rejoice in God

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Sunday, 1 February 2015 : Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Septuagesima Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Violet (Septuagesima Sunday – Usus Antiquior)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the Septuagesima Sunday, which literally means ‘seventy’. This is to remind us that as this is the ninth Sunday before Easter, we are about seventy days away from the great feast and celebration of our Lord’s Passion, death and ultimately, the most important of all, the Resurrection through which He made whole all mankind and bring hope into the world engulfed in the darkness.

As is appropriate, the Gospel today from the Gospel of St. Mark spoke about time and works that men take up, to fulfill the Lord’s call for all of us. The parable of the vineyard workers and the owner is speaking about how we mankind, the people of God are called by the Lord to be His servants and to do the good works which He had initiated in this world.

The Gospel from the readings for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time spoke of how Jesus our Lord exercised His power and authority to cast out demons and heal all those afflicted by the physical and spiritual sickness and diseases. And that is just how our Lord does His work to liberate us all from the clutches of Satan, and ti show the way for us all to seek the Lord our God.

And in the first reading of the Ordinary Time readings, from the Book of Deuteronomy, the Lord had promised His people that He would send them a Prophet, that is the One who would bear His will and His words of truth to the people. Jesus is that Prophet, who taught the people and His own disciples through stories and parables which bore the truth of God inside them. He is the Word of God made flesh.

In the parable told by Jesus in the Gospel for Septuagesima Sunday, the vineyard owner is truly the Lord our God, who is the Lord of all. The vineyard itself is the world that is saved, that is the Church of God, and the workers are all of us, the race of men. God seeks out all of us at different times, and He sought us in the darkened world outside the Church, that is everything else beyond the vineyard. Like the owner who went out to seek more workers for his field at various hours, the Lord too seeks us at all the time, desiring to find us and bring us to salvation.

There are therefore three main things I want and I hope all of us will take away from the readings of today, that we may reflect on them and understand the necessity for us to know what the Lord wants from us. First, it is that we should not wait until it is too late and then only then we desire to seek the Lord. The Lord always wants to seek us, but if we ourselves refuse to listen to His call, then we will be forever damned in the darkness.

And we do not know when death will come for us. All of us will die one day, at the time and place that only the Lord our God knows. There are many who continue to ignore the Lord’s heedings for us, and they wait, thinking that there is still time for them. But death may claim them on the next day, and even on the next minute or second! And when that happens, no matter how we beg or how we plead with the Lord, He will refuse us for we have ourselves refused the generous and repeated offer of mercy which He had given us.

And then secondly, the Lord invites us to enter His Church, to be saved with all those who have been saved earlier. The Church of God is represented in the Gospel with the vineyard and all the workers inside it. All those whom the Lord calls and accepted His call and worked in His Church are saved. Thus, we ought to rejoice indeed, for we have received baptism that initiated us to be the members of the Church, the children of God and thus the partakers of God’s saving works and grace.

And last of all, as we see, that all the workers received equal pay of one denarius or silver coin, regardless of how long they have worked in the vineyard. Thus, the same applies to all of us the children of God. Regardless of what we have in this life, our possessions, our abilities and talents, our works and contributions, as long as we are all faithful to God and keep His commandments, we are all equal before the Lord.

This does not mean literally that everyone should be equal. As we can see, that different workers work at different hours and for different lengths of time. This means that each of us in the Church of God have distinct roles, each according to his or her own abilities. We should not be jealous that others had done less, or be proud that we have attained salvation earlier because He called us earlier than others.

This means that we should not be proud of our justification and look down on others who have yet to be saved. After all, as long as we receive His salvation and agree to become part of His Church, we shall receive the same reward, represented by the equal pay of one denarius for each worker, that is our salvation and eternal life, to live together in perfect bliss and happiness without end, with the Lord our God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all realise that we all have much to do in order to bring others into the salvation in God. We should help one another, and as part of the Church, to be examples and role models for all those who have yet to find their way to the Lord, so that they too may be saved. And we have to realise as well, that the vineyard of the Lord, that is His Church, still require many people to help as the servants of the works of God.

May all of us be awakened to follow the Lord and to righteously walk in His way. Let us all seek the Lord and harken to His call. Do not wait until it is too late for us, but let us stir ourselves from our slumber and walk from now on, only in the path of the Lord. God bless us all. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Septuagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 1 February 2015 : Gradual and Tract

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Gradual

Psalm 9 : 10-11, 19-20

Adjutor in opportunitatibus, in tribulatione : sperent in Te, qui noverunt Te : quoniam non derelinquis quaerentes Te, Domine.

