Saturday

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Saturday, 9 September 2017 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Gospel Reading)

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

Luke 6 : 1-5

At that time, one Sabbath Jesus was going through a field of grain, and His disciples began to pick heads of grain, crushing them in their hands for food. Some of the Pharisees asked them, “Why do you do what is forbidden on the Sabbath?”

Then Jesus spoke up and asked them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry? He entered the house of God, took and ate the bread of the offering, and even gave some to his men, though only priests are allowed to eat that bread.”

And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord and rules over the Sabbath.”

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Saturday, 9 September 2017 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (Psalm)

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

Psalm 53 : 3-4, 6 and 8

By Your Name, o God, save me; You, the Valiant, uphold my cause. Hear my prayer, o God; listen to the words of my mouth.

See, God is my Helper; the Lord upholds my life. Freely will I offer sacrifice to You, and praise Your Name, o YHVH, for it is good.

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Saturday, 9 September 2017 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Peter Claver, Priest (First Reading)

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

Colossians 1 : 21-23

You, yourselves, were once estranged, and opposed to God, because of your evil deeds, but now, God has reconciled you, in the human body of His Son, through His death, so that you may be without fault, holy and blameless before Him.

Only stand firm upon the foundation of your faith, and be steadfast in hope. Keep in mind the Gospel you have heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

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Saturday, 2 September 2017 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard from the Gospel the parable of the silver talents, in which our Lord Jesus related the story to the people and to His disciples, telling them of what they need to do if they are to remain faithful as His disciples. They cannot be idle or be lukewarm in our faith, and He showed this through the example of the silver talents entrusted by the master to the servants.

The master represents the Lord our God, Who has given each and every one of us with different abilities and gifts, in each of our own capacities, so that we may use them in what He has willed us to do, and to utilise these gifts and abilities He has granted us, all the blessings He has bestowed upon us, for our common good. However, this is something which many of us tend to overlook, and which the Lord wants us to remember through the Scriptures we heard today.

There were three servants who were given different silver talents depending on their abilities, as one was given five silver talents, another was given two silver talents, and one was given one silver talent to be taken care of while the master was away on his official business. Yet the one who has one silver talent hid his silver talent piece away when the two other servants invested their silver talents and gained profit as a result.

When the master came back to his place, and asked for an account from each of his servants, he praised the diligence and astuteness of the two servants who have invested their silver talents and gained great profits from what they have been given, and they were entrusted with even more of the master’s wealth, who knew that those servants could be depended on because of their performance.

Yet, the one who hid his silver talent and did nothing to it, was punished because he failed to do as what his master had said, that is to use the silver talent and invest it so that it would not just remain a silver talent, but instead giving great returns and profits, that when the master himself returned, he would have been able to gain more from what he has entrusted to the servant.

In the same manner, therefore, God will punish us if we have failed to do whatever it is that He had commanded us to do, and in today’s Gospel, He reminded us that He had granted us those many gifts and blessings, each according to our abilities and capacities. If we keep all these things to ourselves without using them, we will be just like the servant who was lazy and did not invest his silver talent.

And then, we should also not say that because God does not bless us with many things in this life, or that because we think that we do not have any special abilities, gifts or anything that we can give, share or use for the benefit of all. If we pay attention to the parable, we notice how the master gave each of the servants different amount of silver talents, each according to the servants’ abilities. Surely God has done the same with us as well. He knows what He has given us, and whatever little we have, even those we can use as well, for the common benefit of all.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all make the pledge from now on, to be generous in our giving, to those who have less than us, in material and most importantly in our love. Let us share what we have received with one another, that God’s blessings in us may multiply and grow greater, just as the silver talents invested by the good servants bore profits.

May the Lord bless our endeavours, and may He be with us throughout our journey in life, that we will ever bear fruits and be filled with goodness in all of our actions. May He empower us to live in His presence with faith, joy and hope at all times. Amen.

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Saturday, 2 September 2017 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Matthew 25 : 14-30

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Imagine someone who, before going abroad, summoned his servants to entrust his property to them. He gave five talents of silver to one servant, two talents to another servant, and one talent to a third, to each, according to his ability; and he went away.”

“He who received five talents went at once to do business with the talents, and gained another five. The one who received two talents did the same, and gained another two. But the one who received one talent dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.”

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and asked for a reckoning. The one who had received five talents came with another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you entrusted me with five talents, but see, I have gained five more.’ The master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in a few things, I will entrust you in charge of many things. Come and share the joy of your master.'”

“Then the one who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you entrusted me with two talents; with them I have gained two more.’ The master said, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, since you have been faithful in little things, I will entrust you in charge of many things. Come and share the joy of your master.'”

“Finally, the one who had received one talent came and said, ‘Master, I know that you are a hard man. You reap what you have not sown, and gather what you have not scattered. I was afraid, so I hid your money in the ground. Here, take what is yours!’ But his master replied, ‘Wicked and worthless servant, you know that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered. You should have deposited my money in the bank, and given it back to me with interest on my return.'”

“Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to the one who has ten. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who are unproductive, even what they have will be taken from them. As for that useless servant, thrown him out into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

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Saturday, 2 September 2017 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 97 : 1, 7-8, 9

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

Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all its people. Let rivers clap their hands, hills and mountains sing with joy.

Before YHVH, for He comes to rule the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the peoples, with fairness.

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Saturday, 2 September 2017 : 21st Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

1 Thessalonians 4 : 9-11

Regarding mutual love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because God, Himself, taught you how to love one another. You already practice it with all the brothers and sisters of Macedonia, but I invite you to do more.

Consider how important it is, to live quietly, without bothering others, to mind your own business, and work with your hands, as we have charged you.

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Saturday, 26 August 2017 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the Word of God in the Scriptures telling us all about the importance of humility and obedience to God, as we heard firstly of how the woman Ruth met Boaz, who would then become the grandparents of the famous king of Israel, David. And then we heard in the Gospel, how Jesus our Lord rebuked the Pharisees and their proud attitude, and their lack of genuine faith to God.

In the first reading today, continuing from what we have heard in the Scriptures, we heard how the woman Ruth, a foreigner, who decided to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi to the land of Israel, met up with Boaz, with whom she would eventually be married to, and had a son. Ruth and her mother-in-law were faithful to God, and they placed their trust in Him, despite the difficulties and the challenges they had to encounter.

They had no possessions of their own, Naomi and her husband having left behind the land of Israel, and when her husband and two sons died in the land of Moab, Naomi was left with just Ruth and her other daughter-in-law whom she told to return to her homeland. Ruth refused to leave, but instead vowed to follow Naomi wherever she went, and took the Lord, the God of Naomi and her people, as her own God and Master.

In this manner, even though they were without family and possessions, but they had great favour in the sight of God, Who saw their faith and were glad at their dedication. That was why He blessed Ruth and Naomi, and Ruth became one of the members of the history of salvation, as through her and Boaz came the king David, and eventually through David, to Jesus Christ, Who was born into the house of David.

Then linking it to the Gospel passage we heard today, the Lord Jesus spoke about the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who were often seen in the public places showing their piety through their prayer bands and shawls, their long prayers and public show of faith, their public fasting and observances of the Law. He rebuked them for all of these because, despite all that they had done, they did not do those things for God but instead for themselves and for their own selfish desires.

God did not have a place in their hearts, as their hearts were full of ego and pride, with their worldly desires and greed. They have not been humble before God but instead thinking that their way is the best and the right way. In that same spirit therefore they have conducted their lives, acting with arrogance and pride, and looking down on all those whom they deemed to be inferior to themselves. But they did not realise that God despised their selfishness and arrogance.

In today’s readings, God reminded us all His followers that as Christians all of us are called to be humble and to be open to His will. We are called to listen to Him and to allow His works to be fulfilled through us. But this is something that is not easily done, and challenges will surely be in our path as we walk in God’s path. There will be those times when we will be tempted to succumb to the allures of the pleasures of the flesh, and tempted to satisfy our greed and our ego.

However, if we do not actively resist these temptations, we may end up becoming like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, whose faith has been found wanting, and whose love and commitment to the Lord was found to be lacking. Is this what we want from ourselves? Is this what the Lord had taught us to do? As Christians, in fact, all of us should seek to listen to the Lord Who told us in the Gospel today, that we must be humble in all things, and the greater we are, the humbler we should be.

At the centre of all these is the fact that as Christians we must be men for others, and we should not put ourselves and our own wants and desires ahead of the need of others. We must be selfless and ever be ready to think of others first, and be concerned with them. This is what all of us Christians must do, and which many of us may not have done in our faith life. Let us all therefore have that commitment to live faithfully in accordance with God’s will, knowing that it is He alone Who can guide us to the right path.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all strive to walk in the path shown to us by the Lord, by doing what He has commanded us to do, by not succumbing to our ego and desires, and by cultivating in us the spirit of love and compassion for our fellow men. Let us all be faithful to God and be humble in all things we say and do. Let God enter into our hearts and do not close our hearts to Him because of our ego and arrogance, our greed and our desires.

May the Lord bless us all, just as He has blessed those who are faithful to Him, and all those who walk humbly in His presence. May He empower us all so that we will always be ever faithful to Him. Amen.

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Saturday, 26 August 2017 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Matthew 23 : 1-12

At that time, Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples, “The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees have sat down on the chair of Moses. So you shall do and observe all they say; but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even lift a finger to move them.”

“They do everything in order to be seen by people : they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first places at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and they like being greeted in the marketplace, and being called ‘Master’ by the people.”

“But you, do not let yourselves be called Master, because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father, because you have only one Father, He Who is in heaven. Nor should you be called Leader, because Christ is the only Leader for you.”

“Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great.”

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Saturday, 26 August 2017 : 20th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 127 : 1-2, 3, 4-5

Blessed are you who fear YHVH and walk in His ways. You will eat the fruit of your toil; you will be blessed and favoured.

Your wife, like a vine, will bear fruits in your home; your children, like olive shoots, will stand around your table.

Such are the blessings bestowed upon the man who fears YHVH. May YHVH praise you from Zion. May you see Jerusalem prosperous all the days of your life.