preparation for Christmas

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Friday, 6 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Matthew 9 : 27-31

At that time, as Jesus moved on from the place where He resurrected the daughter of the official, two blind men followed Him, shouting, “Son of David, help us!” When He was about to enter the house, the blind men caught up with Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do what you want?” They answered, “Yes, Sir!”

Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, “As you have believed, so let it be.” And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus gave them a stern warning, “Be careful that no one knows about this.” But as soon as they went away, they spread the news about Him through the whole area.

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Friday, 6 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Psalm 26 : 1, 4, 13-14

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Rampart of my life; I will not be afraid.

One thing I ask of the Lord, one thing I seek – that I may dwell in His house all the days of my life, to gaze at His jewel and to visit His sanctuary.

I hope, I am sure, that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Trust in the Lord, be strong and courageous. Yes, put your hope in the Lord!

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Friday, 6 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. Nicholas, Bishop (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Bishops)

Isaiah 29 : 17-24

In a very short time, Lebanon will become a fruitful field and the fruitful field will be as a forest. On that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of the dark and obscurity the eyes of the blind will see. The meek will find joy and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the tyrant will be no more and the scoffers gone forever, and all who plan to do evil will be cut down – those who by a word make you guilty, those who for a bribe can lay a snare and send home the just empty-handed.

Therefore YHVH, Abraham’s Redeemer, speaks concerning the people of Jacob : No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will his face grow pale. When he sees the work of My hands, his children again in his midst, they will sanctify My Name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who err in spirit will understand; those who murmur will learn.

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Thursday, 5 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminder through the readings from the Scripture that we have heard, to put our trust and faith in the Lord and to build our lives upon the strong foundation of our faith in Him. And especially during this blessed and holy season and time of Advent, all of us should refocus and redirect our lives and attention on the Lord, away from all sorts of distractions in life.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard of the Lord reminding us of this through His teachings using the parable of the foundations, in which He used the comparisons between two houses built on two different foundations to drive His point to us. One of the foundations was that of sand, while the other foundation was of solid rock. The house that was built on sand did not last and was destroyed easily while the one built on rock remained firm.

This is a metaphor used to compare our dependence on either God or on the things of this world, with rock referring to the solid foundation of our faith founded upon the Lord and His Church, and the foundation of sand referring to the dependance on worldly things like money, status, fame, glory, pleasures of life among many others. To put our trust in the Lord is logically and truthfully therefore is the better choice.

However, this is where the parable also reminds us all that to be a disciple and follower of the Lord will not be something that is easy or trivial, but instead, we must be prepared and expect hardships, challenges and difficulties along our journey of faith and life. This is just how building a firm and solid foundation of rock is much more difficult, time consuming and challenging than building the foundation made of sand. This means that to be a disciple of Christ, it is likely that we will need to put in a lot more than if we just follow the ways of this world.

And exactly because of that, this season of Advent we are called to reflect on our lives and our actions thus far, how we have lived this life all these while. Have we led a life that is in accordance to the will of God or have we instead lived lives the way we want it to be, as how the world has often showed and taught us? Have we expected that the life of our Christian discipleship must be an easy one and therefore been idle in living our lives faithfully thus far?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in our world today, we are getting even more and more challenges in life, and it is getting ever more challenging to be faithful to the truth of the Gospel of Christ. There are many temptations present in this world and in this life which often swayed many among us away from the path that the Lord has led us into, and instead, many among us are tempted to follow the path of ambition, desire and selfishness, the path that many of us are well aware and accustomed to.

Now, all of us are challenged to be true disciples of the Lord, not just in name but also in the fullness of our faith. We are all called to put our faith and trust in the Lord even though the path forward if we choose to walk down this path may indeed be quite more difficult than otherwise. But the Lord also assured us at the same time that all those who put their faith in Him, even though their lives and path may be difficult, but they can indeed be assured of a strong and truly firm support and foundation in the Lord.

Let us all make use of this opportunity that the Lord has provided for us, during this blessed season of Advent, that we may indeed turn to the Lord with a new faith and with a new conviction to live our lives following the path that the Lord has shown us from now on. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen us in our resolve to follow the path He has shown us. Amen.

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Thursday, 5 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 7 : 21, 24-27

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My heavenly Father. Therefore, anyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts according to them, is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house. But it did not collapse, because it was built on rock.”

“But anyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible collapse that was!”

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Thursday, 5 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 117 : 1 and 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a

Alleluia! Give thanks to YHVH, for He is good, His loving kindness endures forever. It is better to take refuge in YHVH than to trust in the help of humans. It is better to take refuge in YHVH than to trust in the might of princes.

Open to me the gates of the Just, and let me enter to give thanks. This is YHVH’s gate, through which the upright enter. I thank You for having answered me, for having rescued me.

Save us, o YHVH, deliver us, o YHVH! Blessed is He Who comes in YHVH’s Name! We praise You from the house of YHVH. YHVH is God; may His light shine upon us.

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Thursday, 5 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 26 : 1-6

On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah : We have a strong city, He Himself has set up walls and fortifications to protect us. Open the gates! Let the righteous nation enter, she who is firm in faithfulness. You keep in perfect place the one of steadfast mind, the one who trusts in You.

Trust in YHVH forever, for YHVH is an everlasting Rock. He brought down those who dwell on high, He laid low the lofty city, He razed it to the ground, levelled it to the dust. Now it is trampled, the poor and the lowly tread upon it.