Response : Quoniam non in finem oblivio erit pauperis : patientia pauperum non peribit in aeternum : exsurge, Domine, non praevaleat homo.

English translation

The helper in due time, in tribulation : let them trust in You, who know You, for You do not forsake those who seek You, o Lord.

Response : For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end, the patience of the poor shall not perish forever. Arise, o Lord, let not man be strengthened.

Tract

Psalm 129 : 1-4

De profundis clamavi ad Te, Domine : Domine, exaudi vocem meam.

Response : Fiant aures Tuae intendentes in orationem servi Tui.

Response : Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine : Domine, quis sustinebit?

Response : Quia apud Te propitiatio est, et propter legem Tuam sustinui Te, Domine.

English translation

From the depths I have cried to You, o Lord. Lord, hear my voice.

Response : Let Your ears be attentive to the prayer of Your servant.

Response : If You shall observe iniquities, o Lord, Lord, who will endure it?

Response : For with You is propitiation, and by reason of Your Law I have waited for You, o Lord.

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(Usus Antiquior) Septuagesima Sunday (II Classis) – Sunday, 1 February 2015 : Introit and Collect

Liturgical Colour : Violet

Introit

Psalm 17 : 5, 6, 7, 2-3

Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis, dolores inferni circumdederunt me : et in tribulatione mea invocavi Dominum, et exaudivit de templo sancto suo vocem meam.

Diligam Te, Domine, fortitudo mea : Dominus firmamentum meum, et refugium meum, et liberator meus.

Response : Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper : et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

The groans of death surround me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me, and in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice from His holy Temple.

I will love You, o Lord, my strength. The Lord is my firmament, and my refuge and my deliverer.

Response : Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Collect

Preces populi Tui, quaesumus, Domine, clementer exaudi : ut, qui juste pro peccatis nostris affligimur, pro Tui nominis gloria misericorditer liberemur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium Tuum, Qui Tecum vivis et regnas in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

English translation

We beseech You, o Lord, that You may graciously hear the prayers of Your people, that we, who are justly afflicted for our sins, may be mercifully delivered for the glory of Your Name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son, who with You lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.

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Saturday, 31 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear about how we ought to have faith in God, the faith which we have in the Lord, and by hearing on the testimony of those who have lived the faith in the past, we too should be inspired to live following the footsteps of our predecessors in faith if we desire to receive the fullness of God’s grace and salvation.

The faith we heard was about the faith of Abraham, the faith of Sarah and all those who have lived according to the way of the Lord. Abraham was once just a mere man who lived in the ancient region of Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur, far away from the lands of Israel. And then one day, God called him to follow where He would ask him to go to. He promised Abraham great rewards and riches should he choose to follow Him, and indeed, Abraham faithfully followed the Lord into the unknown.

God chose Abraham not because He randomly picked people who He deemed suitable to receive His grace, but because He also knows what is in the hearts of men. He knows it all, and to those who have the gift of faith, He shall give more, and bless them even more if they prove to be capable of living up to the faith. And Abraham passed that with flying colours. Not only that he was able to commit himself fully to the Lord, but he was also even willing to sacrifice his own son to obey the will of God.

And in this, we also see the kind of commitment which is required from us, so that we can be truly faithful and devoted to the Lord our God. We cannot be half-hearted or be divided in our attention and focus on the Lord, or otherwise, our faith is not truly genuine and real. After all, the sacrifice of Isaac itself has shown us how faithful our Lord is, in His devotion to all of us. He is ever faithful, while we are always the ones who always broke our promises and obedience to Him.

And the promise of God was made full, real and complete through His giving of His own Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of God’s promise and love. In need for so much of help are we, that nothing short of what He has done, will be able to deliver us from the grip of sin which had engulfed us for such a long time. Sin has been a great stumbling block in the path of our road to redemption, and as long as we remain immersed in sin, it will be difficult for us to escape.

Indeed, just like the storms and waves in the lake, which the disciples encountered as they were crossing the lake, thus there are many obstacles and dangers that are in our path as we approach the Lord and as we seek the salvation which only our Lord can give us. It may indeed be very fearsome and frightening to be in such a condition, but if only we had placed our trust in the Lord, then we truly should not be afraid, for the Lord Himself will guide us and guard us from the Devil.

