Monday

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Monday, 29 June 2015 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostle, Great Feast of the Church of Rome (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Acts 12 : 1-11

About that time King Herod decided to persecute some members of the Church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword, and when he saw how it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This happened during the festival of the Unleavened Bread. Herod had him seized and thrown into prison with four squads, each of four soldiers, to guard him.

He wanted to bring him to trial before the people after the Passover feast, but while Peter was kept in prison, the whole Church prayed earnestly for him. On the very night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound by a double chain, while guards kept watch at the gate of the prison.

Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there and a light shone in the prison cell. The angel tapped Peter on the side and woke him saying, “Get up quickly!” At once the chains fell from Peter’s wrists. The angel said, “Put on your belt and your sandals.” Peter did so, and the angel added, “Now, put on your cloak and follow me.”

Peter followed him out; yet he did not realise that what was happening with the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first guard and then the second and they came to the iron door leading out to the city, which opened of itself for them. They went out and made their way down a narrow alley, when suddenly the angel left him.

Then Peter recovered his senses and said, “Now I know that the Lord has sent His angel and has rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from all that the Jews had in store for me.”

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Monday, 22 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop and St. John Fisher, Bishop and St. Thomas More, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the calling of Abram out of his homeland in the Ancient Mesopotamia, and he followed the Lord’s calling to the lands of Canaan, and because of his unshaken faith, later he was known as Abraham, the father of nations and one blessed by God to be an example to many of his own descendants, as a paragon of true faith and devotion in God.

Then in the Gospel we heard how Jesus our Lord chastised the people for their shortsightedness and inability to look at their own sins, while judging and being condescending on others who have sinned, by using His parable on the speck and plank of wood. He was comparing those who could not see the tiny speck in their own eyes and yet these people could see the big plank in other’s eyes.

How are these two readings related to each other? And how are they relevant to us? We have to understand first, that what Jesus had told the people, also has an important bearing for us. Why is this so? The parable that Jesus used spoke of how mankind often easily find fault in others, and yet, they were totally inept at discovering their own shortcomings and they were unable to realise their own sinfulness.

We are often quick to point fingers at others whenever something goes wrong, but do we realise that when we point our index finger on someone else, the other three or four fingers are pointed back at us? This should be a reminder for us that, when we accuse others of wrongdoing, we should first examine ourselves and see if it is not actually our fault first before we cause harm and trouble for others around us.

Many of this world’s sorrows were born out of this inability for us to look deep into ourselves and introspect on our own actions, before we accuse others and be judgmental upon others. These ruin and destroy relationships, break apart the unity and harmony of the faithful, and bring great sorrow and distress upon many, where then Satan could enter and manipulate things according to what he wishes.

We should indeed follow the example of our forefather, Abraham, who listened to God and walked faithfully and humbly in His ways. He showed us the example how to live our lives correctly, righteously and justly, unlike that of the people whom Jesus had chastised. This is because Abraham laid low his pride and his human desires, and instead, he opened himself completely to God and surrendered his entire being to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, pride and our other human traits often come in the way of our ability to listen to God and walk in His ways. We are unable to let go of many things and distractions that come our way, to the point that we end up accusing others, being judgmental and irrational in our ways. We think not with the wisdom of God planted in our hearts, but instead through our human desires and fragility.

Today we celebrate the feasts of several saints, whose lives hopefully will make us more aware of what we are expected to do in life. St. Paulinus of Nola, the first of them, was a Roman saint and bishop, who was born from an affluent and noble family, and had such a great career in the secular world, with power and authority, and yet, he voluntarily left all of that behind, in order to pursue a life more attuned to the will of God, in seclusion and prayer to God, and served then as a bishop, whose works continued to inspire many even until today.

St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More were both the martyrs of the so-called English ‘reformation’, the false and wicked attempt by the fallen King Henry VIII of England to separate the churches and the faithful in England from the true authority and jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, the Vicar of Christ as St. Peter’s successor, as a pretext to cover up his own adulterous life and sin, marrying eventually six times in the pursuit of an heir, as well as his unbridled lust.

Both St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More stood up for the true faith and refused to budge to the orders and wishes of the king, even while knowing that doing so would mean certain death and suffering for them. St. Thomas More even resigned from his powerful position of the Chancellor of the kingdom to show that he could not continue to tolerate the sinful ways of the king, and his readiness to stand up for the Lord.

