Saturday

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Saturday, 31 October 2015 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the message of today’s Scripture readings is very clear indeed. They spoke about the importance for us all to stay rooted in the Lord, in Whom lies the source of our only salvation and hope to escape from the ever growing trap of sin. They spoke of the importance for us to put our trust in the Lord Who has given us His all in order to save us.

And very importantly, it was pointed out that we have to be open and be able to listen to the Lord, understanding His wish and desires, and not be swallowed by our own pride and haughtiness. It is indeed in our own human nature that we want to defend our human pride, and we often look for ways to further and enhance our own power and glory, even at the expense of others around us.

We just have to look at our own history, the history of mankind, and see how often it was indeed for mankind to struggle and fight against each other just so that they can get that position of honour and glory, or to get the most of something, be it money, food, possessions, pleasures of the flesh, and many other things that enticed us and tempted us, and moved our greed.

So what the Lord Jesus intended for us, when He spoke about that parable about the seat at a feast or a wedding, is to remind us that power, glory, achievements, fame and all worldly parameters of greatness truly mean nothing, and these are always temporary and do not satisfy the true desires of our souls. And He made it clear using the example of those who strive to seek the best places in parties and events, sitting at the places of greatest honour.

Is it not the same with all of us? We also would often struggle and contest with each other for the best places, the best positions, the most prominent places, the most praiseworthy and honourable places. And what purpose do they serve? They served only to further feed our desires and ego, our pride and our greed within us. That is all, and nothing more. It was from all these wicked things inside us that we succumbed to the temptations of the devil, and thus instead of doing what God wanted us to do, we went our own path and became lost.

Can we all take some time to take a step back and reflect on our own lives? Have we been so focused and engrossed with the pleasures, wealth and the things of this world? If we do so, then we should realise the truth in what Jesus is telling us. Jesus told us how those who sought the front seat, when another of greater persona, power and influence than theirs came, the host would ask them to relent and give up their spaces for those more influential and greater than they are, and in shame they would retreat.

What does this mean, brothers and sisters in Christ? This is a reminder that we mankind are often very difficult to satisfy, and when we have something, we will always seek to have even more of what we have already had with us. And thus, it is truly futile to seek worldly glory, human praise and all things that will perish with the end of time. There will never be enough for us, and we stand only to be disappointed of having been superseded by another who have more than us, and in our jealousy, we fall ever deeper into sin.

Let us all take note of this and understand what we need to do in order to attain true satisfaction and joy in our lives. It is not by accumulating worldly and physical wealth, possessions and good things that we gain greatness and true happiness, but through perseverance and genuine commitment in loving one another, and loving our Lord and God in the same manner just as we love and care for ourselves.

It is time for us all to take the opportunity given to us by God, and make use of the time we have in this world to begin to build up for ourselves the heavenly treasures of divine love, and not to pursue senseless and useless pursuits of worldly wealth and desires. Let us all help each other to realise our own potential of so much good things to be done, for our own good, helping each other rather than contending with each other for fame, possessions and other worldly things.

May Almighty God be with us all, and may He keep us in His grace at all times. May He find us righteous and just all the days of our life, and may He bring us into the eternal life He had promised to all of His faithful ones. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 31 October 2015 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Luke 14 : 1, 7-11

At that time, on one Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and He was carefully watched. Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for He had noticed how they tried to take the places of honour.

And He said, “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you had been invited; and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you, ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!”

“Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that your host may come and say to you, ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honour for you in the presence of all the other guests. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.”

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Saturday, 31 October 2015 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 93 : 12-13a, 14-15, 17-18

Fortunate the one You correct, o Lord, the one You teach Your Law; You give them relief from distress while a pit is dug for the wicked.

The Lord will not reject His people nor will He forsake His heritage. Justice will return to the just, and the upright will follow in its wake.

Had the Lord not helped me, I would have fallen into the silence of death. No sooner did I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your kindness, o Lord, held me up.

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Saturday, 31 October 2015 : 30th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

Romans 11 : 1-2a, 11-12, 25-29

And so I ask : Has God rejected His people? Of course not. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. No, God has not rejected the people He knew beforehand.

Again I ask : Did they stumble so as to fall? Of course not. Their stumbling allowed salvation to come to the pagan nations and this, in turn, will stir up the jealousy of Israel. If Israel’s shortcoming made the world rich, if the pagan nations grew rich with what they lost, what will happen when Israel is restored?

I want you to understand the mysterious decree of God, lest you be too confident : a part of Israel will remain hardened until the majority of pagans have entered. Then the whole of Israel will be saved, as Scripture says : From Zion will come the Liberator Who will purify the descendants of Jacob from all sin. And this is the covenant I will make with them : I will take away from them their sins.

Regarding the Gospel, the Jews are opponents, but it is for your benefit. Regarding election, they are beloved because of their ancestors; because the call of God and His gifts cannot be nullified.

