Scripture

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Mark 6 : 7-13

He called the Twelve to Him, and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over evil spirits. And He ordered them to take nothing for the journey, except a staff : no food, no bag, no money in their belts. They were to wear sandals and were not to take an extra tunic.

And He added, “In whatever house you are welcomed, stay there until you leave the place.” If any place doesn’t receive you, and the people refuse to listen to you, leave after shaking the dust off your feet. It will be a testimony against them.”

So they set out to proclaim that this was the time to repent. They drove out many demons and healed many sick people by anointing them.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Psalm 47 : 2-3a, 3b-4, 9, 10-11

Great is the Lord, most worthy of praise in the city of God, His holy mountain. Beautifully elevated, it is the joy of all the earth.

Mount Zion, heavenly mountain, the city of the great King. Here within her lines of defense, God has shown Himself to be a sure fortress.

As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, the city God founded forever.

Let us recall Your unfailing love, o God, inside Your temple. Let Your praise as does Your Name, o God, reach to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is ever victorious.

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Thursday, 7 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Hebrews 12 : 18-19,21-24

What you have come to is nothing known to the senses : nor heat of a blazing fire, darkness and gloom and storms, blasts of trumpets or such a voice that the people pleaded that no further word be spoken.

The sight was so terrifying that Moses said : I tremble with fear. But you came near to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem with its innumerable angels. You have come to the solemn feast, the assembly of the firstborn of God, whose names are written in heaven. There is God, Judge of all, with the spirits of the upright brought to perfection.

There is Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, with the sprinkled blood that cries out more effectively than Abel’s.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Scripture Reflection)

Today we learn that the Lord loves and cares for us, just like a father to all of us. He can be strong and demanding, especially when we go astray from the right path, just like a father disciplining his children. However, God can indeed also be kind and loving as a father is, for God’s love is true and pure, and unfathomable in its extent.

We do not have to literally shed blood in the struggle against sin, as the question in the first reading from the letter to the Hebrews mentioned. But we have to always remember that, Christ Himself had shed His Precious Blood in the ultimate struggle against evil and sin. It is through this Blood in the Sacrifice, that all of us are set free from the chains of sin and slavery of evil.

Through Christ as well, all of us become God’s children, since by becoming human Himself like all of us, Christ the Lord became the most beloved of God’s creation. Since Christ is a brother to all of us, through Him, God is no longer distant, but God is just like our Father. This is why Jesus taught us the perfect prayer, the Pater Noster, which refers to God as our Father.

God is evidently fatherlike in His dealings with His chosen people, the people of Israel. Whenever they disobeyed Him and even abandoned Him for the other gods, you may think that the Bible seemed to show that the Lord has also abandoned Israel. But no, in fact, God remains faithful as He is always, even when His beloved children were always unfaithful. In the end, God loves all His children so much, that He gave Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is one with Him in the Trinity to redeem us from our rebellious ways and our sinful nature, in order to be reunited with all of us again at the end of time, for all time.

To all who have families, and who are parents, you should aim to follow the example of the Lord in being the parent of your children, through masterful balance between discipline and love. Even all acts of discipline and tough measures ultimately must be based in love, for all these that we do, are all because we love the children, not because we despise or hate the children.

Parents, love your children; and children, love your parents. Let us all imitate the love that the Lord has for all of us, and the love that Jesus has for God, His Father in Heaven. It is through Christ’s full obedience to the Father that all of us are saved. Therefore, let us also be obedient to our own parents and to our Father in heaven, God who loves all.

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

Today we commemorate the feast of Saints Paul Miki and his companions who were Japanese Christians martyred for their faith, and until the end, they stay strong in their faith, and was crucified in Nagasaki in 1597, during the time when persecution of Christians began in Japan. Christians were forced to abandon their faith or be killed by crucifixion, in the parody of the Christian faith.

Those who abandoned the faith and chose life were made to trample on the crosses and the images of the faith, and in that way, they saved their lives, but lost their soul. St. Paul Miki and his companions in Christ did not falter, and when forced to march hundreds of kilometres from the capital Kyoto to Nagasaki, they sing the Te Deum, a hymn which glorifies the Lord and praises Him for His kindness. And most importantly, St. Paul Miki forgave all his executioners and those who tortured him and his companions, just as Christ did on the cross.

Can we also have the courage and spirit to forgive those who has inflicted pain and suffering on us, instead of hating and creating even more violence? Let us therefore follow the example of St. Paul Miki and his martyred companions, and also follow the example of the Lord as a good shepherd and a good Father to all of us, that we can make our families, holy families in Christ, a loving and caring family, which will ultimately will lead to a loving and wonderful society, and a loving world. Pray for us St. Paul Miki and Companions! Amen.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Gospel Reading)

Mark 6 : 1-6

Leaving that place, Jesus returned to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and most of those who heard Him were astonished. But they said, “How did this come to Him? What kind of wisdom has been given to Him, that He also performs such miracles? Who is He but the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here among us?” So they took offense at Him.

