Ordinary Time

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Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday each and every one of us are reminded first of all that we have to seek the Lord and put Him at the centre and as the focus of our lives, as it is in Him alone that we can find liberation and freedom from all of our troubles, sufferings and pains, which is represented by the problem of leprosy highlighted in our Scripture readings today. That leprosy is a representation of all of the things which have kept us from the fullness of grace in God, and it is in the Lord alone that we can find total and complete freedom from all these taints and corruptions, and find true satisfaction and joy.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Leviticus in which the matter of leprosy and how it should he handled and treated are presented to us. However, first of all, we must understand that the kind of disease now known as leprosy, is probably different from what was indicated and known in the time of the Exodus and in the historic Israel. The skin diseases that are infectious and showing external signs easily visible to others at that time were generally all called leprosy, and this kind of infection was greatly feared at the time especially because during the time of the Exodus and the journey from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan, many of the people were living together in close and cramped quarters, in which any disease outbreak would have been deadly.

That was why, as part of the laws and customs established then by the Law of God and Moses, it was settled that those who suffered from leprosy ought to distance themselves from others, and they were to be sent out from the community for the good of the whole community. At the same time, those who suffered from the leprosy could eventually return once they have recovered and been cured from the leprosy, which is yet another sign that this kind of leprosy is not exactly the same as the leprosy we commonly know today, which is mostly incurable. Nonetheless, it has always been the intention of the Lord to help manage, safeguard and protect His people through the Law that He has given to them, so that they could remain safe and healthy throughout their long journey.

However, this Law in time became a source of prejudice and discrimination against those who suffered from leprosy and other diseases, as those who suffered from them became ostracised and were treated badly against, as they were deemed to be unclean and even treated as if they had committed bad things and deeds in life, in which the leprosy became some sorts of Divine retribution or punishment for their wickedness and sins. This was where the Lord came in and showed that this attitude was not helpful and charitable, and is something that they should not be doing, as ultimately, everyone who suffered from those diseases and afflictions, are also equally beloved by God, and are our own brothers and sisters in the same Lord and Father.

In our second reading today, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we heard the Apostle exhorting the faithful people of God in the city of Corinth reminding that they all should be following the examples of the Lord, in doing what He had taught and commanded them to do, not to seek their own interests or to offend anyone. This also implied that they should also not differentiate anyone by their background or origins, as what St. Paul had often championed, in highlighting the equality between the Jewish people and the non-Jewish people or the Gentiles, how everyone ought to be treated equally, and not be prejudiced or biased against each other.

To understand this better, once again we have to understand the context of what happened at that time, and the dynamics of the community of the faithful then. At that time, the Jewish people, who were directly descended from the people of Israel and Judah, had considered themselves to be better and more privileged than others by virtue of them and their ancestors being the chosen people, the ones descended from Abraham and Israel, God’s first chosen people. However, some among them like the Pharisees, took this to the extreme, by considering that any association or contact with the Gentiles or pagans would have made them to be unclean and unworthy, stained and corrupted in some form.

This is why the Lord reached out to the leper in our Gospel passage today, as He showed His mercy and compassion on him as the leper begged the Lord to heal him and to make him healthy once again. No one among the Jewish people, especially the Pharisees would have even come close to the leper, less still to help and heal him. The Gospel passage was also very clear in pointing out that the Lord stretched out His hand and touched the leper, which caused the leprosy to be healed immediately. The Lord wanted the leper, His disciples and all of us to know that, nothing came separate or come in between us and the love of God, no matter what. He came to heal us and to gather us all back to His loving Presence, and to liberate us from all of our trials and troubles.

Now, in today’s Scripture readings, there is one more topic and important point highlighted in them, that is the matter of obedience. In the same Gospel passage today, we heard how the Lord told the healed leper that he ought to show himself to the priest in the manner prescribed by the Law, and not to tell anyone else how he had been healed. Yet, that same leper disobeyed Him and did the exact opposite. It was likely that the Lord knew that the leper was going to disobey Him and therefore He gave him a reminder that he should not do so. The healed leper chose to disobey the Lord anyway, and that brought difficulties to the Lord and His works. Why is that so? That is because if everyone found out that the Lord had been touching a leper, although He did heal the latter from his leprosy, but some would have considered the Lord to be unclean and hence ought to be ostracised like the leper himself.

Another possibility was that when everyone found out about the miraculous healing, all the people would have wanted to seek the Lord and be healed by Him as well, and this would have made it really difficult for Him to go into any towns because of the immense crowds that would have sought Him. But regardless of the reasons why the Lord had to stay in the wilderness, the reality is that, despite knowing that the leper was going to disobey Him, the risks involved in doing His works and all, the Lord still chose to heal the leper anyway, showing the great love and compassion which He has always had for every one of us, regardless of who we are and what kind of conditions we have, and He patiently reached out to us sinners, to gather us all and to bring us all back to Him.

