Ordinary Time season

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Tuesday, 19 September 2023 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 100 : 1-2ab, 2cd-3ab, 5, 6

I will sing of Your love and justice; to You, o YHVH, I will sing praise. I will walk the way of integrity – o YHVH, when will You come to me?

With a blameless heart, I will walk within my house. I will not set before my eyes anything that is base. I hate the deeds of faithless people.

He who deals with others treacherously, I will silence. He who talks and acts arrogantly, I will not endure.

I will choose from the faithful of the land, those who may dwell with Me; only the upright shall be My servant.

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Tuesday, 19 September 2023 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

1 Timothy 3 : 1-13

If someone aspires to the overseer’s ministry, he is, without a doubt, looking for a noble task. It is necessary, that the overseer (or bishop) be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, responsible, judicious, of good manners, hospitable and skilful in teaching.

He must not be addicted to wine, or quarrelsome, but be gentle and peaceful, and not a lover of money, but a man whose household is well-managed, with obedient and well-mannered children. If he cannot govern his own house, how can he lead the assembly of God? He must not be a recent convert, lest he become conceited, and fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must enjoy a good reputation among the outsiders, lest people speak evil about him, and he fall into the snare of the devil.

Deacons, likewise, must be serious and sincere, and moderate in drinking wine, not greedy for money; they must keep the mystery of faith with a clear conscience. Let them be first tried and, if found blameless, be accepted as deacons. In the same way, the women must be conscientious, not given to gossip, but reserved and trustworthy.

A deacon must be husband of one wife, and must know how to guide his children and manage his household. Those who serve well as deacons will win honourable rank, with authority to speak of Christian faith.

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Monday, 18 September 2023 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded to have faith in the Lord, our God, in everything that He has done for us, in loving and caring for us, in showing us His ever patient and good providence, so that all of us may gain righteousness and salvation through Him. All of us are reminded as always today, to be ever more committed and faithful to the Law, commandments and the path that God has shown us and taught us. Without God, all of us are truly nothing, and we cannot achieve anything on our own if God had not guided and helped us, through His blessings and providence, in every moments of our lives. That is why we should always do our best to follow the Lord and to entrust ourselves to Him, just as the army centurion in our Gospel reading today showed us.

Beginning with our first reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to St. Timothy, the Apostle wrote to his protege speaking and urging all the faithful to pray for all those in power and entrusted with authority, that every one of them ought to remember and focus their attention on the Lord, their God, the one and only Mediator of the New Covenant which He Himself has established with every one of us. St. Paul reminded all the faithful once again of everything that God had done for those who are beloved to Him, all of us, by sending unto us all His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Divine Word, to be incarnate in the flesh, so that by becoming the Son of Man, He might show us the perfection of God’s love and glory, and lead us all once again to His loving Presence, and reconcile us fully with Him.

All of us have been separated and cast out of God’s loving presence due to our sins and wickedness, by our disobedience against His Law and commandments. But this does not mean that God does not love us anymore. On the contrary, His love and commitment to us, and to the Covenant that He has established with us, is ever wonderful, enduring and great, and His sending unto us of His Son, manifesting His love and compassion, His merciful outreach and attention to us highlight to us the ever enduring and persistent love He has for each and every one of us, sinners and delinquents, who have disobeyed Him and rebelled against Him. Much like a father who patiently cared for and loved his children, thus the Lord our God has done the same towards each and every one of us.

