mother of God.

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Tuesday, 7 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness, and people forever will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

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Tuesday, 7 October 2014 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 1 : 12-14

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is a fifteen minute walk away. On entering the city they went to the room upstairs where they were staying. Present there were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Alpheus; Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James.

All of these together gave themselves to constant prayer. With them were some women and also Mary, the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.

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Tuesday, 23 September 2014 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are exhorted yet again, to be faithful and dedicated followers of our Lord, through our real and concrete actions, and not just empty promises and dedications. In the first reading from the Book of Proverbs, we are also reminded of the very fact, that what God desires from us is our love and commitment, and not just mere sacrifice.

And today, we commemorate the feast of a great and renowned saint, one who lived just less than a hundred years ago, and in fact he passed away just less than five decades ago. His deeds were still renowned throughout the world and the Church, as a holy man and servant of God, thoroughly dedicated in the service of God and the love he possessed both for God and for his fellow men.

That holy servant of God was St. Pius of Pietrelcina, more commonly known by his name of ‘Padre Pio’, a Franciscan monk and priest who was renowned for his great piety and devotion to God, and for his gift of the stigmata, or the wounds of Jesus Christ that appeared on his feet and his hands, which became for him a source of both great inspiration and strength, as well as of pain and suffering.

St. Padre Pio was a simple man and a simple priest, humble and unassuming, noted for his great piety since early in his youth. He joined the Franciscans and dedicated his whole life to the Lord. He was noted for his dedication to his calling and his work as the servant of God Most High. His charitable acts were numerous and his zeal unquestionable. He would have been perfectly satisfied in his condition and life at the time, if not for God having another plan for him.

Through St. Padre Pio, God wanted to reawaken the spirit of faith that have long been laid dormant in the hearts and minds of men, and through His servant, He revealed His glory and majesty, as He revealed them through the actions and deeds of St. Padre Pio, who worked faithfully and zealously, even though he faced many difficulties, challenges, oppositions, and even ridicule and doubts by the people around him.

St. Padre Pio was therefore like the ones who had obeyed and followed the Lord in His laws and precepts, and as such, he was honoured and glorified through the miracles which He performed through the person of Padre Pio. Through this example, we know that the Lord loves and cares for His people, and all who place their trust in Him will not be disappointed.

This is just exactly like what Jesus said to the people, when He referred to those who do the will of God as His brothers and sisters, and as His relatives. This was said when His mother Mary and His relatives came to visit Him and wanted to meet with Him in the midst of His teachings. Indeed, if one were to just look at the words Jesus said literally, this would be quite an insult to His own mother and also to His relatives, by apparently snubbing at them and rejecting them in the public.

However, if we look at it closely, there is no greater honour that Jesus could do, other than what He had done. As a matter of fact, Jesus had praised and honoured Mary in public, for the very devotion and actions that she had done, the most faithful and devoted of all the servants of God. In the same way, God had also honoured St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Padre Pio for his piety and great service, and obedience to the Faith. The same therefore, will also be our due if we honour our part in the covenant with Christ and follow His ways in all of our deeds and actions.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, from what we have heard today, and from what we had reflected in the life of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, and in the faith and devotion which the Blessed Virgin Mary had shown in her life, as the mother of God and the most faithful servant of all the servants of God, we are therefore also urged to follow their examples, which means for us to reject all forms of evil and impiety in all of our actions, words and deeds.

In this way also, our faith will be real, concrete and living, so that we can avoid committing sins in our lives which will corrupt our hearts, minds and soul and therefore end up subverting our true goodness and undermining our effort to seek out the Lord. We must intensify our own efforts to walk in the footsteps those who have walked before us in the path of the Lord, namely the holy saints, and model our own lives after theirs.

May Almighty God guide us on our way, so that all of us may turn ever closer and more convincingly towards Him, that we may find our way towards Him, and together with those who are still lost, receive justification and salvation through our dedicated actions, which are based on the laws and ways of the Lord. God bless us and guide us, and may the prayers of St. Pius of Pietrelcina be upon us always. St. Padre Pio, pray for us! Amen.

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Tuesday, 23 September 2014 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 8 : 19-21

Then the mother of Jesus and His relatives came to Him, but they could not get to Him because of the crowd. Someone told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside and wish to meet You.”

Then Jesus answered, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

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Monday, 15 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if yesterday we celebrate the great feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in which we rejoice with God, for the cross which has become a concrete sign of triumph and victory against the devil and his machinations, then today we celebrate the feast and memorial of our Lady of Sorrows, that is of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus, who was greatly grieved by the suffering and death of her Son at the cross.

Indeed, Jesus is the Son of God, the Word incarnate into flesh. However, many of us often forget that He is also the Son of Mary, for it is through her obedience and acceptance, that the Word of God was able to assume human form in His great humility, to be born from the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother.

Jesus was indeed God in all of His fullness, and He was there before all ages, not counted among the creations, but as the Creator, through whom the Lord created all things. He was not formed as any other children, that is through the union of a male and a female, which bears a new human being. Rather, by the Holy Spirit He was placed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, assuming the form of a Man.