And this is also a reminder for us that God alone has the power to heal and save us from our own ‘leprosy’ that is our sins. Yes, sin is the leprosy of our souls, which afflicts and corrupts our body, mind, heart and soul, essentially our whole being. And unlike other kinds of diseases and afflictions, which can be cured and settled by doctors and medicines, by the technology and advancements in this world, even that of the usual leprosy, but the leprosy of our sins cannot be cured and healed save that of by God’s grace and healing. Yes, the Lord alone has the power and authority to free us all from our many sins and evils, from our wickedness and corruptions. He can forgive and heal us from the power of darkness, and bring us all into the Light of salvation and grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore spend some time to reflect on these readings from the Scriptures and see in what way that we can be better disciples and followers of Our Lord and God. Let us all restrain ourselves from the path of sin and evil, and do our part so that we may always continue to grow in faith in Him, and come to be good role models and examples in faith at all times. Let us all be humble and seek the Lord’s forgiveness and healing, liberating us from the shackles and slavery to sin. May the Lord in His great love and compassion for all of us continue to love us and bless us in each and every moments of our lives, and may He guide us in our journey of faith and life, and be with us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 40-45

At that time, a leper came to Jesus and begged Him, “If You want to, You can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I do want to; be clean.”

The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, He sternly warned him, “Do not tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest, and for the cleansing bring the offering ordered by Moses; in this way you will give to them your testimony.”

However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though He stayed in the rural areas, people came to Him from everywhere.

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Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 10 : 31 – 1 Corinthians 11 : 1

Then, whatever you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Give no offence to the Jews, or to the Greeks, or to the Church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything. I do not seek my own interest, but that of many, this is : that they be saved.

Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.

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Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 31 : 1-2, 5, 11

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.

Rejoice in YHVH, and be glad, you who are upright; sing and shout for joy, you who are clean of heart.

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Sunday, 11 February 2024 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Leviticus 13 : 1-2, 44-46

YHVH said to Moses and Aaron, “If someone has a boil, an inflammation or a sore on his skin which could develop into leprosy, he must be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of the priests, his descendants.”

“This means that the man is leprous : he is unclean. The priest shall declare him unclean; he is suffering from leprosy of the head. A person infected with leprosy must wear torn clothing and leave his hair uncombed; he must cover his upper lip and cry, ‘Unclean, unclean.’”

“As long as the disease lasts he must be unclean; and therefore, he must live away from others : he must live outside the camp.”

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded once again that in God alone that we can have true hope and strength, fulfilment and satisfaction, and we must not allow the desires and ambitions of the world to mislead us down the path of wickedness and ruin. We must always strive to put God at the centre and as the focus of our whole lives, or else, we may end up being swayed, coerced and pushed into the wrong path in life, the path of rebellion and sin against God. We have to be firm in faith, be strong and vigilant in each and every moments of our lives that we can remain in God’s grace, and not fall into the path of evil like what the Scriptures had highlighted to us in the story of King Jeroboam of Israel.

In our first reading today, we heard the story of Jeroboam, the King of Israel, whom God had entrusted with the rule over ten out of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, after King Solomon’s disobedience had led him to sin against God. That led to the division of the kingdom of Israel after the death of King Solomon. Ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel, except that of Judah, from where the House of David hailed from, and Benjamin, rebelled against Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor as king of Israel. Hence, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were formed, led respectively by Jeroboam and Rehoboam. However, as we heard in our reading passage today, Jeroboam grew fearful of the possibility that all those under his rule might betray him and return back to their past allegiance to the House of David.

This was because at that time, the great Temple of God which King Solomon had built and established in Jerusalem as the House of God is the place where all the Israelites ought to go to worship God, and hence, despite the division of the kingdom, the people in the northern kingdom ruled by Jeroboam still went to Jerusalem regularly and periodically, which brought to the fear and jealousy of Jeroboam, who was worried that the rule of his kingdom, his power and dominion would slip from his hands because of the people being reminded of the glorious rule of King David and King Solomon whenever they went to Jerusalem and visited the City of God and the Holy Temple which Solomon had built there to worship God. Hence, as we heard, Jeroboam built his own rival temples, and set up two golden calves as idols in Bethel and Dan, at the extremities of his kingdom.

