where the Lord ministered to the people, were all under the dominion of the Roman Empire. It was likely that this army captain or centurion is part of the Roman legion or army stationed in the region for peacekeeping and garrison purpose. As such, the army centurion mentioned in the Gospel today might not even be a Jew.

The Jewish people living in Judea were not happy living under the Roman rule, as they had to pay taxes and obey other obligations, although the Romans did respect the Jewish customs and faith, allowing them to carry on with their lives as normal. This was why if we read through the Gospels, the Jews despised the tax collectors and even called them sinners and traitors to their people, as these people collected the taxes for the Romans.

Therefore, the Jews despised all interactions with the Romans, as well as with the pagans, Greeks and all those who do not believe in God or obey the laws of Moses. A Jewish person should not enter the house of a pagan, or else he or she will be considered unclean and unworthy. As such, if Jesus entered into the house of the army centurion, He would be considered unclean, and His enemies would have a reason with which to attack Him, for conspiring with the pagans.

The army centurion must have been aware of this fact, and that was probably the reason why he uttered the now famous words to the Lord Jesus, “I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant shall be healed.” This is what each and every one of us utter at every celebration of the Holy Mass at the Agnus Dei, when the Lord is His Most Precious Body and Blood is presented to us sinners.

Knowing that we are sinners, we utter the same words as the centurion had mentioned. The army centurion knew that Jesus is the Lord, and recognising that fact and truth, and how he, as a pagan, did not deserve Jesus, a Jew, and all the more, as the Lord and Master of all, from coming into his house. Thus, he believes that, because Jesus is the Lord and God, He needed only to just utter the words, and His will would be done, and the servants would be healed.

This faith should be contrasted with the lack of faith among those whom the Lord Jesus had performed His miracles and wonders, even among His disciples and followers. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law even demanded Jesus to show them heavenly and miraculous signs that they might believe in Him. Those people had seen the signs performed and yet still did not believe, because they have consciously chosen not to believe in God and harden their hearts against Him.

This is a reminder to all of us as Christians, that each and every one of us must learn from the faith of the army centurion. We need to be inspired by the pure faith and commitment that the army centurion showed to the Lord, believing wholeheartedly in Him rather than making excuses and doubting Him in what He is capable of doing. Many of us, unfortunately, often did not show the Lord the same faith that the centurion had shown.

Therefore, it is important that in this season of Advent, we should prepare ourselves well, heart, body, mind and soul, in our entire being, to welcome the Lord Jesus, not just merely celebrating His birth into the world, but instead, welcoming Him completely into ourselves, into our whole being. We have received the Lord in the Eucharist at the Holy Mass, but do we truly reflect on what we have received, that is nothing less than the Lord Himself?

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John of Damascus, a renowned saint who lived in Syria more than a millennia ago. St. John of Damascus was a priest who wrote extensively about the faith and whose devotion to God was truly remarkable. Despite the challenges he often encountered in his life, work and mission, he continued to devote himself day after day, to a life of prayer and charitable works, which encouraged many of the Christians in his area, living under difficult conditions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today make a renewed effort to live faithfully in accordance with our faith, following in the footsteps of the army centurion and our holy predecessors, the saints and blesseds of the Church. Let us all be true disciples of Our Lord in actions and deeds, and be genuine in our love for Him. After all, He has endeavoured to come to us, in the flesh, and even then, to suffer and die on the cross for the sake of our salvation.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to guide us on our path, so that eventually we may be faithful in the same manner as the army centurion, whose faith in Him is so great that he placed his complete trust in His words alone, and also in the footsteps of all the saints, particularly St. John of Damascus, whose feast we celebrate this day. May God bless us forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 4 December 2017 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Matthew 8 : 5-11

At that time, when Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached Him, to ask His help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralysed and suffers terribly.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, He was astonished; and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.”

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Monday, 4 December 2017 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Psalm 121 : 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5, 6-7, 8-9

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of YHVH!” And now we have set foot within your gates, o Jerusalem!

Jerusalem, just like a city, where everything falls into place! There the tribes go up.

