Saturday

by

Saturday, 6 January 2018 : Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Isaiah 60 : 1-6

Arise, shine, for your Light has come. The Glory of YHVH rises upon you. Night still covers the earth and gloomy clouds veil the peoples, but YHVH now rises and over you His glory appears. Nations will come to your Light and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes round about and see : they are all gathered and come to you, your sons from afar, your daughters tenderly carried. This sight will make your face radiant, your heart throbbing and full; the riches of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.

A flood of camels will cover you, caravans from Midian and Ephah. Those from Sheba will come, bringing with them gold and incense, all singing in praise of YHVH.

by

Saturday, 6 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the testimonies of faith through the Scripture passages we heard, and we listened how St. John the Evangelist and Apostle spoke of the three testimonies of the water, Blood and the Spirit. These testimonies all agree that the Lord has come into the world, and He has done all that He had said He would do amongst us, and through the witnesses of the Apostles and the saints, His marvellous love for us had been made evident.

And the love of God was made real and evident in none other than the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who willingly assumed our human flesh and be born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, to dwell among us, that God’s love become a reality and a tangible experience for all of humanity, through the singular act of ultimate love which He has given to all of us.

In the Gospel passage today, we heard of the series of the ancestors of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to show that He was born into the race of man, which after many generations eventually came from God. Thus, everything in a sense come to a full circle, as God Himself became counted among those He had created, but yet, at the same time, He remained God as ever, never diminished in His majesty and authority, and neither was His divinity changed in any manner.

All of these was simply because of God’s great and incomparable love for all of us mankind, those whom He has willingly made to become His own adopted sons and daughters. It was God’s love for us that He gave us the ultimate gift above all else, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, born into our midst, and through Whom, He willingly revealed to us the full extent of His love, made evident none other than through the cross, upon which hung the Most Holy and Precious Body of Our Lord.

He Himself said to His disciples, that there is no greater love than for someone to lay down his or her life for a friend. And Jesus Our Lord has considered us all His friends, as those who are precious to Him. By His willing sacrifice, He endured all the entirety of the unimaginably heavy burdens of our sins, our combined faults and mistakes, all of our disobedience and shortcomings, by bearing the heavy cross, all the way to Calvary.

The testimonies mentioned earlier in today’s discourse prove this great love of God, as at the moment of the crucifixion and death of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that through water, the holy water of baptism, all of us have been saved by accepting Him as Our Lord and Saviour, and becoming God’s own children. Through the water of baptism, we are united to the loving sacrifice of Our Lord which saves us and redeems us.

At the time when the Lord Jesus was baptised in the water of the River Jordan, the testimony of the water and the Spirit came ringing true, witnessed by many. The Holy Spirit descended from the heavens, and the voice of God the Father Himself declared that Jesus is the Son of God, the Most Beloved of all, through Whom He would made all of His designs on us mankind into a reality.

And last of all, the testimony of the Blood is the strongest of all, for the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Himself was spilled from the altar of the cross of Calvary. The Blood purifies us and saves us, just as the blood of the sacrificial lambs and animals became the offerings for the forgiveness of the sins of Israel in the ages past. The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord has washed us clean, through the works of the Holy Spirit and by the will of the Father, and by the obedience of the Son, working together to effect and bring about our salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today all of us need to reflect on our own lives, on whether we have understood all these beautiful and wondrous mysteries of Our Lord, Who loved us so much that He was willing to forgive us our many sins and overlook our trespasses, so long as we are willing to be forgiven, and willing to repent from our sinful ways. God has loved us so much, in so many ways, and yet, many of us have not realised this, and we still continue to live in sin and disobedience against Him.

As Christians, all of us believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and He is God’s ultimate expression of love for us mankind, His people, His beloved children. Therefore, as we are all also made God’s children through adoption, by the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ into this world, God sharing in our humanity and dwelling among us, let us all walk faithfully in His ways and show our exemplary faith and ways, that hopefully many others will come to see the truth as well and believe.

