offering to god

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Tuesday, 24 January 2017 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 39 : 2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 10, 11

With resolve I waited for the Lord; He listened and heard me beg. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Sacrifice and oblation You did not desire; this You had me understand. Burnt offering and sin offering You do not require. Then I said, “Here I come!”

In the great assembly I have proclaimed Your saving help. My lips, o Lord, I did not seal – You know that very well.

I have not locked up in my heart Your saving help, but have spoken about it – Your deliverance and Your faithfulness. I have made no secret of Your truth and of Your kindness in the great assembly.

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Monday, 21 November 2016 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, remembering and commemorating the moment when the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ was presented to God at the Temple after she was born, much as her Son Jesus, her Firstborn Son was presented to God.

It is likely that she is the firstborn child of her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne. The practice of the offering of the Firstborn has deep roots in the history of our salvation, from the time of the Exodus, when the people of Israel were saved and brought out from their slavery in Egypt. At that time, the Lord showed His might to the Egyptians and their Pharaoh, who refused to let the Israelites go, raining down ten great plagues upon them.

It was the final plague that finally caused the Pharaoh to relent and let the people of God go, when he planned destruction on God’s people by seeking to kill all the firstborns of Israel. But God turned that around into triumph for His people by instead destroying the firstborns of Egypt including the firstborn of Pharaoh. Thus the offering of the firstborn children to God is a reminder of this great and eminent goodness of our Lord for His people.

And at the same time, it is also a reminder of how God saved His beloved creations, His firstborn ones from the assault by Satan and all of his fallen allies, as they sought to bring about our downfall by causing us to be tempted and fall into sin. And that was how Satan brought down Adam and Eve, our first ancestors. But God did not forget about us, and He still loved us, as shown in how He made a promise to them, that He will deliver them from all the ruination that Satan had caused.

And He foretold that a Woman will come to crush Satan and all of his spawns, to be the sign for the ultimate defeat of the evil one which God had foretold from the very beginning. And that woman was again mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, who foretold of the coming of the Messiah through the same woman. And that woman is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the one who bore the Saviour of the world, Jesus into this world.

If Jesus was presented to the Lord as the Saviour of all, worthy and unblemished, then His mother Mary, who was also conceived without the taint of sin, the Virgin of Immaculate Conception, was presented to the Lord as the worthy and blessed Ark to contain the New Covenant which God was making with His people in Jesus Christ. Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, through which God made into reality the salvation He promised to us mankind.

And Mary is our role model, our greatest intercessor before God, whose actions and dedication to God is rivalled by none. She gave her whole life to God, and she dutifully carried out what had been entrusted to her as the Mother of God and our Saviour. In the Gospel today, we may mistook the idea that Jesus was being rude to His mother if we do not understand what He was actually trying to say. He did not go out to meet His mother and brothers who were waiting for Him, and instead saying to the people He was teaching who are His mother and brothers.

But Jesus was in fact saying that, be like His mother in all things, so that they will be worthy to be called sons and daughters of God. Therefore today, let us all model ourselves after Mary in her great obedience to the will of God, her willingness to have God leading her on the way to salvation, and her commitment without end, even unto following and witnessing her own Son’s death on the cross.

Let us be inspired by her actions and examples, and let us all also ask for her to intercede for our sake, that she will beseech for our sake, we who are sinners, that God her Son will show us His kind mercy and love. O Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us now and to the end of our lives. Amen.

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Monday, 21 November 2016 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Matthew 12 : 46-50

At that time, while Jesus was still talking to the people, His mother and His brothers wanted to speak to Him, and they waited outside. So someone said to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with You.”

Jesus answered, “Who is My mother? Who are My brothers?” Then He pointed to His disciples and said, “Look! Here are My mother and My brothers. Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is for Me brother, sister, or mother.”

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Monday, 21 November 2016 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (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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Monday, 21 November 2016 : 34th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
Zechariah 2 : 14-17

“Sing and rejoice, o daughter of Zion, for I am about to come, I shall dwell among you,” says YHVH. “On that day, many nations will join YHVH and be My people, but My dwelling is among you.” The people of Judah will be for YHVH as His portion in His holy land. He will choose Jerusalem again.

Keep still in YHVH’s presence, for He comes, having risen from His holy dwelling.

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Wednesday, 7 September 2016 : 23rd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
1 Corinthians 7 : 25-31

With regards to those who remain virgins, I have no special commandment from the Lord, but I give some advice, hoping that I am worthy of trust by the mercy of the Lord.

I think this is good in these hard times in which we live. It is good for someone to remain as he is. If you are married, do not try to divorce your wife; if you are not married, do not marry. He who marries does not sin, nor does the young girl sin who marries. Yet they will face disturbing experiences, and I would like to spare you.

I say this, brothers and sisters : time is running out, and those who are married must live as if not married; those who weep as if not weeping; those who are happy as if they were not happy; those buying something as if they had not bought it, and those enjoying the present life as if they were not enjoying it. For the order of this world is vanishing.

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Monday, 18 July 2016 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Micah 6 : 1-4, 6-8

Listen to what YHVH said to me, “Stand up, let the mountains hear your claim, and the hills listen to your plea.” Hear, o mountains, YHVH’s complaint! Foundations of the earth, pay attention! For YHVH has a case against His people, and will argue it with Israel.

“O My people, what have I done to you? In what way have I been burden to you? Answer Me. I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from the land of bondage; I sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead you.”

“What shall I bring when I come to YHVH and bow down before God the Most High? Shall I come with the burnt offerings, with sacrifices of yearling calves? Will YHVH be pleased with thousands of rams, with an overabundance of oil libations? Should I offer my firstborn for my sins, the fruit of my body for my wrongdoing?”

“You have been told, o man, what is good and what YHVH requires of you : to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

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Sunday, 29 May 2016 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty scepter and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Sunday, 21 February 2016 : Second Sunday of Lent, Memorial of St. Peter Damian, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Genesis 15 : 5-12, 17-18

Then YHVH brought Abram outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.” Abram believed YHVH Who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. And He said, “I am YHVH Who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”

Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?” YHVH replied, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, a three year old goat, a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims.

On that day YHVH made a covenant with Abram saying, “To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”

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Friday, 19 February 2016 : 1st Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 5 : 20-26

At that time, Jesus said to the people and to His disciples, “I tell you then, if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“You have heard that it was said to our people in the past : Do not commit murder; anyone who does kill will have to face trial. But now I tell you : whoever gets angry with a brother or sister will have to face trial. Whoever insults a brother or sister deserves to be brought before the council. Whoever calls a brother or a sister “Fool!” deserves to be thrown into the fire of hell.”

“So, if you are about to offer your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with him, and then come back and offer your gift to God.”

“Do not forget this : be reconciled with your opponent quickly when you are together on the way to court. Otherwise he will turn you over to the judge, who will hand you over to the police, who will put you in jail. There you will stay, until you have paid the last penny.”