Ordinary Time

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Sunday, 14 February 2021 : Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday all of us are called to focus our attention on the Lord and His love for us that He was willing to reach out to us and to rescue us from our deepest troubles and predicaments, to lead us out of the abyss and deliver us from the sufferings we experienced due to sin. And we are all called as Christians to reflect on what our faith truly means for us.

In our first reading today from the Book of Leviticus, Moses revealed to the people of Israel the laws and rules of the Lord, which he delivered to them and asked them to keep in their hearts and minds, and to pass them on from time to time, as they journeyed from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan. And today we focus in particular on the laws regarding the treatment of those who suffered from leprosy, what to be done with them.

At that time, the cause for leprosy was not well known, and the disease was often misunderstood. Leprosy is actually caused by bacterial infection that can be spread through direct contact, either with the other person or with the items that the infected person has been using or wearing. Although leprosy was not particularly infectious and it was actually not easy to contract leprosy unless through frequent contact, but we must then understand the context of the circumstances of the Exodus.

During the Exodus, the Israelites journeyed through the desert and stayed together in a close-knit community due to the harsh desert conditions of the Sinai desert and the other places they journeyed through. As a result, the density of the population within the community was likely quite high and people lived in close contact with each other regularly. And as it was in the desert, where water was scarce and although the Lord did provide water for the people to drink, but it was likely that hygiene might have been a problem for the people then.

As a result, the Law was very strict with regards to leprosy, as an outbreak of leprosy could be dangerous at the time when the people were living in such close proximity. Since leprosy is also a slow-acting and chronic infection that slowly affected those who were infected, allowing the people who got leprosy to roam around freely in the close-knit community could be harmful to the greater community. Hence, those afflicted with leprosy, which showed its symptoms quite clearly, had to stay outside the community until they could prove that they were freed from the leprosy.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, what is the significance of this focus on leprosy that we have heard today? In our Gospel passage today we also heard the Lord healing a man who had been afflicted with leprosy. Until that time, over a thousand years after the Law was first revealed by Moses, the rules and traditions of the Law had been preserved and passed down for so long that the original meaning and intention, the context and appreciation of the reason of those rules had been forgotten.

That is why many of the rules and regulations enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were often opposed by the Lord, Who came to straighten up the truth and to reveal the true meaning and intention of the Law. He wanted all of us to know that God was not some distant, angry and wrathful God Who demanded total obedience and submission from the people, but rather, a caring and compassionate, most loving and generous God Who will bless all of us and Who seeks to be reconciled with us.

And this is where we then look again at how leprosy had been dangerous for the people back then, and how it affected them, slowly ‘eating’ through their bodies and making them to lose their body parts in time unless they could get the leprosy cured. When the man who had leprosy came to the Lord asking for Him to heal him, certainly he had been suffering and had great predicaments and troubles, being excluded and shut out for his condition. The Lord healed the man and made him good and whole again.

This, brothers and sisters in Christ, is in fact very symbolic of what the Lord Himself would do for our sake, in healing us from another ‘leprosy’ which is far more dangerous than the worldly leprosy. What am I referring to, brothers and sisters in Christ, is the leprosy of the soul, which is sin. Yes, sin is like that of leprosy, a disease and corruption that is even far more dangerous than the bodily leprosy. Why is that? That is because while leprosy only affects the body, sin affects everything, our every aspects of life.

And while leprosy could still be cured, and like how it has been largely eradicated today due to the advance of modern medicine and better hygiene practices, but there is nothing that can be done with regards to sin. Only God alone can forgive us our sins and heal us from its corruptions. That is why, as the Lord came and approached the man suffering from leprosy, not only that He showed us His power to heal earthly diseases, but He also revealed to us how He would also forgive us our sins.

In another miraculous occasion, the Lord healed a paralytic man and said to the man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law immediately made issue with this statement. Yet, the Lord was speaking the truth, that He indeed had the authority to forgive us our sins, and therefore heal us from this leprosy that is eating up on all of us, afflicting us and leading us down the path of suffering.

Now, what matters is whether we are willing to let Him to touch us and heal us, as He did with the man suffering from the physical leprosy. The man who suffered from leprosy wanted to be healed and he also had faith in the Lord. Hence, he was healed and made whole, and happily he went to see the priest so that he could be readmitted into the greater community, no longer exiled and cast out due to his condition.

Sin has also made us to be exiled and cast out, brothers and sisters in Christ, and this is why again it is often referred to as the ‘leprosy of our souls’. It was due to sin that we have been cast out from the Gardens of Eden, separated from God and the fullness of His grace and blessings. Sin corrupted us and made us to be unworthy to stand in God’s presence. We should have fallen into eternal damnation and share the fate of the devil and all of his fellow fallen angels, condemned for eternity if not for the love that God has for us.