May the Lord be with us always, and may He continue to strengthen our faith and empower us all to become ever more courageous in living our faith with devotion, day after day. May God bless us all, and sanctify us, that all of our works and endeavours will always be for the greater glory of His Name. Amen.

by

Saturday, 6 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Mark 1 : 7-11

John preached to the people, saying, “After me comes One Who is more powerful than I am; I have baptised you with water, but He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.”

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth, a town of Galilee, and was baptised by John in the Jordan. And the moment He came up out of the water, heaven opened up before Him, and He saw the Spirit coming down on Him like a dove. And these words were heard from heaven, “You are My Son, the Beloved, the One I have chosen.”

Alternative reading

Luke 3 : 23-38

When Jesus made His appearance, He had reached the age of thirty years. He was known as the Son of Joseph, whose father and forefathers were : Heli, Matthat, Levi, Melchi, Jannai, Joseph, Matthathias, Amos, Nahum, Esli, Naggai, Maath, Mattathias, Semein, Josech, Joda, Joanan, Rhesa, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel, Neri, Melchi, Addi, Cosam, Elmadam, Er, Joshua, Eliezer, Jorim, Matthat, Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Jonam, Eliakim, Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David, Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahson, Amminadab, Adnim, Arni, Hezron, Perez, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, Serug, Reu, Peleg, Eber, Shelah, Cainan, Arphaxad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Malaleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth and Adam – who was from God.

Alternative reading (shorter version)

Luke 3 : 23, 31-34, 36, 38

When Jesus made His appearance, He had reached the age of thirty years. He was known as the Son of Joseph, whose father and forefathers were : Heli, Melea, Menna, Mattatha, Nathan, David, Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahson, Amminadab, Adnim, Arni, Hezron, Perez, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Terah, Nahor, Cainan, Arphaxad, Shem, Noah, Lamech, Enos, Seth and Adam – who was from God.

by

Saturday, 6 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20

Exalt the Lord, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.

It is He Who tells Jacob His words, His laws and decrees to Israel. This He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!

by

Saturday, 6 January 2018 : Weekday of Christmas Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 5 : 5-13

Who has overcome the world? The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus Christ was acknowledged through water, but also through Blood. Not only water but water and Blood. And the Spirit, too, witnesses to Him for the Spirit is truth.

There are then three testimonies : the Spirit, the water and the Blood, and these three witnesses agree. If we accept human testimony, with greater reason must we accept that of God, given in favour of His Son. If you believe in the Son of God, you have God’s testimony in you.

But those who do not believe make God a liar, since they do not believe His words when He witnesses to His Son. What has God said? That He has granted us eternal life and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life, the one who do not have the Son of God do not have life.

I write you, then, all these things that you may know that you have eternal life, all you who believe in the Name of the Son of God.

by

Saturday, 30 December 2017 : Sixth Day within Octave of Christmas (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the exhortation by the Apostle St. John in his Epistle, our first reading today, in which he called on all of us to love God and not the things of this world. He mentioned how those who love the things of this world, its glamour, pleasures, joys, in all the temptations and desires, are not doing what God wants from us.

St. John reminds each one of us, that we must not be distracted by all those things, by the temptation of money, the temptation of the pleasures of the flesh, the temptation of glory and human approval, and many others. Yet, many of us have forgotten that the true goal and desire of our lives should indeed be the Lord, Our God. Yes, that is why all of us must be vigilant against the temptations that will come our way.

We should look at our Gospel passage today, which is a continuation of yesterday’s passage, about the time when the Lord Jesus, as a Baby, newly born, was brought by His mother Mary and His foster father St. Joseph to the Temple of Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord, in accordance to the laws of Moses. There were two people whom they encountered that day in the Temple, one was Simeon, who foretold the fate of the Baby as the Saviour of the world, and Anna the prophetess, as told in the Gospel passage today.

