Monday

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Monday, 22 January 2018 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Mark 3 : 22-30

At that time, the teachers of the Law, who had come from Jerusalem, said, “He is the power of Beelzebul : the chief of the demons helps Him to drive out demons.”

Jesus called them to Him, and began teaching them by means of stories, or parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a nation is divided by civil war, that nation cannot stand. If a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive. In the same way, if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he will not stand; he is finished.”

“No one can break into the house of a strong man in order to plunder his goods, unless he first ties up the strong man. Then indeed, he can plunder his house. Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, however numerous. But whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He carries the guilt of his sin forever.”

This was their sin when they said, “He has an unclean spirit in Him.”

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Monday, 22 January 2018 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 88 : 20, 21-22, 25-26

In the past, You spoke in a vision; You said of Your faithful servant : “I have set the crown upon a mighty one; on one chosen from the people.”

I have found David My servant, and, with My holy oil, I have anointed him. My hand will be ever with him; and My arm will sustain him.

My faithfulness and love will be with him; and, by My help, he will be strong. I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers.

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Monday, 22 January 2018 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

2 Samuel 5 : 1-7, 10

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your bone and flesh. In the past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel. And YHVH said to you, ‘You shall be the shepherd of My people Israel and you shall be commander over Israel.’”

Before YHVH, king David made an agreement with the elders of Israel who came to him at Hebron, and they anoint him king of Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years : he reigned over Judah, from Hebron, seven and a half years; and over Israel and Judah, from Jerusalem, for thirty-three years.

The king and his men set out for Jerusalem to fight the Jebusites who lived there. They said to David, “If you try to break in here, the blind and the lame will drive you away,” which meant that David could not get in. Yet David captured the fortress of Zion that became the “city of David.”

And David grew more powerful, for YHVH, the God of Hosts, was with him.

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd 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 relating to us about a change in life attitude necessary for us to be able to follow the Lord wholeheartedly and with sincerity. From the first reading today we heard about the prophet Samuel who rebuked Saul, the first king of Israel, who disobeyed the Lord’s command to follow his own way. And then, from the Gospel we heard a parable taught by Our Lord Himself, about something related to what we heard in the first reading.

Beginning with what we listened to at the first reading today, we witnessed how king Saul, the first king chosen by God to rule over Israel, His people, had not been obedient to Him, but rather, he preferred to follow his own judgments and ways. He was told to destroy the Amalekites, a longtime enemy of the people of God, without sparing anyone and without sparing any of their possessions.

Instead, king Saul chose to spare Agag, the king of Amalek, as well as the Amalekites’ numerous possessions, their wealth and animals, their riches and all of their goods. The Lord knew the disobedience of Saul, which led Israel to sin against Him, as by disobeying the Lord’s direct commands, Saul had chosen not to obey Him but rather trusting in his own flawed human judgment and ambitions.

Samuel was sent by God to rebuke Saul, and showed him how his folly had brought about his disgrace and the withdrawal of the favour and grace which God had granted to him. Saul tried to make excuses by saying that he spared the animals and flocks so that he could offer sacrifices to the Lord, by offering those animals as burnt offerings to God, as prescribed according to the Law of Moses.

But Samuel made it clear to Saul, that God’s favour has been withdrawn from him, and he would no longer be king over Israel, because not only that he had disobeyed God and not listening to His will, but he tried to justify it with false adherence to the laws of Moses, pretending to be faithful by offering animal sacrifices. In truth, Saul wanted those riches for himself and for those who are close to him, and not to praise God.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard the interaction between the Pharisees and the disciples of St. John the Baptist with the disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They criticised them and wondered why they did not do as what the laws of Moses prescribed to them to do, that is to fast and to follow the many other commandments and customs in the Jewish tradition. But the Lord Jesus explained to them, by means of parables, that His way is the truth, and not the false ways of the world.

He used the parable of the old and new wineskins and wine, and the old cloth and new clothpiece to highlight this truth to the people. What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? If we remember what we have just heard in the Gospel passage, we see how the new wine cannot be kept in an old wineskin, vice versa, and new clothpiece cannot be used to patch an old cloth, vice versa, as they are incompatible with each other.

Jesus was saying that in order for the people to truly love Him and devote themselves to Him, then they must abandon the false and wrong way of believing as advocated by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, and to a certain extent, what king Saul had done at that time when he disobeyed God. Those people had advocated blind obedience to the Law, to the point that they performed the rituals and practices of the faith but without proper understanding of their meaning.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the prophet Samuel and Our Lord Jesus Himself highlighted that true obedience is more important than just paying lip service to the law. It does not mean that we should not obey the commandments of God as written in the teachings of the Church, as indeed, we must obey those laws and precepts, as God Himself has given us all of them to be obeyed and followed.

However, we must not end up following them for the sake of following them, meaning that, we do not fulfil the commandments because we truly love God above all, and worse still, we do them for the sake of our own personal ambitions and glory. This is something that we must avoid, and which we have to learn from the lessons of the Lord, as He showed the corrupt ways of the teachers of old who misused the law for their own purposes.

We have a choice, brothers and sisters in Christ, on whether we want to follow the footsteps of king Saul, or the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, in disobeying God because they did not have the Lord as the focus and the centre of their lives? Or whether we want to turn ourselves completely to Him and learn to love Him with all of our hearts and with all of our strength?

May the Lord help each and every one of us, that as Christians, we may grow to love the Lord more and more with each and every passing day. Let us all also care for one another, giving our love for our brethren in need, and not ignoring or abandoning those who are in need of our love. This is the new way which Christ has revealed to us, which is against the old ways of our worldliness and selfishness. Let us therefore cast aside the old ways and follow the Lord wholeheartedly from now on. Amen.

