Second Sunday after Pentecost

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Tuesday, 20 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Psalm 145 : 1-2, 5-6ab, 6c-7, 8-9a

Alleluia! Praise YHVH, my soul! I will sing to YHVH all my life; I will sing praise to God while I live.

Blessed are they whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in YHVH their God, Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all they contain.

YHVH is forever faithful; He gives justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. YHVH sets the prisoners free.

YHVH gives sight to the blind; YHVH loves the virtuous; but He brings to ruin the way of the wicked. YHVH straightens the bent. YHVH protects the stranger.

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Tuesday, 20 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
2 Corinthians 8 : 1-9

Now, I want you to know about a gift of divine grace among the Churches of Macedonia. While they were so afflicted and persecuted, their joy overflowed, and their extreme poverty turned into a wealth of generosity. According to their means – even beyond their means – they wanted to share, in helping the saints.

They asked us for this favour, spontaneously, and with much insistence, and, far beyond anything we expected, they put themselves at the disposal of the Lord, and of us by the will of God. Accordingly, I urged Titus to complete, among you, this work of grace, since he began it with you.

You excel in everything : in the gifts of faith, speech and knowledge; you feel concern for every cause and, besides, you are first in my heart. Excel, also, in this generous service. This is not a command; I make known to you the determination of others, to check the sincerity of your fraternal concern.

You know well, the generosity of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Although He was rich, He made Himself poor, to make you rich, through His poverty.

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Monday, 19 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Romuald, Abbot (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Abbots)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard the Lord Who spoke to His disciples on the matter of how they ought to deal with one another, particularly should anyone cause any harm or pain, be it physical or mental, on them. He was saying how it was under the old laws of Moses, that those who inflicted suffering upon others must also suffer themselves equally in the same manner.

This was called the law of vengeance, where justice was meted upon the condemned by the same degree of punishment as what the sufferer or victim has suffered. Should one cause another to lose an arm, then he or she must also lose an arm. If he or she caused another person to lose an eye, then he or she must also lose an eye. It is a law of proportional justice, which the people of Israel followed strictly and enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is not what we all as Christians believe, as the Lord Himself made it clear that we must not do what the Israelites had done. It was not however that He was overturning or replacing the old Law, but instead revealing the true nature of the Law that is Love. The old laws given to Moses and which was expanded throughout the history of the Israelites was modified because of the rebelliousness of the people of Israel.

Why is that so? That is because the Israelites constantly rebelled and complained against God, and they hardened their hearts against Him. They did not truly love Him despite all that He had done for them, by delivering them from their oppressors in Egypt, and by lovingly providing for all that they needed throughout their journey. Therefore, like a father who disciplines his children whenever they are not doing things in the right manner and yet still loving them, God also wanted to discipline them in the same manner.

But they misunderstood His intentions, and thought that God was being a very fearsome God, Who did not want to see any mistake from His people, and Who would punish any forms of misconduct with harsh punishments. They ended up fearing Him and distancing themselves from Him. That was why He came to dispel the falsehood and reveal to them the real truth about His everlasting love for them.

God wants to show us that love is what He wants from each and every one of us, just as He has loved us all so tenderly from the very beginning. And it is because of His love that all of us have existed, solely because of His love for us. If He had not loved us, He would have exterminated us by the might of His will alone, if He had not loved us and seen that we have been unfaithful to Him by our sins.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is His intention that all of us Christians ought to learn how to love each other. We must realise that much of the sorrows and troubles in this world were caused by our inability to love each other, and our refusal to love the Lord our God, as much as we love ourselves. It is in our human nature and habit for us to think of ourselves first, and others as secondary.

