Our Lady of Fatima

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Friday, 13 May 2016 : Seventh Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 25 : 13b-21

As king Agrippa and his sister Berenice were to stay in Caesarea several days, Festus told the king about Paul’s case and said to him, “We have here a man whom Felix left as a prisoner. When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews accused him and asked me to sentence him. I told them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over a man without giving him an opportunity to defend himself in front of his accusers.”

“So they came and I took my seat without delay on the tribunal and sent for the man. When the accusers had the floor, they did not accuse him of any of the crimes that I was led to think he had committed; instead they quarrelled with him about religion and about a certain Jesus Who has died but Whom Paul asserted to be alive.”

“I did not know what to do about this case, so I asked Paul if he wanted to go to Jerusalem to be tried there. But Paul appealed to be judged by the emperor. So I ordered that he be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.”

Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

Isaiah 61 : 9-11

Their descendants shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a race YHVH has blessed.

I rejoice greatly in YHVH, my soul exults for joy in my God, for He has clothed me in the garments of His salvation, He has covered me with the robe of His righteousness, like a bridegroom wearing a garland, like a bride adorned with jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord YHVH make justice and praise spring up in the sight of all nations.

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Wednesday, 13 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast day of our Lady of Fatima, the ninety-eighth anniversary since the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to three young children at Fatima in Portugal almost a hundred years ago, in a series of apparitions where she revealed to them the messages of utmost importance, seeking for the repentance and conversion of the world, and the consecration of Russia to her, which was at that year, precisely at that very moment, was about to fall into the long darkness of communism.

This feast of our Lady of Fatima is a reminder for all of us yet again, how we have been given so many reminders and opportunities to repent and change from our sinful and wicked ways, and the one who had appeared so many times to us so that this may happen, is none other than the loving mother of our Lord, that is Mary, the ever faithful mother of us all. She appeared to us and reminded us from time to time, in her many apparitions, to reveal to us the truth about our sins and about the love and mercy that God is willing to show all those who repent from their sins.

Why does Mary care so much about us, brethren? And why is she our mother when she is clearly the mother of Jesus, our Lord and God? To understand this, we have to understand what happened at the very last moment of Jesus’s earthly life when He was on the cross. While He fulfilled the very act of perfect love by which He redeemed all of us and gave us new hope of life, He entrusted His mother to John, His beloved disciple, and then in the same way, He also entrusted His disciple to Mary, His mother.

This can be easily overlooked, but in that single moment, God had entrusted us all and gave us the very best gift He could give us, that is of His own mother, who in her selfless dedication and love, had cared for Him with ultimate patience and care since His birth, and then on that day, to follow His Son on the way to His suffering and death on the cross, which is for our sake.

Imagine the sorrow and the sadness that assaulted the heart of Mary, as she watched her own beloved Son, as He was mocked, ridiculed, rejected, scourged, carried that heavy and painful cross, fell on the ground three times, having His hands and legs pierced by the nails, lifted up for all to see, and eventually died on the cross. All these, our Lord Jesus Christ had done, so that through Him, we may be saved and not suffer the consequences of our sins, that is death and hell.

Which mother would just ignore the plight and the cries of her children? Therefore, in the same way, Mary, whom God had made to be our mother as well, cares for us deeply and she is concerned for the state of our souls, which if nothing is done, we are truly prone to fall deeper into our sinfulness and the darkness that surround us, so that we are forever lost to the Lord.

And this is what God, and therefore, His mother Mary do not want to happen. He died for us so that we may be saved, and not suffer the eternal death in hell because of our sins. This is why, we have our best ally and friend with us, Mary, our mother, who ceaselessly prays for our sake, with all the other saints and with all of the angels, particularly each of our guardian angels, that we may be awakened from our slumber in the darkness and make the effort to come back into the light.

