Pope St. John XXIII

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Scripture message for us is very clear indeed, that all those who place their trust in earthly goods and worldly things shall falter and fail, as they put their faith in perishable things and on things that do not last forever. This is a clear lesson to all of us, so that we may learn to detach ourselves from our commonly excessive attachment to the goods of this world.

Jesus our Lord used the example of the rich man who thought that he had it all, and all the wealth and possessions he had accumulated all the years of his life would bring him pleasure and prosperity in his life. Yet, he did not realise that he is not the true master of his own life. It is the Lord God who is the true Master of all life, and He is the One who has control over all the lives of mankind, including all of us without exception.

That rich man had placed his trust in his great might and power in accordance with the standards and norms of this world, and he thought that he had nothing else to worry about, but he failed to understand that those things he had will not be brought with him over when he comes to his judgment in the presence of God. And he would have nothing to boast of, because nothing that he had accumulated would carry over to the world that is to come.

Instead of all these, our Lord advocated that we all should walk in His path, shedding all of our attachments to the worldly things and desires, and instead we all should adhere closely to the teachings and the truth of our Lord, which is the path of humility, of love and devotion to the Lord. Instead of being overly attached or obsessed with the goods of this world, with money or material goods, we should instead build up the true treasure that we will attain in heaven.

The earthly treasure of money, possessions and wealth shall eventually rot and be destroyed, but not the heavenly treasure that we shall build up if we live faithfully in accordance to the will of God. What is this treasure? It is the treasure of the love of God. While the worldly treasures bring about conflict and suffering, jealousy and hatred, the true treasure of love bring with it consolation and happiness to everyone.

How then, should we build up this heavenly treasure? It is by committing ourselves to actions that are founded upon love, and not the selfish love of men or love for money and possessions, but the selfless and perfect love that our Lord Jesus Himself had shown us, by laying down His life and suffered for the sake of all of us, bearing upon Himself all of our sins and all of their consequences.

We shall build up the true treasures of heaven by showing love in our own actions, caring for those who are lonely, rejected and downtrodden, and by giving hope to all those who are without hope. It is built by our act of giving light of love and hope to all those who have been living in the darkness and the uncertainty of this world, and by showing the path of the Lord to all those who need to be saved.

Let us all also heed the examples of the saints whose life we honour and remember today. Today is the feast of St. John de Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and their companions, the martyr saints of North America, namely French missionaries who spent their lives spreading the Gospel to the pagan and unenlightened people of the New World, especially in what is now Canada and North America.

They went through many hardships and difficult challenges, the difficulty of preaching in place so cold and hostile to life, and in places where the locals and the natives were quite unwilling to open up themselves to listen to the word of God, and the barrier of language differences that made things difficult for these devoted missionaries, who regardless of all these challenges, they continued to persevere through and preached the truth of God to the people.

And indeed, many were converted to the true faith, and many followed on in the hardships and the challenges that await all those who decided to follow the Lord and His path. And they went through times of difficulty, attacked and tortured by those who refused to listen to the truth, and they were all eventually martyred for their faith, dying a painful death defending their faith and conviction to the Lord, and in the process, received the crown of everlasting glory.

And today we also celebrate the feast of St. Paul of the Cross, an Italian priest who was very devoted to the Lord, and he promoted the devotion to the Lord, especially to His most holy Passion, the love which He had shown to all of us, and the suffering which He had willingly endured for the sake of all of us, so that everyone of us may be liberated from the pain of death.

St. Paul of the Cross taught us that by meditating upon the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by focusing on the ultimate sacrifice which He had made out of perfect love for us all, we may be able to understand better what we need to do in life in order to become ever closer to the salvation which our Lord can give to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow their examples and heed what we have heard in the Holy Scriptures today. Let us be better disciples and followers of our Lord, by persevering through difficulties and challenges, through temptations and resisting the pull of our desire, our human greed and wants, which threaten to engulf us into a life of hedonism and materialism opposed to the will of God.

Let us all be humble in all things, and grow ever more devoted to God, and find for ourselves and build up for ourselves not the temporary and illusory treasures of this world, but the treasure of the world that is to come. Let us all show our faith in God through our genuine love for Him and for our fellow men. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Luke 12 : 13-21

At that time, someone in the crowd spoke to Jesus, “Master, tell my brother to share with me the family inheritance.” He replied, “My friend, who has appointed Me as your Judge or your Attorney?” Then Jesus said to the people, “Be on your guard and avoid every kind of greed, for even though you have many possessions, it is not that which gives you life.”

