Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 118 : 1-2, 4-5, 7-8
Blessed are they whose ways are upright, who follow the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they who treasure His word and seek Him with all their heart.
You have laid down precepts to be obeyed. O, that my ways were steadfast in observing Your statutes!
I will praise You with an upright spirit when I learn Your just precepts by heart. I mean to observe Your commandments. O, never abandon me.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Deuteronomy 26 : 16-19
On this day, YHVH, your God, commands you to fulfil these norms and these commandments. Obey them now and put them into practice with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today YHVH has declared to you that He will be your God, and so you shall follow His ways, observing His norms, His commandments and His laws, and listening to His voice. Today YHVH has declared that you will be His very own people even as He had promised you, and you must obey all His commandments.
He, for His part, will give you honour, renown and glory, and set you high above all the nations He has made, and you will become a nation consecrated to YHVH, your God, as He has declared.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we are all reminded that God is so full of love and mercy towards us, that He is willing to forgive us all our sins and to give us once again the wondrous graces and love, the promise of inheritance that we have once been entitled to, through the forgiveness of our sins. Although our sins may have indeed been very great, but God’s love for each one of us is even greater.
That is why He was willing to give it all to us, for our sake, that He willingly carried the heavy burden of the cross, so that by His suffering on the cross and by His death, He frees us all from the bondage of sin and death. The cross of Christ is the perfect symbol and evidence of His love for each one of us, of the great desire which Our Lord has for our salvation and for our turnaround from the path towards damnation, into reconciliation with Him.
God is calling on all of us to repent from our sins, and to turn away from our wicked paths, calling on us to abandon our past ways of disobedience and waywardness, our refusal to listen to Him and our stubbornness in following our own prideful and ambitious ways. God gives us opportunities, one after another, chances after chances, for us to turn back to Him, and to seek Him and His mercy before it is too late for us.
In the Gospel passage today, we heard of how the Lord Jesus confronted the Pharisees who criticised Him for His interactions with those whom they deemed to be sinners and to be unworthy of God’s grace and love. The tax collectors were among those who were at the bottom of the society’s regards and status, as they were widely viewed as betrayers and traitors to the nation for having apparently colluded with the Roman overlords.
But the Lord showed pity and mercy towards them, even when the Pharisees were criticising Him before the people for doing so. And the Lord made it clear that He came into the world seeking the healing and forgiveness of sinners, and those whose sins were greater, were those whom the Lord sought first, as He hoped to rescue them from the fate of eternal damnation. And many of the tax collectors were sorrowful and repentant of their sins, and they were forgiven.
And we heard how one among the tax collectors left everything behind and followed the Lord, the man who was known as Levi, later known as St. Matthew the Apostle, one of the Twelve Apostles and also one of the Four Evangelists. This example shows us how even great sinners can become great saints, as long as they turn away from their sinful ways and sincerely repented from their wickedness. Those who turn towards God and placed their trust in Him will indeed not be disappointed.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must realise that none of us are perfect in our ways, and in some way or another, we have not been fully obedient and good, and therefore, sins have corrupted us and caused us to fall deeper and deeper into this trap, and being led further and further away in estrangement from the Lord. We should not follow the examples of the Pharisees, who took great pride in their supposed piety and righteousness.
Why is that so, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because it does not matter how small or how great our sins are, as the fact remains that we are all sinners in need of healing and forgiveness. And it does not give any one of us the right to condemn or look down on others just because we think that our sins are lighter and smaller than others’ sins. It is not right for us to be judgmental on others just because we think that we are better than them.
Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Frances of Rome, a holy woman and religious Benedictine oblate who was remembered for her devotion and piety, despite her noble and privileged upbringing. St. Frances of Rome often took care of the sick and the poor that she encountered, and despite the various challenges that she and her family had to experience, she continued to live a holy life that is dedicated to the service of God, and in her charitable love for her brethren who were in need.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, we are called to follow in the footsteps of our holy predecessors, in how they lived their lives with holiness, turning away from sins and wickedness. God is calling each and every one of us to holiness, to be forgiven from our sins, that we may be redeemed from our bondage to that great obstacle which prevented us from being able to be reunited with our God.
Let us all dedicate ourselves anew to the Lord, our time, effort and attention, to love the Lord our God and to serve our fellow brethren, to care for those who are in need. May the Lord be with us always, and may He strengthen us all in our love and dedication for Him. May God bless us all and our good works. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 5 : 27-32
At that time, after Jesus healed a paralytic man, He went out, and noticing a tax collector named Levi, sitting in the tax office, He said to him, “Follow Me!” So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus.
Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house, and took their places at the table with the other people. Then the Pharisees and their followers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it, that you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. I have not come to call the just, but sinners, to a change of heart.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 85 : 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Listen, o YHVH, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy. Preserve my life, for I am God-fearing; save Your servant who trusts in You.
Have mercy on me, o YHVH, for I cry to You all day. Bring joy to the soul of Your servant; for You, o YHVH, I lift up my soul.
You are good and forgiving, o YHVH, caring for those who call on You. Listen, o YHVH, to my prayer, hear the voice of my pleading.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Isaiah 58 : 9b-14
If you remove from your midst the yoke, the clenched fist and the wicked word. If you share your food with the hungry and give relief to the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark, your night will be like noon.
