Monday

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Monday, 12 December 2022 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Matthew 21 : 23-27

At that time, Jesus had entered the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities came to Him, and asked, “What authority have You to act like this? Who gave You authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them, “I will also ask You a question, only one. And if you give me an answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. When John began to baptise, was it a work of God, or was it merely something human?”

They reasoned out among themselves, “If we reply that it was a work of God, He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ And if we say, ‘The baptism of John is merely something human’, we have got to beware of the people, for all hold John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what right I do these things.”

Alternative reading (Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Luke 1 : 39-47

Mary then set out for a town in the hill country of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.

Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and, giving a loud cry, said, “You are most blessed among women; and blessed is the Fruit of your womb! How is it, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby within me suddenly leapt for joy. Blessed are you, who believed that the Lord’s word would come true!”

And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God, my Saviour!”

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Monday, 12 December 2022 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

Alternative reading (Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe)

1 Samuel 2 : 1, 4-8

My heart exults in YHVH, I feel strong in my God. I rejoice and laugh at my enemies for You came with power to save me.

The bow of the mighty is broken, but the weak are girded with strength. The well-fed must labour for bread, but the hungry need work no more.

The childless wife has borne seven children, but the proud mother is left alone. YHVH is Lord of life and death. He brings down to the grave and raises up.

YHVH makes poor and makes rich, He brings low and He exalts. He lifts up the lowly from the dust, and raises the poor from the ash heap; they will be called to the company of princes, and inherit a seat of honour. The earth to its pillars belongs to YHVH and on them He has set the world.

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Monday, 12 December 2022 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Numbers 24 : 2-7, 15-17a

Balaam looked up and saw Israel camping, tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him and he uttered this song : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, and beholds the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled.”

“How goodly are your tents, Jacob, your encampments, Israel! Like valleys stretching far, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes planted by YHVH, like cedars beside the waters. His buckets are overflowing and His seeds are always watered. His king becomes stronger than Agag, and His kingdom grows.

Then Balaam pronounced his oracle : “Word of Balaam, son of Beor, the seer, the one who hears the words of God, who has the knowledge from the Most High, and sees the vision of the Almighty, in ecstasy, with eyes unveiled. I see a Figure, but not really. I behold Him but not near. A Star shall come forth from Jacob, He rises with a staff in His hand.”

Alternative reading (Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe)

Isaiah 7 : 10-14 and Isaiah 8 : 10c

Once again YHVH addressed Ahaz, “Ask for a sign from YHVH your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven.” But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask, I will not put YHVH to the test.”

Then Isaiah said, “Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign : The Virgin is with Child and bears a Son and calls His Name Immanuel, for God-is-with-us.”

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Monday, 5 December 2022 : 2nd Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded of the coming of God’s great hope and light, the promise of happiness and joy that will come through Him, as He comes into this world bearing that Light dispelling the dominion that darkness and sin, evil and others had over us all. We are reminded that in God alone there is Hope and the path towards everlasting peace and happiness, and we can truly trust in Him because He has been ever faithful to the Covenant He had made and renewed with all of us. Through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, we have seen the fulfilment and the proof of God’s ever enduring love, and the power of His saving grace, which during this Advent we should really reflect upon as we prepare ourselves for the upcoming celebration at Christmas.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, as it had been for the past one week or so, we continue to hear the words of the Lord’s pronouncements for His people, made through Isaiah, of the days of joy and salvation that will come upon them. We have to understand that from the perspective of those people who heard those words of comfort and encouragement, it was really a relief from the hardships, struggles and challenges that they had faced. Back then, as I have discussed earlier in last week’s discourses, the people of God in Judah, where Isaiah performed his ministry, had fallen under hard times, having had to witness the downfall of their northern neighbour, the northern kingdom of Israel, composed of their own relatives and brethren, the ten tribes that rebelled against the House of David, to the forces of the Assyrians.

The same Assyrians conquered and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, exiled its people and then brought their forces also against Judah and Jerusalem, which only escaped destruction and defeat, and the same fate as their northern neighbours thanks to God’s timely intervention. God crushed the forces of the Assyrians and sent their king back home in disgrace, saving the people of Judah from harm and safeguarded them, because of the faith that still remained in them and their faithful kings. The Lord showed them His power and might, as He rescued them from harm just in the same manner as He had rescued their ancestors, from their enslavement in the land of Egypt much earlier on. And just as back then He had led them all to the Promised Land, freed from their bondage in Egypt, so He would also lead them all back to their land, which was fulfilled later on when God restored His people to their land once again, after they had been exiled from their homeland of Israel and Judah.