Thus, our faithful devotions to our Lady of Fatima is a constant reminder for us to keep our own lives in check, so that in all the things we act, say and do, we will always do them in accordance with the will of God, and remain righteous and just in all of our ways without exception. Remember, brethren, that Mary is always interceding for our sake, near to the throne of Jesus, her Son our Lord and God. She weeps for us whenever we commit sin, and rejoices whenever we repent from those same sins.

Let us all therefore put in great effort to fulfill what our Lord mentioned in the Gospel passage we heard today, that if we listen to His words and does His will in all that we do, say and act, then we truly are worthy to be called His friends, His family and as people that belongs to Him alone, and thus, if we are worthy, then the fullness of God’s grace and blessings will be with us, and happiness as well as joy will be with us and never depart from us again.

O, our Lady of Fatima, blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who had appeared to the children at Fatima calling for the repentance of sinners and the conversion of the world, pray for us all always, so that we may always heed the word of God in all that we do, and abandon all sorts of evil and wickedness. Remember that what matters for us in this life, is the state of our soul, and let us not seek the suffering and damnation of hell, but let us together with our blessed mother Mary, enjoy forever the glory of heaven. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 13 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 16 : 12-15

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”

“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”


Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

Luke 11 : 27-28

At that time, as Jesus was speaking, a woman spoke from the crowd and said to Him, “Blessed is the one who gave You birth and nursed You!”

Jesus replied, “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it as well.”

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Wednesday, 13 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 148 : 1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heavenly heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.

Kings of the earth and nations, princes and all rulers of the world, young men and maidens, old and young together.

Let them praise the Name of the Lord. For His Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.

He has given His people glory; He has given a praise to His faithful, to Israel, the people close to Him. Alleluia.


Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)
Psalm 44 : 11, 12, 14-15, 16-17

Listen, o daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation.

And your beauty will charm the King, for He is your Lord.

All glorious as she enters is the princess in her gold-woven robes. She is led in royal attire to the King, following behind is her train of virgins.

Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the King. Forget your fathers and think of your sons, you will make them princes throughout the land.

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Wednesday, 13 May 2015 : 6th Week of Easter, Memorial of our Lady of Fatima (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 17 : 15, 22 – Acts 18 : 1

Paul was taken as far as Athens by his escort, who then returned to Beroea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up in the Areopagus hall and said, “Athenian citizens, I note that in every way you are very religious. As I walked around looking at your shrines, I even discovered an altar with this inscription : ‘To an unknown God.'”

“Now, what you worship as unknown, I intend to make known to you. God, who made the world and all that is in it, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, being as He is Lord of heaven and earth. Nor does His worship depend on anything made by human hands, as if He were in need. Rather it is He who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone.”

“From one stock He created the whole human race to live throughout all the earth, and He fixed the time and the boundaries of each nation. He wanted them to seek Him by themselves, even if it were only by groping for Him, succeed in finding Him. Yet He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as some of your poets have said : ‘For we too are His offspring.’ If we are indeed God’s offspring, we ought not to think of divinity as something like a statue of gold or silver or stone, a product of human art and imagination.”

“But now God prefers to overlook this time of ignorance and He calls on all people to change their ways. He has already set a day on which He will judge the world with justice through a Man He has appointed. And, so that all may believe it, He has just given a sign by raising this Man from the dead.”

When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection from death, some made fun of him, while others said, “We must hear you on this topic some other time.” At that point Paul left. But a few did join him, and believed. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus court, a woman named Damaris, and some others.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.


Alternative reading (Mass of our Lady of Fatima)

Isaiah 61 : 9-11

My people’s descendants shall be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a race YHVH has blessed.

I rejoice greatly in YHVH, my soul exults for joy in my God, for He has clothed me in the garments of His salvation, He has covered me with the robe of His righteousness, like a bridegroom wearing a garland, like a bride adorned with jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord YHVH make justice and praise spring up in the sight of all nations.