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Saturday, 24 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the Lord speaking about the parable of the fig tree, which told us about a fig tree that was found to be barren and without fruits, and when the owner of the fig tree wanted to cut it down and dispose of it, the gardener asked for the fig tree to be given a second chance, where he would give it more fertilisers and help, hoping that it will bear fruit this time round, or else it will be destroyed.

This is coupled with what Jesus our Lord spoke about the sinfulness of the people of God, how the Jews liked to look down on the Galileans and the other Gentiles for their supposed inferiority in the sight of God, as they considered themselves as justified and saved, while the others were destined for condemnation. For God, there is nothing such as that, as all are equal in the presence of God, regardless of their race, their background and their origins.

God does not discriminate against any of us, just as all of us are equally sinners before Him, for we have all committed sin in one form or another in our lives on earth, and through our sins, we have been made truly barren and fruitless, that is no good fruits of faith and fruits of the Spirit can be found in us. What are these fruits? Hope, love, charity, chastity, and many others, all the good things that are expected to be in us, and yet we have fallen short of having these in our lives.

And when none of these can be found in our lives, how can we then be good and useful to the Lord our God? Our Lord indeed loves all of us, but He also equally hates and despises all of our sins and wickedness without exception. Just like the master or owner of the plantation, who wants the barren fig tree to be chopped off and destroyed. After all, if a tree has no fruit, what can the tree be useful for? Rather than keeping the tree to take up space on a fertile land, another tree should be planted in its place.

That barren and fruitless tree is just like us. If we are filled with sin and wickedness, then definitely we cannot find a place for us in the presence of God. The Lord will not receive us or bless us, for our sins and wickedness are abhorring to Him. Instead, we shall be rejected and cast out into the outer darkness. Only goodness and worthy things can come into the presence of our Lord. And these are the fruits of our labours in faith.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to heed what St. Paul also mentioned in the first reading today, that is his letter to the Church and the faithful in the city of Rome, that we should not succumb ourselves to the way of the flesh, but instead walk faithfully in the path that our Lord had shown us through Jesus. We are creatures of the Light, belonging to God, and yet our attachment to the desires of the flesh and of this world held us back from attaining salvation in the Lord.

It is by resisting and learning to reject these temptations that we will be able to gain fruitfulness in life. If we want to bear fruits of the Spirit, and the fruits of our faith, then it is necessary for us to labour and do hard work, so that in all the things that we do, we uphold as best as possible, and as far as possible, the way of the Lord, and obey the Law of God in all of its entirety.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Anthony Mary Claret, known also as the founder of the congregation of religious bearing his name, that is the Claretians. He was a great missionary who spent many years in preaching and ministering to the people on the truth and the teachings of the Lord as espoused by the Church. He revealed to many of the people who have yet to hear the word of God, or have gone wayward in their lives, and helped to bring them to return to the Church.

St. Anthony Mary Claret went on to establish the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also known as the Claretians after their founder, which he established to continue the missionary and evangelising work that he had done. And he continued on to preach and work hard for the sake of the salvation of many peoples, even when his life was at time threatened and in danger.

The examples shown by St. Anthony Mary Claret are clear indications of what all of us can also do for the benefit of all those who have been trapped in the shackles of sin. It is our duty to help each other, that we help those who have not borne good fruits of faith and were barren, that by the grace and love of God, we may regrow healthily in faith, and in our actions and deeds, may they be filled with many rich fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is love, hope, chastity, honesty and many others.

Let us all commit ourselves to accept God’s generous offer of mercy, His willingness like the master of the plantation to give a chance to the barren fig tree, representing our sinfulness and wickedness, so that by realigning ourselves and by obediently walking in His way, we may be found bountiful and filled with rich fruits that will justify us and bring us to salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 24 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

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

Luke 13 : 1-9

At that time, some people told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple : Pilate had had Galileans killed, and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this? No, I tell you. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.”

“And those eighteen persons in Siloah, who were crushed when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in Jerusalem? I tell you : no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they did.”

And Jesus continued with this story, “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener, ‘Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree, and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?'”

“The gardener replied, ‘Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertiliser; perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it does not, you can cut it down.'”

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Saturday, 24 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (Psalm)

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

Psalm 23 : 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord, the world and all that dwell in it. He has founded it upon the ocean and set it firmly upon the waters.

Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Those with clean hands and pure heart, who desire not what is vain.

They will receive blessings from the Lord, a reward from God, their Saviour. Such are the people who seek Him, who seek the face of Jacob’s God.

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Saturday, 24 October 2015 : 29th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop (First Reading)

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

Romans 8 : 1-11

This contradiction no longer exists for those who are in Jesus Christ. For, in Jesus Christ, the Law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the Law of sin and death. The Law was without effect because flesh was not responding.

Then God, planning to destroy sin, sent His own Son, in the likeness of those subject to the sinful human condition; by doing this, He condemned the sin in this human condition. Since then the perfection intended by the Law would be fulfilled in those not walking in the way of the flesh, but in the way of the Spirit.