King Jeroboam promoted the worship of those golden calf idols and discouraged the people of his kingdom from going to Jerusalem to worship God there as they should have done. Not only that, but he also appointed his own priests, which according to the Scriptures and tradition, were not from among the Levites as the Law of God had dictated. These violations of the Law of God and Jeroboam’s own disobedience against God kind of mirror that of Solomon’s own disobedience and sins. And in both cases, they were all due to the inability of mankind to resist the temptations of their own desires, their ambitions and the allures of worldly glory, pleasures and power, of all the things which we have highlighted and discussed earlier on.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the moment when the Lord miraculously fed a multitude of many thousands of people with merely seven pieces of bread. The Lord had pity on all the people who had come to listen to His teachings and to bring their sick ones for healing. After all the time they had spent in the wilderness with the Lord and His disciples, we heard how they all had become hungry and without food, and the Lord told His disciples to help provide them all with food. That was how then the Lord Jesus miraculously multiplied the seven loaves of bread given to Him, that were enough for everyone present to have their complete fill, and still having seven whole full baskets of leftovers. This is a reminder to each and every one of us that in God alone lies true satisfaction and happiness, which the world cannot truly provide us.

And unlike the actions of King Solomon and King Jeroboam, especially that of the latter which we have discussed just earlier, the Lord Jesus acted out of love for others, humility and obedience, in doing what His Heavenly Father had entrusted to Him to do, and in not boasting about His ability and power, unlike that of the kings mentioned. The Lord did not allow the temptations of worldly glory, ambition, fame, pride, arrogance or jealousy to mislead Him down the wrong path, and He showed us all the loving nature of Our Lord and King, and how precious each and every one of us are to Him. All of us are God’s beloved people, whom He has treasured and cared for all these while, and we should not take this for granted. We should also strive to live our lives in the manner how He has taught and shown us, and not to follow the wrong examples of our predecessors.

Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Scholastica, a holy and devoted woman whose life and examples had inspired many throughout the history of the Church. St. Scholastica was the fraternal twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia according to Church tradition, who was another great saint of God and who was widely considered as the Father of Western Monasticism. St. Scholastica herself was renowned in her own way for her great piety and commitment to God, for her dedication and faith, which had inspired many others to follow her examples to a life of holiness and grace, resisting the many temptations of worldly glory, pleasures, fame and ambitions, and instead, seeking God wholeheartedly and turning themselves into the right path.

While the details on her early life was rather scant, but St. Scholastica eventually joined religious life much like St. Benedict, and she was credited with the foundation of the Benedictine nuns, which mirrored her brother’s role in founding the Benedictine monks and monasteries. St. Scholastica led a quiet and contemplative life in prayer, committing herself in prayer and study of the Scriptures, through which she inspired many other women of her time to follow the Lord in the same way, rejecting the excesses of wickedness and evils of the world, all the worldly temptations, pleasures and comforts, that they may all lead a holy life with the Lord, caring for one another in a holy community of the faithful consecrated ones to God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore be inspired by the good examples, piety and faith which St. Scholastica has shown us, in all of her life and work, dedicating herself wholly to the Lord and to His path. Let us all reject the temptations of worldly power and glory, and remind ourselves that we do not end up being swayed by all those things and fall into the path of sin and evil. Let us instead deepen our relationship with God, by spending more quality time with Him, through prayer, charity and almsgiving, and by our exemplary way of life at all times. May God be with us always, and may He bless our every good works and efforts, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 8 : 1-10

At that time, soon afterward, Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So He called His disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”

His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.” Then He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, He broke them, and handed them to His disciples to distribute.

And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish. So Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well. The people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number.

Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with His disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 105 : 6-7a, 19-20, 21-22

We have sinned like our ancestors; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When they were in Egypt, our ancestors had no regard for Your wondrous deeds.

They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped the molten image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot their Saviour God, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonderful works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Sea of Reeds.

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Saturday, 10 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Scholastica, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Kings 12 : 26-32 and 1 Kings 13 : 33-34

Jeroboam thought, “The kingdom could return to the house of David. Should this people go up to offer sacrifices in YHVH’s House in Jerusalem, their heart would turn again to their master, Rehoboam king of Judah. They would kill me and go back to him.”

And so the king sought advice and made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, o Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” He put one of these in Bethel, the other in Dan. This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves.

Jeroboam also built temples on high places, appointing priests who were not from the Levites. Jeroboam also appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in imitation of the feast in Judah, and he himself offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel; and sacrificed to the calves that he had made. There he placed priests for the high places he had made.

After this, however, Jeroboam did not abstain from doing evil. Instead he made priests for the high places from among the people. He consecrated anyone who wanted to be a priest for the high places. And this became the sin of the family of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the face of the earth.

