servant of God

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Sunday, 18 September 2016 : 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green
Luke 16 : 1-13

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “There was a rich man, whose steward was reported to him for fraudulent service. He summoned the steward and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? I want you to render an account of your service, for it is about to be terminated.'”

“The steward thought to himself, ‘What am I to do now? My master will surely dismiss me. I am not strong enough to do hard work, and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I will do : I must make sure that when I am dismissed, there will be people who will welcome me into their homes.'”

“So he called his master’s debtors, one by one. He asked the first debtor, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ The reply was, ‘A hundred jars of oil.’ The steward said, ‘Here is your bill. Sit down quickly and write fifty.’ To the second debtor he put the same question, ‘How much do you owe?’ The answer was, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ Then the steward said, ‘Take your bill and write eighty.'”

“The master commended the dishonest steward for his astuteness : for the people of this world are more astute, in dealing with their own kind, than are the people of light. And so I tell you : use filthy money to make friends for yourselves, so that, when it fails, these people may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

“Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth? And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly your own?”

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to money.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)
Luke 16 : 10-13

At that time, Jesus told His disciples, “Whoever can be trusted in little things can also be trusted in great ones; whoever is dishonest in slight matters will also be dishonest in greater ones. So if you have been dishonest in handling filthy money, who would entrust you with true wealth? And if you have been dishonest with things that are not really yours, who will give you that wealth which is truly your own?”

“No servant can serve two masters. Either he does not like the one and is fond of the other, or he regards one highly and the other with contempt. You cannot give yourself both to God and to money.”

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Thursday, 11 August 2016 : 19th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Clare, Virgin (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezekiel 12 : 1-12

This word of YHVH came to me, “Son of man, you live in the midst of a house of rebels : they have eyes for seeing but do not see; they have ears for hearing but do not hear, for they are a house of rebels. Because of this, son of man, prepare for yourself an exile’s baggage in their sight as an exile does; and go as in an exile to another place in their sight. Would that they may understand, because they are a house of rebels.”

“You will gather your things, an exile’s baggage, by day to be seen by them, and you will leave in the evening as for a departure of deportees. While they look on, dig a hole in the wall and leave from there. As they look on, shoulder your baggage and leave in the dark. Veil your face and do not look at the land for I have made you a sign for Israel.”

I did as I was ordered, gathering my things by day, an exile’s baggage, and in the evening I made a hole in the wall with my hand. I left in the dark, in their presence, shouldering my baggage. In the morning, the word of YHVH came to me : “Son of man, did not the Israelites, these rebels, ask you, ‘What are you doing there?’ Answer them on behalf of YHVH : This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites remaining in the city.”

“Say, ‘I am a sign for you,’ for what I have done will happen to them : They will be deported, exiled. The prince among them shall shoulder his baggage in the dark and depart. They will dig a hole in the wall to let him leave by it. He will cover his face because he must not see the land with his eyes.”

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Sunday, 31 July 2016 : 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Priest (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Psalm 89 : 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

You turn humans back to dust, saying, “Return, o mortals!” A thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has passed, or like a a watch in the night.

You sow them in their time, at dawn they peep out. In the morning they blossom, but the flower fades and withers in the evening.

So make us know the shortness of our life, that we may gain wisdom of heart. How long will You be angry, o Lord? Have mercy on Your servant.

Fill us at daybreak with Your goodness, that we may be glad all our days. May the sweetness of the Lord be upon us; may He prosper the work of our hands.

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Monday, 27 June 2016 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the great anger of God which He had raised against His own people, all because of their disloyalty, their insubordination and extremely rebellious attitude, refusing to listen to the Lord their God and preferring to walk on their own decided paths. They sold themselves to debauchery and to the pagan idols of their neighbours, and turned a deaf ear to the Lord and to His prophets.

God had done so much for their sake, destroying their enemies before them and protecting them from all those who desired for their destruction, and He also brought them to deliverance from their suffering and slavery in the land of Egypt, giving them land to stay and dwell in, showing His great power and majesty in carrying them out into freedom.

And yet, through the generations, they had been unfaithful. They complained when God brought them out of Egypt into the desert, raising up a golden calf for themselves to worship as a god. And they disobeyed and complained on the harsh laws and rules which the Lord gave to them, because they were themselves lazy, poisoned by the laziness of this world, and the complacency which led to the raise of temptations of the flesh.

Thus, that was why even many of the people of God eventually slid down the slippery slope of sin and disobedience, abandoning the Lord their God, because they found the world and its temptations to be more appealing and attractive to them rather than what the Lord offered them in the discipline of the faith. They found that following the Lord was too difficult and too demanding for them, and thus, they faltered.

And that is the same reality which our Lord Jesus mentioned to the teacher of the Law and to His disciples about following Him and His ways. When two of them came up to Him and said that they needed to do so and so first before following Him, and saying that they would follow Him wherever He went, He mentioned to them that to follow the Lord, one cannot be divided or to be distracted in his or her heart.

It was those distractions and temptations which had led the people of Israel in the past to wander and to drift away from the Lord into wickedness and sin, and that was what Jesus had warned His disciples about, that following Him is a difficult matter, and challenges and oppression would come upon all those who professed their faith in Him, for He was taking them out of the world, and the world controlled by Satan does not like that.

It is a reminder to us all that being a Christian is not a part-time job, and neither should it be a mere formality. To be a Christian means for us to commit ourselves, body, heart, mind and soul in obeying the Lord and His commandments, and to devote ourselves, our time and our commitment to transform ourselves and others around us by righteousness and through our devotion to the ways of God.

