Monday

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Monday, 3 March 2025 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we come ever closer to the beginning of the season of Lent this Wednesday, all of us are invited to reflect upon the words of the Sacred Scriptures which we have received today, which reminded us about the great love and kindness which God our loving Father and Creator has for each and every one of us. All of us are truly fortunate to have God Who has always loved us and patiently cared for us, ever always providing us with the help and the means for us to reach out to Him, to return to Him, ever ready to welcome us back with outstretched hands, as He awaits us all to repent from our sinful ways and embrace Him once again with genuine and sincere love. All that remain is for us to make that move to return to our loving Father, opening our hearts and minds to accept Him and His love and forgiveness, and commit ourselves anew to Him.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Sirach in which the prophet mentioned to the people of God of how the Lord, the Almighty God and Master of all knows everything in the hearts and minds of all of His people, and nothing can truly be hidden from Him, no matter what. The prophet Sirach also reassured the faithful that their Lord and Master has always loved them and would reward all those who have been faithful to Him with great grace and blessings, and He has always been willing to welcome back everyone who commit themselves to the path of repentance and reconciliation, ever generous and rich with His mercy, calling upon all of His people to come back to Him.

At the same time, the prophet Sirach also gave a gentle warning from the Lord to the people that if they misbehaved and continued on their path of disobedience and rebellion against Him, then all of their misdeeds and wickedness would also be held against them, just as much as their righteous deeds and actions would bring them rich rewards and graces on the Day of Judgement. Essentially all of us are called through these words of the prophet Sirach that we should no longer be stubborn in closing our hearts and minds against God’s call, His love and generous mercy towards us. We should be thankful that God has always loved us all these while, and willing to forgive us our many sins and trespasses if we truly can commit ourselves to the path of repentance, turning ourselves from the darkness of sin and evil into the path of God’s light and truth.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we first heard of the words of the Lord to a rich man who came up to Him and asked Him of what he needed to do in order to attain eternal life, just as the Lord had proclaimed and promised to them all. It was there that the Lord told the man that he ought to obey the Law and commandments of God, and after the rich man had replied that he had obeyed all those laws and commandments, the Lord tested his resolve and commitment by asking him to leave behind his great wealth and possessions so that he might follow Him wholeheartedly and becoming His disciple. And as we heard, the rich man left the Lord with great sorrow.

This exchange showed to all of us that the love and desire for worldly things, possessions, wealth and other forms of attachments and ambitions can become truly serious obstacles which can prevent us from coming closer to the Lord and His salvation. It however does not mean that the Lord despises the rich and the privileged in the world, as some may have misunderstood the true intention of this Gospel passage. What the Lord warned His disciples and all of us against through this interaction with the rich man was in fact the unhealthy attachments and obsessions that we tend to have for those worldly desires, wealth, riches and other things of worldly nature that we have around us. And for those among us who have been blessed more with them, the risk and chance is indeed higher for us to be overwhelmed and misguided by those temptations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we listened to these words of the Lord contained in the Sacred Scriptures, all of us are reminded today as we are about to enter soon into the penitential season and time of Lent, that each and every one of us should reevaluate our way of life and actions, how we live our lives each day, and what our focus and attention in life is, so that we do not end up losing sight on the true destination of our lives, that is the Lord and His salvation, the eternal life and true happiness that He has reassured us with. We must not allow ourselves to be swayed easily by the allures of worldly desires and ambitions, or to be misguided and misled by the many temptations of glory and power, and all the things that may lead us astray in our journey of faith.

Instead, as we prepare ourselves for the coming of the holy and blessed Lenten season, let us all learn to detach ourselves from all these worldly temptations and pleasures, resisting the various pressures and temptations that may lead us astray in our path, and we should make the conscious effort to walk the path of righteousness and virtue in God, in every parts of our lives, in our every actions, words and deeds and in everything we do especially during this upcoming season of repentance and purification, so that we may truly prepare ourselves well to welcome the Lord and reorientate our lives to focus upon Him once again. We are all fortunate that God has given us constantly His generous mercy and the many opportunities that He has provided us so that we may come and seek Him once again and be reconciled with Him. We should not squander these opportunities that we have received.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father, our most merciful and compassionate Master continue to show us all His love and most generous mercy, and may He continue to strengthen and empower us all in our journey in life so that despite all the pressures, temptations and all the other obstacles that we may be facing in our paths, we may continue to devote ourselves thoroughly to the Lord, committing our time and effort at all times to be the worthy bearers of our Christian faith and truth, by living to the best of our abilities in glorifying God by our lives, even to the smallest and seemingly least significant of our actions. May God be with us always, and may He continue to bless our every good works, efforts and endeavours, and bless our preparations for the upcoming season of Lent. Amen.

