Ordinary Time

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Wednesday, 4 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 3 : 1-9

I could not, friends, speak to you as spiritual persons but as fleshly people, for you are still infants in Christ. I gave you milk, and not solid food, for you were not ready for it, and, up to now, you cannot receive it, for you are still of the flesh. As long as there is jealousy and strife, what can I say, but that you are at the level of the flesh, and behave like ordinary people.

While one says : “I follow Paul,” and the other : “I follow Apollos,” what are you, but people still at a human level? For what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are ministers; and through them, you believed, as it was given by the Lord, to each of them. I planted, Apollos watered the plant, but God made it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God, Who makes the plant grow.

The one who plants and the one who waters work to the same end, and the Lord will pay each, according to their work. We are fellow-workers with God, but you are God’s field and building.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are all reminded that we should always put our trust in the Wisdom of God which He has imparted to us through His Holy Spirit, the Advocate, Whom He has sent to us to dwell within us and to empower us all, through His Church and Apostles, through their successors, our bishops and the priests whom He has called and chosen to serve Him and His people, that is all of us. Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord has sent His guidance to us all so that all of us may come towards Him, embracing Him and His love, His path and His truth, that we are no longer lost from Him, and are worthy to receive from Him the assurance of eternal life and glory. We should always allow ourselves to be guided and led by Him, and not by our earthly desires.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth, continuing the series of discourses by the Apostle to the Corinthians which we have heard in the past few days. We heard of how the Lord had sent His Spirit into our midst, revealing to us His Wisdom, and through this Wisdom, showing us all the things that we need to do in order to follow the Lord most faithfully and genuinely. However, many of the people chose to trust in their own power and judgment and hence, they remained oblivious and unwilling to accept the truth, the reality and the teachings which the Lord Himself has presented before each and every one of them. That is because they chose to depend on their own wisdom and power instead of trusting in God.

The Lord has shown us all His Wisdom, and passed them to us through His Church, and as Christians, each and every one of us as God’s holy and beloved people like that of the Corinthians are reminded again and again that we should not allow ourselves to be swayed by the temptations of worldly glory and ambitions, by our pride and ego, especially if we think that we know it better than others. We must not let the temptations of our worldly knowledge and wisdom to lead us astray, bringing us down the wrong path in life as we choose to side with the flawed and mistaken ways of the world rather than to trust in the Lord and His ever patient guidance and help. All of us should strive to continue to be open-minded and to be willing to listen to the Lord speaking to us, giving us His Wisdom and guidance in all things.

Then in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which the Lord was teaching to the people in Capernaum in Galilee when a man possessed by evil spirits came to Him and disturbed His session, proclaiming loudly before everyone that he knew Who the Lord Jesus truly was, that is the Holy One of God, the Son of God and the Messiah. As manipulative and dangerous the evil spirits were in harming us and in possessing that man, and as malicious as the evil spirits’ intent might have been, they could not lie but speak the truth about the One Who was before them, the One Whom God Himself has sent into this world to save each and every one of us.

It was indeed a great irony that while many of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were there and witnessed the many miracles and wonderful deeds that the Lord had done, and all the wisdom and words which He had spoken, and doubting Him and His truth, questioning His authority and authenticity, yet, it was the evil spirits that proclaimed the Lord and spoke the truth about Him, albeit with some malicious intents in doing so. Those evil spirits still tried to disturb the Lord’s works, as knowing that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were against the Lord and His claim to the Divinity of the Son of God, by doing so, they could disturb His works and made Him to face opposition from the Pharisees and the other enemies of the Lord.

But the fact remains that they acknowledged the Lord and spoke the truth about Him while those Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who took great pride in their knowledge and sense of superiority over others around them, refused to listen to Him or to acknowledge His truth. Their pride and ego, their worldly knowledge and wisdom which they depended on very much prevented them from accepting the truth with humility and grace, and thus was why they continued to oppose the Lord despite having witnessed for themselves again and again, what wonders and miracles the Lord had done, and hearing all the wisdom and great teachings that the Lord had spoken and taught before all of them. This is what we must not do ourselves as Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ.

Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of Pope St. Gregory the Great, a great Pope and leader of the Universal Church, who dedicated himself to the Lord and to His people, carrying out many great and wonderful works for the benefit of the people of God. Pope St. Gregory the Great was born as the son of a Roman senator during the years when the Roman Empire just restored their rule over Rome after several decades of rule by the Germanic kingdoms. He lived in a monastery that he established within his Roman estate and was quite involved in the Roman matters and governance, and his grandfather was also elected as an earlier Pope. He was well-educated and became a government official, and then ordained as a deacon and becoming the Roman ambassador to the Imperial court in Constantinople.

After his years of experience as the ambassador of Rome to the Imperial court, eventually Pope St. Gregory the Great was elected as the successor of St. Peter, and immediately he began to embark on a great campaign to reform the Roman Church and also participate in the leadership over the Universal Church. Pope St. Gregory the Great was deeply involved in many theological disputes and matters of that time, and he also actively contributed to the works of the evangelisation, as he was well-known for sending many missionaries to many parts of the world where there were still no established existence of Christianity and its beliefs, such as parts of Germania and also Britain and Ireland, where he sent St. Augustine of Canterbury and other saints and missionaries to work the rich vineyard of the Lord.

Pope St. Gregory the Great was also well-renowned for his contributions to the reform of the Church liturgy and worship practices, known well for the origins of the Gregorian liturgy and chants, among others. Through his tireless efforts and works, Western Christianity as we are all familiar with today began to come to be, uniting the various divided factions and diverse practices of the early Christian Church, and helping the faithful to overcome the temptations of worldly pride and glory, trusting completely in the Lord and following Him, as this truly great Pope and servant of God helped to lead so many people back towards the Lord, to His love and truth, to His salvation and eternal life that He has promised, committing himself thoroughly to the end of his life.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard and hopefully been inspired by the great story and examples showed by Pope St. Gregory the Great and having discussed and discerned the message of the Sacred Scriptures earlier on, let us all therefore do our best to live our lives with full trust in the Lord and His Wisdom just as Pope St. Gregory the Great and many other holy men and women, saints of God had done before us. Let our lives be truly faithful and committed to the Lord in all things, and let us continue to do God’s will as much as possible in our daily living and actions, now and always, being good and worthy inspiration to one another. Amen.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 4 : 31-37

At that time, Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and began teaching the people at the Sabbath meetings. They were astonished at the way He taught them, for His word was spoken with authority.

In the synagogue, there was a man possessed by an evil spirit, who shouted in a loud voice, “What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I recognise You : You are the Holy One of God.”

Then Jesus said to him sharply, “Be silent and leave this man!” The evil spirit then threw the man down in front of them, and came out of him without doing him harm. Amazement seized all these people, and they said to one another, “What does this mean? He commands the evil spirits with authority and power. He orders, and you see how they come out!”

And news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding area.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 144 : 8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14

Compassionate and gracious is YHVH, slow to anger and abounding in love. YHVH is good to everyone; His mercy embraces all His creation.

All Your works will give You thanks; all Your saints, o Lord, will praise You. They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your power.

That all may know of Your mighty deeds, Your reign and its glorious splendour. Your reign is from age to age; Your dominion endures from generation to generation.

The Lord is true to His promises and lets His mercy show in all He does. The Lord lifts up those who are falling and raises those who are beaten down.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 2 : 10b-16

Because the Spirit probes everything, even the depth of God. Who, but his own spirit, knows the secrets of a person? Similarly, no one, but the Spirit of God, knows the secrets of God. We have not received the spirit of world, but the Spirit Who comes from God and, through Him, we understand what God, in His goodness, has given us.

So we speak of this, not in terms inspired by human wisdom, but in a language taught by the Spirit, explaining a spiritual wisdom to spiritual persons. The one who remains on the psychological level does not understand the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness for him; and he does not understand, because they require a spiritual experience.