And Jesus continued with this story, “There was a rich man, and his land had produced a good harvest. He thought, ‘What shall I do, for I am short of room to store my harvest? Alright, I know what I shall do : I will pull down my barns and I will build bigger ones, to store all this grain, which is my wealth. Then I will say to myself : My friend, you have a lot of good things put by for many years. Rest, eat, drink and enjoy yourself.'”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be taken from you. Tell Me who shall get all you have put aside?’ This is the lot of the one who stores up riches for himself and is not wealthy in the eyes of God.”

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Luke 1 : 69-70, 71-72, 73-75

In the house of David His servant, He has raised up for us a victorious Saviour; as He promised through His prophets of old.

Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of our foes. He has shown mercy to our fathers; and remembered His holy covenant.

The oath He swore to Abraham, our father, to deliver us from the enemy, that we might serve Him fearlessly, as a holy and righteous people, all the days of our lives.

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Monday, 19 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, Priests and Companions, Martyrs, and St. Paul of the Cross, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Priests)

Romans 4 : 20-25

Abraham did not doubt nor did he distrust the promise of God, and by being strong in faith, he gave glory to God : he was convinced that He who had given the promise had power to fulfil it.

This was taken into account for him to attain righteousness. This was taken into account : these words of Scripture are not only for him, but for us, too, because we believe in Him who raised Jesus, our Lord from among the dead, He who was delivered for our sins and raised to life for us to receive true righteousness.

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Sunday, 18 October 2015 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday and Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about firstly, from the book of the prophet Isaiah, on the prophecy of the suffering Servant, the Messiah who would suffer for our sins, and who would be given the burden of all of mankind’s faults, and He would be crushed with the grief and the punishment due for our faults, mistakes and sinfulness.

And in the Psalm, we heard about the Lord our God, who is God that is caring and loving towards all those who are faithful to Him, giving His blessings and graces to all those who trust in Him, and who fear Him and give to Him what is due for Him, namely honour, respect and due worship. This is the promise that God gives to all those who keep their faith in Him, that He will not leave them, but bless them and remain with them forever.

And linking to these two readings is what St. Paul mentioned in his letter to the Hebrews, where he highlighted the fact that Jesus, who was crucified, suffered and died for the sake of all the people, is the One true great High Priest of all, who offered not the sacrifice of animals and grains, but a different sacrifice that is His own Body, and His own Blood.

And He offered it not many times, but just once for the sake of the salvation of the whole world. The offering of His own Body and Blood, the offering of His worthy life has been accepted by God, as the one and only perfect sacrifice that is worthy to absolve us all from all the accumulations of our sins. God has given us all this grace and opportunity for us to be freed from the tyranny and hold of sin.

Then finally, in the Gospel today, Jesus spoke about how the way that He has revealed to us is not the path of pride and worldliness, but instead, we have to chart for ourselves a new path and follow a new life according to the will of God our Lord and Father. And this new path is shown by how Jesus rebuked His own disciples, St. James and St. John who asked to be favoured over the others by asking Jesus to give them the favour of sitting on His left and right, essentially a very great honour.

But these two disciples were basically thinking in terms of worldly power and glory, and they were thinking in terms of human glory, fame and honour, but they did not understand the true meaning of God’s Law and intentions for mankind. They thought that to follow Jesus means to share in His glory and honour, as well as majesty and greatness, and this is not surprising, as the normal ways of this world demand that we demand and seek for glory, fame and recognition in the eyes of one another.

After all, in this world, many of those who serve kings and rulers dress nicely and attempt to show that they are the best dressed and best in appearance before their master and trying to garner his or her favour by doing so. And yet, with Jesus, who is truly the King of all kings, and Lord of all lords, things are very different indeed.

For His kingship and kingdom is not of this world, and thus His ways and His methods are different from what we all used to know. If the way of the world is to flaunt greatness, wealth, fame and promote human praise and glory, then the way of our Lord Jesus and King is the way of humility, of loving service and genuine care to all those whom He is Lord over, and that is why He told His disciples, that whoever wants to be great from among His disciples must be a servant to all.

It is too often in this world that mankind uses power and influence to control and to oppress those who are subordinated to them, and they use all these to maintain their power, their privileges and their status, not willing to lose or be reduced in any of them. They desire for ever more and more worldly goods, worldly power, fame and influence, and this is why we mankind by our nature always bicker, enter into conflict and wars, and end up bringing suffering upon another or even resorting to murder and destruction of life.