Even when the king offered position, pardon and favour if they would just recant their opposition to the king’s ways and wishes, but they refused them all, preferring to suffer and die rather than to betray the Lord by following the worldly wishes of the king. Eventually they were martyred for their faith, and their memories were celebrated and are indeed still celebrating till today as the paragons of the true faith, just as Abraham once was.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore let us all from now on follow the examples of these faithful saints, and also by walking in the same path as Abraham, our father in faith, that we may become ever more faithful to the Lord our God, that at the end of time, God who sees our faith will bless us and grant us His everlasting happiness and the promises of grace He had given us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 22 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop and St. John Fisher, Bishop and St. Thomas More, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 7 : 1-5

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and the measure you use for others will be used for you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, and not see the plank in your own eye?”

“How can you say to your brother, ‘Come, let me take the speck from your eye,’ as long as that plank is in your own? Hypocrite, take first the plank out of your own eye, then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

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Monday, 22 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop and St. John Fisher, Bishop and St. Thomas More, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 32 : 12-13, 18-19, 20 and 22

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord – the people He has chosen for His inheritance. The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole race of mortals.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.

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Monday, 22 June 2015 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Paulinus of Nola, Bishop and St. John Fisher, Bishop and St. Thomas More, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops) or Red (Martyrs)

Genesis 12 : 1-9

YHVH said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and in you all peoples of the earth will be blessed.”

So Abram went as YHVH had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took Sarai, his wife, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out for the land of Canaan.

They arrived at Canaan. Abram travelled through the country as far as Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. YHVH appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” There he built an altar to YHVH who had appeared to him.

From there he went on to the mountains east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There also he built an altar to YHVH and called on the Name of YHVH. Then Abram set out in the direction of Negeb.

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how God taught His people that the way of revenge should no longer be practiced, and instead, they should practice mercy and love from then on. This law of strict and retaliatory justice had been practiced by the people of Israel since the days of Moses, when the Law was first revealed to men and when it was first instituted.

As with the law on divorce, which the Pharisees also made into an issue on another occasion with Jesus, these laws actually do not reflect what God truly wants with His beloved people. For God Himself is true Love, and His ways are mercy, compassion and gentleness. Why then, God gave us such a draconian and harsh law, where people who have caused someone pain in something must repay it in exactly the same way, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth and others?

That is because of how stubborn the people of God was, that they continued to repeatedly defy the will of God and committed what is wicked and evil in the sight of God, breaking the commandments of the Law in various occasions. They even broke the covenant as soon as God established it with them, by replacing Him with a golden calf, a pagan idol, whom they deemed as their god.

They constantly rebelled against Moses, His servant and made complaints after complaints, not being happy of having been liberated from their slavery in Egypt. They would rather live in the pleasures of the world and their stomachs while enslaved, rather than to be freed and to walk in the way of the Lord. And this stubborn people did not trust in the Lord and feared the Canaanites, and as a result, God punished them to wander in the desert for forty years.

In order to deal with this kind of people, as we do with people who are difficult to handle, sometimes, it is indeed necessary for us to use force and strictness in order to make things work. In the same way therefore, what God truly wants us is that, we must become more compassionate in our dealings with others. We should not seek revenge for what evil that others had afflicted on us.

Why not, brethren? That is because revenge only brings about even more pain and evil, and more often than not it brings only more revenge and destruction upon us. It is a vicious cycle that will never end if we continue to engage ourselves in the act of revenge and violence. Forgiveness and mercy is what is capable of breaking this vicious cycle, and allow harmony and peace to reign again among the parties involved.

But, we also have to take note that forgiveness should not be taken for granted, as many falsely thought that they can just do as they want and then they deserve to be forgiven. At the same time as we show mercy and forgiveness, se must also make sure that the person to whom we show mercy must also snow true and genuine desire for repentance, or otherwise, it would be false mercy that we are showing them.

It is particularly troubling that even within the Church there are those who are the proponents of this giving of false mercy, which in the end, while it shows our Christian tenderness and love, but it also at the same time does not lead people into righteousness, as it causes the people to continue to live in sin. In the end, it will only deceive the people, and in this deception, instead of bringing the people back to God, we are casting them out to hell.

Mercy must be tempered with justice, and vice versa. Compassion must be tempered with discipline, and vice versa. Therefore, we must balance our approach in everything that we do. In all of our actions, let us firstly learn how to forgive and let go, letting go of the pride and the hatred in our hearts so that we may learn to forgive, and then we must follow it up, by giving out the love from our heart, showing that we are concerned about their well-being, and seek to help and guide them to change their ways and to repent.

