renewal

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Monday, 25 August 2014 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Louis and St. Joseph Calasanz, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are urged to be faithful and to be upright in all of our actions and dealings, so that we all truly may be called the children of God. This is what Jesus said, when He rebuked the Pharisees and the elders of the people, in what is known the seven woes of the Pharisees. It is because these people who had been entrusted with the care of the people of God have failed to do as they were expected to do.

Instead, the Pharisees, the scribes and the teachers of the Law abused their power and authority which had been given to them. They twisted the Law and its various applications to suit their own purposes and to give them advantages and goodness at the expense of others, namely those whom they have been entrusted with. Those leaders and elders grew fat and rich at the expense of their sheep and flock which suffered and groaned under their oppression.

This misuse and abuse of authority and power is what Jesus was truly angry about as He talked about the actions of the Pharisees and elders, whose hearts and minds were not on the Lord and things heavenly and holy, but in things and matters of the world, of worldly goods and temptations, as well as things corrupt and unworthy of the leaders of the faithful. In this, they have failed miserably to become role models for the faithful, and instead they brought many to their downfall and ruin with them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what Jesus was angry about was because those Pharisees and elders cared only for the substance and for the material rather than for the souls of the faithful, and rather than things necessary for the salvation of these souls. They asked people to swear by the treasure of the Temple and by the offering on the Altar, because they cared not for the holiness and for the Presence of God, but for the material wealth and goods around which they conduct their daily duties.

This is also the prelude to when Jesus cleared the Temple itself of all the corruptions and impurities which the Pharisees had allowed to grow and develop under their care. These corruptions were the merchants and money changers who were allowed to setup their stalls in the courtyard of the Temple, selling various animals for sacrifice, and also established money exchange services for those who came from other countries, including Jews who lived far away from Jerusalem.

These merchants were corrupt, and they charged the people much more than they should have. They earned much profit at the expense of the pilgrims and the common people who sincerely came to worship the Lord. The Pharisees and the elders of Israel did not take any action because they gained profits and income by their cooperations with those merchants and cheaters, and therefore they maintained the corruption of the Temple, for their own benefits.

Today we celebrate the feast of two great saints, whose life and examples would show us the wickedness and inappropriate nature of the actions of the Pharisees and the elders of Israel. The first is St. Louis, King of France, also known as King St. Louis IX, one of the greatest medieval kings and leaders of Christendom. The other saint is St. Joseph Calasanz, a Spanish priest of the late Renaissance and early Enlightenment eras.

St. Louis IX was a great king, and he reigned well and with justice. However, he did not just do well on the matters of the world, as he also cared greatly for the spiritual growth and development of his nation and his people. A very devoted servant of God, he implemented numerous changes and reforms in the laws of the land, that the people may lead a more righteous and just lives, in accordance with the will of God and according to the teachings of the Lord through the Church.

St. Louis IX also worked hard to bring the faith to all peoples, including to heretics, the Albigensians, also known as the Cathars, bringing to them a harsh judgment and brought them to see the light of truth in God. And in the end, out of the will to defend the faith and the faithful, as well as to bring glory to God, King St. Louis IX led a crusade of the faithful to liberate the Holy Land of God, but before he reached his destination, he died. Nevertheless, his actions remained a great inspiration to all of us.

Meanwhile, St. Joseph Calasanz was a devoted Spanish priest, who dedicated his life in the service of the people of God, guiding, helping and loving them, and especially to the weakest and the poorest in the society, he gave them attention and care, and he helped established many schools and educational institutions run by the religious congregation he helped establish, the Piarists.

Even when he was called to move to Rome, the heart of Christendom, the works and dedication of St. Joseph Calasanz remained the same if not even greater than before. He helped victims of a flood, helped educate poor and young children, and he ministered faithfully to the people of God wherever he went to serve. He was truly exemplary, and together with St. Louis IX, he had indeed shown how we should live our faith life, pure and untainted by the greed and desires of this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the examples had shown clearly the contrasts we need to be aware of, and we ought to take these seriously, as we should not follow the examples of the Pharisees and the elders who were corrupt and were concerned about only how to bring the best for themselves and cared only for their prosperity and glory, while the saints whose lives we celebrate today, truly exemplified the virtues of the Lord and gave us the examples of how we should live our own lives.

May we all be able to rid ourselves of our selfishness and human desires, as the Pharisees had demonstrated, that these are great obstacles for us to reach the Lord. May Almighty God guide us and bless us on our way, that we may truly be able to follow in His footsteps and grow to be better and more dedicated people whom He loves dearly. God be with us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 23 August 2014 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, Virgin (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Virgins)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we heard about how the Lord spoke to the people on the need for us all to be humble and true in our faith, and that a question is actually posed to us, namely, whether we are able to realise if what we do in this life truly serve the Lord or to serve our own purposes, and whether these bring benefits to our salvation through the good intentions we had, or if we merely feed the sense of our own ego and pride.

