Scripture

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Monday, 20 May 2013 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (First Reading)

Sirach 1 : 1-10

All wisdom comes from the Lord and endures with Him forever. The grains of sand, the drops of rain and the days of eternity, who can count them? The height of heaven, the extent of the earth, and the depths of the abyss, who can measure them?

Wisdom was created before all things and the prudent intellect before the beginning of time. To whom was the source of Wisdom revealed? Who has known her secret designs? One alone is wise and greatly to be feared. The One who is seated upon His throne.

The Lord Himself created Wisdom. He looked on her and knew her value. He poured her out over all His works; upon all mortal beings, in accordance with his goodness. He lavished her on those who love Him.

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Sunday, 19 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday (Scripture Reflection)

Happy Pentecost, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Today marks the end of the fifty days Easter season, and the end of the long celebrations of Christ’s glorious resurrection. Tomorrow will mark the beginning of the liturgical Ordinary Time again in the Church, with the seventh Ordinary week. But Easter does not end here, but it in fact continues and we should always rejoice in the resurrection of the Lord and continue to carry on the Easter spirit that is within us, to be witnesses of Christ’s resurrection and glory.

Pentecost is a very important day in the history of the Church and indeed is a crucial event that all of us who believes in Christ must treasure and understand. For Pentecost, as many of us would have known from our early days that it marks the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles in Jerusalem, when the Advocate, that is the Holy Spirit promised by Christ our Lord finally arrives and inflames the hearts of all the disciples, and teach them all that they need to know about the Lord.

Pentecost, through the Holy Spirit’s entry into the hearts of the disciples, transformed them from the weak, ordinary human that they were, to be the powerful champions of God and His presence in this world. Through the disciples, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the believers in Christ, which once was cowered in great fear and confusion by the death of Christ, exploded outwards and began the work of salvation of all mankind, which continues even to this day.

Today marked the birth of our Church, the Roman Catholic Church. This Church had begun on that day, with the conversion of more than three thousand souls to the cause of the Lord. That because Peter, the leader of the Apostles, filled with the flames of the Holy Spirit, rose up to defend the Lord and preach the truth to the people, without fear that once gripped the hearts of all the disciples. Gone were the fear and confusion, and with the Holy Spirit giving them all the knowledge of the faith, all were clear to them, and they preached the Gospels of the Lord, the Gospel of truth, and many accepted the Lord that day.

As Christ had once told His disciples in His sermon, He told them that the Holy Spirit brought with It various gifts to those whom the Spirit was willing to come and dwell within. The Holy Spirit gives courage to the hearts of mankind, and they encourage those who had been paralyzed by fear, and that was why the apostles suddenly became so forthcoming in proclaiming the truth of God, when they were just moments before so fearful of capture by the Jewish authorities that they were gathered in a locked room.

The Holy Spirit also gives the gifts of tongues, that is the ability to speak in various languages, and this was told in the first reading today that the apostles spoke various languages, praising the Lord, and were heard by the visitors from all over the world that were at the time gathered in Jerusalem for the Festival. This gift allows the disciples to preach to the people in their own native tongues and therefore greatly enhanced their ability to spread the Good News of the Lord to the peoples of various countries, and this itself also played a crucial role in the birth and growth of the Church of God.

The Holy Spirit also gives guidance to those who have uncertainty in their path, and this Holy Spirit becomes truly the Advocate, guiding the apostles in their missions throughout the Mediterranean, for the next few decades, particularly in the missions and travels of St. Paul the Apostle, who brought the Word of God to many people, Jews and Gentiles alike, that many of them became the believers in Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, many became the children of God and be saved.

The Holy Spirit remains at work in our Church today, and is evident in the many works of evangelisation by our courageous and tireless missionaries that preach the word of God in many areas of the world today, bringing the light of God to many in various nations. We too can play our part, as we too have been given the Holy Spirit through our own baptism and strengthened in our own confirmation.

We can help the process of evangelisation, by reflecting Christ in our actions, our words, and all our deeds, that through us, the light of Christ can be seen by those around us, and then they may believe and become followers of Christ too, just like all of us. But do not seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit with greed, just like what some ‘Christians’ like to do. Some like to claim the gift of tongues and languages, blabbering in unintelligible words, as if they truly speak in tongues. Be warned, brothers and sisters, the gift of the Holy Spirit does not always mean external displays and shows such as these, as if we are not careful, instead of the Holy Spirit, we may be dealing with the devil.