And Jesus said to them, “Prophets are despised only in their own country, among their relatives, and in their own family.” And He could work no miracles there, but only healed a few sick people, by laying His hands on them. Jesus Himself was astounded at their unbelief. Jesus then went around the villages, teaching.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Psalm)

Psalm 102 : 1-2,13-14,17-18a

Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.

But the Lord’s kindness is forever with those who fear Him; so is His justice, for their children’s children, for those who keep His covenant.

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of Sts. Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

Hebrews 12 : 4-7,11-15

Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin? Do not forget the comforting words that Wisdom addresses to you as children : “My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you and do not be discouraged when He punishes you. For the Lord corrects those He loves and chastises everyone He accepts as a son.”

What you endure is in order to correct you, God treats you like sons and what son is not corrected by his father?

All correction is painful at the moment, rather than pleasant; later it brings the fruit of peace, that is, holiness to those who have been trained by it. Lift up then, your drooping hands, and strengthen your trembling knees; make level the ways for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled but healed.

Strive for peace with all and strive to be holy, for without holiness no one will see the Lord. See that no one falls from the grace of God, lest a bitter plant spring up and its poison corrupt many among you.

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Tuesday, 5 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Scripture Reflection)

Today, the readings showed us that to God, nothing is impossible. For He has all the authority on this world and beyond. All lives lay under His power, and even death could not escape Him. This is because Christ Himself would conquer death, through His own death on the cross. His resurrection proved that death no longer has power over mankind. Christ bought us with His priceless and precious Blood from the enslavement of death and sin.

It is through His suffering on the cross, that Christ made all of us, especially those who believe in Him, pure and worthy of God’s Kingdom. It is through faith, that we are saved, just like the woman with the bleeding, whom out of her great faith, dared to push on and approached Jesus to be healed. Her effort paid off when the Lord healed her and also praised her for her great faith. Jairus, too, in his great faith, knowing that the Lord can save his daughter, reached out to Jesus, humbly asking Him to be willing to heal her.

Can we also be as humble and as faithful as they are? Many of us in this modern world, are particularly too proud to admit that we had erred, and that we had made mistakes in our lives. If we are so proud and unwilling to admit our faults to our fellow man, then even more so we are unwilling to admit our sin to God, and even to ask for forgiveness with great humility. Let us be not like the people in Jairus’ house, who laughed at Christ, and did not believe in Him, and His mastery over even death.

However, again, let us not be mistaken, that faith alone can save us fully and entirely, without any action in the practice of our faith. Our faith is not an instantaneous matter, since it takes action to nurture our faith in God, and our love of others. Just like Jairus who went all the way to seek for Jesus to heal his daughter, and the woman, who braved through the immense crowd to reach Jesus to touch His cloak. Can we also strive to do this extra effort to bring our faith into practice, to reach out to one another, and therefore in the end able to reach the Lord? Remember that Christ told us that whatever we do for those who are the least and weakest in our society, that we do it to the Lord, and in doing so, the Lord knows us and recognises us, as those worthy of Him and His Kingdom.

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

Today, we also commemorate the feast day of St. Agatha, a well known martyr of the third century AD, who was martyred by the then still pagan Roman Empire. St. Agatha dedicated her virginity to God, and God alone, in a similar way to the nuns and religious today do. She was also very firm in her faith and deeply against paganism and idol worship in the Roman society at the time. When a pagan Roman prefect named Quintianus made approaches to her, she rejected him firmly, and this eventually led to her martyrdom, in defense of her faith, and of her virginity that she dedicated to God.

St. Agatha’s deep faith and practice of her faith through her martyrdom should be a great example to all of us the faithful in Christ. Not to follow her into martyrdom, but in always ensuring that our faith remain strong and alive, that when temptations and challenges come, we will be able to stand fast to our faith, and did not falter, even when faced with suffering or death. Let us live in accordance with the example made by St. Agatha and other holy saints of God, so that we too are found worthy to God and worthy of life eternal.

St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr, pray for us. Amen.

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Tuesday, 5 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (Psalm)

Psalm 21 : 26b-27, 28 and 30, 31-32

I will fulfill my vows before all who revere You. The lowly will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise Him. May Your hearts live forever!

The whole earth will acknowledge and turn to the Lord; the families of nations will worship Him. Before Him all those who rest in the earth will bow down, all who go down to the dust. My soul will live for Him.

My descendants will serve Him and proclaim the Lord to the coming generations; they will announce His salvation to a people yet unborn, “These are the things that He has done.”

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Tuesday, 5 February 2013 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Agatha, Virgin and Martyr (First Reading)

Hebrews 12 : 1-4

What a cloud if innumerable witnesses surround us! So let us be rid of every encumbrance, and especially of sin, to persevere in running the race marked out before us.

Let us look to Jesus the founder of our faith, who will bring it to completion. For the sake of the joy reserved for Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and then sat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Think of Jesus who suffered so many contradictions from evil people, and you will not be discouraged or grow weary. Have you already shed your blood in the struggle against sin?