And in the first reading we read about the vision of Ezekiel who saw the glory of God in heaven, to whom God had granted His favour, allowing him to see the marvels of the Lord, and the true nature and glory of God, who is Almighty and All-Powerful. After all, He is the Lord of all, and the Creator of all things, living and non-living. Therefore, it is only right that He and His majesty ought to be praised, honoured and worshipped.

That comes therefore to the point when Jesus pointed out the contrast between this and the behaviours and attitudes of the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the elders of the people. They wore elaborate garments and ornaments, praying loudly and visibly in public places, not because they had God in their hearts and minds, but instead, they were truly serving their own glory, their own ego and their own desires.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is easy for us mankind to be tempted by the goodness around us, and it is easy for us to be tempted to bring goodness and glory to ourselves. However, we should neither be quick to judge others, in particular when this concerns what we have in the Church. Many these days do not truly understand what the Church had done, and what we especially used to commonly do in the past, before the flaw-filled implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

We are often quick to judge when we look at the past and saw the greatness and opulence of the celebration of the Mass of the Ages, that is the Usus Antiquior or the Ancient Use of the Mass according to the rites approved by the Council of Trent. We who live in this modern world and time are often not aware of the tradition of our faith, and we end up accusing those who remain faithful to the rites of our fathers in the same way they accused the Pharisees and the elders of Israel.

However, if we understand the true beauty of the celebration of the Mass as it was according to the rite of the Council of Trent, we will realise how much honour, praise and adoration this way of worship offers to the Lord. All the beauty and the honours present in the celebration of the Mass, all of them are not for men, but for the sake of God. On the other hand, the Pharisees and the elders of Israel, when they pray and work, they do them to gain the praise and adoration from men, and therefore their hearts are not filled with God, but instead with the desire and greed of men.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Rose of Lima, or St. Rosa of Lima, the first saint of the Latin American region and in fact the very first saint which was born in the Americas or the New World. She was a very beautiful woman, who out of great piety and love for the Lord, refused to listen to the will of their parents who wanted her to marry, and despite many suitors who chased after her, she purposefully splashed dust and pepper on her face to make herself look ugly to deter her numerous suitors.

St. Rose of Lima had such a great devotion to the Lord, that she wanted to join the religious life to dedicate herself completely and fully to God. This was opposed by her father, but she did not give up. Instead, she continued to grow stronger in her faith and love for God, and took up a perpetual vow of virginity to show her total dedication towards the Lord.

St. Rose of Lima even resorted to wear a heavy silver crown with thorns in the memory of the suffering of Christ as He wore the crown of thorns on the way to Calvary. She remained pious and holy, and she received visions throughout her short life, and many were inspired by her great zeal and faith for God. In her, we see an exemplary model, who showed us that human beauty, greatness and ego should have no place or value at all. Rather, we should all be humble, and do not flaunt or be proud of our achievements and greatness.

If we have a good trait or something that God had given us, then all the more we should humbly use them for the benefit of others around us, and dedicating them to the greatness of the Lord, just as St. Rose of Lima and many other saints of God had done. Let us all work hard for the Lord and for all of us ourselves, helping one another to reach our Lord and God. May Almighty God bless us all in everything we do and guide us to Himself. Amen.

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(Usus Antiquior) Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Feast of St. Lawrence, Martyr (Double II Classis) – Sunday, 10 August 2014 : Gradual and Alleluia

Psalm 8 : 2 and Psalm 58 : 2

Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est Nomen Tuum in universa terra!

Response : Quoniam elevata est magnificentia Tua super caelos.

Alleluja, alleluja.

Response : Eripe me de inimicis meus, Deus meus : et ab insurgentibus in me libera me. Alleluja.

English translation

O Lord our Lord, how admirable is Your Name in the whole earth.

Response : For Your magnificence is elevated above the heavens.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Response : Deliver me from my enemies, o my God, and defend me from those that rise up against me. Alleluia.

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Thursday, 7 August 2014 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Xystus II/Pope St. Sixtus II, Pope and Companions, Martyrs and St. Cajetan, Priest (Psalm)

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

Psalm 50 : 12-13, 14-15, 18-19

Create in me, o God, a pure heart; give me a new and steadfast spirit. Do not cast me out of Your presence nor take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Give me again the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will show wrongdoers Your ways and sinners will return to You.

