Sacred Liturgy

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Monday, 28 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate the feast of two of the Twelve Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely St. Simon, well known once as the Zealot, because he belonged to the faction of the Jews called the Zealots who were bitterly opposed to the Roman Empire dominance over Judea and the people of Israel. The other one is St. Jude, son of James, also often better known as St. Jude Thaddeus, to distinguish them from the traitor, Judas Iscariot.

They were among those who had given their all for the cause of Christ after they had witnessed Jesus and His ministry in this world, even unto giving up their own life in sacred martyrdom as they spread the Good News of salvation to the far ends of the world. St. Simon the Zealot went far and travelled to the ends of the known world at the time, spreading the word of God to people of many nations.

He was martyred in his mission, and met his death defending the faith he had in God, after a life of full dedication to the Lord, and after having saved many souls of nations and bring them back to God. St. Jude Thaddeus, whom we all know as a patron saint for hopeless and difficult cases, also went far and travelled around the regions, preaching the Gospel and salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

He converted many to the cause of the Lord, and bring the faith to faraway lands, including Armenia, Libya, and present day Iraq. He was martyred in area now known as Lebanon, together with St. Simon the Zealot I had mentioned earlier, and were beheaded together in the defense of their faith. Their deaths on the same occasion, is the reason why we celebrate their feasts together on the same day, that is this day.

The Apostles were called from among the many disciples of Christ, to be the closest confidants and followers of Christ, and to be the witnesses of the Lord’s grand plan for salvation, witnessing the rebirth of mankind from the darkness which had engulfed them for so long, into the light of God.

These were witnessed by the Apostles, as well as some of the disciples, in its entirety, save for Judas Iscariot, who faltered along the way and betrayed the Lord to His death. He is no longer counted among the Apostles, and indeed, perhaps even among those who are saved in Christ. The other Apostles too faced difficulties, and they too faltered especially when Christ was taken away from them by the chief priests and the Roman authorities.

Yet, the Holy Spirit came upon them and dwell deep in their hearts, and they were empowered and encouraged, to stand up and defend the faith they have received from God, and went on to be on the front lines, working, preaching, and spreading to all nations the Good News of salvation. Their mission, given to them by God is not an easy one, but they persevered and feared not any persecution nor opposition.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today, therefore, follow in the example of the Holy Apostles, especially that of St. Simon the Zealot and St. Jude Thaddeus, whose feasts we are celebrating today, proclaiming God’s glory and power to all the nations, without fear and with complete faith in the Lord our God. Let us strive for the Lord’s sake and for the sake of His people, our brethren, especially those who still live in the darkness of sin.

May the Lord strengthen us and our faith, empowering us with His love. God’s love be with us all. Amen.

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Monday, 28 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 6 : 12-19

At this time Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God. When day came, He called His disciples to Him, and chose twelve of them, whom He called ‘Apostles’ : Simon, whom He named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alpheus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who would be the traitor.

Coming down the hill with them, Jesus stood in an open plain. Many of His disciples were there and a large crowd of people, who had come from all parts of Judea and Jerusalem, and from the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.

They gathered to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. And people troubled by unclean spirits were cured. The entire crowd tried to touch Him, because of the power that went out from Him and healed them all.

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Monday, 28 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Psalm 18 : 2-3, 4-5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the work of His hands. Day talks it over with day; night hands on the knowledge to night.

No speech, no words, no voice is heard – but the call goes on throughout the universe, the message is felt to the ends of the earth.

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Monday, 28 October 2013 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Ephesians 2 : 19-22

Now you are no longer strangers or guests, but fellow citizens of the holy people : you are of the household of God. You are the house whose foundations are the apostles and prophets, and whose cornerstone is Christ Jesus.

In Him the whole structure is joined together and rises to be a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you too are being built to become the spiritual sanctuary of God.

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Brethren, beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. What right do we have to be proud and judgmental before God and before others? What right do we have to condemn others because we think that we are better than them? And what right do we have to boast of ourselves and the good things that we do, before the Lord our God? None, we have none of these rights, because we truly are all sinners without exception, all equal before the Lord.

The Lord loves all those who are humble, and those who are in deep realisation of their own sins. They are truly beloved by God, because they are those who are more likely to have God in their hearts, and also those who are more likely to put the Lord at the centre of their hearts and at the centre of their very being. It does not mean that the proud and the mighty do not have the Lord in their hearts, but they are predisposed to put less importance to the Lord compared to those who are meek and humble.