On the other hand, the spiritual person judges everything, but no one judges him. Who has known the mind of God so as to teach Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

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Monday, 2 September 2024 : 22nd 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 reminded not to dwell on worldly power and glory, or all the temptations of worldly desires, and not to be tempted by our pride, ego, ambition and arrogance. We must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by our thinking that we are somehow better and superior than others around us. It is this mistaken sense of pride and superiority over others that often brought us down as we became proud and arrogant, thinking that we cannot be mistaken or wrong in our paths in life. This will likely end up leading us to shut our hearts and minds to the Lord, not being able or willing to listen to Him, or to embrace His truth and love.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the region of Corinth in Greece, in which the Apostle spoke of the works which he had done in proclaiming to them the Christ, the Lord Jesus, the crucified Messiah Who has suffered and died for the sake of the whole world. St. Paul also mentioned to the people in Corinth that he did not do them all by his own power, eloquence or abilities, but rather through the guidance and strength of the Lord which He had given to him and the other disciples and missionaries through the Holy Spirit. By the power of God and by His guidance, St. Paul had performed many great things and spoke wonderfully of His truth and love, His Good News and the message of His salvation to the people, many of whom had listened and accepted the Lord to be their Saviour.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the reading from the Gospel according to St. John the Evangelist in which the account of the Lord’s time and occasion in His hometown of Nazareth was conveyed to us. At that time, the Lord Jesus returned to His hometown and proclaimed the words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah from the Scriptures, which was also meant to fulfil everything that had been spoken and prophesied about Him by the prophets like Isaiah. However, as we all heard, the Lord’s words and proclamation was met with immediate skepticism and indignation by the people of His own hometown who wondered how this Man Whom they had known from His youth, the apparent Son of the local carpenter, St. Joseph, who was a hardworking and virtuous man, but a carpenter nonetheless.

At that time, carpenters were viewed as those who were doing menial work, and were considered as mostly uneducated and while a labourious and tiring work in its nature, it was seen as a job with low prestige and status. Thus, those people of Nazareth likely would have thought lowly of St. Joseph and his family, as although he was indeed righteous, hardworking and full of virtue, but because of his work and his profession, he and his foster Son, Our Lord Jesus Himself, they were both prejudiced against, as uneducated and poor, unlike those religious and societal elites like the members of the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. That was why they took offense at the Lord proclaiming that He is the One Whom the prophets like Isaiah were proclaiming and prophesying about.

In essence, what those people were doing was that they were being judgmental and prejudiced against the Lord and His background, pridefully thinking and assuming that they knew it better and that the One Who was speaking to them could not have been anyone but an upstart and liar because of His supposed humble background as a local carpenter’s Son. They proudly and arrogantly thought that their understanding, perception and bias could not have been wrong, and despite what the Lord had told them and performed before them, the miracles which He had done before their very own eyes and the many other signs, miracles and wonders that He had performed in the other towns and places in the region, none of these could have persuaded them and made them to listen to reason.

That is why we heard all of these today, as reminders for us not to be swayed and tempted by the temptations of our pride and ego, and make presumptions and judgments based on our own flawed and imperfect knowledge, understanding and appreciation of things around us. Many among us often fell into exactly this trap when we allowed ourselves to indulge in these thoughts, or indulge in our pride and ego, thinking that our judgments and knowledge are better than anything that can be told or shown to us. If we follow in the same path, we may end up being stubborn and refusing to follow the path that the Lord has shown us, as we close our hearts and minds to the Lord speaking to us, communicating with us in His attempts to reach out to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to realise just how much the Lord wants to lead us all to Himself, calling upon each and every one of us to follow Him. However, in order to do this, we need to be willing to listen to Him calling on us, and turn away from our path of wickedness and evil. We should not allow the many temptations and pleasures of the world from keeping us separated from our most loving God and Father, our Creator and Master. We have to allow Him to lead us in ou path and do not let ourselves be tempted into the wrong path because we sought for worldly pleasures, glory and satisfactions. As Christians, it is imperative that we strive and continue to remind ourselves to put our focus and emphasis always on the Lord, our loving God, so that He is always ever the centre and focus of our whole lives and existence.