You take no pleasure in sacrifice; were I to give a burnt offering, You would not delight in it. O God, my sacrifice is a broken spirit; a contrite heart You will not despise.

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Saturday, 26 July 2014 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Jeremiah 7 : 1-11

These words were spoken by YHVH, to Jeremiah, “Stand at the gate of YHVH’s house and proclaim this in a loud voice : Listen to what YHVH says, all you people of Judah who enter these gates to worship YHVH. YHVH the God of Israel says this :”

“Amend your ways and your deeds and I will stay with you in this place. Rely not on empty words such as : ‘Look, the Temple of YHVH! The Temple of YHVH! This is the Temple of YHVH!’ It is far better for you to amend your ways and act justly with all.”

“Do not abuse the stranger, orphan or widow or shed innocent blood in this place or follow false gods to your own ruin. Then I will stay with you in this place, in the land I gave to your ancestors in times past and forever. But you trust in deceptive and useless words. You steal, kill, take the wife of your neighbour; you swear falsely, worship Baal and follow foreign gods who are not yours.”

“Then, after doing all these horrible things, you come and stand before Me in this temple that bears My Name and say, ‘Now we are safe.’ Is this house on which rests My Name a den of thieves? I have seen this myself – it is YHVH who speaks.”

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Thursday, 24 July 2014 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Sharbel Makhluf, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we hear the admonition, almost to the point of lamentation, on why the people of God, whom God had loved so much, did not appreciate that love and refused to budge and listen to the kind words of the Lord, offering hope and comfort. God had done so much for men, as we all may testify and witness in how He cared for His people throughout the Scriptures, and yet they rejected His love.

But the Lord is not someone who would just leave sinners like that once His approach had been spurned. In fact, He tried many times and sent reminders after reminders to tell mankind, both how much He loves us, and also how He gave us chance after chance, which we either ignored or cast aside in our pursuit for the goodness of the world. We have tasted the corruptions of this world, and into sin, where we have fallen into.

Our hearts and minds are corrupted with the darkness of sin, and our beings are filled with darkness that prevents us from seeing the light and living in the light. We are truly the creatures of darkness, unlike the children of the light we all ought to become. And precisely as it had been written in the Scripture reading today, how we trust rather in the leaking faucet and pipes, that is our own flawed strength and feeble foundations, over the strength of the everlasting spring of God’s power.

We are easily tempted, and too easily bribed by Satan who offered the sweetest of his treacherous lies and temptations. He has all of his forces arrayed against us, tempting us daily that we may eventually falter along our path towards salvation, and be dragged together with him into the hellfire. That is why, brothers and sisters in Christ, we must be vigilant and be solid in our faith, that we have a strong defense against whatever it is that the devil is using against us.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Sharbel Makhluf or St. Charbel Makhluf, a renowned Maronite saint, who lived just over a hundred years ago in today’s Lebanon. St. Sharbel Makhluf is a holy man and a deeply devoted person to God, who was born to a devout Christian Maronite family, a group of Christians that has dwelled for a very long time in Lebanon area since the days of the early Church, and which remained loyal to the authority of the Apostles even though many others had apostasized.

St. Sharbel Makhluf joined the religious life and devoted his life entirely to God. He was truly a role model for the faithful, and his life was an example for all to see. His life might have been relatively uneventful, and he dedicated all of his time to God. However, upon his passing from this world to the heavens to be with God, miracles came abound from his body and his grave. This is a mark of favour by God, showing how much He blessed those who are with Him and who devoted themselves to Him.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, should we not follow the examples of this great and yet humble saint of God? In his life, St. Sharbel Makhluf had shown us that it is perfectly possible for us all to be faithful servants of our God, provided that we set our sights, our attention and our hearts on Him alone. If we do these things, certainly God will bless us just as He had once blessed St. Sharbel Makhluf.

Let us all therefore seek God in this life, and devote ourselves ever more to our loving God. God wants nothing other than our love and devotion, just as He Himself had first been devoted to us. Let us no longer spurn His love, but with great humility, ask Him for His grace and forgiveness, that we may once again enjoy the fullness of His love. God be with us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 22 July 2014 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Mary Magdalene (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Song of Songs 3 : 1-4a

On my bed at night I looked for the one I love, I sought him without finding him; I called him and he did not answer. I will rise and go about the city, through the streets and the squares; I will seek the love of my heart…

I sought him without finding him; the watchmen came upon me, those who patrol the city. “Have you seen the love of my heart?” As soon as I left them, I found the love of my heart.

Alternative reading

2 Corinthians 5 : 14-17

Indeed the love of Christ holds us and we realise that if He died for all, all have died. He died for all so that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them.

And so from now on, we do not regard anyone from a human point of view; and even if we once knew Christ personally, we should now regard Him in another way.