In this manner, not only that we stop the vicious cycle of revenge and hatred from happening, but as we heard from the first reading today, our actions will bear many fruits, by inspiring many others who witness what we have done, and practicing the same in their own actions, and in this, a small ripple of good action, will eventually become a huge wave of charity and love, and we can bring many souls towards the salvation in our Lord. May Almighty God be with us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 5 : 38-42

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “You have heard that it was said : An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you this : do not oppose evil with evil; if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other. If someone sues you in court for your shirt, give him your coat as well.”

“If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give when asked, and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you lands, make a joyful noise to the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

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Monday, 15 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 6 : 1-10

Being God’s helpers we beg you : let it not be in vain that you received this grace of God. Scripture says : ‘At the favourable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you.’ This is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation.

We are concerned not to give anyone an occasion to stumble or criticise our mission. Instead we prove we are true ministers of God in every way by our endurance in so many trials, in hardships, afflictions, floggings, imprisonment, riots, fatigue, sleepless nights and days of hunger.

People can notice in our upright life, knowledge, patience and kindness, action of the Holy Spirit, sincere love, words of truth and power of God. So we fight with the weapons of justice, to attack as well as to defend.

Sometimes we are honoured, at other times insulted; we receive criticism as well as praise. We are regarded as liars although we speak the truth; as unknown though we are well-known; as dead and yet we live. Punishments come upon us but we have not, as yet, been put to death.

We appear to be afflicted, yet always joyful; we seem to be poor, but we enrich many; we have nothing, but we possess everything!

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Monday, 8 June 2015 : 10th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard in the Gospel the famous Beatitudes, or the Sermon of Jesus on the Mount. In this Beatitudes, we heard the series of blessings which our Lord gave all those who have listened to Him and followed in His ways. Thus blessed are all those who are peacemakers and those who are merciful and gentle, loving and caring for others, and those who are unbending even in the face of persecution, keeping their faith in God peacefully.

In the Beatitudes, what Jesus wanted to tell the people is that those are the qualities and virtues which He expects the faithful to have, so that having done all these, or some of those qualities, they would be found worthy to share in the eternal glory and life everlasting which the Lord our God had promised all those who have kept their faith in Him.

And another theme of today’s readings which we heard, is the reward which God has given to all those who have done all that He had instructed, and which He will also give to those who are walking in His ways. In the first reading from the second letter of St. Paul to the faithful in Corinth, he also affirmed this that God will succour and comfort all those who have suffered and grieved because of their continued faith in Him.

God will grant all that we need, and to those who walk in His ways, He shall show His favour. They will never be in need again, for God Himself is with them. We have to take note that it is often that the ways of the Lord are at opposites and at contradiction with the ways of this world. And therefore, those who seek to be accepted by the world, shall likely not receive the blessings and graces of the Lord.

After all the way of this world is selfishness, self-aggrandisement, violence, war and conflict, desire and greed, and the glorification of the self, shutting out the call of others around us who are in need, and ultimately, the closing of ourselves against the love of God. And indeed, we cannot serve two masters at the same time, just as Jesus said that we will love one and despise the other, so that we cannot both serve the interests of the world and the interests of God at the same time.

The Beatitudes is there not just for us to admire or to dream about. Otherwise, it would forever remain just like that, a dream and a wish, forever beyond our grasp and reach. On the other hand, Jesus taught the people and showed His generous blessings in the Beatitudes is to push us all to be proactive, that is to take up the challenge and responsibility which has been entrusted to us as the children and servant of the Lord, to be the bearers of the Good News of God.

We have to break free from norms and the confines of the world, and often we may need to stand up for our Faith and its truth, even against the opinions of the world and the society around us. Where there is war and conflict, let us all bring peace, even while many people clamoured for fighting and violence. Let us be the ones who challenge the world and its ways, and show to others around us that the Lord has the truth that will dispel the darkness and lies in the world.

When we see anyone unloved, ostracised and abandoned around us, instead of becoming bystanders or worse by joining in ostracising these people, we should go forth and embrace these brethren of ours who need our love. We must not be afraid to do this, or else we will be forever passive and we will forever do nothing. Our Lord wants us all to have a proactive faith, and not a passive one.

Therefore, on this day and from now on, let us all renew our commitment to the Lord, that we may grow ever stronger in our faith, and become more committed in our hearts and be more stirred to do something to help our brethren in need around us, to love them and to love and serve the Lord our God. God bless us all. Amen.