Preparation for Holy Week

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Thursday, 8 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. John of God, Religious (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 7 : 23-28

YHVH says, “One thing I did command them : Listen to My voice and I will be your God and you will be My people. Walk in the way I command you and all will be well with you. But they did not listen and paid no attention; they followed the bad habits of their stubborn heart and turned away from Me.”

“From the time I brought their forebearers out of Egypt until this day I have continually sent them My servants, the prophets, but this stiff-necked people did not listen. They paid no attention and were worse than their forebearers. You may say all these things to them but they will not listen; you will call them but they will not answer.”

“This is a nation that did not obey YHVH and refused to be disciplined; truth has perished and is no longer heard from their lips.”

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s Scripture readings, we listened to the Lord speaking to us about His laws and commandments, which He had given to us His people. In the first reading today, we heard about the Lord speaking through Moses, His servant, teaching His people about the laws and commandments. The people were reminded to follow the Law and to obey God in all that He had taught them to do.

God has blessed them with His commandments and norms which He did not yet reveal to the other people and nations, and He expected them all to obey those laws and commandments. And He showed to them that if they remained true and faithful to His laws and commandments, they would be blessed and honoured, and they would be able to enjoy the graces He gave to them, in the land promised to them, all the prosperity meant for them as He promised their ancestors.

It is also exactly what the Lord Jesus reiterated in the words He said in the Gospel passage today. Yet, we see in those words, the frustration that the Lord showed as He was faced with opposition by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Why is that so? That is because the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law accused the Lord Jesus and His disciples of trying to supplant the Law they carefully and zealously guarded, with a new version of the Law.

But Jesus rebuked them and said that what He brought unto them was the true meaning and obedience to the Law which God had revealed to His people so long ago through Moses. The problem lies in the fact that the laws as preserved and observed by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had been misunderstood and misapplied in such a way that the people were not able to appreciate why is it that they need to be faithful and obedient to the Law.

At that time, most of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were so focused on their aim to purify the people of Israel from all of their past impurities and sins, that they ended up creating many more rules and regulations which distracted the people of God from the true intention of the Law that is to bring the people closer to God and to love God more in their daily life. They were so caught up in their attempt to live up to their so-called obedience to the laws of Moses that they forgot why they ought to be doing all those actions and to Whom they ought to be doing it.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what the Lord Jesus had done was merely to redress the errors of the Pharisees and the corruption which had twisted the laws and commandments of God. He revealed to us all the true meaning of the Law, that is love. For all the rules and regulations added in and modified by the elders and the traditions of the Jewish people, the actual Law is truly simple, that is to love God with all of our entire effort, and to love one another with the same kind of love.

That is all that the Lord wanted from His people, a pure and unconditional love, just as He Himself has loved them first with that kind of love, commitment and devotion. Unfortunately, that was not what He received from His people, and when He came into their midst, in Jesus Christ, all that He received was scorn, rejection and refusal to believe in Him and His truth.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us reflect, is that our attitude as Christians as well? Is that how we have treated the Lord? So far in our respective lives how many of us have truly lived them with true obedience to the Lord, loving Him genuinely in all that we do and say, in every action we take and in every moment? Or have we blindly obeyed or followed the ways and the rules taught to us by the Church without really understanding why we have done so?

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, two renowned saints and martyrs of the Church, who lived during difficult years of intense persecution against the Church and the faithful, under the Roman Empire. St. Perpetua was a young noblewoman who resolved to become a Christian convert despite the objection from her father, while St. Felicity was a young slavewoman, who were imprisoned together with St. Perpetua for their faith.

They remained strong in their faith despite the physical sufferings and torture they had to endure, all the ridicule, scorn and anger directed at them, because of their great love for God. They did not mind enduring the same hatred of the world just as the Lord Himself had endured it. They willingly embraced martyrdom rather than to give up their faith in God. Their courage and commitment to the Lord inspired many people even many centuries after their passing from this world.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, are we able to live the same Christian life as St. Perpetua and St. Felicity have lived theirs? Are we able to love God in the same way that God has loved us, that is with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, with our entire beings? Let us all make use of this time of Lent to prepare ourselves mentally, spiritually and physically to grow deeper in our love and commitment to God.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He awaken in each one of us the same love, dedication and commitment as shown by His saints and martyrs, especially St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, whose memory we remember today. Let us ask for their intercession, that by their prayers God may be moved to call us all to Himself, to be forgiven and redeemed from our sins and unworthiness. St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, pray for us. Amen.