How is this then relevant to us? Similarly, all of us here present in this world, the children of mankind, descendants of Adam and Eve, have been placed under the bondage of sin and evil, death and destruction after our disobedience against God and refusal to listen to His commands and obey His Law. The Lord has reassured and promised us since the very beginning that He will bring us His deliverance and salvation through His Messiah or Saviour, the One Whom He promised will be born of the Woman, Who will rule and judge over all people, past, present, future, all throughout time. And in Jesus Christ, this promise of salvation, renewed again and again by the Lord throughout history, had been fulfilled, as He was born into this world manifesting God’s love and compassionate mercy, making God and His love tangible and approachable by us.

As we heard in our Gospel passage today, that is exactly one of the manifestation of that love, as we listened to the well-known story of the Lord Jesus healing a paralysed man, who was brought to Him through the roof of the building that He was preaching and teaching in. The Lord had pity in the paralysed man and was touched by the dedication and faith shown by the man and his fellow helpers, who brought him up all the way to the roof and helped to bring him right to the Lord for healing. Yet, just as the Lord healed the paralysed man, those hypocritical Pharisees and teachers of the Law who were there with the Lord, criticised Him and argued with Him regarding what He was doing, especially because they regarded the Lord Jesus’ forgiveness of the paralysed man’s sins as a blasphemy against God, and hence, took great offence at that.

The Lord was dismayed at the stubbornness of those Pharisees and teachers of the Law who had repeatedly failed to see the truth and love of God personified and manifested in Him. Many of those Pharisees and teachers of the Law had seen and heard everything that the Lord had done, His wisdom and truth, the authority and justice in His teachings and words, and all the miracles and wonders that He had done before their very own eyes. And those people, being the most knowledgeable and educated among the people of God, and well-versed in the words and the prophecies of the prophets, ought to be the ones who first acknowledged and welcomed the Lord Jesus, the Messiah and Holy One of God. Instead, they took pride at their own supposedly superior knowledge, understanding and skills, and refused to listen to the Lord and His truth.

Nevertheless, the Lord healed the paralysed man, showing all of us that He has come into this world to heal us from our predicaments and maladies, as the foreshadowing of the ultimate act of His love, which He performed on the Cross. The Lord Jesus obeyed His heavenly Father perfectly, and willingly took upon Himself all the combined weight and burdens of our sins, and offered Himself through His suffering and death, the perfect and most worthy offering for the atonement of our innumerable sins and evils. Through Christ, God has brought us close once again to Himself, bridging the once infinite chasm separating us from Him due to sin. Christ has reconciled us to God, through His Cross, His death and Resurrection, and by that same Resurrection, He showed us all that there is life and existence beyond this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in our world today, and especially now that as we prepare ourselves in this season of Advent in the preparation for Christmas and its joyful celebration, let us all therefore spend the time to reflect and focus ourselves on God and His love, upon everything that He has promised us all and all that He has shown us, through Jesus Christ, His Son, Our Lord and Saviour. Let us all refocus our attention towards Him, and be no longer ignorant of God’s most amazing love and kindness, His compassion and mercy that He has constantly shown us all these while. Let us all make great use of this time and season of Advent to make ourselves ever closer to God and reorientate our lives so that we are truly focused on Him as the centre and the pinnacles of our lives and existence.

May the Lord continue to guide us through this season of Advent and through life, that we may grow ever stronger in faith, and devote ourselves ever more, in time and attention to Him. May God bless our every good endeavours and hard works, for the greater glory of His Name. May He empower us all to become the worthy bearers of His truth and love in our world today, and may He help us to remain humble, open-minded and willing to listen to Him, and not harden our hearts and minds the way the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had done. May God bless us always, now and evermore. Amen.

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Monday, 5 December 2022 : 2nd Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

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, 5 December 2022 : 2nd Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

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, 5 December 2022 : 2nd Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

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, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we enter into this season of Advent, the time of preparation for Christmas, through the words of the Sacred Scriptures we heard today, all of us are being reminded that there will be the time when the Lord comes again in His glory, to gather us all, His beloved people and all of His faithful ones, that all of us may find rest and true happiness in Him. And we are reminded too that we should have faith in God and in His providence, and that in Him we shall have sure hope of eternal life and salvation, and we should believe in Him wholeheartedly and sincerely, devoting ourselves, our time, effort and attention to serve Him in each and every moments of our lives. Especially also during this Advent season, we are all called to rediscover our connection and strengthen our relationship with God, Whose coming celebrate this upcoming Christmas.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the promises that God brought to His people regarding the coming of the time of glory, joy and liberation for all of them, as He will deliver them from the hands of their enemies. The Lord never forgets all of them and has always put them in His thoughts. The Lord proclaimed of the future coming of His eternal and righteous dominion over all, when He will rule over all the people and the nations of the world, and where the old wickedness, evils and filth of this world will all be swept away and replaced with the righteousness and justice of God. They will all live in the presence of God, enjoying the fullness of His love and grace, and they will not suffer or have any more need any longer, because they will find perfection with and through God.

