Monday

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Monday, 11 December 2023 : 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, 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 2023 : 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.

The Lord 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 2023 : 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 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 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the salvation and deliverance which the Lord our God has shown us all, and which He wants to remind us today that as we enter into this season of Advent, preparing for the coming celebration and joy of Christmas, we may always keep in mind what it is that we are really celebrating and rejoicing about. The Lord and His providence to us, His love and kindness, are all that we are rejoicing about as we celebrate and commemorate the moment when He came to us all in this world, in the form of a Child, the Child Jesus, the Saviour of the world and Son of God Most High.

In our first reading today, we heard the passage from the Book of the prophet Isaiah in which the prophet spoke about his vision that he has received from the Lord, concerning the end of times, when the Lord will gather all the whole world, all people from various places and origins, and make them to be His own people. Contextually, back then, during the time of the prophet Isaiah and the period when the people of Israel still lived in the Promised Land prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, it was believed that the Israelites were God’s only chosen people, as they were chosen by God to be His people, as He led them out of their slavery in the land of Egypt and made a Covenant with them and their descendants at Mount Sinai.

Hence, under the days of Moses and his successors, Joshua and the Judges, and then the kings of Israel and Judah, it was held that the Lord is the God of Israel, while all the other pagan peoples living all around them had their gods and idols, their deities and various divinities. Thus, it was seen also by others living around the Israelites that the Lord YHVH is merely just God over Israel, as was commonly perceived at the time, that each nation and states have their own gods and divinities. However, this is not what the Lord intended, as when He called the Israelites and made them to be His own people, He did not intend to keep His grace and love to be exclusive only to those who are directly descended from Jacob, or Israel.

This is because, ultimately, each and every one of us, the children and descendants of Adam and Eve, whom God had created at the beginning of time, are beloved by God regardless of our race, background, character and whatever divisions and categories we tend to use to differentiate ourselves. All of us are beloved by the Lord and He wants us all to be reconciled with Him, forgiven from our many sins and wickedness, which had caused us to be separated and sundered from His love and grace. The descendants of Abraham and Israel were the first ones that God had called to follow Him, much like how the Lord called some Apostles and disciples earlier than others. Some like St. Paul did not even become a disciple of the Lord until after His death and Resurrection, and yet, this does not mean that those who come after are less important than those who have been called earlier.

The prophet Isaiah clearly mentioned that the Lord will become the Lord and Master over all the nations, over the whole entire world. He will call all men and women to Himself, and this prophecy of what was to come, all have been fulfilled and accomplished through Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. All these have been made evident to us throughout the Gospels in which we heard everything that the Lord Himself had done in our midst. And in our Gospel passage today, we heard of how the Lord healed the sick servant of an army centurion or captain who asked Him to heal the servant from the ailment. That army captain had such a great faith and trust in the Lord that he told the Lord, that he did not need to see the proof of the healing, as even just by the commands and words of the Lord, it would be done as He said it.

The Lord used this example to highlight to His followers and disciples how even those who did not belong or were not counted among the Jewish people, the descendants of the Israelites, could also have great faith in God, and thus will be blessed and filled with God’s grace. At that time, it was likely that this army captain was a Roman, as was common at the time when the Romans were establishing and consolidating their hold over the region, and an army personnel of such rank was typically held by a Roman citizen. Therefore, as was the norm then, for a Jew to visit the house of a Gentile or a non-Jew was considered to be a taboo as it was deemed to make a person unclean in doing so. Hence, the army captain, likely aware of this and having such a great faith in God, believed that everything would be well if the Lord just commanded it to be.

This is a revelation and reminder from the Lord to all of His people, to all of us mankind, that He is not distinguishing or being prejudiced against anyone because of their race and beliefs. Instead, what matters is for the person to have true and genuine faith in the Lord, and for him or her to be virtuous and righteous in the way that the Lord has shown and taught us all, and through this faith, all of us shall be made worthy and righteous, and all called to be disciples and followers of His. God wants all of us to be reunited and reconciled with Him, loving us as He has always done from the very beginning, and to this extent He has sent us the Saviour, Whose coming into this world is the centre of our Advent commemorations and our upcoming Christmas celebrations.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Damascene, also known as St. John of Damascus, a renowned monk, priest and theologian, who is honoured as one of the esteemed Doctors of the Church for his may works and contributions. St. John of Damascus was born in a prominent Christian Arab family in part of what is Syria today, which then was under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate. As he came from a family of officials who were involved in the earlier Byzantine bureaucracy, and then later on the Arabic Umayyad government, St. John was raised up and educated well, and became a well-educated man, serving in the court of the Umayyad Caliph before he became a priest and monk.

St. John of Damascus dedicated his life thereafter to the study of the Christian faith, its theology and mysteries, which he discussed and touched upon in his many writings and works. St. John was also notedly involved in the controversies surrounding the matter of iconoclasm that was then widespread through the Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire and the other parts of Christendom. At that time, there were parties and members of the Church and the clergy, with support even from some of the Emperors, who wished to ban the veneration of icons and images, considering them to be un-Christian in nature. This iconoclastic practices were opposed by the Pope and many other members of the clergy and the Church, including that of St. John of Damascus.

