One True God

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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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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how Jesus with His power and authority, commanded even the wind and the waves in the storm to settle down and cease, showing His power as the Messiah and the Lord of all Creations. And He showed it to His disciples who were fearful and afraid, fearing for their lives even as the storm battered on the ship and it almost sank.

Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith, and He mentioned to them that they should not have been afraid, had they had even the smallest amount of faith and trust in God. This reading, and all the other readings and the psalm today all sounded in tandem upon a central theme, that is the Lord as our Master and our God, who loves us and protects us from harm’s way, and rescues us from trouble.

And He leads us all as the member of His Body, the Church, in a great journey through life and through this world, in order for us to traverse it safely to our destination, that is eternal life and joy which only the Lord our God could provide. And this is symbolised by that journey that Jesus and His disciples took as they traverse the lake in a storm, and Jesus calming down that storm for them.

There are indeed plenty of symbolisms in today’s readings, particularly that of the action of Jesus on that boat that day. The Church of God, the Body of Christ, is often represented as a large ship or boat, and truly, this same interpretation applies in this case too. Jesus and His disciples represents the Church, of which Jesus, who is their Master, is like the captain of the ship, while the disciples represent us all, who are the members of the Church.

For the Body of Christ, the Church of God represents not just the buildings and the assets of the Church, but the true assets of the Church lies in its members and their unity to one another. And Jesus is the Head of the Church that is His Body, in Him we are all united as one people, and He leads us in this journey filled with difficulties and challenges, the opposition and attacks by Satan against us.

For the stormy seas, the winds and the waves represent the challenges that will surely come our way if we remain true to our faith and remain in the Church of God. Satan, who has dominion over this world, is certainly not going to let us go and escape his clutches just like that. He who had made our forefathers to fall into sin and rebel against God will do the same to us as well.

And the disciples’ reactions when they saw the storm was about to sink their ship were truly reminiscent of our own reactions as well. They feared, so we also fear too, when we encounter difficulties, when we are tempted and challenged by Satan and his forces. And this happens when we do not have faith in God or little trust in Him. We are afraid and fearful because we think that in this battle and tribulation, we are alone.

And a natural reaction is for us to abandon the ship and jump into the water. Translating this to reality means that we abandon the Church, we abandon the Lord and all of His ways, succumbing to our fear. Do you know that it is much safer to remain with the ship even though it seems that the ship is about to sink? It is better than to jump out and face myriads of uncertainties and danger outside of the ship.

The Church of God is a haven of protection from the forces of evil, and if we are faithful and remain true to the Lord through His Church, and if we anchor ourselves steadily on Him, then we will not be shaken and no forces of evil can destroy us, for the Lord is with us, and as the Head of the Church, He will steer us through all the dangers and difficulties to our eternal reward.

We should not fear evil, for God Himself showed that He has authority over all things, and by subduing the storm and the waves, He showed that even Satan and all of his might had to submit to the power and authority of God, who is the Master of all. Therefore, there is really no need for us to be afraid of him and his darkness, for God who reigns over all will ensure our safety. Do not fear those who cannot harm our eternal soul.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, from today on, can we commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and trust in Him more? God is our Leader and our Shepherd, and as long as we have Him, we should not be shaken. Yes, there will be challenges and difficulties, but these are after all part and parcel of being one of the faithful ones of the Lord. For the world and Satan who ruled over it, had rejected the Lord in the first place, and therefore they will reject us and persecute us too.

May Almighty God give us strength to walk faithfully in His ways and not to be swayed by the forces of this world. May He give us courage to maintain ourselves and composure in the face of the storms of this world. May we not be discouraged or be frightened by what Satan has employed in order to deter us and make us panic, but let us all remain firmly in our true devotion and faith to the Lord our God. May God be with us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 4 : 35-41

At that time, on the same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to His disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” So they left the crowd, and took Him away in the boat He had been sitting in, and other boats set out with Him.

Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.

They woke Him up, and said, “Master, do You not care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?”

But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17

Indeed the love of Christ holds us and we realise that if He died for all, all have died. He died for all so that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them.

And so from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way. For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For him the old things have passed away; a new world has come.

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 106 : 23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31

Those who went to the sea in ships, merchants on the mighty waters, saw the marvels of the Lord, His wonderful deeds in the deep.

For He spoke and stirred up a storm whipping up the waves of the sea. Flung upward and plunged to the depths, they lost courage in the ordeal.