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Monday, 3 March 2025 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 10 : 17-27

At that time, just as Jesus was setting out on His journey again, a man ran up, knelt before Him and asked, “Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus answered, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments : Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not cheat, honour your father and mother.” The man replied, “I have obeyed all these commandments since my childhood.”

Then Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him and He said, “For you, one thing is lacking. Go, sell what you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow Me.” On hearing these words, his face fell and he went away sorrowful, for he was a man of great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God” The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus insisted, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

They were more astonished than ever and wondered, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus looked steadily at them and said, “For human beings it is impossible, but not for God; all things are possible with God.”

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Monday, 3 March 2025 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom the Lord sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To the Lord I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin, You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.

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Monday, 3 March 2025 : 8th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 17 : 20-28

Their misdeeds cannot be hidden from Him, all their sins are before the Lord. He holds a man’s almsgiving dear as a priceless signet ring; He cherishes a good deed like apple of His eye. One day He will rise and reward them; He will place their prize on their heads.

He allows those who repent to return; He comforts those whose hopes are fading. Be converted to the Lord and give up your sins, plead with Him to lessen your offence. Return to the Almighty, turn aside from wrongdoing and totally detest evil.

For who in the grave will praise the Almighty, if the living do not give Him glory? The dead man is as if he did not exist and cannot give praise; he who has life and health can praise the Lord.

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Monday, 24 February 2025 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded of the need for us all to put our trust and faith in God and His Wisdom, His guidance and help. We cannot think that we alone has the power to make all things work for us, as it is by God’s grace, help and guidance that we have become successful in this life. Through the Wisdom that He has imparted to us all, God has revealed the path for all of us to follow in life so that we may come to the path of righteousness and remain firm in the conviction to follow Him in each and every moments of our lives. The Wisdom of God has been manifested to us through His Son, Who revealed to us the truth about God’s love, and He has also imparted this same Wisdom to us through His Holy Spirit that He sent into this world.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Sirach, we heard the prophet speaking about the Lord and the Wisdom that has come from Him, and which had been imparted on us mankind in order to make us understand and appreciate parts of the mystery of Creation, of all things that we have experienced around us, in our perception of the world and all that is in it. And the prophet Sirach also mentioned how God is the source of all Wisdom, of all truth and revelations, and He generously offers His Wisdom and truth to all of His beloved ones, wanting all of us to share in His love and truth, so that we may know how much we have been loved by Him, and how precious all of us truly are in His Presence.

However, how come is then that we mankind cannot perceive this Wisdom, even though the Lord has been so generous in giving unto us this great grace of the Wisdom He has imparted to us? That is because we have likely allowed the veil of ignorance and the corruption of sin to prevent them from accessing the great riches of the Wisdom which they had been blessed with, and therefore we continue to live our lives with ignorance of the truth and Wisdom of God, which we could have easily accessed should we embrace God and His truth willingly and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to His cause. We should allow God’s Wisdom to endow us with the understanding and appreciation of the truth, and for Him to lead us all down the right path in life. This is why we cannot let our pride and ego, our greed and ambitions to lead us astray and to move away from the path towards God.

Then, from our Gospel passage today taken from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist, we heard of the Lord speaking to His disciples who were arguing with some of the teachers of the Law because they were unable to cast out evil spirits that were afflicting a boy who was deaf and mute. The Lord told the boy’s father that everything is truly possible if one has faith in God and trust in Him. And the Lord proved this by showing His power, casting out the evil spirit that was afflicting the boy, and made him to be whole and healthy again. The evil spirit went out shrieking from the boy, having to obey the command from the Lord, revealing that not even the power of the evil spirits can prevail against that of the power and wisdom of God. God’s Wisdom and power far surpass that of man’s, and as long as we put our faith and trust in God, then we will be fine.

The Lord also told His disciples that they were unable to cast out the demons from within the boy because only prayer can drive out that kind of demon, and nothing else, a reminder that without prayer, that is connection to God, and the power from the Lord, whatever things we do, all of them may not avail against the forces of the diabolical, the wicked forces of evil that cannot be countered by physical or worldly means. While the details were not listed in the Gospel passage today, but it can be inferred that the disciples did not have enough faith in the Lord and did not put their trust fully in God through prayer, or that they were too confident with themselves, thinking with pride that since the Lord had granted them with the power and authority over the evil spirits then they could easily cast out those demons and spirits with ease.