Unfortunately, many of us are often not appreciative of the love, kindness and grace that God had given to us, and we place our trust rather in our own strength and power, in our arrogance and greed, in our various worldly means and attachments, which prevented us from realising that we have walked down the wrong path, because we have always followed the whim of the many worldly temptations and desires present all around us. That is why many of us persisted in our errors and faults, in not doing what God has taught and commanded us all to do in our lives, and instead, did what we desired to do, in our many pursuits for worldly pleasures and satisfactions, turning a deaf ear to the Lord’s call and reminders for us to turn back towards Him and His path towards righteousness and salvation.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the great faith that a high ranking Roman military officer had shown to the Lord, in his faith and trust in the Lord, in entrusting to Him all things, even the life of his beloved and dear servant. That Roman military officer or centurion was also highly respected in the community because of his generosity and charitable actions, in helping to build the local synagogue, and in general we can conclude that he was truly a very upright and worthy man, who was although a Roman, and therefore largely a pagan in the eyes of the Jewish people at the time, but his actions and righteousness put even most of the Jews and their religious leaders at that time to shame. Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because he had such great faith in the Lord, just like some other examples shown in the Gospels, more than those self-righteous fellows that the Lord criticised for their lack of faith and hypocrisy.

That Roman military officer, being highly ranked and respected at that time, could have told or even commanded the Lord Jesus to come to his place to show His miracles and healing in getting his servant to be healed. But, he humbled himself and showed his great faith and trust in the Lord, telling the Lord by the words that I am sure we are all very familiar with, ‘I am not worthy that You, the Lord, should enter under my roof. But only say the Word, and my servant would be healed and made whole.’ These are similar words to what we always say at every moments right after the Most Holy Presence of Our Lord, the Eucharist, is shown unto us, right after the Agnus Dei, and just before we are about to receive the Lord in Holy Communion. Those words that we utter are reminders for us, that the Lord has come unto us to heal us and to help us to be reconciled with Him, and by His grace we have been made whole again.

And rightly, we should be inspired and touched by the good example shown by the Roman military officer who humbled himself before the Lord and showed such great faith in God, that he believed even without needing to witness the miraculous works being done in person. In order to understand this even better, we should also contrast his response and attitude to those of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law who frequently demanded that the Lord should perform more miracles and wonders, signs and other amazing deeds before them, stubbornly refusing to believe in Him despite having witnessed so many of those miracles and wonders with their own eyes. All the signs and the words that the Lord had spoken, all pointed to Him being the Messiah, the Holy One of God, sent into this world, and yet, those same religious elders and influential leaders allowed their ego, pride and arrogance to blind and prevent them from recognising the truth before their very own eyes and senses.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we reflect upon the words of the Scriptures and what we have just discussed, let us all strive to renew our faith and trust in God, allowing Him to lead us in our path and journey towards Him. Each and every one of us must remember that we are truly so fortunate that God has loved us so much and has always ever been patient towards us, in reaching out to us with His ever generous mercy and compassion. We should therefore follow the examples of the faith of the Roman centurion, and do our very best in living our lives righteously and worthily at all times, reminding one another to always be committed in following God at all times. May God be with us always, and may He continue to empower us all in every opportunities and at every moments throughout our lives, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 18 September 2023 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 7 : 1-10

At that time, when Jesus had finished teaching the people, He went to Capernaum. A Roman military officer lived there, whose servant was very sick and near to death, a man very dear to him. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to persuade Him to come and save his servant’s life. The elders came to Jesus and begged Him earnestly, saying, “He deserves this of You, for he loves our people and even built a synagogue for us.”

Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house, when the Roman officer sent friends to give this message, “Sir, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy to welcome You under my roof. You see, I did not approach You myself. Just give the order, and my servant will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers, and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to the other, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

On hearing these words, Jesus was filled with admiration. He turned and said to the people with Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” The people, sent by the captain, went back to his house; there they found that the servant was well.

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Monday, 18 September 2023 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 27 : 2, 7, 8-9

Hear my cry for mercy as I call to You for help, as I lift up my hands toward Your innermost Sanctuary.

YHVH is my strength, my shield; my heart was sure of Him; I have been helped and my heart exults; with my song I give Him thanks.

YHVH is the strength of His people, the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance, be their Shepherd and carry them forever.

