Scripture

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Wednesday, 23 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Mark 3 : 1-6

Again Jesus entered the synagogue. A man, who had a paralyzed hand, was there, and some people watched Jesus : would He heal the man on the Sabbath? If He did, they could accuse Him.

Jesus said to the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stand here in the centre.” Then He asked them, “What does the Law allow us to do on the Sabbath? To do good or to do harm? To save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

Then Jesus looked around at them with anger and deep sadness, because they had closed their minds. And He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was healed.
As soon as the Pharisees left, they met with Herod’s supporters, looking for a way to destroy Jesus.

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Wednesday, 23 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Psalm 109, 1-4

Break your silence, o God whom I praise, now that the wicked and deceitful hurl their false accusations at me.

They assail me with words of hatred; they attack me for no valid cause.

They return my friendship with slander, and yet I pray for them.

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Change : Inclusion of the Psalm

Since I realised that the Psalm is very much part of the Scripture and that it is also definitely worthy reflecting on, I will include the Psalm in the daily readings from now on.

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Wednesday, 23 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Hebrews 7 : 1-3,15-17

Scripture says that Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, came out to meet Abraham who returned from defeating the kings. He blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything.

Let us not that the name Melchizedek means King of Justice, and that King of Salem means King of Peace. There is no mention of father, mother, or genealogy; nothing is said about the beginning or the end of his life. In this he is the figure of the Son of God, the priest who remains forever.

All this, however, becomes clear if this priest after the likeness of Melchizedek has in fact received his mission, not on the basis of any human law, but by the power of an immortal life. Because Scripture says : You are a priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek.

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Tuesday, 22 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

In today’s readings, God shows that He is faithful, and that He will reward all those who believe in Him. We can rest assured that God will protect us, as long as we too remain faithful in Him, and remain in His favour. After all, the Lord has proven His faith to us and His love by sending us His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Saviour, by being the High Priest of all mankind, giving up Himself as a worthy sacrifice in place of our innumerable sins. Such indeed, is the extent of God’s love and reliability, as He is reliable as He is loving, the only one we can truly trust, since He stopped at nothing but gave Himself entirely for our sake. Thus, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us anchor ourselves in Christ, and let God be the firm foundation of our faith, and our life. So that, even when troubles come, and even when uncertainties and temptations come, we can be assured that as long as we keep our anchor in Christ, we are in God’s good hands.

God did create rules and set of laws in the past to the Israelites, which He announced to Moses on Mount Horeb, the Holy mountain of God, and the purpose of these rules is none other than to serve as the same anchor to keep all the Israelites anchored in God and His teachings, and not to be led astray by the temptations of the other gods followed by tribes that the Israelites met on their way to the Promised Land, and in the Promised Land itself, to always remain faithful in God. Nevertheless, as was evident in the many parts of the Old Testament, the people of Israel disobeyed the Lord many times and did things in opposition to His commandments and His rules, which include the rule of the Sabbath.

However, the coming of Christ has brought an entire new dimension to the interpretation of these laws and their relations to God’s people, as Christ, being God Himself, has walked amongst His people, and He, the Son of Man, is the Master of the Sabbath, and thus, consequently also the new ‘Anchor’ of the people’s faith, replacing all the old laws and commandments with His new commandment of love, for the Son of God did not come to destroy but to perfect the old commandments and serve as the fulfillment of all the promises and prophecies made by the prophets.

Laws, customs, and regulations should not be seen as so binding and authoritative to the point of enslaving those whom these regulations are supposed to protect into their slaves instead. This is what Jesus meant when He said that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. These rules, laws, and customs are there, because they are there to guide us to the correct path and prevent us from going astray, but not to limit us unnecessarily, especially when nothing that we do are wrong in the eyes of God. We have even seen that in the Book of the Maccabees, the Israelites under the leadership of the Maccabees allowed themselves to fight to defend themselves on the Sabbath against the pagan Greeks, rather than leaving themselves to be killed without defense. And so was David and his followers when they were truly hungry, for food is a basic and essential commodity to humans like us, and also to all creations. God certainly do not wish to deny us this essential commodity and leaving us to die of hunger just by inflexibly obeying the law of the Sabbath.

This is also why, we as Catholics, do not follow the Jewish Laws anymore, including the laws regarding food prohibitions, as what matters to Jesus Christ, the new ‘anchor’ of our faith, which renews the Law into its perfect form, is the purity and sincerity of our hearts and our souls, and not matters that concern our physique, such as food and rituals. Indeed, the Lord Himself said that (Matthew 15 : 11) “What enters into the mouth does not make a person unclean. What defiles a person is what comes out of his mouth.”