That was why they probably began to act in manner that were not truly attuned with the Lord, thinking that it was by their own greatness and power that they had performed those miracles and signs. And amidst this wavering faith and connection to God, those evil spirits could challenge them and refuse to obey them. This is hence a reminder for all of us not to be easily swayed by the evil one, and all of his wicked forces, but to remain firm in our conviction to follow the Lord ever more faithfully and to attune ourselves well to His will, strengthening our connection to Him through regular and constant prayerful lives, devoting good quality time with our loving God and Father as we all should have done in each and every days of our lives.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect carefully upon what we have just listened to from our Scripture passages today, especially with regards to how each and every one of us as Christians, as God’s people should always strive to draw our inspiration in life from God and focus our whole effort and attention on Him. All of us should not seek the glory of the world and all of its temptations and pleasures, resisting the many pressures, coercion and all the other things that often become obstacles in our path towards God and His salvation. Each and every one of us as Christians need to show the path forward towards the Lord, becoming the beacons of God’s light and truth to all the whole world, to everyone whom we encounter in our journey of life.

May the Lord, our ever loving and compassionate God, Who has given us all His most wonderful and impressive Wisdom to help and guide us in our journey throughout life continue to bring us all ever closer to His Holy Presence. And may by the power and guidance of His Wisdom, ever present in our midst, in our hearts and minds, we will grow to be ever more faithful disciples and followers of God, becoming good role models and inspirations for everyone else to follow. May God be with us in our every good works and endeavours, and may He bless our every good efforts made in His Name, all for His greater glory. Amen.

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Monday, 24 February 2025 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 14-29

At that time, when Jesus and His disciples, Peter, James and John came to the place where they had left the disciples, they saw many people around them and some teachers of the Law arguing with them. When the people saw Jesus, they were astonished and ran to greet Him.

He asked, “What are you arguing about with them?” A man answered Him from the crowd, “Master, I brought my son to You, for he has a spirit, deaf and mute. Whenever the spirit seizes him, it throws him down and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth and becomes stiff all over. I asked Your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they could not.”

Jesus replied, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me.” And the brought the boy to Him. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it shook and convulsed the boy, who fell on the ground, and began rolling about, foaming at the mouth.

Then Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” He replied, “From childhood. And it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. If You can do anything, have pity on us and help us.”

Jesus said to him, “Why do you say, ‘If You can?’ All things are possible for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe, but help the little faith I have.” Jesus saw that the crowd was increasing rapidly, so He ordered the evil spirit, “Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you : Leave the boy and never enter him again.”

The evil spirit shook and convulsed the boy and with a terrible shriek came out. The boy lay like a corpse and people said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him and the boy stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not drive out the spirit?”

And He answered, “Only prayer can drive out this kind, nothing else.”

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Monday, 24 February 2025 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5

The Lord reigns, robed in majesty; the Lord is girded with strength.

The world now is firm, it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o Lord, from all eternity You are.

Your decrees can be trusted; holiness dwells in Your house day after day without end, o Lord.

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Monday, 24 February 2025 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 1 : 1-10

All wisdom comes from the Lord and endures with Him forever. The grains of sand, the drops of rain and the days of eternity, who can count them? The height of heaven, the extent of the earth and the depths of the abyss, who can measure them?

Wisdom was created before all things and the prudent intellect before the beginning of time. To whom was the source of Wisdom revealed? Who has known her secret designs? One alone is wise and greatly to be feared. The One Who is seated upon His throne.

The Lord Himself created Wisdom. He looked on her and knew her value. He poured her out over all His works; upon all mortal beings, in accordance with His goodness. He lavished her on those who love Him.

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Monday, 17 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened from the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for us to keep our faith in God and to do what is right according to the Law and commandments of God. We should not allow ourselves to be easily tempted and distracted by the various desires of the world around us, all the jealousy and pride in our hearts, all of which can easily lead us down the path towards our downfall. That was what the Scripture readings today had highlighted and warned us with, reminding us that we should be vigilant lest the evil one may tempt us with the allures of worldly glory and ambitions that make us to forget what is the most important thing in our lives, that is our foundation and centrality of our faith in God.

In our first reading today, we heard of the words from the Book of Genesis in which the moments after the downfall of mankind into sin and their exile from the Gardens of Eden were told to us. We heard the well-known story of the interactions between the two sons of Adam and Eve, namely Cain and Abel, both of whom were born to Eve after both her and Adam had been cast out of the Gardens of Eden for their disobedience and sin against God. And as we heard, Cain became jealous at Abel because his offerings of the first harvests of the land had been rejected by God while the offerings of Abel, the offering of the unblemished lambs that he shepherded was accepted by God. This led to the seeds of jealousy and anger to be sown in Cain’s heart and mind.