Nevertheless, we all know that a mother share a special bond with her children, as the child in the womb is nourished by the mother, and the child gets his or her food from the mother herself. Thus, there exists a special link between a mother and her child. The same kind of bond also existed between Mary and her Son Jesus, even though they are not related by blood, but because Jesus Himself once dwelled within the womb of Mary, and then she cared for Him through life as His own loving mother.

You can imagine the kind of feeling that existed within Mary’s heart and the thoughts that ran in her mind as she heard the words of Simeon, who predicted a sorrowful and painful future for her as the Mother of Jesus, a premonition and insight to what would happen in the future of her time, when the Lord Jesus would suffer at the hands of the chief priests and the Pharisees, and then He would endure such brutal treatment that culminated with His death on the cross, a most cruel death.

Yes, and Mary witnessed all of those events. In fact, she followed her Son as He walked down the path of suffering to Calvary, what we also know as the Way of Suffering or Via Dolorosa, from Jerusalem to the hill where Jesus was crucified. She witnessed how her Son was treated like the worst of criminals, even though He was blameless, and how He was framed for false charges and were subjected to lies by false witnesses.

Mary met her Son on His way of suffering, as immortalised through the Stations of the Cross, or Way of the Cross, the fourth station. She followed Him through to His crucifixion, staying close by His side, even witnessing how nails pierced the limbs of her Son, and then she stayed on until He gave up His Spirit and died. Such great indeed was the sorrow and agony that the Blessed Mother of our Lord suffered from, having to witness all these herself.

Yet, Mary remained firm and devoted to the Lord, and she did not doubt the Lord and why such suffering and humiliation occurred to her Son. Mary remained faithful and devoted as she was ever faithful, even though in her heart there was then a great sorrow. But she truly believed in God and in His plans, and just as staunchly and surely as she had said yes to the Archangel Gabriel who brought her the news of her special role in salvation, she also remained as firm as ever in faith throughout that greatest ordeal in her life.

She knew that even with her sorrow and sadness, God was still with her, and that everything was according to God’s plan. And therefore, she is truly our role model in faith, that even in times of difficulty and sorrow, she still held strongly to her faith in the Lord and did not doubt the Lord even for a moment, entrusting everything to God. After all, when the Lord Jesus Christ was risen from the dead, the Lord and His mother both have their final laugh against the devil and the forces of darkness desperately trying to stop God’s will and plan of salvation for mankind.

And this day also, we should reflect once again on the love that a mother has for her children, and in general, the parents’ love for their children. And this love, which should exist in all families united by the Lord, in the recent era and time, especially in our world today, had been gradually eroded by the lack of love and the lack of respect for the institution of the family itself.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, how many of us this day actually support actions that break this harmony and love? How many of us are even involved in activities that snuff out lives from innocent ones? What I am referring is the actions of these days’ peoples who are obsessed with terms such as female rights and equality, as well as rights in general, as justification for actions such as abortion, child abuse and even divorce.

These actions are actions that betray love and destroy life, which should indeed be held sacred in what we know as the institution of the family. Yet the culture of today’s world no longer hold the institution of the family as sacred and as something that must be uphold and protected at all times. Instead, family and the sanctity of life had increasingly become more and more meaningless and less precious as time goes by.

In this, we have to look at the sorrow of Mary, which she expressed on the suffering of her Son and His eventual death on the cross. In that we can clearly see how Mary loved her Son, just as all mothers should love their children. Therefore, it should not even be the case where we treat the lives of the innocent children like as if they are nothing.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this feast of our Lady of Sorrow, let us recall the devotion and dedication which Mary had towards the Lord, and the true, genuine and undying love which she had shown to her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, where we can see how we should also behave in our own families. Our families must be based on love, that is genuine and gentle love between the parents and their children, and must cherish life, instead of the culture of death which we have today.

Mary, our Lady of Sorrows, in your sorrow, may we all grow to rediscover the love in our families, that parents may be more loving and dedicated to their children and vice versa. May Almighty God bless our families with love, so that our families may indeed be beacons of light and faith for the world, and cherish life and harmony, instead of death and apathy. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 15 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 19 : 25-27

Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “There is your mother.”

And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Alternative reading

Luke 2 : 33-35

Jesus’ father and mother wondered at what was said about the Child.

Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, His mother, “Know this : your Son is a sign, a sign established for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign of contradiction; and a sword will pierce your own soul, so that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”

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Monday, 15 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 30 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 15-16, 20

In You, o Lord, I take refuge, may I never be disgraced; deliver Me in Your justice. Give heed to My plea, and make haste to rescue Me.

Be a rock of refuge for Me, a fortress for My safety. For You are My rock and My stronghold, lead me for Your Name’s sake.

Free me from the snare that they have set for Me. Indeed You are My protector. Into Your hands I commend My Spirit; You have redeemed Me, o Lord, faithful God.

But I put My trust in You, o Lord, I said, “You are My God.” My days are in Your hand. Deliver Me from the hand of My enemies, from those after My skin.