May the Lord continue to bless and strengthen us in each and every endeavours, efforts and works we have done and which we will do for His greater glory. May He continue to empower and encourage us to walk through this path that He has shown us, so that we will continue to do what is right, worthy and just, and commit ourselves ever more thoroughly to His cause, at all times. May God be with us all, and may He continue to sow in us, His love and grace, His truth and Good News, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Monday, 2 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 4 : 16-30

At that time, when Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, as He usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed Him the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written : “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He has anointed Me, to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim liberty to captives; and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed; and to announce the Lord’s year of mercy.”

Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. Then He said to them, “Today, these prophetic words come true, even as you listen.” All agreed with Him, and were lost in wonder, while He spoke of the grace of God. Nevertheless they asked, “Who is this but Joseph’s Son?”

So He said, “Doubtless you will quote Me the saying : Doctor, heal yourself! Do here, in Your town, what they say You did in Capernaum.” Jesus added, “No prophet is honoured in his own country.” Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land.”

“Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet; and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.”

On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought Him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went His way.

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Monday, 2 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 118 : 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102

How I love Your law, meditating on it all day!

Your command – mine – forever – has made me wiser than my enemy.

I have more insight than my teachers, for I meditate on Your decrees,

I have more understanding than the elders, for I abide by Your precepts.

I turn my feet from evil paths, that I may keep step with Your word.

I have not departed from Your decrees, for You, Yourself, have instructed me.

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Monday, 2 September 2024 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

1 Corinthians 2 : 1-5

When I came to reveal to you the mystery of God’s plan I did not count on eloquence or on a show of learning. I was determined not to know anything among you but Jesus, the Messiah, and a crucified Messiah. I myself came weak, fearful and trembling; my words and preaching were not brilliant or clever to win listeners.

It was, rather, a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might be a matter not of human wisdom, but of God’s power.

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Sunday, 1 September 2024 : Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this Sunday as we all gather together to listen to the Word of God and reflect on what we have heard earlier on, we are all reminded first of all that as God’s holy and beloved people, we are all bound by His Law and commandments, and we have to not only know and understand them, but we also have to apply them consistently and thoroughly in each and every moments of our lives. Otherwise we cannot truly call ourselves as Christians if we do not truly embody and practice what we believe in, or if we do not walk in the path that the Lord has shown and taught us. Each and every one of us must always strive to do our part in embracing God and His path, so that we can be good examples and role models for each other in how we live our lives with faith.

In our first reading, we heard from the Book of Deuteronomy in which Moses, the leader of the people of Israel during the time of the Exodus and journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, reminded the Israelites that the Lord has given them all His Law and commandments, and they ought to abide by the precepts and details of that Law. They should heed whatever they had been told to do, to do what God has commanded them and shown them, and neither to take away or add anything to the Law, as changing those laws and commandments would mean that they would no longer truly obey the Lord in the right manner, and they would no longer be truly faithful to Him in their ways, actions, words and deeds. The Lord wants each and every one of His people to follow Him wholeheartedly and not be divided and swayed by false paths in life.

Moses also mentioned that the Israelites were truly blessed that God had chosen and called them to be His people, to be graced by His Law and Commandments, through which He showed them how to be truly be faithful to God at all times, and how they can be the shining beacons and examples of their faith and obedience to Him, so that everyone who witnessed their lives, works and actions, and interact with them would truly know that they all belong to the Lord, as God’s holy and beloved people, the shining beacons of God’s light, truth and love, bearing His salvation and righteousness into the world. On the other hand, if they did not do as the Lord had taught them to do, living their lives in a wicked and evil manner, then they would scandalise the good and Holy Name of God, and therefore, they would be judged and condemned by their lack of faith and virtue.