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Wednesday, 22 October 2014 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. John Paul II, Pope (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Popes)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate together for the very first time, the feast of a great saint, and one whose memory is certainly still very clear in the minds of most of us, except for the very youngest ones among us. If we are at an age of adulthood or above, that is eighteen or beyond, we would have remembered how we once know of Pope John Paul II as our Pope, and thus as the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle.

And just earlier this year in April, that together with another great Pope of the last century, Pope John XXIII, the Pope who initiated the Second Vatican Council that they were together raised to the glory of the Altar of God as the holy saints of the Church, worthy of heaven, of praise and also worthy of being asked for intercessions from, to pray for us sinners still in this world.

To many of us, Pope St. John Paul II was our Pope, the Pope who had filled so much of our faith life. His very long reign, the second longest among the verified reigns of Popes, third if St. Peter himself is included, the reign of twenty-seven years certainly is of a very significant to the whole Universal Church. Many of us did not even know any other Pope than this saint, until he passed away just less than a decade ago.

However, even though many of us knew him, and even though many of us think that he was a great man and a great Pope, how many of us actually knew who he was and what he had done for the Church and for the faithful people of God? It is likely that many of us do not have the full image and idea of who he really was and what he has done. And many of us might have wrong impressions about him through misinformations and miscommunications of the world and the media.

That is why, let me share a bit first on who Pope St. John Paul II was. He was a Pole, the first ever Pope to originate from Poland, an Eastern European country, which at that time had the unfortunate fate of being overrun by the two great powers that were its neighbours. Pope St. John Paul II was born Karol Jozef Wojtyla in Krakow, Poland, just two years after Poland regained its independence from the Russian Empire after a period of more than a century.

But as the life of Pope St. John Paul II would testify, Poland was to be subjected to a series of unfortunate and very grim events, subjugation first by the forces of the NAZI Germany and then later under the dominance and hegemony of the Communist Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the one fact most if not all of us knew well was that the central role which Pope St. John Paul II would play in bringing down the dreaded Communism, not just in Poland, but also in almost the whole world.

Pope St. John Paul II himself did not have an easy life, as his mother died young when the then Karol Wojtyla was still very young, and he quickly lost his siblings to various reasons, including his elder brother whom he respected a lot, to a disease. His father passed away just at the start of the great miseries to befell Poland, and Pope St. John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla was left all alone in the world, without a family, but yet with God and His Blessed Mother at his side.

If we are wondering why Pope St. John Paul II chose the motto which would be famously accredited and associated to him, then we do not need to look further from the fact how he had persevered through many sufferings and difficulties, left all alone in the world, but he made it through the help and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

His motto was Totus Tuus, the abbreviation of the full motto of Totus Tuus suum Maria, or ‘Blessed Virgin Mary, I am all yours’. This motto showed the great devotion which Karol Wojtyla, later Pope St. John Paul II had for Mary, and he was indeed known as one of the great Marian Popes who highly promoted the veneration and devotions to the Blessed Virgin.

This is the same kind of attitude which we should also have in our faith life and in our lives in general. We have to devote ourselves to the Lord and also to His Blessed Mother Mary, fully and completely if we are to allow God to come and work His wonders in us, and through us He can indeed do many things for the benefit of the world and for His people, as He had shown through how He worked through the person of Pope St. John Paul II, who should indeed be the role model for all of us in living our faith.

He endured difficulties after difficulties, persecutions after persecutions, and he frequently brushed closely with death. Yet, God had indeed had a plan for him, and every time, the Lord and His Blessed Mother guided him and delivered him from harm’s path. He suffered indeed, but he knew that he suffered for the sake of the Lord, who would indeed be bound to listen to the pleas of His people and take action.

He stood up for the faithful, when he, as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow, one of the most influential and outspoken Archbishops and prelates in Poland and in Communist-dominated Eastern Europe, defended the right of his sheep, the flock of God for a place to worship God, a church to be built in the vicinity of the city of Krakow, at a locale known as Nowa Huta, the new city, supposedly the hallmark in the Communist government’s project to establish a utopian Communist city without a church building.