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 5 : 17-19

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not think that I have come to annul the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to annul them but to fulfil them. I tell you this : as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or dot in the Law will change until all is fulfilled.”

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 147 : 12-13, 15-16, 19-20

Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word. He spreads snow like wool; He scatters frost like ashes.

It is He Who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!

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Wednesday, 7 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, Martyrs (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Deuteronomy 4 : 1, 5-9

And now, Israel, listen to the norms and laws which I teach that you may put them into practice. And you will live and enter and take possession of the land which YHVH, the God of your fathers, gives you.

See, as YHVH, my God, ordered me, I am teaching you the norms and the laws that you may put them into practice in the land you are going to enter and have as your own. If you observe and practice them, other peoples will regard you as wise and intelligent. When they come to know of all these laws, they will say, ‘There is no people as wise and as intelligent as this great nation.’

For in truth, is there a nation as great as ours, whose gods are as near to it as YHVH, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him? And is there a nation as great as ours whose norms and laws are as just as this Law which I give you today?

But be careful and be on your guard. Do not forget these things which your own eyes have seen or let them depart from your heart as long as you live. But on the contrary, teach them to your children and to your children’s children.

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Tuesday, 6 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day through the readings from the Sacred Scriptures we heard about the importance of forgiveness in our lives, by understanding why is it that as Christians we must be generous with our forgiveness and mercy, because God Himself has forgiven us and been generous to us with His blessings and graces despite our waywardness and regardless of our stubbornness in disobedience.

In the first reading today we heard about Azariah, one of the three companions of Daniel, who were four men of the descendants of Israel living in exile in Babylon, during those years when the people of God had been banished from their own land and brought into exile, living in shame and humiliation, as those who were defeated in war and vanquished, having no land to call their own.

The people of God had once lived prosperously in the land given to their ancestors, but they disobeyed God and refused to listen to Him. They abandoned Him for pagan idols and gods, and as a result, their enemies rose up against them and they were defeated and conquered. Their cities were destroyed, Jerusalem was in ruin and the Temple of God in that city was destroyed. Such was their humiliation at that time.

They had to endure scorn and ridicule from other nations and peoples, and as we heard in today’s first reading, it existed in the context of the time when king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon built up a great golden statue of himself, and ordered everyone to worship the statue. He wanted everyone to glorify him and to exalt him as if he was a god, and demanded the same from Azariah and his two other companions.

They were good and loyal servants of the king of Babylon, but they refused to obey the king in this matter. They refused to bow down to him and to perform things which was abhorrent and wicked in the sight of God as their ancestors had done. Instead, they faithfully stood by their faith in Him and were forced to endure great suffering in the chamber of fire. Azariah prayed to God from within that fire chamber, as we heard in our first reading today.

And God heard their prayers and saved them from the fire. They were untouched and unharmed by the fire, and the king of Babylon was amazed by the miraculous occurrence. This was a very good and concrete example of how God forgave His people and protected all those who have been faithful to Him. He did not hold grudge against them, but loved them dearly with all of His heart.

That is the essence of God’s great and undying love for us all, that even though we have often sinned against Him and disobeyed Him, but He did not allow His anger and the disgust He had for our sins to turn Him away completely from us. For He loves each and every one of us, His beloved people, who have been estranged from Him because of our sins and to whom He therefore wanted to be reconciled with.

That is why in the Gospel today, we heard of a similar story, of the parable through which Our Lord spoke about the unforgiving servant, who have been forgiven his debts, and yet, refused to forgive the debts that others had owed him. In that parable, we can see the parallel with our own story, and the story of our redemption and forgiveness by God.

