Ordinary season

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(Singapore) Friday, 14 February 2025 : Feast of the Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 47 : 1-2, 8-9, 12

The Man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw water coming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastward. The Temple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of the Temple, from the south side of the Altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside, to the outer gate facing the east; and there I saw the stream coming from the south side.

He said to me, “This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, and when it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water will become wholesome. Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures will live in it; fish will be plentiful; and the seawater will become fresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound.”

“Near the river on both banks, there will be all kinds of fruit trees, with foliage that will not wither; and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear a fresh crop, because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will be good to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.”

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the downfall of mankind into sin, reminding us all how sin has led us into this wretched existence in this corrupted world, filled with sin and evil. But at the same time, we are being reminded also of our true nature which God had made and intended us all to be, a pure and holy existence in His Presence as He has meant us all to enjoy. At the same time, we should put our trust in the Lord, and allowing Him to heal us all from our afflictions, our corruptions of sin and evil, allowing us to be whole once again, to be enlightened once again by God’s grace and love, by His light and truth. God is the only One Who can do this for us, and we have to keep this always in mind.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard of the moment when Satan, in the form of a snake, came upon our ancestors in the Gardens of Eden. At that time, everything had been created all good and perfect by God, and our ancestors, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, had also been created perfect, all wonderful and good, in the image and likeness of God Himself, all meant to enjoy forever the fullness of God’s love and grace. However, our inability to resist the temptations of sin, of worldly desires, ambitions and pride, had all led to us succumbing to the sweet lies and falsehoods of Satan, who used all those to lead us all down the path of ruin, and therefore brought us into the corruption of sin.

Satan played upon our curiosity and desire for knowledge, and also our indulgence in pleasure to seek for what we have been told not to seek the pursuit of power, glory and knowledge that Satan has offered us by tempting our ancestors to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and which he has continued to tempt us with as he offered us all sorts of worldly goods and ambitions, and all other things meant to shake our faith and trust in the Lord, in trying to make us to embrace the path of disobedience and sin instead. That is why we are reminded of this today so that we will always be vigilant and we will not allow Satan and all of the other forces of evil to tempt us into the path towards our downfall and destruction.

In our Gospel passage today, we then heard of the works of the Lord Jesus as He came into the region of Decapolis beyond the Jordan River, where He encountered a man who was deaf and mute, and He healed this man miraculously by putting His hands into the man’s ears and tongue, declaring ‘Ephphata’ or ‘be opened’! as mentioned in the Gospel. Through this action, God showed all the people, His disciples and followers that He is truly the Lord and Master of all things, even over diseases, sickness and all other conditions, and He is also the Messiah or Saviour which God has promised His people through the prophets, as those prophets spoke of how the Messiah would make the blind to see once again, the deaf to be able to hear again, the mute to be able to speak again and more great and wonderful things.

It is a reminder to all of us how God is the only One Who can liberate us all from our bondage to sin. Ever since our ancestors listened to Satan and disobeyed God, as we heard from our first reading passage today, they had allowed sin to enter into our hearts and corrupt us all, corrupting our human nature and through that making us all to be unworthy of God and the glorious inheritance that God has always meant for us to share and enjoy in. The corruption of sin has corrupted our human existence and led us all to concupiscence, that is our inherent human nature to be tempted and to fall into sin. But God did not give up on us, and He has always loved us all throughout, desiring for us to be reconciled and reunited to Himself, and hence, He provided for us the means to do so.

It is by sending unto us His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ Himself, Our Lord and Saviour, that God has opened for us all the sure and straight path towards eternal life and salvation. He has given us all His beloved Son, Who willingly took up upon Himself the human flesh, nature and existence so that He can break us all free from the tyranny and dominion of sin and death. And it was by His perfect and humble obedience to the will of His heavenly Father that Christ, as the New Adam, together with His mother Mary, the New Eve, opposed the past disobedience of Adam and Eve, rejected Satan and all of his falsehoods, and by offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice and offering, breaking His own Most Precious Body and pouring out His Most Precious Blood that brings about our healing and redemption. There is no other means by which we all can be saved.

That is why all of us are reminded that we should always put our faith and trust in the Lord, and we should not allow the temptations of evil to lead us astray anymore in our lives. Through the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, all of us have been liberated from the chains and dominion of sin, and hence, we should embrace this freedom which we have earned from the Lord, the grace that He has given us all, and strive therefore to live a truly holy and worthy lives, following Him ever more wholeheartedly in each and every moments of our lives. And one way of doing this is by doing whatever the Lord has commanded us to do, to live a life truly devoted to Him and to be exemplary in our everyday living, becoming good and worthy examples for our fellow brothers and sisters, to be missionary and evangelising in all things as many of our holy predecessors had done.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Cyril and St. Methodius, who are the Patron Saints of Europe, and also great missionaries in their efforts to evangelise to the people of Central and Eastern Europe. St. Cyril and St. Methodius were brothers who were born in the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium in the early ninth century, and they were appointed as missionaries by the Byzantine Emperor and the Church in Constantinople to evangelise among the Slavs and the Khazars, the pagans who were inhabiting the regions to the north of the Empire. They were the ones to come up with the Glagolitic alphabet, which eventually became the Cyrillic alphabet still in use in many Slavic countries to this day.

