Saturday

by

Saturday, 15 August 2015 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Corinthians 15 : 20-26

But no, Christ has been raised from the dead and He comes before all those who have fallen asleep. A human being brought death; a Human Being also brings resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. However, each one in his own time : first Christ, then Christ’s people, when He comes.

Then the end will come, when Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after having destroyed every rule, authority and power. For He must reign and put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed will be death.

by

Saturday, 15 August 2015 : Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 44 : 10bc, 11, 12ab, 16

At Your right hand, in gold of Ophir, stands the queen.

Listen, o daughter, pay attention; forget your father’s house and your nation.

And your beauty will charm the King, for He is your Lord.

Amid cheers and general rejoicing, they enter the palace of the King.

by

Saturday, 8 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, we heard about how Moses reminded the people of Israel about how they ought to always remember about God their Lord and Master, who have cared for them so much, and who have provided so much for them in all that they need, so that they prospered and became great. This is necessary because they have often forgotten God’s great love and ended up worshipping the pagan idols and following their pagan neighbours’ ways.

In this we can clearly see that there is a lack of gratitude which the people of Israel, and by extension therefore, all of us as well, on the gratitude which all of us ought to show the Lord our God for His everlasting and continuous love for us, and for all the mercy He had shown us, for every grace and opportunities which He had blessed us with.

We should indeed ask ourselves, whether we have shown gratitude for all that God had done for us in our own lives. Moses reminded the people of Israel not to forget about the Lord for all that He had done, and for all the good things which we have received from Him. But we know how easily we forget Him when we have many goodness with us, and when we celebrate, how many of us truly give thanks to God first before anything else?

Worse still, many of us even attribute all the goodness to ourselves, refusing to believe that all things had been made possible because of the grace and the blessings which our Lord had shown us. We often become even haughty and proud of our own achievements, thinking many things had happened to us and good things had happened to us because of our own power, without realising that without God, all of our power and devices will be nothing.

And if during good times we forget about the Lord and did not give Him thanks, then on the opposite end, whenever we have trouble, then we are quick to worry. We are quick to look for Him whenever we have problem, but we forget to give Him thanks whenever we have good things and good times with us. And when we do not get what we need, we blame the Lord for not helping us, and we often become angry at Him, and even abandon Him.

This is exactly what I meant about a lack of gratitude, and even more importantly, a lack of faith, which we often do not realise. Indeed, we may profess to be faithful to God, but truly, how strong is our faith for Him? If we are truly faithful to Him, then we should have remembered Him at all times, be it at times good or bad, and be it when we are rejoicing or when we are deeply troubled.

Today, we celebrate the feast day of a great saint, namely that of St. Dominic, also known as St. Dominic the Guzman, the founder of the Dominican religious order, or the Order of Preachers. St. Dominic was well known for his great and enduring faith in the Lord, and for all the dedication which he showed to the Lord his God. He served the people of God tirelessly and ministered to them.

And what made his order known as the Order of Preachers was because St. Dominic’s own passion and hard works to help many of the lost souls who have gone astray. And he went forth to show them God’s truth and love by preaching to them about this truth, and his words pierced deep into their hearts and minds, and many chose to repent from their past sins, and followed the Lord.

The examples of St. Dominic had shown us that indeed, if we just have more faith in the Lord, what we think is impossible would become possible, for we have to remember that what is impossible for men, is possible for God, for nothing is impossible in the eyes of God. If we just strive to have more faith, then surely we will be better able to see how God had impacted our lives in so many ways, and gave us so many blessings that we cannot count them.

And therefore, let us pray, so that we may be strengthened in our faith, that in all things we do and say, we may strive to be ever more faithful to the Lord our God, and follow Him in all of His ways. Let us all give Him thanks for all of His goodness, and seek His mercy and forgiveness when we have committed sin, and learn the grace to know that we have enough, for we have been provided with the Lord’s love and grace at all times. May the Lord our God, our loving Father be with us always. Amen.

by

Saturday, 8 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 17 : 14-20

At that time, when Jesus and His disciples came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus, knelt before Him and said, “Sir, have pity on my son, who is an epileptic and suffers terribly. He has often fallen into the fire, and at other times into the water. I brought him to Your disciples but they could not heal him.”

Jesus replied, “You faithless and disoriented people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus commanded the evil spirit to leave the boy, and the boy was immediately healed.

The disciples then gathered around Jesus and asked Him privately, “Why could we not drive out the spirit?” Jesus said to them, “Because you have little faith. I say to you : if only you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could tell that mountain to move from here to there, and the mountain would obey. Nothing would be impossible to you.”

by

Saturday, 8 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 17 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 47 and 51ab

I love You, o Lord, my strength. The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer and my God.

He is the Rock in whom I take refuge. He is my Shield, my powerful Saviour, my Stronghold. I call on the Lord, who is worthy of praise : He saves me from my enemies!

The Lord lives! Praised be my Rock! Exalted be my Saviour God. He has given victories to His king; He has shown His love to His anointed ones.

by

Saturday, 8 August 2015 : 18th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Dominic, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Deuteronomy 6 : 4-13

Moses said, “Listen, Israel : YHVH, our God, is One YHVH. And you shall love YHVH, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. Engrave on your heart the commandments that I pass on to you today.”