The tribes of YHVH, the assembly of Israel, to give thanks to YHVH’s Name. There stand the courts of justice, the offices of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : “May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your walls and security within your citadels!”

For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be with you!” For the sake of the house of our YHVH, I will pray for your good.

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Monday, 4 December 2017 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Isaiah 2 : 1-5

The vision of Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days, the mountain of YHVH’s house shall be set over the highest mountains and shall tower over the hills. All the nations shall stream to it, saying, “Come, let us go to the mountain of YHVH, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and we may walk in His paths. For the teaching comes from Zion, and from Jerusalem the word of YHVH.”

“He will rule over the nations and settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not raise sword against nation; they will train for war no more. O nation of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of YHVH!”

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Monday, 27 November 2017 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture passages which told us about Daniel the prophet and servant of God, in how in his youth he was captured by the Babylonians when they sacked Jerusalem and Judah, and brought to Babylon, where he spent his life in exile with many other Israelites. He and some of his fellow countrymen were chosen to be those who would serve the king Nebuchadnezzar.

But Daniel and his compatriots refused to partake in the food and wine which were provided for them by the king’s steward. Why is that so? That is because the food and the wine had likely been used for the offering to the pagan gods, and it was forbidden for them to eat and drink the food and items which had been offered to the pagan gods. Hence, they requested that they be given vegetables instead to eat.

And despite the concerns by the steward, by the grace of God, even though they seemingly have not eaten as much and as lavishly as the other servants, who were fed with the finest worldly food and drink available, Daniel and his friends grew to be healthier and better than those other servants. God was with them, and they were rescued from their predicament.

In the Gospel today, then we heard about the well known story of how Jesus praised the poor old widow for her donation of two small bronze coins to the Temple treasury. He praised her because what she had put inside the treasury is basically she had to survive for herself. Meanwhile, many other rich people came and gave large amount of donations to the Temple treasury, who gave out of their plenty.

In this story, in fact, Jesus did not rebuke or look down on the rich people who have donated to the Temple treasury. What He wanted to point out is the fact that the old widow placed herself so completely in the hands of God that she gave from even her poverty, from what she had enough only to survive for herself. She gave it all to the Lord, without hesitation.

And it was this great faith which the Lord Jesus praised the woman for. It is the same faith which Daniel and his friends had in the Lord, putting their full trust in God. This is also the faith which each one of us as Christians should have and what we are expected to do in our lives as well. We should indeed ask ourselves this question : ‘Have we had the same faith which those people I mentioned, had?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all reflect on our own lives and our every actions. Let us all think of what we have done thus far in our lives, and let us think if we have placed our trust and faith in God, or whether we have rather placed our trust in our own human power, ability, intellect or skills. Let us all come to the realisation that while all those things can be reliable, but there is nothing that is more reliable or certain as compared to God’s love and grace.

If we place our trust in God, we are essentially building up for ourselves a lasting inheritance that will never run out or perish, unlike if we depend on this world’s goods and our own human abilities, power and intellect. This is what each one of us as Christians must aspire to do, to be truly faithful to God in all the things we do. Let us start from ourselves, by doing what we can to do God’s will, by loving one another, by acting justly and helping those who are in need.

May the Lord be with us always, and bless all of us, just as He has blessed His servants Daniel and his friends, those who have been faithful to Him and remain true to Him despite the challenges and difficulties they faced in their lives. May we all draw ever closer to God, so that in all that we act and do, we will always do them for the greater glory of God. Amen.

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Monday, 27 November 2017 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 21 : 1-4

At that time, Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury of the Temple. He also saw a poor widow, who dropped in two small coins. And He said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For all of them gave an offering from their plenty; but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on.”

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Monday, 27 November 2017 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Daniel 3 : 52a, 53, 54, 55, 56

Blessed are You, Lord, God of our fathers, be praised and exalted forever.

Blessed are You in the Temple of Your sacred glory; Your praises are sung forever.

Blessed are You, on the throne of Your kingdom; honoured and glorified forever.

Blessed are You, Who fathom the depths, Who are enthroned on the Cherubim; praised and exalted forever.

Blessed are You, in the firmament of heaven; praised and glorified forever.