Rather, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use the Holy Spirit within us, and the subtle gifts that It has given us, that is mainly love and hope. Love that inflames our hearts to zealously spread the Word of God to all those around us, through our words, and through our actions. The Holy Spirit also gives us hope and strength of mind, to be always ready and willing to evangelise in the Name of God. With these gifts in our hands, let us become modern missionaries of Christ, spreading the Good News to all nations.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, many people have yet listen to the Word of God, and many also have no chance of receiving the baptism of the Lord, because either they had no access to the Word, or no access to God’s message, or the Scripture, or because of external pressures and prejudice against the faith in the Lord that prevents many from becoming the children of God.

Let the Holy Spirit transform us and through us, let the Holy Spirit do His work in our world, to renew this world, bring the light of Christ into it, and make this world worthy of the Lord our God, when He comes again in His glorious Second Coming. May God strengthen us all with the Holy Spirit that He has sent through His Son, Jesus Christ, who gave the Holy Spirit as the breath of life, to His disciples, and from His disciples to our bishops and priests, and from them to us.

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Sunday, 19 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday (Gospel Reading)

John 20 : 19-23

On the evening of that day, the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were, because of their fear of the Jews. But Jesus came, and stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” Then He showed them His hands and His side. The disciples kept looking at the Lord and were full of joy.

Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” After saying this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

 

Alternative reading

 

John 14 : 15-16, 23b-26

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments; and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him; and We will come to him and make a room in his home.

But if anyone does not love Me; he will not keep My words; and these words that you hear are not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. I told you all this while I was still with you. From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I have told you.

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Sunday, 19 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday (Second Reading)

1 Corinthians 12 : 3b-7, 12-13

No one can say, “Jesus is the Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. There is diversity of gifts, but the Spirit is the same. There is diversity of ministries, but the Lord is the same. There is diversity of works, but the same God works in all.

The Spirit reveals His presence in each one with a gift that is also a service. As the body is one, having many members, and all the members, while being many, form one body, so it is with Christ. All of us, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, have been baptised in one Spirit to form one body and all of us have been given to drink from the one Spirit.

 

Alternative reading

 

Romans 8 : 8-17

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.

Then, brothers, let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die. Rather, walking in the Spirit, let us put to death the body’s deeds so that we may live. All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. Then, no more fear : you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit that makes you sons and daughters and every time we cry, “Abba! Father!” the Spirit assures our spirit that we are sons and daughters of God.

If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God and we will share it with Christ; for if we now suffer with Him, we will also share Glory with Him.

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Sunday, 19 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday (Psalm)

Psalm 103 : 1ab and 24ac, 29bc-30, 31 and 34

Bless the Lord, my soul! Clothed in majesty and splendour; how varied o Lord, are Your works! The earth full of Your creatures.

You take away their breath, they expire and return to dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and the face of the earth is renewed.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works! May my song give Him pleasure, as the Lord gives me delight.

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Sunday, 19 May 2013 : Solemnity of the Pentecost, Pentecost Sunday (First Reading)

Acts 2 : 1-11

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly out of the sky came a sound like a strong rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. There appeared tongues as if of fire which parted and came to rest upon each one of them. All were filled with Holy Spirit and began to speak other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Staying in Jerusalem were religious Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered, all excited because each heard them speaking in his own language. Full of amazement and wonder, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them in our own native language?”

“Here are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and foreigners who accept Jewish beliefs, Cretians and Arabians; and all of us hear them proclaiming in our own language what God, the Saviour, does.”

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Saturday, 18 May 2013 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Brothers and sisters, God our Lord loves us, and He sent us His Son, Jesus Christ, to show that perfect love that He has for us. Jesus came that He may bring salvation to all mankind. He gave Himself for us on the cross, that through His sacrifice as our Paschal Lamb, we are purified from our sins and our unworthiness before the Lord.

He gave us His new commandments of love, that through His disciples, we receive the commandments to love one another, and to love God with all our beings, with all our attentions. He gave us these that we may have love in all of us, and therefore worthy of Him who created us, because God is love, and without love, we cannot be with Him.

He did not leave the Apostles empty handed either, when He departed from them and ascended into heaven. He gave the Apostles, and from them to us, the very Advocate, the Holy Spirit that is from God, that the Spirit would come and transform this world, with the power of God. The Holy Spirit came over the Apostles and energised them, and gave them the courage to preach the Good News of the Lord.

Through the Apostles, we too receive the Holy Spirit, which is descended to us through a continuous succession of shepherds in the Church, to our priests and bishops today. In the sacrament of baptism that we received, either directly after our birth or in our adulthood, we were welcomed into the Church of God, and be reunited with God through the waters and baptism, and we also receive the Holy Spirit, which is then strengthened by the conferring of the sacrament of confirmation.