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Wednesday, 4 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture in which we heard of the wonders of God’s love for each and every one of us, as we pass through this season of Advent, preparing us to celebrate worthily the joyous season of Christmas. God has loved us all so much that He has given us all the perfect gift in His own beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

That is why in our first reading today we heard of the beautiful vision and prophecy as relayed to us through the prophet Isaiah, of the wonderful promises of God as He promised all of His beloved and faithful ones that they will all enjoy the fullness of His bountiful blessings and the fruits of His providence, in a world where there is no more pain or sorrow, no more tears and sadness, no more suffering but only true joy and happiness with God.

That is the hope with which God has strengthened us all His people, giving us hope and strength at the times when life may be at our darkest, and when the outlook of things seems to be gloomy and without hope. The Lord gave us the encouragement to go through the sufferings and difficulties by letting us all know that it is in Him and through Him alone that we will be able to gain relief and true freedom from suffering and the sorrows of this world.

And we are reminded of this fact, and also of the love of God through what we have heard in our Gospel passage today, in which we heard how the Lord ministered to the multitudes of people who came to him, seeking to listen to His teachings and His words, or to be healed from their physical and bodily complaints and illnesses, to be cared for and protected from the attacks of the evil spirits and demons.

The Lord provided for their needs, healing them from their physical issues and also as presented in the Gospel passage, fed a large multitude of them with just a few loaves of bread miraculously. Through all of these, God wants us all to see just how precious each and every one of us are to Him, and just how great His love, His compassion and His desire to be reconciled fully with us are. And we are truly fortunate to have Him as our loving God.

Yet, it is sad that in fact, it is us mankind who have often disregarded God and abandoned Him, not listening to Him and preferring to follow our own ways and ideals rather than to follow the path that God has shown us. We spurned and rejected His love and His generous offer of mercy, even when He has constantly extended His generous love to us all these while. That is why many of us have been separated and sundered from Him, and many more are not living up to their faith as they should.

This Advent, all of us are challenged to reconnect and reconcile ourselves to the Lord, renewing our commitment to love God and to be more faithful to Him, that we may truly appreciate all that He has done for us, and as a result, we will also then grow to appreciate the true significance and importance of Christmas to all of us. It is at Christmas that we celebrate how God has given such a great and ultimate gift of love to all of us, His beloved people, that He gave us all nothing less than His own Son.

It is by His entry into this world, by assuming our humble humanity and existence that God has brought us all together as His faithful ones, and by His willing and loving sacrifice, taking up all of our sins and the consequences and punishments due to our sins, He suffered and died on the Cross and because of that, we are saved. It was because of Christmas that Easter is possible, and because of that, we should truly appreciate all that God has done for us, out of His enduring love.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps today we can be inspired by the good examples of faith set by one of our dedicated predecessors, namely St. John Damascene or St. John of Damascus, one of the holy saints and priests of the Church who devoted his energy, time, effort and attention to serve the Lord to the best of his capabilities. St. John of Damascus lived through difficult times of the Church as the faithful were struck with forces from both outside and within, with pressures to abandon the teachings of the faith for other faiths and also for false teachings and heresies.

St. John of Damascus was remembered for his great role in opposing the heresy of iconoclasm in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and Christendom, when the heretics under support from the Emperor and the secular authorities destroyed many precious and holy icons and images of the Lord and His saints, and the holy saint St. John of Damascus launched a particularly strong defence of the veneration of the saints and holy images.

This courageous and holy servant of God did not fear oppression or suffering just because he stood up for his faith as he truly trusted in the Lord and knew how much the Lord loves all those who are faithful and true to Him. St. John of Damascus did his best throughout his life to defend the true and orthodox Christian faith, becoming a paragon and example of sanctity and dedication to all of his fellow men.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to follow in the footsteps of St. John of Damascus, and also many others of our holy predecessors, saints of God? Are we able to appreciate just how much God has loved us all these while and how much He has done for our sake, that we truly should love Him in the same way? Let us all heed the great example of piety and sanctity that St. John of Damascus has shown us, and follow his examples in how we ought to live our lives with faith from now on.

May the Lord continue to guide us as we progress through this blessed season of Advent, that we may truly be able to prepare ourselves wholeheartedly to celebrate the coming of Christmas, with fullness of faith in God and love for Him. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Wednesday, 4 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Matthew 15 : 29-37

At that time, from the place where Jesus healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman, He went to the shore of Lake Galilee, and then went up into hills, where He sat down. Great crowds came to Him, bringing the dumb, the blind, the lame, the crippled, and many with other infirmities. People carried them to the feet of Jesus, and He healed them.

All were astonished when they saw the dumb speaking, the lame walking, the crippled healed, and the blind able to see; and they glorified the God of Israel. Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “I am filled with compassion for these people; they have already followed Me for three days and now have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away fasting, or they may faint on the way.”

His disciples said to Him, “And where shall we find enough bread in this wilderness to feed such a crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They answered, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

Jesus ordered the people to sit on the ground. Then, He took the seven loaves and the small fish, and gave thanks to God. He broke them and gave them to His disciples, who distributed them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the leftover pieces filled seven wicker baskets.

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Wednesday, 4 December 2019 : 1st Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or White (Priests)

Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.