The Lord teaches us that His way is not the way of greed, or of succumbing to our personal desires and jealousy upon others and what they had and what we do not have with us. He teaches us that to become greater in His eyes does not mean the same as being great in the eyes of the world. On the contrary, the greater a person has become, the more humble he or she should become, and become even less attached to their glory and desires.

It is difficult for us to detach from all these worldliness and human desires, as it is in our human nature to want even more when we already have something with us. And the more we have, the more difficult it is for us to resist that temptation to seek for even more. And the most important reason is that, we mankind are always looking for something that can satisfy our needs and wants, but all the things and goods of this world prove to be unsatisfactory in providing what we need.

After all, all the money and possessions, all the material goods in the world that we have cannot buy for us true happiness and joy. They can only provide us with happiness that is illusory, temporary and impermanent. And as I have just mentioned, that we mankind always grow in our greed and desire as we have more things with us? This is why we can never be satisfied with whatever this world is able to offer.

On the contrary, what truly can provide us with true happiness and satisfaction, is the satisfaction that comes from the Lord alone. It is only God alone who can give us and provide us with true happiness, that is by the provision of His words, His Law, His truth and His perfect love, that He fills us up with, that all of us are needing right now, to liberate us from our own sinfulness, stubbornness, and inability to live in accordance to the way of the Lord.

This is why, on this day, the Feast of St. Luke the Apostle and Evangelist, we should all reflect on the Holy Gospels, which the Apostles had written and composed by the power of the Holy Spirit, to provide us with God’s truth and love, through the words they have written in the Four holy Gospels. The Gospels and the entirety of the Holy Scriptures are the repository and evidence of the truth and the words of God that all of us have heard, witnessed and shared, and thus we believe in Him from whom the words came.

And as today is also the celebration of the Mission Sunday, by this we should all realise that all of us are the bearers of God’s Gospel to the world, for there are indeed many of those our brethren, who are still living in the darkness of this world, and which by our actions and deeds, we may bring the revelation of God’s truth to them, so that they may be saved too, just as we have been saved.

Many of us mankind are still living in ignorance of the truth of the Lord, blinded by darkness and sin, and the light provided by the truth in the Gospels are truly necessary for us all to be able to liberate one another from the effects of darkness that had covered our souls and bring all of us into the light of Christ our Lord. It is the mission which our Lord had given and entrusted to all of us, to bring His light to the nations.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, let us all remember the mission which our Lord Jesus Christ had given to all of His disciples before the time when He was about to depart back from this world to His heavenly Father. This mission is that all of us bring all mankind, from all the nations and from the whole world, to receive baptism in the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And the way to do this is by proclaiming God’s truth, the truth of His words and the light of His truth by practicing our faith in our own actions, and showing our adherence and faith in God’s truth by showing these through all that we do to our fellow men, and through our commitment to the Lord and His ways. Let us all be missionaries of the Faith to one another, and in particular to those who lives are still in darkness, and who still have yet to hear the word and the truth of God.

May Almighty God be with us always, bless us all in our endeavours and works, so that in all the things that we say and do, we may bring more souls closer to the salvation in God. God bless us all, now and forever. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 October 2015 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday and Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 10 : 35-45

At that time, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to Him, “Master, we want You to grant us what we are going to ask of You.” And He said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They answered, “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, when You come in Your glory.”

But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptised in the way I am baptised?” They answered, “We can.” And Jesus told them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and you will be baptised in the way that I am baptised; but to sit at My right hand or at My left is not Mine to grant. It has been prepared for others.”

On hearing this, the other ten were angry with James and John. Jesus then called them to Him and said, “As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations act as tyrants, and their great ones oppress them. But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all.”

“Think of the Son of Man, who has not come to be serve but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Mark 10 : 42-45

Jesus then called them to Him and said, “As you know, the so-called rulers of the nations act as tyrants, and their great ones oppress them. But it shall not be so among you; whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall make himself slave of all.”

“Think of the Son of Man, who has not come to be serve but to serve, and to give His life to redeem many.”

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Sunday, 18 October 2015 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday and Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 4 : 14-16

We have a great High Priest, Jesus, the Son of God, Who has entered heaven. Let us, then, hold fast to the faith we profess. Our High Priest is not indifferent to our weaknesses, for He was tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sinning.