The then Archbishop Karol Wojtyla led the faithful people of Nowa Huta in a defiant rally and celebration of the Holy Mass, commemorating the establishment of a church building in that city championed by the Communists as the model of a utopian society without the faith. He gave the people the foundation stone of the church building, originating from the catacombs of St. Peter the Apostle, the rock upon whom the Lord had established His Church, and blessed by Pope Paul VI, now known as Blessed Pope Paul VI, beatified just last Sunday by our current Pope, Pope Francis.

Even after he was elected to the Papacy, to succeed as the Vicar of Christ and the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle, Karol Wojtyla, then on known as Pope John Paul II, continued his works for the good of the Church as he had always done, defending the orthodox and true teachings of the faith, and also to help the people of God suffering persecution in the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe.

We knew how Pope St. John Paul II had survived an assassination attempt, although he was grievously injured by it, on the day of our Lady of Fatima’s apparition in 1981. He attributed his survival to the ever caring and loving Mother of God, to whom he had devoted himself fully to, and to His Son, that he was again brought from the brink of death to continue to serve the people of God. We also knew how he forgave the one who tried to assassinate him.

And even to the end of his life, suffering from Parkinson’s disease which increasingly debilitated him and made it very difficult for him to continue to work as the leader of the Universal Church, he persevered on, and in his suffering, through which he share the suffering of Christ, he became a source of priceless inspiration for countless numbers of the faithful.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, after that summary of the life and the actions and contributions of Pope St. John Paul II, how are they relevant to the readings we had heard today, and how ultimately does do they relate to our own lives? It is in fact quite obvious that while every one, every single children of God will encounter different things on their respective journeys to God, but the actions of Pope St. John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla can indeed be a model and inspiration for all of us.

In the First Reading, St. Paul in his letter to the Church and the faithful in Ephesus revealed what had been entrusted to him in the graces and wisdom of God, that he might enlighten and show that wisdom to the people of God, so that all those who heard his words may be moved within their hearts and souls, and decide to seek the Lord their God with all of their hearts’ devotion.

In the same way therefore, Pope St. John Paul II, his predecessors and successors, the bishops and priests who had given themselves completely to the service of God, also received the same graces and wisdom to teach the Lord’s words and laws to His people, so that through them, many would be saved. But this does not mean that they alone are the ones who can do this.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, each one of us at our own baptism, when we were welcomed into the Church of God, and now as a member of that one and only Church, we all have our own parts to play in the salvation of souls and in the good works of evangelisation done by the Church. We have been given the same graces, wisdom and blessing, and indeed it is part of our responsibility to bring the people of God, especially those who still live in darkness, into the light of Christ.

This is also what Christ had done, by bringing together the separated people of God, and grant them His peace. Ever since mankind had disobeyed God and followed their own desires, they had walked their own paths and in contrary to each other, each following their own hearts’ desires and inevitably leading to conflicts, violence and many other evils. Ever since the day of the Tower of Babel, mankind had been divided against one another and peace as well as harmony were lost.

It was therefore the peace of Christ, which He made by His works and His sacrifice on the cross, which offered mankind a new hope, that they may abandon their old lives of sin and darkness, of disobedience and injustice, of hatred, fear and violence, so that they may receive the love and peace of the Lord, by following Jesus and walking in the path He had prepared for them.

And in the Gospel, this responsibility which we have as members of the Church is reiterated yet once again by the parable of Jesus our Lord, on the master and the steward. This parable tells us clearly that we are indeed stewards appointed by God, and with a certain purpose, that is to love one another, and to spread the Good News which had been given to us by God, to those who still have yet to hear it.

That is what the faithful servants will do, unlike the unfaithful servants, which examples are the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, when they failed not only to lead the people in faith by example, but they have cast obstacles in the path of the people of God, and in their selfishness, they abused their power and authority, like the unfaithful and bad servants. And when the Master comes back, that is the Lord, He will rebuke them without mercy and cast them out of His presence, precisely what He did with those Pharisees and hypocrites.