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Friday, 9 February 2024 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us are reminded that if we do not put our trust and faith in God, in the end, we shall face the consequences of our disloyalty and lack of faith. We are also reminded that in the Lord alone is our hope and salvation, and through Him we shall receive the sure hope of liberation from our troubles and hardships. We must always seek the Lord and focus our attention on Him, and we shall find the path to freedom and grace. Each and every one of us have been blessed by the Lord, with His kindness, love and bounty, and all that He has promised to us, His kindness and compassion towards all of us, whom He had loved from the very beginning. However, we have often been distracted by the many temptations and wickedness present all around us, which can lead us astray into our downfall, away from the path towards God and His salvation.

In our first reading today, we heard of how Jeroboam was entrusted by God to be the ruler over the northern half of the kingdom of Israel against the descendants of David, during the time towards the end of the rule of King Solomon because Solomon had fallen from grace, disobeying the commandments and Law of God, refusing to do as God had commanded him to do despite being faithful and obedient for the earlier parts of his reign. Solomon was swayed and tempted by his vast collection of wealth and all the fame he had accumulated and gained because of his great might, wisdom and glory. Solomon’s many wives and concubines, his ties to the foreign powers and politics also muddled his mind and judgment, which resulted in him committing blasphemy and wicked deeds in raising altars for the pagan gods of his wives and concubines, leading to the people falling into sin as well.

Solomon depended so much on his power and glory, and on all the political and diplomatic connections that he had established that he had become proud, arrogant and haughty, and God wanted to remind him that in the end, no matter what plans and things he had prepared, Solomon’s glory and greatness came from the Lord and depended on Him. His disobedience and lack of commitment to God would eventually cause the division of the kingdom of Israel, which the same Jeroboam would become the first king of the independent northern kingdom of Israel, while Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, would only rule in the southern kingdom of Judah over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. This is a lesson for all of us that we should not allow worldly temptations, glory and all those wickedness from misleading us down the path of ruin.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord Jesus healing a person who had been deaf and mute, and miraculously allowed the man to speak and hear well again, by His power and grace. In this miraculous healing, when the Lord placed His hands on the man’s ears and tongue, proclaiming ‘Ephphata’, or ‘Be opened’, the Lord showed everyone who were there Who He truly was, the One promised by God to all of us mankind to be the source of His salvation and grace, and to show unto us the wonderful and ever present love of God, which He has always shown and presented to us. The Lord Jesus showed each and every one of us that God is always ready to welcome us back to His Presence, and through what He has done for us, He has brought us all back to His embrace, offering unto us the assurance of His love and compassionate mercy.

Those actions which the Lord Jesus did for the deaf and mute man used to be done in the past, during the Sacrament of Baptism in which the one to be baptised also symbolically had their ears and tongue opened and loosened, in what was known as the ‘Ephphata Rite’. This is a reminder for all of us that, while it is no longer commonly done today, but each and every one of us, through Christ Himself and His outreach to us, God has opened for us the path to Heaven, to the assurance of eternal life and true joy through His Son. All of us have been made ‘deaf and mute’ to the Lord’s truth and ignorant of His ways and His Law, because like Solomon, we have often been swayed and tempted by many worldly desires and attachments, through which we have been brought into the wrong path, into the path towards downfall and sin.

This is why we should always put our faith and trust in the Lord, that through Him, His help and grace, all of us may be freed and liberated from all the wicked snares of the evil one, and be strengthened and encouraged in our constant and daily struggles against the temptations and all the wickedness being present all around us. We must not allow the evils and temptations of this world from enslaving us once again to sin. We must always focus our attention towards God and put Him once again at the centre of our lives, and not our many desires, ambitions and attachments to worldly things and matters, as what many of our predecessors had done. We have to be the good examples and inspiring role models for our fellow brothers and sisters around us, by living our lives worthily as Christians in our world today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect upon these readings we have received and heard from the Sacred Scriptures and see in what way we can live our lives better as Christians, so that by our every actions and efforts, and in each and every one of our daily moments, we will always be the faithful and worthy bearers of God’s truth and love, which He has always constantly shown and presented to us. It is through our lives, actions and works that the Lord will make His love and truth shown to all the whole world, and if we are truly faithful and committed to the Lord in all of our whole lives, then we should really show it through each and every moments of our lives, by our every words, every interactions and commitments to one another.

May the Lord continue to strengthen us in faith and may He empower and encourage all of us so that we may always do our best in each and every moments of our lives, in striving to live with righteousness and virtue, and resisting the many temptations to disobey and therefore sin against God. Let us all remind and help one another so that we may grow ever more faithful in all things, and be good role models and examples for our fellow brothers and sisters all around us. May through our good and worthy actions continue to lead more souls towards the Lord. Amen.