Monday

by

Monday, 10 August 2015 : Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 111 : 1-2, 5-6, 7-8, 9

Alleluia! Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commands. His children will be powerful on earth; the upright’s offspring will be blessed.

It will be well with him who lends freely, who leads a life of justice and honesty. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered and loved forever.

He has no fear of evil news, for his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is confident, he needs not fear, he shall prevail over his foes at the end.

He gives generously to the poor, his merits will last forever and his head will be raised in honour.

by

Monday, 10 August 2015 : Feast of St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

2 Corinthians 9 : 6-10

Remember : the one who sows meagrely will reap meagrely, and there shall be generous harvests for the one who sows generously. Each of you should give as you decided personally, and not reluctantly as if obliged. God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to fill you with every good thing, so that you have enough of everything at all times, and may give abundantly for any good work. Scripture says : He distributed, he gave to the poor, his good works last forever.

God who provides the sower with seed will also provide him with the bread he eats. He will multiply the seed for you and also increase the interests of your good works.

by

Monday, 3 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, in continuation from the last Sunday’s readings, we heard about how the people of Israel grumbled and complained about the food which they have received from God Himself. God fed them with manna in the desert, so that in a place where no life could have existed, they would still be well fed and be filled in their stomachs and be satisfied in all things.

And God also gave them large birds and other good things to eat, and provide them with sweet and crystal clear water to drink, from the rocks themselves. This is such that even though the whole multitudes of Israel is so huge, but they could be sustained and were provided for as they made their journey through the desert on the way to the Promised Land.

But yet, the people did not feel grateful to the Lord for whatever He had done. They complained that the manna does not taste good and is bland, although it was truly bread from heaven, that the angels ate and partake together, it is a great privilege for them to have a share in that heavenly sustenance. And as described in the Scriptures, the manna actually has a good taste, like honey, sweet and fulfilling.

It was because they have been so blinded and thus unable to see or witness the love which God had given all of them. They succumbed to the temptations of their bodies and their flesh, and as we all should know, it is very difficult to satisfy our own desires. If we have more things and more goods with us, then all the more we want to have even more of what we already had.

For example, if we have plenty of food and good things, the tendency is for us to want and desire even more of them. We are very difficult to satisfy, as our greed and desires always tend to get the better of us. This is also exactly why the people of Israel had acted the way they did. This is because they were so accustomed to the pleasures of the flesh, the temptations of this world, that when they encountered difficulties of life and the disciplined way of the Lord, they rebelled and made a lot of complaints.

In the Gospel today, we also heard how Jesus fed the multitudes of five thousand people, with only five loaves and two fishes to feed them. And yet, by the power that is in Him, He made all the things possible, and He fed all the people until they were all satisfied and yet with twelve baskets worth of leftovers. He showed the eminent and great love of God, which He had freely given to all of us.

What does this show us, brethren? It shows us that even though we have sinned and rebelled against God again and again, but He continued to show us an undying love that goes even beyond our wickedness and sins. God continues to give us chance after chance, and opportunity after opportunity. Of course this does not mean that we can just take advantage of this and take it for granted.

For God had given none other than His own Son, a part of Himself so that by His suffering on the cross, for the sake and atonement of our sins, He may gather us all, a people to be consecrated in holiness to God. Through the giving of His Body and by the outpouring of His Blood, which He accomplished perfectly on the cross, He had done even more than what we witnessed in the Gospel today.

This is because while those who received the bread from heaven or manna were dead because of their sinfulness, and those who ate from the bread and fishes multiplied by Jesus were not guaranteed salvation and life in what they received, those who truly accepted the Lord and received Him with honour and proper worthiness, all of them received the fullness of God’s promise through Jesus.

And what is this promise? That death will no longer have any more power or dominion over any of us, and that we may have eternal life, true life that comes from the Lord. Yes, one that has no end or limits, because we would draw life and grace from God Himself, who will dwell with us and enjoy forever the eternal bliss of the world that He has prepared for us.

He is the Bread of Life who had come from heaven, in His own words, which He made clear to His disciples. Whoever takes his or her share in Him, they will not be disappointed, for God will be with them, and if they are faithful to the end, then God too will not abandon them. This is what all of us ought to realise, and what we have to look up to, and strive for in our own lives.

May Almighty God bless and guide us in our path, so that we may walk righteously in His ways, and seek to always find Him in our daily lives, and live according to His commandments, that by worthily sharing in His Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and by our faith made concrete through action, we may be justified and glorified in God. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Monday, 3 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 14 : 13-21

At that time, on hearing about the death of John the Baptist, Jesus set out by boat for a secluded place, to be alone. But the people heard of it, and they followed Him on foot from their towns. When Jesus went ashore, He saw the crowd gathered there and He had compassion on them. And He healed their sick.

Late in the afternoon, His disciples came to Him and said, “We are in a lonely place and it is now late. You should send these people away, so they can go to the villages and buy something for themselves to eat.”

But Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.” They answered, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fishes.” Jesus said to them, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He made everyone sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fishes, raised His eyes to heaven, pronounced the blessing, broke the loaves, and handed them to the disciples to distribute to the people.

And they all ate, and everyone had enough; then the disciples gathered up the leftovers, filling twelve baskets. About five thousand men had eaten there, besides women and children.

by

Monday, 3 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 80 : 12-13, 14-15, 16-17

But My people did not listen; Israel did not obey. So I gave them over to their stubbornness and they followed their own counsels.

If only My people would listen, if only Israel would walk in My ways, I would quickly subdue their adversaries and turn My hand against their enemies.