And that is what we are looking forward to as we journey through this season of Advent, in preparing ourselves for the joyous and glorious celebration of Christmas that is coming soon. We all know that Advent is a time for preparation for us so that we can celebrate Christmas worthily but how many of us truly know what it is that we are really celebrating in Christmas and its significance to us? Christmas marks the birthday of Our Lord and Saviour, the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has dwelled in His mother’s womb for nine months, and then appearing to us in the flesh, as He was born into this world, that the Saviour of this world finally made His appearance and became tangible and approachable by all of us. In Christ is the culmination and the completion of all that God had proclaimed and reassured His people with, all the promises of salvation and grace.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard a seemingly different narrative, that of an army captain or centurion whose beloved servant was very sick to the point of death. This army centurion, which by the conventions of the time was most certainly not a Jew, and might likely be a Roman, a pagan and outsider by the standards of the people living in the land of Judea and Galilee back then, came to the Lord with great faith, one that the Lord Himself praised before all. For this army centurion, although one of high rank and therefore would have been expected to demand assistance from the Lord, instead humbled himself before everyone who might have witnessed the encounter between him and the Lord, and he had so much faith in the Lord that he went all the way to Him by himself, asking Him personally for the favour for his servant’s sake.

Peculiarly, we may also notice that the army captain also said to the Lord that He should not come to his house when the Lord was making a move towards there, because he was unworthy to have Him enter under his roof. This is the same phrase that we mention every time the priest in the Holy Mass raised the Most Holy Eucharist, the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord before us after the Agnus Dei or Lamb of God, saying, ‘This is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb’, and we respond with the exact same words that the army centurion had spoken. This is the profession of our faith and also our humility, realising just how unworthy we truly are for the Lord to come into our midst, and yet that is what He had done for our sake.

Back then, what the army centurion had done was also very shrewd and right, as it was considered taboo and wrong for a Jew to enter the house of a pagan. According to the strict observance of the Law by the Pharisees and the elders, that would have made the Lord Jesus and His disciples unclean by merely stepping into the army centurion’s house. Hence, the army centurion might have wanted to prevent that unfortunate circumstance, which would have generated more reasons for the enemies of the Lord to attack and persecute Him all the more. But nonetheless, what matters is that the army centurion had such great faith in the Lord that essentially he did not have to witness the Lord actually performing His miracles before his own eyes in order for him to believe in Him.

Contrast this to the attitudes of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and all the elders who continued to doubt and question the Lord, refusing to believe in Him and His truth, and even accusing Him of blasphemy and colluding with demons when they themselves had seen many miracles and wonders performed before their own eyes, and heard all the wisdom and good things that the Lord had spoken before them, and which had fulfilled the prophecies and predictions made by the prophets, a fact that they were all certainly familiar with. What is the reason then for the contradiction and contrast, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because for all of those people, they had no faith in them, and in their pride, ego and self-righteousness, they had closed the gates of their hearts and minds against God.

Hence, today as we continue our journey through this blessed season of Advent, let us all reflect on our attitudes in life, in our way of life and in how each one of us have responded to God’s call in our lives. In our preparation for Christmas in particular, have we realised and understood the true meaning and importance of Christmas to us? Or have we allowed the extreme commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas to affect and influence us? It is not wrong for us to celebrate Christmas the way that we are familiar with, but we must not allow that to distract us from appreciating and celebrating the true meaning and importance of Christmas. We should do our best to observe Christmas with the true spirit and understanding of what we are celebrating, and we should maintain our focus on the light of truth and salvation that Christ has brought into our midst.

May the Lord, our God and Saviour, born into this world and incarnate in the flesh, revealed to us and through Whom we have been made sharers in God’s most generous love and inheritance, continue to guide us in our journey of faith through life, and may He strengthen each one of us in our resolve so that we may always be ready to follow Him and walk in His path at all times. May God bless us and our every good endeavours and efforts, all for the greater glory of His Name, and may He help us to prepare ourselves well so that we may indeed welcome the season of Christmas worthily with faith and true joy, in Christ, the One in Whom we truly should be celebrating and be rejoicing about. Amen.

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Monday, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

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, 28 November 2022 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

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.