The master who forgave the wicked servant represents God, Who forgives us all from our sins and mistakes because of His mercy. The servants of the master represent all of us mankind, who are God’s people. The debts that have existed between the servant and the master and between the servants are our sins. And by right, we have to pay all of our debts, or else we will have to face the punishment due for our debts, that is sin.

By default, that would have meant for us to be damned in hell fire. For the combined weight of our burden and sins are truly very great, all the wicked things we have done in our respective lives, in disobedience against God. But we see how God forgave us all our sins generously just as the master forgave the great debt owed by the servant who begged him to show him mercy.

Yet, that servant refused to forgive another servant who owed him much smaller amount of debt. The master who heard about how the servant treated his fellow servant became angry and threw the servant he had forgiven the debt into prison, to suffer the consequences for his debts as well as his refusal to follow his example in showing mercy and forgiveness for each other.

Now, let us ask ourselves, how many of us have been angry or holding grudges against our fellow brothers and sisters just because of what mistakes and problems they have caused to us? Let us not forget that we ourselves might have done the same to them or to someone else in other occasions or circumstances in our lives. And God has forgiven us for all these trespasses and sins we have committed, when we cause harm, hurt and inconvenience upon others, just as He has forgiven others for the sins they have committed towards us.

If God has forgiven us all our heavy and numerous sins which have merited us hell and eternity of suffering, by none other than His loving sacrifice on the cross, through which He died for our sake, that by redeeming us from our sins, all the debts of disobedience we owed Him, and forgiving us from those debts, all of us who accepted His love and mercy may receive eternal grace and life from Him. And remember that He died even for His enemies and those who hated Him, and He forgave all of them from His cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, thus it is imperative that during this Lenten season, as we continue to prepare ourselves for the coming of Holy Week and Easter, we must imitate the examples set by Our Lord Himself, in being more merciful and forgiving in our relationship with one another, showing more care, love and compassion for one another especially to those who are poor, unloved, lonely, depressed and all those without hope.

May the Lord be with us always, that He may continue to guide us in our journey of faith, that we may be able to love one another more and more, and be merciful in all of our actions, and thus grow to love God ever more, day after day. May the Lord bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.

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Tuesday, 6 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Matthew 18 : 21-35

At that time, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how many times must I forgive the offences of my brother or sister? Seven times?” Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. This story throws light on the kingdom of Heaven : A king decided to settle the accounts of his servants.”

“Among the first was one who owed him ten thousand pieces of gold. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, his children and all his goods, as repayment. The servant threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.'”

“The king took pity on him, and not only set him free, but even cancelled his debt. When the servant left the king’s presence, he met one of his companions, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the neck and almost choked him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!'”

“His companion threw himself at his feet and begged him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’ The other did not agree, but sent him to prison until he had paid all his debt. Now his fellow servants saw what had happened. They were extremely upset, and so they went and reported everything to their lord.”

“Then the lord summoned his servant and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed when you begged me to do so. Were you not bound to have pity on your companion, as I had pity on you?’ The lord was now angry, so he handed his servant over to be punished, until he had paid his whole debt.”

Jesus added, “So will My heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.”

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Tuesday, 6 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 24 : 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9

Teach me Your ways, o Lord; make known to me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are my God, my Saviour.

Remember Your compassion, o Lord, Your unfailing love from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, but in Your love remember me.

Good and upright, the Lord teaches sinners His way. He teaches the humble of heart and guides them in what is right.

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Tuesday, 6 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Daniel 3 : 25, 34-43

Azariah stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud : Do not abandon us forever, do not reject Your covenant for Your Name’s sake. Do not withdraw Your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham, Your friend, of Isaac, Your servant, of Israel, Your holy one, to whom You promised to multiply their race as the stars of heaven and the sand on the shore of the sea.

Lord, see, we have become the least among the nations in all the world, and we are humiliated because of our sins. At this time, we no longer have a king, or prophet, or leader. We cannot offer You holocausts, sacrifices, offerings, or incense. We have no place to present to You the first-fruits of our crops, and so obtain Your favour.