They achieved much success in proclaiming the Good News of God to the pagan nations, and were also involved in other missionary works, including inter-Church mission to Rome and many other good works. Through their efforts, many of those people they visited and ministered became Christians, bringing God’s salvation to countless more souls. They did encounter difficulties and challenges during their ministry, including conflicts with the Latin and the Western Church during their evangelising work among the pagans, enduring the political conflicts between the Western and Eastern Christendom that happened at that time, but all these did not dissuade them from continuing to do their works and to carry on the missions entrusted to them faithfully to the very end of their lives.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore strive to follow in the footsteps of St. Cyril and St. Methodius and do our best in all things, so that by our dedication and commitment to God, we may always be shining beacons of His light and truth, becoming the manifestation of His love and mercy, His kindness and compassion to all those whom we encounter daily in life. Hopefully many more people may come to believe in the Lord and be saved through us, and through everything that we do in our everyday living. May God be with us always, and may He bless us in all of our good works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 7 : 31-37

At that time, again Jesus set out : from the country of Tyre He passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, He came to the territory of Decapolis. There, a deaf man, who also had difficulty in speaking, was brought to Him. They asked Jesus to lay His hand upon him.

Jesus took him apart from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears, and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, He said with a deep sigh, “Ephphata!” that is, “Be opened!”

And immediately, his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about it; but the more He insisted, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 6, 7

Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven, whose iniquity is wiped away. Blessed are those in whom YHVH sees no guilt and in whose spirit is found no deceit.

Then I made known to You my sin and uncovered before You my fault, saying to myself, “To YHVH I will now confess my wrong.” And You, You forgave my sin; You removed my guilt.

So let the faithful ones pray to You in time of distress; the overflowing waters will not reach them.

You are my Refuge; You protect me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance.

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Friday, 14 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Genesis 3 : 1-8

Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the wild creatures that YHVH God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say : You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden, but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said : You must not eat, and you must not touch it or you will die.”

The serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, but God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, and pleasant to the eyes, and ideal for gaining knowledge. She took its fruit and ate it and gave some to her husband who was with her. He ate it.

Then their eyes were opened and both of them knew they were naked. So they sewed leaves of a fig tree together and made themselves loincloths. They heard the voice of YHVH God walking in the garden, in the cool of the day, and they, the man and his wife, hid from YHVH God among the trees of the garden.

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Thursday, 13 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all listened to these words from the Sacred Scriptures today, we are all being reminded of the great love, compassion and kindness that God has shown to each and every one of us. We are reminded how fortunate all of us are that God has always known what we needed, and how He has shown His love to us most generously in various occasions, again and again. God never gave up in loving us all and despite our disobedience against Him, our frequent refusal to obey Him and listen to His words, He still patiently reached out to us nonetheless and desires for us to be reconciled and reunited to Him, to be loved again by Him and no longer be lost to Him, just as He has always desired,

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of Genesis, we heard from the continuation of the account of the moment when the Lord created the world and the entire Universe, how He prepared the beautiful and most amazing Gardens of Eden for us mankind to reside in, and today, we are shown how God made the first man, Adam a companion in the form of the first woman, Eve. God made Adam a companion in Eve so that he would not be alone, and would have become complete with the woman, blessed by God, being fruitful and multiple, with children as gifts from God, to share the love and joy of God’s blessings and grace together as one people of God. God also entrusted His creation to mankind, to all of us for us to take good care of them and to be responsible stewards and caretakers of all that He had created.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord Jesus encountered a Syro-Phoenician woman who came up to him to seek His help and heal her sick daughter, possessed and afflicted by evil spirits. The woman came to the Lord seeking for His help, asking Him to show mercy on her daughter, but as we heard in that passage, initially the Lord seemed to be unfazed and uncaring, not bothered by what she had pleaded to Him about, refusing to listen to her pleas and was apparently even very rude to her, in telling her that one ought not to give the pieces of bread from the table for the children for the dogs to eat. But the reality is such that the Lord was using those words to highlight to His disciples and followers the sad truth behind the prejudice and bias that existed at that time amongst the people of God, the Jewish people against their neighbours.