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Monday, 18 September 2023 : 24th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Timothy 2 : 1-8

First of all, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for rulers of states, and all in authority, that we may enjoy a quiet and peaceful life, in godliness and respect. This is good and pleases God. For He wants all to be saved, and come to the knowledge of truth.

As there is one God, there is one Mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, Himself human, Who gave His life for the redemption of all. This is the testimony, given in its proper time, and of this, God has made me Apostle and herald. I am not lying, I am telling the truth : He made me teacher of the nations regarding faith and truth.

I want men, in every place, to lift pure hands, in prayer, to heaven, without anger and dissension.

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Sunday, 17 September 2023 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are reminded that as Christians, each and every one of us are called to be full of love, care and compassion for each other, to be forgiving and merciful just as our Lord Himself has been loving, caring and merciful towards us. Each one of us should be filled with God’s ever generous mercy and love, in our every actions, words and deeds, so that in all the things we say and do, we will always radiate God’s love and compassion, and be ever ready to forgive one another our faults and mistakes, which is what our Christian faith and calling are all about. Just as the Lord Himself has shown us all the love and compassionate mercy, thus we too, as His disciples and followers, should always be filled with the same love and kindness to one another.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Sirach, we heard of the words of the prophet Sirach in which we are all reminded that as God’s faithful people and believers, each and every one of us should always be filled with love and forgiveness, patience and humility. All these virtues and values are very important for all of us, as these are what the Lord Himself has shown us, all these while, in His ever patient love for all of us, His most generous and tender mercy, all the compassion He has shown us despite our frequent and constant rebellions, disobedience and wickedness in our lives. If God Himself has not despised or hated us for all of these, and still continued to love us all regardless, then why can’t we do the same as well, brothers and sisters?

The prophet Sirach also mentioned how we have to learn to forgive one another first and to show mercy on others around us, before we can even expect to be forgiven our own sins and mistakes by God. That corresponds very well with what we all know in the Lord’s Prayer, in the phrase, ‘Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us’. And as we have seen from that example of the Lord’s Prayer, which we all should know very well, forgiveness and compassion, love for one another is at the very centre and heart of our Christian existence and lives. We cannot claim to be true and genuine Christians unless our lives, our every words, actions and interactions with one another show the kind of love, compassion and mercy that God Himself has shown us ever so generously all these while.

In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the famous parable of the unforgiving and ungrateful servant, in which we are reminded yet again that unless we show the same kind of love and mercy that God has shown us, then no love and mercy will truly be shown and given to us. We must always be ready to forgive one another, to be charitable and compassionate, and to be patient with each other, as after all, just as others had wronged us, or made us angry and unhappy, there are likely moments and times when we ourselves have made others to be angry with us, or when our own words and actions had caused hurt or hardships to others. That is why, we should forgive each other our faults and mistakes to each other, and not to hold grudge or hatred against anyone else, reminding ourselves that God had forgiven us far greater sins that we have committed against Him.

In that parable, the king, who represents our Lord and God, had forgiven a servant who owed him a huge sum of ten thousand pieces of gold, a truly phenomenal amount, when that servant begged the king to give him more time to settle the account, and not to punish him and his family for the debt. The king was so generous that he did not just do that, but proceeded to cancel the whole entire debt, representing just how wonderful is God’s love and mercy to us, that despite our innumerable sins, He still graciously and willingly forgave us when we came to Him, seeking His forgiveness and mercy. Yet, that same servant then went on to threaten and force another servant who owed him merely just a hundred pieces of silver, which while it may seem to be a significant sum of money, but it paled in comparison to ten thousand pieces of gold that he had been forgiven from by the king.