When Jesus, our Lord, is at the helm, no one will be able to assail us, and as long as we anchor ourselves to Him, we shall be fine. For by what He has done, God had shown us all how to be truly faithful and devoted to God. If Abraham had endeavoured to sacrifice of his only son, the child of the promise of God, then what God had done for us is even greater.

For He had also given us His own Son, as a loving sacrifice, out of His faithfulness and obedience to the one thing which keeps Him moving in action to save us all, His people, that is the love which He has for each and every one of us, from the least to the greatest. And that is the love which our Lord has shown us, the love which propelled Him to endure all forms of sufferings and to die for us on the cross.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. John Bosco, a renowned priest and holy man, who was known for his efforts to help the people of God, through his various charitable acts and founding of charitable and educational institutions, meant to help the least in the society, the poorest, the weakest, the least and the ostracised of the society.

St. John Bosco worked hard to spread the Good News of the Lord, and he did it through his actions, helping and loving those who have no others to love them, and caring for all those who have no one else to turn towards. He sheltered many people, especially the youths, who were homeless and under bad influences of the world, and he taught them on how to live their lives well.

What St. John Bosco had done should be an inspiration to all of us, to put all of our faith in God, and put it into real action, by following in the footsteps of all those who have been faithful before us. Abraham, our forefather in faith trusted completely in the Lord, and he walked down the path to the lands promised to his descendants, and he offered even his own son out of obedience to God’s will, knowing that God will give him back his son.

Thus, all of us should also be truly devoted and be faithful to our God, and the best way to do so is by showing it through our words, deeds and actions, loving our fellow brethren and caring for them. Let all of our actions speak loudly and clearly of the love of God, so that more and more people may realise of the love which He had shown all of us. May Almighty God be with us all, love us always, and keep us always in His grace. God bless us all. Amen.

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Friday, 30 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 36 : 3-4, 5-6, 23-24, 39-40

Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and live on it. Make the Lord your delight, and He will grant your heart’s desire.

Commit your way to the Lord; put your trust in Him and let Him act. Then will your revenge come beautiful as the dawn, and the justification of your cause, bright as the noonday sun.

The Lord is the One who makes people stand, He gives firmness to those He likes. They may stumble, but they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

The Lord is the salvation of the righteous; in time of distress, He is their refuge. The Lord helps them, and rescues them from the oppressor; He saves them for they sought shelter in Him.

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Thursday, 29 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Wednesday, 28 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about the famous parable of the sower in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ to the people. This parable told us of the gifts of God’s love in all of us, and what can happen to that gift, either be it for out own good, for our benefit, or whether it will become dead and useless, meaningless for the sake of our salvation. It is all truly entirely up to us, in our own actions in life, on what will become of the gifts which God had given us all.

In the first reading we are told of the action of God, who by the singular act of our Lord Jesus Christ had made the impossible possible for all of us. While we were once sinners who deserved only death and damnation, He had brought us out from the precipice of death, through the loving sacrifice of our Lord Himself, who had borne all of our sins at once, and carry that cross of sin, of shame and of damnation upon His shoulders to Calvary.

And by that act, we were all saved. Redemption was given to us and salvation is offered freely to us, if only we believe in what Christ had done for us, that is God’s love. And it is therefore, in this that we should see how God had planted His love within us all. Through Jesus, He had revealed unto us, the seeds of faith, the seeds of love, and the seeds of hope, which all of us, upon our acceptance of the Good News of the Gospels, receive from the Lord Himself, who is the Sower of those seeds.

But what we all should realise is that, those seeds need something to be able to grow. As all farmers should know, that Jesus was referring to them by that parable, so that they might be able to understand His intentions. That intention was that to show mankind how our faith requires an active participation and contribution by all of us without exception. And this is perfectly shown by the parable of the sower.

In rich soil, the seeds will prosper and grow well, and very well indeed, bearing many and many more fruits and results than what had been planted. Such will also be our reward, rich and plentiful, should we decide to walk in the way of the Lord. Our Lord and God will never disappoint us, and He will always guide us and be with us, just like the farmer taking care of its good crops. But bad crops He will uproot and destroy.

And even worse, for many people, the seeds would not even have the chance to grow and develop, for the various reasons summarised in the parable of the sower. For some, the seeds of faith, hope and love did not even manage to take root at all, unable to penetrate the hardness of the hearts of some of us. Yes, just as the Israelites in the past had hardened their hearts against God, and just as the Pharaoh had hardened his heart against the Israelites, so are many of us who have dwelled too long in our pride, in our prejudice, our greed and desires, so that we have no place for God at all within us.