This is because the Jewish people at the time of Jesus, particularly their religious leaders and elites like the Pharisees and the chief priests saw themselves as being better and superior to all those people around them who were considered as pagans and unworthy, sinners and those who were likely going to be condemned to eternal damnation and hell. This prejudice remained strong among the Jews at the time, and hence, a person like the Syro-Phoenician woman faced strong prejudice and bias, firstly because of her origin and background, and then also because she was a woman, and women were commonly ill-treated and not respected at that time. As such, what the Lord mentioned with regards to the Syro-Phoenician woman was meant to highlight the reality of how people like her had been mistreated and facing misfortunes because of this attitude.

Then, the Lord showed that the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman, who kept on trusting in the Lord and keeping her faith in Him despite the words that she had heard from Him, was greater than the faith of all those people of God and their leaders who were supposedly more worthy, more pious and more obedient to the Law of God. The Lord used this example of the great faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman to highlight that first of all, God’s love and grace are for everyone, and no one can be separated from His love, or denied from His grace and compassionate mercy just because they did not belong to a certain race or group, or because they did not follow or observe the Law in the manner that were prescribed by certain authorities like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

What is more important than blind obedience and empty sacrifices is the heart that is full of faith and love for God, which the Syro-Phoenician woman had, in her determination and commitment to the Lord. The Syro-Phoenician woman’s faith was not deterred even by trials and tribulations, by rejection and ridicule, and she remained firmly dedicated to the Lord regardless of the circumstances. This is the same kind of faith that all of us ought to have as well, a faith that is truly strong, enduring and lasting even in the face of difficulties and challenges, persecutions and hardships that we may have to face in our journey. Countless Christians, holy people of God, martyrs of the Church and others have shown us this same great faith as well, and we can look upon them for inspiration and great examples to be followed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have heard from oujr first reading taken from the Book of Genesis as well, we are reminded again that God has loved us so greatly and desired for us to enjoy forever the eternal glory and inheritance that He has provided for us, and all of us are equally beloved by God, no matter what our backgrounds or status are. But we must have that faith in Him and His Providence, and we should not allow ourselves to be easily divided by all sorts of prejudices and biases which we may have, and we must not allow ourselves to be tempted by pride, ego and ambitions, which have led many to their downfall, including many among the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and many among the people of God at the time, for thinking that they were better and superior than others, and thus refused to listen to God’s words delivered to them through Christ, Our Lord and Saviour.

May the Lord, our most loving God and Father continue to provide us all whatever we need, and may He continue to strengthen us all in faith so that we may not be easily swayed by all sorts of the temptations of the world, that we will remember the love of God for each one of us, putting Him ahead of all others things in our lives, obeying Him and His commandments, and not to give in to our human desires or to be intimidated by any kind of obstacles or challenges in our path. May God bless us all in our every works and endeavours, now and always. Amen.

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Thursday, 13 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 7 : 24-30

At that time, when Jesus left the place where He rebuked the Pharisees, He went to the border of the Tyrian country. There He entered a house, and did not want anyone to know He was there, but He could not remain hidden. A woman, whose small daughter had an evil spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet. Now this woman was a pagan, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she begged Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Jesus told her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to puppies.” But she replied, “Sir, even the puppies under the table eat the crumbs from the children’s bread.” Then Jesus said to her, “You may go your way; because of such a response, the demon has gone out of your daughter.”

And when the woman went home, she found her child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

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Thursday, 13 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 127 : 1-2, 3, 4-5

Blessed are you who fear the Lord and walk in His ways. You will ear the fruit of your toil; you will be blessed and favoured.

Your wife, like a vine, will bear fruits in your home; your children, like olive shoots will stand around your table.

Such are the blessings bestowed upon the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.

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Thursday, 13 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Genesis 2 : 18-25

YHVH God said, “It is not good for Man to be alone; I will give him a helper who will be like him.” Then YHVH God formed from the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air and brought them to Man to see what he would call them; and whatever Man called every living creature, that was its name.

So Man gave names to all the cattle, the birds of the air and to every beast of the field. But he did not find among them a helper like himself. Then YHVH God caused a deep sleep to come over Man and he fell asleep. He took one of his ribs and filled its place with flesh. The rib which YHVH God had taken from Man He formed into a woman and brought her to the man.

The man then said, “Now this is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken from man.” That is why man leaves his father and mother and is attached to his wife, and with her becomes one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed.

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Wednesday, 12 February 2025 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded of the need for all of us to shun and reject all sorts of evil in our lives, to keep ourselves free from the corruption of sin and evil, the darkness of this world as we continue living our lives worthily as Christians. Each and every one of us should always strive to do what is right and just in accordance to things which the Lord has shown and taught us. This is because we ourselves are the ones to be good inspirations and role models for our fellow brethren around us. All of us are reminded that we have been created all good, wonderful and perfect by God, but it was our disobedience and sins, our wicked desires and unholy temptations that had led to our downfall.

