Saturday

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Saturday, 19 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Matthew 12 : 14-21

Then the Pharisees went out, and made plans to get rid of Jesus. As Jesus was aware of their plans, He left that place. Many people followed Him, and He cured all who were sick. Then He gave them strict orders not to make Him known.

In this way Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled : Here is My Servant whom I have chosen, the One I love, and with whom I am pleased. I will put My Spirit upon Him and He will announce My judgment to the nations. He will not argue or shout, nor will His voice be heard in the streets.

The bruised reed He will not crush, nor snuff out the smoldering wick. He will persist until justice is made victorious, and in Him all the nations will put their hope.

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Saturday, 19 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 9 : 22-23, 24-25, 28-29, 35 (1-2, 3-4, 7-8, 14)

Why, o Lord, do You stand afar? Why hide from us in times of distress? The wicked are in power; the weak suffer harassment; the poor become victims of evil schemes.

Exploiters boast in their power and greed; the covetous blasphemes and defies God. In their pride the wicked say, “There is no God.” They see no further.

Their mouths are filled with cursing, deceit and threats; spite and mischief are under their tongues. They lie in ambush near the villages, murdering the innocent and the unfortunate, spying upon their next victim.

But You see those in misery, o God, and You take it in hand. The unfortunate commits Himself to You; the orphan turns to You for help.

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Saturday, 19 July 2014 : 15th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

Micah 2 : 1-5

Woe to those who plot wickedness and plan evil even on their beds! When morning comes they do it, as soon as it is within their reach. If they covet fields, they seize them. Do they like houses? They take them. They seize the owner and his household, both the man and his property.

This is why YHVH speaks, “I am plotting evil against this whole brood, from which your necks cannot escape. No more shall you walk with head held high for it will be an evil time.”

On that day they will sing a taunting song against You and a bitter lamentation will be heard, “We have been stripped of our property in our homeland. Who will free us from the wicked who allots our fields.”

Truly, no one will be found in the assembly of YHVH to keep a field for you.

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Saturday, 12 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflections)

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

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s lesson from the Holy Scriptures show us that while God is great and Almighty, enthroned above all else on thrones and angels, and covered by the holy and mighty seraphs and cherubs, He is still a loving and gentle God, who loves us all equally, and who gave us the greatest gift in none other than Jesus, His own Son and His own self.

Many of us often cower in fear before God, thinking that He is some sort of monster or such great figure that we need to fear and be trembled at, such that we ended up closing ourselves against Him, and do not let Him to come into our hearts. Our God is a loving God and a merciful God, just as much as He is God who hates and dislikes sin in all of its forms.

We fear many things, and we have various forms of our own fears in life. And foremost of all, we fear death in all its forms. Some people fear of losing their loved ones, and some fear of losing their possessions and material goods. Others fear darkness, while some fear the light instead. And as I said, many of us fear God and His presence.

But as mentioned in the Gospel today, rather than fearing those things that cannot harm our soul, and can merely our bodies and our earthly presence in this short life we have on earth, we should rather worry about the One who has the power to destroy us body and soul for eternity, that is none other than God Himself, who has the authority over all the living and the dead, including all of us.

Nevertheless, as I have said, there is no need for us to fear God, for He is truly loving and forgiving. If only that we draw nearer to His throne of mercy, then we, as long as our hearts are genuine in our own love and dedication to the Lord, will be given redemption and forgiveness. We have this fear in our hearts that God will punish us or hate us because of our sins, and therefore, this creates a mental block that prevent us from proceeding on our way to salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why we need to balance, between our fear of God, and our love for God. God is both merciful and wrathful, the former for our love and repentance, and the latter for our rebelliousness and sins. We must not fall into the trap of fear, that is so much fear that we are afraid to seek God’s forgiveness and therefore end up falling deeper into sin and darkness.

We cannot be lax in our life either, as if we end up too lax with ourselves, then we may fall into the other trap of Satan, that is temptation. If we do not have a certain discipline in our life and in our faith, we will stumble and fall in the face of the constant onslaught of the devil. We must be ever vigilant and ready to resist the devil, and follow always in the ways of our Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, the key lies in our readiness and focus in this life, and in our obedience and constant devotion to the Lord. Let us all change our ways so that we may reflect better our Lord’s ways. Let us ask God, who is enthroned among the seraphim and the cherubim, that He may send His angels to help us and guide us on our way, that we may remain well within God’s love and grace.

May Almighty God be with us, and may He strengthen our faith so that we may not fall into temptation and sin, and that we may also walk faithfully in His ways. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

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

Matthew 10 : 24-33

A student is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. A student should be glad to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If the head of the family has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of the family! So, do not be afraid of them.

There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I am telling you in the dark, you must speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Rather be afraid of him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing.

As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. Do not be afraid : you are no less worthy than many sparrows! Whoever acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before My Father in heaven. Whoever rejects Me before others I will reject before My Father in heaven.