For that same reason, the one who is in Christ is a new creature. For Him the old things have passed away; a new world has come.

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Monday, 21 July 2014 : 16th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

Matthew 12 : 38-42

Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” Jesus answered them, “An evil and unfaithful people want a sign, but no sign will be given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man spend three days and three nights in the depths of the earth.”

“At the judgment, the people of Nineveh will rise with this generation and condemn it, because they reformed their lives at the preaching of Jonah, and here there is greater than Jonah. At the judgment, the Queen of the South will stand up and condemn you. She came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and here there is greater than Solomon.”

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Saturday, 19 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady)

Psalm 9 : 22-23, 24-25, 28-29, 35 (1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14)

Why, o Lord, do You stand afar? Why hide from us in times of distress? The wicked are in power; the weak suffer harassment; the poor become victims of evil schemes.

Exploiters boast in their power and greed; the covetous blasphemes and defies God. In their pride the wicked say, “There is no God.” They see no further.

Their mouths are filled with cursing, deceit and threats; spite and mischief are under their tongues. They lie in ambush near the villages, murdering the innocent and the unfortunate, spying upon their next victim.

But You see those in misery, o God, and You take it in hand. The unfortunate commits Himself to You; the orphan turns to You for help.

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Wednesday, 16 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of Mount Carmel (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Marian feasts)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel, a particularly renowned devotion to Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is known primarily for the distinctive brown scapular that our Lady had asked those who devote themselves to her to wear. This scapular is the sign of our devotion to the Blessed Mother, which we express through our pious prayers and dedication to the mother of our Lord.

The feast today is celebrating the patroness of the Carmelite religious order, which was established in the region of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land during the era of the Crusades, nearly a thousand years ago. The Carmelites were a religious group who was truly devoted to the Lord through their devotion to God’s people and through their devotion to the Most Blessed Mary, mother of God. Their patron is none other than Mary, who was given the title of our Lady of Mount Carmel, a sign of her patronage of the order.

The brown scapular is a sacramental, and its use, with a proper and genuine faith will help mankind who wear it on their path to salvation. But that is exactly why, we cannot simply wear them without genuine and dedicated faith to the Lord, as wearing them without that kind of faith does not do anything good at all. The brown scapular of our Lady of Mount Carmel reminds us in fact, that we need to adhere to the examples shown by Mary herself, and follow her in her piety and faith to God.

For Jesus in the Gospel did not humiliate or chastise Mary and His own relatives when He said the words of how those who do the will of God are His brothers, family and mother. In fact, what Jesus said affirmed the faithfulness and the zealous piety of Mary, and her worthiness to be the very Mother of God, the one who bore Christ the Saviour into this world.

Mary is the greatest and most faithful servant of our Lord, who gave herself up in total surrender to God, especially when the Archangel Gabriel showed himself to her, and announced the Good News of the Lord. She accepted her role faithfully and with complete and full trust in the Lord without even a single hint of hesitation. She willingly allowed herself to play a crucial part in God’s plan of salvation, even though that would eventually bring her to much sorrow.

Mary has been entrusted by our Lord to be our mother as well, when on the cross at Golgotha, He entrusted Mary His mother to the care of John, His disciple, and vice versa, He entrusted John to the care of His own mother, Mary. By this act, mankind had also been entrusted to the loving care of Mary, so that Mary is also our mother and the same love she had shown to Jesus our Lord, she shows to us as well.

As we heard in the Scriptures today, mankind had fallen into a state of self-preservation and self-glorification, trusting more in the own power and might rather than in the power of God. The old kingdoms of Israel and Judah of the Old Testament fell because of their many wicked kings who only thought of themselves and of the powers and the glories of the world. And the contemporaries of Jesus such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees thought only of themselves and their own safety rather than following the will of God through Jesus His Son.

Today, Jesus through His mother calls all of us to repentance and penance, that is to totally change our ways for the better. We ought to abandon our ways of sin and rebelliousness against God, and instead follow the Lord with all of our hearts, just exactly as how Mary had once done when she lived her earthly life in this world. If we follow her examples, we are sure to be safe in our journey towards God.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all remember today as we wear the brown scapular, and all the subsequent days, to consecrate ourselves both to Mary our mother, and to her Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us follow her and walk with her, as she leads us towards the throne of her Son. Let us throw far, far away all pride and arrogance from our hearts, all forms of wicked desires and wants for pleasures, and seek instead the Lord our God with all of our hearts.

May God Almighty, together with the intercession of His Blessed Mother Mary, our Lady of Mount Carmel, bring us ever closer to Him and keep us ever close to. His heart. Amen.