Therefore, what matters is the laws that regulate our spirituality, which will ensure our internal spirituality and soul remain pure and unblemished to the Lord, which can be achieved through prayers, and doing good work for the sake of God, and for the sake of all around us. “Ora et Labora” indeed, to pray and to do good works, so that our hearts will be pure and be worthy of God.

We do have rules and regulations in our Church, just as the Jews did, and we too have to obey these rules, as these rules, although are human in nature, can help us greatly in ensuring that all of us can have the optimum condition necessary to sustain our spiritual wellbeing and purity, despite all the temptations and the challenges presented by the world around us.

Therefore, let us all pray that Jesus, as the anchor of our faith and our life, will strengthen us, and will support us in our daily lives and daily encounters with temptations and challenges of the world, that we will be able, with the help of the rules and laws of the Church, maintain our spiritual health and maintain our purity in the eyes of God, focusing on the internal rather than the external dimension of our being.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_of_Saragossa

Today we also celebrate the Feast of St. Vincent, who was a Deacon and Martyr in the early Church. Also known as St. Vincent of Saragossa, St. Vincent was imprisoned for his faith in late Roman Empire under Emperor Diocletian, and met his martyrdom at the Emperor’s orders. St. Vincent is another shining example of loyalty to the faith in God, just as shown by St. Agnes, whose feast we celebrated just the day before. These martyrs show us that God rewards those who believed in Him and remain faithful in Him, as stated in the first reading today. As long as we keep our anchor in Christ, and remain strong in our faith in Him, even with all the challenges and persecutions laid by the world against us, like these saints and martyrs, we will eventually prevail and be rewarded with nothing less than life eternal with Christ, forever and ever. Amen.

St. Vincent of Saragossa, Deacon and Martyr, pray for us.

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Tuesday, 22 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Mark 2 : 23-28

One Sabbath He was walking through the grainfields. As His disciples walked along with Him, they began to pick the heads of grain and crush them in their hands. Then the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”

And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did in his time of need, when he and his men were very hungry? He went into the house of God, when Abiathar was High Priest, and ate the bread of offering, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and he also gave some to the men who were with him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath.”

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Monday, 21 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Today, the readings truly focus on Jesus Christ Himself, who is the High Priest of all mankind, as mentioned in the First Reading, and as the Bridegroom of the faithful, the Church. Today we focus especially on the nature of the priesthood itself. For priests in our Catholic tradition are men who have given themselves fully to God, and in doing so, they do not marry or seek to marry anymore, why? This is because they are indeed married, married to God, and to His beloved people the Church. It is in the footsteps of Christ who has loved us so much that He gave us His life for our salvation, that those who choose to become priests, also dedicate themselves to a life of holiness and service, out of pure love for God and all creations.

Christ is the High Priest, who offered Himself as the Lamb, the pure and unblemished Lamb whose Precious Blood cleanses all the filth of sin and freed us from slavery of death and evil. He is the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, just as all our priests are priests of that same order. Once a priest, you are a priest forever. Who is Melchizedek? He is the King of Salem, Priest appointed by God, and named as the Priest of God the Most High, who presented the offering of bread and wine to God, and blessed Abraham, our forefather in faith. Today, priests also do what Melchizedek did, which is to offer bread and wine as offering to God, but yet, through Christ, this has become a truly Divine Offering, as not just any bread and wine is offered, but the very Precious Body and Blood of Christ Himself, the only Sacrifice worthy of our sins, countless and innumerable as they are. No one but Christ can redeem us from the incomprehensible nature of our sin’s extent.

Christ suffered for our sake on the cross, blood streaming down His Body from the cross, endured curses and spits from those who He had come to save. But yet, Christ obediently gave Himself, that even these who had rejected Him, may yet have hope of eternal life. He forgave those who cried out for His death, and although as human as He was as we are, He was also tempted to abandon His final task, but He accepted the chalice of sin and bitterness, submitting Himself fully to the will of God. This is why, He is our High Priest, through whom all of us are finally free from the certainty of death and separation from God.

For indeed God loves us so much that He sent us His only Son, and through the obedience of the Son, and through His Love, He endured all our sins that we are now hopeful of His Kingdom. He represents us before God bringing gifts of offering for our sins, but His gift is He Himself, who is the only worthy gift of all creation to cover for all our sins, both before, present, and after. So, therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us strive not to sin anymore, as whenever we sin, let us remember that we burden Christ with ever more and more sin. Let us rather turn to His Love, and listen to His words that we all will truly be worthy of He who died for us.