The Holy Spirit empowers us and gives all of us the strength to be disciples and missionaries of the Lord, and that allows us to follow through Jesus’ mission to us, that is to evangelise to the entire world. We are today called to be messengers of God’s word. But brethren, we have to make sure that we ourselves are properly placed to proclaim God’s words to the nations, like St. Paul once did, to the people of Rome and beyond.

We have to follow the Church’s teachings and commandments of the Lord as taught by the Church. Listen to the homilies of our priests in the Mass, read the Scripture with commentaries on the passages, and learn more about our faith through reading of sources such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which contains basically everything that we need to know about our faith. Also understand and learn more on the history of the Church, which had existed since it was established by Jesus Christ Himself and which He had built on Peter, which the Pope, who is his successor, represents Christ in this world and act as the leader and shepherd of all God’s sheep and flocks.

Be careful not to spread false teachings and follow the false prophets that run rampant in our world today, as the Scripture is easily misinterpreted, and the witness to the faith as represented by St. John the Evangelist in his Gospel of John, which we read today, can easily be used by Satan to turn the word of God and twist it to serve his own purposes. Remember that Satan himself used the words of the Scripture in his attempts to tempt Jesus in the desert.

Pray and pray, and make sure that we have a healthy spiritual life, and feeding constantly on the word of God that provides us with spiritual sustenance, and receive often the Lord in the Most Precious Eucharist, and allow Him to dwell into ourselves, that the Holy Spirit that dwells within us can truly exercise its power and bear fruits of the Holy Spirit, such as love and compassion.

Jesus too did not leave us without hope, as through John too, He gave to us the vision of His second coming, of His long-awaited return to this world. This time not as a humble king, but as a terrible judge and triumphant King who would judge all creations and separate the good from the bad. He gave that vision to John, so that we will be ready and not be complacent, that when He comes, we will not be caught unprepared like the five unwise women, who did not bring extra oil with them. Be rather like the five wise women who stood ready with extra oil, that when the time comes, we are ready for the Lord.

Today, we celebrate the memorial and feast of a great Pope and saint of the early Church, that is Pope St. John I. Pope St. John I was an upright and faithful man, dedicated to the Lord, and was chosen to lead the Universal Church due to his holiness and love for the Lord, and prolonged service for the sake of the Lord and the Church. He was forced by the secular authorities, who have fallen to heresies, to gain moderation for the punishment for heresy, and despite the Pope’s opposition, he was forced to do so, and yet, when he had successfully done so, he was imprisoned for treachery and plotting charges against that secular ruler.

Despite the betrayal, and the imprisonment, Pope St. John I did not falter but remain steadfast to his death, as a  martyr of the faith. He is a role model, an upright person, whose faith in God and steadfastness is an example to all of us, to be more courageous like him in spreading the Good News of the Lord. We have to be courageous, to spread the message of God’s love, and may God be with all of us in this mission, which Christ had entrusted to us. God bless us all. Amen.

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Saturday, 18 May 2013 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

John 21 : 20-25

Peter looked back and saw that the disciple Jesus loved was following as well, the one who had reclined close to Jesus at the supper, and had asked Him, “Lord, who is to betray You?”

On seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I come, does that concern you? Follow Me!”

Because of this the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, “He will not die,” but, “Suppose I want him to remain until I come.”

It is this disciple who testifies about the things he has written here, and we know that his testimony is true. But Jesus did many other things; if all were written down, I think the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

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Saturday, 18 May 2013 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (Psalm)

Psalm 10 : 4, 5 and 7

The Lord is in His holy place – our God whose throne is in heaven. He looks down to earth to observe the race of Adam.

The Lord searches both righteous and wicked. He hates those who delight in violence. For the Lord is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.

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Saturday, 18 May 2013 : 7th Week of Easter, Memorial of Pope St. John I, Pope and Martyr (First Reading)

Acts 28 : 16-20, 30-31

Upon our arrival in Rome, the captain turned the prisoners over to the military governor but permitted Paul to lodge in a private house with the soldier who guarded him. After three days, Paul called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them : “Brothers, though I have not done anything against our people or against the traditions of our fathers, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.”

“They examined me and wanted to set me free, for they saw nothing in my case that deserved death. But the Jews objected, so I was forced to appeal to Caesar without the least intention of bringing any case against my own people. Therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I bear these chains.”

Paul stayed for two whole years in a house he himself rented, where he received without any hindrance all those who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught the truth about Jesus Christ, the Lord, quite openly and without any hindrance.