This is because, due to our nature, our pride very often stands in the way of salvation in God, as well as blocking the love of God from reaching us. When pride masters our hearts, it grows to arrogance, and a feeling of superiority that tends to shut out anything that points out our inadequacies and mistakes, because we tend to put ever more and more trust in our own strengths and abilities.

We must not therefore, be like the Pharisee, who basked in his own glory, and praising his own goodness. He even went on to look down upon those whom he considered to be not as good as him, particularly the tax collector. He thought of himself as being pious and saved, but in fact he is truly empty within him, and without God as the centre of his life.

In doing what he had done, the Pharisee had highlighted the pride he has in him, and how he gave in to that pride, and finally, in his prayers, he gave glory to himself and did not give glory to God. The Lord who sees all and knows all will give what the Pharisee and other people like him, what they deserved. They deserved neither praise nor honour, because in their pride, they gave no glory to God, and in a prayer full of hubris, they revealed the darkness of their souls.

Brethren, although Jesus used the example of the Pharisees to depict the bad seed in the society, in many different occasions and conditions, that is mainly because at that time, the Pharisees were well known for their very strict adherence to the laws of Moses, as well as the other, numerous Jewish laws and customs.

This is in fact good, as indeed, we all need to obey and follow God’s rules and laws. However, in the way that this was done by the Pharisees, they had not done what the Lord truly wanted them to do, and in fact, the Pharisees obeyed mostly the laws of men, that is the numerous rules, regulations, and rituals created by the people over many generations.

They have lost the understanding of the true meaning of the law of God, as well as how it should be implemented. They had become obsessed at the observation of the laws derived from the true law, that they did those rules without true understanding of why they did so. Even worse, as the leaders of the people and role model of the people, they have misguided the people of God, and also exploited them, by imposing on them the crushing weight of such rules and regulations.

What the Lord truly wants from us, His children, is the love and dedication that we can give Him, genuinely and sincerely, from the depth of our hearts. This kind of love is not easy for us to achieve, as it means the total giving of ourselves, the opening of our hearts to the Lord and His love. In the same way, the Lord also wants us to love one another just as we have loved ourselves, and just as we have loved Him. These are the essence of the true desire of the Lord for us, through which He guided us via His laws and commandments.

This is why, the Lord loves the prayer of the tax collector mentioned in Jesus’ teaching, where He mentioned that the prayer of the tax collector was heard and he had his sins forgiven for him. The tax collector did not only distance himself from the Holy Presence of God, feeling so unworthy because he realised the depth of his faults and iniquities, but he even lowered himself humbly before God’s presence, kneeling in great shame before God.

And yet, it is this tax collector who are more capable of understanding his own sins, being in greater realisation of the faults he had committed. As I would like to highlight again what the late, saintly Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen had said, that the greater the sin one has, the closer is one to the throne of mercy. The darker one’s sins are, the more shame they should experience before the Lord their God.

Yet, the problem lies in that, many of us today are desensitised to sin. We are no longer feeling that shame whenever we commit sinful deeds. We instead even find sin to be good things and things that we enjoy. Hence we begin our path to downfall, by not realising the gravity of our sinfulness, and putting our pride ahead of us. In essence, we are becoming more and more like the Pharisee instead of the remorseful tax collector.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, lastly, the Lord also taught us the importance of prayer through the same parable, that we ought to pray, but not just any prayer. A prayer that is truly genuine and from the heart, made in complete submission to the will of God, and also complete willingness to listen to the word of God being spoken in our hearts.

Prayer is not just about us talking all the time, and neither it is a litany of demands and wishes for us to send to the Lord. Instead, a prayer is ought to be how it is intended, that is as a two-way communication channel between us and the Lord. That is what prayer truly is, brothers and sisters! Talk less and listen more! The Lord who knows all certainly knows what we truly need. It is often that what we desire is not what we need. In our greed it is likely for us to desire even things that we do not truly need.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, today all of us are called to a life of greater holiness, deeper spirituality, and greater commitment to the Lord. We need a deeper faith, a healthier prayer life, and ultimately, greater dedication and love for our fellow mankind, and especially, for the Lord Himself. May we grow ever stronger in our faith, our hope and love in God. God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 18 : 9-14

Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others : “Two men went up to the Temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.”

“The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank You, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and give the tenth of all my income to the Temple.'”

“In the meantime the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.'”

“I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

2 Timothy 4 : 6-8, 16-18

As for me, I am already poured out as a libation, and the moment of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness with which the Lord, the just Judge, will reward me on that day; and not only me, but all those who have longed for His glorious coming.