That is why priests today are who they are, they dedicate themselves fully to God, and they give their time fully for God and His people, all of us, alone. For He, just like Christ, in the image of Christ, offer the gifts of the Precious Body and Blood of Christ in the bread and wine every time we have Mass, that all of us are saved. This offering is neither separate nor symbolic from the Ultimate Sacrifice of Christ, since the bread is Real Body, and the blood is Real Blood, and the offering of the Sacrifice is truly one and in union with the Ultimate Sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who through the priests in the Mass, gave Himself to us, His Body and His Blood, that we will have eternal life in Him. Pray for our priests and all the religious who dedicated themselves to God, that they will stay pure, that they will stay faithful in their mission and their dedication to God.

Jesus also mentioned about the wine and wineskins, and the cloth and the coat, and how new things should not be put together with old things, or they will destroy each other. This is because, Christ Himself, as the Lord, has brought a new Covenant to all people, not just limited to the people of Israel, that through His Sacrifice on the Cross, and through His blood, He made a new Covenant with all peoples that they all can be saved through Him. He is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament and the prophets, and He brought a new rule of Love and Faith in God. The people no longer have the need to regularly sacrifice sheep, goats, and other animals to redeem them from their sins at the temple, for now God, as mentioned, has done it once and for all, as our High Priest. Gone are the rules and precepts of the past, and with it, the new teachings of Christ came into place. The new wine and the new cloth are Christ and His teachings, which render the old ones outdated, as Christ fulfills the prophecies, and He also made perfect the Law which had been passed down from Moses, so the old Law no longer applies, but the new Law of Christ, which is based on Love of God, and love of one another just as He loves us.

Today is also the Feast Day of St. Agnes, who we remembered as both a virgin and a martyr. Just like Christ, St. Agnes gave herself up to the executioners without complaints at the age of 13, rather than abandoning her faith and her chastity by marriage to the son of a Pagan prefect of the Roman Empire. St. Agnes is a shining example of faith and love to God, whom priests and indeed all of us should follow. That rather than betraying God and our soul, she chose death rather than promise of material wealth and fame. This is not to say that we all should choose death, but in our daily lives, we should constantly remind ourselves of our faith, and our ties with God, and always do all things in the name of the Lord, and in His honour. Let us ask St. Agnes to pray for us, that our faith in God will ever be strengthened, that whenever we falter in our faith and love for God, the Lord will send His angels and the Holy Spirit to empower us and renew our commitment in Him.

St. Agnes, pray for us, and may we be able to follow in your footsteps in loving our God and dedicating ourselves to Him, and also pray for our priests, especially those tempted by the worldly temptations and sin. Amen.

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Monday, 21 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Mark 2 : 18-22

One day, when the Pharisees and the disciples of John the Baptist were fasting, some people asked Jesus, “Why is it that both the Pharisees and the disciples of John fast, but Yours do not?”

Jesus answered, “How can the wedding guest fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.

No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear away from the old cloth, making a worse tear. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the wine would burst the skins, and then both the wine and the skins would be lost. But new wine, new skins!”

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Monday, 21 January 2013 : 2nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Hebrews 5 : 1-10

Every High Priest is taken from among mortals and appointed to be their representatives before God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin. He is able to understand the ignorant and erring for he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he is bound to offer sacrifices for his sins as well as for the sins of the people. Besides, one does not presume to take this dignity, but takes it only when called by God, as Aaron was.

Nor did Christ become High Priest in taking upon Himself this dignity, but it as given to Him by the One who says : “You are My Son, I have begotten You today.” And in another place : “You are a priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek.”

Christ, in the days of His mortal life, offered His sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to Him who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His humble submission. Although He was Son, He learnt through suffering what obedience was, and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for those who obey Him. This is how God proclaimed Him Priest, in the order of Melchizedek.

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Sunday, 20 January 2013 : 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

In the first reading today, God showed His love for His people Israel, although they have betrayed Him many times. Then, the second reading showed about the gifts of the Spirit, what the Spirit can do in us, and through us, the Lord’s will is done. Finally, the Gospel itself is the account of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed His very first miracle of turning water into the finest wine.

God still loves His people, and thus still loves us, no matter what we have done. Although we had sinned many times and betrayed Him, and abandoned Him many times, He is still always faithful. For just as He was mentioned as the bridegroom in the first reading, and the land as His spouse, the Lord is united to us through His marriage to us, as in the Revelation it is mentioned that God is the bride of the Church, and this Church is us, the faithful ones in God. And just as He is loving, He is a faithful bride indeed, and even though we, His brides are unfaithful, He is always ready to welcome us back if we indeed repent our sins and our mistakes and turn back to Him, who created us, and who embrace us both as His children just as He is our Father, and our bride as the Lord is the bridegroom of the Church.