Both of them were so joyful because they were able to finally see the Messiah after awaiting Him for a very long time. God has promised them that they would be privileged to be able to lay their eyes on Him, while many other prophets, kings and people have not been given such a privilege. Many of them have long awaited the coming of the Lord’s salvation, and they did not live to see the day of its coming.

How is this significant for us, brothers and sisters? It is exactly the joy which these two faithful servants of God had shown, the exhilaration of welcoming the Lord into their midst, that is sadly absent in many of us. First of all, how many of us have gotten over Christmas and continued in our daily business and usual habits? We have indulged ourselves in merrymaking and partying during Christmas, but do we know what it is that we are celebrating about?

In fact, the Christmas season is still ongoing, for another week or so, until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. And Christmas should always be with us, for we rejoice in Christmas because of none other than the wondrous works of Our Lord and Saviour, Who was born into this world and celebrated on Christmas season. Our joy should be like that of Simeon and Anna, who cheered and were jubilant because of the love which God has shown them through the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Let us all now reflect on each of our own individual lives. How many of us place the Lord at the centre and as the focus of our lives? How many of us prioritise Him over our worldly dealings, ambitions and all other distractions and temptations of this life? And if our response to all of these questions is that we have not been prioritising God over other things, then we have to ask ourselves, what is God really to us?

Is He someone we just turn to and remember when we are in difficulty and in need? Is He someone Whom we just forget and ignore when we have gotten what we need and are distracted by the many worldly concerns? If we think of God in this way, then perhaps we need to reevaluate our opinion of Him, and rediscover Who God truly is.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and seek Him with all of our hearts’ strength, with all of our minds and focus. Let us all rediscover the true joy of our hearts, that is also the true joy of Christmas, none other than the Lord Jesus, Who have chosen to come and dwell with us, that we may come to know Him personally.

May the Lord be with us always, journeying with us, so that eventually we may find our way to Him and His salvation, that we may be reunited with Him and live happily with Him forever after. May God bless us always, and be with all of our endeavours. Amen.

by

Saturday, 30 December 2017 : Sixth Day within Octave of Christmas (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Luke 2 : 36-40

There was also a prophetess named Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. After leaving her father’s home, she had been seven years with her husband, and since then she had been continually about the Temple, serving God as a widow night and day in fasting and prayer. She was now eighty-four. Coming up at that time, she gave praise to God, and spoke of the Child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When the parents had fulfilled all that was required by the law of the Lord, they returned to their town, Nazareth in Galilee. There the Child grew in stature and strength, and was filled with wisdom: the grace of God was upon Him.

by

Saturday, 30 December 2017 : Sixth Day within Octave of Christmas (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 95 : 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

Give to YHVH, you families of nations, give to YHVH glory and strength. Give to YHVH the glory due His Name.

Bring gifts and enter His courts. Worship YHVH with holy celebrations; stand in awe of Him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, “YHVH reigns!” He will judge the peoples with justice.

by

Saturday, 30 December 2017 : Sixth Day within Octave of Christmas (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 John 2 : 12-17

My dear children, I write this to you : you have already received the forgiveness of your sins, through the Name of Jesus. Fathers, I write this to you : you know Him, Who is from the beginning. Young men, I write this to you : you have overcome the evil one. My dear children, I write to you, because you already know the Father.

Fathers, I write to you, because you know Him, Who is from the beginning. Young men, I write to you, because you are strong, and the Word of God lives in you, who have, indeed, overcome the evil one. Do not love the world, or what is in it. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the craving of the flesh, the greed of eyes and people boasting of their superiority – all this, belongs to the world, not to the Father.

The world passes away, with all its craving, but those who do the will of God remain for ever.

by

Saturday, 23 December 2017 : 3rd Week of Advent, Memorial of St. John of Kanty, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scriptures telling us about the prophecy regarding the coming of a messenger who would prepare the way for the coming of the Lord’s glorious salvation as well as the fulfilment of that prophecy. In the first reading, we heard the prophecy made by the prophet Malachi, the last of the prophets recorded in the Old Testament regarding the servant of God.