Then in the second reading this Sunday, taken from the Epistle of St. James the Apostle, we heard of the words of St. James, exhorting and reminding the faithful people of God that they all have received from the Lord Himself the gift of life, truth and also all the wonderful things that He has given and granted us, and which He had sowed and planted in us, entrusting to us many things which can help us to direct our attention towards the right path. But in that same passage taken as today’s second reading, we have also heard that St. James mentioned that we as the faithful people of God must be the ‘doers of the word’ and ‘not just hearers’, which complements nicely what he also mentioned in another part of his Epistle, that ‘faith without good works is dead’.

Essentially, this is a reminder to all of us that we have to be genuine followers and disciples of the Lord, not just as a formality and merely doing things for appearances. We have to be fundamentally faithful in all things, at all occasions and opportunities, doing our best to be the good and worthy in everything that we do throughout our whole lives. Otherwise then we are no better than hypocrites and unbelievers who do not have true and genuine faith in the Lord. There are many people who profess to be Christians and yet, they did not truly behave as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own people. We cannot be like those who only outwardly showed obedience to God and observance of His Law and commandments, and yet inside, they were without true love and desire to serve the Lord.

In our Gospel passage this Sunday, we heard exactly about this matter when the Lord told His disciples and rebuked the Pharisees who were there with Him, criticising His disciples on how they did not follow the prescribed manner of the Law in how they ought to wash their hands before they ate. The Lord criticised and rebuked those Pharisees precisely because they did not truly show genuine faith in the Lord, His Law and commandments, and were only making outward signs of obedience and fulfilment of the Law. Yet, their interior disposition and orientation in life were flawed and incorrect. They were more focused on worldly matters and all their preoccupations and obsessions with the rituals and details of the Law instead of truly obeying and following God in all things.

We heard the description of how the Pharisees were the group of religious and intellectual elites in the Jewish community at that time, who interpreted the Law of God and preserved it in a particularly strict and excessive manner, putting a lot of heavy burden on the people of God because they demanded a very rigorous and harsh observance of the Law of God, being overly obsessed with the details and the rituals associated with the Law of God, spending a lot of time and emphasis on those many rules and rituals, focusing on how much and how many times one washed one’s hands for example, which had to be done in a certain prescribed manner, and if the others do not follow as they had been told to do, then they would be criticised by the Pharisees.

This preoccupation and obsession with the rites and details of the Law is what the Lord criticised and rebuked the Pharisees for, as this led them to be empty in their hearts and minds, failing to truly appreciate and understand what the Lord had intended for us all through His Law and commandments. The Law of God has been given to us not to burden and make our lives difficult, and definitely not for a certain group of people to make themselves famous and glorious over others by gloating and thinking that they were superior and more worthy simply because they were obeying the Law and commandments in a more pious way. Instead, the Law of God was meant to help the people of God, all of us to love God and to follow His path, so that we may truly be able to embrace the righteousness of God.

Today, the Church also celebrates the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the day when we are all reminded that the Lord has entrusted to us this world to be under our care and stewardship. Therefore, each and every one of us should always remember that we must be active in truly living our lives in the manner that God has told and shown us, and not to glorify ourselves or seek personal glory and ambition through this life. We certainly should not be like the Pharisees that twisted the Law of God for their own personal desires and ambitions. Instead, we must strive to do the things which the Lord has called us to do, to be true and genuine in our obedience and commitment to God, focusing our attention as always towards the Lord, our Master and Creator. We should take good care of this world, and responsibly play our roles as its steward that we do not end up ruining more of this world through our selfish actions and behaviours.

May the Lord continue to help us all to be ever more genuinely faithful and committed to Him. May He empower each and every one of us so that we will continue to do what is right and just which He has taught and shown us to do, and resist the temptations to disobey Him and to sin against Him. May God bless each and every one of us, bless our every good efforts, works and action, now and always. Amen.