God sent us nothing less than the best gift of all, in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, through Whom we have been given the sure promise of salvation and healing from our sins, which He alone can heal and forgive. And He generously showed us this forgiveness and compassion, as He gathered to Himself all of our sins, bearing them down upon Himself, on His Cross that He carried up to Calvary. And by dying for us on the Cross, He offered Himself as the perfect offering for our sins, to absolve us from all those combined sins we have committed.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, each and every one of us as Christians are called to reflect on how fortunate and blessed we are to have received God’s truth, and how fortunate we are to have been loved in such a way by the Lord, so generous with His love and so patient in always trying to reach out to us and to forgive us when we seek Him with a heart full of contrition and regret for our many committed sins, as well as the sins of omission that we have had with us.

Have we taken God’s love for granted, and ignored His great love and the great patience He had in dealing with us? Let us not disregard our loving Father’s call for us to Him anymore, and let us respond to Him with a genuine desire to commit ourselves to Him, rejecting all the temptations to sin and to disobey against His laws and commandments.

Let us realise that in God alone we can fully put our trust and be made whole, healed and liberated from all the sins that have held us down and kept us away from the true happiness that can be found with God and Him alone. And as Christians, we should be inspirations and examples to each other in the way we live our lives, filled with faith and virtue, trust in God and righteousness that all who see us and interact with us, may also come to know God through us.

May the Lord remind us always of His love and compassion, His care and dedication towards us that we too may grow in our faith and dedication towards Him, and that we may strive well against the many temptations and pressures that try to keep us away from God and His path. May the Lord be with us always, and may He guide us all into life everlasting in Him, and make us all His exemplary and faithful disciples before all the peoples of all the nations. God bless us all, now and always. Amen.

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Sunday, 14 February 2021 : 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, 14 February 2021 : 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, 14 February 2021 : 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, 14 February 2021 : 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, 13 February 2021 : 5th 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 heard the downfall of man, who have disobeyed the Lord and chose to listen to the lies of the devil, and as a result, committed sin against God and was banished from the Gardens of Eden, where they should have remained and lived in great bliss and joy with the Lord. Yet, through what we have heard today we are also reminded that nonetheless, God still loved us even with our imperfections and with our disobedience, as His love endured throughout to even this very day.

In our first reading today we heard of the story of Adam and Eve, and their expulsion from Eden because of their disobedience in eating of the fruits of the forbidden Tree of knowledge of good and evil, in direct contradiction to the Lord’s instructions to keep away from the tree. Satan was also punished and cursed, but one important difference is that, while because of their sins, mankind must then suffer, but God did not abandon them or want them to be destroyed. On the contrary, from that very beginning He has proclaimed how He would save them all and liberate them from the clutches of the evil one.

The devil would be crushed by the woman, although he would have the chance to strike at the sons and daughters of man. And this salvation came through Mary, the woman who was prophesied and expected, to be the mother of the Messiah or Saviour. The Saviour Himself is Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Word Incarnate, Son of God, born in the flesh to walk amongst us and to gather us all to Himself. Through Christ all of us have received a new hope of true happiness and eternal life, one that is everlasting and will never end.

The Lord could have destroyed us all outright for our disobedience and sins, and for all the stubbornness that we have shown Him all throughout time and history. We have committed so many wicked deeds and made so many others to suffer in order to satisfy our own selfish desires and ambitions that we should have deserved annihilation and destruction. Yet, the Lord was still willing to give us chance and to patiently guide us down the right path towards Him. We have wronged Him so much and yet, He still loved us equally if not even more.

In our Gospel reading today we heard how this love was manifested in some form as the Lord famously performed His miracle of the feeding of the four thousand men and many other thousands of women and children with just seven loaves of bread. At that time, the people had been following the Lord for many days without having proper sustenance as the place where they gathered were not really convenient for them to obtain food and other necessities.

But the Lord had pity on them, and looked on them with great compassion, in not just teaching them and helping them to find their way, as a Shepherd guiding the lost sheep, but He also provided them with the sustenance until they all had enough to eat and were fully satisfied with much leftovers to spare. Through this act of great love and rich in symbolism, God wants us all to know that we are truly beloved by Him and are precious to Him, without exception.

To this end, not only that the Lord fed His people with the loaves of bread, but through His ultimate and most loving sacrifice on the Cross, He gave them the best gift of all in His own Most Precious Body and Blood, the Bread of Life offered freely for us that all of us who partake in Him may receive new life through Him and be justified through Him. The Lord truly loved us so much that He was willing to go through all that just to lead us out of our predicament and be reconciled with us again.