In that prophecy, he spoke of someone who would come to straighten the path for the Lord, preparing the people for the coming of the day of restoration and reconciliation between them and the Lord. His prophecy was among the many prophecies and messages which the Lord has given to His people throughout time, and it spoke about St. John the Baptist, the messenger of God and Herald of the Messiah.

As we prepare ourselves to welcome the joy of the Christmas season, it is indeed a good time for us to reflect on the life and works of St. John the Baptist. His birth is the theme of today’s Gospel passage, as God’s long promised salvation was finally at hand. He was the one to prepare the way for the Lord, to make His paths straight, by his works among the people, through his baptisms at the Jordan, where he called the people to repent from their sins.

Now, let us ask ourselves, are we doing what St. John the Baptist has called on the people of his time to do? Yet, if we look at how we normally celebrate Christmas, we will see that many of us worry about many other things during Christmas, and not about what we really need to do with our lives. Many of us worry about how we will celebrate Christmas, what kind of food and gifts we are going to have, instead of remembering the true purpose of this celebration in Christmas.

When we celebrate Christmas, we are joyful not because it is just another holiday or day off from work, and also not because it is a time for us to go for holidays and have merrymaking and parties. Christmas is not just another festive season when we exchange gifts and enjoy ourselves with our families and friends. In truth, it is much, much more than all of those.

In Christmas, we remember the historical birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, through Whom God has revealed His grace and love, and by Whose sacrifice on the cross, He has redeemed all those who believed in Him and brought them to reconciliation with Him. But it is not just an annual remembrance of the time that has passed and has no significance to us.

That is because as the Lord Himself promised to us, just before He ascended in glory to heaven, that He will come again at the time of His choosing, when He will judge all the peoples, and those who are caught unprepared and living in a state of sin, and not being repentant, will be thrown into hell with Satan and his fellow fallen angels, where we will have eternal regret.

Each and every one of us as Christians need to internalise that call which St. John the Baptist made, and which the prophet Malachi prophesied about. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is about to come!’ is the message we need to listen to, and which we need to reflect upon. And we need to ask ourselves, what is it that we are doing or we have been doing to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord, if that is going to happen suddenly, for example, tomorrow. Are we ready for Him? More importantly, are we worthy of Him?

Let us all heed the examples and the piety of St. John of Kanty, a holy and devout servant of God whose feast day we celebrate today. St. John of Kanty or St. John Cantius was a Polish priest, philosopher and theologian who was renowned for his many works and writings, but even more so for his deep devotion to the Lord, his charitable life and almsgiving to the poor.

He lived humbly and showed generosity towards his neighbours. He cared for those who are in need, and as a teacher and scholar, he also cared for the students who were in need of assistance, in the university where he was also working at as a professor and academic. His dedication to the Lord and to his fellow men and women inspired many others down the centuries even until this very day.

All of us should follow in his footsteps, and especially in our Christmas celebrations this year and henceforth. Let us not give in to the culture of excess, materialism and hedonistic attitudes, by celebrating Christmas with much glamour and fanciness, and yet without compassion, love and generosity. Instead, we should share our joys and blessings with others, especially those who are poor and in need.

Let us strive towards a more meaningful Christmas celebration, one that is centred on Christ, and not on ourselves. And rather than worrying on the wrong things, on superficial matters of Christmas celebrations, we should spend our time giving our love, care and attention for those who are in need, being more charitable and generous upon one another.

May the Lord continue to guide us on our path, that we may grow ever deeper in faith, and will be able to devote ourselves more wholeheartedly following the footsteps of our holy predecessors, St. John the Baptist, St. John of Kanty and many others, that we will be ready and be worthy when the Lord comes again, even if He does so suddenly, and we will be worthy of receiving His eternal glory and inheritance. May God bless us always, now and forevermore. Amen.