And in our Scripture passage today, we are reminded of this truth, of our original immaculate nature which has become tainted by sin that came from within us. In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Genesis in which the account of the first day of the existence of mankind was told to us, when Adam and Eve were formed by God, to be the ones to take care of everything that He had created, and as they still wandered in the beautiful and most awesome Gardens of Eden, meant to enjoy forever the love and grace of God, in the state of grace and holy existence, made and formed perfect, in the very image and likeness of God. God made all things good and perfect, and this was highlighted in the earlier accounts of the Creation in our past two days of readings from the same Book of Genesis, from the earlier two chapters.

In that passage from the Book of Genesis today, we heard how the Lord created all things in the Gardens of Eden for us mankind to dwell in and to enjoy the wonders of His love for us. He also told them all about how they could eat of everything in the Garden except for that of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Everything were all created good and wonderful, and no corruption or sin yet existed at that time. However, it was our desires, which were not essentially malicious, in what later Satan would manipulate to his own ends, in tempting Adam and Eve to disobey God which led to our corruption by sin. And linking to what we are going to discuss in our Gospel passage today, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil itself is not something evil or wicked, as there can be nothing that God created which is flawed, imperfect or evil. God made all things good and perfect just as He intended.

Even Satan himself, who was known as Lucifer, the Lightbringer, was a wonderful, beautiful and excellent Angel of God, who was created as the most brilliant and mightiest among the Angels. He was created all good and wonderful just as all of us and all of Creation had been created. However, he became obsessed with that beauty and brilliance that he possessed, and became proud, leading to his rebellion against God in his desire to become the ruler over all things. That was how Satan fell from grace and was cast out of Heaven. In the same manner, by the temptations which Satan had given to Adam and Eve, our ancestors gave in to their desires for knowledge and power, that led them into sin, corruption and therefore their downfall.

In our Gospel passage today, we are then reminded from the Gospel according to St. Mark the Evangelist once again about the dangers of the corruption of sin which can easily afflict us if we are not careful in how we live our lives. We are also not defiled and corrupted by whatever we partake and eat, as the Lord Himself declared that every type of food which had been considered as unclean by the Jewish community to be clean and worthy. This is related to what we have heard in our first reading passage earlier on, which related to us how God created everything all good and wonderful for us, and hence, we should not think of any animals or things around us to be the source of our defilement and corruption. This is contrary to what the Jewish people had believed in.

Historically, there were some possible reasons explaining why the Law of God stipulated those rules as handed down to them through Moses, which happened during the time of the Exodus. The prohibition against eating pigs is scientifically and historically linked to the fact that it took more resources to sustain them than what the Israelites could have afforded while they were on the journey of the Exodus through the desert. Hence, this Law and commandment was given to them to help them to manage their lives as they were making their journey through the desert with limited resources, depending on the graces and miracles that God had given them such as the manna, the heavenly bread appearing to them every morning, as well as the water gushing out from the rocks for them to drink and share in the dry desert.

But the Lord showed the people that those commandments and laws which their ancestors had obeyed and followed were no longer relevant at that time, and He revealed to them all the true nature of the Law, and what they all needed to do in order to be truly faithful to God. He also warned them about maintaining only just external piety and purity while neglecting the purity of the soul, keeping oneself free from the corruption of our wicked desires, ambitions, greed and pride, all of which are the ones leading us astray from God and making us to fall into sin, just as our ancestors themselves had experienced. Just as it was not the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that were malicious, but the greed of mankind, therefore the Lord made it clear that what is corrupting us in our own interior disposition and desires.

And this is exemplified no better than those Pharisees and teachers of the Law themselves who often criticised the Lord and His disciples for not observing the Law in the manner that they had observed it. They were so obsessed and focused on the external application of the Law that they had forgotten its true purpose, intention and meaning. Not only that but many among them also allowed their pride and desire for worldly recognition and power to mislead them down the path of disobedience against God, as shown by their persistent refusal to listen to the Lord and their constant critique of the Lord and His disciples’ works, despite having listened to the Wisdom of God being spoken to them and to the miracles and wonders performed before their own eyes.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore remind ourselves to continue living our lives worthily in the Lord, placing Him at the very heart and centre of our existence. Let us all resist the temptations of the evil ones who are constantly trying to bring us to our downfall by disobedience against God. May the Lord be with us always and may He continue to empower and strengthen us all in our journey so that we may grow ever stronger in our commitment towards Him, in each and every moments of our lives, now and always, forevermore. Amen.