Those who hate the Lord would cringe before Him, and their panic would last forever. I would feed you with the finest wheat and satisfy you with honey from the rock.

by

Monday, 3 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Numbers 11 : 4b-15

The Israelites wept and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate without cost in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and garlic. Now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to look at, nothing but manna.”

Now the manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bedellium. The people went about gathering it up and then ground it between millstones or pounded it in a mortar. They boiled it in a pot and made cakes with it which tasted like cakes made with oil. As soon as dew fell at night in the camp, the manna came with it.

Moses heard the people crying, family by family at the entrance of their tent and YHVH became very angry. This displeased Moses. Then Moses said to YHVH, “Why have You treated Your servant so badly? Is it because You do not love me that You burdened me with this people? Did I conceive all these people and did I give them birth?”

“And now You want me to carry them in my bosom as a nurse carries an infant, to the land You promised on oath to their fathers? Where would I get meat for all these people, when they cry to me saying : ‘Give us meat that we may eat?’ I cannot, myself alone, carry all these people; the burden is too heavy for me. Kill me rather than treat me like this, I beg of You, if You look kindly on me, and let me not see Your anger.”

by

Monday, 27 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard how the people of Israel rebelled against the Lord who had led them out of Egypt, by establishing among themselves a wicked idol, a pagan sign of the golden calf, which they all held to be the one who had saved them and led them out of Egypt, truly an abomination in the sight of God.

That came about just right after God had established His covenant with His people, a renewal of the covenant which He had made with Abraham and his descendants. They have disobeyed the Lord and aroused the great wrath of the Lord, who was truly displeased at the behaviour of this unruly and rebellious people. God would have obliterated His people right there and then, but it was Moses who interceded for the sake of the people to calm the anger of God.

Those who have sinned and disobeyed the Lord would meet their just punishment, for God indeed does not tolerate sins and wickedness in His presence, although at the same time, He also gave them chance after chance to redeem themselves and to turn their back against the evils and sins which they have committed. Those who have not been repentant shall not share in the goodness and graces which God had promised all those who are faithful.

In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus spoke of the parables of the kingdom of heaven, talking in stories and approximations to help the people to understand the concept of God’s coming kingdom. It is an abstract concept that people would not have easily understood, but Jesus made it easy for them to understand by revealing to them the mysteries of the kingdom of God by comparing it to real life examples such as a tree with its branches that grew out of a small seed.

In what we heard in the Gospel today, they all spoke of the kingdom of God as a process of growing, with the tree just mentioned and with the approximation to the process of baking, when the kingdom of heaven is likened to yeast placed in a measure of flour, without which the bread would not rise up and it would remain a flat bread.

Thus, all these would point us to the fact that Jesus and the Lord’s servants had given us all the words and teachings, the laws and commandments which God had given to us all, but which as shown in the first reading today, we often rejected them out of our rebelliousness and inability to listen to the Lord and follow His ways. Instead, we often follow our own idols, the idol of money, the idol of earthly and worldly pleasures, and many others that distract us from our true goal.

The kingdom of heaven is in fact a situation where all of us would come together and through our actions based on the love of God, where righteousness and justice would reign, we would therefore make this world a place like heaven on earth. It is through our own lives and our own actions that we would make the kingdom of heaven a reality.

God has given us many things and gifts, and it now depends on us to do what is right to cultivate the gifts which had been given to us. If we make use of God’s gifts and allow them to grow, then truly, just as what Jesus had said, that the seed will grow to a huge tree where birds of the sky may shelter in it, and the bread will rise from the yeast and flour mixture.

Thus this is a lesson and a reminder for us all, that we have to grow deeper in faith, and practice that faith in our own works and actions, so that people who see us may believe too in God, because they see what we have done and know that we truly belong to God. Therefore, let us all do this, and bring the kingdom of God into reality through ourselves, obeying the Lord in all of His ways and not to be like His rebellious people, which we have heard today.

If we remain faithful, God will bless us and keep us, but if we go astray from His path and refuse to change or repent, then His punishment and anger will be upon us. May God be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

by

Monday, 27 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 13 : 31-35

Jesus offered them another parable : “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that a man took and sowed in his field. It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it is fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches.”

He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took, and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole mass of dough began to rise.”

Jesus taught all this to the crowds by means of parables; He did not say anything to them without using a parable. So what the Prophet had said was fulfilled : I will speak in parables. I will proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world.

by

Monday, 27 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 105 : 19-20, 21-22, 23

They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot their Saviour God, who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

So He spoke of destroying them, but Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to shield them from destruction.

by

Monday, 27 July 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Exodus 32 : 15-24, 30-34

Moses then returned and came down from the mountain carrying in his hand the two slabs of the Statement, slabs written on both sides, back and front. These slabs were the work of God and the writing graven on the slabs was the writing of God.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people who were shouting he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” But Moses answered, “It is not a victory song, nor the cry of defeat that I hear, but the sound of singing.”

When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burst forth and he threw the slabs from his hands and shattered them against the base of the mountain. Then he seized the calf they had made and burned it in the fire, grinding it into a powder that he scattered over the surface of the water, and this he made the Israelites drink.

Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you that you brought such a great sin on them?” And Aaron said, “Do not let your anger be roused. You know this people and how evil they are. They said to me : ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ I then said to them that whoever had gold was to give it over to me. I threw it in the fire and out came this calf!”

The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a very grave sin, but now I am going up to YHVH; perhaps I will obtain pardon for your sin.” So Moses went towards YHVH and said, “Ah! This people has committed a very great sin; they made a god out of gold. And now please forgive their sin… if not, blot me out of the book You have written.”

YHVH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out from My book. Go now! Lead the people where I told you. My Angel will walk before you and on the day of punishment I will punish them for their sin.”