Therefore, this is a stern and clear reminder for us to avoid following the path of those Pharisees and avoid succumbing to our human desires, greed, pride, arrogance, hatred, lack of love, unfaithfulness, sloth and many others. Instead, we should open wide the doors of our heart to Christ our Lord, inspired by the words of Pope St. John Paul II, ‘Aprite le porte a Christo!’ which means, ‘Open wide the doors to Christ!’.

When we open wide the doors of our hearts to Christ, in essence we allow Him to enter into our hearts and transform us from within, allowing His love to fill us up, and therefore, it will affect our actions and deeds, which will then be based no longer on our own selfish desires, but instead upon the love of God. We must not be afraid to seek the Lord for help, and indeed we should entrust everything we have to God and to His Blessed Mother Mary just as Pope St. John Paul II had done.

Do not tarry and do not delay, for as much as God is merciful and loving, and as much as He desires to embrace us with His love and forgive us our sins, nothing good will come until we take the initiative and embrace His mercy first. Therefore, it is imperative that we realise that God hates sin and all wickedness, and if we delay and wait, and wait and wait, eventually time will catch up to us, and at the time that we do not know, the Lord will decide that our time is up, then no amount of regret or even repentance will help.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us help one another, working with one another to take care of ourselves, that we do not open ourselves to sin and evil, and so that we may allow the Lord to come into us, and to transform us with His love and grace. May Almighty God bless us, empower us and strengthen us, and through the intercession of Pope St. John Paul II, may all souls come eventually to salvation in God, with the help of His Blessed Mother Mary, the Mediatrix of all graces. Amen.

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Monday, 13 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Scriptures made a reference to the two sons of Abraham, who was each born of a different mother. Ishmael, the elder son, was born from the union between Abraham and her slave, Hagar, at the insistence of Sarah, his wife, who insisted to Abraham to bear a son with Hagar the slave, who will then legally be known as her own son.

It was common in the past, and even still until today, that a surrogate mother, usually a slave, to produce an heir to a wealthy and influential person, and whose heir will be adopted by the wife of the person, when the wife is unable to bear a child on her own. But in the case of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar the slave, Sarah was taking a shortcut to her problem of not being able to bear a child. God had promised Abraham that He would give him a son through Sarah, for it is nothing impossible for God, even for someone to bear a child at old age.

The younger son, Isaac, born from Abraham and Sarah was the child promised by God, and the blessings which God had given to Abraham in His covenant, was passed on to Isaac and his descendants. Meanwhile, Ishmael, while still blessed by Abraham, he had no part in his inheritance, and both him and his mother Hagar the slave was sent away by Abraham from his house.

The idea here is to separate two occasions in our own lives, the children of God, the children of our father in faith, that is Abraham, the faithful servant of God. The elder son, Ishmael, born of Hagar the slave represented our old lives, the lives of slavery, when we are enslaved by the power of sin and Satan’s works, that we are chained to this world and all of its darkness.

If we think that we are not chained or enslaved, then think about this, how our ancestors were cast out of Eden, the gardens of God filled with all wonderful things and perfections, because they disobeyed the Lord and preferred to follow Satan and their own desires than to listen to God, who had told them and taught them what they need to follow and obey, as well as what they need to avoid.

God did not create us to enslave us, or to make us like His slaves. Rather, we were created in love, for love and for our own good. God who is perfect and complete in everything truly had no need for anyone or anything to satisfy Him, and He did not need anything to be happy or to be joyful, as He is perfect and self-sufficient in everything, in love and joy.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, He created all things, and last and greatest of all, mankind, so that He may share that love He has with all of us. And we were created in perfection, meant to enjoy all the things God had created. He even entrusted all creations on earth to us, that we were meant to be the stewards of all creations, to live our lives in bliss, joy and perfect harmony with God.