YHVH will guide you always and give you relief in desert places. He will strengthen your bones; He will make you as a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fall. Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, the age-old foundations will be raised. You will be called the Breach-mender, and the Restorer of ruined houses.
If you stop profaning the Sabbath and doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the Sabbath a day of delight and keep sacred YHVH’s holy day, if you honour it by not going your own way, not doing as you please and not speaking with malice, then you will find happiness in YHVH, over the heights you will ride triumphantly, and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of YHVH has spoken.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Lord through the Scriptures reminding each and every one of us of the importance of remembering the fact that we are God’s beloved children. And God our Father is calling upon us to follow His examples, much as children are expected to take after their parents and follow the examples of their fathers. We are all special, having been created, as mentioned in our first reading passage today, in the very image of God Himself.
It is indeed so special that we are called God’s children, among all the creatures of the Lord’s creation. Not even the Angels, the mightiest among them, are called the children of God. For we are the crowning glory of God’s works of creation and we are the pinnacle of His wonders and power. Yet, we are also great sorrows that the Lord had experienced, because instead of obeying Him and listening to Him, we chose to wander off into the path of sin, and became lost to Him.
God has placed everything He created under our care, as that is what He intended to do with us, as He originally conceived it, for God created us out of love and He wants us to enjoy the fruits of His creation and be happy throughout our existence. We were never intended to suffer or to be sorrowful with grief and pain. But it was because of our disobedience, and the misuse of the free will that God has given us, we chose to sin and therefore, fall into the trap of Satan.
Satan planted in us the seeds of rebelliousness and disobedience, and by tugging at the temptations of our pride, ego and greed, we fell to the trap of sin, and as a result, we have become wayward children of the Lord, as lost sheep that have fallen away and become stranded far from their shepherd. That is why man have been sundered from the fullness of God’s grace, and suffered in this world, all because of the sins we ourselves have committed.
But God did not abandon us to perish, and neither did He remain indifferent to our sufferings and to our predicaments. On the contrary, He always actively sought to rescue us and to liberate us from our sinful state, and He has provided us with the path through which we may be saved from this predicament. He provided us with nothing less than His own most Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has become one like us, assuming the flesh of our humanity, and therefore, the meaning of our existence as children of God has been renewed and made even more significant.
What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? It means that because God’s own beloved Son has been born into this world, in our midst, as one of our own brothers, we have become adopted sons and daughters of God by virtue of our relationship with Christ, our Saviour, Lord and Redeemer. God has given us this wonderful grace, because He loves each and every one of us, that it is His will and desire, that He would have to suffer for our sake, to bear the mighty burden of our sins.
Despite all the pain and sufferings that He had to suffer for all of that, God did not cease in His love and perseverance for us. We just have to look at the determination which He showed us all when He bore that cross up the long journey to Calvary. The cross of Christ is the ultimate proof of His love for us, and His determination to reconcile us to Himself. God wants us all to be gathered back to Himself, to become His children once again.
Indeed, as the Lord Jesus mentioned to His disciples in our Gospel passage today, we are called to be like small children, in our faith towards Him. And why is that so? That is because all of us who have seen small children, would have known how innocent and pure they are, and when they believe in something, they truly and genuinely believe in it without any reservations or any ulterior motives, like greed, pride or ego.
We are called to have a renewed love and commitment for God, to love God with all of our hearts and minds, with all of our strengths and abilities once again, as we had once done. Are we able to dedicate ourselves just as the Lord has dedicated Himself to us? He wants us to enjoy once again the glorious inheritance and endowment that He has promised us all from the beginning of creation.
May the Lord, our loving Father and our Saviour, continue to love each and every one of us, and may He continue to guide us on our journey of life, reminding and rebuking us as necessary to make sure that we are on the right path and not fall into the temptation to sin. May God always bless us in our good works, and help us in everything we do. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Mark 10 : 13-16
At that time, people were bringing their little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, and the disciples rebuked them for this. When Jesus noticed it, He was very angry and said, “Let the children come to Me and do not stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
Then He took the children in His arms and, laying His hands on them, blessed them.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Psalm 102 : 13-14, 15-16, 17-18a
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.
The days of mortals are like grass; they bloom like a flower of the field; but the wind passes over it, and it is gone, his field will not see him again.
But the Lord’s kindness is forever with those who fear Him; so is His justice, for their children’s children, for those who keep His covenant and remember His commands.
Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of Our Lady)
Sirach 17 : 1-15
The Lord created man from the earth and let him return to earth. He settled a fixed time for them and a set number of days, giving them power over everything on earth. He endowed them with a strength like His own, making them in His own image.
He put fear of them in all living things, thus they had mastery over the animals and birds. He endowed them with knowledge; He gave them tongue and eyes, ears and a mind to think with. He filled them with wisdom and knowledge; He taught them good and evil. He put His own eye in their hearts so they would understand the greatness of His works. They will praise His holy Name and relate the magnificence of His creation.
He gave them revealed knowledge as well and handed over to them the Law of life. He established an everlasting covenant with them and let them know His judgments. Human eyes saw the splendour of the Glory of God; their ears heard the grandeur of His voice.
He said to them, “Keep yourselves from all wrongdoing,” and to each of them He gave commands regarding his neighbour. Their conduct is always before the Lord; they cannot escape His sight.
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