But when our desires and interests clashed with each other’s, that is the moment when division and strive came about, and that is when we end up squabbling and conflicting with one another, trying to protect our own interests in the act of self-preservation. In the end, everyone suffered, and everyone felt angry and dissatisfied, due to all the bitterness, pains and all the struggles.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps we should model ourselves after the examples of the holy saints, all the righteous men and women who had preceded us in their just and holy life, with the example of St. Romuald, who was once apparently in his youth, a renegade and a sinner, who indulged in all forms of earthly pleasures and vices, as much as he could commit himself to. However, eventually, St. Romuald came to his senses and sought to exonerate himself by pious deeds.

He devoted his whole life from then on in asceticism and fervent prayer, becoming a monk who dedicated his life to the service of God, calling and inspiring many others who also had the desire to serve the Lord, by committing themselves to a life of prayer and devotion. He founded the Camaldolese order in that manner, and many more people came to be saved by their dedication to the Lord, abandoning their past and sinful lives behind them.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, perhaps that is what all of us should do as well? Perhaps we should reevaluate how we have lived our lives thus far? Let us ask ourselves, what is our real purpose and intention in life? What is it that we seek in our daily living? Do we have any objective in living this earthly life? Or are we merely enjoying all the pleasures that this world offers us?

It is time for us all as Christians to renew our commitment to the Lord, in order for us to live faithfully according to His laws and commandments. It is time for us to be His true disciples and followers, in body, heart, mind and soul, indeed in our whole and entire being. May the Lord bless us always, and may He continue to guide us in our path, so that in everything we say and do, we will always glorify Him and become ever closer to Him. Amen.

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Monday, 19 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Romuald, Abbot (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Abbots)
Matthew 5 : 38-42

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “You have heard, that it was said : An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you this : do not oppose evil with evil; if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other. If someone sues you in court for your shirt, give him your coat as well.”

“If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give when asked, and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

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Monday, 19 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Romuald, Abbot (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Abbots)
Psalm 97 : 1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to YHVH a new song, for He has done wonders; His right hand, His holy arm, has won victory for Him.

YHVH has shown His salvation, revealing His justice to the nations. He has not forgotten His love, nor His faithfulness to Israel.

The farthest ends of the earth all have seen God’s saving power. All you, lands, make a joyful noise to YHVH, break into song and sing praise.

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Monday, 19 June 2017 : 11th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Romuald, Abbot (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Abbots)
2 Corinthians 6 : 1-10

Being God’s helpers, we beg you : let it not be in vain, that you received this grace of God. Scripture says : At the favourable time I listened to you, on the day of salvation I helped you. This is the favourable time, this is the day of salvation.

We are concerned, not to give anyone an occasion to stumble or criticise our mission. Instead, we prove, we are true ministers of God, in every way, by our endurance in so many trials, in hardships, afflictions, floggings, imprisonment, riots, fatigue, sleepless nights and days of hunger.

People can notice, in our upright life, knowledge, patience and kindness, action of the Holy Spirit, sincere love, words of truth, and power of God. So we fight with the weapons of justice, to attack, as well as to defend. Sometimes, we are honoured, at other times, insulted; we receive criticism as well as praise. We are regarded as liars, although we speak the truth; as unknown, though we are well known; as dead, and yet we live.

Punishments come upon us, but we have not, as yet, been put to death. We appear to be afflicted, yet always joyful; we seem to be poor, but we enrich many; we have nothing, but we possess everything!

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Sunday, 18 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of the Lord, or the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, in which we remember and rejoice in one of the most important tenets and indeed the very core of our faith in the Lord. It is our belief that the Lord has given us His very own Body and His very own Blood for us all His faithful ones, as real food and real drink in the Eucharist.

This is what all of us believe, all of us who believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, that the bread and wine which we use in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been thoroughly and completely transformed, or as the term says it: transubstantiation, into the very essence, and real material of the Body, the Flesh, and the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, presence really in His Body, Soul and Divinity.

