salvation in God

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Thursday, 15 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Romans 3 : 21-30a

But, now it has been revealed altogether apart from the Law, as it was already foretold in the Law and the Prophets : God makes us righteous by means of faith in Jesus Christ, and this is applied to all who believe, without distinction of persons.

Because all have sinned and all fall short of the Glory of God; and all are graciously forgiven and made righteous through the redemption effected in Christ Jesus. For God has given Him to be the victim whose blood obtains us forgiveness through faith.

So God shows us how He makes us righteous. Past sins are forgiven which God overlooked till now. For now He wants to reveal His way of righteousness : how He is just and how He makes us righteous through faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our pride? It is excluded. How? Not through the Law and its observances, but through another Law which is faith.

For we hold that people are in God’s grace by faith and not because of all the things ordered by the Law. Otherwise, God would be the God of the Jews; but is He not God of pagan nations as well? Of course He is, for there is only one God and He will save by faith the circumcised Jews as well as the uncircumcised nations.

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Wednesday, 14 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Pope St. Callistus I, Pope and Martyr (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Psalm 61 : 2-3, 6-7, 9

My soul finds rest in God alone; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my Rock and Salvation; with Him as my Stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Find rest in God alone, o my soul; from Him comes my hope. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation; with Him as my Stronghold, I shall not be overcome.

Trust in Him at all times, my people; pour out your hearts before Him; God is our refuge.

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Monday, 12 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Luke 11 : 29-32

At that time, as the crowds increased, Jesus began to speak in this way, “People of the present time are troubled people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a Sign for this generation.”

“The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah’s preaching made them turn from their sins, and here there is greater than Jonah.”

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Monday, 12 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

The Lord has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you lands, make a joyful noise to the Lord, break into song and sing praise.

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Friday, 9 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Denis, Bishop and Companions, Martyrs, and St. John Leonardi, Priest (First Reading)

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

Joel 1 : 13-15 and Joel 2 : 1-2

Gird yourselves, o priests, and weep; mourn, o ministers of the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, o ministers of my God! For the house of your God is deprived of grain and drink offering.

Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land into the house of your God, and cry out to YHVH, “What a dreadful day – the day of YHVH that draws near and comes as ruin from the Almighty!”

YHVH said, “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all dwellers in the land tremble, for the day of YHVH is coming. Yes, the day is fast approaching – a day of gloom and darkness, a day of clouds and blackness. A vast and mighty army comes, like dawn spreading over the mountain, such as has never occurred before nor will happen again in the future.”

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Wednesday, 7 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of the Rosary (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a great feast of the Church, in the memory of the Blessed Mother of our Lord, Mary, one of whose title is the Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, or also known as our Lady of Victory, the beginning of this feast celebrated on every seventh day of the month of October, as the commemoration of the great triumph and victory of the forces of the faithful at the Battle of Lepanto against the infidel Ottoman Turks.

The feast of our Lady of Victory, which would later become the feast of our Lady of the Rosary, was instituted by Pope St. Pius V, who led the forces of Christendom and all the faithful in the great struggle against the heathen and pagan forces of the Ottoman Empire, which at the time was a huge menace to all the faithful, being at its peak, and marching deep into the Christian heartlands.

At the time, the forces of the faithful desperately needed some hope and victory amidst constant retreat and defeats against the mighty forces of the enemy, and at that time, the forces of the infidels were threatening to overrun the entire lands of the faithful, and the threat of persecution and destruction was very real, and many of the faithful feared for their lives.

Led by Pope St. Pius V, and several other prominent civil and military leaders of Christendom, the Church gathered together a force readying itself to defend the faithful ones of God, and they met the forces of the infidels at Lepanto, on the seventh day of October of the year 1571, about four and a half centuries ago. The leaders of Christendom asked for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary before the battle.

And during the great battle, the forces of the enemy were frightened and scared by what they described as a great vision in the clouds of innumerable saints and angels, led by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the side of Christ who is leading His forces against the forces of those who refused to believe in the One, True God. And the enemy forces were scattered, and their ships were sunk, ending the battle in a great and mighty victory for Christendom.

Thus, in thanksgiving, Pope St. Pius V devoted and dedicated the day of the battle as an annual feast in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the patron of the great triumph against the forces of evil. It was the intercession of Mary that has allowed the Lord to be moved to defend His faithful ones, as the prayers of the faithful were gathered by Mary, who brought them to the presence of her Son in heaven, being the closest to the Throne of God.