Then they cried to the Lord in anguish, and He rescued them from their distress. He stilled the storm to a gentle breeze and hushed the billows to silent waves.

How glad they were! He brought them safe and sound to the port where they were bound. Let them thank the Lord for His love and wondrous deeds for humans.

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Sunday, 21 June 2015 : Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Job 38 : 1, 8-11

Then YHVH answered Job out of the storm : “Who shut the sea behind closed doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling clothes; when I set its limits with doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘You will not go beyond those bounds; here is where your proud waves must halt?'”

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Saturday, 20 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we are reminded to keep in mind that we mankind are always sorely tempted to boast of ourselves, and to think solely of ourselves, and to be worrying about what we want in life. We always by our nature selfish, and we always act by instinct to preserve our own safety and well-being first, just as animals do.

But we can do better than that, brothers and sisters, for we all know that God loves all of us, and He cares for all of us, for all of our needs and concerns, and He provides freely all that we need to live, as He had also done the same to the animals and plants, in short, for all of creation. God created us all not because He just want to do so, but because He wants to share His love with us, and to care for us with perfect love and compassion.

As a result, indeed, there is truly no need for us to worry at all about anything. We worry because our minds and hearts are filled with concern for ourselves. We cannot detach ourselves from the many concerns and desires that continuously assail us with all their temptations and demands, such that we continuously worry ourselves, either about what we are to eat, or about what we will have in the day, in terms of money, human relationship and many other things.

We also worry because God is not in our hearts and minds. If we have kept the Lord in us faithfully and placed our trust in Him, then we would definitely have not been fearful and we would not have worried about anything. We worry because our fears and our desires grow stronger than our trust and faith in the Lord, and we do not believe that He could help us, or worse, thinking that He had abandoned or ignored us.

Often, this is what people feel when they pray and then their wishes were not heard. But this is because we fail to understand what a prayer truly is. We frequently think of prayer as the channel for miraculous help, and that God can grant us anything we want. But God is truly not someone who will fulfil all that we want, since we all should be aware of human nature, that when we have something, we tend to be not satisfied and wanting even more of what we already have.

That is why when we think that the poor ones are suffering, but the rich in fact also suffer, because the more they have, the more they too worry and desire for even more things. As a result, this causes a continuous vicious cycle that continues to feed our own desires, and then cause us to worry even more as we obtain more of what we wanted.

The key to break away from this great dilemma is by learning to put our trust and hope in the Lord our God. If we can trust in the Lord, then we should know that in His own way, He has been providing for us what we need, either through what we receive in this life, or by what He had done through others around us, whose hands and actions were inspired by the Lord to show His works for our sake.

God works in mysterious ways, but it is often that we fail to understand how He cared for us in His own ways. He gives us what we need and bless us richly. But the true reward lies in the end, when the faithful shall receive the fullness of God’s grace in His heavenly kingdom. This is the promise which He had given to all of His faithful. And this is when we should indeed put our trust in all of His promises and love for us.

May Almighty God strengthen the love which we have for our Lord in our heart. May all of us be more able to love Him more, and trust Him more in all things, so that we will be worrying less about ourselves and what we are to have today, and do the best we can do today, building up our treasures in the everlasting life promised to us. God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 20 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Matthew 6 : 24-34

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “No one can serve two masters; for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the first and look down on the second. You cannot at the same time serve God and money. This is why I tell you not to be worried about food and drink for yourself, or about clothes for your body.”

“Is not life more important than food, and is not the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, they do not harvest and do not store food in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not less worthy than they are?”

“Can any of you add a day to your life by worrying about it? Why are you so worried about your clothes? Look at how the flowers in the fields grow. They do not toil or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his wealth was clothed like one of these. If God so clothed the grass in the field, which blooms today and is to be burned tomorrow in an oven, how much more will He clothe you? What little faith you have!”

“Do not worry and say : What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Or : What shall we wear? The pagans busy themselves with such things; but your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Set your heart first on the kingdom and justice of God, and all these things will also be given to you. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

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Saturday, 20 June 2015 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 33 : 8-9, 10-11, 12-13

The Lord’s angel encamps and patrols to keep safe those who fear Him. Oh, see and taste the goodness of the Lord! Blessed is the one who finds shelter in Him!

Revere the Lord, all you His saints, for those who fear Him do not live in want. The mighty may be hungry and in need, but those who seek the Lord lack nothing.

Come, listen to me, my children; I will show you how to fear the Lord. If you desire long life, if you want to enjoy prosperity.