This is what we, who adhere to the true Christian faith, as well as our brethren in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches believe in, as separated and distinguished from those who had fallen into the heresy and falsehood of believing that the Lord’s sacrifice in the Mass is merely a symbolic gesture or a remembrance without real meaning and without the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

That is why, all of us believe that the Holy Mass is the highest form of worship, far greater and higher than all of our other participations in the acts of divine worship, for it is in the Holy Mass, more appropriately the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that the priests or the bishops, having been given the same authority by the Lord through His Apostles, acting in persona Christi, united with Christ Himself, offer the same offering of His Body and Blood, as the one He offered as He laid dying on the cross on Good Friday.

What we receive, and what we eat, is no longer a bread, or a chalice of wine, as even though we see the bread and the wine in appearance and in taste, but that is how our human senses perceive them as such. That is because in reality, transcending all senses and realities, the bread we receive and eat, and the wine we drink in some special occasions, have been completely transformed to the full Presence of our Lord, as Jesus Himself had mentioned in the Gospel today.

At that time, Jesus spoke the truth to the people of Israel and to His disciples, that He came into the world, bearing the true and living Bread of heaven. It was not the same with the bread from heaven which came at the time of the Exodus from Egypt, when the Lord fed His people with manna in the desert for forty years. He gave them food in the form of manna to sustain them, but that food, even if they are the bread of Angels, gave no real and complete sustenance unlike the One which Jesus our Lord gave them and all of us.

Jesus Himself said plainly and clearly, that He is the Living Bread Who came from heaven, and all those who do not eat His Body or drink His Blood, has no share of life in Him. And at the Last Supper, at the time when Jesus our Lord according to the tradition of our faith, instituted the Holy Eucharist, which we now celebrate during every celebration of the Holy Mass, also said the same thing, that as He blessed and passed around the bread He broke, He said that the bread is His Body. And He said the same with the chalice of wine, which He said that the wine is His Blood.

Did the Lord say that the bread is merely a ‘symbol’ or ‘representation’ of His Body? Did He say that the wine is merely an ‘image’ or ‘illusion’ of His Blood? No, He did not, brothers and sisters in Christ, and He really meant what He had said. That is why all of us in the Church believe that He is really, truly and completely present, in Body, Soul and Divinity, the wholeness of God in the bread and in the wine in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Indeed, there are those who refused to believe in this truth, but remember, brethren, that the very same response can be seen in the Gospel passage today, as we heard how many of the followers of Jesus left Him because of what He had said about the giving of His Body and Blood to them. The very same doubt that we encounter today has been expressed by the people at that time, ‘How can He give us His Body to eat and His Blood to drink?’.

Those people refused to listen to the truth because it seemed to be unimaginable and disgusting to them that someone had said something of the sort. In fact, the same falsehood was spread by those who would try to bring down the Church in its early years, as misinformations, be it deliberate or unintentional led the Roman authorities to believe that Christians were a group of dangerous sect, not just because they refused to worship the pagan gods and the Emperor, but they were also a cult of cannibals who eat the Flesh and drink the Blood of Jesus.

Yet, that is what we believe, and indeed, while doubt will arise, as even the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord were dismayed and doubtful at what He had said, by saying, ‘Lord, this truth is hard to be accepted, who can believe and accept such truth?’, but we must not be swayed by doubt, and we must truly redouble our faith and devotion to the Lord, Who is truly and really present in the Eucharist.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why it is important that I bring you to attention to the reality in our Church today. Unlike in the past, when all the faithful ought to receive the Eucharist worthily and properly, when they are not in a state of sin and disgrace, and by kneeling and showing proper respect before Him in the Eucharist, and by receiving Him in the tongue only and not on the hands, nowadays, with the rampant abuse of the option to allow the faithful to receive Him on the hands, and the lack of proper catechism, we end up seeing many of the faithful not treating the Lord with respect, and go through receiving the Eucharist as if going through some regular motion without real meaning and understanding.