It is a reminder also that we have to be the bearers of the truth of Christ, by showing love to one another and by showing that we truly belong to the Lord through our ways. We should no longer say things or act in the way which would identify us as those who do not belong to God. We have to persevere and stand by our faith even though it will indeed be difficult for us, and we will be ridiculed, rejected and even persecuted for doing so. But great is our reward in the Lord.

Let us all see the example of St. Cyril of Alexandria, the holy saint whose feast we are celebrating today. St. Cyril of Alexandria was the Bishop and Patriarch of Alexandria, one of the greatest early centres of Christianity. St. Cyril of Alexandria lived and served the Lord and His people at a time of great turmoil and trouble for the faithful, a truly difficult time to live in.

St. Cyril lived at the time when the faithful and the Church in Alexandria were divided among the different groups, where several of these were in open heresy against the true faith. He was in constant struggle over the supporters of the heretic Nestorius and his false teachings, known to us as the Nestorians. Those people alleged that the divine and the human nature of Jesus was separate as two distinct beings, which were false and untrue.

And thus St. Cyril of Alexandria worked hard through his works, writings and preachings to condemn the false teachings of the heretics and convinced the people of God to remain faithful to God and His truth, even though his enemies made his life difficult and challenged him wherever he went. He endured persecutions and oppositions, and to the very end, he remained faithful and committed to save the people of God from the falsehoods of Satan.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, St. Cyril of Alexandria remained faithful and true to the Lord even though he suffered rejection, ridicule and even persecution for his faithfulness. Are we able to do the same as well? Are we all able to commit ourselves to God just as he had committed himself fully to the Lord his God and Saviour? Let us all discern and ponder all these deep in our hearts.

May God our Lord and Master help us to find the courage to stand up for Him and for the Church, that we will not tolerate or be complacent in our faith, that in all things, we may always remain true to He Who loves us all and Who will bless us the faithful ones with the eternal glory and joy of heaven. God bless us all. Amen.

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Monday, 27 June 2016 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Matthew 8 : 18-22

At that time, when Jesus saw the crowd press around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other shore. A teacher of the Law approached Him and said, “Master, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Another disciple said to Him, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

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Monday, 27 June 2016 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Psalm 49 : 16bc-17, 18-19, 20-21, 22-23

What right have you to mouth My laws, or to talk about My covenant? You hate My commands and cast My words behind you.

You join a thief when you meet one; you keep company with adulterers. You have a mouth of evil and a deceitful tongue.

You speak ill of your brother, and slander your own mother’s son. Because I was silent while you did these things, you thought I was like you. But now I rebuke you and make this charge against you.

Give this a thought, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces with no one to help you. Those who give with thanks offerings honour Me, but the one who walks blamelessly, I will show him the salvation of God.

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Monday, 27 June 2016 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Bishops)

Amos 2 : 6-10, 13-16

YHVH says this, “Because Israel has sinned, not once but three times and even more, I will not relent. They sell the just for money and the needy for a pair of sandals; they tread on the head of the poor and trample them upon the dust of the earth, while they silence the right of the afflicted; a man and his father go to the same woman to profane My Holy Name; they stretch out upon garments taken in pledge, beside every altar; they take the wine of those they swindle and are drunk in the house of their God.”

“It was I Who destroyed the Amorites before them, whose height was like the height of the cedar, a people as sturdy as an oak. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below. It was I Who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to take possession of the land of the Amorites.”

“Behold, I will crush you to the ground, as a cart does when it is full of sheaves. The swift shall be unable to flee and the strong man shall lose his strength. The warrior shall not save himself nor the bowman stand his ground. The swift of foot shall not escape nor the horseman save himself. Even the most stout-hearted among the warriors shall flee away naked on that day,” says YHVH.

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Thursday, 23 June 2016 : Vigil Mass of the Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Jeremiah 1 : 4-10

A word of YHVH came to me, “Even before I formed you in the womb I have known you; even before you were born I had set you apart, and appointed you a prophet to the nations!”

I said, “Ah, Lord YHVH! I do not know how to speak; I am still young!” But YHVH replied, “Do not say; ‘I am still young’, for now you will go whatever be the mission I am entrusting to you, and you will speak of whatever I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them, for I will be with you to protect you – it is YHVH Who speaks!”

Then YHVH stretched out His hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now I have put My words in your mouth. See! Today I give you authority over nations and over kingdoms to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

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Saturday, 21 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes, Priest and Companions, Martyrs (First Reading)

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

James 5 : 13-20

Are any of you discouraged? They should pray. Are any of you happy? They should sing songs to God. If anyone is sick, let him call on the elders of the Church. They shall pray for him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. The prayer said in faith will save the sick person; the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.

There will be healing if you confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. The prayer of the upright man has great power, provided he perseveres. Elijah was a human being like ourselves and when he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. Then he prayed again : the sky yielded rain and the earth produced its fruit.

Brothers, if any one of you strays far away from the truth and another person brings him back to it, be sure of this : he who brings back a sinner from the wrong way will save his soul from death and win forgiveness for many sins.

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Friday, 20 May 2016 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Priests)

James 5 : 9-12

Beloved, do not fight among yourselves, and you will not be judged. See, the judge is already at the door. Take for yourselves, as an example of patience, the suffering of the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s Name. See how those who were patient are called blessed. You have heard of the patience of Job and know how the Lord dealt with him in the end. For the Lord is merciful and shows compassion.

Above all, my beloved, do not swear either by heaven or by earth, or make a habit of swearing. Let your yes be yes and your no be no, lest you become liable for judgment.