We heard how that servant refused to budge or forgive his fellow servant the much smaller debt that he was owed, and how his uncharitable and wicked actions came to be known by the king, who then ordered the ungrateful servant not only to pay his debts in full again, but to face the full severity of his punishments, for his lack of charity towards his fellow servants and brethren, and for lacking in gratitude and appreciation for the mercy and love that he had been shown. This is therefore a very important reminder to each and every one of us that we must always show kindness, compassion and mercy to each other, and to be ready to forgive and to let go of our hatred and anger, with our fellow brothers and sisters. This is of course easier said than done, but unless we keep our focus and thoughts on the right things in life, that is on God and His Law and precepts, then with time and effort, we should be able to do what we have been expected to do.

Often times, the main obstacle to our ability to forgive others and to love one another as we should, is our own pride and desire. Our pride and ego often became stumbling block in our path because we end up being so focused on our wants and desires, our ambitions and pursuits that turn us inwards and behaving exactly like that ungrateful and wicked servant, whose self-interest and selfish wants and pursuits ended him in great trouble, because he could not look past his own desires and the ego he had. In his attempts to gain things for himself, therefore, he faltered and fell into disobedience against his master’s will, who definitely wanted all of his servants to follow what he had done, in forgiving and being generous to one another.

This is also what St. Paul briefly mentioned in our second reading passage today from his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in Rome, in which he mentioned how everyone lived and ought to live for the sake of the Lord, and that when they die, they ought to die in the Lord, reminding all of them how Christ, their Lord and Saviour had suffered and died for them, through His Cross, by which He saved all of us from the darkness of evil, sin and death, and brought us all to the assurance and hope of eternal life and the light of His grace and salvation. It reminds us all that our lives should not be centred on ourselves and our own ambitions, but rather, be centred on God. As Christians, we should always have the love first and foremost for God, and then, to love our brethren, our fellow men and women, in the same manner.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have been reminded of these passages from the Scriptures, let us all therefore strive from now on, to be ever more loving and forgiving to our brothers and sisters around us, to be merciful and compassionate, following the examples set by the Lord Himself. He has kept on loving us and caring for us despite our constant disobedience and rebelliousness, and He has always patiently reached out to us with ever generous love. He has forgiven us despite our repeated wayward actions and betrayals. Like the king in the parable who had forgiven that servant who owed him a lot, the Lord has forgiven us our innumerable sins and wickedness.

Therefore, are we able to follow His path and examples, and love ever more generously, be more forgiving in our every actions, ways and interactions? Can we purge from our hearts and minds the poison of hatred, anger, envy, jealousy and all the things which may end up causing us to hate one another and cause hurt to each other. Let us all instead cultivate the culture of forgiveness, compassion and selfless love, in all of our actions and dealings. May the Lord be with us always in our journey, and may He continue to bless us all in our every efforts and endeavours, for His greater glory, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 17 September 2023 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 18 : 21-35

At that time, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive the offences of my brother or sister? Seven times?” Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

“This story throws light on the kingdom of Heaven : A king decided to settle accounts with his servants. Among the first of them was one who owed him ten thousand pieces of gold. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, his children and all his goods, as repayment.”

“The servant threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.’ The king took pity on him, and not only set him free, but even cancelled his debt. When this servant left the king’s presence, he met one of his fellow servants, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the throat and almost choked him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!'”

“His fellow servant threw himself at his feet and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’ But the other did not agree, and sent him to prison until he has paid all his debt. Now the servants of the king saw what had happened. They were extremely upset, and so they went and reported everything to their lord.”

“Then the lord summoned his servant and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed me when you begged me to do so. Were you not bound to have pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ The lord was now angry. He handed the wicked servant over to be punished, until he had paid the whole debt.”

Jesus added, “So will My heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.”

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Sunday, 17 September 2023 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Romans 14 : 7-9

In fact, none of us lives for himself, nor dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Either in life or in death, we belong to the Lord; It was for this purpose that Christ both died and came to life again, to be Lord, both of the living and of the dead.

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Sunday, 17 September 2023 : Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

Praise YHVH, my soul; all my being, praise His holy Name! Praise YHVH, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.

He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever. He does not treat us according to our sins, nor does He punish us as we deserve.

As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.