How great is the goodness which You have stored for those who fear You, which You show, for all to see, to those who take refuge in You!

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Monday, 15 September 2014 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Hebrews 5 : 7-9

Christ, in the days of His mortal life, offered His sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to Him who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His humble submission.

Although He was Son, He learnt through suffering what obedience was, and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for those who obey Him.

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Friday, 12 September 2014 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate yet another feast honouring the Mother of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, that is the Blessed Virgin Mary. And today we rejoice together in the honour of her Most Holy Name, at which even Satan and all his allies tremble, just as they tremble and cower in fear when the Name of her Son is mentioned.

We all first should understand why we all have names with us. The reason is so that we can be easily identified by others around us. Some people indeed can remember names better than they can remember the looks and faces. And remember, brethren, that in most cases, especially in the past, after we die and pass away from this world, only our names would be left behind as the memory for others to see and judge.

Yes, we mankind are most prominently and easily known and remembered through our names, be it in our deeds and actions, be these actions good or bad, or if we have done nothing in particular, in which our names will generally be quickly forgotten. But there are those names that upon which, when we utter it, even the demons and Satan would tremble in fear.

If we utter the name of the holy angels and saints, Satan and his allies fear them because these men and women, and the holy angels remained staunch despite the temptations of the world and the temptations of free will and desire, and they remained faithful servants of God, and in the end, they receive heavenly glory and be with the Lord, interceding for us all day and all night long. Satan knows that those holy saints and angels are interceding for us even now, and when we utter their names and ask for their intercession, Satan knows that God is with us, and he can do nought to crush us.

And even more fearsome therefore is the Holy Name of Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who by that virtue and by the virtue of her perfect and upright behaviour, as well as total obedience to the will of God, is the greatest of all of God’s creations, the greatest among all the children of God and the foremost of all saints and rule even over the angels of God.

Satan flee in fear whenever he hears the Names of Jesus and Mary, because he knows that he has no power and no authority over them, and his doom is at hand. And if we refer to the Book of Genesis, just after mankind had sinned by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God Himself prophesied the coming of salvation for mankind through a woman, who would be the descendant of men, and who would bear a Son, as we heard in the prophecy of Isaiah and the other prophets, and the snake, or Satan the deceiver would be crushed.

It is through Mary that the salvation of this world was made possible by her obedience to take part in God’s plan for salvation, and in her acceptance of the role as the Mother of our Lord and Saviour. This was evident later as Mary had to endure much physical and spiritual sufferings, as she followed on the life and works of her Son, who was met with such opposition and hostility, even unto death on the cross.

Truly, Mary agreed to be part of this very difficult and challenging task, but she did not even complain or resist when the news was brought to her by the Archangel Gabriel. She obeyed completely and fully, surrendering herself to the will of God and to His plans for her. From then on, Mary became the one who made the salvation of mankind possible, because through her, the Word of God was incarnate into flesh and blood, becoming our Lord Jesus, fully man through her mother Mary, and fully God, as He was conceived by the Holy spirit.

Satan, having been dealt a terrible and crushing defeat by Jesus through His triumphant sacrifice on the cross, rightly feared Mary, because she is the Mother of Jesus, who walked with Him and guided Him towards the triumph of the Lord and all that is good against evil and all its forces. In addition, Satan, whose goal is the corruption and destruction of all mankind rightly feared Mary, because in her we have a great and perfect example of a paragon of love and virtue, who obeyed the Lord in all things.

If we follow the example of Mary’s obedience, love and devotion to God, we cannot go wrong. That is why Satan feared Mary, because she is like a beacon of light that shine brightly on our path as we go towards her Son, Jesus Christ our. Lord. Thus we know the phrase, Ad Iesum per Mariam, or ‘To Jesus through Mary’. Following Mary and her examples are the best ways for us to be closer to God and to attain salvation in Jesus.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all whenever we are tempted to sin and to do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord, that we should utter the Most Holy Name of Mary, that Satan who tempts us when he hears that Name would flee in fear, and that our soul will remain pure and clean from his corruptions and evil. Satan knows that he is doomed, and the Name of the mother of the One who had defeated him will certainly remind him that, and make him flee in fear.

Let us not fear Satan and his darkness, for Mary is with us, this blessed one among all women and all creations of God is caring for us as our mother, who prays for us incessantly and constantly before the throne of her Son, our Lord in heaven. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you amongst women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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Friday, 12 September 2014 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

Luke 6 : 39-42

And Jesus offered this example, “Can a blind person lead another blind person? Surely both will fall into a ditch. A disciples is not above the master; but when fully trained, he will be like the master. So why do you pay attention to the speck in your brother’s eye, while you have a log in your eye, and are not conscious of it?”

“How can you say to your neighbour, ‘Friend, let me take this speck out of your eye.’ when you cannot remove the log in your own? You hypocrite! First remove the log from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your neighbour’s eye.”

Alternative reading (Mass of the Most Holy Name of Mary)

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 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!”