At my first hearing in court no one supported me; all deserted me. May the Lord not hold it against them. But the Lord was at my side, giving me strength to proclaim the Word fully, and let all the pagans hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will save me from all evil, bringing me to His heavenly kingdom. Glory to Him forever and ever. Amen!

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 33 : 2-3, 17-18, 19 and 23

I will bless the Lord all my days; His praise will be ever on my lips. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the lowly hear and rejoice.

But His face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.

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Sunday, 27 October 2013 : 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Sirach 35 : 12-14, 16-19

The Lord is judge and shows no partiality. He will not disadvantage the poor, He who hears the prayer of the oppressed. He does not disdain the plea of the orphan, nor the complaint of the widow.

The one who serves God wholeheartedly will be heard; his petition will reach the clouds. The prayer of the humble person pierces the clouds, and he is not consoled until he has been heard. His prayer will not cease until the Most High has looked down, until justice has been done in favour of the righteous.

And the Lord will not delay, nor will He be patient with the wicked.

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Saturday, 26 October 2013 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

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

Brethren, bear fruit and be bountiful in all our actions and graces. That is what the Lord wants from all of us, when He told us through His disciples, on the parable of the fig tree. We should not be barren and unproductive, as the fig tree that was barren.

Yes, we are the fig trees, and we have been given much ‘nutrients’ that is the love and the Spirit of the Lord, and this love within us has grown much, and then, comes what is expected from us, that we bear fruits from ourselves. The Lord can be likened to a farmer or a landlord, and this world, His field. We are then the seeds that the Lord had planted in this world, and in time, as we are nurtured in faith and love, we grow tall as a majestic plant, and in time, bear flowers and hence much fruits.

However, it does not mean that we can just remain idle. If we remain idle and do nothing, then we will never bear fruit. Although the Lord can be likened to the farmer of the field, we too are in a sense farmers of the field of the Lord, for we have to toil and labour for the sake of the plants that are ours, that they will grow healthy and bear bountiful products.

Plants can indeed grow without assistance, and even so, they can also bear fruit, but the results are usually not good, and the plant will likely look sick and weak. There are many threats to the healthy growth of a plant, especially for crop plants, such as weeds, diseases, lack of nutrients due to barren soil, heat and dryness, and many other factors. Equally so, there are many factors that help these plants to grow better, such as water, fertiliser, insecticides, and many others.

Therefore, by using these farming examples, just as Christ had done, let us take time to reflect on ourselves and on the actions we have taken in the past. When we look back at what we had done, especially in the past one week or so, have we noticed what we had done for the healthy growth of our faith? You may ask what is the relationship between the farming story and our own real lives, but they are indeed very clear, brethren.

For the plants indeed reflect ourselves and our own nature, the faith that is in us, the faith we have towards the One and True God. The plants cannot grow well or even die, if it is choked by weeds, or being competed out by the roots of those weeds, lacking nutrients for growth, and if the soil itself is lacking in the aforementioned nutrients. In human terms, this can be equated to the entanglement of sin, temptations of the world, and an environment without love.

In this world, brothers and sisters, it is getting more difficult for us, in order to ensure the healthy growth of our faith, that eventually it will bear fruits. This world offers us too much temptations at times, for many of us to be able to persevere, and we often give in to our desires. We become ensnared by the threads spun by the devil, and fell into state of sin. We also often live in environments not conducive for the development of healthy faith in God.

This is where, we need our fertilisers, insecticides, and basically everything fhat makes plants grow healthy, strong, and fruitful. Our fertiliser is our prayers, made in deep love, devotion, and faith in God our Lord. A good prayer life nurture our spiritual development, and we will also then be made ever closer to the Lord our God. Without prayer, we will not be able to get closer to God, and we will be more prone to the power of the devil and his temptations.

Therefore, brethren, let us begin from now on, to develop an ever more intimate relationship with God, especially by nurturing a healthy and deeply spiritual life, that our hearts will be ever filled with the love of God, thus helping us to grow strong in our faith, and ultimately to be fruitful, producing plenty of fruits. Yes, the fruits of the Holy Spirit are what we will richly produce from ourselves, in the love, hope, wisdom, and faith that pour out from the deepest depth of our hearts.

May the Lord who planted the seeds of faith and love in us continue to guide us, that we can nurture what is good inside us, that we can truly be fruitful, producing the richness of love, that we will be found worthy by the Lord our God when He comes again. God bless us all. Amen.