Now, what are we then going to do with our lives, since we know just how much God has blessed us and just how fortunate we are? Are we going to continue to be stubborn and refuse His compassion and mercy? Or are we going to embrace Him like that of a prodigal son embracing his father, seeking for forgiveness and renewed relationship and love? The choice is indeed ours, brothers and sisters in Christ, whether we want to choose life over death, and eternal life over eternal damnation.

Let us all seek the Lord with a new zeal and spirit from now on, strengthened and encouraged by all that the love of God has done for us. Let us all walk with Him once again and strive to live worthily of Him, that in following Him and being faithful to Him, we will finally receive the glory and eternal joy that we have been promised and which we have been intended to live in, now and forevermore. May God bless us always, in all things. Amen.

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Saturday, 13 February 2021 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Mark 8 : 1-10

At that time, soon afterwards 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. The broken pieces were collected, seven wicker baskets full of leftovers. 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, 13 February 2021 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 89 : 2, 3-4, 5-6, 12-13

Before the mountains were formed, before You made the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity – You are God.

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will you be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

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Saturday, 13 February 2021 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

Genesis 3 : 9-24

YHVH God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?”

The man answered, “The woman You put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

YHVH God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.” To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life.”

“It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field. With sweat on your face you will eat your bread, until you return to clay, since it was from clay that you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. YHVH God made garments of skin for the man and his wife, and with these He clothed them. Then YHVH God said, “Man has now become like one of Us making himself judge of good and evil. Let him not stretch out his hand to take and eat from the tree of life as well, and live forever.”

So God cast him from the garden of Eden to till the soil from which he had been made. And after having driven the man out, God posted Cherubim and a flaming sword that kept turning at the east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of Life.

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Friday, 12 February 2021 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we listened to the words of the Scripture, we heard of the unfortunate moment when mankind was first tempted by Satan in the Gardens of Eden as recorded in the Book of Genesis. In that occasion, the devil tempted our ancestors, Adam and Eve, and persuaded them to eat of the fruit of the forbidden Tree of knowledge of good and evil, using their curiosity and desires against them.

Through that act of disobedience, mankind had fallen into sin and evil ways, and they had been sundered off away from God’s grace. Thus they fell and had to wander the world, as the consequences of their sin. But the Lord did not abandon them, for indeed, had He wanted to destroy them for their sins He could have done it really easily, willing them out of existence immediately and condemning them together with Satan and other wicked demons into hell for eternity.

Instead, the Lord patiently sought to be reconciled with us mankind, and He went to great lengths to seek us and sent helpers and reminders one after another to lead us on the way back to Him, as He has shown through how He guided the people of Israel, those whom He has first called and chosen among the children of mankind. God wants to be reconciled with us and He wants us to be gathered back once again in His loving embrace, no longer separated by sin.

Therefore, He sent us all the ultimate gift of all, the perfect manifestation of His boundless, timeless and enduring love for us. This is the gift of Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, God Himself incarnate in the flesh and walking amongst us, that we may remember that we are truly beloved by God and are precious in His eyes. And as we heard in our Gospel passage today, God willingly healed a man who was deaf, putting His hands on the man and opened his ears with the words ‘Ephphata!’ which means, ‘Be opened!’

This action by the Lord might not be very significant to us or we may just think of it as another miracle that the Lord performed, if we do not know that in the past, and as it is still presently practiced by those who use the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the Ephphata Rite is a part of the Sacrament of Baptism, in which the priest symbolically opened the ears and mouth of the person to be baptised to mark the opening of the mind and the heart of the person to receive God into them.

Yes brothers and sisters in Christ, thanks to our disobedience and sin, we have allowed sin to corrupt us and cloud our judgments, our minds and hearts. The Lord as He healed the deaf man showed that not only that He could heal us from our physical infirmities but in fact also from our spiritual problems and the root of all evil and suffering, which is sin. God alone can heal us and forgive us our sins.

Now, as Christians what then is our attitude towards the Lord? Is it one of willingness to listen to Him and to welcome Him into our hearts and our minds? Or have we allowed the devil to tempt us and to sway us such that we place our desires, our pride, ambition and ego above our love for the Lord and our loyalty and faith in Him? Shall we repeat the mistakes made by our predecessors, all those who have chosen to follow the devil’s lead instead of the Lord and His path?

God has given us all the free will to choose the path we are to take in these lives He has granted us. Now, let us all discern carefully how we are to proceed from now on, moving forward and embracing the challenges and the opportunities that we have received, remembering always the love that God has for each and every one of us, and the great patience that He has in never giving up on any one of us.

Let us all turn towards the Lord with a new heart and with a new faith, and let us all appreciate all that He has done for us, welcoming Him into our midst and allowing Him to touch our lives, to heal us and to make us whole once again, purging from within us all traces of stubbornness and faithlessness. May God bless us all, and be with us always. Amen.