However, Cain in truth disobeyed the Lord’s commandments, when the Lord had cursed the earth that time because of the sins our ancestors committed. And by offering the fruits of the land, he was not offering what the Lord asked of him, and hence, it was for this disobedience and refusal to obey God that Cain’s offering had been rejected. Yet, Cain did not humble himself or admit his mistakes, and instead, he allowed himself to be swayed by the temptations of his pride and ego, and in his growing jealousy and anger, he raised his own hands against his brother, his own flesh and blood. This resulted in the murder of Abel, which Cain initially denied and tried to evade when the Lord came and questioned him about the deed. But eventually, he admitted the wicked deed because the Lord knew everything, and he was punished for his sins.

This is an important reminder for us all that if we give in to our ego, greed and other worldly desires we have, it is easy for us to end up being led down this slippery path of sin, and as Cain had done, we may even commit heinous things that is truly unbecoming for us all as Christians, in how we even cause hurt, pain and sufferings for others, like how Cain murdered his own brother out of his jealousy and anger. This is a reminder for all of us that we should always strive to keep ourselves and our hearts, our minds and indeed our whole beings free from the corruptions and temptations of sin. If we allow sin to direct our lives’ paths and directions, then we may end up losing our way to the darkness, and we may never attain the salvation and eternal life in God, to our eternal regret.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus encountered some arguments with the Pharisees who were arguing with Him and disagreed with Him on some matters. They were asking for Him to show them miraculous and heavenly signs, but the irony and truth is that they had all actually seen plenty of those signs and wonders which they asked for. After all those Pharisees had often followed the Lord and His disciples wherever they went, and they always shadowed Him throughout His ministry and works, and no doubt they had seen many of His miracles and wonders, which were more than enough proof for them for the signs that they kept on asking from the Lord.

Then why did those Pharisees continue to ask the Lord for such signs? And why did they not believe in the Lord and His works, His miracles and signs? Shouldn’t the Pharisees be the first ones to believe in the Lord because they were the ones supposedly the most knowledgeable and best to understand the Law and the Prophets? But that was exactly where this superiority and knowledge became their undoing, because this led them to pride and ego, arrogance and hubris, thinking that they were better than others, knowing and understanding the Law of God and the prophets better than everyone, and they therefore refused to reconcile what they had seen, heard and witnessed with their knowledge of the Law of God and the prophets. They kept on thinking that the Lord Jesus was a fraud and a false Messiah, and hence, despite His many signs and wonders, they kept on doubting Him and trying to discredit Him before the people.

This is hence the important reminder yet again for all of us as Christians that we should not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by worldly desires and ambitions, all of the things which can mislead us into the path of rebellion against God and then into eternal damnation. We must instead resist those temptations and strive to be humble before God, realising our imperfections and shortcomings, and ask Him for His guidance, help and encouragement constantly in our daily battle and struggle with sin and evil. We must not let ourselves be dragged into the path towards damnation simply because we are unable to resist the many temptations of the world around us, and we should also be good role models and inspirations for others, in how we live our lives as Christians.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order. These seven Holy Founders of the Servites, namely Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amideus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta, all of whom were men from the city of Florence that were called by the Lord and they all bound themselves in strong and lasting spiritual friendship that eventually became the foundation of the Servite Order, in their strong faith in the Lord as well as in the intense devotion which they all had for the Blessed Mother of God. All of them led holy and devout lives, committed wholly to God, and they all became great source of inspiration for their fellow men and women, many of whom were drawn to follow their examples as well. They led a life that is truly centred on God and resisting the temptations of the world, something that is really admirable.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all have discussed earlier on from the readings of the Scriptures and the message that those words of the Lord presented to us, and also inspired by the good examples and the life of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, as well as our many other holy predecessors, let us all therefore commit ourselves from now on to a new life and existence that is truly attuned to the Lord, focusing not on ourselves and on our own personal ambitions and desires, but instead being focused as always on the Lord Himself, so that in everything that we do, we will always seek the greater glory of God and not our own. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen us all in our resolve and faith, in our commitment to follow Him, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 17 February 2025 : 6th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saints)

Mark 8 : 11-13

At that time, the Pharisees came and started to argue with Jesus. Hoping to embarrass Him, they asked for some heavenly sign. Then His Spirit was moved. He gave a deep sigh and said, “Why do the people of this present time ask for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this people.”

Then He left them, got into the boat again and went to the other side of the lake.