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 2 : 18-22

At that time, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it, that both the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast, but Yours do not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guests fast while the Bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the Bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come, when the Bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.”

“No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 49 : 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

Not for your sacrifices do I reprove you, for your burnt offerings are ever before Me. I need no bull from your stalls, nor he-goat from your pens.

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My Covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you. Those who give with thanks, offerings, honour Me; but the one who walks blamelessly. I will show him the salvation of God.

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Monday, 15 January 2018 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Samuel 15 : 16-23

Samuel then told Saul, “Enough! Let me tell you what YHVH said to me last night.” Saul replied, “Please tell me.” So Samuel went on and said, “Though you had no confidence in yourself, you became chief of the tribes of Israel, for YHVH wanted to anoint you king over Israel. Then He sent you with this command, ‘Go. Completely crush the Amalekite offenders, engaging them in battle until they are destroyed.’”

“Why then did you not obey the voice of YHVH but instead swooped down on the spoil, doing what was evil in His sight?” To this, Saul replied, “I have obeyed the voice of YHVH and have carried out the mission for which He sent me. I have captured Agag, king of Amalek and completely destroyed the Amalekites. If my men spared the best sheep and oxen from among these to be destroyed, it was in order to sacrifice them to YHVH, your God, in Gilgal.”

Samuel then said, “Does YHVH take as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to His command? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission better than the fat of rams. Rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness like holding onto idols. Since you have rejected the word of YHVH, He too has rejected you as king.”

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Monday, 8 January 2018 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, marking the beginning of the period after Christmas season, the Ordinary Time between Christmas and Lent seasons. Today’s feast is significant because it marks the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, at the approximate age of thirty, many years after He was born as a Child in Bethlehem, which is the focus of our Christmas celebrations, and three years before He was to be crucified and died, which is the focus of our Lenten preparation for the Holy Week celebrations.

In our own baptism, when we were conferred the very first of the seven Holy Sacraments of the Church, we were cleansed by the holy water and made to be worthy of God, washed away from the taints of our original sins, from all the past wrongdoings that we have committed, and we were accepted to be members of God’s Holy Church, and consequently, we become God’s own adopted children.

If we look at what happened that day at the River Jordan, when Jesus came towards St. John the Baptist, asking to be baptised by him, then it must have been very weird indeed, and His actions must have been incomprehensible to us. In fact, that was exactly why St. John the Baptist himself was stunned by such a request, as he himself said that he was the one who should have been baptised by Jesus.

But the Lord rebuked him and said that they should proceed according to His wish, as everything has to be fulfilled in accordance to what the Lord has revealed through His prophets. And thus, Jesus was baptised in the waters of the River Jordan by St. John the Baptist, and then heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended down upon Him in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father sounded clearly, “This is My Son, My Beloved. My favour rests upon Him.”

Why did He do this, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because our own baptism is a reflection of Christ’s own baptism at the Jordan, and through baptism, all of us have been made God’s own adopted sons and daughters as I have just mentioned earlier. And at the moment when Jesus was baptised, the Father revealed that He is His Son, and because He share with us our humanity, having assumed the flesh of Man and born of His mother, Blessed ever Virgin Mary, all of us mankind now have become His own brothers and sisters.

And we have been sealed in the Name of the Holy Trinity, of Father, Son and the Holy Spirit at the moment of our baptism, the moment when our live was changed forever, be it that we were baptised as babies and infants through the guidance of the faith of our parents, or whether we were baptised after we have reached adulthood and voluntarily chose to accept the Lord Jesus as our God and Saviour.

Therefore, today let us all recall the moment of our own baptism. If we cannot remember what happened, then at least we should remember the day when we were baptised and reflect on the fact that we have been so fortunate so as to receive from God an adoption as a son or as a daughter. We are so fortunate that He has willingly forgiven us from our sins and loved us so dearly that He gave us the means for our salvation and liberation from the tyranny of sin and death, by none other than the gift of His beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us all then remember what is it that we have been called to as Christians, through our baptism, that we make use of the gifts that God has given each and every one of us. We should devote ourselves, our mind, heart, body and everything we have, to serve God and His people, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, members of God’s beloved and holy Church, that we proclaim His glory and Good News, through our words and more importantly, through our actions.

Therefore, let us all continue to strengthen our faith in God, and resolve to live our lives faithfully, in accordance with His ways. Let us no longer walk in the path of sin and wickedness, but instead, resolve to remain true to our promises made at the time of our baptism, that we will keep ourselves pure and free from sin, and committed to live day after day, as worthy of God, our loving Father. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 8 January 2018 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 1 : 7-11

John preached to the people, saying, “After me comes One Who is more powerful than I am; I have baptised you with water, but He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.”

At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth, a town of Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And the moment He came up out of the water, heaven opened before Him, and He saw the Spirit coming down on Him like a dove.

And these words were heard from heaven, “You are My Son, the Beloved, the One I have chosen.”

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Monday, 8 January 2018 : Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 28 : 1-4, 9-10

Give the Lord, o sons of God, give the Lord glory and strength, give the Lord the glory due His Name; worship the Lord in great liturgy.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over vast waters. How powerful is the voice of the Lord, how splendorous is the voice of the Lord.

The voice of the Lord makes the oaks shudder, the Lord strips the forests bare, and in His Temple all cry, “Glory!” Over the flood the Lord was sitting; the Lord is King and He reigns forever.