Let us, then, with confidence approach the throne of grace; we will obtain mercy and, through His favour, help in due time.

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Sunday, 18 October 2015 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday and Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 32 : 4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22

For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.

But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving kindness, to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.

In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.

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Sunday, 18 October 2015 : Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Mission Sunday and Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Isaiah 53 : 10-11

Yet it was the will of YHVH to crush Him with grief. When He makes Himself an offering for sin, He will have a long life and see His descendants. Through Him the will of YHVH is done.

For the anguish He suffered, He will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge. My Just Servant will justify the multitude; He will bear and take away their guilt.

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Saturday, 17 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words of the Holy Scriptures, speaking to us about the grace and blessings that shall await all those who keep and maintain their faith in God, and the curses and the condemnations that await all those who have veered away from the path towards the Lord and towards salvation.

The example of Abraham, our forefather in faith was used, in his obedience and exemplary actions and life, which were filled with the obedience and the trust which he showed to God, the complete faith and trust that he had shown, which made his descendants to become truly blessed by God’s grace. This is done so to inspire all of us to strive for righteousness and justice, and therefore become eligible to enjoy forever God’s love and grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have been called to a new life of repentance, of redemption and of forgiveness. All of us have been called out of the pit of darkness, misery and wickedness, and we are all called into the life filled with God’s justice and grace, which can become a reality only if all of us gather together and work together to achieve that goal of salvation in God.

Those who have not been faithful to God, who refused to listen to the word of God, and those who have gone astray in their lives, walking in their own paths in disobedience to the Law of God, will receive the wrath and anger of God, and God shall reject them, just as they themselves had rejected Him first. God is merely reciprocating the hatred and the unwillingness of those who have not given their love to Him. Yet, if these people were to repent and change their ways, God will readily show His infinite mercy and love to them.

God is ever loving and merciful, but this does not mean that He readily tolerates our sins and wickedness. He loves each and every one of us personally and as His beloved children and creation, but He does not love our sins and our wrongdoings. He hates all forms of sins and injustice, all forms of malice and wickedness, all forms of evil and all the darkness that lie in our actions.

If we persist in retaining all those sins and darkness, then certainly all of us will be condemned and prevented from reaching salvation in the Lord. This is because those sins and wicked things in our words and actions are barriers and obstacles that stop us from finding our way to the Lord. Those sins are what preventing us from receiving the fullness of God’s grace and blessings, and they kept us away from the light, remaining in the darkness and the abyss.

This is why, we ought to reflect on our own actions and deeds, and we should think about what we have done in this life, so that we may realise the current state of our being, whether we stand in righteousness and grace of God, or whether we are in danger of falling into the condemnation of eternal hell. Thus, we ought to heed the example of a holy man and saint whose feast day we celebrate on this day.

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the second bishop and leader of the faithful in Antioch, a great city of Christendom in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was counted among the birthplaces of Christianity, as the place where the faithful were first called as Christianoi, or Christians. It was the place where the Church was established by St. Peter the Apostle, the Vicar of Christ, who later went on to establish the Church in Rome.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was his successor as the second Bishop of Antioch, and he helped to continue the establishment of the Church in Antioch and beyond, caring for the spiritual and overall well-being of his flock, giving them examples to follow and exhorting them to be always faithful to God and His ways, and resist the temptations of worldly goods and human greed.

Eventually, St. Ignatius of Antioch shared in the suffering of Christ our Lord, when he and the other Christians were persecuted under the orders of the civil authorities of the Roman Empire. The Emperor and the officials of the Roman state opposed the Christians and their teachings of truth, and they attempted to snuff out the light of the Church at its young stage of growth.

Nevertheless, St. Ignatius of Antioch remained resolute and committed to the evangelisation and spreading of God’s Good News of the Gospel, and he suffered death and martyrdom knowing that the works he had begun would be carried on by those who came after him, and his martyrdom served as an inspiration for countless others to also pick up their crosses and follow the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us on this day reflect once again on our own lives. We have a clear choice on whether to obey the Lord and His ways, walking in His righteousness and justice, and practicing His will and commandments in all of our words and actions, or whether we want to follow he devil and all of his errors and lies.

Let us all take concrete actions in our lives, so that in all the things we do and say, we will show a renewed effort of loving and serving the Lord our God, with all of our hearts’ strength. May the Lord have mercy on us all, forgive us all our sins, and bring us into everlasting life. Amen.