And from among those whom the seeds had been sown in, there are those who are so concerned with worldly things, to the point that they are unable to fully commit to the Lord’s way and teachings. To them, the temptation of the world is too much and too good for them to ignore, and therefore, they gave in to the temptations of Satan, much like weeds growing around the crops and choking them to death, and thus they bore no fruit at all, and have no part in God’s salvation.

Today, we celebrate the feast of a great saint of the Church, that is of St. Thomas Aquinas, the great Doctor of the Church and the revolutionary philosopher saint who advanced greatly the Theology of the Church, by showing through his brilliant mind, the truth of God made real and concrete, and many understood the true meaning of their faith through his works.

St. Thomas Aquinas told us that there is much we do not know about the Lord, and that we can understand Him by observing what we have around us in the world, through the Church. St. Thomas Aquinas developed greatly the understanding on the nature of God, and what He had done for us through His various graces. And that is exactly by understanding the Lord, that we may grow stronger in faith and empower ourselves, that our lives will be made richer and the seeds of faith, hope and love our Lord planted in us may grow and be strong.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, shall we seek to overcome the temptations of this world and cast out all forms of worldliness from our lives? Shall we seek to be closer to the Lord our God by striving to know Him better? Surely we all can put in more effort to be closer to our God and strive to live according to what He had told us.

Let us all therefore work hard to provide ourselves with the optimum environment and condition necessary for the faith in us to grow, for the hope in us to blossom, and for the love in us to bear forth great fruits. That is why, with the inspiration from St. Thomas Aquinas, we should all seek to understand our faith more deeply, by regularly reading the Holy Scriptures and learning the teachings of the Church.

By doing so, therefore we have strengthened the faith within us, and then we should bring forth that same faith, that same hope and love in our actions, and then truly that seed which had been planted in us will bear rich fruits that will be truly thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold and even more. May Almighty God witness the faith we have for Him, through what we have done to one another, and may He bless us always with His rich graces. God bless us all. Amen.

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Wednesday, 28 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 4 : 1-20

At that time, again Jesus began to teach by the lake; but such a large crowd gathered about Him, that He got into a boat and sat in it on the lake, while the crowd stood on the shore. He taught them many things through parables. In His teaching He said, “Listen! The sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some of the seed fell along a path, and the birds came and ate it up.”

“Some of the seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil; it sprang up immediately because it had no depth; but when the sun rose and burned it, it withered because it had no roots. Other seed fell among thornbushes, and the thorns grew and choked it, so it did not produce any grain.”

“But some seed fell on good soil, grew and increased and yielded grain; some seed produced thirty times as much, some sixty, and some one hundred times as much.” And Jesus added, “Listen then, if you have ears.”

When the crowd went away, some who were around Him with the Twelve asked about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But for those outside, everything comes in parables, so that the more they see, they do not perceive; the more they hear, they do not understand; otherwise they would be converted and pardoned.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those along the path, where the seed fell, are people who hear the word, but as soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”

“Other people receive the word like rocky ground. As soon as they hear the word, they accept it with joy, but they have no roots, so it lasts only a little while. No sooner does trouble or persecution come because of the word, than they fall. Others receive the seed, as seed among thorns. After they hear the word, they are caught up in the worries of this life, false hopes of riches and other desires. All these come in and choke the word, so that finally it produces nothing.”

“And there are others who receive the word as good soil. They hear the word, take it to heart and produce : some thirty, some sixty and some one hundred times as much.”

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Wednesday, 28 January 2015 : 3rd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 109 : 1, 2, 3, 4

The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand till I make Your foes Your footstool.”

From Zion the Lord will extend Your mighty sceptre and You will rule in the midst of Your enemies.

Yours is royal dignity from the day You were born in holy majesty. Like dew from the womb of the dawn, I have begotten You.

The Lord has sworn, and He will not take back His word : “You are a Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

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Sunday, 25 January 2015 : Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 1 : 14-20

At that time, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee and began preaching the Good News of God. He said, “The time has come; the kingdom of God is at hand. Change your ways and believe the Good News.”

As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fish for people.”

At once, they abandoned their nets and followed Him. Jesus went a little farther on and saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee; they were in their boat mending their nets. Immediately Jesus called them and they followed Him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men.