St. John of Damascus worked hard against all those who took part and sided in the iconoclastic heresy, and he had to face a lot of hardships in doing so, even to the point of being persecuted, falsely implicated in crimes and suffering from plots against him, that he even had his hand cut off. Miraculously, before the icon of the Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Mother of God through his fervent prayers, his hand was restored. St. John remained firm and courageous in his defence of the true faith, despite the trials and challenges against him, and he persevered throughout his life, finally being vindicated and exonerated from all the false accusations against him when the iconoclast heresy was finally overthrown and defeated.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the examples of St. John of Damascus, that of the army captain mentioned in our Gospel today, and also be reminded by the love which God has extended to every single one of us, that we all as Christians may always strive to seek the Lord with all our heart and might, and be reminded of all the love that He has shown us so that we may love Him and commit ourselves ever more to His path. Let us all hence make sure that our Advent observances and actions be truly centred on the Lord, and also all of our preparations and celebrations for the upcoming Christmas season. Let us all be the bearers of God’s truth, hope and love to all those whom we encounter in our daily living, now and always. Amen.

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Monday, 4 December 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

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 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

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 2023 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctors of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

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 2023 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that all of us should continue to commit ourselves to the Lord, be faithful to Him, obey His Law and commandments as we all should have done, despite and regardless of the circumstances, challenges, trials and difficulties that we may be facing in our respective lives. We must always be steadfast in faith, and do not easily succumb to temptations, pressures and coercions to abandon our faith in God, or to seek alternative sources of satisfaction.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard of the beginning of the story of Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, the Israelite exiles in Babylon, who became famed wise men in the court of the then king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Contextually, at that time, the Babylonians had just subdued the kingdom of Judah, and conquered it, bringing many of its people, especially the younger ones to the land of Babylon, as exiles and slaves. Daniel and his friends were uprooted from the lands of their forefathers and brought to the distant land of Babylon, where they were chosen to be the servants of the king of Babylon.

They were, according to the account of the Scriptures, under the pressure to conform to the ways of the Babylonians, which was likely meaning that they were told to eat ritually unclean food and also follow the practices that were contrary to their beliefs. But as we heard, Daniel and his friends remained steadfast and courageous in remaining firm and committed in their faith, in doing what is right and just according to their beliefs in God. They did so, and God was with them, and in the end, God provided for them and protected them from harm, making them wise beyond their years, and such that even the king respected and honoured them greatly. In this and later occasions, Daniel and his friends remained resolute in faith despite the odds and challenges against them, and they showed us all that we must remain firm in our faith in God as well.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the moment when the Lord Jesus and His disciples were at the Temple of Jerusalem, and saw how the rich people were giving their donations and offerings, and how a poor widow who was also there, also offered two small copper coins. The Lord praised the deep faith of the old widow, and how she had entrusted so much to the Lord, that she gave even from her own poverty. This is a reminder for each and every one of us that we all should truly be filled with faith in God, and persevere as always in the path that God has shown us. Like those of Daniel and his friends, the poor old widow trusted in the Lord and entrusted herself completely to Him despite the challenges that she must have faced in life.

Then, the Lord was also not against the rich or being biased against those who have been blessed with more, lest we misunderstand His intentions. He wanted to highlight that regardless how much we have been blessed with, we should always put our focus and emphasis on the Lord, and the more we have been given and blessed with, we should be even more generous in giving and sharing with others all around us the blessings and joys that we have enjoyed and received. However, more often than not, we end up spending much of our time in trying to gain more for ourselves the comforts, pleasures and the wonders of this world, as we become attached to many temptations and pursuits present in this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we continue to live our lives each day as Christians, in our world today, we are all reminded by what we have listened from the Scripture passages today, of the importance and the need for us all to redirect once again our focus and attention on the Lord, rather than being distracted and tempted by the many temptations, comforts and misdirections from the world. There are plenty of distractions and temptations present all over us, and unless we are careful and vigilant, we may easily be swayed and tempted by them, and in the end, we may end up falling down into the wrong paths in life.

This is why, all of us should remind ourselves and help one another in our journey of seeking the Lord, His love and truth. Let us all do our best so that in each and every moments of our lives, we will always strive to do what is good, worthy and just in accordance with the Lord’s ways, with what He has shown and taught us all. Let us all not be turned and swayed by the many evils and wickedness which the devil, our great enemy and all of his fellow evil and fallen forces are constantly trying to tempt and mislead us with. We have to be more vigilant and committed in our faith, and we can only do so if we make the conscious effort to deepen our relationship and connection with God.

May the Lord our loving God and Master continue to help and guide us in our journey throughout our lives, so that by His strength and encouragement, all of us may continue to do our best to be great examples and role models, in how we should live our daily living, at every moment, to be great inspirations and shining beacons of God’s light, truth and salvation to all the whole world. Amen.

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Monday, 27 November 2023 : 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 2023 : 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.