Those walking according to the flesh tend towards what is flesh; those led by the Spirit, to what is Spirit. Flesh tends towards death, while Spirit aims at life and peace. What the flesh seeks is against God : it does not agree, it cannot even submit to the Law of God. So, those walking according to the flesh cannot please God.

Yet your existence is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, because the Spirit of God is within you. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, you would not belong to Him. But Christ is within you; though the body is branded by death as a consequence of sin, the Spirit is life and holiness.

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is within you, He who raised Jesus Christ from among the dead will also give life to Your mortal bodies. Yes, He will do it through His Spirit who dwells within you.

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Saturday, 17 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the words of the Holy Scriptures, speaking to us about the grace and blessings that shall await all those who keep and maintain their faith in God, and the curses and the condemnations that await all those who have veered away from the path towards the Lord and towards salvation.

The example of Abraham, our forefather in faith was used, in his obedience and exemplary actions and life, which were filled with the obedience and the trust which he showed to God, the complete faith and trust that he had shown, which made his descendants to become truly blessed by God’s grace. This is done so to inspire all of us to strive for righteousness and justice, and therefore become eligible to enjoy forever God’s love and grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us have been called to a new life of repentance, of redemption and of forgiveness. All of us have been called out of the pit of darkness, misery and wickedness, and we are all called into the life filled with God’s justice and grace, which can become a reality only if all of us gather together and work together to achieve that goal of salvation in God.

Those who have not been faithful to God, who refused to listen to the word of God, and those who have gone astray in their lives, walking in their own paths in disobedience to the Law of God, will receive the wrath and anger of God, and God shall reject them, just as they themselves had rejected Him first. God is merely reciprocating the hatred and the unwillingness of those who have not given their love to Him. Yet, if these people were to repent and change their ways, God will readily show His infinite mercy and love to them.

God is ever loving and merciful, but this does not mean that He readily tolerates our sins and wickedness. He loves each and every one of us personally and as His beloved children and creation, but He does not love our sins and our wrongdoings. He hates all forms of sins and injustice, all forms of malice and wickedness, all forms of evil and all the darkness that lie in our actions.

If we persist in retaining all those sins and darkness, then certainly all of us will be condemned and prevented from reaching salvation in the Lord. This is because those sins and wicked things in our words and actions are barriers and obstacles that stop us from finding our way to the Lord. Those sins are what preventing us from receiving the fullness of God’s grace and blessings, and they kept us away from the light, remaining in the darkness and the abyss.

This is why, we ought to reflect on our own actions and deeds, and we should think about what we have done in this life, so that we may realise the current state of our being, whether we stand in righteousness and grace of God, or whether we are in danger of falling into the condemnation of eternal hell. Thus, we ought to heed the example of a holy man and saint whose feast day we celebrate on this day.

Today is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the second bishop and leader of the faithful in Antioch, a great city of Christendom in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was counted among the birthplaces of Christianity, as the place where the faithful were first called as Christianoi, or Christians. It was the place where the Church was established by St. Peter the Apostle, the Vicar of Christ, who later went on to establish the Church in Rome.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was his successor as the second Bishop of Antioch, and he helped to continue the establishment of the Church in Antioch and beyond, caring for the spiritual and overall well-being of his flock, giving them examples to follow and exhorting them to be always faithful to God and His ways, and resist the temptations of worldly goods and human greed.

Eventually, St. Ignatius of Antioch shared in the suffering of Christ our Lord, when he and the other Christians were persecuted under the orders of the civil authorities of the Roman Empire. The Emperor and the officials of the Roman state opposed the Christians and their teachings of truth, and they attempted to snuff out the light of the Church at its young stage of growth.

Nevertheless, St. Ignatius of Antioch remained resolute and committed to the evangelisation and spreading of God’s Good News of the Gospel, and he suffered death and martyrdom knowing that the works he had begun would be carried on by those who came after him, and his martyrdom served as an inspiration for countless others to also pick up their crosses and follow the Lord.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, let us on this day reflect once again on our own lives. We have a clear choice on whether to obey the Lord and His ways, walking in His righteousness and justice, and practicing His will and commandments in all of our words and actions, or whether we want to follow he devil and all of his errors and lies.

Let us all take concrete actions in our lives, so that in all the things we do and say, we will show a renewed effort of loving and serving the Lord our God, with all of our hearts’ strength. May the Lord have mercy on us all, forgive us all our sins, and bring us into everlasting life. Amen.

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Saturday, 17 October 2015 : 28th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Luke 12 : 8-12

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “I tell you, whoever acknowledges Me before people, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But the one who denies Me before others will be denied before the angels of God.”

“There will be pardon for the one who criticises the Son of Man, but there will be no pardon for the one who slanders the Holy Spirit. When you are brought before the synagogues, and before governors and rulers, do not worry about how you will defend yourself, or what to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you have to say.”