Brethren, this is a great scandal of our faith! This is what we need to stop from continuing to happen. We must really restore what is right and proper in this centre tenet of our faith. We can no longer be careless in our adoration and belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Every single particle of the bread of the host, and every single drop of the wine in the chalice, even to the smallest particle, is the Real Presence of Our Lord Himself, present fully in Body, Soul and Divinity.

But nowadays, we treat the Lord in the Eucharist and queueing to receive Him as if we are queueing for free food in a fast food joint, and we do not even receive Him with proper respect while doing so. We want to go through it as quickly as possible, and even get angry when the queue is getting very slow. We are impatient because it ends up making the Holy Mass to get longer, and we cannot wait to return to our daily activities outside the Mass.

That is simply unacceptable, brothers and sisters in Christ, and in reality, it scandalises our faith, in that, there had been a few people, who refused to believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist, who commented that they did refuse to believe because they had seen that even us, Catholics, did not seem to believe in this through our actions and the way we come to Him and receive Him at the celebration of the Holy Mass.

How can we expect others to believe in the Lord Who is really present in the Eucharist, if we ourselves treat Him with disdain and lack of respect? How can we expect others to believe in the Real Presence when we do not bow down, kneel and feel unworthy to receive the Lord in the Eucharist, when we approach Him, and when we receive Him improperly while we are still in a state of grievous sin without confession?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore today, as we commemorate this great Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us all rediscover our understanding and respect for the Lord Who has given us His own Body and Blood, and for what is that? It is for our salvation, that by eating His Body and Blood, we may share in the life He has brought upon us, by His sacrifice on the cross, and become united to Him in body and soul, and one day may come to share in His divinity, in the glory of His majesty forevermore.

Let us all start from ourselves, by striving to participate more actively and solemnly in the celebration of the Holy Mass, and by properly revering Him in the Eucharist, preferably by receiving Him only on the tongue and not on the hands, so that no particle of the Lord’s Body end up falling to the ground and get trampled on our feet. And also by properly preparing ourselves before receiving Him, knowing that we have sinned through our life’s actions, and how unworthy we are to receive Him, Who has come to us in Body, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist.

Let us all do this, starting from ourselves, and thus by showing our own examples to others, we may create the great ripple effect, leading many, many more people, from our families, to our relatives, to our friends, throughout our communities and societies, that eventually, the whole Church, priests and laity alike, will return to the true reverence and faith in the Lord Jesus, in His Real Presence in the Eucharist, and reject all forms of abuse that had happened in the recent years and decades.

May the Lord, Who is present in the Eucharist, continue to sustain us through the giving of His Body and Blood, that we, who receive Him worthily into our being, may be strengthened by His Presence, and may all of us grow ever more faithful and ever more devoted, that we, the Temple of His Holy Presence, will be deemed worthy of eternal glory with Him forever. May the Lord bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 18 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
John 6 : 51-58

Jesus said to His disciples and to the people, “I am the Living Bread from heaven; whoever eats of this Bread will live forever. The Bread I shall give is My Flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world.”

The Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

“My Flesh is really food, and My Blood is truly drink. Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, live in Me, and I in them. Just as the Father, Who is Life, sent Me, and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats Me will have life from Me. This is the Bread from heaven; not like that of your ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this Bread will live forever.”

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Sunday, 18 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White
1 Corinthians 10 : 16-17

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the Blood of Christ? And the bread that we break, is it not a communion with the Body of Christ?

The bread is one, and so we, though many, form one body, sharing the one bread.

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Sunday, 18 June 2017 : Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, Corpus Christi (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 147 : 12-13, 14-15, 19-20

Exalt YHVH, o Jerusalem; praise your God, o Zion! For He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your children within you.

He grants peace on your borders and feeds you with the finest grain. He sends His command to the earth and swiftly runs His word.

It is He, Who tells Jacob His words; His laws and decrees, to Israel. This, He has not done for other nations, so His laws remain unknown to them. Alleluia!