But alas, we choose our lot with the evil one, who tempted us, and by accepting his temptations and lies, from our ancestors on, until the coming of the Saviour, all mankind had been enslaved, that is enslaved and chained by sin, the sins of our actions which corrupted us and brought us away from the promise of eternal life and happiness which God freely gave us and intended for us.

And that brought us under the slavery of our sins, that we are no longer free but bound under the consequences of sin, which ultimately is death. Death is the punishment and consequence of disobedience, and that is why mankind suffered from death, which was once without hope, and we feared death. But all was not lost, for God gave His help to us all, through Jesus Christ His Son, who is our Lord and Saviour.

That through Christ, we may be made anew, and transformed from the child of the first generation, represented by Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, to be like the other child, that is Isaac, the son promised by God to Abraham, the son of the free woman, and hence is free. This represents how we mankind had been made free, and through the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, this was made true by God.

But this freedom is given only to those who want to believe in Christ, and not to those who continue to stubbornly refuse His offers of freedom. Yes, there are many indeed today who continues to refuse to follow the Lord and listen to Him, and they prefer to continue to live under the slavery of sin, and keep their chains of sin, which continue to chain them to death and destruction.

This was exactly the same kind of attitude which Jesus encountered as He taught the people, who were stubborn and persistent in their rebelliousness. They doubted Jesus, even after seeing what He had done, and asking for even more signs and miracles. They were not able to look beyond the veil of their doubt and unfaithfulness, and instead, they languished in sin, refusing to see the light until the day when the judgment comes upon them.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as today we also celebrate the anniversary of the last of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, let us all look at the examples of the holy saints and martyrs, and chief of all, that of our Lady of Fatima, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And let us look at the examples of Abraham our father in faith, and finally the examples and the actions of our Lord Jesus Himself.

All of them followed the Lord, obeyed the Lord and listened to His will, as contrasted to Adam and Eve, our ancestors, and the people whom Jesus confronted in the Gospel today. We have a choice, brothers and sisters in Christ. We can choose to follow the Lord and obey all of His commands and will, and walk righteously in His path, or to choose to instead listen to Satan and his lies, and obey our own whim and our own desires. It is up to us to make a difference in our own lives.

Thus, do we all want to choose life or death? Do we all want to be free from sin and its slavery, or do we want to remain bound to sin and be enslaved? Thus, let us all take conscious actions, to show that we want to be indeed free from all forms of the bondage of sin, and rebuke Satan who had enslaved us with them. Let us say courageously to him, that we do not want to have any more part in this slavery of our body and soul, but rather that we may be free in the Lord.

May Almighty God be with us, guide us and bring us into the freedom from our slavery, the slavery of our body and soul to sin, so that we may truly be righteous and just, and be found worthy of His grace and inheritance. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 13 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 29-32

At that time, as the crowd increased, Jesus began to speak in this way, “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation.”

“The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here there is greater than Jonah.”

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Monday, 13 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 112 : 1-2, 3-4, 5a and 6-7

Alleluia! Praise, o servants of the Lord, praise the Name of the Lord! Blessed be the Name of the Lord now and forever!

From eastern lands to the western islands, may the Name of the Lord be praised! The Lord is exalted over the nations, His glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God, He who bends down to see on earth as in heaven? He lifts up the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap.

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Monday, 13 October 2014 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Galatians 4 : 22-24, 26-27, 31 – Galatians 5 : 1

It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by the free woman, his wife. The son of the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but the son of the free woman was born in fulfillment of God’s promise.

Here we have an allegory and the figures of two covenants. The first is the one from Mount Sinai, represented through Hagar : her children have slavery for their lot. But the Jerusalem above, who is our mother, is free. And Scripture says of her : ‘Rejoice, barren woman without children, break forth in shouts of joy, you who do not know the pains of childbirth, for many shall be the children of the forsaken mother, more than of the married woman.’

Brethren, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. Christ freed us to make us really free. So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.