And today has then been associated with our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, because of the significance of the rosary in the battle that is raging in us, around us and at all times for the sake of our souls. The rosary is a great spiritual weapon that is a great tool for us, our sword and shield against the forces of Satan, all the evil and wickedness arrayed against us.

Why is this so? This is because the rosary itself originated with the vision of our Blessed Mother to St. Dominic de Guzman, many centuries ago, who appeared to him and asked him to spread and propagate the devotion of the rosary, as a means for the faithful to strengthen their spiritual life and defend themselves against the assaults of the devil.

And it was the same Pope St. Pius V who established with formality the devotion of the rosary, and approved it as a method of spiritual prayer to ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary, ever Virgin, to strengthen our defence against the assaults of the evil one. The rosary is named after the rosarium, a crown of roses, apparently what the Blessed Virgin Mary showed to St. Dominic de Guzman who first promoted the use of the rosary.

In each of the flowers or the beads of the rosary, each of these consist of a prayer that is a great weapon against the devil, namely the Ave Maria, or the Hail Mary, signifying the woman and the glory and the honour God gave her, because of the role she played in the salvation of all mankind, and how Satan had been defeated in totality through what she had done, in accepting the role she was to play in our salvation, by bearing the Saviour of the world in herself.

And every time we pray the rosary, Satan and his fellow fallen angels will be reminded of the failure that they had encountered, in failing to corrupt this holy woman whose immaculate conception and freedom from sin, as well as her immaculate and impeccable actions, completely and totally devoted to the Lord her God, is a blinding light that burns the devils and tears them apart.

If we pray the rosary, let us all pray not for the sake of praying or saying the prayers, as praying the rosary in just saying the words, is meaningless and without benefits for us or our salvation. Instead, when we pray the rosary, all of us ought to open ourselves and look deep inside our hearts, and bare everything open to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking her to help us by interceding for us poor sinners, who need help in order to resist the temptations and assaults by the evil one.

Let us pray the rosary with full devotion and intention of heart, that just as the faithful at the Battle of Lepanto cried out to the Lord through His blessed Mother, we too cry out with one voice, asking for help and deliverance from the forces of evil and darkness that engulfed us and oppressed us. God will surely hear us if we ask Him with the help of Mary, His mother. After all, if we remember the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed His very first miracle, He did listen to Mary even though He said that His time was not up yet.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore dutifully devote ourselves in the rosary, to solidify our prayer and spiritual life, and then enhance it with loving actions and deeds, helping others who are in need around us, so that our hearts, minds, bodies and soul may all be attuned strongly to the Lord, and we may be defended against the assaults of Satan and his allies. May God bless us all always, and may His blessed Mother, our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, our Lady of Victory always intercede and pray for us sinners. Amen.

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Wednesday, 7 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of the Rosary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 26-38

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

The angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean. But the angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call Him Jesus.”

“He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the kingdom of David, His ancestor; He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and His reign shall have no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the Holy Child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child; and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”

Then Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the angel left her.

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Wednesday, 7 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of the Rosary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 1 : 46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour!

He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness, and people forever will call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me, Holy is His Name!

From age to age His mercy extends to those who live in His presence. He has acted with power and done wonders, and scattered the proud with their plans.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up those who are downtrodden. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

He held out His hand to Israel, His servant, for He remembered His mercy, even as He promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.

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Wednesday, 7 October 2015 : 27th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of our Lady of the Rosary (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Acts 1 : 12-14

Then the disciples of Jesus returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is a fifteen minute walk away. On entering the city they went to the room upstairs where they were staying.

Present there were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James, son of Alpheus; Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James. All of these together gave themselves to constant prayer. With them were some women and also Mary, the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.

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Sunday, 4 October 2015 : Twenty-Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Hebrews 2 : 9-11

But Jesus who suffered death and for a little while was placed lower than the angels has been crowned with honour and glory. For the merciful plan of God demanded that He experience death on behalf of everyone.

God, from whom all come and by whom all things exist, wanted to bring many children to glory, and He thought it fitting to make perfect through suffering the Initiator of their salvation. So He who gives and those who receive holiness are One. He Himself is not ashamed of calling us brothers and sisters.