The Holy Spirit, the Third person of the Holy Trinity, is the instrument of this unity of marriage between us and our Lord. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God came down to us from the Father, and built the bridge crossing between us and the Father across the chasms of sin, through Jesus too, the Holy Spirit came down from the Father and sealed our relationship with God, through the Apostles at Pentecost, when the Church was born. This is why, in our baptism too, we are baptised in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, that with the Holy Spirit that empowers, and the authority of the Father, and the Sacrifice of the Son, we are married to God and becomes His alone, and the devil has no part in us. In Confirmation, we receive further the gift of the Holy Spirit, which confirms our Faith in God and mark us with the gifts that enable us to perform good works and deeds in God’s name.

The Holy Spirit brings forth many gifts including even the gift of tongues and prophesy. But while there are Christians that put heavy emphasis on these aspects of the Holy Spirit, the true fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit are actually not on these, but on the gifts that permeates our heart, and allow God to be the centre of our lives, filling our hearts with love and compassion for others. In other times, also the gift of courage, to speak up for our fellow men, whenever we see injustice and attacks against the weak, the poor, and the lonely, and when there are attacks against God Himself, and against the sanctity of human life. The gift of courage and wisdom, and knowledge of God and His Scriptures, to proclaim to all around us, the Word of God, not just by speech and sermons, but most importantly, by good deeds and works through which all mankind can see that we truly belong to Christ, and see the Holy Spirit in us.

Then, there is Jesus’ ministry itself. After being baptised by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, Jesus was full with the Holy Spirit, and began His ministry after calling the first Apostles. The Wedding at Cana was where He conducted His first miracle, despite the fact that He was reluctant to do so. However, through this account, we can see indeed, the obedience Christ has for His mother, Mary, who truly cares for the wellbeing of God’s children, where in their happiest of times, marriage, the most terrible kind of disasters awaited them, as it was truly discourteous of the wedding groom and bride to have run out of wine in the days-long Jewish wedding. Although Jesus apparently said to Mary indifferently and seemingly not wishing to help as His time is yet to come, one can see that Jesus did listen to His mother’s pleas on behalf of the groom and the bride, and performed the miracle, saving the wedding of the loving couple from possible embarrassment.

This is why we pray through Mary (not praying to Mary or worshipping Mary), as Mary is the very Mother of our God, Theotokos, who brought our Lord Jesus into this world. Who is best to champion our cause and pleas other than Mary herself, who pleaded for the couple before Jesus, her Son? And Jesus loves His mother dearly and listens to her, as long as it is within the Lord’s will, if we pray through Mary, we will be heard. Nevertheless, prayers should be more than just asking petitions, and rather should be a true conversation with God, with His mother, and with all the holy peoples of God we choose to speak to in our prayers.

Then, to some, it seems that Christ was extremely rude in calling His mother, “Woman” in His response on Mary’s request. “Woman” may seem to us to be very rude, but in fact, it is an honour that was ascribed by Christ to His mother. In the first chapters of Genesis, we noted that in the account of Creation and the first people, Adam and Eve, the serpent-devil successfully tempted them to eat the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge. God punished them, but not before proclaiming before Satan, that He will put enmity between him and the woman, and his offspring and her offspring. And that the woman shall crush the serpent under her feet. This woman, in times immemorial and uncountable after the fall of mankind, is Mary. Mary, through her ultimate obedience in God, becomes the one who bore Christ into this world, the new Adam, and also the Saviour, whose enmity as the child of the woman, with the Satan and his offsprings, Sin, finally freed us from the eternal slavery of sin, through Christ’s sacrifice on the Calvary. It is through this Ultimate Sacrifice that Mary, as the woman, crushed the powers of evil forever. This is why, as Catholics, and indeed, as all Christians should do, we should properly venerate Mary, the Mother of God, the faithful one, and the one who Christ listens to, and most importantly, the one allowing our Salvation to happen by her obedience to the will of God.

Let us therefore renew our commitment for this coming weeks and months, to strengthen our faith in God, and to renew our dedication to Him, God who loves us despite our wrongdoings and waywardness. Let us ask God’s forgiveness and let Him embrace us with His love, a love that we ought to share with our fellow men. Let us also aspire to be more like Mary, the mother of our Lord, whose life and actions in her love and obedience to God should be our compass to guide us in our daily lives, so that we will not be lost amongst the waves of sin and materialism, but to always remain in focus on God, that through Mary, we can have a direct way to the Lord. Bring forth the Holy Spirit and use His gifts to us to bring the Good News to all, through our actions inspired by His gifts and presence in our hearts, that indeed the Holy Spirit will come upon our world and renews all the earth. Amen.

(Continue praying for the victims of flooding in Jakarta, which is still ongoing, and also those who suffer from natural disasters across the world. Also to those who suffer persecution and injustice, especially because of their faith. Let us pray through Mary, that she will bring our petitions for the sake of those who are suffering before her Son, who will surely listen, and bring God’s justice to their oppressors.)