“Repeat them over and over to your children, speak of them when you are at home and when you travel, when you lie down and when you rise. Brand them on your hand as a sign, and keep them always before your eyes. Engrave them on your doorposts and on your city gates.”

“Do not forget YHVH when He has led you into the land which He promised to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; for He will give you great and prosperous cities which you did not build, houses filled with everything good which you did not provide, wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.”

“So when you have eaten and have been satisfied, do not forget YHVH who brought you out from Egypt where you were enslaved. Fear YHVH, your God, serve Him and call on His Name when you have to swear an oath.”

by

Saturday, 1 August 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about how God instituted the year of the jubilee, which is celebrated every fifty years, and which was the opportunity for mercy, redemption, atonement and forgiveness for sins. It is on that opportunity that those who had been suffering and enslaved, burdened and troubled were to be freed from their burdens and be liberated.

Meanwhile, in the Gospel, we heard about how the faithful servant of God, St. John the Baptist was martyred for his upright and unyielding devotion to the truth of God, even if that meant standing up against the king and risking his own life. He was martyred for standing up against the sins of the flesh, the wickedness of this world as shown by the adulterous relationship that king Herod had shown with his brother’s wife, Herodias.

How does these two readings relate to each other, brothers and sisters in Christ? How do they make sense to us? These two readings actually invited us to look deep into our own lives and values, into our own actions, words and deeds, and asked us to reflect on the nature of sin, punishment for those sins, and opportunity for forgiveness and mercy.

If we look into our lives and reflect on what we have done and committed in this life, then surely we should be able to see how we truly deserve to be punished and cast into utter darkness because of our actions. Do we realise how much God has loved us and blessed us in all the things we have and do? And yet do we realise how often we have walked astray from the path He had shown us?

From time to time, ever since the beginning of time, and ever since we mankind had fallen into sin, we have been reminded by the Lord through His many servants and messengers whom He sent to pronounce to us the truth about His mercy and love for us, as well as the truth about His righteous anger and justice, which He shows for our sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us should take note that while our Lord and God loves us all beyond anything else, and although His mercy and forgiveness is offered freely to all without exception, we should not take advantage of it, and cause the Lord to have more reason to show His wrath upon us. For if we walk the same path as the king Herod had done, then surely, we are testing the patience of the Lord.

What is this path? It is the way of wickedness, of succumbing to worldliness and all sorts of temptations and pleasures of the flesh, which brought about corruption to our hearts, minds and bodies, to our entire being. Whenever we let our heart’s desires to overcome us and control us, and whenever we act in selfishness and without regards for others, then we truly have walked astray from the path our Lord had shown us, that is the path towards salvation.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori, a bishop and Doctor of the Church, who was most renowned in his role as the founder of the Redemptorists, also known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. This religious congregation devoted themselves, in the model of their founder and patron, to the redemptive salvation and the merciful nature of our Lord.

St. Alphonsus Liguori lived a few hundred years ago during a time when the faith of many were severely tested, both by heresies and heretical thoughts, as well as by the forces of the world, secularism, pleasures of the flesh, simony and many other vile things in the world. St. Alphonsus Liguori decided to devote himself to the service of the Church, to God and to His people by joining religious life.

He saw how many people stumbled on their path to the Lord, were lost and ended up living in sin. Thus, he devoted himself to serve them and help to bring these lost sheep back to the Lord. He and many others who followed him founded the Redemptorists and worked hard to combat the influences of false teachings and worldly temptations on the people they worked so hard to save.

Through his many works, and his many writings, he had inspired many others to follow in his footsteps, either by joining the Redemptorists or any other religious orders and consecrated life, or in their own life as a laity, to help those who have been lost in the darkness of the world. And have our own hearts been stirred as well? We too should be stirred in our hearts to follow in the footsteps of this holy saint.

We have to change our own lives first, in all the things that we say and do, so that we no longer follow the ways of sin, but walk in the righteous path of the Lord. Then, we should also strive to go out and help all our brethren, especially those who have not found their way and been lost in the darkness, and offer our help, by showing them through example, how to be a faithful follower of the Lord.

May Almighty God be with us all, and guide us in this life, that we may find our way to His mercy and love. May He forgive us our sins and wickedness, and welcome us back into His loving embrace. God bless us all. Amen.

by

Saturday, 1 August 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Matthew 14 : 1-12

At that time, the news about Jesus reached king Herod. And he said to his servants, “This Man is John the Baptist. John has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in John.”

Herod had, in fact, ordered that John be arrested, bound in chains and put in prison, because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had said to Herod, “It is not right for you to have her as your wife.” Herod wanted to kill him but he did not dare, because he feared the people, who regarded John as a prophet.

On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced among the guests; she so delighted Herod that he promised under oath to give her anything she asked for. The girl, following the advice of her mother, said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a dish.”

The king was very displeased, but because he had made this promise under oath in the presence of his guests, he ordered it to be given to her. So he had John beheaded in prison, and his head brought on a dish and given to the girl. The girl then took it to her mother.

Then John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went away to bring the news to Jesus.

by

Saturday, 1 August 2015 : 17th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White

Psalm 66 : 2-3, 5, 7-8

May God be gracious and bless us; may He let His face shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth and Your salvation among the nations.

May the countries be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with justice and guide the nations of the world.

The land has given us its harvest; God, our God, has blessed us. May God bless us and be revered, to the very ends of the earth.