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Saturday, 12 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

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

Psalm 92 : 1ab, 1c-2, 5

The Lord reigns, robed in majesty; the Lord is girded with strength.

The world now is firm, it cannot be moved. Your throne stands from long ago, o Lord, from all eternity You are.

Your decrees can be trusted; holiness dwells in Your house day after day without end, o Lord.

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Saturday, 12 July 2014 : 14th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

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

Isaiah 6 : 1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings : two to cover the face, two to cover the feet, and two to fly with.

They were calling to one another : “Holy, Holy, Holy is YHVH Sabaoth. All the earth is filled with His Glory!” At the sound of their voices the foundations of the threshold shook and the Temple was filled with smoke.

I said, “Poor me! I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips, and yet I have seen the King, YHVH Sabaoth.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me; in his hands was a live coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” I answered, “Here I am. Send me!”

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Saturday, 5 July 2014 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Scripture Reflections)

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

Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we listen to comforting words of the readings from the Holy Scriptures and in particular the Holy Gospels how the Lord is with us, and He is on our side at all times, and through Him salvation of all mankind, that is all of us, will come to us. He will succour and save us from our fate that was death and bring us into life. This He promised us and made full through Jesus His Son.

For we are all the Church of God, that is part of His Body. Remember that Jesus mentioned, that we are the Body of Christ the Church, and He is the Head of that Body? Therefore all of us who had been baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Trinity, and became part of the Church are indeed united intimately and very closely to Christ, who is also the Bridegroom of the Church.

The Gospel today highlighted how the disciples ought not to be sorrowful or to fast in agony because the Lord is with them. Yes, and that is what we should also do, brothers and sisters. We ought to be joyful and rejoice because God is with us and He will not leave us, even if we are to abandon Him, because He is always faithful. But if we choose to ignore and abandon Him, then we will have no part in Him when He comes again in glory.

We are often like unfaithful wives, who abandoned our husbands when things did not go our way, and we seek other sources of pleasures and comforts, which corrupts us and turn us away from God. We abandon God for the idols of this world, the idol of money, of possessions, of worldly glory and passions, and the pull of power and pride which darkens our heart and keep it away from the light of Christ.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Anthony Zaccaria, a priest and a zealous fighter of the faith, fully and completely faithful to the Lord, and in total dedication to His cause. He was part of the early Counter Reformation efforts of the Church in fighting against the heresy of the Protestant ‘reformation’, when mankind were misled by their human desires and pride, to break away from the unity of the Body of Christ and instead seek human glory and praise.

St. Anthony Zaccaria was truly devoted to the Lord and to his fellow men, giving himself totally in service to them in love and genuine faith. He preached the Good News of the Lord to many and reached out to them to bring them out into the dignity and glory of the light of God. He preached and fought for the purity of the faith, and introduced to the people strict and close devotions to the Lord through prayers and penitence.

He also founded three different religious orders, through which many people ended up following the Lord as he had once done, and which took part in defending the faith and the Church against the heresies of the Protestant rebels of the false reformation. He was truly committed to return the unity to the Body of Christ in the Church, casting away all the iniquities and sins of the people of God, and returning faithfully to the embrace of our loving God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we too today in this world must continue the hard and good works of St. Anthony Zaccaria, in defending our faith and the Church of God and all of God’s holy and beloved people. We cannot be idle and be ignorant in this age filled with danger and evil, where Satan lurked within the hearts of the faithful, waiting for the right moment to lure and drag many souls into hellfire with him.

Let us all be vigilant and strong, and with the intercession of St. Anthony Zaccaria, let us make this world a better place and a place for all the faithful to truly love God and devote themselves to Him with all of their hearts, that united as one, they may together glorify the Lord, the Bridegroom of the Church and. Lord of all the faithful. God bless us all, and be with us always till the end of time. Amen.

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Saturday, 5 July 2014 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Gospel Reading)

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

Matthew 9 : 14-17

Then the disciples of John came to Jesus with the question, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast on many occasions, but not Your disciples?”

Jesus answered them, “How can you expect wedding guests to mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them? The time will come, when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

“No one patches an old coat with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for the patch will shrink and tear an even bigger hole in the coat. In the same way, you do not put new wine in old wineskins. If you do, the wineskins will burst and the wine will be spilt. No, you put new wine in fresh skins; then both are preserved.”

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Saturday, 5 July 2014 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony Zaccaria, Priest (Psalm)

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

Psalm 84 : 9, 11-12, 13-14

Would that I hear God’s proclamation, that He promise peace to His people, His saints – lest they come back to their folly.

Love and faithfulness have met; righteousness and peace have embraced. Faithfulness will reach up from the earth while justice bends down from heaven.

The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its fruit. Justice will go before Him, and peace will follow along His path.