But at least when we present ourselves with a contrite soul and humbled spirit may we then be acceptable to You, more than by offerings of rams and calves as holocausts, and of thousands of fat lambs. May this sacrifice of ours today obtain for us Your favour for we know that those who trust in You shall never be disappointed.

And now, we serve You with our whole heart, we fear You and we seek Your face. Do not leave us in our humiliation, but treat us according to Your kindness and Your great mercy. Free us in keeping with Your wonders, and give us the glory of Your Name, Lord.

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Monday, 5 March 2018 : 3rd Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Scripture reading with the story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian, who was the trusted army general and servant of the Aramean king during the time of the prophet Elisha at the northern kingdom of Israel. Naaman was searching for a way to be cured from his illness, as he suffered from terrible leprosy on his skin.

Naaman came to Israel seeking for help, as he heard that the prophet Elisha had the miraculous powers in healing many people who came to him, as God worked His wonders through His servant. In the end, as we heard from the Scripture passage, Naaman met up with the prophet Elisha, who simply asked him to go for a dip in the river Jordan seven times, and he would be healed.

Initially, Naaman refused to do so, thinking that such a menial task would not be something that could have cured him. He has expected that the prophet would place his hands on him, touched him or performed some wonders before his eyes, and he would be cured as how the other pagan priests and magicians at that time performed their supposed miracle works and wonders.

But eventually, Naaman listened to the prophet and humbled himself, doing what he was asked to do, and he was cured from all of his physical and bodily complaints. He believed in God from then on, and went home praising God for all that He had done for him. This amazing story of Naaman’s healing and conversion is something that we should take note of, as a parallel to our own conversion and healing.

Let us look at the Gospel passage today, in which we heard how the Lord Jesus was rejected in His own village in Nazareth. He has preached to them and even performed miracles before them, but the people hardened their hearts and refused to believe in Him. Why is that so? That is because Jesus hailed from that very village, where all the people likely had known Him in person since when He was very young, after He returned to Nazareth with His foster father St. Joseph and His mother Mary.

That is why they likely assumed that they knew Who He was, the mere Son of a lowly carpenter of the village. At that time, being a carpenter was truly a lowly and undesirable occupation to have, having to work very hard and yet gaining very little, and only contempt and ridicule from others who used his service. And this prejudice continued on to apply to the Lord Himself, Who was likely also a carpenter like His foster father St. Joseph.

We see here the irony of their actions, those who were at Nazareth who were in fact belonging to God’s own people, the descendants of Israel. While Naaman, the Syrian pagan and non-Israelite came to believe in God despite his earlier reservations and doubts, but he believed nonetheless, as compared to the Israelites who hardened their hearts and refused to believe, just as what happened to the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, the Sadducees and their followers.

The essence of today’s Scripture readings is that all of us must not harden our hearts and refuse God’s generous offer of mercy. Otherwise we will gain nothing for ourselves, and no healing will come to us. Naaman at first also hardened his heart, but he relented in the end, and humbly submitted to God’s will as spoken through His prophet Elisha, and he received grace and healing from his illnesses.

Similarly, all of us are sick, sick in the heart, mind, body and soul. We may seem to be physically perfect and not sick, but in reality due to our sins, born of our disobedience to the Lord, have made us to be sick. Sin is a very dangerous sickness that will destroy everything. Unlike any other earthly illnesses and diseases that can be cured, the disease of the soul, that is sin, cannot be cured by any worldly means, save that of by the Lord.

It is God alone Who can forgive our sins, and He does so, through none other than His own Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave us His life through the cross. Through that cross which He bore on the way to Calvary, and as He was raised up high for our salvation, all of us who believe in Him will receive the grace and forgiveness from our sins. This is what we need to realise, and which we need to take action on, especially at this good time of Lent.

Let us all open our hearts, our minds and our whole being to receive the Lord into our being. Let Him transform us, our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, that we may be turned from sickly beings of darkness, into purified beings of light, worthy to be called His children. May the Lord bless us all, and may He forgive us our sins, that we may draw ever closer to Him and receive His eternal grace and blessings. Amen.